The documents, previously confidential, were ordered by the provincial court to be produced after the parents of five immunocompromised children and the Alberta Federation of Labor sued the government over the decision to lift the mask mandate. Premier Jason Kenney announced on February 8 that the province would end the vaccine passport system and just five days later end the school mask mandate. The decision came shortly after the UCP COVID Cabinet Committee meeting and weighed options presented by Health Minister Jason Copping on how to proceed as Alberta moved from the pandemic phase of COVID-19 to the transition phase to the endemic phase. The document says Alberta would lead into the endemic phase with a “phasing out of public health measures” to reduce the risk. However, the document warns that “the lifting of restrictions should only begin when pressures on the health care system have sufficiently eased and are likely to continue to ease.” The Medical Director of Health Dr. Dina Hinshaw provided recommendations to the government to move forward with the lifting of all restrictions, which included increasing the capacity of the health care system. It warned of flooding and warned of additional waves as a result of increased exposure. “She was right about all her warnings and they just ignored them. And now we’re paying the price,” said Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour. Hinshaw gave three options. The first was to remove most restrictions, including removing masks in schools in Step 1. The second option kept more restrictions and kept the school mask mandate in place until Step 2. The third option left all decisions to the cabinet, which chose the cabinet. “The big, big takeaway for me was how focused it was on reopening as a core concern of our pandemic policy,” said Lorrian Hardcastle, an associate professor of law at the University of Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine. “There’s a lot of criticism out there that the government’s approach has at times favored politics over what made sense from a public health perspective. And I think we see evidence of that in this presentation.” McGowan agreed. “From my point of view, it clearly shows that their eyes were focused squarely on politics, especially their narrow interests and politics, and not where they should be, which is about public safety, especially for our children.” The government denies that it is ignoring or bypassing any of Dr. Hinshaw. “The health minister gave the cabinet three options, which were uniformly presented with no proposed choice. Cabinet chose from those options,” Steve Buick, the health secretary’s press secretary, wrote in a statement Wednesday. “We stand by our decision to lift public health measures, including ending mandatory masks in schools. It was the right choice for the children and did not pose an undue risk to our communities.” The Morning Update and Afternoon Update newsletters are written by Globe editors, giving you a concise summary of the day’s most important headlines. Sign up today.
