In an alternate reality, UCP:
Gave direct transfers to laid-off workers & easy-to-navigate, straightforward $ to business, instead of waiting for Ottawa to do it
Laser-focused on testing, rapid testing, contact tracing and isolation benefits
paid sick leave
(Thread) https://twitter.com/markusoff/status/1380614547904495621



(Thread) https://twitter.com/markusoff/status/1380614547904495621








Here’s the thing. The @albertaNDP asked for the above measures, in some form, pretty much every week for a year. We held press conferences. We helped Albertans tell their stories. We did research on the best ways to respond to the pandemic, unemployment and economic insecurity.
It’s not like UCP didn’t know there were better choices. But they chose a path of discredited, irrational, far-right nonsense instead. So we got a callous, chaotic covid response. Solutions weren’t complicated or even that expensive when compared to the cost of UCP incompetence
And now, people are angry. They’re alienated from the UCP because they haven’t heard consistent messages or seen evidence of consistent support or response.
Who pays? The AHS workers up north, now terrified to go to work. The front-line health workers, still not vaccinated, watching runaway community spread bear down once again on their mental health and well-being
Who pays? If things get much worse, a virtual certainty given the trajectory, the schools will shut again. So parents will once again be left scrambling. Kids’ routines& learning suffers. Teachers&EAs working their butts off to prevent the worst outcomes for the most at-risk kids
Who pays? Small biz owners and those who work for them, just trying to make a living with no help, no certainty - just a disconnected UCP who mouth words of support while not lifting a finger to do simple things that make life better.
It didn’t have to be this way.
It didn’t have to be this way.