The leaders of two Canadian provinces announced that they are moving to end their COVID-19 restrictions, amid nationwide protests.
“I get the frustration out there, but the end of COVID-restrictions is near,” Premier of Alberta Jason Kenney wrote in a tweet to his official Twitter account late Wednesday afternoon. “Please stay tuned in the coming days for more information.” Kenney also included a video in the tweet, expressing support with protestors peacefully demonstrating across the country against the nation’s various COVID-19 mitigation restrictions and policies. “We’ve had a lot of protests, and a lot of people, and I think the vast majority of them are well-intentioned, law-abiding Canadians who are sick and tired of how COVID has turned their lives upside down,” Kenney said in the clip. “They’re frustrated with all kinds of public health measures.”
Kenney then turned his focus to the two ongoing truckers’ protests, the “Freedom Convoy” currently occupying the nation’s capital, Ottawa, and the border blockade ongoing since Saturday in the village of Coutts in Kenney’s home province of Alberta. “[M]any are frustrated in particular with the quarantine requirement for cross-border truckers. So to those folks who’ve been out there trying to make that point respectfully and peacefully, thank you. Thank you for using your democratic rights to do that. Thank you for sharing your passion and your frustration. I certainly hear you.”
Kenney then turned specifically to the truckers in Coutts. “To those here in Alberta who have participated in or supported some of these protests, specifically, I want to say to them, I am very sympathetic.” He explained that his government was repeatedly criticized for using restrictions as a last resort to avoid more serious medical issues. “Please understand, there have been no good choices in any of this,” Kenney said. “So to folks who are motivated by that frustration, I totally sympathize with that, but please express that in a way that is lawful and peaceful, and please, don’t make a bad situation worse,” Kenney said, adding that he is campaigning to end the quarantine requirement for unvaccinated cross-border truckers, internally in Canada and in the U.S. “So, for those who feel that way, I’m on your side.”
I get the frustration out there, but the end of COVID-restrictions is near.
Please stay tuned in the coming days for more information.
📽 WATCH: ⬇ pic.twitter.com/AxnUZlLoiw
— Jason Kenney 🇺🇦 (@jkenney) February 2, 2022
Later in the day, Premier of Saskatchewan Scott Moe also announced that he was moving to end restrictions in his province. “There’s been a lot of discussions about whether it’s time for us in Saskatchewan to look at ending all of the remaining COVID measures and restrictions that we have in place. Well, I think it is time,” Said Moe, who previously denounced Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s claim that protestors were a “fringe minority” and expressed support for the “Freedom Convoy.” “That’s not because COVID has ended, it most certainly hasn’t. It’s because people understand it better. They understand what they need to do, they understand the risk, and they are prepared to live with that risk more than they are prepared to live with the ongoing government intrusion into their lives.”
“Remember when this first started, so very long ago? Government measures were supposed to last, I think, two weeks. Well it’s been two years,” Moe continued.
“But as we moved through all of those challenges, we learned more about this virus, and we learned more about how we can protect ourselves.” Moe championed the rise of vaccines, antiviral therapeutic treatments, and expanded testing, as part of the reason behind the decision. He also said that eradicating COVID is not possible, but normalizing and living with COVID is. “This perpetual state of crisis is having a harmful impact on everyone,” Moe said. “We need to end this perpetual state of crisis.”
[pt 2/2] pic.twitter.com/b41GeBwrz6
— Scott Moe (@PremierScottMoe) February 3, 2022