Speaker apologizes for partisanship
The Alberta legislature's Speaker Nathan Cooper has apologized after being one of 16 MLAS to sign a letter opposing the government's latest public health restrictions to slow the spread of COVID -19.
“In haste, I engaged on a matter of political discourse that may have raised questions about the impartiality of the chair. Upon quiet reflection and given the benefit of time, I have regret for my error in judgment,” he said in the legislature Monday.
Cooper said he apologizes “unreservedly” and that the impartiality of his position is fundamental to democracy. The Speaker is elected from among sitting MLAS at the beginning of the first legislative session after an election. He or she directs debate, rules on disputes between the two parties and only votes in the event of a tie.
“I do not take this responsibility lightly. I apologize to each and every one of you for crossing a line that the Speaker ought not cross,” he said. Cooper was one of 16 UCP MLAS representing mostly rural constituencies who signed a letter last week saying closing dine-in service in restaurants and lowering capacity for retail stores and gyms is the “wrong decision,” even as COVID-19 variant cases surge.
“We have heard from our constituents, and they want us to defend their livelihoods and freedoms as Albertans. For months, we have raised these concerns at the highest levels of government and, unfortunately, the approach of the government has remained the same,” the letter said.
Another MLA has spoken out against the restrictions and a second about the government's decision to close Gracelife Church.
Hours before Cooper apologized, Premier Jason Kenney criticized him for signing the letter.
“The long-standing convention, of course, is for Speakers to scrupulously maintain their neutrality and in my 24 years as a parliamentarian, I cannot ever recall the Speaker having violated that until last week,” he said.
The premier has said his MLAS have the right to speak their minds
but that the government makes decisions based on scientific advice.
Multiple media outlets, including Postmedia, have reported sources saying Kenney has privately threatened to call a snap election over the dissent.
On Monday, Kenney denied saying that.
“The last thing we need is an election,” he said.
“We need stability to get through the balance of this.”
NDP Opposition Leader Rachel Notley said that while the issue with Cooper is troubling, it shouldn't distract from the total number of MLAS who she says are effectively undermining the authority of public health officials.
“The debate that is most important is the one happening in communities across this province, where individual Albertans make a choice about whether they will keep each other and their neighbours safe, or whether they will not,” she said.
At least one local anti-restriction group has latched on to the dissenting MLAS, dubbing them the “UCP Freedom Caucus 17” and calling on Kenney to end the COVID -19 “lockdown.”
Dr. Dennis Modry, a surgeon who is not licensed to practice medicine in Alberta, said Monday that lockdowns “don't work,” despite provincial data that shows once introduced, public health restrictions have reduced the number of cases of COVID-19 in the past.
Modry also claimed the mortality rate of COVID-19 is no worse than influenza.
However, in Alberta, between May 2019 and May 2020, there were 39 deaths reported from the flu, while since the pandemic began, the province has seen more than 2,000 deaths from the virus.