Madu apologizes for accusing NDP, feds, media of wanting COVID disaster
Alberta Justice Minister Kaycee Madu apologized Tuesday for accusing the NDP, media and federal government of wanting a COVID-19 disaster, one day after those comments sparked outrage and his office said he wouldn't say sorry.
In a Facebook post published Friday, Madu said the fact that the majority of people survive COVID-19 is not a reason for the government not to try to prevent deaths by implementing public health measures.
“It is also not a reason to wait until we overwhelm our health care system, then create public panic, and see Albertans in field and make-shift hospitals gasping for breathe (sic) because we have ran out of ventilators, manpower etc.,” he wrote.
“My point is that I don't think it will be responsible to simply wait until we have a disaster on our hands. That's what the NDP, the media and the federal Liberals were looking for and want. We simply couldn't allow that to happen.”
On Tuesday evening, Madu walked back those assertions on both Twitter and Facebook.
“My comments were wrong, as all Canadians want this global pandemic to end as soon as possible,” he said in the posts.
The apology was an about-face for Madu. When the Facebook post made headlines Monday, Blaise Boehmer, his press secretary, said the minister “won't apologize for stating the obvious.”
“The Minister was referring to the increasing tendency of different groups, including the NDP, to exploit the pandemic for their own political purposes. We see this everyday with the NDP'S overcooked and incendiary rhetoric both in the legislative assembly and on social media,” Boehmer said in a Monday email to Postmedia.
Hours before Madu apologized, Premier Jason Kenney claimed he had not seen the minister's remarks, but told reporters he would look into them and speak with him.
“COVID-19 has caused a lot of us at various times to say things that we regret,” Kenney said at an afternoon COVID -19 news conference, encouraging Albertans on all sides of the political spectrum to “give each other a break,” and assume the best about other people's motives.
“COVID -19 should not be a political football,” he said. “It's regrettable that in Alberta ... from the very beginning, we had an Opposition that never sought to be supportive of broader efforts, unlike in other provinces where Oppositions largely came together with government, at least at the beginning of the pandemic.”
Madu also said on social media that he “fully supports” Kenney's call to “avoid divisive political rhetoric.”
Earlier Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded to Madu's original comments by saying it was “a shame to see people pointing fingers and laying blame and suggesting that anyone in Canada wants anything else than to get through this pandemic as safely as possible everywhere.”
Meanwhile, NDP Leader Rachel Notley called the tone of Madu's comments “incendiary” Tuesday, saying it is the Opposition's job to push the government to do better.
“Notwithstanding the kind of hot, politicized, thoughtless statements that we've heard from people like Kaycee Madu, we will continue to do that,” she said.
Throughout the pandemic, the NDP has called for paid sick leave, more support for small businesses, and stricter measures to protect the health-care system.
On Tuesday, the NDP announced it would introduce a private member's bill for “presumptive coverage” for essential workers who contract COVID -19 on the job.
The legislation would mean complications from COVID-19, including potential long-haul symptoms, would be assumed to have been the result of workplace exposure among essential workers, allowing employees to better access workers' compensation.
It would also extend presumptive post-traumatic stress disorder coverage.