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I'm frustrated to see this ignorance once again brought to the heart of my constituency, particularly given events of recent days.
The vast majority of residents of Edm-City Centre recognize the threat & reality of COVID-19 & support the current public health measures. #ableg https://twitter.com/caitlinxandrad/status/1348042359024488449
The vast majority of residents of Edm-City Centre recognize the threat & reality of COVID-19 & support the current public health measures. #ableg https://twitter.com/caitlinxandrad/status/1348042359024488449
Just blocks away from where these individuals marched, at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, dozens of their fellow Albertans lay struggling w/ & dying from COVID-19 while hundreds of others worked overtime at risk of their own health to try & save them. #ableg
Just one block west of this photo, hundreds of seniors have spent months largely isolated in hopes of one day being able to be w/ their families & loved ones again. Some haven't made it - lost to outbreaks sparked by individuals like these who spread COVID in community. #ableg
Everyday my office hears from constituents who are immunocompromised or live w/ other health conditions that put them at risk, who've been tirelessly scrupulous about following public health recommendations & are dependent on others to do the same to protect their lives. #ableg
These protests are based in deep ignorance of the current realities fed by rampant misinformation & conspiracy theories spread on social media that prey on individual's anxieties & insecurities.
And sadly, they're being amplified by others for financial & political gain. #ableg
And sadly, they're being amplified by others for financial & political gain. #ableg
Sadly politicians in Alberta have fed & continue feeding COVID denialism & skepticism incl. the Premier:
"Kenney's been sending mixed messages for months. While acknowledging the dangers of the pandemic, he's also routinely diminished the threat."
https://ipolitics.ca/2021/01/08/kenney-starts-lengthy-process-of-extricating-himself-from-self-dug-hole/ #ableg
"Kenney's been sending mixed messages for months. While acknowledging the dangers of the pandemic, he's also routinely diminished the threat."
https://ipolitics.ca/2021/01/08/kenney-starts-lengthy-process-of-extricating-himself-from-self-dug-hole/ #ableg
UCP MLAs have stood in #ableg to complain of too much risk aversion to COVID-19 in schools, that students spend too much time washing hands & of "NDP socialist police state lockdown[s]"
Yet the Premier & Ministers regularly stand & claim, "we're all in this together." #ableg
Yet the Premier & Ministers regularly stand & claim, "we're all in this together." #ableg
And @MirandaRosinAB's recent article laments that people "have begged & pleaded for Government to take [personal freedoms] away even when it did not want to do so," w/ a bizarre section about no longer having time to find "pure, unblemished fruit"
https://calgaryherald.com/news/politics/banff-kananaskis-mla-laments-public-health-rules-surrender-of-personal-freedoms #ableg
https://calgaryherald.com/news/politics/banff-kananaskis-mla-laments-public-health-rules-surrender-of-personal-freedoms #ableg
I wasn't at this particular protest & can't read many of the signs in the photo. So I can't state there were expressions of fascism, racism or white supremacy.
But I can state that we've seen them all clearly linked on social media & at other protests in the US & here. #ableg
But I can state that we've seen them all clearly linked on social media & at other protests in the US & here. #ableg
This photo of an Alberta man w/ a KKK hood as a mask demonstrates a confluence of racist & anti-mask, COVID-denial ideologies that's appeared across social media.
This is in our own backyard, our province alongside symbols like Confederate flags.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/northern-alberta-rcmp-investigate-apparent-kkk-hood-worn-to-canada-post-1.5867591 #ableg
This is in our own backyard, our province alongside symbols like Confederate flags.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/northern-alberta-rcmp-investigate-apparent-kkk-hood-worn-to-canada-post-1.5867591 #ableg
Not to mention the increasing boldness of far-right groups, incl. known white supremacists, echoing popular conspiracy theories about paid protestors as they've attempted to disrupt anti-racism rallies. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/alberta/article-alberta-rcmp-investigating-after-far-right-groups-confront-anti-racism/
. @KenBoessenkool wrote recently about the dangers of conservatives continuing to seek political gain "by reinforcing [populist] prejudices or just being overly partisan...grandiose promises that stoke resentments w/o intention or ability to fulfil"
https://theline.substack.com/p/ken-boessenkool-the-populists-are #ableg
https://theline.substack.com/p/ken-boessenkool-the-populists-are #ableg
(I'd be remiss if I didn't also link to @ddale8's response to the suggestion that populist pandering to racism & homophobia is a new, not longstanding practice amongst some conservative politicians:
https://theline.substack.com/p/flipping-the-line-conservatives-cant) #ableg
https://theline.substack.com/p/flipping-the-line-conservatives-cant) #ableg
Yet, as we've recently seen in the scandal around UCP MLAs, staff & a Minister taking tropical vacations over the holidays, many conservative politicians are playing w/ stoking this fire simply for their own gain while enjoying the entitlement of elitism for themselves. #ableg
But I can tell you, for the folks I talk to in racialized communities, the LGBTQ2S+ community, the Muslim community & many others, this isn't a political game.
The spread of these toxic ideologies presents a real threat & danger to their lives & safety. #ableg
The spread of these toxic ideologies presents a real threat & danger to their lives & safety. #ableg
And the decisions made by political leaders more concerned w/ placating their extreme political base than the good of all in AB, have real consequences for 100s of 1000s of Albertans.
And those Albertans are sitting up, taking note & will hopefully remember in 2023 #ableg
And those Albertans are sitting up, taking note & will hopefully remember in 2023 #ableg
It's my honor to serve as an MLA. I take it seriously & intend to continue to use this position, alongside all 23 of my colleagues in the Alberta NDP Caucus, to show leadership & push & fight back against movements of anger, hatred & ignorance that threaten us all. #ableg
I don't believe that the extreme views of these protestors or, indeed, many held & promoted by Jason Kenney & the UCP truly represent the views of a majority of Albertans.
We have to continue to make that clear - now, over the next two years & in 2023.
We can together. #ableg
We have to continue to make that clear - now, over the next two years & in 2023.
We can together. #ableg
Addendum: if there were signs reading “Don’t Tread on Me,” & “Make Canada Great Again,” & a Confederate flag, those are symbols of support for fascism & racism as we've seen promoted recently in the US & I'm disgusted to have them paraded on the streets of my constituency. #ableg
