Premier Jason Kenney Facebook Q-and-A

By Dori Modney (LethbridgeNewsNOW)

Premier Kenney holds Facebook Q-and-A to discuss police ‘assault’ issue and lifting mandates

Feb 4, 2022 | 10:47 AM

EDMONTON – As vehicle convoys continue to impede traffic in southern Alberta (the Lethbridge News Now newsroom was notified of four Thursday afternoon alone), the level of frustration from the public is beginning to grow.

LNN took a litany of calls from travellers who wanted to know why the police were not putting a stop “to this nonsense,” which brought traffic to a crawl in various locations, as people were attempting to make its appointments, to care for elderly relatives or pick up children from school.

The organizers of the convoys repeatedly decline to speak to LNN reporters and other media. However, a rural school bus driver who would speak to us when we asked if he had been caught in any of the convoys, said he had been able to escape them but, he was shocked by the fact that parents were pulling their children out of school classes to take part in the convoys.

Complaints about the convoys, border blockade, and COVID-19 mandates have not escaped the ears of Premier Jason Kenney. On Thursday evening, Kenney held an hour-long question-and-answer segment on his Facebook site and announced the government would be announcing next week, the path laid out to lift public health measures.

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Kenney noted that governments should not be swayed by protesters.

“No responsible government makes policy by negotiating with people engaged in such unlawful conduct. Period. Full stop. We fully expect our law enforcement agencies to restore and maintain public safety and law and order.”

After a meeting with his COVID-19 cabinet committee next week, Kenney said there is a plan to end Alberta’s vaccine passport program. A few days ago, Kenney said he hoped the passport could be eliminated by the end of March and he hopes most other public health measures can be ended by the end of this month if the pressure on the healthcare system adequately declines.

The premier understands the frustrations of those protesting health restrictions but, pleads with them to find legal ways of protesting.

“While I sympathize with and agree with many of the messages being sent by convoy protests over the past week, let me just underscore that a society built on the rule of law cannot accept protests that block critical infrastructure, that disrupts communities and countless law-abiding citizens.”

“I hear you loud and clear. You are right to point to the damaging impact of restrictions.”

Kenney said part of the reason he feels restrictions can be lifted is because so many Albertans have gained some immunity from COVID-19, both from getting vaccinated and from being infected with the virus.

In regard to inaccurate information about police officers being assaulted at the Coutts blockade, Kenney read a situation report he received from the Alberta Department of Justice and the Solicitor General on Tuesday (Feb. 1) afternoon.

“A group of motorists (protest sympathizers) attempting to travel south to Coutts became increasingly hostile and made threats against the RCMP members at the checkpoint, to the point where they surrounded (police) members. A team of Alberta Sheriffs and RCMP members manning a checkpoint on highway-4 and highway-501 were surrounded by protesters in commercial and private vehicles. Protesters breached the barricades and attempted to ram officers at the scene. No staff were injured but narrowly escaped injury as the protesters collided with other motorists on the highway. Assaults between protestors and motorists ensued requiring (police) intervention.”

Kenney noted the incident report was filed by RCMP members on the scene, who testified they were swarmed, threatened and had their barricades rammed by vehicles which also attempted to ram the officers who narrowly escaped injury.

While the officers were not injured, it should be noted that in Canadian law, assault is defined as intentionally putting another person in apprehension of imminent harm or offensive contact. Physical injury is not required. The fact that the protesters swarmed the officers, the barricades were rammed and attempts to ram the officers is defined as assault.

The premier stated that he, the RCMP or anyone else, “should not be blamed for the dangerous and unlawful conduct of these individuals – it is totally, totally unacceptable for people to make threats against the police, swarm the police, attempt to ram officers with their vehicles, causing them to narrowly escape injury and then to ultimately cause a collision with law-abiding motorists and engage in the assault of those law-abiding civilians.”