Alberta Premier Jason Kenney (Canadian Press file photo)

By Sheldon Spackman

"getting closer by the day" to pandemic's end

Kenney touts Alberta’s ‘unique and balanced’ pandemic approach in Chamber seminar

Apr 14, 2021 | 3:18 PM

Alberta’s premier brought a message of “better days to come” to the local business community on Wednesday.

During a Zoom event hosted by the Red Deer and District Chamber of Commerce, Jason Kenney praised local businesses for their resilience, adaptability and strength over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I know it hasn’t been easy, I know there’s been enormous, real loss, great sacrifice, and that we’re not through this yet. But we are getting closer by the day,” said Kenney.

The premier describes Alberta’s approach to the pandemic as unique and balanced.

“The goal has been from day one, to control viral spread so that we can prevent large scale, avoidable deaths and prevent our healthcare system from being overwhelmed, which can happen very quickly,” he explained.

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“Right now, with the recent measures we had to introduce 10 days ago to prevent our hospitals from being overwhelmed by this variant-driven third spike, we’re at about 95 per cent of Alberta businesses open and substantially able to operate.”

He explained that restrictions currently affecting restaurants and many Alberta businesses are not about the businesses themselves, but about the activities that take place.

“It’s about socializing, it’s about people who were not respecting our rules around family cohorts in those places of business,” he remarked. “We’ve tried to minimize the damage by having patio service to continue, of course take out as well, and I really can’t wait for the day we get back to in-dining service. Again, it’s not a negative commentary about those businesses, but about the kind of social activity that happens there.

“I’m the most frustrated person in the province about the decisions we’ve had to make,” shares Kenney. “But we don’t get to wish our way out of a deadly pandemic. All we can do is have each other’s back, be kind and compassionate for one another during this challenging and stressful time, and find our way forward together. I believe we are doing that.”

Kenney says his government has implemented many measures over the past year in support of the province’s business community.

“Yesterday, I was at this podium announcing an additional $350 million in direct cash support for small and medium-sized enterprises affected by the pandemic. Through what we call the Small and Medium Enterprise Relaunch Grant, we’ve already delivered over $620 million in support through that program with this latest tranche of funding.

“This is the third of three tranches and through it, SMEs who have experienced a revenue decline of at least 30 per cent since March of last year and who validate or affirm that they’ve been affected by COVID restrictions, they can receive up to $10,000 in each one of those three portions.”

Other provincial measures Kenny noted include Alberta’s participation in the federal government’s Commercial Rent Assistance program, and provincial income tax and WCB premium deferrals.

“We’ve also covered half the cost of those premiums for small and medium businesses in the past year. We provided $100 million to childcare operators, tens of millions of dollars to agricultural operators to helping them overcome the back up in the livestock industry last year, and so much more.”

Moving forward, Kenney suggests the province will continue to work with Chambers of Commerce to identify where additional help might be needed.

“I’m not pretending that $30,000 of cash support and half a billion dollars in offset of WCB premiums is going to make businesses whole, but we are set, I believe, as a province, to take off into one of our best periods of economic growth in Alberta history.”

Kenney anticipates central Alberta to be part of that growth, noting plans for a new flour mill south of Red Deer this summer, access to high speed broadband and 5G wireless throughout Red Deer County, and talks with WestJet about bringing their Swoop discount carrier to Red Deer Regional Airport (YQF).