UCP beating a dead horse in blaming feds for COVID-19 issues: expert

CALGARY (660 NEWS) – We’ve heard it time and time again from the premier and sometimes even from the health minister – the feds are the reason why Alberta is struggling to get a grasp on COVID-19 cases.

Now, it’s no secret that the UCP government is not a fan of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but according to one political scientist, you can only push the blame so far before it comes back to bite you.

During an April COVID-19 provincial update, Premier Jason Kenney and Health Minister Tyler Shandro expressed their doubt when it comes to the federal government’s vaccine rollout plan.

“But the vaccines didn’t arrive fast enough. Based on supply, we still have many weeks to go. Vaccines arrived today thankfully that had been delayed for some time,” said Kenney.

“The government of Canada has promised to make up with more Pfizer vaccines arriving which is promising but timing is really critical. But despite delays and disappointments, our rollout keeps gaining steam. We are finally seeing the shipments that should’ve came weeks or months ago,” added Kenney.

RELATED: As supplies pile high in Alberta questions are raised around vaccine rollout

“We can’t give out those doses that we don’t yet have as we receive them from the federal government,” said Shandro.

Duane Bratt, a political scientist at Mount Royal University, says the premier and the health minister may have had a point when the issue was brought up earlier this year, but that it’s now time to move on.

“They may have had a case in February perhaps in even early March, but as of today (Friday), it doesn’t explain why Alberta has the highest caseload by far of any province in the country,” said Bratt.

Bratt adds the COVID-19 numbers no longer reflect the vaccine delays that we have been experiencing in recent months, and now the premier could be just be hurting himself by beating a dead horse.

“If there was a problem with the vaccine rollout in April and late March, it would’ve affected the entire country, and that’s not the case,” he said.

“Alberta’s vaccine rollout is going quite smoothly but it’s a way of deflecting from some real mismanagement on the COVID restrictions that exist in Alberta which are provincial,” said Bratt.