Deena Hinshaw

The writ is expected to drop on Monday in Alberta for an election campaign that effectively began weeks ago with both Danielle Smith’s United Conservatives and Rachel Notley’s New Democrats warning of the dystopian future should their opponents triumph.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s promise to assemble a panel of medical experts to deliver ongoing advice on public health and COVID-19 will be covered off by former Reform Party Leader Preston Manning’s pandemic review, her office said on Wednesday, January 25, 2023.

Premier Danielle Smith has struck a committee to investigate how the Alberta government responded to the COVID-19 pandemic, and has appointed former Reform Party leader Preston Manning to chair it.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the chief medical officer of health who became the face of Alberta’s public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic, has been officially removed from her post.

Danielle Smith, sworn in on Tuesday, October 11, 2022, as Alberta's new premier, said she will shake up the top tier of the health system within three months and amend provincial human rights law to protect those who choose not to get vaccinated.

Even as some provinces have reported record-high daily COVID-19 case counts, health experts are warning the real infection rate is likely much higher, pointing out that data has been clouded by holiday delays and with hospitals and testing centres reaching their limits.

In 2022, Kenney and his United Conservative government aim to forge ahead on the economy and catch up on the thousands of surgeries cancelled when hospitals were overwhelmed during the fourth wave of COVID-19 in the fall.

Alberta and British Columbia are reporting their first cases of the Omicron COVID-19 variant that has now been detected in four Canadian provinces.

Both cases of the variant were found in the Ottawa area in people who had recently been in Nigeria, Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott said in a joint statement with the province's top public health official, Dr. Kieran Moore.

Premier Jason Kenney is rejecting accusations that he is blaming the province's chief medical officer of health for Alberta’s failures in the handling of the fourth wave of COVID-19.

The head of Alberta's health system says the COVID-19 hospital crisis has become so dire, a key reason the system hasn't collapsed is because patients are dying.

Alberta's top doctor says the province's "Open For Summer" plan set the trajectory for a crushing fourth wave of COVID-19, which her predecessor warns is leading to an "acute care system breakdown."

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says he won't "take lectures" from federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu on how to handle COVID-19.

Alberta's top doctor is apologizing for causing "confusion, fear or anger" after communicating the province's plan to eliminate remaining COVID-19 public health measures.