HIGH RIVER, Alberta (LifeSiteNews) – Alberta Premier leadership candidate Danielle Smith said employer vaccine mandates enacted in the province were a “human rights violation” and she promised as leader that she would make it illegal for anyone to be fired because of their vaccine status.
“Thousands of Albertans lost their jobs because they wouldn’t agree to be vaccinated. Tens of thousands were pressured to take the vaccine on threat of losing their job. This was a human rights violation,” Smith tweeted yesterday.
Smith said that with “federal booster mandates looming” there will be many companies who will be “pressured into implementing mandates this fall.”
“That’s why as Premier our government will amend the Alberta Human Rights Act to prohibit employers from firing employees based on their vaccination status,” Smith wrote.
Smith then noted that the “Government and media can butt out” out of one’s “decision of whether to be vaccinated” as this is “between you and your doctor.”
Earlier in the week, Smith said that as leader of the province she will make it “illegal” for post-secondary institutions to shut out students who choose “not to be vaccinated.”
She also recently noted that as leader of Alberta she would “ensure our schools and youth activities remain open permanently; and no child will ever be forced to wear a mask again.”
“We will let kids be kids and teachers teach. That’s my promise to you,” Smith wrote.
“Shutting down our schools was extremely harmful to our kids. Not only did it harm their education, it contributed to the ballooning youth mental health crisis & robbed them of so many positive experiences that all of us had growing up, but they missed,” she said.
The shuttering of businesses and the firing of the vaccine free in Alberta as well as the rest of Canada was unprecedented in the nation’s history, seeing many hard-working men and women suffer as a result.
In Alberta, many who were unfairly targeted by the COVID mandates have fought back.
A group of Calgary firefighters is suing the city for $38 million over COVID mandates.
Also, a group of around now 200-plus WestJet employees, some of whom were fired for not taking the COVID shots, are suing the airline and the Canadian federal government over COVID jab mandates.
Last month, a Canadian pilot with extensive experience told LifeSiteNews that many pilots who took the jabs under threat of job loss now have health issues as a result of getting the COVID shots.
Smith has promised to ensure that no private business ever gets shut down again and that any federal COVID mandate laws would not be enforced in Alberta.
She also promised that if she becomes premier she will introduce the Alberta Sovereignty Act to deal with federal overreach, which she said will help make Alberta as independent from Ottawa as possible while still staying in the Confederation.
The Canadian federal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau seems not to like this idea, however.
Alberta Lieutenant-Governor Salma Lakhani (the Queen’s representative who signs off on all laws) says she will consider not approving Smith’s Sovereignty Act.
In May, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney announced his intention to resign as United Conservative Party (UCP) leader as soon as the party elects a new head. This came after he only narrowly passed a confidence vote from party members, no doubt due to his track record of locking down Alberta hard.
The UCP will elect its new party leader in October.
During a leadership debate earlier in the month, Smith, along with the other leadership frontrunners Travis Toews and Brian Jean, made statements promoting adoption over abortion.
Canada’s top pro-life group Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) put its support behind pro-life candidate Todd Loewen to lead the UCP.