Officials spotted violating COVID-related restrictions
High-ranking officials of a province, including the Prime Minister, violated their own directives.
High-ranking officials from the province of Alberta were spotted failing to adhere to health restrictions by dining on the balcony of a palace in Edmonton without masks and keeping their distance. Premier Jason Kenney, Health Minister Tyler Shando, Environment Minister Jason Nixon and other officials participated in the dinner.
On June 1, the first phase of the provincial opening plan went into effect, which allows outdoor gatherings of up to 10 people with distance. However, patios are allowed to dine with a limit of 4 people per table, and they must be members of the same family, or 3 people per table if they live alone. Indoor gatherings are not allowed. Photos that have hit the web show officials entering the palace.
A spokeswoman for the Prime Minister's Office, Jerrica Goodwin, said it was a "working dinner," the gathering was held outdoors, and there were fewer than 10 people there. The spokeswoman did not respond to further comments by journalists that the officials were not wearing masks, were not keeping their distance and it was definitely not a "working dinner" (the photo shows bottles of alcohol).
"If it's a patio, you can't have that many people from different households gathering there. If it's an outdoor meeting, they didn't keep the distance. There may be less than 10 people there, but they were going indoors, and that's a violation," said Dwayne Bratt, a political scientist at Mount Royal University. — So there you have the premier, the health minister and a couple of other ministers violating Alberta's quarantine restrictions."
Bratt also disagreed with the definition of "working dinner" and called it "celebratory". It was held a few hours after the vaccination plan was announced with second doses.
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