The Redman Report
If you haven’t seen the report put out in July by Lt. Col. David Redman and the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, please check it out.
Lt. Col. Redman is a decorated soldier who was the Alberta’s first Director of Emergency Management. He set up our program of emergency management and has written a lengthy indictment of how our response to the Covid-19 pandemic has been handled.
It is my view that the Redman report clearly outlines what went wrong and how we, be it the provincial government itself or municipalities pressuring the provincial government, can rectify such a poor response to this crisis.
If you were infuriated by the recent “emergency alert” that was put out to Albertans (the jarring ring tone over your phone!), you will appreciate that doing so was an exercise in fear mongering. It was an abuse of a system intended to alert us to an IMMEDIATE threat to life and property, be it wildfires, tornadoes or even kidnappings.
A lot has transpired since March of 2020. I think we all are perfectly aware that the province is in a state of emergency. Fear mongering is what Redman calls an “unconscionable tool to use” in emergency management.
Local government in Alberta is subject to the Emergency Management Act, having direct access to the Alberta Emergency Alert system. We work directly with the Alberta Emergency Management Agency.
Given my time in municipal government, I am well-versed in the regular training that is required of municipalities and can participate effectively in council discussions about emergencies.
Pandemics are contemplated in the provincial emergency management plan. This should have triggered a State of Emergency under the Emergency Management Act, not a Public Health Emergency under the Public Health Act.
Local government is ideally positioned to seek accountability for how the pandemic has been managed. Everything the province expects of us, they themselves did not do!
The Redman Report can be found here: