Alberta premier changes her mind on promise to pardon COVID-19 health violators - CTV news

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, less than three months after promising to seek pardons for COVID-19 health violators, says she will now let justice take its course while also announcing she is regularly contacting Crown prosecutors about these cases ...

Artur Pawlowski, a Calgary pastor jailed and fined for COVID-19 masking and gathering violations - charges later overturned on appeal - criticized Smith's remarks.

“My friends were voting for her (in the leadership race) because they wanted this prosecution and persecution of Canadians to stop in our province,” Pawlowski said in an interview.

“She promised that amnesty would come. That never happened.”

Pawlowski still faces charges related to last year's blockade in Coutts, Alta., near the United States border.

He called Smith “Kenney 2.0,” referencing to her predecessor, Jason Kenney.

“She is a flip-flopping, political pancake,” Pawlowski said. “Whatever works for her, that's what she's going to pursue.” ...

Kenney was effectively voted out of office last year by a branch of the UCP angry over what they called freedom-busting COVID-19 gathering, vaccine and masking rules.

Smith also won the leadership on a promise to change laws to forbid restrictions for people based on their COVID-19 vaccine status. She never introduced the bill as promised last fall, saying more study was needed.

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