Alberta Premier Smith demotes Hinshaw.
The announcement that Chief Medical Officer of Health Deena Hinshaw would be in a reduced role came during Smith's first official press conference as premier Tuesday afternoon.
Asked by a reporter if she will keep Hinshaw as her chief public health advisor, Smith said, “no.”
“I will get new advice on public health,” Smith said.
Premier of Alberta, Danielle Smith says she's firing provincial Chief Medical Officer of Health, Deena Hinshaw.
— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) October 11, 2022
"I will be developing a new team of public health advisors."
Help us: https://t.co/oIPU6az6hO pic.twitter.com/zM0MLao7GO
“I appreciate the work that Dr. Deena Hinshaw has done, but I think that we’re in a new phase where we are now talking about treating Coronavirus (as) influenza.”
Watch Premier Smith's first press conference here.
Smith noted she will not return to lockdowns and restrictions this year, indicating she will seek advice from a panel of yet-to-be-announced experts.
"This has been an extraordinary time in the last year in particular, and I want people to know that I find that unacceptable, and we are not going to create a segregated society on the basis of a medical choice," said Smith detailing the restrictions faced by unvaccinated Canadians.
Hinshaw, known online as Dr. Bangs because of her severe haircut, is widely seen as the architect of Alberta's lockdowns, advising the cabinet to impose restrictions on businesses, places of worship, protests, and even family get-togethers that resulted in thousands of fines and charges levied against everyday Albertans for just trying to live their lives normally and discrimination-free.
Smith won the leadership of the United Conservative Party last week in an explicitly anti-lockdown platform, in opposition to the outgoing premier, Jason Kenney.
Crowd cheers as UCP leadership candidate Danielle Smith calls out Kenney's cabinet for not apologizing for the COVID lockdowns.
— Rebel News Canada (@RebelNews_CA) July 28, 2022
See our coverage: https://t.co/9wws5Xa9UIpic.twitter.com/pCAFNfFlOy
Earlier Tuesday, one of the most vocal lockdown resisters and high-profile target of lockdown enforcement, Pastor Art Pawlowski, was acquitted in court of one charge and had two others thrown after he was charged for trying to retrieve his mail mask-free.
BREAKING: A judge in Calgary has found Pastor Artur Pawlowski not guilty of charges stemming from an incident at a Calgary-area Shopper's Drug Mart in December 2021.https://t.co/ML7LW1byEG
— Rebel News Canada (@RebelNews_CA) October 11, 2022
Pastor Artur is being helped at no cost to him through crowdfunded donations to the registered Canadian charity, the Democracy Fund.
To send a message to the new premier that she must keep her promise of dropping remaining lockdown enforcement, please visit www.lockdownamnesty.com