Alberta
Redman got it right on COVID response

From the Frontier Centre for Public Policy
By Linda Slobodian
“The fear is still, I would say, in 65% of our population. They are now self-destroying their Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”
Emergency response expert and retired Lt. Col. David Redman tirelessly tried to warn everyone that the “incoherent” chaotic response to COVID-19 was dangerously flawed.
The powers in charge didn’t listen to Redman, a globally respected authority who led Alberta’s Emergency Management Agency (AEMA) for five years and served 27 years with the Canadian Armed Forces.
But finally, Redman’s dire warnings, concerns, and suggested response to dealing with a pandemic were validated by recommendations made by the Public Health Emergencies Governance Review Panel (PHEGRP) in a report submitted to the Alberta government last week.
What the government does with the recommendations remains to be seen.
But steps must be taken to hold decision-makers accountable for “gross negligence” and to help people break out of COVID’s needless “cycle of fear” that still cripples too many, Redman told the Western Standard Friday.
“Canada will pay the costs of this deadly response for decades to come,” said Redman.
Redman’s letters early on to Canada’s premiers warning them that discarding emergency management principles and placing health care officials in charge of pandemic response was dangerous, were ignored.
AEMA strategies, prepared in advance and in place to deal with pandemics, collected dust. Redman led the team that wrote the 2005 Pandemic Influenza Response Plan that was updated in 2014.
Emergency management offices — fully equipped and staffed with experts — in every province and territory were shut out.
Under the direction of health officials, the public was under siege. Punished for disobeying mandates. Subjected to unnecessary lockdowns and school closures. And controlled by a fear factor that defied a tenet of emergency management experts.
“They did it on purpose. They used fear as a weapon. In emergency management you never use fear. You use confidence. You show confidence that the emergency can be handled and present a plan to show how this will be achieved,” said Redman.
He said it is deeply disturbing that people still believe they must keep vaccines up to date and self-isolate. And that must be rectified if even possible.
“The fear that this government generated — by this government I mean every provincial, territorial government, and in particular the federal government — created for two straight years, only broken by the Freedom Convoy — will last until the children that were just entering school in 2020 die.”
Redman said the COVID-19 response was the “exact opposite” of an emergency management response.
“The pandemic response was health only focussed with terrible and deadly costs to individual mental health, societal health, our children, other serious illnesses and diseases, economic viability, and our democratic way of life simply ignored.”
“Unless there is an emergency management plan built, these costs will continue to be massive.”
Well, there’s hope.
The PHEGRP submitted its final report with more than 90 recommendations.
The panel was established by Premier Danielle Smith in January to review the government’s legislation and governance practices to manage the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It is my hope that by adopting these recommendations, the Government will be better equipped to cope with future emergencies and that the impacts on Albertans — their personal livelihoods, civil liberties and mental health — can be mitigated to the greatest extent possible,” said PHEGRP Chair and former Reform party leader Preston Manning in a press release.
Key recommendations include strengthening the AEMA through legislative amendments and budgetary provisions to make it the lead government agency responding to and coordinating the government’s response to future public emergencies.
Redman is “very happy” with Manning’s recommendations.
“There’s a lot of meat in what he’s written.”
“The first and foremost recommendation overarching his whole report is that legislation need to be changed to ensure that the emergency management process and emergency managers are in charge of every emergency including the next pandemic.”
“And that that the AEMA is appropriately funded and staffed to do their new far extended role.”
“He didn’t just say the legislation needs to be changed. He said the government needs to build and fund that organization to be responsible for response for every emergency including pandemics.”
Redman, who testified at the National Citizens Inquiry in Red Deer last April, was pleased with Manning’s wide scope.
“In the first line of each recommendation he’s covered all of the areas from fear being number one, to not doing a hazard assessment to realize that Sars-CoV-2 was really only affecting the elderly.”
“And the terrible destruction of the children and their education system, but more importantly their socialization, the effects on business, the destruction of our economy, and then summing it up with the complete destruction of rights and freedoms.”
“I think they’ve pretty much covered the areas.”
Redman said two steps must be followed immediately.
First, hold a public inquiry to educate the public and “break the cycle of fear.”
“The fear is still, I would say, in 65% of our population. They are now self-destroying their Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”
“They believe Sars-C0V-2, the sixth version of the common cold, is deadly. And they will keep believing it until we do a full, open, transparent public inquiry to teach people that what we did was absolutely wrong and why it was wrong.”
“Step two, there must be a process-driven full-recovery plan … That recovery process has to be complete, covering all the points in the Manning report and any that he might have missed.”
“Again, it must be transparent. And that plan has to be fully implemented with the ability to hold accountable everyone responsible for the gross negligence and criminal negligence that was done during COVID.”
“That will show to the public that what was done wasn’t just wrong, it was criminally wrong, and they can stop the fear.”
The inquiry must address what was done, why and “how do we recover from all of the damage we’ve done.”
“Let’s use children as an example. How do you overcome the loss of academic training. And how do you overcome two years of lack of socialization?”
If the emergency management recommendation is implemented by Smith’s government, citizens can be confident if/when the next pandemic hits.
“Emergency management is made up of professionals who are experts who evaluate daily hazards. They use a disciplined process to mitigate, prepare for, respond to and recovery from all hazards in their jurisdiction,” said Redman.
“The process they use ensures that all required experts, across the public and private sector, are involved in making a plan that evaluates the cost versus the benefits of all possible actions, making a coherent plan that is issued to the public for their engagement and feedback.”
Alberta’s pandemic plan is designed to control the spread of disease, reduce mortality, mitigate societal disruption, minimize adverse economic impact, and support efficient and effective use of recourses during response and recovery.
The Manning report recognized the delicate balance in protecting Albertans during emergencies and honouring rights and freedoms.
It recommended amending the Alberta Bill of Rights, Employment Standards Code, and Health Professions Act to protect the rights and freedoms of all Albertans, including workers and healthcare professionals and freedom of expression during emergencies.
Manning noted that too many Canadians suffered losses — including loved ones, jobs due to “rigorous health protection measures,” businesses, and freedoms.
How different would things have been if people like Redman had been listened to at the time…
Linda Slobodian is the Senior Manitoba Columnist for the Western Standard based out of Winnipeg. She has been an investigative columnist for the Calgary Herald, Calgary Sun, Edmonton Sun, and Alberta Report. This originally appeared in the Western Standard here.
Alberta
Cross-Canada NGL corridor will stretch from B.C. to Ontario

Keyera Corp.’s natural gas liquids facilities in Fort Saskatchewan. Photo courtesy Keyera Corp.
From the Canadian Energy Centre
By Will Gibson
Keyera ‘Canadianizes’ natural gas liquids with $5.15 billion acquisition
Sarnia, Ont., which sits on the southern tip of Lake Huron and peers across the St. Clair River to Michigan, is a crucial energy hub for much of the eastern half of Canada and parts of the United States.
With more than 60 industrial facilities including refineries and chemical plants that produce everything from petroleum, resins, synthetic rubber, plastics, lubricants, paint, cosmetics and food additives in the southwestern Ontario city, Mayor Mike Bradley admits the ongoing dialogue about tariffs with Canada’s southern neighbour hits close to home.
So Bradley welcomed the announcement that Calgary-based Keyera Corp. will acquire the majority of Plains American Pipelines LLP’s Canadian natural gas liquids (NGL) business, creating a cross-Canada NGL corridor that includes a storage hub in Sarnia.
“As a border city, we’ve been on the frontline of the tariff wars, so we support anything that helps enhance Canadian sovereignty and jobs,” says the long-time mayor, who was first elected in 1988.
The assets in Sarnia are a key piece of the $5.15 billion transaction, which will connect natural gas liquids from the growing Montney and Duvernay plays in B.C. and Alberta to markets in central Canada and the eastern U.S. seaboard.
NGLs are hydrocarbons found within natural gas streams including ethane, propane and pentanes. They are important energy sources and used to produce a wide range of everyday items, from plastics and clothing to fuels.
Keyera CEO Dean Setoguchi cast the proposed acquisition as an act of repatriation.
“This transaction brings key NGL infrastructure under Canadian ownership, enhancing domestic energy capabilities and reinforcing Canada’s economic resilience by keeping value and decision-making closer to home,” Setoguchi told analysts in a June 17 call.
“Plains’ portfolio forms a fully integrated cross Canada NGL system connecting Western Canada supply to key demand centres across the Prairie provinces, Ontario and eastern U.S.,” he said.
“The system includes strategic hubs like Empress, Fort Saskatchewan and Sarnia – which provide a reliable source of Canadian NGL supply to extensive fractionation, storage, pipeline and logistics infrastructure.”
Martin King, RBN Energy’s managing director of North America Energy Market Analysis, sees Keyera’s ability to “Canadianize” its NGL infrastructure as improving the company’s growth prospects.
“It allows them to tap into the Duvernay and Montney, which are the fastest growing NGL plays in North America and gives them some key assets throughout the country,” said the Calgary-based analyst.
“The crown assets are probably the straddle plants in Empress, which help strip out the butane, ethane and other liquids for condensate. It also positions them well to serve the eastern half of the country.”
And that’s something welcomed in Sarnia.
“Having a Canadian source for natural gas would be our preference so we see Keyera’s acquisition as strengthening our region as an energy hub,” Bradley said.
“We are optimistic this will be good for our region in the long run.”
The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026, pending regulatory approvals.
Meanwhile, the governments of Ontario and Alberta are joining forces to strengthen the economies of both regions, and the country, by advancing major infrastructure projects including pipelines, ports and rail.
A joint feasibility study is expected this year on how to move major private sector-led investments forward.
Alberta
Alberta school boards required to meet new standards for school library materials with regard to sexual content

Alberta’s government has introduced new standards to ensure school library materials are age-appropriate.
School libraries should be safe and supportive places where students can learn and explore without being exposed to inappropriate sexual content. However, in the absence of a consistent standard for selecting age-appropriate library materials, school boards have taken different approaches, leading to concerns about safeguards in place.
In response to these concerns, and informed by feedback from education partners and the public, Alberta’s government has created standards to provide school boards with clear direction on the selection, availability and access to school library materials, such as books.
“Our actions to ensure that materials in school libraries don’t expose children to sexual content were never about banning books. These new standards are to ensure that school boards have clear guidance to ensure age-appropriate access to school library materials, while reflecting the values and priorities of Albertans.”
The new standards set clear expectations for school library materials with regard to sexual content and require school boards to implement policies to support these standards.
Standards for school library materials
Under the new standards, school libraries are not permitted to include library materials containing explicit sexual content. Non-explicit sexual content may be accessible to students in Grade 10 and above, provided it is age-appropriate.
“Protecting kids from explicit content is common sense. LGBTQ youth, like all children, deserve to see themselves in stories that are age-appropriate, supportive and affirming – not in material that sexualizes or confuses them.”
School boards must also regularly review their school library collections, publish a full list of available materials and ensure that a staff member supervises students’ access to school library materials. School boards will have to remove any materials with explicit sexual content from their school libraries by October 1.
School board policies and procedures
All school boards must have publicly available policies that align with the new standards for selecting and managing library materials by January 1, 2026. School boards can either create new policies or update existing ones to meet these requirements.
These policies must outline how school library materials are selected and reviewed, how staff supervise students’ access throughout the school day, and how a student, parent, school board employee or other member of the school community can request a review or removal of materials in the school library. School boards are also required to clearly communicate these policies to employees, students and parents before January 2026.
“A robust, grade- and age-appropriate library catalogue is vital for student success. We welcome the ministry’s initiative to establish consistent standards and appreciate the ongoing consultation to help craft a plan that will serve our families and communities well.”
“Red Deer Public Schools welcomes the new provincial standards for school library materials. Our division is committed to maintaining welcoming, respectful learning spaces where students can grow and thrive. Under the new standards for school libraries, we remain dedicated to providing learning resources that reflect our values and support student success.”
Quick facts
- The new standards will apply to public, separate, francophone, charter and independent schools.
- The ministerial order does not apply to municipal libraries located within schools or materials selected for use by teachers as learning and teaching resources.
- From May 26 to June 6, almost 80,000 people completed an online survey to provide feedback on the creation of consistent standards to ensure the age-appropriateness of materials available to students in school libraries.
Related information
- Ministerial Order
- School library standards engagement
- Reference Materials: Content warning: this document contains graphic content that may be disturbing to viewers and is not appropriate for young viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.
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