Healthcare Theatre: Alberta Government Fences Off Grace Life Church

Despite the fact that Grace Life Church has not been linked to the spread of the COVID-19 virus or its variants, Alberta health care officials have decided to surround the building with cop cars and industrial fences to keep anyone from approaching. 

Alberta Health Services (AHS) seem to know what they are doing is unjustifiable as they never address whether or not Grace Life Church and its pastor, James Coates, have been connected to the spread of more infections.

AHS said in a statement regarding their effort to bar entry to the church property that:

[Grace Life Church] decided not to follow these mandatory restrictions, nor have they attempted to work with AHS to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission…With COVID-19 cases increasing and the more easily-transmitted and potentially more severe variants becoming dominant, there is urgent need to minimize spread to protect all Albertans.

At the end of the day what is going on is not the Alberta government trying to ‘stop the spread’ or protect Albertans, seeing as they are wasting resources to once again harass Pastor Coates and the Grace Life Church members in spite of their clean record when it comes to spreading infections.

Premier Jason Kenney when asked about preventing people from violating the lockdown orders said, “I understand there may be action coming. And in some cases and I would just say stay tuned on that,” which sounds more like a statement motivated by a vindictive attitude towards Albertans that have reasonable objections to following fruitless lockdown rules than a real concern for Albertans health and safety.

Every time the Alberta government or other provincial governments unfairly goes after a church or small business all they end up doing is causing a media circus that simply provokes more people into defying lockdown orders.

What we are witnessing is a prime example of healthcare theatre. Alberta’s Chief Health Officer Deena Hinshaw likely cannot explain why the Alberta government needs to come down hard on a community that has not been a vector of transmission, and why would she? Hinshaw, Health Minister Tyler Shandro, and the AHS are more motivated by doing things that seem to be taking health and safety seriously than actually keeping people safe.

If they took the health and safety of Albertans seriously then why are we seeing such terrible healthcare outcomes in long-term care homes? Seniors are literally being moved from hospitals back to care homes and being put in shared rooms without even being tested first, but of course, the real problem is somehow James Coates preaching sermons on Sunday mornings.

I myself disagree with the use of labels like “Nazi” or “Gestapo” being applied to the police, who likely also find what the Alberta government is doing to be ridiculous, but it is inarguable that the Alberta government and other provincial governments since last March have moved in a blatantly authoritarian direction. 

Canadians’ Charter Rights have taken a backseat to the healthcare theatre of politicians trying to show the lefty mainstream media how much they can pretend to care about health and safety while throwing the entire economy under the bus. These days, anyone who asserts that they have rights and freedoms are treated like dissidents by the government.

If the Alberta government likely is making a big misstep on coming down on Grace Life Church in this manner. If the government wants to keep up their low-level authoritarian rules being this heavy-handed is guaranteed to spur many Albertans into action, who may have not previously been fed up with the regime of lockdowns.

With the United Conservative Party in Alberta already polling behind the NDP, and the rise of the Wildrose Independence Party, Kenney’s political future is no doubt in a crisis situation. If he doesn’t end the lockdowns in Alberta soon Kenney and his party may be facing an inevitable political implosion in 2023.