Former Reform Party leader Preston Manning to get $253K to chair Alberta COVID-19 panel
CTV
Danielle Smith has appointed retired conservative politician Preston Manning to head a review of how Alberta handled the COVID-19 public health emergency, a job that will pay him $253,000.
Danielle Smith has appointed retired conservative politician Preston Manning to head a review of how Alberta handled the COVID-19 public health emergency, a job that will pay him $253,000.
Manning, 80, was the member of parliament for Calgary Southwest from 1993 to 2002 and led the Reform Party of Canada from 1987 to 2000.
The premier's press secretary told CTV News Edmonton Thursday that Manning was not available for an interview.
In November, Manning announced a national citizens inquiry into the COVID-19 responses of all governments.
"[This] will cover everything from the mandates for face masking, to the mandates for social distancing, to the mandates for school lockdowns and economic lockdowns and provide an opportunity for alternative scientific and medical narratives on all those subjects," he said in a video recorded a few weeks later.
"In a democracy, when people are afraid to tell their stories or to provide alternative views that's not a good thing and so hopefully this inquiry can remove the fear factor."
In January 2021, Manning wrote a letter to the federal justice minister acknowledging that COVID-19 is "a serious threat to the health and well-being of Canadians" while arguing that "lockdown rules" violated democratic, religious and assembly rights.
