Alberta, Sasketchewan announce an end to nearly all covid restrictions.

Not immediately, alas, but soon.

Canada’s chief public health officer says provinces are going to have to find a balance between containing the virus with public health measures and returning to a sense of normalcy as the Omicron wave continues to crest.

Several provinces have signalled their intention to do away with some, if not all, remaining COVID-19 health restrictions.

 Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says his government will announce next week a date to end Alberta’s COVID-19 vaccine passport, as well as a phased approach to ending almost all COVID-19 health restrictions by the end of the month, provided the pressure on hospitals continues to decline.

Meanwhile Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says he’s committed to ending all COVID-19 restrictions soon, even while COVID-19-related hospitalizations are at their highest level since the pandemic began.

Chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam said even a complete series of two COVID-19 vaccines offers little in the way of protection against infection from the Omicron variant, and boosters work against transmission only for a period of time.

She said vaccine mandates should be re-evaluated over time, but they must be weighed against the potential effect on fragile health systems and how many serious cases they can handle.

Exit question: Did the truckers win?

Exit answer: Yes

.

And that’s bad because they’re not The Smart People who have nearly an unbroken record of being completely 100% wrong on every major question for the past 30 years.

But they have majestically-creased trousers and this makes their astonishingly large list of serious, life-taking mistakes elegant and refined and sophisticated and urbane, which is infinitely preferable to the crude, boorish, vulgar correctness of the Deplorables and scruffy populists.