Premier Danielle Smith of Alberta has defended her decision to appoint Dr. Gary Davidson, a physician who has criticized the province’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, to lead a review of pandemic-era health data. Davidson, the former chief of emergency medicine at the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre, has previously accused the province of exaggerating the impact of COVID-19 on hospitals. The provincial health authority, Alberta Health Services, has rejected those accusations as false.
Smith said she selected Davidson to lead the data review because she wants to hear a range of viewpoints, including from those “shouted down in the public sphere.” She said she left it to Davidson to assemble the panel with the guidance that she would like to have a broad range of perspectives.
The work of the task force is nearly complete, but few details have been publicized since it was struck in 2022. The Globe and Mail reported Tuesday that Davidson was appointed chair of the task force a year ago. The task force is mandated to review data and offer recommendations on how to better manage a future pandemic.
Smith said Tuesday she wanted it to look at how to better analyze public health data and to fact-check concerns about vaccine side-effects. The government earmarked $2 million for the project, but Smith said she expects it to come in under budget. The final report is expected to go to the government next month and Smith has said the findings will be made public.
Opposition New Democrat Leader Rachel Notley lambasted the panel and Smith, calling it a waste of public money to launch a secret consultation led by someone with “fringe views.” Notley said, “I believe the Earth is round, and I don’t think that the people of Alberta should be paying for people who believe it’s flat to be engaging in the conversation.”
During COVID, Smith publicly questioned the efficacy of pandemic rules and gathering restrictions, particularly when compared with the potential for long-term harms to mental and physical well-being. Smith questioned the mainstream science approach to the pandemic and endorsed debunked COVID-19 treatments, such as horse dewormer ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine. She embraced the Great Barrington Declaration, a theory that called for protecting the elderly and frail but otherwise letting COVID-19 run free to build up herd immunity.
