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Somebody has to go first.  So Premier Jason Kenney has put up his hand, on behalf of all Albertans, and said 'OK, we'll speed up our post-Covid relaunch strategy.'

On Friday fitness centres and gyms, nail salons and libraries, pools and bingo halls can open.  Albertans can have indoor parties of up to 50 people and outdoor ones with 100 guests — weddings and funerals welcome.  Restaurants can have up to six patrons at a table.

Alberta has, from the beginning, been a bit looser with Covid restrictions than most provinces.  Construction never ground to a halt.  The oil and gas sector was declared essential, so progress on pipelines could continue unabated.  Shopping malls reopened back in May in the Stage 1 relaunch.  Barber shops and salons have been open for a couple of weeks.

(Note that every province has its own version of phases and stages, just to complicate things.)

All things considered, Alberta hasn't been as radically affected by Covid as Quebec or Ontario.  As of Tuesday this week, there were 356 active cases in the entire province, with 46 Covid patients in hospital.

There have of course been bumps.  Massive Covid outbreaks at southern Alberta meat packing plants were a black mark early in the lockdown.  Continuing care homes in Calgary have had outbreaks.  Edmonton, which had experienced far lower infection rates than Calgary, has had an uptick in the last week, partially attributed to a couple of over-exuberant family gatherings.

But the premier was more than happy to praise Albertans to the heavens for their adherence to the Covid rules.

For Kenney the reopening is crucial politically.  A recent poll shows if an election happened immediately the UCP would still win a majority, but there has been some erosion of support.  And Kenney's own popularity remains soft.

The energy sector-dependent province, which was already suffering from record low oil prices, is particularly vulnerable to the piling on of a Covid recession.

For his base, the reopening of the economy is a prime driver.  Even the NDP, reading the sentiment of the province, isn't complaining about the relaunch announcement pace, although NDP Leader Rachel Notley is calling for a more detailed economic support plan for Alberta workers left out in the cold by the recent pandemic dislocation.

Kenney's press conference on the reopening was an exercise in trying to strike a balance between celebration and restraint.

Alberta never came close to using all the hospital beds and respirators it had set aside for Covid.  Yay.  But we will have more cases, hospitalizations and deaths as the province reopens.  Oh no.

Kenney was clear that the province isn't reopening because Covid is over or even tightly controlled.  Instead, restrictions to date bought time to get used to masks and hand sanitizer, disinfection and social distancing, Kenney said.

"As I've said from Day 1 of the pandemic, our responses always need to be equally dedicated to protecting both lives and livelihoods."

The livelihood side of the equation is currently on the ascent politically.  The trick of course is not to be too explicit about the potential risk of spiking illness and death rates.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the province medical officer of health, was cautious, using words like diligence and vigilance a lot in her statements this week.

"And while we're still not back to our pre-pandemic lives, and we need to accept precautions as part of our new normal, we are closer than we were," she said.

The new normal is the real issue.  The use of masks is certainly not universal in Alberta in terms of retail and mall locations.  And not everyone is checking the arrows on the drugstore and grocery store floor to figure out which way to go down the aisles.

If things go badly with the relaunch, for instance if one or more major outbreaks of Covid occur in the coming month, it's not clear how Kenney will put the genie back in the bottle.

For this week he gets to be the magnanimous liberator.

"Enjoy life, do it safely, and no need to panic," he declared.

Now Albertans have to pay as much attention to the 'do it safely' part of that declaration as the 'enjoy life'.

Photo Credit: Calgary Herald

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