The Canadian Alberta province’s inquiry into its Covid-19 response was true to its motto, ‘strong and free.’ In contrast, the Commonwealth of Australia’s inquiry was weak and faint-hearted.

Masks, lockdowns, infection-acquired immunity, rapid testing and the shaming of medical professionals who questioned the orthodoxy were challenged in Alberta, yet these matters were largely swept aside in Australia. This lack of enquiry had nothing to do with the Commonwealth’s terms of reference, which protected the states. It stemmed from an unquestioning public service mindset. Alberta scrutinised each of the contentious aspects of the Covid-19 response and confronted beliefs. Alberta embraced science. The Commonwealth consulted with stakeholders.

The Commonwealth began by ‘acknowledging country’ and recognising ‘lived experience’ (everyone has their truth). It included intersectional warnings that addressed the ‘layers of inequality and social disadvantage’, language warnings for people with disabilities and those from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds, and content warnings for anyone who might feel distressed by the material presented.

I felt distressed. Seven chapters focused on ‘vulnerable minorities’ – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, children and youth, CALD individuals, people with disabilities, the homeless, older Australians, and women. Who died from Covid-19? Very old people with comorbidities! Few others died.

The Commonwealth recommended support for children’s mental health but didn’t criticise the lockdowns that caused its deterioration. They proposed a Chief Paediatrician and a National Children’s Commissioner to oversee the next pandemic but didn’t mention closing schools or requiring children to wear masks or receive vaccinations.

The big shiny initiative that stakeholders and bureaucrats advocated for is the Australian Centre for Disease Control (CDC), which was mentioned 43 times throughout the report. This will include people whose exaggerated predictions about the virus helped Daniel Andrews, Annastacia Palaszczuk and Mark McGowan scare the crap out of their voters, for which they were rewarded. Nicholas Coatsworth, former Commonwealth Deputy Chief Medical Officer, made a compelling argument to the Commonwealth Inquiry. A CDC risks groupthink, and there is no evidence that nations with a CDC performed any better during the pandemic.

What did the Alberta inquiry do? It examined the evidence and asked questions, as inquiries are meant to. It scrutinised the modelling used to alarm the public, the necessity of lockdowns and closures, and the basis for government decisions. It questioned masking, testing, infection-acquired immunity, vaccines, and therapeutics. It questioned why the existing pandemic response plan was abandoned and why decisions were made despite evidence suggesting they were unnecessary.

During Covid, the Alberta government and its advisers used the left’s favourite deception tactic – the infamous precautionary principle, which greenies use to block mining. Under this principle, any potential environmental risk, known or unknown, leads to a lockout. In the case of Covid, every measure was taken to combat the virus, while no precautions were taken for every other risk.

The precautionary principle failed to provide any guidance on the level of caution and the harm it caused. The Alberta inquiry questioned why the government employed the precautionary principle despite knowing the potential harms of stringent measures. It also raised concerns about why most of the measures lacked scientific evidence. The Commonwealth failed to ask.

The Alberta inquiry questioned why health officials in the province enforced their views on the medical profession and tolerated no dissent, why medical professional societies toed the party line, and why doctors hesitated to voice their opinions. It also explored why the medical societies ignored their independent duty on Covid-19 measures and complied submissively with directives. The Commonwealth failed to ask.

The Alberta inquiry questioned why vaccinations were aggressively promoted to everyone, including infants and minors, despite their low risk of severe Covid-19 infection. The Commonwealth did not ask.

The Alberta inquiry understood comorbidities. The Commonwealth was mired in bureaucratic jargon. They referred to a ‘One Health’ perspective – a need to ‘optimise health for people, animals, and our environment and mitigate converging health threats relating to climate change, biodiversity collapse, stressed ecosystems, antimicrobial resistance, and ageing and increasingly comorbid population’. FFS…

The Alberta inquiry concluded that Covid-19 forecasts were ineffective. It recommended ‘avoiding at all costs’ making the results of the simulation models public. It argued that ‘even meaningless mathematics can create the illusion of high-quality analyses’ and ‘generat[e] a false sense of control over complex, dynamic phenomena’. The Commonwealth remained silent.

The Alberta inquiry questioned why public health officials enforced mask mandates without evaluating their harm, particularly in children who were at low risk from Covid. The Commonwealth faithfully followed the World Health Organisation, which changed its mind to a pro-face masks stance without any scientific basis.

The Commonwealth ignored herd immunity. The Alberta inquiry revealed that ‘infection-acquired immunity, obtained through prior infection’, can provide ‘durable and protective immune responses’. More importantly, ‘infection-acquired immunity should not be overlooked or downplayed in public health messaging and policies’.

What was the Commonwealth’s view? It was vaccines or nothing. As Alberta stated, ‘recognising that infection-acquired immunity is superior to vaccine-acquired immunity does not equate to advocating for infection over vaccination’. Why were vaccines promoted as the solution to curtail the pandemic and restore normality? The Commonwealth was too faint-hearted to enquire.

Alberta recommended an immediate halt to Covid-19 vaccines and advised ending the vaccines for healthy children and teenagers. The Commonwealth did not raise pertinent questions about vaccines.

Alberta presented scientific evidence on the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin, and several other readily available medicines. The Commonwealth said that the ban on these medicines ‘only served to further fuel conspiracy theories’.

Conspiracy theories bloom when scientists and medical professionals lock down. They should be strong and free. Unless we learn from Alberta, the script for the next pandemic will be: ‘Lock ‘em down and wait for the vaccine’.