Author of the article:Jason Herring
Publishing date:Oct 31, 2020 •
The COVID Alert app is seen on an iPhone in Ottawa on July 31, 2020.
PHOTO BY THE CANADIAN PRESS/JUSTIN TANG
The Jason Kenney government is blocking the federal COVID Alert app from being used in Alberta, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged in an Edmonton radio interview Friday.
“(The app) will be a lot more useful when the province decides to give people the ability to plug in the codes,” Trudeau said in an interview with 630 CHED.
“That’s all that’s missing, and we really hope that people will take on every tool we possibly can to fight COVID-19.”
The comments come three months after the federal government launched the COVID Alert app.
Though some provinces took longer than others to sign on, the app now works in all provinces except for Alberta and British Columbia.
Alberta released its own app called ABTraceTogether in the spring but it faced concerns over functionality and privacy.
The province has said the delay in signing on to the federal app stems from ensuring the 247,000 accounts created on the provincial app can be “transitioned” to the federal one.
The premier’s office did not immediately respond to request for comment Friday.
Reports of heckling by UCP MLAs referring to COVID Alert as “Trudeau’s app” in legislature Tuesday led Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi to call for the province to allow the app to work and avoid the “politicization of public health.”
Trudeau still asked Albertans to download the app, saying it has some utility because it can notify people of exposures if they come in contact with someone from another province using the app.
“I encourage Albertans to download the COVID-19 app because it starts working right away and if it comes online in the next couple of weeks, you’ll have that much more protection,” he said.
The Jason Kenney government is blocking the federal COVID Alert app from being used in Alberta, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged in an Edmonton radio interview Friday.
“(The app) will be a lot more useful when the province decides to give people the ability to plug in the codes,” Trudeau said in an interview with 630 CHED.
“That’s all that’s missing, and we really hope that people will take on every tool we possibly can to fight COVID-19.”
The comments come three months after the federal government launched the COVID Alert app.
Though some provinces took longer than others to sign on, the app now works in all provinces except for Alberta and British Columbia.
Alberta released its own app called ABTraceTogether in the spring but it faced concerns over functionality and privacy.
The province has said the delay in signing on to the federal app stems from ensuring the 247,000 accounts created on the provincial app can be “transitioned” to the federal one.
The premier’s office did not immediately respond to request for comment Friday.
Reports of heckling by UCP MLAs referring to COVID Alert as “Trudeau’s app” in legislature Tuesday led Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi to call for the province to allow the app to work and avoid the “politicization of public health.”
Trudeau still asked Albertans to download the app, saying it has some utility because it can notify people of exposures if they come in contact with someone from another province using the app.
“I encourage Albertans to download the COVID-19 app because it starts working right away and if it comes online in the next couple of weeks, you’ll have that much more protection,” he said.
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