Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to accept ‘invitation’ with former Trump administration doctor

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says doctors advising her have reached out to a doctor that advocated for herd immunity while with the Trump administration.

This happened when the premier met with other candidates in the Brooks-Medicine Hat MLA leadership debate at the Medicine Hat Chamber of Commerce and responded to one such candidate getting information on COVID-19 restrictions.

Bob Blayone, a member of the Independence Party of Alberta and a candidate in the race, says he spoke with the “best” doctors for advice on COVID-19.

“I would like to set the record straight on the COVID commentary,” Blayone said. “When I want to learn about something and reach out to the very best, with COVID, I reached out to Dr. Paul Alexander, Dr. Peter McCullough, Dr. Robert Malone, the inventor of mRNA technology.”

“All they want is an opportunity to come to Alberta and have a conversation with this UCP government and we’re gonna get them here,” Blayone said.

Smith responded to Blayone’s comments by saying that she’ll “accept that invitation.”

“I’ve got a group of doctors advising me and I know that they’ve already reached out to Dr. Paul Alexander,” Smith said.

Alexander was an advisor to a member of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration during the pandemic and advocated for herd immunity.

This comes as Smith is seeking a seat in the Alberta Legislature in the Brooks-Medicine Hat riding, with the election set for Tuesday.

Timothy Caulfield, a Canada Research Chair at the University of Alberta in the Health Law and Policy department, says Smith’s remarks are “problematic on so many levels.”

“I think it’s more evidence that our current Premier, and the leadership more broadly, is looking to fringe sources to inform their health policy,” Caulfield said to CityNews.

“This individual is a well-known anti-Vaxxer and works with renowned anti-vaccination groups. This individual has called for retribution against those who have adopted science-based approaches to fighting the pandemic. This individual has gone on shows like Alex Jones and pushed these conspiracy theories, even extreme ideas like classifying the vaccine as a ‘bioweapon.'”

Alexander’s mention that the U.S. should move towards herd immunity wasn’t the “most controversial position” he has taken, according to Caulfield.

“This premier has repeatedly said that she’s looking for different perspectives, and that’s absolutely fine. But when a perspective has been shown to be wrong when a perspective does real harm, … that’s not the same thing as trying to build a body of evidence,” Caulfield said.

“We absolutely need to revisit and do good research on how we can have better public health policies. That’s not what inviting an individual like this does. This just invites conspiracy theories.”

Caulfield says there are studies that have shown a hands-off approach led to more deaths, and that there is “very little evidence” to support an economic justification for less restrictive COVID policies.

Sweden stood out from other European nations with its hands-off approach, but Caulfield says reports indicate the country saw the most deaths per capita.

Malone appeared on The Joe Rogan Podcast early in the year and was criticized for spreading COVID-19 misinformation. Spotify has had to address the controversy by adding content advisories before podcasts discussing the virus.

He also says he is the inventor of mRNA technology, but said to the Associated Press that “he was not in the development of COVID-19 vaccines.”

“I did not develop mRNA COVID vaccines and I never was involved in developing a human mRNA vaccine,” Malone said in a statement early in the year.

Peter McCullough has said on a FOX News report that there’s “no clinical reason to not get vaccinated.”

McCullough has also falsely claimed that the U.S. is the only country reporting a decline in hospitalizations from the vaccines while South Africa, the United Kingdom and Israel are not.

-With files from The Associated Press and Chris Bowen, CityNews