Summary

Summary

Alberta has been in the midst of a fourth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, with hospital admissions steadily increasing and ICU capacities strained beyond any previously known occurrences. Alberta’s Premier Jason Kenney declared the pandemic over and Alberta open for the greatest summer ever on July 1, 2021 (YourAlberta, May 26, 2021), just a couple of shortmonths before being forced to declare a public health emergency on Sept. 15 (alberta.ca, 2021), due to the increasingly persistent and mounting evidence that Alberta is still in crisis. Vaccine hesitancy, and distrust in government and institutions, is an apparent and a vocal aspect on social media, with right-wing extremists also propagating fear online and in person at protests throughout Alberta. This study quantitatively examines how messaging from Alberta’s premier contributed to Covid-19 denialism including vaccine hesitancy, how similar and different leadership styles led to similar or dissimilar public measures and containment of the virus’ spread, and what role the vocal minority has played in perpetuating such denialism on social media. This research adds to an increasing body of literature examining social, political, and public health communications in a public health crisis and informs emerging communications strategies that are intended to mitigate provincial, national, and global impacts of a public health crisis.