Saturday morning in Alberta, the phones were ringing.

Not with curiosity. Not with politics. With fear.

TAIT: Premier Smith apparently unbothered by fears of people with severe handicaps Back to video

People on AISH — Alberta’s Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped — were calling in, texting in, reaching out the only way they knew how. Days before the launch of the Alberta Disability Assistance Program, tens of thousands of the most vulnerable people in this province were scared. Confused. Looking for answers about what happens to their lives when the calendar flips.

They turned on the radio. They called Your Province, Your Premier on the Corus Network. They tried to be heard.

The door was shut in their faces.

Host Wayne Nelson decided the AISH-to-ADAP transition had been talked about “ad nauseam.” So he shut it down. No calls. No texts. No questions from the people whose lives hang in the balance. Instead, he handed the microphone to Premier Danielle Smith — unfiltered, unchallenged, and apparently unbothered.

I want you to sit with that for a........

© Edmonton Sun