Edmonton city councillors passed two motions Wednesday that will look at if and how they can implement a municipal restrictions exemption program, even though the province lifted the Alberta COVID-19 measure on Tuesday.
“I’m concerned at the pace at which these COVID protections are being removed and the lack of consultations with municipalities,” Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said Wednesday afternoon.
“Our goal is to make sure we’re exploring every option to keep Edmontonians safe.
“I wish (Alberta) kept these restrictions a little longer and not make this too fast a decision. We’ll do what we can.”
By passing the motions, city council is asking:
- That administration return to council (as soon as possible) with options for and detailing the implications of implementing a municipal Restriction Exemption Program (REP) and/or an active [symptom] screening program, including options for both city owned and operated facilities and citywide private businesses.
- That the mayor, on behalf of council, formally request that the provincial government provide the City of Edmonton with the recommendations made by the chief medical officer of health and the data used to inform the recommendations announced Feb. 8, 2022.
Sohi said he was very disappointed the province didn’t consult with municipalities about the plan to ease COVID-19 measures.
“We were called at 4 p.m. to be briefed on an announcement scheduled for 5 p.m. It was a heads-up. At no point did we have the chance to have input,” Sohi said.
“This government did not include us in any decision-making or consultation process in regards to lifting the protections that were in place.
“We were absolutely excluded.”
The city and province have a good relationship on other files, Sohi said, such as economic growth and the budget.
On Tuesday evening, Premier Jason Kenney announced Alberta’s COVID-19 vaccine passport program would end midnight on Feb. 9, and almost all public health restrictions will be lifted March 1 if the situation in hospitals continues to improve.
At a news conference, the premier said while REP served its purpose of increasing vaccination rates, it is no longer an effective tool for doing so and no longer needed, especially with so many vaccinated people still contracting the highly-transmissible Omicron variant of COVID-19.
“(The REP) has made a huge difference,” Kenney said. “It has saved many lives.”
However, he said he does not believe the program can serve any useful purpose going forward, unless one were to change the definition of full vaccination to three doses of a vaccine or more.
Officials in some municipalities, including Alberta’s two largest cities, have previously said they would look at whether to take steps to keep some public health restrictions through bylaws if the province lifts them before they think it is prudent to do so.
Kenney said he would like to speak with mayors who are considering taking such actions.
“I’d like to know if it is their intention to create an entirely separate municipal public health policy,” he said.
“I think that would be a serious problem.”
Edmonton’s mayor said councillors asked administration to look at the implications of a possible local REP as well as consider the city’s risk of a Charter legal challenge.
Administration was also asked to look at the enforcement piece and the responsibility and pressure a local REP might put on businesses and workers.
“The provincial program really worked well, and it has provincewide scope, and there was the way of the law around it,” he said. “We don’t have the same capacity to enforce these types of exemption programs.
“That’s why we want to explore the implications of having a local restrictions exemption program. That’s why we would have preferred the province continue to have that REP in place.”
Sohi said there are likely implications if there is no REP.
Some Edmontonians may chose to no longer go to recreation centres to exercise or shop in-person at local businesses or dine out in restaurants, the mayor said.
And, he said, more unvaccinated people will be going into restaurants, bars, gyms and rec centres, which puts people working in those places at elevated risk.
“They’ll be facing all those additional challenges and their well-being is being compromised.”
Rob Browatzke, manager and co-owner of Evolution Wonderlounge, said having to enforce a local vaccine passport would be horrible.
“It would be a nightmare to try to get staff and myself to enforce a municipal restrictions exemption program or a municipal passport of some kind. It’s already been hard enough with the provincial one. If there’s a city one, we won’t have any choice but to comply, but it’s a nightmare.”
Browatzke has already contacted his city councillor to share his concerns.
“I don’t know what the end game is anymore. I don’t know what the right answer is. We just want to survive.
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“We’ve taken on a huge amount of debt… we’ve bargained with the landlords… all the subsidies and assistance have dried up. We are out of options. We’re just hemorrhaging money… We need to have the revenue stream back.”
He said he doesn’t expect Phase 1, the removal of the REP, to boost business that much. Browatzke feels that will only come when the nightclub can bring back dancing and late-night liquor service, which is Phase 2.
“The curfew is the big one. We are liquor primary. We’re a dance club and entertainment venue. We make our money from selling booze and if we can only sell until 11, we’re very, very limited in our ability to bring in any revenue at all.”
All staff are required to be fully vaccinated, all entertainers are fully vaccinated and Browatzke says 95 per cent of Evolution’s clientele is fully vaccinated.
“For the most part, I think people are ready for restrictions to change.
“We’re safe and protected. We’ve done what we’re required to do to protect ourselves.
“People are ready to have some sense of normalcy… It’s time to find the balance.”
Jeffrey Sundquist, president and CEO of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce, agrees small businesses need consistency.
“Businesses have been very resilient over the last couple years and have had to go through a bunch of adjustments. We’d like predictability… We’d like to ensure we can keep our customers and our employees safe and that we can get this economy back on track.”
Megan Clark, owner of Studio B Fitness YEG, said that after getting feedback from clients, the studio will keep the vaccination requirement for a while longer.
“Being group fitness — and the classes themselves — the majority of the clients participate unmasked during the actual workout. We’re masked leading up to it and right after the workout. That extra level of protection, because we are unmasked, is really important to us.”
Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said Tuesday the end of the provincial REP means the end of the city’s Vaccine Passport Bylaw.
“Here’s the thing that’s the most confusing to me: the restrictions exemption program has been lifted… However, we just heard very clearly from the minister and the premier that alcohol consumption time cut-offs and closing times for restaurants are still under the restriction guidelines,” she said.
“I’m pretty sure that the hospitality sector just got the exact opposite of what they wanted. Giving them more capacity doesn’t help them with the issue that they clearly stated was the service that they can actually offer.”
Gondek wants to collaborate with the province to advocate for citizens’ needs.
“I would hope that we can have meaningful dialogue before Stage 2 comes into play,” she said.
For entertainment venues, Phase 1 means:
– Restrictions on sale of food and beverages and consumption while seated in audience settings will be removed
– Restrictions on closing times, alcohol service, table capacity in restaurants and interactive activities will remain in force
Phase 1 of the province’s plan to lift restrictions will see capacity limits be removed for venues that can host 500 people or less.
Kenney said the target date for Phase 2 is March 1. That phase would also see capacity limits be lifted for all venues, masking no longer be required indoors and limits on indoor and outdoor gatherings be lifted. A number of other restrictions would be eased or removed altogether as well.
A target date for Phase 3 has yet to be determined, Kenney said, noting that phase would see people with COVID-19 no longer being required to self-isolate and COVID-19 outbreak protocols be lifted at continuing care homes.
In December 2021, Edmonton council voted to add two new measures that would trigger debate on whether to lift the municipal face covering bylaw.
First, active COVID-19 cases would need to remain below 100 per 100,000 population for 28 consecutive days. Second, the chief medical officer of health needs to lift the provincial order.
Once those are met, Edmonton city council will have 30 days to review the current bylaw. At that point, council can choose to leave the bylaw in effect, amend it or repeal it.
— With files from Kaylen Small and Phil Heidenreich, Global News
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