Calgary city council is set to discuss the potential repeal of the city’s mask bylaw on Tuesday.
Starting Monday, the minimum age requirement for the province’s mask mandate will be upped to 12 years old, which is at odds with the minimum age of two for the city’s masking bylaw.
Ward 13 Coun. Dan McLean has drafted an amendment that would see the city’s face covering bylaw immediately repealed, which would automatically bring the city solely under the provincial masking rules.
“Let’s not mess around with which ages… or when, who, where,” McLean told Global News.
“If we repeal the bylaw in its entirety, then we automatically revert back to the provincial mandates, which then will be simple for everybody to understand.”
It comes after the provincial government announced its plan to lift health measures in a staged approach, starting with the removal of the Restrictions Exemption Program last week.
As part of the government’s phased easing of restrictions, mandatory masks are expected to be repealed on March 1.
“I’ve always maintained that most of our data comes from our chief medical officer, the provincial realm,” McLean said. “Health is a provincial jurisdiction. They get all the up-to-date data, and so I think we should always look and adhere to that.”
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Ward 1 Coun. Sonya Sharp, who supports the move, said the change would remove any “overlapping” between the province and city, and any repeal doesn’t mean people can’t wear a mask in public.
If masks are removed on March 1, Sharp urged Calgarians to respect boundaries if people choose to continue wearing a mask when in public.
“This has been almost two years, and it’s affected a lot of people’s mental health,” Sharp said. “We should really respect people’s boundaries if people are still wearing masks after (March 1)… Let’s be OK with that.”
But not all city councillors are in favour of aligning with the provincial government’s approach.
Ward 11 Coun. Kourtney Penner, who also chairs the city’s emergency management committee, said she’d prefer to keep the city’s mask bylaw in place until it can be reviewed prior to the province’s set date of removal at the beginning of next month.
“I share in the fatigue. I share in the desire for consistency and normalcy,” Penner said. “But I don’t think desire should be what drives our decisions. I think the data should drive it.”
On Feb. 9, a city committee voted 4-10 against directing administration to explore the options and implications of implementing a local vaccine passport program.
However, city councillors did vote in favour of another motion to have Mayor Jyoti Gondek request that the Alberta government share the data used to make the decision to take a staged approach in easing restrictions, including recommendations by the province’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw.
In a Feb. 9 interview on 770 CHQR, Premier Jason Kenney said health care is a provincial responsibility, and municipalities’ decisions to implement health measures would not be based on data.
“I don’t think Albertans want to end up in a situation where municipal politicians end up improvising a completely separate public health policy when that is not their responsibility,” Kenney said.
Gondek has been critical of the provincial government and said she is frustrated by the lack of consultation on restrictions.
“There’s no desire for collaboration with municipalities, and every municipality will tell you that,” Gondek said in an interview on Feb. 11 with 770 CHQR.
“This provincial government does not see us as a partner. It’s troubling to me that the federal government is willing to enter into relationships with us on some pretty serious issues like housing and we can’t even get a conversation with the province on pandemic management.”
The city’s current mask bylaw was implemented on Sept. 23, 2021, and since then, there have been 200 tickets issued to people for not wearing a mask when required and another four tickets issued to establishments for not posting signage about the bylaw.
A debate on the issue is expected at Tuesday’s city council meeting.
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