Kenney airs frustration as city council weighs extending mask bylaw
Two Calgary councillors have signalled their intentions to vote against repealing the city's mask bylaw Monday, much to the frustration of Premier Jason Kenney.
Both Ward 5 Coun. George Chahal and Ward 7 Coun. Druh Farrell said on Twitter Friday they were in favour of continuing to require the use of masks in public places to combat the spread of COVID-19.
Calgary and Canmore are now the only municipalities in Alberta that mandate face coverings, after the province dropped its mask rule along with nearly all other public-health orders Thursday as part of the final Stage 3 of its reopening plan, with cities like Edmonton and Lethbridge following suit.
In a statement to news media, Chahal said he doesn't like wearing a mask and understands they are inconvenient and uncomfortable but said concerns over the ultra-contagious Delta variant mean it's prudent to keep masking rules in place for a few weeks longer.
“An additional month of mandatory masking gives us time to drive vaccination numbers up, allows us to celebrate safely and unencumbered outdoors this summer, and serves as a reminder of the ongoing importance of relative precaution,” Chahal said. “It is the smallest price we can pay to help prevent Calgarians from revisiting more restrictive measures in the event of a fourth wave.”
Farrell also tweeted her support for keeping the mask mandate in place following Chahal's statement.
Speaking to a group of about 125 businesspeople at a private event at the Calgary Petroleum Club Friday, Kenney said he takes issue with the city's stance on masks.
“There appear to be a bunch of experts on the Delta variant at city hall,” Kenney said to laughter from attendees, nearly all of whom were not wearing masks.
“I didn't know there were so many epidemiologists in public life.”
Speaking to reporters following the event, Kenney said Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta's chief medical officer of health, has advised a mask mandate is no longer needed in Alberta.
He claimed Calgary is the only municipality between Winnipeg and Tokyo that continues to have a masking mandate, and said council's decision “doesn't appear to be scientific.”
At the event, Jeromy Farkas, councillor for Ward 11 and running for mayor, asked Kenney if he would consider taking steps to invalidate Calgary's mask bylaw if council decides to extend it, through to the end of July or even longer.
The premier said he would be “very reluctant” to contemplate overriding municipal decisions, saying it would set a poor precedent in respecting divisions of powers.
“On this issue, I do think it is unhelpful to confuse the public,” Kenney said. “Provincial governments are responsible for public health, and public health restrictions.”
Calgary introduced its mask bylaw on Aug. 1, 2020. The province did not introduce its own provincewide mandate until December, becoming the last jurisdiction in Canada to do so.
COVID-19 CASES STAY LOW
Cases of the novel coronavirus remained low over the Canada Day holiday.
Alberta reported an additional 110 cases of the virus over a twoday period, with 67 new cases Thursday and 43 new cases Friday. Provincial officials took the previous day off for the holiday.
Active COVID-19 cases in the province have dropped below 900 for the first time in nearly a year. There are now 895 active cases in Alberta, the fewest since July 16, 2020.
The new cases came from about 10,750 tests, representing a test positive rate of about one per cent over the two-day span.
There are now 144 Albertans in hospital with COVID-19, 33 of whom are in intensive-care units.
One new death from the virus was logged, but provincial officials also determined post-mortem a previously reported death was not caused by COVID-19. As such, the death toll from the pandemic in Alberta remained unchanged at 2,301.
Ninety-three new cases of variants of concerns were identified in the past two days, the majority of which were Delta cases. Of the 53 newly reported Delta cases, 81 per cent are in Calgary.
Immunization efforts continue in Alberta. Among those age 12 and over who are eligible for COVID -19 vaccines, 73.1 per cent have at least one shot, and 44.8 per cent are fully immunized with both necessary jabs.