City had it right with tough restrictions on public gatherings

Province’s COVID-19 response lags behind other jurisdictions, Sarath Peiris writes.

The provincial government’s move on Sunday to rescind stringent emergency restrictions put in place by the City of Regina last week was a short-sighted exercise of power that doesn’t serve the cause of public safety in the midst of a pandemic.

The measures enacted by Regina city council — to curb public activities and reduce to five the number of persons allowed to congregate — are certainly more restrictive than those put in place by the province.

However, as the level of government closest to the citizens it serves, a municipal council is better positioned to be responsive to the public’s needs at a time of crisis, and should be allowed leeway to act quickly without having its decisions undermined by the senior government.

It might have been understandable if the emergency orders by Regina were weakening the government’s rules. They weren’t.

The government’s decision to override the municipal government might have made sense if Regina’s reduction of allowable public gatherings to five persons from the 25 mandated by chief health officer Dr. Saqib Shahab somehow put citizens in greater danger. Not so. News reports say Dr. Shahab himself is reluctant to enter a room with more than five people. At a time when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is telling Canadians, “Enough is enough, go home and stay home,” Regina’s move to close retail stores that sell clothing, shoes, sporting goods, furniture, toys, crafts and electronic games isn’t an outrageous measure.

Government Relations Minister Lori Carr suggests that having conflicting rules in such areas as retail sales and public gatherings isn’t desirable, saying: “During this time of great uncertainty, it is of utmost importance that we provide certainty to Saskatchewan residents and make every effort to minimize confusion.”

Yet, at a time when people are being urged to stay home and minimize contact with the outside world, and frequent news reports provide details about the latest infection counts and fatalities, it’s incumbent on Carr and her government to take decisive action that puts Saskatchewan ahead of the game in combating the spread of COVID-19.

Instead, the Saskatchewan Party government’s response throughout this pandemic has been cautious to say the least, lagging behind many leading health jurisdictions in taking proactive measures.

Rather than an effort to minimize public confusion, the government’s rescinding of Regina’s emergency rules comes across as not wanting to offend the retail sector with an order to shut down for a week or two.

Even though reducing opportunities for close contact between people is the surest way to ensure that the pandemic isn’t prolonged, allowing for a faster economic recovery, the government seems constipated in its long-term thinking.

Over the decades, Saskatchewan’s municipal leaders have demonstrated their strength in formulating sound public health policies that well served the needs of citizens.

For instance, Saskatoon was a national leader and certainly the first jurisdiction in Saskatchewan to pass a public smoking bylaw in 1996, despite widespread objections from interest groups and a dearth of interest from the province.

And as far back as 1916, it was municipal governments in this province that led the way in developing a public health system. While Tommy Douglas gets deserved credit for enacting Canada’s first provincial public health-care system, he was building on the legacy of those such as former Lloydminster mayor D.G. Tuckwell and Mathew Anderson, the reeve of Mckillop who introduced a municipal health plan in 1938 that was widely adopted.

The Moe government needs to think less of its electoral fortunes in the midst of a pandemic and adopt sensible public health policies, even if it means crediting municipal leaders.