Airdrie City councillors voted unanimously Jan. 17 in favor of updating the City’s mask bylaw to better align with the Province’s continuing mask mandate by removing the existing bylaw’s expiration date.
According to Tammy Belsham, team leader of legislative services at the City of Airdrie, council passed the original temporary face coverings bylaw on Aug. 17, 2020. The bylaw was then tied to the Province’s “COVID-19 Relaunch Status Map,” and a province-wide approach to the pandemic.
However, on Feb. 8, 2021, the Province ceased use of the “Relaunch Status Map” and moved to “The Path Forward,” comprising four different benchmarks for easing public health restrictions.
At the time, the government also mandated masking in public places, indoor work spaces, places of worship, Kindergarten to Grade 12 schools when required, and municipalities, if bylaws were in place.
“An amendment was brought forward to council in May of 2021 to amend the bylaw to align the timing requirement for the wearing of mandatory masks to match that of the Province of Alberta,” Belsham said, adding the amendment included setting an automatic expiration date of Dec. 31, 2021.
“Administration’s recommendation at the time was based on the implementation of a nationwide vaccination program,” she said. “Unfortunately, COVID-19 has remained a public health risk past that expiry date and accordingly, administration is recommending the removal of this expiry date.”
The amended bylaw provides a clearer understanding of when masking rules would come into effect and cease to be in effect, aligning itself with the Province’s overarching mask mandate, stating it will be in effect at any time and for the period of time the Province required mandatory masks to be worn.
Belsham said the amended bylaw enables the City to not contradict the province-wide mandate and enables automatic lifting of those restrictions one the province lifts them. She added the City of Calgary made a similar amendment to their bylaw to remove such expiry date.
Thereafter, City councillors reviewed several letters received from community members who advocated the outright removal of the temporary face coverings bylaw – to which there were a mixture of responses from council members.
Coun. Ron Chapman said while he has nothing against wearing a mask and personally wears his when out in public, he felt the bylaw was redundant considering the Province’s mandate.
“I wear my mask, I plan on keeping wearing my mask,” he said. “I don’t have an issue with wearing a mask at all, I’m just wondering, are we being redundant here?”
Belsham responded that without a municipal mask bylaw, only the RCMP could enforce such provisions. She added by having a bylaw in place, the City of Airdrie's Municipal Enforcement officers can respond to similar complaints and provide an adjusted penalty provision rather than the province-mandated $1,000 fine.
“I would think if it came down to enforcement, that somebody’s not wearing a mask, a business is not going to phone municipal enforcement, they’re going to phone the RCMP, because it’s usually someone that’s unruly,” Chapman said.
He again stated he feels the bylaw is superfluous but nonetheless said he would be supporting staff’s recommendations to adjust the bylaw’s expiry date rather than to remove it, as he did not want to breed confusion in the community.
“We could argue the science all night, but that’s not our place to argue the science. That’s the medical health professionals that should put that information out there,” Chapman said. “Nearest I can figure, from what I’ve seen, I agree with it.
“I will be supporting [the motion] so as not to have confusion in the community that Airdrie doesn’t have a bylaw so people are not required to wear a mask.”
Similarly, Mayor Peter Brown said if the City were to remove the bylaw, it could be misconstrued that there is no mask mandate in the community.
“I don’t see why we would do that,” he said. “I know there’s lots of questions from different people that are asking for us to remove the mask bylaw, but those questions are better directed to the provincial health authorities.
“We don’t have the studies that suggest whether masks are safe or not safe, or if they’re actually effective. What I liked about this bylaw from the outset was we said we’re not all health experts here, [so] let’s leave those decisions to the people that are in that business, and I hope we continue doing that.”
