Alberta Is Trying To Bring In A New Law To Stop Cities Imposing Their Own Public Health Rules
The move has been blasted as an "overreach."
Premier Jason Kenney at a news conference. Right: Pedestrians with face masks walk down a snowy street.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said the province will introduce amendments to stop cities from implementing their own public health rules.
The move follows a decision by the City of Edmonton to keep its mask mandate in place after provincial restrictions ended on March 1.
At a news conference in Red Deer, Kenney said: “Something Albertans do not deserve right now is uncertainty and confusion.
“We can move forward safely and confidently together with clarity instead of confusion. We are concerned that a patchwork of separate policies across the province could just lead to greater division, confusion, enforcement difficulty, with no compelling public health rationale.”
Amendments will be made the to Municipal Government Act “as soon as possible,” Kenney added.
In a series of tweets, Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi criticized the premier’s decision, saying the implications of “such an overreach will go far beyond the mask bylaw.”
Today\u2019s announcement by the Premier to take away local government\u2019s ability to make our own decisions is deeply disappointing. The implications of such an overreach will go far beyond the mask bylaw. Here\u2019s why #YEG #YEGccpic.twitter.com/l9OIHBoUBZ— Amarjeet Sohi (@Amarjeet Sohi) 1646176255
“If this overreach goes unchallenged, the province could, for example, restrict our smoking bylaws or affect how we build our cities by changing our zoning bylaws or decide how we manage traffic in our neighbourhoods to protect our children,” he explained.
Edmonton chose to keep its masking bylaw in place until the number of active COVID-19 cases was below 100 cases per 100,000 residents for 28 days straight. A city council meeting is scheduled to discuss the bylaw on March 8.
Sohi added that he would be consulting with the city’s legal department, the city council and other municipal organizations to “see how this overreach could be challenged”.
Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek also criticized the move by the premier, according to CTV News. The city had been looking to amend its mask bylaw in order to allow peace officers to enforce the provincial mask mandate that remains on transit, CTV reports.
“The city would have to enact its own bylaw, but we can’t because apparently according to the Municipal Government Act, that will be rewritten [so] we won’t have that power," Gondek said.
Kenney also called for an end to the vaccine mandate for Alberta Health Services workers.
“We saw vaccines having a powerful effect […] but that has changed and our approach to the disease has to change," he said.
“We can't just be bloody-minded about this when a policy lever that we pulled is no longer useful.”