Motion made to not extend mask bylaw

By Lethbridge Herald on February 12, 2021.

Tim Kalinowski
Lethbridge Herald
tkalinowski@lethbridgeherald.com

The Community Safety Standing Policy Committee voted Thursday to recommend to city council that the City’s own Temporary Mandatory Face Covering Bylaw not be extended after the next full sitting of city council on Feb. 23.

The committee, made up of Councillors Blaine Hyggen, Ryan Parker, Joe Mauro and Mark Campbell, first voted on a motion to extend the current bylaw until Dec. 31 with the proviso the local masking bylaw be tied to provincial health guidelines going forward, but that motion was defeated 2-2.

Coun. Blaine Hyggen then introduced the motion to let the bylaw expire.

Hyggen said even if the local bylaw expired the province has still mandated that masks be worn regardless, and that education on masking would continue locally even without, perhaps, as strong local enforcement over the issue.

“It is Alberta Health,” he stated. “It’s not Lethbridge Health, and I know we need to follow direction from the province.”

Mauro, Hyggen and Parker were the most vocal opponents of the local Temporary Mandatory Face Covering Bylaw when it was first introduced and came into effect last August, but Parker told committee members on Thursday he had moderated his view on mandatory masking after seeing escalating COVID numbers in the region since then– thus his initial support for the extension until Dec. 31. However, he said, given there were now strong provincial masking regulations in place he would be comfortable allowing the locally composed bylaw to expire.

The motion passed 3-1.

The recommendation of the committee to allow the bylaw to expire will now be referred to full council at the next regular meeting on Feb. 23 for a final vote on the recommendation, where it may be affirmed or defeated.

Follow @TimKalHerald on Twitter

Comments are closed.