Alberta bill would limit municipal COVID policies like mask mandates

The Alberta government is making a move to prevent cities from imposing their own COVID-19 public health policies.

The province is set to introduce a bill that will allow it to limit the ability of municipalities to enact bylaws that conflict and oppose provincial policies, like the mask mandate.

Calgary’s mask bylaw ended when the removal of restrictions took effect Tuesday. However, there is still a mask mandate in place in Edmonton.

“Something Albertans do not deserve right now is uncertainty and confusion. And that is why I am announcing today that the Albertan government will introduce into the legislature as soon as possible, amendments to the Municipal Government Act, which will remove the ability of municipalities to impose their own separate public health restrictions,” said Premier Jason Kenney.

Starting today, almost all public health restrictions are lifted – including the provincial indoor mask mandate.

And we will ensure that municipalities can no longer impose their own public health restrictions.

➡ Read more: https://t.co/DncLYNUD63 pic.twitter.com/EfHVEM23Fv

— Jason Kenney ???????????????????????? (@jkenney) March 1, 2022

The premier says public health is under provincial jurisdiction, and that this new policy would keep it as such.

“Public health is the responsibility of the provinces, it’s not a municipal responsibility. Secondly, we have shown flexibility for municipalities that, at various times through COVID brought in their own measures, and we wanted to demonstrate that flexibility,” said Kenney.

“We need to move forward together. There has been too much division over the COVID era in our society. We need to do everything we can to put our division behind us.”

However, Kenney says now is the time to look forward to a post-COVID world.

“We think it’s really important that we do so united, not divided, with clarity and not confusion. We are concerned that if we have a patchwork of different policies across the province it will create unnecessary division.”

Alberta’s move to limit cities’ health policies criticized

Critics of the announcement, including Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek, take the opposite view. Gondek says it makes no sense how the city can enforce a mask mandate on transit without having a local rule in place.

“Here’s the picture for you: you must wear a mask on transit, but the health order does not give the ability for it to be enforced,” Gondek said. “To have it enforced — and this is what’s beautiful — the city would have to enact its own bylaw.

“I don’t know that they thought this through, necessarily.”

Gondek says Kenney has also been hypocritical by making this move because cities were the first to put mask rules in place in the early days of the pandemic and Kenney was previously open to municipalities drafting rules that fit their own individual situations best.

“This begs the question, why didn’t we need unity and clarity and lack of confusion in the midst of the pandemic, when our health care system was being absolutely crushed by variants?” Gondek asked. “That was then, this is now. Now we are hearing that municipalities couldn’t possibly manage public health and safety, so he’s actually going to re-write the Municipal Government Act to make sure we can’t do anything.”

Gondek adds the city is still waiting for official data from the Chief Medical Officer of Health that justifies the decision to remove public health measures, after council earlier agreed to abolish its mask mandate when the provincial mandate lapsed. An attempt by some councillors to explore the creation of a local vaccination mandate was defeated.

The Alberta Urban Municipalities Association is also criticizing the premier’s announcement.

“Alberta Municipalities finds the provincial government’s top-down approach to be heavy-handed and unnecessary. It seems like a short-term political calculation that could influence long-term governance decisions at the municipal level,” read a statement from AUMA President Cathy Heron. “It is cause for concern, and we worry that it may set a dangerous precedent. After all, if the provincial government can amend the MGA whenever a local government disagrees with it or wishes to take a different approach, then municipalities will have lost some of their autonomy and some of their freedom to decide and act locally in the best interests of their residents and businesses.”

The AUMA calls on the province to reconsider the decision, and said it should have been discussed with them and other stakeholders beforehand.

Alberta moved on Tuesday to lift the majority of its remaining public health measures as part of step two of its reopening plan.