Town of Coaldale. (Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko / Justin Goulet

Coaldale council again votes no for a face mask bylaw

Dec 4, 2020 | 11:09 AM

COALDALE, AB – For the second time in a little over two months, Coaldale Town Council has decided that it will not require its residents to wear face masks.

In late October, the question first came to council to enact a temporary face coverings bylaw, but that was defeated with a public awareness campaign being launched instead.

READ MORE: Coaldale Council: no to mask bylaw, yes to COVID awareness campaign

In the first week of December, the motion was reintroduced and members of council met twice to talk about it.

“The numbers right now are much much higher than they were back in October,” says Mayor Kim Craig. “It behooved council to have a discussion about what, as a municipal council, can we or should we do to try and make our community safer.”

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As of Thursday, December 3, there were 64 active COVID-19 cases in Lethbridge County, the area that includes Coaldale. Numbers specific to the town are not provided by Alberta Health Services.

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Wednesday evening, Craig says there was support for a mask bylaw, but not for one that included lots of enforcement and fines. At this point, council was leaning towards one that did not include an enforcement piece.

Since first reading was not passed unanimously, they were not able to approve the proposed bylaw on the same day it was introduced.

“Throughout the day [Thursday], many of us got a lot of emails and text messages and phone calls from citizens from Coaldale on both sides of the question – some strongly supporting mask-wearing and a bylaw and some strongly against it.”

Craig says he voted against approving the bylaw, as council had heard anecdotally that many residents and business owners already comply with public health guidelines.

“We didn’t want to put Coaldale in the position of pitting neighbour against neighbour for their preference of whether to wear a mask for not.”

In the end, council voted 5-2 against implementing the face mask bylaw. Councillors Roger Hohm and Jacen Abrey were in favour.

For Craig, he says it did not make sense to enact a bylaw when there would be no intention to enforce the rules contained in it.