Restriction Exemption Program bylaw to end in Calgary, mask rules remain

The Restriction Exemption Program will be lifted in Calgary in line with the provincial change, and the city's mask bylaw will remain in effect until at least March 1, Mayor Jyoti Gondek said Tuesday.

Premier Jason Kenney announced the proof of vaccination system will end at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday and rules that require students to wear masks in Alberta schools will end on Monday. Children under 12 will also be exempt from provincial masking rules.

"It was hoped that cities and municipalities would be consulted and at least enter into some sort of a dialogue before such a statement was issued by the provincial government," Gondek said, adding she also asked Kenney over the weekend to meet  with civic leaders.

"The request was for a meaningful discourse, to learn more about the data and the science that was driving the decisions around the lifting of restrictions, versus simply being told what it is the province was going to do."

Gondek said she and Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi instead met with Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver and Health Minister Jason Copping, along with the heads of two provincial municipal associations.

"We were able to ask a couple of questions and I think it was quite civil discourse in which I hope the province realizes we're simply asking to have a voice and to provide our informed perspective on how things should proceed," she said.

Kenney earlier said his "careful and prudent" plan, which was approved by Alberta's COVID cabinet committee, lays out a path to "move on from a widespread pandemic response, to get our lives back to normal."

He also said restrictions have "inflamed" disputes amongst Albertans and "disrupted and even destroyed livelihoods."

Capacity limits on many venues expire at midnight except for facilities with a capacity of 500-1,000, which will be capped at 500. Larger facilities, with a capacity of more than 1,000, will still be limited to 50 per cent.

The lifting of the provincial REP program means Calgary's vaccine passport bylaw will end as well, said Gondek.

"I want to be very clear on a question that was posed to the premier ... the comment was made that the cities will go rogue and do what they want to," she said. "That's not a fact. Our bylaw in Calgary is tied directly to what the province is doing."

The city's mask mandate remains, she added, "because the provincial mask mandate also remains."

"In about three weeks from now is when the provincial government is contemplating what to do about masking," she said.

A provincial work-from-home order will expire on March 1, along with the provincial mask mandate and capacity limits for all venues. All limits on social gatherings and cohorting rules in schools will be removed at the same time.

The province still has not determined a date for removing COVID-19 rules in continuing care homes, and it's still not decided when mandatory isolation requirements will become recommendations only.