Cities consider mask mandates as province set to cancel most pandemic tracking
Some Calgary city councillors and mayoral candidates are publicly suggesting a return to mask mandates as COVID cases climb yet again.
Councillors Gian-Carlo Carra and Druh Farrell have both voiced support for an emergency meeting, as has current councillor and mayoral candidate Jyoti Gondek. Fellow sitting councillor and mayoral candidate Jeff Davison has also expressed support as well as disbelief at the provincial government's latest policy to abandon virtually all testing as well as contact tracing and isolation requirements by Aug. 16.
"I think we've been put in a terrible position by this provincial government," Gondek said. "They're not tracing. They are not testing, they're not asking people to isolate [. . .] they are not taking this seriously."
Mayoral candidate Jeromy Farkas disagreed, saying chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw's advice should stand for all jurisdictions in Alberta.
"Dr. Hinshaw has made the call, it's very clear that vaccines are effective and they work, so I think that that we need to stick to the science here," said Farkas. "Public Health is a provincial responsibility."
Edmonton city council will revisit its mask mandate in an emergency meeting Aug. 12, with the endorsement of outgoing mayor Don Iveson.
The consideration comes as infections continue to rise. While doctors say the unvaccinated make up the vast majority of new cases and experience the most severe outcomes, roughly 1.3 million doses of vaccine are sitting in AHS freezers as demand has stalled out.
Children under 12 still cannot be vaccinated because trials have not been completed.
For the fifth day in a row protestors gathered in front of provincial government buildings in Calgary and Edmonton to demand a change in policy.
About 200 assembled in front of the MacDougall Centre Tuesday. One counter protestor was arrested according to Calgary Police.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.