Kenney's comments over public health restrictions take aim at Alberta municipalities

As Premier Jason Kenney signals an end to all restrictions including the vaccine passport program, he warned that Alberta cities should not act on their own on pandemic health policy, which is concerning city leaders.

Kenney first singled out municipalities during a Facebook live event on Thursday.

He said the province will announce a phased removal of public health restrictions early next week and said in order to block municipalities from "improvising" their own policies he would "take a look at" amending the Municipal Government Act (MGA).

On Friday, Kenney doubled down.

"I would encourage municipal elected folks to respect the decisions that the province makes on public health matters and not to improvise public health policy. If they want to provide us with input, I'm always happy to take that on board, but at the end of the day, we all know now we have to learn to live with COVID," he said.

Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek says municipalities are not at the table with the province for discussion on public health restrictions.

"(The province) is not a government that wishes to partner with municipalities," said Gondek.

She says the laws that govern municipalities are clear and provide jurisdiction over citizen's public safety and there is concern the premier is prioritizing rural Alberta over urban centres.

"That violence was rooted in racism," said Calgary Ward 3 Counc. Jyoti Gondek, about an anti-racism protest in Red Deer that turned violent. "You have to call it out for what it is."

"If that's the case, then it is absolutely shameful that a premier who should be leading a province in a public health emergency is prioritizing politics over public health."

Health and municipalities are under provincial jurisdiction, but the City of Calgary has acted on its own before.

One example is in August of 2020, Calgary introduced city-wide mask bylaw before the provincial requirement.

The other occurred in fall of 2021 when the city created a bylaw making the provincial restrictions exemption program mandatory for businesses and institutions in Calgary -- which will be rescinded after the province cancels the Restrictions Exemption Program.

If the city wants to extend this bylaw, it would have to pass another one.

PUBLIC HEALTH DATA REPORTING

Ward 11 Councillor Kourtney Penner is also concerned public health data reporting would stop being supplied to cities.

"I believe the premier was alluding to is that, along with the removal of provincial health measures, they could also remove data reporting. And so then how would cities make decisions without provincial data?" She said before adding, "Without being able to be at the table and have those conversations about how we approach health measures, we are left reacting rather than being able to proactively plan for how we manage and mitigate the risks that COVID presents."

Kourtney Penner was elected councillor of Ward 11 in the 2021 Calgary municipal election. (supplied)

Other Alberta city mayors say they don't expect the province will act to restrict municipalities from carrying out its community responsibility...

"I am committed to exploring options that are within our authority to continue to protect our communities and the most vulnerable Edmontonians including kids who are unable to be vaccinated at this time. I hope that the provincial government will reconsider removing restrictions too quickly," said Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi.

Lethbridge Mayor Blaine Hyggen tells CTV news that municipalities can act providing public safety measures to protect citizens, and the province is not able to intervene.

In a statement from the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) the premier's comments are called "puzzling and troubling."

"The restrictive approach Premier Kenney is now considering is completely at odds with his government’s earlier direction," said Cathy Heron, president of the AUMA.

Heron adds the topic of amending the MGA has not come up in prior meetings with the government of Alberta and it's not expected to be discussed."

HARM RELATIONSHIPS

The municipal government act has been amended in the past but one legal expert says making this type of change would harm relationships between the levels of government.

"There would be a sense that this would be done out of the premier trying to preserve his political position and perhaps set him up for a future election," said Lorian Hardcastle, law professor at the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary.

Hardcastle says throughout the pandemic the government has applied hands-off approach at times allowing municipalities, private businesses, schools, universities, to pass public health rules to fill gaps on pandemic policy.

"It would be quite an abrupt course-reversal for the province to actually prevent municipalities or others from filling in the gap left by provincial rules."