Despite the provincial mandate to wear masks ending at the end of this month, Lethbridge Council has decided to keep the City's mask mandate in place indefinitely.

In April, the City's mask mandate was extended until the end of December and, while some said this was excessive at the time, the City defended the decision by saying that the bylaw could always be repealed earlier should the Province say it was safe to do so.

Unfortunately, now that the Province does say that it is safe to do so, the City have changed their mind and want to keep their own rule in place regardless.

Last week, Councillor Hyggen proposed a motion at Council to repeal the City's bylaw on the same day the Province's rules will be repealed - July 1st.

The proposal was voted down 4-5, with Councillors Hyggen, Campbell, Mauro, and Parker, in favour and Mayor Spearman and Councillors Crowson, Carlson, Miyashiro, and Coffman opposed.

To be clear, the advice being provided by the actual experts in epidemiology and infectious diseases in the provincial health departments is that it is now safe to remove mask requirements in Alberta at the end of June.

Yet, the City's plan explicitly and deliberately ignores this expert medical and scientific advice from the province and substitutes instead, the politicians' own personal opinions.

That is unacceptable.

Governments have massive powers to impinge on citizens' freedoms, but to do so they must be able to provide evidence that any intervention is justified.

That is simply not the case anymore.

The vulnerable have received both doses, most Lethbridgians have received a first dose, and cases and hospitalizations have plummeted - there are just 22 active cases in Lethbridge at last count.

The local state of emergency in Lethbridge and the provincial state of emergency in Alberta aren't even in effect anymore!

The simple truth is that there is a certain type of politician and government employee who has enjoyed the additional powers they have had during this pandemic, and they aren't ready to give up that power yet.

No one is suggesting banning Lethbridgians from wearing a mask if they would like to continue doing so, but all of the scientific evidence shows that it's time to remove the mask mandate.

If you agree, please sign our petition to End Lethbridge's Mask Mandate.