Thread by @CommonSenseYYC

Today's Council Meeting is underway at City Hall, and first up on the agenda, Council are debating whether to repeal their mask mandate when the province removes their mandate at the end of June.

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The City Administration / Staff are recommending Calgary KEEPS its mandate until at least August.

They say that the Provincial move is too hasty, and the City should take a slower and more cautious approach.

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City staff also say that, while Dr. Hinshaw advises it is safe to remove the mask mandate, other "independent" medical groups disagree.

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Mayor Nenshi has now invited Dr. Raj Bhardwaj to speak to Council about why the City should keep their mask mandate.

Mayor Nenshi clarifies that Dr. Bhardwaj is:

"one of the folks who's *not* deeply in to this"

and "is *not* an epidemiologist"

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To be clear, Calgary Council are now directly ignoring the expert medical advice, and are inviting Doctors who they freely admit are *not* experts in this area, to speak to them.

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Dr. Bhardwaj says we won't know whether vaccinations are working until mid to late August.

Note: medical experts, who *are* epidemiologists, vehemently disagree with this. They agree that vaccines are already working.

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Dr Bhardwaj says Calgary should keep masks mandatory until at least the start of the school year.

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Dr Bhardwaj says the City also needs to consider under what conditions it would restore the mask mandate even after it's been removed.

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Dr Bhardwaj says "the Delta variant is really like a new pandemic" - it means one dose doesn't work anymore.

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Councillor Colley-Urquhart says she's worried about Stampede being a super-spreader event.

Dr Bhardwaj says given that's mostly going to be outdoors he's not too worried, he's more worried about events around Stampede, transit to Stampede, etc.

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Councillor Farkas up next for questions.

He asks why Dr Bhardwaj was asked to present to Council and not the City's expert, or provincial health authorities.

Why was Dr Bhardwaj cherry picked?

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City Administration say they wanted to get a medical opinion.

City say they invited Dr Hinshaw to present and they declined.

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Councillor Farkas asks if Dr Hinshaw was asked specifically to speak to this meeting today.

City administration: No.

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Councillor Farkas: Do we have a reason to doubt Dr Hinshaw's advice, and if so why?

City staff: We're cautiously optimistic that the provincial plan will work, but we've also heard from other medical professionals.

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Councillor Farkas: What do our local people know that Dr Hinshaw doesn't?

City staff: Likely not much.

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City staff say their polls show 50% of people still have an anxiety about being out in public.

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Councillor Farkas: Is there a risk of confusion or fear if we have a local Council saying it's not safe, but medical experts and the Chief Medical Officer are saying it is safe?

City staff: That's one of the considerations we had.

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Councillor Farkas:

How many medical experts, infectious disease experts, epidemiologists, etc are under the employ of Dr Hinshaw and how many are under the employ of the City?

City staff: Don't know how many are employed by Dr Hinshaw. Calgary has none.

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Councillor Farkas: Could the Province step in and invalidate our municipal bylaw?

City staff: Yes, that's a risk.

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Councillor Farkas: Will courts uphold any tickets under this bylaw given neither the province nor the City is under a state of emergency anymore?

City staff: The bylaw would be valid, but what the court would do would depend on the circumstances.

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Councillor Farkas: I'm not a lawyer but the way it was explained to us when we introduced the mandate was that there needs to be a clear and present danger for Council to impinge on people's rights. Can we still argue that is the case if there's no emergency anymore?

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City staff: I'm not sure whether the bylaw infringes on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but I'd caveat that that I haven't looked into that.

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Councillor Farkas notifies the Mayor that he intends to introduce an alternative motion to repeal the City's mandate on July 1st, in line with the Province's rules.

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It should be noted that, despite arguing to extend Calgary's mask mandate, which requires people to always wear a mask indoors, Mayor Nenshi is not actually wearing one in this meeting.

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Councillor Demong asks Dr Bhardwaj whether he has discussed his advice with anyone in AHS or provincial medical experts.

Dr Bhardwaj: No and I don't have any official position with AHS.

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Councillor Demong: Ok, so why is there such disagreement between you and the provincial officials?

Dr Bhardwaj: Well, I don't like to get political... (and then proceeds to get political).

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Dr Bhardwaj blames the province for the third wave, says that the third wave happened because the province didn't lockdown when he and other doctors said they should.

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Dr Bhardwaj says we should reopen more slowly so that we don't have to do all this again later this year.

Again, reminder, all the actual expert medical advice disagrees with Dr Bhardwaj, and Dr Bhardwaj is self-declared to not be an expert on this issue.

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