High River Town Council won't be mandating mask wearing anytime soon.

The issue came up at their regular Council Meeting Monday, August 10, and Mayor Craig Snodgrass says even though he's not for it, Council wanted to debate the pro's and con's of it.

"I'm completely against municipalities mandating any kind of mask owners.. But there were questions from one or two other Councillors about this issue. Councillor (Bruce) Masterman was very "pro" about doing this because he feels it's the best way to protect everybody in our community."

Snodgrass says they went around the table over the issue at the meeting, but in the end decided against it.

"We had a lot of good discussion and at the end of the day the majority of Council felt that there was no need to move any further forward on any kind of bylaw. Because we find it's over-reaching. It's outside of what a municipal government should be doing."

Snodgrass says it should be left up to the Province if they feel there's enough need to bring one in.

He says enforcement would be very difficult for the Town to do, leaving much of it up to business owners, which Snodgrass says wouldn't be fair to them.

He says that's one of the biggest issues facing the mask bylaw in the City of Calgary is there's really "no teeth" to it and enforcement is almost impossible.

He says there's also a clause in the bylaw explaining that some people don't have to wear masks for a variety of reasons.

They also don't have to prove any of those reasons and subsequently can't be denied service because they're not wearing a mask, which he says doesn't give the bylaw the juice it needs to be effective.

 

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