Listen Live
Listen Live

Medicine Hat latest Alberta community to pass face covering bylaw

One of the last major cities in Alberta has now jumped onto the mandatory mask wearing train.

The City of Medicine Hat passing a temporary face covering bylaw this week joining Lethbridge, Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, and Grande Prairie.

Several other smaller communities have mask-wearing bylaws as well.

“We are also trying to relieve the pressure on our local business owners and operators. They want to follow all guidelines to ensure they can stay open, but they need the support of a bylaw to enforce mask use. It’s not fair to lay that burden on front line staff,” Medicine Hat Mayor Ted Clugston

The bylaw, which comes into effect Friday, December 4th and mandates the use of face coverings in public places and public vehicles in Medicine Hat in an effort to decrease the rate of COVID-19 virus transmission.

Mayor Ted Clugston says this is one of the most divisive issues Medicine Hat Council has faced, and it’s weighed this matter very carefully.

“The city maintains the view that public health is not under municipal jurisdiction and that our residents are responsible and capable enough to take advice from public health officials and do the right thing. However, with the recent surge in local positive cases and significant feedback from our residents, it is clear our community is looking for this decision at the local level,” says Clugston.

The Medicine Hat masking bylaw is very similar to the one that’s been in place in Lethbridge since August.

Patrick Siedlecki
Patrick Siedlecki
Pat has been a mainstay in the CJOC News department from the time the station launched in 2007. He's been in the position of News Director since then and has been anchoring daily news casts as well as reporting and working behind the scenes. Community is important to him and keeping CJOC listeners and readers informed about what's happening across southern Alberta and beyond. Pat has been in radio broadcasting for the past 24 years, starting in Port Alberni on Vancouver Island in 1997 and then moving up island to Nanaimo for another few years before heading to Lethbridge in 2007. Pat grew up in the small Saskatchewan farming town of Foam Lake. After high school, he went to Western Academy Broadcasting College (WABC) in Saskatoon prior to moving to the island. Pat also spent several years broadcasting hockey in the BCHL as well as seven years as the radio voice of the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the WHL. Pat has been working at Cornerstone Funeral Home in Lethbridge as a Certified Life Celebrant and Funeral Assistant since 2016. News and sports have always been Pat's passion from the time he was a teenager and he's always been grateful to have had the opportunity to make that part of what's been a fun and long radio career!
- Advertisement -

cjoc Now playing play

ckbd Now playing play

Related Articles

- Advertisement -

Latest News

Emergency department in Fort Macleod set for temporary closure this weekend 

The emergency department at the Fort Macleod Health Centre will be temporarily closed throughout the weekend. 

ALERT seizes more than $250K worth of drugs in Medicine Hat

Police have seized more than $250,000 in drugs in Medicine Hat, following an investigation by ALERT.

Emissions reduction projects in Lethbridge, Coaldale receive federal funding

Ottawa has announced funding for projects aimed at reducing emissions in both Alberta and the Northwest Territories.

Street Wheelers Weekend revs up for another great year of burnouts, classic cruisin’

Get your motor running and head out to the city streets of Lethbridge, as the Street Wheelers Weekend revs up for another high-octane event.

Pair facing charges connected to guns, drugs seized in the Crowsnest Pass

Two people are facing charges connected to the seizure of drugs and weapons in the Crowsnest Pass. 
- Advertisement -