COVID-19 fines, drinking in public parks to be discussed at City Hall Monday

CALGARY – City councillors are set to discuss increasing fines for people found to be breaking public health rules in Calgary during Monday’s council meeting.

As it stands, the city has a bylaw in place requiring everyone to wear a face-covering or mask in all indoor public spaces and on transit.

The bylaw, which came into effect in August, is set to expire at the end of the year.

Masks are also mandatory in workplaces under provincial guidelines.

In Calgary, people who refuse to wear a mask can be fined $100 and failure to post proper signage informing of the mask mandate can result in a $200 ticket.

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The city says subsequent fines in the same 12-month period can be slowly increased for each offense.

Last week, the province upped its fines for people disregarding pandemic health rules to $2,000 with the potential for you to be prosecuted for up to $100,000 for a first offense.

Councillors are also expected to revisit the idea of allowing Calgarians to crack a cold one in the city’s public parks this summer.

The proposal to allow people to casually enjoy a few drinking in the city’s greenspaces was brought forward last month.

READ MORE: Drinking in Calgary parks could soon be a reality

The pilot program, if approved, could begin as early as June and would pivot Calgary’s bookable fire pit program into a bookable picnic table program for those who want to drink outdoors.

“Anecdotally on the street, I’m only hearing very positive things from people,” said Ward 9 councilor Gian-Carlo Carra in a previous interview.

He did, however, say that while there seems to be support from Calgarians, some of the details need to be fine-tuned.

“In a year where we’re encouraging outdoor gatherings, I’m very happy to use this year as an experiment, as we have used the last two years as experiments on many things, and just see how it goes,” Mayor Naheed Nenshi said in April.

Also on the radar: the Beltline community pool could be shut down soon, pending a report headed to council.

Council will hear the report this week outlining the high costs from the pool in Inglewood and the low usage.

The report will suggest reopening the pool, but it will be shut down once a replacement is finished construction.

-with files from Cara Campbell