Regina city council to debate making masks mandatory in public indoor spaces

A notice of motion about mandatorymasks is on the agenda for Regina City Council Wednesday.

The notice of motion is being put forward by Coun. Andrew Stevens (Ward 3). Hesays the city should do more than the recommendation it has put forward so far.

Stevens says hewould like to see mandatory masks where physical distancing is notpossible indoors.He says a number of businesses have already implemented similar policies of their own.

"This is in no way meant to be punitive, but there is a real public health reason for advancing a mandatory maskpolicy," Stevens said.

"The signal I'm getting from a lot of the business community is that the preference would be for a blanket rule that applies to everybody."

Mandatory masks are becoming more commonplace in the city. Regina announced last weekthat masks will be mandatory for all bus passengers starting on Aug. 31.

MayorMichaelFougeresays he hopes the motionpasses, but says people will notbe penalized for not wearing a mask.

"I'm hoping that we'll have astatement that it's mandatory [but]I think education is a key component of this," Fougere said.

Fougere says if the motion is passed, council will be looking at a promotional campaign to let people know that mandatory masks are a bylaw,and that the city is expecting people to abide by it.

Fougere says there is a possibility of an increase in COVID-19 transmissiongoing into the fall season. The flu season is also expected to start up, as usual.

"The key point is that council wants to make sure people are safe," he said.

Fougere says the provincial government has indicated it will notstop municipalities from making their own mask laws. He has previously said he would like to see a provincial mandatory mask order.

City council meets Wednesday at 1:30 p.m.