Lethbridge Minute: Candidate Surveys, Mandatory Vaccines, and an Emergency Dispatch Complaint

Lethbridge Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Lethbridge politics

This Week In Lethbridge:

• It’s not going to be very busy this week at City Hall with no meetings scheduled. Council is set to recess until after the municipal election, with no official business scheduled until November.
  
  
• If you’re unsure where to vote in the upcoming municipal election, be sure to check out the election guide that has been released by the City. The website includes information about advanced voting dates, polling station locations, and information about the mayoral and council candidates in the upcoming municipal election.
  
  
• Finally, this week we will be sending out a survey to all the prospective mayoral and council candidates in the upcoming municipal election, asking them questions on a wide range of topics, including whether they think property taxes are too high, too low, the role of the municipal government, and a whole lot more! We look forward to hearing what all the candidates have to say and will make their answers available to you on our website as soon as possible.

Last Week In Lethbridge:

• In a last-ditch effort to address their concerns around the consolidation of EMS dispatch, Council voted unanimously on Monday to send a complaint to the Alberta Ombudsman. The move echoes the sentiments expressed in other municipalities across the province, such as Calgary, Wood Buffalo, and Red Deer, who have opted to do the same. According to Mayor Spearman, the EMS consolidation, originally approved by former Minister of Health Tyler Shandro, is costing the City lives.
  
  
• The City announced a mandatory vaccine policy for all of its employees. City staff will have until November 15, 2021, to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. City Manager Craig Dalton said the decision wasn’t made lightly, but was necessary, as the City must protect the health and safety of staff and the entire community.
  
  
• It appears the Lethbridge Police Service is once again trending in the wrong direction. A social media post - featuring a dark, militaristic figure with a gun - created a stir on Twitter last week. Lethbridge Police Chief, Shahin Mehdizadeh, didn’t apologize for mentioning the training in the tweet, but did acknowledge the choice of the image and the comments in response to public criticisms should’ve been better.

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