Calgary council revives fluoride debate
Posted Sep 12, 2016 8:00 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Summer break is over and that goes for city councillors too, who get back to their weekly meetings Monday.
There is a lot of work to be done, with more than 2,000 pages on the agenda.
It’s one of those meetings that will take days, not hours, but whenever councillors get to it, a lot of Calgarians are waiting to see what will happen when councillors revisit the fluoride debate.
Mayor Naheed Nenshi says council is ready to look at the issue again with the help of the University of Calgary which is something council turned down in 2011 when it voted to take fluoride out of the water.
“It is sort of funny, five or six years later, to see the exact same proposal being put on the table,” he said, adding “I believe in data-driven decisions and so I welcome the idea even though it’s a little late.”
If the green light is given, the science will be brought back to council in December, an important step in the decision making process, according to Ward 13’s Diane Colley-Urquhart.
“I’m the only healthcare professional on council, I know a little bit about fluoride but I’m sure as hell not an expert on fluoride, and so this becomes a problem when you have politicians trying to bring about public health policy,” she explained. “With the thousands of people that are losing their jobs and no dental plan or benefit plan, it’s becoming problematic.”
Colley-Urquhart voted to take fluoride out of the water in 2011, but she’s keeping an open mind.
“Even if they do recommend that this should go back in the water, council, my colleagues, can still vote to say no it’s not going and then I could see maybe in 2017 that a group of citizens will get a petition going and have it put on the ballot again as a plebiscite.” she explained.
Ward 6 Councillor Richard Pootmans, who voted to keep fluoride the last time it came up, adds his main concern is that people get the dental help they need.
“I think we have to re-assess what our responsibilities are if we’re not going to provide the fluoride, is it our problem, is it the provincial government’s issue?” he asked.
The last fluoride plebiscite in 1989 saw 53 per cent of Calgarians vote in favour of fluoride.
