London, Ont. councillors reject reintroducing municipal masking bylaw

London, Ont., have rejected a motion from several of their colleagues that aimed to reintroduce the city’s municipal masking bylaw.The push to reintroduce the bylaw came in light of changes at the provincial level that saw Ontario lift its COVID-19 mask mandate in most public settings, including schools, grocery stores and restaurants.The mandates remain in place in other settings such as hospitals, public transit, long-term care homes, shelters and jails, but are set to be lifted, along with all other COVID-19 directives, on April 27.

Ontario COVID-19 mask mandate lifts for most settings First introduced in July 2020 with the encouragement of the Middlesex-London Health Unit’s then-medical officer of health Dr.

Chris Mackie, London’s municipal masking bylaw expired by the end of that year once provincial masking mandates had made the bylaw redundant at a municipal level.On Monday, the same day Ontario’s mask mandates were lifted, Coun.

Jesse Helmer announced via Twitter that he, along with Coun. Maureen Cassidy and Coun. Stephen Turner, sought to temporarily reintroduce the bylaw.Along with @st3v3turn3r and @MaureenPCassidy, I've asked Acting Mayor @JoshMorganLDN to call a special committee meeting for tomorrow to consider temporarily reintroducing the mask bylaw in #ldnont.Read our letter and let me know what you think here: https://t.co/GdNXRUm2ZA— Jesse Helmer (@jesse_helmer) March 21, 2022The matter was discussed during a special meeting of the strategic priorities and policy committee on Tuesday.Had it passed, the bylaw would have required “mandatory face coverings in enclosed spaces that are accessible to the public to help contain the spread of COVID-19.”According to a draft bylaw presented to Tuesday’s special.