(Calgary) At the hotel, the employees still wear it. In the restaurant, the majority abandoned him. And in the population, it has become downright marginal.
Posted yesterday at 7:00 a.m.
Since last Tuesday, in Alberta, wearing a mask is no longer mandatory in public places, with the exception of public transport.
It is of course not prohibited. But as will be the case in Quebec in a few weeks, it is up to each person to decide whether they want to wear it or not. However, when we are used to the policy of the wall-to-wall mask, there is a necessary adaptation, which Quebecers will soon discover.
By following the Canadiens on the road since the start of the season, we discovered the different rules in place in the Canadian provinces and American states. Back in November, I wrote myself how destabilizing a trip to Detroit was given the thinness of the restrictions in place.
Then, at the end of December, my colleague Richard Labbé noted that Florida had probably turned the page on any measure against the virus.
So here we are in Alberta, at the beginning of March. Since the very beginning of the pandemic, this province has often been perceived, Quebec in any case, as the most resistant to the imposition of strict sanitary measures.
Jason Kenney’s Conservative government was almost always the last to tighten the screw and the first to loosen it. Here, the vaccination passport has not been required for almost a month.
This crisis management, which is largely different from that of the Legault government, has helped fuel the old reputation of “North Texas” that Alberta, the Canadian cradle of rodeo and oil exploitation, already had. “Not North Florida, though!” exclaimed an employee of the Calgary Flames after a misstep by the representative of The Press during an impromptu conversation on the issue of pandemic management. Our sincere apologies appear to have been accepted.
A visit to Calgary contributes to nuance the almost caricatural perception that one can form. The barista who prepared my high-priced latte in a trendy café and gently explained to me that it didn’t bother him if I wore my mask didn’t share much with the crude stereotypes I had of places. A little embarrassed, I suddenly felt like that disappointed French tourist not to find self-service dog sleds on René-Lévesque Boulevard in Montreal.
While you’re at it, downtown Calgary is downright pretty. If you’ve never been there, imagine a little Toronto. Kind.
There are all the same reflexes to re-tame in life without a mask. Getting up from your table to put some sugar in your coffee, two meters away, without a human to meet on the way, turns out to be strangely liberating. Conversely, in a crowded press room after the Canadiens’ morning workout, I followed a colleague’s lead and put on my mask. One step at a time.
PHOTO MARC-ANDRÉ PERREAULT, PROVIDED TO THE PRESS
Press scrum following the Canadiens’ morning training on Thursday
The experience will not last long, because I fly Friday morning to Edmonton, where the City has decided to continue to impose the wearing of masks in public places. Furious, Jason Kenney announced that he wanted to change the law to take away the power of municipalities to impose their own public health restrictions. A good old quibble of skills? Yes sir.
We’ll give you some news, hoping that the city isn’t on fire when we arrive.
