Saskatoon mayor calls on province to implement more measures to stem COVID spread

Regina may have turned a corner recently in its battle with COVID-19, but Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark says his city is on “red alert.”

Now, he’s calling on the provincial government to enact further measures to prevent hospitals and intensive care units from filling up, and to help prevent more people from dying or becoming seriously ill.

It’s the latest step the mayor has taken, after holding a news conference two weeks ago asking residents to “buckle down” to prevent the spread of COVID-19 variants, and condemning the recent “freedom rallies” at city parks.

“We now have the P.1 variant in the community and we’ve been hearing some real horror stories about young parents and young people who are struggling for every breath in Regina in ICUs and right across the country and in far too many cases, people losing their lives,” Clark said.

“I want to know that we are taking the right steps as a community to avoid that happening here in Saskatoon while we still can, and we aren’t going to wait until it’s too late.”

Clark believes if the province puts in further health orders now, those regulations wouldn’t have to last as long as they might should the government wait any longer.

“This is something I have expressed to the government and I wanted to make sure they understood I support taking these steps in our city,” he explained.

He says the city’s emergency management director, Pamela Goulden-McLeod, and local medical health officers have also expressed the same things to the province. However, he’s not in a position to determine which measures may or may not work.

“The main thing we want to do is make our voice heard and have that seriously considered by the province. Now we’re waiting for those decisions as they go through the deliberations they’re undertaking,” said Clark.

He hopes the “appropriate” steps are taken, so that by sometime this summer everyone can get back to some sense of normalcy.

“I want to enjoy the summer and I want to see the community be able to enjoy their summer. But the only way we’re going to get there is by preventing the variants from getting out of control in our community, and getting everybody vaccinated,” added Clark.