Edmonton council opts to not create city-run vaccine passport program

The City of Edmonton will not create its own vaccine passport program.

At a special council meeting Friday afternoon, administration recommended the city not introduce its own version of the province's recently removed Restrictions Exemption Program (REP) and councillors voted 9–4 to accept that recommendation.

In the meeting, City Manager Andre Corbould outlined some of the reasons why administration determined a local REP was not worth pursuing.

He said health officials say Omicron is more transmissible and has more breakthrough infections than previous variants so showing proof of vaccination does not have the same level of effectiveness at reducing transmission as it used to.

"We believe the REP offers more of a perception of safety than actual enhanced safety for Edmontonians," he said.

He said a council representing 13 business improvement areas in the city said it would not support a council motion to introduce a municipal REP program.

An Explore Edmonton survey of its stakeholders found 36 per cent of respondents wanted to keep a REP program and 40 per cent wanted to end it.

Corbould said nearby municipalities are planning to align their policies with the province's plan and that a municipal program would be difficult to run and enforce.

"Unfortunately, a local, Edmonton-alone REP program does not work as much as we wish it would," Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said during the meeting.

He said a municipal program would create more uncertainty for business and that municipalities lack the tools and resources to enforce it. Front-line workers, he said, would be burdened with enforcement and he did not want to put them in harm's way, considering the polarization of the issue.

"Some of you will be disappointed, I hear you, but leadership is also about being honest," he said. 

Councillors who did not support pursuing a municipal REP said residents overwhelmingly told them they did not want one created.

Coun. Sarah Hamilton said messages to her office were not mass-emailed, angry missives but came from constituents who are fully vaccinated and have supported restrictions in the past.

Councillors Michael Janz, Ashley Salvador, Anne Stevenson and Jo-Anne Wright voted against accepting the recommendations.