Vaccine enforcement begins in Calgary as doctors renew calls for targeted measures

Enforcement slow even as Alta. cases remain high COVID-19 case counts remain sky-high in Alberta, but enforcement of restrictions remains slow. Bill Macfarlane reports.

CALGARY — The City of Calgary has ticketed two businesses for failing to comply with new vaccine passport regulations.

Peace officers have handed out one, $200 ticket for failing to display signage around proof of vaccination requirements, and another $500 ticket for failing to check customers' proof of immunization.

The city will not identify the businesses but say there has been a stream of complaints and they are investigating each one.

Bylaw officers are working to educate before ticketing, but say they won't hesitate to enforce the city's passport bylaw with businesses openly flouting the rules.

Alberta's former chief medical officer of health, Dr. James Talbot, says the province needs to impose a so-called "fire-break" approach to curb cases and spare the health care system from further collapse.

He says indoor activities with known high infection rates should immediately be moved outdoors where possible for a period of about a month. He is not calling for a lockdown which would require people to stay at home except for essential trips.

With more than 1,000 Albertans in hospital as of the last update on Friday, ICU beds are nearing absolute maximum capacity. While the province has added more beds, staff are being pulled from other, unrelated fields of health care to help, meaning the quality of care and workload are not what they should be.