By Sheldon Spackman

Opposing Views

Rocky councillor defends stance on masking

Dec 9, 2020 | 2:54 PM

A Rocky Mountain House man is raising concerns over a town councillor’s remarks regarding face coverings.

Shea Loucks says Councillor Jason Alderson has made wild claims about mask wearing, such as masks being more dangerous to wear than not, with nothing to back them up.

Referring to the Nov. 25 meeting of town council, Loucks says Alderson made serious accusations about what was really happening during the pandemic that could be described as conspiracy theories.

“He was saying you need to follow the money, insinuating that doctors were paid-off and depending which doctors you listened to, just follow the money to find the truth, kind of stuff,” explains Loucks. “I was pretty taken aback by a town councilor, especially if the province gets wind that we have a council that’s sort of bucking against and saying that their health recommendations are dangerous.”

Loucks feels that kind of rhetoric from an elected official equates to public endangerment.

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‘At the very least, as a councillor, he should be respecting scientific reality,” exclaims Loucks. “And if he has any sort of backup to the claims that masks cause cancer, that the doctors are being paid-off to push a narrative, I would love to see the evidence for that.”

“All I’m basically wanting regular people and governments to do, is just root themselves in reality, with backup about how they’re coming to their beliefs, especially when it’s crafting public policy,” suggests Loucks.

Alderson, however, acknowledges that despite opposing views, he hopes everyone is coming from the perspective that they care.

“First off, I was a little bit worried based on my son,” he explains. “I’ve got five kids. My five-year-old is hearing impaired and just the use of masks is something that’s a problem for him. He’s deaf in one ear and he definitely lip-reads and that was the first issue that we had with masks.”

As a councillor, Alderson says members of the local business community have contacted him with their concerns as well.

“No matter which way this goes, they just want to be heard,” says Alderson. “A lot of the business community is nervous about the use of masks. There’s people that are thieving, stealing, and workers are contacting me because they’re really struggling to breath.”

Alderson admits that although his personal beliefs may not align with certain health guidelines, he does think it’s important to comply.

“I have some friends that are in the health industry and they don’t want to come forward because if they come forward, they’re afraid of losing their jobs,” says Alderson. “What they feel is that a lot of people in the ICU beds nowadays, they’re actually there because they have staff pneumonia infections. So the use of masks they feel, isn’t ’really stopping the spread, what it gives is a false sense of security.”

Alderson cites a 2016 article from the Public Health Agency of Canada that doesn’t recommend the use of masks by healthy people during a pandemic.

“It (mask) doesn’t actually stop anything, so you could potentially be spreading it,” adds Alderson. “On top of that, you’re actually compromising your immune system because you have less oxygen going in and you’re increasing bacterial levels. Bacterial levels that I just said are now of people that are in ICU beds because they have staff pneumonia because of the bacteria infections from masks.”

Alderson concedes that if there is a bylaw in place mandating mask usage that people should wear one. Otherwise he feels it comes down to personal choice.

“I think it just comes down to common sense,” he explains. “If you’re sick, stay home, continue to wash your hands. The same stuff we were doing before.”

He further points out that no matter where your opinion lies, you should always treat others with respect.

“There’s a lot of name calling and mudslinging going back either way and the fact is, people have a viewpoint, they disagree with each other, but it’s actually because they care, not because they don’t care.”