One of the first orders of business for the new city council on Monday will be holding a vote to pull fluoride out of the drinking water.
The city of Calgary made the same decision three years ago. Earlier this week the CBC reported that childhood tooth decay has spiked in the city since then.
Despite that, all the councilors are expected to follow the results of the referendum. Councilor Brian Skakun says the issue is finally being laid to rest;
“This has been going on, the fluoride debate, for so many years in council and it’s finally come to a head. The people voted to say that they don’t want it anymore, and we are just going to have to live with the results.”
Councilor Garth Frizzell says the their decision was already made when they decided to go to a referendum;
“We made a commitment to the public that we would go to referendum. When you go to a referendum, you give the decision making authority to the people. That’s what city council did and the public spoke”
New councilor Jillian Merrick says she will respect the process;
“This issue has been debated for many years in Prince George, but we have finally come to a head and had a full democratic process to make a decision on this issue and I think every councilor around the table would probably like to respect that process”
During the November’s election 53.7% of voters asked for fluoride to be removed.
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