Returning community water fluoridation to Calgary.

Update (October 21st, 2021): We won.

On October 18th, over 200,000 Calgarians voted to return community water fluoridation to my hometown. 62% of my city voted Yes!, with 38% opposed, sharing a clear majority (24pts) toward reintroducing this prudent, proven and cost-effective community health measure. More Calgarians voted for the return of fluoridation than the new mayor-elect.

The original blog post is shared below.

I have been angry a very long time.

Let me share why.

Ever since 2013, when I first learned that fluoridation was removed from Calgary, I have been trying to think of a way to help bring it back.

For those not in the know, fluoridation is the process to take the natural levels of fluoride in a community’s water and increase it to a level where it can then deliver therapeutic benefits. It’s primarily for dental caries (read: cavities), and has been shown with over 75 years of studies to substantially reduce cavities in communities that choose to fluoridate.

It’s backed by the Centers for Disease Control, been called one of the 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century and is ranked right up there with universal healthcare by the Canadian Public Health Association (“12 Great Achievements”). It is also endorsed by Alberta’s doctors, Alberta’s dentists, and Alberta’s dental assistants. It is a cost-effective, prudent and proven public health measure to benefit all Calgarians.

It had passed two plebiscites—with a Yes! result in 1989 and again in 1998.

So how did a great public health measure get removed?

It came just after a new set of councillors were elected in the 2010 election. Nenshi and Mr. Richard Pootmans were out of town: and a group of activists attacked while others weren’t paying attention. So in the winter months in early 2011, it was removed without consultation, against medical advice, and ignoring our city’s researchers and scientists.

By a vote of city council, councillors removed a policy that had won the support of the public not once, but twice (1989 and 1998).

To say that this made me angry is an understatement.

And to see a foreign-funded, anti-vaccination group push their hostile agenda in my city is the final straw. And I don’t say this lightly: it’s a group of partisans from the United States pushing their anti-fluoridation agenda. Almost half of their Facebook Page administrators are from the United States, and they’ve been actively pursuing and receiving donations from their donor network abroad.

Most notable amongst their supporters is Mr. Mercola, a notorious source of anti-vaccination rhetoric and, most importantly, anti-vaccination funding. This gentleman was even noted by the Center for Countering Digital Hate as being part of the Disinformation Dozen, and part of the crew responsible for two-thirds of online anti-vaccine content.

Just like then in 2011, and now, we are facing this troubling intervention by these actors. We have public policy created to be in the public interest: to cave to foreign interests like the above is immoral and removes the ability of Calgarians to make a decision by Calgarians for Calgarians. In a single moment, council undid the voices of tens of thousands of Calgarians and in a distinctly undemocratic and unaccountable way back in 2011. It was wrong then and it’s wrong now.

And it has caused damage. Since its removal in 2011, Calgary children’s dental health getting worse without community water fluoridation, according to a study from the University of Calgary. The results were obvious, and foreseeable, but I’ll let Dr. McLaren share it in her words: “Our findings are quite clear — fluoridation cessation is having a negative effect on children’s dental health in Calgary. This reinforces the need for universal, publicly funded prevention activities—including but not limited to fluoridation of drinking water.“

According to that study, where children lived also had an impact: 56.4% of children who lived their lives in Calgary had at least one cavity on one smooth surface of their teeth, versus 40.8% who had lived their whole life in Edmonton.

And now—a full decade later and hundreds of hours of volunteer time advocating on this issue—we have a plebiscite on Monday, October 18th.

It has taken years of working with others, but a team of dentists, dental hygienists, doctors, professors and community members (primarily the team at Calgarians for Kids Health and Professor Juliet Guichon) have brought it in front of Calgarians once more.

Hopefully, for the last time.

I’ve been helping this campaign—I even designed the lawn sign—and stood shoulder to shoulder with conservatives, progressives and Calgarians of every political stripe and corner of the city. It has been an eye-opening experience to work with this rainbow coalition of Calgarians from all over my city.

This campaign has reinforced my core beliefs about my hometown: that it is a city full of advocates and those who are passionate defenders of the common good. My city is a city that has its faith in science, supports its health care workers and implements a fact-based public policy that benefits all Calgarians for the long term. Calgary is an educated, scientifically literate city. And it is a city that values knowledge and technology, and fluoridation is a tool that can be used to benefit the public’s health.

My neighbours also care about the health of the most vulnerable. It is inborn with our city’s spirit: caring for one another, volunteering in our neighbourhoods and making our city better each and every day.

It is also a city that does not succumb to fear and doubt created by a group that seeks to cause damage to the public’s health. A terrible harm has been committed against our city, and now it’s time to make it right and return community water fluoridation to my city.

The benefit is clear and the argument has been made. Please vote Yes! on Monday, October 18th to return community water fluoridation.