As many of you are aware, Westport Council took the decision at its October 6 Council Meeting to cancel door to door trick/treating for this year due to the rising numbers of COVID-19. Prior to that meeting, unsuccessful attempts were made to learn of any guidelines from Chief Medical Officer Dr D Williams and the Ministry of Health.

Councillors had consulted with many residents prior to the October 6 meeting and it was a difficult, but unanimous decision.

On Tuesday, October 13, Dr P Stewart, MOH for Leeds, Grenville and Lanark Health Unit provided some guidelines for trick/treating. As her guidelines have been taken into consideration throughout COVID-19, the matter will be on the Council agenda for Tuesday, October 20.

Since Council’s decision has already been taken, the Procedural By-law requires a two-stage process to debate it again. The first stage is called “reconsideration” – essentially this means that members of Council must agree by a majority vote to bring the matter back onto the table. If that motion carries, then the issue of door to door trick/treating will be discussed and voted on. The passing of the reconsideration motion is not an indication of how the motion on trick/treating will be decided.

I encourage you to contact a member of Council if you have any comments.

You can watch the Council meetings on live stream by clicking on the Village You Tube page at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-fs2y1g5jXLiioR0KdDgbA

For further information contact CAO Paul Snider  psnider@villageofwestport.ca 613-273-2191

or rjones@villageofwestport.ca 613-273-9195