‘Stop this program right now’: Regina city councillor hoping to halt addition of fluoride to city’s water

WATCH: One Regina city councillor is hoping to prevent the addition of fluoride to Regina’s water supply. Donovan Maess has the details.

Ward 10 Coun. Clark Bezo is hoping to prevent the addition of fluoride to Regina’s drinking water.

“I put the motion forward to stop this program right now,” Bezo told reporters on Wednesday. “We don’t have [fluoride] in our water. And we have to ask ourselves, ‘Is this really for the best interest of the entire community?”

“Or is this in the best interest for a smaller segment of the community?” he added.

The previous iteration of council approved the slight addition of fluoride during the water treatment process in August 2021.

Health Canada says the optimal level of fluoride in the water is 0.7 parts per million.

The fluoridation was to be installed as part of upgrades to the Buffalo Pound Water Treatment Plant.

At the time, the installation had the backing of both dental and non-dental groups.

“The implementation of fluoridation of the municipal water system in Regina would provide all residents, especially our most vulnerable, with an effective and equitable approach to helping prevent dental decay,” Kelly Fuchs, the senior health educator of the oral health program with the Saskatchewan Health Authority, said on August 11, 2021.

However, council also faced some backlash from residents who opposed fluoridation.

“Please hold off on this. There is more and more science coming out every single year and it is against water fluoridation,” Dr. Bob Dickson with Safe Water Calgary said at the time.

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In a notice of motion to fellow councillors, Bezo claimed there is, “emerging scientific evidence highlights the potential negative impacts of fluoride on human health,” citing a study published in 2024.

He wants his colleagues to reconsider the previous approval.

“There is nine new faces around the table and there is a strong opposition to the last council on some of their motions they put forward,” Bezo said Wednesday. “And this was one that I heard on the doorsteps.”

The issue has recently come up in other Canadian cities as well.

In 2011, Calgary city councillors voted to remove fluoride from that city’s drinking water.

But following a plebiscite in 2021, that city will reintroduce fluoride to the water next month.

Mayor Chad Bachynski said he will defer to health experts on the topic.

“If [Bezo] believes there’s new information to be considered, we’ll consider it,” Bachynski said.

The Mayor also noted there are several outstanding motions and items his council has inherited from their predecessors, which may or may not resurface.

“There may be cases where a councillor feels strongly we need to look at something,” Bachynski added. “But for the most part, we are trying to turn our focus to moving forward and looking forward as a council.”

The city has budgeted $325 million for the upgrades to the treatment plant.

In an update last month, Buffalo Pound officials told council the fluoridation system is scheduled to be installed in January 2026.

A date for when the reconsideration motion will be in front of councillors has yet to be set.

Bezo expected it to be at a meeting following the city’s budget deliberations, which will begin March 17.

- With files from Stefanie Davis.