During the lastest Airdrie City Council meeting, Mayor Peter Brown concluded the Zoom call with a notice of motion to discuss, at the next meeting, what he calls the "collapse of the Blue Zone Project" and carrying the lessons learned from it into a continuing collaboration with Alberta Health Servies to become Canada's Healthiest City.

The Blue Zone Project, which was scrapped in November 2020 largely due to the pandemic, is a community-led health and well-being improvement initiative that is designed to support communities in becoming healthier through changes to a city's environment, policy, social, health, and healthcare networks. There are more than 45 Blue Zone communities in the United States, Airdrie was set to be the first one in Canada.

Brown says he'd hate to see the intellectual property the city retained from the Blue Zone Project be left in the past, and says the pandemic has turned Airdrie into a more health-conscious place.

"If there's a good thing within COVID, it's that our community has become more active; it's healthier. People are more cognizant of growing vegetables in their backyards, walking, biking, if you try to buy a pair of skates around the city you won't find any. Unbeknownst to all of us, we're still following the same guidelines and principles of really becoming the healthiest community in Canada and there are so many amazing opportunities with having that name in front of who you are as a community."

When The Blue Zone Project was first brought to the table, Mayor Brown says he was excited as Airdrie is the right size, the right fit, and has the right demographics to make the project work.

The motion, which is set to be brought up in more detail with further discussion at the next Airdrie City Council meeting, confirms the City's intent to continue advancing an initiative (similar to the Blue Zones) in its planning activities and operations to improve the health/quality of life for its citizens, businesses and the community.

The next Airdrie City Council meeting will be live-streamed via Zoom through the City of Airdrie's website on Monday, March 2nd.

Send your news tips, story ideas, pictures, and videos to news@discoverairdrie.com