Calgary had a watershed year in 2010, when Naheed Nenshi, the first Muslim mayor of a major North American city, was elected. I left a 10-year career in sustainable urban design to put my theories and professional practice into action in Calgary as a councillor. I wanted our political leadership to grow Calgary upwards rather than sprawl outwards, so I focused on building walkable neighbourhoods.

But transforming a city isn’t cheap. Building it up would require serious investment, which in turn would require cuts elsewhere. One target was our aging fluoride injection system, which had been in use since 1991. It was at the end of its life and needed an overhaul to the tune of $10 million. Like many other North American cities, Calgary had adopted fluoridation as a public health measure based on years of research showing that communities with fluoridated water had noticeably fewer cavities.

Anti-fluoride activists had been campaigning against it for decades. Some claimed that fluoridation caused bone deterioration or brain disorders, despite a strong scientific consensus that it’s safe at low levels. Others said it violated their personal freedom. Fluoridation appeared on the municipal ballot four times between 1957 and 1971, with a majority of Calgarians voting against it each time. It finally passed by a five per cent margin in 1989. Since then, the anti-fluoride movement matured into a highly organized network. Activists persistently lobbied city officials and amplified their message through the media, with support from international groups. Meanwhile, public health authorities were pushing back. By the time I was elected, anti-fluoridation had become a sophisticated grassroots force.

I was willing to dismiss some of the more wild conspiratorial thinking—those who believed that........

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