Ontario plans for Stage 2 of economy’s reopening amid COVID-19 pandemic
Published June 5, 2020 at 7:45 pm
At a June 5 press conference, Ontario Premier Doug Ford discussed additional measures to help cope with the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and stated that next week, the Ontario government will announce a reopening plan for more businesses to open as well as a plan to reopen childcare centres.
These plans will be part of Stage 2 of Ontario’s plan to reopen the economy.
Today’s announcement (June 5) was made by Premier Doug Ford, Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health, and Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade.
According to Ford, the province of Ontario will plan towards moving onto Stage 2 early next week.
These plans will include the reopening of certain office towers and the allowance of gatherings of more than five people.
“Early next week, we will share more details about Stage 2 of the reopening of our province,” said Ford.
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“To be clear, Stage 2 will not begin immediately. We will be giving notice to businesses to start getting ready next week.”
Ford also added that the province will lay out a plan for reopening childcare gradually, in order to support parents as they return to work.
Additionally, during the conference, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said that Ottawa’s $14-billion proposal to restart the economy isn’t enough, as the province of Ontario requires $23 billion to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ford stated that $14-billion won’t “cut it” and added that he hopes this proposal to premiers is just the beginning of a further conversation.
“It’s a start, it’s a good start,” said Ford. “I thank the Prime Minister for his support, but the reality is, we have a $23 billion dollar problem in Ontario and $14 billion dollars for all of Canada won’t solve the problem.”
Ford added, “We can’t find band-aid solutions to the massive issues we will face in the coming months on our path to a strong economic recovery.”
While more details about Stage 2 will be revealed early next week, Ford continued to stress the importance of the fact that the reopening of the province will not happen overnight.
“We’re making steady progress and will be ready very soon to take the next steps in restarting our economy,” said Ford.
Ford concluded today’s conference by acknowledging the patience that the people of Ontario have had amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“You’ve been very, very, patient and as much as stage two will be focused on getting people back to work, it is also about finding ways to try to get life back to normal this summer, even if it’s a little different than before,” Ford concluded.
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