Niagara gets green light to enter Stage 2 of reopenings Friday
Niagara’s political and business leaders are hailing the province’s decision to allow local hair salons, outdoor patios and other amenities to reopen this coming Friday, saying the region is more than ready.
“I’m pumped. This is what we’ve been fighting for. It feels great,” said Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati shortly after the announcement at Queen’s Park on Monday.
Premier Doug Ford announced that Niagara will be one of the regions entering Stage 2 of Ontario’s reopening strategy this week, allowing an easing on restrictions in place under a state of emergency.
The province shut down all non-essential services on March 17 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and has gradually been reopening amenities and services. Twenty-four regions entered Stage 2 last Friday. Niagara will be joined by Durham, Hamilton, York, Halton, Haldimand-Norfolk and SarniaLambton, in opening on June 19.
“This will mean more people going back to work at restaurants, bars, beauty salons, shopping malls and many other businesses big and small in those regions,” Ford said.
Mishka Balsom, president and CEO of the Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce, said it was good news and Niagara businesses are ready.
She said they’ve put a lot of effort into reopening responsibly, providing hand sanitizer and masks for customers and ensuring social distancing.
“I can look back on the last couple of months and I think Niagara’s business community has been extremely responsible and very committed in flattening the curve, so I think the timing is right.”
Niagara Falls MPP Wayne Gates said across Niagara, approximately 40,000 jobs have been lost since the start of the pandemic.
He said some of the local businesses that rely on tourism are in terrible financial shape and some of the big hotels are in trouble.
“It’s good news that it’s opening. It’s good news to get some of them back to work,” he said, adding the biggest day in Niagara will be Friday when everyone will be on a patio.
At the same time, he said Niagara still has to be careful of COVID-19.
Diodati said the news couldn’t happen fast enough, adding Niagara Falls has been affected more than anywhere else as Canada’s top leisure destination.
“We’ve been the canary in the coal mine. Affected first and affected the most,” he said.
Diodati said 98 per cent of tourism industry employees in Niagara Falls are laid off and the industry is facing significant financial challenges, potential
business closures and bankruptcies.
“Everybody knew that we had to do what we had to do to keep COVID at bay and get it contained and controlled. We’ve done just that,” he said.
“Our numbers are very good and now is the time to open back up in a safe way for the new normal, but we have to come to the new normal. It’s time.”
St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik said Niagara is as ready as any community is going to be ready.
Many people anticipated Niagara would be part of Stage 2 openings last week, so they’ve had an extra week to be even more prepared to bring in protection measures.
Sendzik was one of Niagara’s 12 mayors and Regional Chair Jim Bradley that put out a joint statement on Monday thanking everyone in Niagara for their tireless efforts and reminding people the threat of COVID-19 is still real.
“We’ve got to keep hammering the message home that Stage 2 doesn’t mean we’re out of COVID-19 as a threat to our community, it just means we’ve taken the precautions to control it,” Sendzik said.
“It can be out of control quickly if we don’t follow the recommendations that are being made by public health.”
Ford said the decision was made after his team and the medical officer of health “crunched the numbers.”
Toronto, Peel and WindsorEssex remain in Stage 1 and Ford asked them to be patient Monday.