Reopening Ontario is sure to be a confusing exercise

Reopening Ontario on a regional basis is going to be a lot harder than locking the entire province down last March to help combat the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

Unlike those frigid days, people now seem less willing to blindly follow the evolving rules on what we can and cannot do, especially now that those rules are no longer being applied universally. Except when they are.

Which isn’t at all confusing. Except when it is.

Starting Friday, everyone across Ontario can meet in groups of 10 people, doubling the old maximum of five, but they still have to maintain a two-metre distance from each other.

Unless they have a valid reason to engage in large scale public protests.

Seeing Justin Trudeau wade into a huge crowd on Parliament Hill and take a knee was a clear sign of solidarity with the tens of thousands of Canadians who, like him, ignored his own social distancing orders to join protests against racism and police brutality.

But Trudeau sent exactly the wrong message to those fed up after three months of being locked down and anxious to resume some sort of social life during our very short summer.

People who haven’t been allowed to visit a dying parent in long-term care or attend a funeral also felt a compelling need to ignore the emergency orders, but they followed the rules to help stop the spread of COVID-19, even as their hearts were breaking.

Inconsistent enforcement of the emergency measures isn’t helping.

Near the Ottawa protest where Trudeau took a knee amid thousands of people, a pizza parlour was fined $880 for letting customers have a drink on an outdoor patio while waiting for their takeout orders.

Thankfully no protesters faced the same ridiculous charge, and virtually all such charges laid during the pandemic should be dismissed.

So on to Stage 2 of the plan, at least for some, after Ford had a change of heart about regional reopenings. It followed pressure from Progressive Conservative MPPs representing communities with little COVID-19, but lots of people anxious to get back to business and whatever normal will look like this summer, especially areas relying on tourism.

Huge swaths of eastern, central and northern Ontario with few cases of COVID-19 will be able to reopen shopping malls, restaurant and bar patios, hair and nail salons — with new pandemic safety measures and while maintaining social distancing requirements. Kids can go to splash pads and public swimming pools, but still can’t use the playground equipment.

Churches, synagogues and mosques can open again, but will be limited to 30 per cent capacity for social distancing. However, for some reason, weddings and funerals are still capped at just 10 people, even though they often take place in a house of worship.

Eight million people in the Golden Horseshoe, Haldimand-Norfolk, Windsor and Sarnia will remain stuck in Stage 1.

Their dog can get a haircut but they can’t, unless they drive to a Stage 2 area, where they can also get a tattoo, have their nails done and shop at a mall.

The illogic and inconsistency in the rules and in their enforcement, and the hypocrisy of politicians, will help some justify a more relaxed attitude about the emergency measures.

What has until now been obedient adherence to government dictates could become, shall we say, flexible, depending on personal whims, and of course, the weather.

Heck of a plan.