Toronto cancels public Canada Day festivities

City moves up schedule for road repairs to take advantage of low traffic

Canada Day has been cancelled, or at least the many City of Toronto events where Torontonians normally celebrate the July 1 holiday have. The announcement Friday marks the city’s first major COVID-19 cancellation for July. Other summer event cancellations, including the Pride parade and Caribbean Carnival, have been made by private organizers, and more are expected to come.

“Based on the recommendations of the medical officer of health, to stop the spread of COVID-19 and save lives, the City of Toronto will join other municipalities across Canada in celebrating a national virtual Canada Day on July 1, 2020,” the city said in a news release.

Cancelled events include: Fireworks at Ashbridge’s Bay, Centennial Park, Milliken Park, Stan Wadlow Park and Weston Lions Park

Canada Day celebrations on Mel Lastman Square

Scarborough’s annual Canada Day event

Centennial Park Canada Day Celebration

East York Canada Day parade and festival.

Ontario and Toronto leaders are working on co-ordinated plans to ease a lockdown on gatherings and businesses in place since March, when each declared a state of emergency to deal with the growing pandemic crisis.

Mayor John Tory has said that, if Torontonians continue to stay home as much as possible and the rate of new COVID-19 infections continues to slow, rules on business closures and physical distance could start to relax as early as late May.

Regardless, Toronto appears set to have a mostly eventless summer like no other.

“I would like nothing more than to celebrate Canada Day as we usually do, with friends and family and enjoying our neighbourhoods together, but we just can’t this year, out of caution and an overriding concern for public health,” Tory said.

“I look forward to celebrating with Toronto residents virtually on July 1, but, even more, I look forward to the day when we can safely resume our celebrations in person.”

Infection fears earlier prompted Toronto to scrap city recreation programs until the end of June.

Tory said no decision has been made about July and August classes and camps. He has asked city staff to see if there is a way they could proceed with physical distancing, possibly with fewer participants or more instructors.

One of the few bright spots in the civic shutdown is the opportunity to get roadwork done faster on mostly empty roads, Tory said, adding the city will do many projects simultaneously as possible.

Work is planned for more than 550 streets across Toronto, including resurfacing 147 local roads. Sewers will be upgraded on more than 100 streets to protect basements from flooding.

A list of major projects is on the city’s website.

At the same briefing, Dr. Eileen de Villa, Toronto’s public health chief, told reporters that her office mistakenly failed to trace the contacts of 52 people who tested positive for COVID-19 between March 31 and April 6.

All 52 people knew they were infected and isolated themselves, so nobody else was infected because of the oversight, said de Villa, who added people with whom they had contact are being notified and she is ensuring the mistake won’t happen again.

Among all the summer cancellations, a question mark hangs over one big Toronto tradition: the Canadian National Exhibition.

No decision has been made yet about the fate of the CNE, said chair John Kiru.

The directors of the lateAugust event, held since 1879 with a pause only for the Second World War, are set to consider the question Thursday.

Staff will brief them on issues including vendor contracts and border issues for those who come from abroad.

“We still have some heavy lifting, but we’ll be making a decision soon, based on the best available advice,” Kiru said Friday.

The CNE’s equivalents in Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton have all been cancelled over COVID-19 concerns.