Ford to reopen Ontario region by region

Conservative MPPs lobbied premier to ditch ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach

In a significant U-turn, Premier Doug Ford now says Ontario will forge ahead with a regional approach to reopening the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A mere 24 hours after the premier said “we just have to be cautious,” he announced Friday the province would move region by region for the next stage of opening businesses and services in the weeks ahead.

With the Greater Toronto Area accounting for 65.8 per cent of Ontario’s coronavirus cases, Ford said he reconsidered his earlier stance that the entire province should reopen at the same time.

“It’s very fluid. It moves very quickly,” he said, explaining why Ontario will follow the lead of neighbouring Quebec, Manitoba and New York, which have embraced regional strategies.

“You have to be ready to make the changes.”

Asked what had changed so suddenly and dramatically between Thursday and Friday, Ford said: “There’s never a light bulb that goes off in my head. I take the advice — it’s about a team approach.”

“I’m no health expert, I rely on health and science. I am not going to go against the advice of medical professionals in this,” the premier told reporters at his daily teleconference.

Ford stressed that because Ontario has finally ramped up testing for COVID-19, which has killed 2,272 people in the province, there is a clearer picture of the “hot-spots,” which includes Brampton and Scarborough.

“We have more testing, we have a better scope on what’s happening,” he said.

As disclosed by the Star on Thursday, Progressive Conservative MPPs from outside the GTA have been lobbying the premier to rethink his “one size fits all” approach.

There are relatively few coronavirus cases in North Bay, Parry Sound, Sudbury, Algoma, Kenora, Kingston, Renfrew, Huron-Perth, Prince Edward County, Peterborough and most of the southwest other than Windsor.

Some Tory MPPs in those areas have told Ford they are feeling pressure from their constituents to allow more people to go back to work. “How am I supposed to keep telling businesses in my area to remain closed for what’s essentially a Toronto problem?” one rural Tory MPP, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to freely discuss internal caucus discussions, said earlier this week.

Dr. David Williams, the province’s chief medical officer of health, emphasized that the end of a testing blitz of all nursing-home residents and staff has allowed broader testing in the province.

That has made regional openings possible, but these will likely be well away from the GTA and its many hot spots.

“We’re getting a picture of what’s happening live time,” said William, who noted some health units are “seeing no cases for … sometimes two or three weeks in a row, and that’s encouraging.”

But it probably won’t be a freefor-all when parts of Ontario reopen further.

Williams suggested it’s unlikely a region with a low number of cases would be allowed to open if a neighbouring region, such as the GTA, has a lot.

“That makes it very difficult for the public to understand the rationale,” he added. “A little bit further out might make more sense.”

Other points of concern are areas with border crossings to the U.S. and in northern Ontario, where First Nations communities are more vulnerable to COVID-19 and must be protected.