Premier Doug Ford, who remains reluctant to provide details on how and when the province will begin the process of reopening, says he has been getting "endless calls" from people pressuring him to get the economy moving again.
“I’m getting lobbied hard by so many different groups and organizations,” he said during a news conference at Queen’s Park on Tuesday. “I just beg people to be patient.”
Ford said he is even feeling the heat from his 12-year-old nephew, who is eager to make plans for the summer.
“I even got a call from Rob’s son… saying, ‘Uncle Doug, am I going to camp or not?’ And I told him, ‘You know I can’t answer that,’” Ford said. “He goes, ‘Well find out and get back to me right away,’ and I thought, really? I’m getting lobbied by 12-year-old nephew too.”
The premier has promised that in the next few days, he will release a “framework” outlining the province’s plans for reopening.
Ford would not say specifically what businesses or sectors will reopen first.
“We’ll be rolling this out over the next few days, but (we will look at) certain areas that you don’t have to worry about working side-by-side on a line that you can’t practice social distancing,” he said. “Maybe outdoor activities we can look at. But again, that will be rolled out over the next few days and we are going to be consulting again with municipalities and sectors.”
When asked about some businesses, such as golf courses, that have been permitted to open in British Columbia, Ford said he spoke to B.C. Premier John Horgan about the situation a few days ago.
“Keep in mind they are about three weeks ahead of us and when I spoke to him, it was about four or five days ago, they only had nine cases in all of B.C. that day so he’s much further ahead of us on this,” Ford said.
“They ended up getting the spike a lot earlier than we did. So once we get to that point, there is no one out there that wants to move forward on the economy more than I do. But we’d rather be safe than sorry. People are going to have to hang in there.”
Ontario saw 551 new cases of the virus on Tuesday, down slightly from the record-high 606 new cases reported on Monday.
Thirty-eight more deaths were confirmed today, bringing the total number of virus-related deaths in Ontario to 622.
Ford noted that the province will have to hit certain “benchmarks” before restrictions are eased in Ontario.
“Even when we open up… sadly and unfortunately, people will still be dying,” the premier said.
“Even when we open the economy up a little bit it is going to continue, but hopefully we can slow this down… That weighs on you believe me. You are trying to do a balancing act.”
