Ontario music venues get clearance to hold standing shows, operate at full capacity
Ontario's live music venues can get concertgoers back onto their feet after a sudden change in the province's COVID-19 guidelines.
As part of a broader decision to remove capacity limits at outdoor, organized public events, a representative for the provincial government confirmed Thursday that indoor concert venues will no longer be subject to seated restrictions and can operate at full capacity.
The Canadian Live Music Association adds that the easing of rules means venues that hold "general admission" shows -- or concerts that are largely standing room only -- can return to something closer to business as usual about two weeks earlier than planned.
However, the association's chief executive Erin Benjamin notes concertgoers will still be required to show proof of vaccination and wear masks inside the venue.
The latest change comes after some live venues opted to install temporary seating earlier this month so they could move forward with planned concerts under rules that required all concerts to be seated.
But changes to the guidelines were already in the works -- concert venues were originally lumped in with a loosening of restrictions on nightclubs, strip clubs, bathhouses and sex clubs that goes into effect Nov. 15.
Benjamin says venues will now have to consider what to do with live shows booked for the coming weeks in standing-only spaces they reconfigured for seats. Holding a show with chairs often reduces capacity by about half, according to some venue operators.
"I know some of us are going to stay with seated shows (for) all the seated shows on the calendar right now and then go back to business as normal just because they've done so much work with seating plans and purchasing seats," she says.
"But they now have the choice and they will do what they feel is in the best interest of the show."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 28, 2021.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Liberal MP says she's leaving politics over disrespectful dialogue, threats, misogyny
Liberal MP Pam Damoff says she won't run again in the next federal election, saying she has experienced misogyny, disrespectful dialogue in politics and threats to her life.
Concerns about Plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall Plexiglass barriers.
Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Ont. woman who faked pregnancy to defraud doulas arrested again on similar charges
Victims of a Brantford, Ont., woman who was sentenced to house arrest earlier this year for defrauding and deceiving doulas say they’re not surprised she’s been apprehended again on similar charges.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Construction begins on LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa
Shovels have hit the ground for constuction on Canada's LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa.
B.C. man awarded $5,000 in damages in first-of-it-kind intimate image case
In a first-of-its-kind case, a B.C. tribunal has ruled on a dispute involving the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, awarding damages and issuing orders that the photos be destroyed and taken offline.