Ontario is the only place in North America where indoor dining isn't allowed
Ontario Premier Doug Ford prepares for Question Period at Queen’s Park in Toronto on Wednesday, May 5, 2021. The premier has just finished a quarantine due to a COVID-19 exposure. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn
TORONTO -
Ontario is now the only place in North America where indoor dining still isn't allowed because of COVID-19, Restaurants Canada says.
In a statement to CTV News Toronto, Restaurants Canada slammed the Ontario governments reopening plan, calling it "inadequate" and is asking for restaurants to be fully reopened.
"The people of Ontario have hit all of the government’s targets, restaurants have shown that they can safely serve customers, yet they have seen no benefit to going into Step 2," a spokesperson for Restaurants Canada said.
Indoor dining isn't allowed to open in Ontario until the province enters Step 3 of the reopening plan, which will happen in just under three weeks.
Restaurants Canada says the government should immediately reopen indoor dining so that "businesses facing bankruptcy can begin the long road to recovery."
In Toronto, indoor dining has been prohibited since the province went into lockdown last November as the second COVID-19 wave gripped the city.
Patio dining was allowed to resume in Step 1 but businesses without a patio are still out of luck.
Ontario hit the vaccination targets to enter Step 3 last week, but health officials in the province are being cautious about reopening too quickly.
Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore said this week that he would prefer to wait 21 days between Step 2 and Step 3.
Provinces like British Columbia, Alberta, and Quebec all reopened indoor dining earlier this year.
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