Ontario is the only place in North America where indoor dining isn't allowed
![Doug Ford 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](/content/dam/ctvnews/en/images/2021/5/12/doug-ford-1-5425620-1627382588033.jpg)
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.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6974222.1721746163!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
BREAKING U.S. Secret Service director resigns after Trump assassination attempt
The director of the Secret Service is stepping down from her job, according to an email she sent to staff, following the assassination attempt against former U.S. president Donald Trump that unleashed intensifying outcry about how the agency tasked with protecting current and former presidents could fail in its core mission.
What Canadians should know about a possible Kamala Harris U.S. presidency
Observers expect Kamala Harris to follow U.S. President Joe Biden’s roadmap for America’s relationship with Canada as she moves to secure the Democratic party's presidential nomination.
DEVELOPING Wildfire near Jasper National Park prompts evacuation order and highway closures
Multiple wildfires in Jasper National Park flared up with a vengeance late Monday night, forcing all park visitors along with the 4,700 residents of the Jasper townsite to flee west with little notice over mountain roads through darkness, soot, and ash.
Do you need a lawyer when making a will in Canada?
Many people believe that creating a will requires the services of a lawyer, but this isn't always the case. In his personal finance column for CTVNews.ca, Christopher Liew explains a lawyer's role when crafting your last will and testament.
Quebec mom devastated after man who killed her daughter in hit-and-run gets out after 5 months
A Montreal-area mother is furious with Quebec's justice system because the man who killed her 25-year-old daughter in a 2022 hit-and-run was released from jail after only serving one-sixth of his sentence behind bars.
'They are not taking this decision lightly': Wildfire forces Williams Lake, B.C., seniors homes to move residents
Firefighters continue to battle raging wildfires in B.C.’s Cariboo Region, and concern is growing that recent weather could worsen the situation.
5 of Harris’ more progressive proposals from her 2020 White House bid
As Kamala Harris prepares to run for president against Donald Trump, she will have to lay out for voters her own ideas on how to steer the economy.
Waterloo, Ont. woman out thousands for car totalled by stolen hit-and-run driver
A woman in Waterloo, Ont. is out thousands of dollars for a car crash she wasn’t involved in.
NEW 'The Simpsons' are once again getting credit for predicting American politics
In an episode of 'The Simpsons' from 2000, Lisa Simpson becomes U.S. president and wears an outfit strikingly similar to the one America’s first female Vice-President Kamala Harris wore to the 2021 inauguration