TORONTO -- An Ontario MPP who was kicked out of Premier Doug Ford's caucus for calling lockdowns "deadlier than COVID" is now launching a lawsuit against the provincial government in order to strike down regulations that prevent outdoor gatherings.
York Centre MPP Roman Baber announced on Thursday that he has launched a constitutional challenge in relation to the Reopening Ontario Act (ROA), the legislation that regulates the government’s ability to impose orders related to the pandemic.
Orders under the ROA include the province's ability to implement rules on public gatherings, business closures and managing outbreaks in hospitals or long-term care homes.
On Thursday, Baber claimed the risk of contracting COVID-19 outdoors “is negligible” and that restrictions on certain gatherings infringes on "fundamental freedoms."
“One thing that's becoming clear is that the prospects for risk of transmission outdoors is exceedingly low,” Baber told Newstalk 1010 on Thursday morning.
“Therefore I submit that it's not demonstrably justifiable, that it's not warranted to impose restrictions on various outdoor activities, such as protests, such as the ability to pray outdoors and gather outdoors.”
Under the Progressive Conservative government’s five-tiered lockdown framework, outdoor gatherings are not strictly prohibited. These are the rules as it pertains to outdoor gatherings:
- Grey (lockdown): Outdoor gatherings are allowed to 10 people as long as physical distancing can be maintained. Religious services, weddings and funerals may gather outdoors with a limit of 50 people.
- Red (control): Twenty-five people are allowed to gather outdoors for private events such as barbecues, dinners or parties with physical distancing. A limit of 100 people outdoors exists for religious services.
- Orange (restrict): The same restrictions exist as the red zone, however the government is also allowing organized public events and business gatherings of up to 100 people outdoors.
- Yellow (protect) and green (prevent): The same restrictions exist as the orange zone.
“I suggest that there's absolutely no reason to regulate or restrict any behavior outdoors since there's essentially no risk,” Baber said. “And what we're seeing is remarkable government overreach that affects some of our most basic fundamental rights.”
The novel coronavirus is transmitted through respiratory droplets and aerosols when someone coughs, sneezes, sings, shouts, or talks. The risk of transmission decreases outdoors due to increased ventilation, which can blow droplets away compared to indoor settings, where the air is ‘recycled.” However, there is still a risk of transmission, especially when physical distancing cannot be maintained.
Infectious disease experts and public health officials have both said that a mask should be worn outside if residents cannot maintain a two-metre distance from one another.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of the Attorney General said in a statement that the government has "never hesitated to take the necessary measures to protect the health and safety of Ontarians."
"As this is now before the courts, we will not be commenting any further," Brian Gray said regarding Baber's lawsuit.
Baber was kicked out of Ford's caucus in January after sending the premier a two-page letter calling the provincial lockdown "deadlier than COVID."
In the letter he claimed the lockdown efforts were having no impact on the curb of COVID-19, and that they cause "an avalanche of suicides, bankruptcies, divorces, and takes an immense toll on our children."
When Ontario's lockdown went into effect on Dec. 26, 2020, COVID-19 cases in the province fell substantially.
Infections in Ontario are beginning to creep back up and some experts are now suggesting that a three-week lockdown may be necessary as Ontario to curb the spread of COVID-19 variants.
