Ontario Premier Doug Ford considering speeding up reopening timeline, sources say
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is set to consider new regulations this week to speed up the economic reopening timeline amid pressure from local and provincial politicians.
Multiple sources say the premier personally asked for new regulations to be drawn up to fast-track reopening schedules. While sources also said cabinet could consider the new measures as early as Friday, a spokesperson for the premier clarified that no official meeting is scheduled for this week.
The spokesperson did not deny the premier is considering ramping up Ontario's reopening.
It’s unclear whether proof of vaccination or mandatory masking policies would be dropped as well — the province has yet to provide a timeframe for when those measures would come to an end.
Ontario would become the latest province to speed up their COVID-19 exit plan. The government of Alberta and Saskatchewan both announced an almost immediate end to all COVID-19 measures, including masking, and called on other levels of government to follow suit.
On Wednesday, Health Minister Christine Elliott indicated that while her government wants to “remove the restrictions as soon as we can” the province will continue to take a cautious approach which has bred success in the past.
“We've already set out our opening timelines we started on January 31. The next phase is as of February 21, and then March 14,” Elliott said at a news conference. “We have no plans currently to drop the passport vaccination situation or masking.”
Behind closed doors. however, sources say Ford has been expressing to Progressive Conservatives a desire to make a decision soon to move on from the pandemic measures.
Dr. Peter Juni, the scientific Director at the Ontario Science advisory table said on Wednesday that unless the proof of vaccination program is changed to reflect the booster shot, the requirement could be “reconsidered relatively soon, and then lifted.”
“If we don't change to a three-dose-certificate, and this unlikely to happen, the less rationale we will have for a certificate anyway,” Juni told CTV News Toronto.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Pilot reported fire onboard plane carrying fuel, attempted to return to Fairbanks just before crash
One of the two pilots aboard an airplane carrying fuel reported there was a fire on the airplane shortly before it crashed and burned outside Fairbanks, killing both people on board, a federal aviation official said Wednesday.
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
'One of the single most terrifying things ever': Ontario couple among passengers on sinking tour boat in Dominican Republic
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
7 surveillance videos linked to extortions of South Asian home builders in Edmonton released
The Edmonton Police Service has released a number of surveillance videos related to a series of extortion cases in the city now dubbed 'Project Gaslight.'