Our provincial government sure likes to end the week with a “bang,” don’t they?
In typical Ontario government fashion, Premier Doug Ford picked Friday afternoon to make an announcement. This time he dropped a bombshell when he announced plans to lift public health restrictions associated with COVID-19.
This time, instead of announcing something on Friday afternoon and leaving everyone scratching their heads trying to figure out how to implement these changes by the time they open on Saturday morning, Ford announced the entire timeline for lifting restrictions.
In case you missed the story in this paper, on Monday capacity limits were lifted in places where proof of vaccination is required, such as restaurants, bars, gyms, sports and recreational facilities, gaming establishments and indoor meeting and event spaces. Restrictions were also lifted in certain outdoor settings, paving the way for larger crowds at Remembrance Day and Santa Claus Parade events, among other things.
By Nov. 15, if all public health trends remain on track, you’ll be able to attend your favourite nightclub, strip club or bathhouse without worrying about capacity limits.
By Jan. 17, again if all public health trends continue on the right track and students return to class following the Christmas break, the province will gradually lift capacity limits in settings where proof of vaccination is not required and will also start to lift proof of vaccination requirements, including for restaurants, bars, sports and recreational facilities, and gaming establishments.
On Feb. 7, you’ll be able to go to the strip club without proof of vaccination.
And on March 28, face coverings and proof of vaccination will be a thing of the past. That’s right, by the end of March you’ll be able to go to an arena without a face covering, regardless of vaccination status.
As someone who has lived through the pandemic with three young children, a return to pre-COVID “normal” is appealing. The idea of being able to do many of the things we could pre-COVID sounds great and is much better for everyone’s mental health than sitting at home every weekend.
However, the conspiracy theorist in me can’t help but think that the timing of these restrictions being lifted is rather convenient.
As everyone knows, Ontarians are set to go to the polls on June 2, 2022 for the provincial election.
That’s right… 67 days before the election, everything will be back to normal according to Ford’s timeline.
When is the majority of an election campaign conducted in Ontario? The two months leading up to the election (although, in recent times, political parties seem to push for a more Americanized model with campaign ads already appearing).
Who would benefit from not having the province under some sort of COVID-19 restrictions?
Doug Ford and the Conservative Party.
It is in the Conservatives’ best interest to have the province open for business (pun intended). It not only gives the party the ability to say, “we’ve beaten the pandemic,” but it also takes away the ability for the other parties to centre their campaigns around “reopening the province and lifting restrictions.”
I believe it will also give the Conservatives a boost in the popularity polls.
The Maru Public Opinion poll released on Sept. 22 shows Ford’s approval rating at 42 per cent – down 20 points from his all-time high in June 2020, but still better than the 40 per cent approval rating he had when elected in 2018.
Lifting restrictions is surely to give Ford a boost, especially amongst the vaccine-hesitant and anti-vaxxer crowd.
Regardless of what party’s flag you wave, you have to give credit to the provincial and federal governments for how they handled the pandemic, especially in the early stages.
Were their decisions perfect? No. But they were dealing with something that nobody in our lifetime has had to deal with and did so believing they were making the right decisions based on the information available.
Fast forward to some 19 months after the pandemic began, and I want to believe that Ford et al are lifting these restrictions because everyone – medical officers of health, government and health care officials – believe we are ready to move on. I want to believe that enough of the general public has been vaccinated that COVID-19 is no longer a threat.
But something in my gut tells me this is a politically-motivated decision.
I just hope my gut is wrong and that we’re ready.
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Mike Wilson is the editor of Midwestern Newspapers. Comment and feedback can be sent to mwilson@midwesternnewspapers.com.
