Brampton's 89-Person House Party Was Actually Legal & Even The Mayor Is Confused
It looks like some party-goers aren't getting into any trouble. Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown spoke on the province's 100-person limit for outdoor gatherings after an 89-person Brampton backyard party was found to actually be legal. "It's a head-scratcher to me," he said in a press conference.
When asked about rising COVID-19 numbers in Brampton and setting new limits for social functions, Brown responded with concerns of his own.
“This past weekend, bylaw was out and we heard complaints about social gatherings, but none of them were over the provincial limit," Brown said.
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In fact, massive parties that neighbours called in about couldn't actually be shut down because they were operating within legal limits.
"The largest one was 89 people. Because the provincial government has set a limit that is relatively high, people are not breaching any emergency law,” Brown revealed.
In Ontario, stage 3 allows 100 people to gather outdoors, while 50 people are allowed to safely convene indoors.
Furthermore, Brown noted that he would welcome stricter guidelines at this time, but that it's not within his jurisdiction to set those rules.
"The outdoor and indoor limits are set by the provincial government," he said.
"I know that the GTHA mayors have advocated for a regional approach and certainly if we continue to see numbers creep up I would welcome the provincial government curtailing those numbers."
Brown also expressed his discomfort with throwing parties that large.
"Eighty-nine seems high to me. I certainly wouldn’t recommend to anyone to have a social gathering that size during a pandemic. For me it’s a bit of a head-scratcher," said Brampton's mayor.
Parties in the city have been a huge cause for concern throughout the pandemic.
Even in the earlier stages in June, there were reports of more than 20 house parties being shut down in one weekend in Brampton, with 92 people charged in total.
The 200-person rager from July is probably the most notable.
The party-starter is in deep trouble after it got shut down, and faces a $100,000 fine.
Doug Ford also addressed Brampton specifically in a pre-long weekend press conference, where he said the province "won't hesitate to shut it down" if people have large gatherings.