Toronto Starts Planning The ‘Complicated’ Process Of Re-Opening The City
While the province has announced that Ontario will be in lockdown until at least the middle of May, it seems that the city of Toronto is already planning for the future. City officials have reportedly begun the "complicated" process of planning how they will re-open the 6ix. Mayor John Tory states that that Toronto's re-opening plans will work towards returning the city to normal after the pandemic.
In an interview with CP24 on Friday morning, the mayor revealed that while they don't have a date for when the city will be re-opened, they are working to make sure that the transition will go smoothly.
In a meeting that will take place on Saturday, issues such as business, government, transportation, and public health will reportedly be discussed.
"We're having a big meeting," Tory told CP24. "We don't have a date. We got to just keep working at the physical distancing and so on to make sure that the date comes sooner than later."
Tory offered up further details about the "complicated" process of bringing the city back to life, mentioning that a new team could be created.
"You can't believe how complicated it is, and it's almost as complicated to have a plan to reopen the city as it is to manage what's going on today," he added.
Tory also opened up about some of the options he and his staff were considering in regard to issues facing Toronto's restaurant business.
Several beloved food spots have already been forced to close their doors permanently in the city as a direct result of the pandemic.
Whether or not these restaurants will open all at once, or only a few at a time is still up for discussion.
"For instance, do you open all the restaurants entirely at the same time? Or do you open half the restaurants, and if so, how do you decide which ones open," Tory said according to CTV.
"Or do you open all of the restaurants but say they can only be half full or a third full to allow you to have some degree of physical spacing," he concluded.
The mayor had previously revealed on Tuesday morning that although he thinks it'll be some time before the lockdown ends, he and his team are also exploring a "celebratory aspect" to the city's reopening.
