Ford Plans For Toronto To Hit Stage 2 By The End Of Next Week
It sounds like people in the 6ix just need a little bit more patience. While Premier Doug Ford announced more reopenings on June 15, many people seem to have been left asking "when will Toronto reach stage two?" If the premier has his way, it will be as soon as June 26.
Ford was speaking to reporters on Monday in the Ontario staff's first daily media briefing of the week.
There, he announced that several regions of the province can officially move forward with their recovery, including parts of the GTA like Durham, York, and Halton regions.
However, the City of Toronto, along with the Peel and Windsor-Essex regions, were left out of that announcement.
Later on Monday, Ford was asked if he could give a timeline for Toronto being able to progress to stage two.
While he couldn't offer any guarantees, he wasn't shy in giving an "ideal" date of next Friday, June 26.
"I can't put an exact date but it would be ideal if we can do it on Friday (June 26)," Ford said. "I'd love to see it open by Friday, that's everyone's goal."
"We ask you to please be patient," he added, addressing residents in the areas that are stuck in stage one for now.
"We’re hoping very shortly that we will be able to reopen the other regions, certain areas were having outbreaks and other areas weren’t," he added. "We just want to make sure that Peel Region and Toronto and Windsor get the numbers lower.”
The health staff's dilemma is clear as the majority of the province pushes on with opening up.
According to CBC, Toronto and Peel's numbers make up around two-thirds of Ontario's new cases reported on Monday.
Ford's tease comes after some progress was made in the city last week.
Mayor John Tory announced back on Thursday that Toronto pools and other facilities are ready to reopen as soon as the province allowed the city to move forward.
Tory suggested last week that could be as soon as June 19, but it appears Ford thinks the earliest is a week later.
And the mayor said a couple of weeks ago he thinks Toronto's reopening will be made way easier if everyone can work and study from home until September, where possible.