Effective Wednesday (June 24), the Ontario government is allowing the City of Toronto and Peel Region to move into stage two of Ontario’s reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic — leaving Windsor-Essex as the sole region remaining in stage one because of a high number of cases among temporary foreign workers in the agri-food industry.
Premier Doug Ford made the announcement on Monday (June 22) at Queen’s Park, along with health minister Christine Elliott, finance minister Rod Phillips, and labour minister Monte McNaughton.
“No-one wants to see every region of Ontario open more than I do, but we have to do it right,” Ford said. “Unfortunately, right now the threat of this virus in Windsor-Essex is still too great.”
Moving into stage two means that restaurant patios in Toronto and Peel can open, along with shopping malls (except for sit-down dining), hair salons, tour and guide services, swimming and wading pools, libraries, and more. For a full list of places that can open in stage two, visit ontario.ca/page/reopening-ontario-whats-each-stage#section-2.
Windsor-Essex will remain in stage one as the government continues to assess the situation there.
“We’ve already taken a number of steps, including enhancing and expanding our testing strategy,” Ford said. “On Saturday, we began proactive testing on farms, starting with sending our mobile testing units to the largest farms, including many in Windsor-Essex. We’re also conducting the same proactive testing at many of our food processing plants.”
On Monday (June 22), the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit reported 32 new cases of COVID-19, with 31 of those cases among workers in the agri-food sector. There are currently seven workplace outbreaks in the sector.
Given that only one case was not a farm worker, a reporter asked Ford whether he would consider taking a regional approach to reopening in Windsor-Essex, to allow areas without farm workers to enter stage two.
Ford’s frustration with the lack of testing of farm workers was evident in his reply.
“I love the farmers, but guys, you gotta help us here,” Ford said. “We’re sending in units, but farmers just aren’t cooperating — they aren’t sending out the people to be tested.”
He urged farmers to get their workers tested.
“You’re affecting the largest region, and it’s not fair to the people of Windsor. It’s not fair for the region, for the businesses, by not getting the workers tested. It’s very simple.”
Ford also threatened to take additional steps if the situation does not improve.
“I’ll go to the extreme, whatever tool I have to protect the people of Windsor, and the food supply chain, and the farmers, and the workers,” he said. “I’ll start pulling out every tool I have at my disposal to make sure this gets done.”
