The Ontario government will impose a province-wide shutdown at 12:01 a.m. on Boxing Day (December 26), for 14 days in northern Ontario and 28 days in southern Ontario.

Premier Doug Ford made the announcement at a media conference on Monday afternoon (December 21) along with health minister Christine Elliott, education minister Stephen Lecce, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health Dr. David Williams, and Dr. Naveed Mohammad, president and chief executive officer of William Osler Health System.

“Our COVID-19 numbers continue accelerating at an alarming rate,” Ford said. “Unfortunately, despite the restrictions, we’ve seen growing numbers of people travelling between regions in Ontario. COVID is spreading rapidly from high-outbreak areas to areas with fewer cases. As it does, our hospitals are filling up more each day. We’ve seen a 70 per cent increase in hospitalizations and 80 per cent increase in ICU admissions in the past few weeks.”

“Remember, 75 per cent of our intensive care unit beds at any given time are taken up by people who have had car accidents, or heart attacks, or other emergencies,” Ford added. “Above all, we need to preserve capacity in our ICUs and hospitals, but because of increased cases of COVID-19 filling up our hospitals, we’re on the verge of cancelling more elective surgeries — and we already have thousands and thousands of backlogged surgeries.”

Ford said he is also “extremely alarmed” by reports of a new strain of COVID-19 that is much more contagious, adding that he will continue to ask the federal government to secure the borders.

“Sixty-three thousand people are going unchecked every week just through Pearson International Airport (in Toronto),” Ford said. “At minimum, we need to test air travellers when they arrive at the airport. This is critical. If they don’t do it, we will do it ourselves if needed.”

The province-wide shutdown will include the following measures:

• Restricting indoor organized public events and social gatherings, except with members of the same household (the people you live with).
• Prohibiting in-person shopping in most retail settings (although curbside pickup and delivery can continue). Discount and big box retailers selling groceries will be limited to 25 per cent capacity for in-store shopping. Supermarkets, grocery stores and similar stores that primarily sell food, as well as pharmacies, will continue to operate at 50 per cent capacity for in-store shopping.
• Restricting indoor access to shopping malls, with only essential retail stores such as grocery stores and pharmacies permitted to open. Patrons will only be allowed only to go to a designated indoor pickup area (by appointment only) or to outdoor designated pickup areas.
• Prohibiting indoor and outdoor dining. Restaurants, bars, and other food or drink establishments will be permitted to operate only by take-out, drive-through, and delivery.

Details of the shutdown are available at ontario.ca/page/covid-19-provincewide-shutdown and in the document below.

PDF: Ontario Province-wide Shutdown – December 21, 2020
Ontario Province-wide Shutdown - December 21, 2020
This document is available for download at files.ontario.ca/moh-provincewide-shutdown-en-2020-12-22.pdf

“This difficult action is without a doubt necessary to save lives and prevent our hospitals from being overwhelmed in the coming weeks,” Ford said. “Make no mistake, thousands of lives are at stake right now. If we fail to take action now, the consequences could be catastrophic.”

The government is advising all Ontarians to stay home as much as possible, limiting trips outside the home to necessities such as food, medication, medical appointments, or supporting vulnerable community members. The province is also asking employers in all industries should make every effort to allow employees to work from home.

While the province-wide shutdown is in effect, the province’s current COVID-19 response framework will be paused. The government will evaluate the impacts during the shutdown to determine if it is safe to lift any restrictions or if they need to be extended. Ontario’s chief medical officer of health will assess and apply any lessons learned during the shutdown to the COVID-19 response framework after the shutdown ends.

In addition to the shutdown, all publicly funded and private elementary and secondary schools will move to teacher-led remote learning when students return from the winter break on Monday, January 4th.

Elementary and secondary schools in northern Ontario can resume in-school classes on Monday, January 11th. Elsewhere in the province, elementary school students can return to class on January 11th and secondary school students can return to class on Monday, January 25th.

The government has also announced the new Ontario Small Business Support Grant, providing a one-time grant of $10,000 to $20,000 to small businesses required to close or restrict services under the province-wide shutdown. Essential businesses that are allowed to remain open will not be eligible for the grant. Businesses affected by the shutdown will also be eligible for property tax and energy cost rebates.

More details about the shutdown and support for businesses is available at news.ontario.ca/en/release/59790/ontario-announces-provincewide-shutdown-to-stop-spread-of-covid-19-and-save-lives.

This story has been updated to include a link to details of the province-wide shutdown as well as a PDF.

A 34-year-old Brampton woman is facing multiple charges after a motor vehicle collision on Highway 115 in Peterborough on Saturday night (December 19).

Peterborough County OPP responded to a report of a collision on Highway 115 just before midnight on Saturday.

A vehicle was located in the ditch around 20 metres off the highway. The driver and passenger were transported to a local hospital as a precaution.

The driver was found to be in possession of illicit drugs.

Dawn Locey, 34, of Brampton, was arrested and charged with possession of a Schedule I substance (cocaine), driving a vehicle with cannabis readily available, and operating a motor vehicle without insurance.

Locey is scheduled to appear in the Ontario Court of Justice in Peterborough on January 27, 2021.

The cause of the collision remains under investigation.

Every year, thousands of people from across Peterborough and the surrounding region are brought to the Cardiac Catheterization Lab at Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC) for lifesaving minimally invasive cardiac stenting and diagnosis.

Like Wanda Bergshoeff who, at 46 years old on a Sunday morning one February, had a growing feeling of unease as pain spread through her right shoulder and into her back.

Sundays were her chill day, a day to spend with her husband, Paul Russelle, and the last thing on her mind was that she might be having a heart attack. While she has a high-stress job as general sales manager for three local radio stations, she was young, ran marathons, and felt healthy.

But Wanda knew something was wrong when the pain continued to spread and, as the day wore on, her physical symptoms only got worse. Paul made a call to Telehealth Ontario and they told him to dial 911.

Within minutes of that call, emergency responders were in Wanda’s home, hooking her up to a machine and delivering the dreaded news: she was having a heart attack.

Wanda says the situation felt surreal. She was worrying about things that didn’t matter, like the boots of the emergency responders on her white carpet. She remembers telling her husband to stay strong, and then being comforted by the EMS crew as they began her urgent transport to PRHC.

While she was in the ambulance, the EMS crew explained that things were going to get busy and they did. There was no stop-over in the Emergency Department when Wanda arrived at PRHC. She was taken directly to the Cardiac Cath Lab, where interventional cardiologist Dr. Katy Shufelt was waiting.

The diagnostic imaging in the Cardiac Cath Lab, coupled with Dr. Shufelt’s expertise, helped save Wanda’s life. Once Dr. Shufelt saw what was happening inside Wanda’s artery, she knew Wanda was having a rare cardiac event — a spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD).

In these cardiac emergencies, a tear forms in an artery in the heart. This can cause blood to pool in the area between the layers and the trapped blood can clot, reducing or blocking blood flow through the artery, which can cause a heart attack.

Luckily for Wanda, Dr. Shufelt diagnosed the SCAD and a treatment plan was immediately put into place. A couple of hours later, Wanda woke up in the Intensive Care Unit surrounded by a care team who explained what had happened.

“They saved my life,” Wanda says, voice breaking. “I could have easily died but as soon as that call was made, it was all so immediate. I didn’t have to be transported to Toronto. In my emergency, within minutes, I was in the Cardiac Cath Lab receiving lifesaving care.”

Wanda understands the Cardiac Cath Lab is why she was eventually able to walk out of PRHC, well on the road to recovery. The specialized care that she received, so quickly and so close to home, is why she is still here to tell her tale.

“PRHC was always just the building I drove by,” Wanda says. “I never knew I was going to need it so badly. They saved my life and now I have this new sense of pride.”

While Wanda is proud of the Cardiac Cath Lab for saving her life, she also says all her time in the hospital was an amazing experience because of the caring and empathetic staff.

“I felt like they were treating me like a family member,” Wanda says. “They had all these patients, but everyone was so caring and so genuine. The nurses were really curious and intrigued because I was young and because SCAD heart attacks are not very common. They were so interested in what I felt and what my experience was.”

Wanda is quick to note that — until that fateful day when she needed it — she didn’t know about the Cardiac Cath Lab and how unique and important it is. She never imagined she’d need urgent cardiac care at 46 years old.

“You don’t think you will need something like this but now I know,” she says. “The Cardiac Cath Lab is not just for the older generation — that’s hard for people to understand.”

Since her life was saved, Wanda says she sees things in a different way. She tries to not get uptight about things anymore and she feels like a different person, full of gratitude for all the donors who have supported the Cardiac Cath Lab so it could be there when she needed it.

It’s hard for Wanda to talk about what happened, to relive the rollercoaster ride of emotions she experienced, but she wants people to know the critical role the Cardiac Cath Lab plays in saving local lives each and every day.

That’s because, after more than a decade of supporting lifesaving treatment, PRHC’s Cardiac Cath Lab must now be replaced.

Patients come from as far away as Durham, North Hastings, Northumberland and the City of Kawartha Lakes and, without the Cardiac Cath Lab, they might have to travel as far away as Kingston and Toronto when every second can mean the difference between life and death.

And replacing the Cardiac Cath Lab doesn’t just mean cardiac care will remain close by. It means PRHC’s cardiac care specialists will have state-of-the-art technology, allowing them to take on more complex, challenging cases right here at home.

The upgrades to the Cath Lab will provide significant improvements to image quality, permitting cardiologists to better view arteries and potential blockages during procedures.

In addition, recent innovations have allowed for a drastic reduction in radiation exposure for patients, a huge leap forward in diagnostic imaging practices.

To donate to the Peterborough Regional Health Centre Foundation, call 705-876-5000 or visit prhcfoundation.ca.

This holiday season, you can also send a message of thanks or best wishes to PRHC’s dedicated frontline healthcare professionals when you make your donation. The PRHC Foundation will send your message on to the frontline workers you specify and share your message with the hospital community to lift their spirits and to inspire others.

This story was created in partnership with the Peterborough Regional Health Centre Foundation.

A City of Peterborough staff recommendation that historic Inverlea Park be removed from the list of potential sites for a new north-end Peterborough fire hall will go before city council in January.

That’s the word from Northcrest Ward councillor and Peterborough Fire Services chair Andrew Beamer who — in an email sent to some of the many residents greatly concerned over Inverlea Park’s inclusion on the consultant-recommended short list — confirms staff will recommend the elimination of the park as a potential site “based on discovery, agency and departmental feedback.”

For members of Save Inverlea Park, a Facebook-fuelled community group that has been very vocal and visible in its opposition to the park being considered as possible new fire hall location, this news is encouraging.

That said, Johan Ragetli, the founder and co-administrator of the Friends of Inverlea Park Facebook group, which has more than 570 members, says they’re not going away.

“It (Inverlea Park) should never have been on the list on the first place,” says Ragetli, a resident of Dennistoun Avenue whose residence overlooks the park and, like many throughout the neighbourhood and beyond, is home to a “Save Inverlea Park” lawn sign.

“Everyone still has an appetite to make sure that (Inverlea Park’s elimination as a potential fire hall site) gets done. We’re not going to sit back.”

Back in June, the city hired Toronto-based Dillon Consulting to review city-owned properties where a new fire hall could be built to replace the 52-year-old often-flooded Fire Hall 2 on Carnegie Avenue.

What came back was a report listing three possible locations: the Northcrest Arena property on Marina Boulevard, a parcel of open space at Sunset Boulevard and Chemong Road, and Inverlea Park north of Parkhill Road on the west bank of the Otonabee River.

According to Councillor Beamer, Inverlea Park made the cut based on it being reviewed “through one lens only: emergency response times. That’s pretty important when you’re relocating a fire hall.”

Inverlea Park is considered a historic site, with a plaque erected there in 2009 by the Peterborough Historical Society explaining its history. The park is named after Inverlea, the former residence of Robert Dennistoun, a Peterborough County judge from 1868 to 1886.

Before the Inverlea residence was demolished in 1911, it was the home of the Victoria Museum — one of Ontario’s first museums — and also served as Peterborough’s first library. The park property was acquired in 1894 by the Nicholls Park Trust, a bequest of Charlotte Jane Nicholls, one of Peterborough’s most noted philanthropists.

“Residents have asked why was Inverlea Park even on the list,” Councillor Beamer says. “It had high scores for emergency response times. It has fast access to the bridge crossing to East City, it’s very close to downtown, it’s very close to Northcrest (Ward) and it’s on the Otonabee River for a potential future boat access.”

“The next step is staff and the consultant look at all the other factors — transportation, traffic, the history of the park, whether it has any trusts and everything else. There will be a report coming to council in January with all the other factors covered. And public consultation will also occur.”

In his email, Councillor Beamer explains the reason Inverlea Park hasn’t been already eliminated as a potential site is because doing so would “invalidate” the process.

“We will have undermined our own step-by-step methodology and biased narrowing of the selection. This means the folks who reside near the other two locations have a valid argument for believing that our process if deeply flawed and future analyses will be brought into question. The integrity of the process must remain intact.”

Complicating matters as it pertains to the Inverlea Park site is the fact that when the Nicholls Park Trust transferred it to the city in 1938, it did so with the proviso that the city agree to perpetually maintain the park and keep it as such.

Councillor Beamer says the city is well aware of that obligation, as is Ragetli.

“We think there’s a legal issue here,” he says, inferring his group isn’t shy to take things further should Inverlea Park remain in the mix.

“It’s environmentally sensitive land,” Ragetli points out. “The city talks about the floodplain on Carnegie. That’s just a creek. We’re on a floodplain here from the river. In the flood of 2004, there was a river of water coming right through where they want to build the firehall.”

“One of our preferred outcomes is not just to see it changed — to get Inverlea Park off the list — but also to see re-examined how these things happen and protect our green spaces in general,” he says.

Ragetli adds he’s confident the noise made by the Save Inverlea Park movement has made a difference.

“I think they are probably feeling the heat. There has been a fairly vigorous campaign of letter writing and phone calling. I feel we’re doing a lot of the right things. It’s worked so far.”

Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.

Ontario is reporting 2,290 new cases today — the fourth straight day of cases over 2,000, increasing the seven-day average of daily cases by 63 to 2,089.

“The trends we’re seeing throughout Ontario are very, very concerning,” Premier Doug Ford said in a statement today, following yesterday’s call by the Ontario Hospital Association that the province implement additional lockdowns, adding that he will be holding an emergency meeting over the weekend with all CEOs of all hospitals in Ontario.

VIDEO: Statement from Premier Doug Ford

Ford said he will make an announcement on Monday afternoon (December 21) on further public health restrictions, and that existing regions in lockdowns that were set to expire on Monday — Toronto and Peel — will remain in lockdown. On Friday (December 18), the provincial government also announced Hamilton would be moving into lockdown on Monday.

In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 12 new cases to report and 25 additional cases resolved, with the number of active cases across the region decreasing by 15 to 108.

Most of today’s new cases are in Toronto (691), Peel (361), York (296), Windsor-Essex (207), and Hamilton (126).

There are double-digit increases in Durham (89), Waterloo (84), Simcoe Muskoka (61), Halton (57), Ottawa (52), Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (51), Niagara (47), Southwestern Public Health (37), Middlesex-London (30), Eastern Ontario Health Unit (16), Leeds, Grenville & Lanark (13), and Thunder Bay (11), with smaller increases in Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington (9), Lambton (9), Haldimand-Norfolk (8), Renfrew (7), Chatham-Kent (7), and Huron Perth (6).

The remaining 11 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with 4 health units reporting no new cases at all.

Of today’s cases, 53% are among people under 40 years of age, with the highest number of cases (848) among people ages 20 to 39 followed by 642 cases among people ages 40 to 59. With 1,992 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases has increased by 0.1% to 85.6%. The average positivity rate across Ontario since yesterday has decreased by 0.1% to 3.9%, meaning that 39 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on December 17.

Ontario is reporting 40 new COVID-19 deaths today, including 11 in long-term care facilities. Hospitalizations have decreased by 42 to 877, with 2 fewer patients with COVID-19 in ICUs and 4 fewer patients on ventilators.

A total of 58,178 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation increasing by 2,604 to 81,235.

There are 133 new cases in Ontario schools today, a decrease of 37 from yesterday, with 111 student cases and 22 staff cases. There are 13 new cases in licensed child care settings, a decrease of 16 from yesterday, with 9 cases among children and 4 cases among staff.

In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 12 new cases to report, including 5 in Northumberland, 4 in Peterborough, and 3 in Hastings Prince Edward. There are no new cases in Kawartha Lakes or Haliburton.

An outbreak was declared at Case Manor Care Community in Bobcaygeon on December 17 after an employee tested positive

None of the cases reported today in Ontario schools or licensed child care settings are in the greater Kawarthas region.

An additional 25 cases have been resolved, including 13 in Hastings Prince Edward, 7 in Peterborough, 3 in Northumberland, and 2 in Kawartha Lakes.

There are currently 108 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, a decrease of 15 from yesterday, including 35 in Hastings Prince Edward (14 in Quinte West and 12 in Belleville), 45 in Northumberland, 21 in Peterborough, and 7 in Kawartha Lakes. There are no active cases in Haliburton.

Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 264 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (238 resolved with 5 deaths), 219 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (191 resolved with 32 deaths), 183 in Northumberland County (134 resolved with 1 death), 27 in Haliburton County (27 resolved with no deaths), and 238 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (198 resolved with 5 deaths). The most recent death was reported in Peterborough on November 23.

Province-wide, there have been 151,257 confirmed cases, an increase of 2,290 from yesterday, with 129,417 cases resolved (85.6% of all cases), an increase of 1,992 from yesterday. There have been 4,098 deaths, an increase of 40 from yesterday, with 2,537 deaths in long-term care homes, an increase of 11 from yesterday. The number of hospitalizations has decreased by 42 to 877, with 2 fewer patients with COVID-19 in ICUs and 4 fewer patients on ventilators. A total of 7,234,913 tests have been completed, an increase of 58,178 from yesterday, with 81,235 tests under investigation, an increase of 2,604 from yesterday.

The provincial data in this report is pulled from Ontario’s integrated Public Health Information System (iPHIS) at 12 p.m. the previous day. Data from local health units is more current and is usually reflected in the provincial data the following day. There may be discrepancies between the Ontario data reported today (which is from yesterday) and the local health unit data reported today (which is from today).

Peterborough Public Health

Peterborough Public Health’s service area is the City and County of Peterborough and the Hiawatha and Curve Lake First Nations.

The health unit provides daily reports, including on weekends.

Confirmed positive: 264 (increase of 4)
Active cases: 21 (decrease of 3)
Close contacts: 68 (decrease of 4)
Deaths: 5 (no change)
Resolved: 238 (increase of 7)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 12 (no change)*
Total tests completed: Over 38,200 (increase of 100)
Institutional outbreaks: Fairhaven in Peterborough (no change)

*Peterborough Regional Health Centre reports that, as of December 18, there is currently 1 patient with COVID-19 on an inpatient unit.

Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit

The Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit’s service area is the City of Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland County, and Haliburton County.

The health unit provides reports from Monday to Saturday, excluding statutory holidays.

Confirmed positive: 429, including 219 in Kawartha Lakes, 183 in Northumberland, 27 in Haliburton (increase of 4 in Northumberland)*
Active cases: 52, including 7 in Kawartha Lakes and 45 in Northumberland (net decrease of 2)
Probable cases: 0 (no change)
High-risk contacts: 317, including 24 in Kawartha Lakes, 163 in Northumberland, and 5 in Haliburton (net increase of 7)**
Hospitalizations (total to date): 18, including 11 in Kawartha Lakes, 6 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton (no change)
Deaths: 33 (no change)
Resolved: 357, including 193 in Kawartha Lakes, 137 in Northumberland, 27 in Haliburton (increase of 5, including 2 in Kawartha Lakes and 3 in Northumberland)
Institutional outbreaks: Extendicare Kawartha Lakes in Lindsay, Case Manor Care Community in Bobcaygeon (increase of 1)**

*Two previously reported cases have been transferred to another health unit, reducing the case counts by 1 in Kawartha Lakes and by 1 in Northumberland.

**This total includes 118 high-risk contacts directly followed up through the Public Health Ontario contact tracing process that are missing the contacts’ county.

***An outbreak at Case Manor Care Community in Bobcaygeon was declared on December 17 after an employee tested positive.

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health’s service area is Hastings County (including Bancroft) and Prince Edward County.

The health unit provides daily reports, excluding statutory holidays.

Confirmed positive: 238 (increase of 3)
Active cases: 35 (decrease of 10)
Deaths: 5 (no change)
Currently hospitalized: 3 (increase of 2)
Currently hospitalized and in ICU: 1 (increase of 1)
Currently hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator (total to date): 0 (no change)
Resolved: 198 (increase of 13)
Swabs completed: 15,867 (no change)
Institutional outbreaks: Seasons Dufferin Centre in Quinte West (no change)

Province of Ontario

Confirmed positive: 151,257 (increase of 2,290)
Resolved: 129,417 (increase of 1,992, 85.6% of all cases)
Hospitalized: 877 (decrease of 42)
Hospitalized and in ICU: 261 (decrease of 2)
Hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator: 168 (decrease of 4)
Deaths: 4,098 (increase of 40)
Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 2,537 (increase of 11)
Total tests completed: 7,234,913 (increase of 68,246)
Tests under investigation: 81,235 (increase of 2,604)

For more information about COVID-19 in Ontario, visit covid-19.ontario.ca.

Not unlike the classic radio programming promo tagline, it was all COVID all the time on Thursday (December 17) when Peterborough-Kawartha MP Maryam Monsef conducted her annual end-of-the-year one-on-one media interviews.

Coming near the end of an extremely challenging and, for all too many Canadians, tragic year, that was no surprise. Since its advent in March, the pandemic has dominated global and local headlines with little to no sign of that changing any time soon. That it dominates MP Monsef’s thoughts as the calendar prepares to reveal a new year fulfills expectations.

For those who expect to hear expressions of hope and encouragement from their elected representatives in the midst of dark times, MP Monsef doesn’t disappoint.

“We have, over the past 10 months, gone from not really knowing what this virus is to having a vaccine for it,” she says.

“To have vaccines on our soil, to have those first needles go into people’s arms this past week, we have come a long way since this pandemic was declared. That’s a testament to the systems and institutions that those who came before us have left us with — our universal health care system, our democratic institutions, our public health.”

“We know the fight against COVID has not yet ended but there’s certainly hope. Hope that the vaccine is going to roll out, hope that our communities are going to hold together, and hope that the lessons of the pandemic will be applied to building even stronger systems, even stronger institutions, even stronger communities to be able to have the resilience to deal with whatever may come next.”

As the the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Rural Economic Development, MP Monsef stays on script, saying if there’s a silver lining to be found in the dark COVID cloud, one need look no further than the role women have played in the response to the pandemic.

“Eighty per cent of those on the front lines of the fight against COVID are women,” says MP Monsef.

“One of the few highlights of the year has been our country’s collective appreciation for women who are essential to our very survival, whether it’s stocking grocery shelves, or cleaning hospitals, or looking after our kids, or looking after our elders.”

“These amazing humans, who have devote their time and talent to looking after our loved ones, to looking after our very basic needs, haven’t always received the appreciation or recognition that they deserve.”

“There’s a collective reckoning across the country where we are seeing these heroes in a new light. They have made some of the biggest sacrifices. They’ve taken time away from their loved ones, they have been exposed to the virus, they have showed up to work day after day.”

“The best thing that we can do to help them and lessen their workload, to let their live get back to some semblance of normal, is to keep following public health advice. To stay home this Christmas, as difficult as that may be, to wear face coverings, and wash our hands.”

Saying the best part of her job “is the people part,” MP Monsef says she has been no less immune to the pandemic’s effects.

“My community is where I get my grounding. It’s where I get my inspiration. To not be able to walk downtown and go into Showplace or Market Hall and see people, see artists on the stage, see the community supporting them; to not be able to go to the Norwood Fair, to not be able to see the Santa parades, it is definitely hard.”

“Life has changed but what fills me up now is our community has been able to contain community spread so well. That’s thanks to so many people, including public health and our residents who are making a lot of sacrifices.”

Staying connected to each other, says MP Monsef, will be key to any success the COVID recovery plan meets.

“At the end of the day, we are all Canadians,” she says. “The response to COVID has been strong because of our connections, not only with one another but also between leaders. That Team Canada approach is going to have to hold strong.”

“The federal government has been able to do what it can so that eight out of 10 dollars spent on COVID measures support individuals, businesses, and charities, but also support provinces and territories with delivering on their responsibilities around health care, around education, around child care, and so on.”

“That collaboration is going to be essential to the vaccine rollout but, beyond that, in the recovery. Those connections are going to have to remain strong for Canada to get out of this, to stay competitive, and to build back better.”

As she looks ahead to the new year, equally anxious to put 2020 behind us, MP Monsef says “there are so many reasons to be hopeful and optimistic about what’s ahead of us.”

“My hope is we continue to practice physical distancing and other public health measures that have allowed our community to come this far. My hope for those who have lost loved ones and haven’t been able to come together to grieve is that they find strength knowing there’s a community around them that can’t wait to give them a hug; who can’t wait to shed tears with them.”

“It’s going to be okay. We’re going to get through this because we’re Canadians and because our community has always come together in difficult times.”

“There’s going to be a lot of hard work on the other side of this thing. We’re going to have to roll up our sleeves and move forward fast, but my hope is everyone takes a break (over the holidays). A lot has happened. Very few people are okay. I haven’t met anybody who has said ‘Oh ya, I’m doing great.'”

“My hope is people rest and know they have just endured one of the most difficult years of their lives, but it is going to get better.”