The Ontario government is defending its decision to wait until Boxing Day for a full shutdown.
Modelling shows an immediate lockdown would help save more lives and critics have called for immediate action.
The province was initially eyeing a Christmas Eve shutdown.
Premier Doug Ford says “We’ve seen in the Grey area that businesses are locked down and we want to give the same opportunities to businesses that haven’t experienced a lockdown before and there’s a tremendous amount of them across the province. Give them the opportunity to get ready and get ready to hunker down.”
Ford says we can’t do this overnight and leave people hanging.
He notes bars and restaurants have food and beverage inventory and need a chance to unload some product and make some money.
Ford stresses he’s not compromising anything, stressing the hot COVID-19 areas are already locked down.
He adds the timing is right.
“January is one of the slowest months when it comes to businesses. We either do it now during the Christmas break or we do it in February when people start picking up business or March. We need to nip this in the butt now!”
