Ontario premier says 'positive news' coming this week on COVID-19 restrictions
Premier Doug Ford says his government will announce “some positive news” this week on loosening COVID-19 restrictions.
“We’ll have a good announcement by the end of the week,” Ford told Newstalk 580 CFRA’s The Morning Rush with Bill Carroll on Tuesday.
“We’ll have some positive news. I believe we’re going to make some announcements later this week about going back to other levels of restrictions.”
Ontario has been in a modified Step 2 of COVID-19 restrictions since Jan. 5, closing restaurants, gyms and other businesses, introducing capacity restrictions and limits on gatherings. The measures are scheduled to remain in effect until at least Jan. 26.
Dr. Kieran Moore, the province’s chief medical officer of health, said Monday that he was “starting to have much more hope” that the spread of the Omicron variant was slowing. But he said the decision to lift restrictions was a government one.
Ontario reported 578 COVID-19 patients in ICUs on Monday.
Schools reopened on Tuesday after shifting to remote learning for the first two weeks of January.
“There’s no one that dislikes these lockdowns more than I do. I actually despise them,” Ford said on Tuesday.
Ford responds to criticism after snowstorm
Ford said he spent 10 hours on Monday out and about in Toronto helping people who were trapped by the snowstorm.
Videos shared online showed him digging people’s cars out of the snow and towing them out with his truck.
However, the premier faced criticism for conducting a live television interview while driving, as well as giving someone a ride in his truck without wearing a mask.
Ford said Tuesday he wasn’t holding his phone while driving.
“My phone is positioned in the car, so I wasn’t driving and carrying it,” he said. “I was looking at the road and going about a mile an hour.”
Ontario’s distracted driving laws prohibit the use of a phone or other handheld wireless communication device to text or dial. You can only touch a device to call 911 in an emergency.
As for giving someone a ride without wearing masks, Ford said the man was stranded about five kilometres from home, so Ford offered him a lift. He said he kept the truck’s windows open
“It was a little different circumstance yesterday. Everyone was in desperate need,” he said. “I threw my mask on the next guy I drove.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.