Premier Doug Ford kicked off the weekend with a doozy of a press conference. He put the board of Ontario Lottery and Gaming, Hamilton city council and the owners of a Comfort Inn in Dryden all on blast — and he mused about what it would be like to have to tell your spouse you were potentially exposed to COVID-19 at the Brass Rail strip club.
"I wouldn't want to be on the end of that," he said.
You can read more about the Brass Rail incident here.
Gyms
Ford opened his Friday press conference by announcing that, as of tomorrow, gyms and fitness studios including yoga and dance studios will be allowed to have up to 50 patrons for each indoor sport or fitness room, while ensuring physical distancing of at least two metres.
"The time is right to open up our province a little more, and help people get active again," he said.
Ford and Sport Minister Lisa MacLeod called it an "important step in Ontario's economic and social recovery."
"This is another step we are taking to support athletes to return to play, and in some cases, prepare them for the podium," she said.
In response to a question, MacLeod also said the province is looking at ways to protect amateur sports leagues from liability concerning COVID-19 transmission, but the details have not yet been worked out.
The announcement came at the end of another week that saw the average daily number of new cases remain below 100.
With Toronto Public Health’s data in from yesterday, today Ontario is still reporting fewer than 100 cases, with 92 cases of #COVID19, a 0.2% increase. The province processed over 30,000 tests.
— Christine Elliott (@celliottability) August 14, 2020
OLG bonuses
In response to a question about bonuses paid at Ontario Lottery and Gaming, Ford found a plane of high dudgeon and remained there for most of the rest of the press conference.
CBC reported that OLG executives will be eligible for bonuses this year even though revenue is down $200 million in revenue and thousands of employees have been laid off.
In his response, Ford said he's been told OLG has legal obligations, and the bonuses related to the executives' performance last year — before the pandemic — but still urged the board to cancel the extra pay and said both he and Finance Minister Rod Phillips would be working on that.
"Like, give me a break," he said, expressing frustration about the board's decision to award the bonuses. "Like they sometimes — they just don't think. For all these big smart guys, they aren't too friggin' smart."
Drinking in parks
Ford also trained his ire at Hamilton City Council for not making it legal to drink in parks, when asked by CHCH about the number of public drinking tickets that have been handed out in Steeltown during the pandemic.
"I can't agree with giving someone a ticket during COVID, when they're stuck in an apartment, they want to be responsible, they stick to themselves and are quiet, and they have a cold beer," he said. "Like, give us a break, just a little bit of a break."
The province has allowed city councils to legalize drinking in parks and Ford said Hamilton's mayor and council should.
"A little bit of flexibility, mayor, come on, give them a break," he said.
He also drew a contrast between public drinking and marijuana smoking.
"What's the difference ... between, you know, making it legal to go out and smoke a joint, a doobie, a reefer, or whatever the heck they call it nowadays?" he said. "I wouldn't want my kids walking by with a bunch of guys smoking cannabis or marijuana. But if a couple of guys are sitting there quietly on a picnic bench having a cold beer. Who cares? Like honestly, just, it's no big deal."
Comfort Inn is also put on blast
The premier also called out the owner of the Comfort Inn in Dryden, accusing them of inflating the price of rooms for forest fire evacuees from Red Lake.
He said he was told the hotel advertises rooms at about $110 a night, but is charging the evacuees — and by extension, the government which covers the cost — about $400 a night.
"I gotta call headquarters, and they gotta refund every single — because guess what it's the taxpayer that's paying for this, when we relocate people," he said. "And here they go, the greedy, greedy people that want to gouge these desperate people and charge $400 a night when you're advertising $110. You think that's right? I don't think that's right. The gouging the taxpayers, they're gouging the people."
"And nothing drives me more crazy than people taking advantage of other people and gouging 'em, and just, just gouging 'em. It makes me sick."
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