Premier cites local objections as reason not to add public health restrictions to Halton and Durham

Premier Doug Ford explained Monday his government did not put Halton and Durham into a modified stage two due to "unique" circumstances in those GTA regions.

At his daily press conference, the premier cited the objections of local municipal leaders — and PC MPPs — as reasons to not enact further public health restrictions at the moment, while not ruling it out for the future. The decision to follow the preference of local officials marks a reversal of sorts from the situation on Oct. 2, where City of Toronto officials requested that the province put the municipality back into stage two. The provincial government only did so a week later.

"This is unique because we have none of the mayors agreeing, we have the regional chair not agreeing, we have our MPPs not agreeing" the premier said of the situation, citing a conversation with Oakville Mayor Rob Burton, who stressed the need to look out for local businesses. He said, according to the premier, that the city "wasn't at that point" where it needed stage two.

"That's a wake-up call," Ford said of the messages he heard from local officials. And he explained that he understood where they're coming from. "They have to fight for their businesses."

The premier's comments came on the heels of him saying on Friday that he could announce additional restrictions on the regions as early as Monday. But area PC MPPs Parm Gill and Jane McKenna signed a letter that urged the provincial government not to put Halton and Durham into a modified stage two and requested transparent metrics for what constitutes a need to go into the stage.

The government has previously resisted providing such metrics when asked by journalists or opposition MPPs.

Ford brushed off the departure from his messaging and claimed that he encouraged his MPPs to sign on to the group letter. "I said, 'I encourage you to write the letter,'" adding that the missive was "twisted around" by the media to indicate that PC MPPs weren't on the same page.

That friction within the PC caucus has been acknowledged by the premier before and he added Monday that there are PC MPPs who want to shut everything down, while others don't think there's any problem.

"Make no mistake about it. Our party is united. Do we differ? One hundred per cent. But that's healthy," said the premier about whether everyone is on the same page.

That prompted questions about where the government's decision-making is coming from. "Elected officials have always had a say," said the premier, who has thus far maintained that health decisions are made the experts that make up the province's health command table. "I always say that I have to listen to the docs [doctors], I have to listen to the science, but in saying that, I have to listen to the small business owners," added the premier.

A modified stage two, like the one enacted in Toronto, Ottawa, Peel and York Region, would mean that restaurants and bars cannot serve food and drink indoors and fitness facilities can't be open indoors either.

Later, on Twitter, a spokesperson for the premier said the joint letter signed by local officials did not have an impact on the provincial government's decision not to put Halton and Durham into a modified stage two.

Hey Alan, the letter didn't impact any decisions. Public health officials continued to monitor over the weekend but have not made a recommendation to Cabinet based on recent trends.

— Travis Kann (@traviskann) October 26, 2020

Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath hammered the premier for his handling of the issue. "The decisions that get made should all be the result of advice from public health and public health experts," she said following question period. Instead, she accused the premier of failing to get ahead of the virus. "We see this premier time and time again basically behind the eight ball."

The decision-making on Halton and Durham touches on two issues that have been previously reported by QP Briefing.

One is the fact that there is internal PC dissent about the government's choices during the pandemic, with some believing that it is too driven by health experts and that the public health restrictions are excessive. The other aspect comes from health experts calling on the government to share more about its deliberations, including the metrics and data it is using to make policy decisions, as a means to bolster public confidence and win buy-in for its choices.