The provincial authorities of Ontario has unveiled its long awaited plans to slowly lift public health restrictions, as the Canadian province begins to open for business.

The move comes as the COVID-19 situation in the province continues to level off. In an announcement today, the authorities disclosed that starting Monday, it would be lifting capacity limits in restaurants, fitness centres, casinos and a number of other non-essential indoor settings that require proof of vaccination.

Premier, Doug Ford told a news conference today, “we’re sticking with what’s worked for our province. This is a cautious plan. It slowly lifts public health measures over time, allowing us to monitor any impacts on our hospitals and in our communities. It provides Ontarians and businesses with the certainty they need to make the plans of their own.”

Capacity limits will continue to lift in other “high-risk” settings in the following months, including at restaurants and bars with dancing facilities, night clubs and strip clubs. The long-term plan to manage the spread of COVID-19 will continue into January when the province will begin to lift vaccine certificate requirements in settings the government deems as lower risk.

Restrictions being lifted for restaurants, sporting facilities and casinos

Beginning on January 17, 2022 and barring “concerning trends” of virus transmission, restaurants, sporting facilities and casinos will be able to host patrons without checking their vaccination status. Those measures will continue to ease in other settings in the months that follow.

Businesses will then be able to choose to opt-in to the vaccination certificate program by displaying signage after the mandate lifts. Also, starting on March 28 and onwards, the provincial government says that all remaining public health and workplace safety measures in businesses and organizations will lift, including the requirement to wear a mask indoors.

At that time, the Progressive Conservative government says that it plans to revoke public health emergency orders made under the Reopening Ontario Act and table recommendations on where masking could be maintained in places such transit. Should Ontario encounter a spike in case numbers or hospitalization rates, the government says it is willing to reintroduce capacity limits, proof of vaccination requirements, or public health and workplace safety measures in settings where transmission is occurring.

Ontario Chamber of Commerce responds

Today, Rocco Rossi, President and CEO of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, released the following statement in response to the Government of Ontario’s announcement of its next steps in their reopening plan:

“We welcome the government’s announcement today that we will move to the next stage of Ontario’s reopening. Ontarians and businesses have worked hard to get us to this important stage as our economy continues to recover.

We urge the Province to continue closely monitoring metrics: we want to ensure decisions to remove vaccine and mask requirements are evidence-based and do not put our reopening and recovery at risk. We are also encouraged to see more Ontarians getting vaccinated. Businesses aren’t out of the woods yet and cannot afford another shutdown.

Targeted supports are also needed to get businesses disproportionately impacted by the crisis through to the other side. Businesses have suffered greatly over the last 19 months, and continue to face unprecedented cash flow constraints and uncertainty as well as labour shortages. Many have operated under reduced capacity for a significant amount of time and have had to hire additional staff to verify documents or to implement and enforce the COVID-19 vaccine certificate requirements.

In addition, due to travel restrictions and the closure of the US-Canada border, tourism has been at an all-time low, adversely impacting businesses across a number of sectors.”