Reopening plan lacks supports for workers and small businesses

May 20, 2021

QUEEN’S PARK — Mike Schreiner released the following statement in response to Ford’s reopening announcement this afternoon:

“Fifteen months into the pandemic and Premier Ford has finally delivered an outline with metrics that will guide how Ontario reopens. This is the kind of clarity I’ve been calling for since last summer.

Now is the time to focus on working together to support people and businesses to get the pandemic behind us, not to have the Premier continue playing the blame game.

In the past months, Ford has blamed the border, blamed teachers, blamed international students, and today he blamed hospitalized COVID patients for not getting vaccinated.

It’s wrong for the Premier to blame Ontarians who have been patiently waiting for vaccines. These are the workers that Ford abandoned by not investing in the necessary measures to make workplaces safer. And now he’s saying it’s their fault for getting sick.

Supports for small businesses, safer schools, and safer workplaces were sadly missing from today’s announcement.

Ford needs to step up and address the workplace outbreaks with a comprehensive safe workplaces plan, make the necessary investments to make our schools safe for in-class learning and expand the Ontario Small Business Support Grant.

If we want to get through this last stretch, people, schools and businesses need to be supported, not blamed.”

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