Ford government intends to expand restaurant patios—fines and protests continue

The Ford government is going to make it easier for bars and restaurants to expand patio spaces once they are allowed to safely reopen after being closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite this, fines have continued to be levied against establishments, and protests continue.

Beginning Monday, Ontario is set to loosen the rules in allowing for patios to be expanded onto sidewalks and parking lots, as long areas are given the green light by their municipalities, according to The Globe and Mail.

The announcement that stage 2 reopening would be announced has been anticipated since last week.

As of now, restaurants are only allowed to offer takeout and delivery services. In Ottawa, a restaurant was fined $880 for allowing people waiting for their takeout food to sit on the patio outside the store. This comes as thousands of people in Ontario have protested the wrongful death of George Floyd.

"We have to find ways to help this industry. They're having a hard time through the COVID outbreak," Attorney General Doug Downey said in an interview.

"What [this] means is allowing them to expand into public spaces without more red tape and cost."

Downey said that under the current system in place, any business is permitted to apply to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario for a two-week permit, which can only be renewed four times. The new changes are said to apply automatically to all licensees at no additional charge, and permit will go into effect on January 1.

These changes also will require meeting certain criteria, such as the physical extension being adjacent to the location, and will also include removing some requirements for barriers on patios, as well as ensuring that patio capacity does not exceed 1.11 square meters per person.

Downey has made known his intentions to notify the hospitality industry that they can expand as soon as the restrictions are lifted.

"We're moving in that direction, as long as numbers and the chief medical officers of health and [the province's health experts] say that we can. So there's always that caveat on the 'when,'" he said.

This all depends on Ontario's case numbers, which the government said needs to decline for at least two consecutive weeks in order to move forward in the next stage of reopening.

However, these reopening stages have not had an effect on protests, which have continued unabated.

Premier Doug Ford said Friday that Ontario will be ready "very soon" to move forward with the next step in restarting the economy. He added that the government will announce the details of the Stage 2 reopening plan this week, but qualified it by saying that it would not immediately go into effect.

However, infectious-disease physicians say Ontario will have to improve dramatically in giving advice to the public so that people understand what is expected of them in minimizing the spread of COVID-19.

"It's chaotic communication," Lucas Castellani, an infectious-disease physician said. "The communication is not standardized in a way that makes it easy for people to consume and that makes it very hard to follow."

Another infectious-disease specialist, Andrew Morris, said that it is unrealistic for health officials to expect people to endlessly adhere to guidance in staying home and avoiding others. He added that Ontario's transition into the second stage of reopening with be contingent upon its ability to track and trace new cases.

"It totally depends on what our surveillance is like and how good we are at being able to detect changes and trends and being able to shut things down if necessary," Morris said.