Toronto mayor says longer lockdowns may ‘save’ patio season

"What we are trying to avoid is having an opening and then be back into lockdown right when those patios will be opening in May," Tory said.

"The numbers that everybody is declaring victory on now and saying they're all so much better and so on, compared to the numbers we had at the end of the summer are way, way higher," Tory said in reference to the declining coronavirus case numbers in Ontario.

"We open up and declare victory, and then find that a month from today we have to lock down again. I think most people, when given the choice of locking down again in a month or taking a little more time now to do this carefully with great caution, in light of the history of the variants everywhere else, they would take the caution," he further asserted.

The comments from Tory come as the Ontario government announces it is lifting lockdown restrictions on a number of regions within the province. Tory, as well as Toronto's Medical Officer of Health Dr. Eileen De Villa, have called upon the government to continue the lockdown measures currently in place in Toronto until at least Mar 9.

"We request the province alter its current course, towards a more gradual and progressive approach that would ease restrictions more slowly, allowing time to monitor the trends, respond and adjust accordingly to keep transmission rates low," said De Villa.

Tory further argued that such an extension of lockdown measures would ultimately be good for businesses.

"We believe that Toronto should have some additional time," Tory said. "Our objective here is to make sure for those very same businesses who want to plan, and I understand that, I used to run a large business, you need to plan, but for those very same businesses is to make sure what they don't face is a month from now being told 'guess what, you have to close down again.'"

Tory argued that this would be "worse" than forcing them to continue to remain closed for a few more weeks.

Tory also asserted that if the city of Toronto continues to remain under lockdown at the moment, patios could be running again in the city by May.