Experts say navigating a pandemic humanized Ontario s premier. Shawn Jeffords, Canadian Press
| Updated December 26, 2020
THE CANADIAN PRESS
Ontario Premier Doug Ford holds a press conference at Queen s Park during the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto on Dec. 21, 2020.
TORONTO Doug Ford wants people to hold on just a little longer.
Ontario’s populist premier speaks softly into the camera at a recent news conference, his tone subdued, almost pleading.
He says he knows people have “COVID fatigue,” but there is a vaccine. The economy will recover. The province will bounce back.
“We just have to hang in there,” Ford said. “There’s going to be some bumps in the road over the next little while.”
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Canadian province of Ontario to shut down just after midnight the day after Christmas
Residents of the Canadian province of Ontario could be in for a solitary New Year.
The province will shut down the day after Christmas because of surging coronavirus cases, Premier Doug Ford announced Monday.
As of Monday, Canada’s most populous province – with 14 million people, holding 38% of the 38 million people who live in the country – had seen 158,053 coronavirus cases, with 4,167 deaths. Among 8,867 hospitalized patients, 1,766 people were in intensive care, according to Public Health Ontario.
For the past week, Ontario has seen seven straight days of more than 2,000 cases a day, The Associated Press reported. Modeling shows that could more than double in January. Health officials earlier said a four- to six-week hard lockdown could significantly stop the spread of COVID-19.
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Ford appeared to leave the door open for a shorter lockdown in Ottawa, as Mayor Jim Watson has called for.
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“Of course we’re going to monitor the shutdown measures, and I’d love nothing more than to ease them,” Ford said.
“I’m talking directly to the people of Ottawa. I have to remind everyone in Ottawa: you’re in the orange ‘restrict’ level. You aren’t in yellow. You aren’t in green.
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