🕒 4.5 min read

The Province is cautiously moving ahead with Step 1 of the Roadmap to Reopen Ontario on Friday.

In a statement released earlier today, Premier Doug Ford said, “Thanks to the ongoing success of Team Ontario’s vaccine rollout and the ongoing improvements in public health trends, we are able to enter step one of the Roadmap and begin to safely and cautiously lift restrictions.” The announcement comes three days ahead of schedule, as 72 per cent of the 18+ population in Ontario had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine as of June 6, 2021.

 The first in the three step plan allows bars, restaurants, cafes, breweries and other businesses across the Province to open patios as of Friday, June 11, 2021 at 12:01am.

What to know about outdoor dining in Step 1:

 - Limit per table: four guests
- Guests do not have to be from the same household
- There is no limit of guests per table if everyone is from the same household. The table can include one additional guest who lives alone or is a caregiver
- There is no patio capacity limit, however tables must be at least two meters apart or have a barrier between them
- “Patios will return to regular hours of liquor service as set out in the Liquor Licence Act regulations. In short, no additional restrictions on hours than would normally apply.” – Travis Kann, Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Communications to the Premier of Ontario.

Dan Kelly, President and CEO of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), sent a message to Health Minister Christine Elliott  and the Ontario Cabinet earlier today requesting further changes to open up the province, including “limited capacity indoor dining.”

And while Restaurants Canada, an organization representing 30K+ foodservice professionals, welcomes the news that patios will be allowed to reopen on Friday, they are “calling for more sector-specific support to make up for the lost year that foodservice businesses have suffered under repeated dining shutdowns.”

A long road

Establishments in Toronto were last permitted to open patios on March 20, 2021, but the COVID-19 Response Framework was paused and the ‘emergency break’ implemented soon after. The city was subject to a province-wide shutdown beginning April 3, 202, prohibiting indoor and outdoor dining, with only take-out, drive-through and delivery allowed. As many businesses didn’t open during this brief period, patios for the most part have not been open since October 2020.

As of today, indoor dining has been closed in Toronto for a total of 373 days since lockdowns began in March 2020, the longest closure in North America - and many say the world - with most of the province’s dining rooms closed for a total of more than 365 days.

By the time bars and restaurants are allowed to reopen on June 11:

- The majority of Ontario’s restaurants were allowed to operate patio dining for just 95 days throughout more than a year under lockdown.

- According to Restaurants Canada, restaurants in Toronto will have been completely shut down for a total of 283 days, without the option to serve customers on patios, despite the significantly lower risk of COVID-19 transmission in outdoor settings.

Stay tuned.

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