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Key advisers to Ford government on pandemic response support more transparency

Jun 25, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Two members of a key table of experts whose public health advice to senior government officials has been kept confidential are in favour of more transparency, they told the Star.

One of those advisers says the province’s colour-coded response framework should include stronger controls and clearer requirements for lockdown — but said he can’t divulge whether he recommended those measures originally because of the province’s confidentiality requirements.

On Monday, Toronto medical officer of health Dr. Eileen de Villa said she and all members of the province’s public health measures table were , requiring them to keep their discussions and advice confidential. The table, a group of public health leaders and experts, provides advice on the province’s response to Ontario’s chief medical officer of health Dr. David Williams, who in turn provides advice to Premier Doug Ford’s cabinet.

The news sparked renewed scrutiny after the Star reported last week that the province — members of which sit at the public health measures table — when it released its colour-coded framework for implementing new restrictions.

Dr. Charles Gardner, a member of the table and the medical officer of health for Simcoe-Muskoka, said he believes the group’s advice should be made public.

“The provision of information from that table would help people understand the reason for recommendations, and I think that would help with buy-in from the public as well. So I think in general it would be a good idea,” Gardner said in an interview.

“I believe when people have good information they understand things better, and they’re more likely to abide by restrictions,” he said, adding it is difficult for people to adhere to pandemic-related restrictions for such a long time.

Gardner said the higher levels of the provincial framework “may require” stronger controls than the plan currently recommends, noting local medical officers of health in red-zone regions have already had to implement additional restrictions “to protect their population.” And he said it would be “beneficial” for the framework to spell out what would trigger a full lockdown, thresholds the document currently lacks.

But Gardner said he could not divulge whether he had recommended these measures already.

“I don’t think I will speak further about what I recommended in the past — I should not, in fact … out of respect for the agreement that I signed and what transpired at meetings.”

Dr. Marlene Spruyt, another member of the table and the medical officer of health for Algoma, said the issue was “complex.” Sometimes the group’s advice includes options or considerations that are not meant to be definitive; advice also changes as they get more information, she added.

However, “I favour some additional transparency,” she said, though she does not believe all information discussed at the table should be public.

The Toronto Board of Health on Monday moved a motion to ask the provincial government to “immediately implement a fully transparent process of receiving public health advice,” including making public the advice provided to the chief medical officer of health and cabinet. The motion from board chair Coun. Joe Cressy was adopted unanimously.

Gardner said it was “typical” for the province to ask members of advisory committees to sign nondisclosure agreements, though he couldn’t comment on whether it was typical in other jurisdictions.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health said “members have not signed NDAs. Rather, the terms of reference of the public health measures table do include a standard confidentiality clause that supports candid discussions that ultimately lead to guidance and advice being provided to the chief medical officer of health.”

Asked if the ministry will respond to the Toronto Board of Health’s call to increase transparency around the province’s advisory tables in any other way, the spokesperson said: “We respect the work of all our public health experts and the expertise and advice they provide.”

“As we have done throughout this pandemic, we will continue to be transparent with the people of Ontario and provide them with clear and comprehensive information.”

Last week, the Star reported that the from its own public health agency when it created its new colour-coded COVID-19 response framework, setting thresholds for regional restrictions two to four times higher than what experts at Public Health Ontario had recommended. Dr. Shelley Deeks, the agency’s chief health protection officer, said she didn’t see the province’s much-higher thresholds until they were released to the public. The province lowered the thresholds Friday in the wake of the Star’s reporting, and said the controls associated with each threshold would be discussed this week.

Deeks and at least one other member of Public Health Ontario sit at the public health measures table. A spokesperson for the agency referred questions to the table’s lead, Dr. David McKeown, who had not responded to the Star’s inquiries by Tuesday evening.

“Public Health Ontario does believe in the importance of transparency,” a spokesperson for the agency said in a statement. “However, we also recognize that confidentiality may be needed in some cases and contexts.”

Dr. Chris Mackie, another member of the table and the medical officer of health for Middlesex-London, said: “I believe that this is primarily a political matter and not a public health matter, and as such it’s the government’s decision, and not for me to judge.”

Other members of the table had not responded to the Star’s inquiries by Tuesday evening.

Kate Allen is a Toronto-based reporter covering science and technology for the Star. Follow her on Twitter:

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‘It was huge’: Orillia restaurateur on impact of relief program

Jun 25, 2021 , , , , by shlf

The Common Stove had only just opened in downtown Orillia when the global pandemic brought the world to a halt.

“We got going pretty hard and fast and then we were shut down pretty hard and fast two weeks later,” co-owner Simon MacRae told Simcoe.com.

For the next three months, the restaurant offered takeout — not an ideal scenario for a newly opened business but a necessary one.

“Obviously, the revenue was going to be less, but we had quite a good customer base who supported us during that period,” MacRae said.

The Common Stove began offering outdoor dining in mid-June and six weeks later welcomed indoor diners.

During this challenging period the restaurant was able to access financial assistance through the Orillia Area Community Development Corporation (CDC), courtesy of an investment by Ottawa via its regional relief and recovery fund.

“It was huge,” MacRae said of the impact. “There were obviously a fair number of expenses incurred in getting set up for outdoor dining, which was not something we’d immediately planned for at that point,” he said.

Reconfiguring the restaurant to ensure adequate social distancing and necessary safety measures were in place also brought expenses, he noted.

“It was very helpful to have that funding to help us do that,” MacRae added.

Launched in May to help businesses stay afloat as they confront the impacts of COVID-19, the fund provides loans to those who may not be eligible for other programs.

In the Orillia area, the community development corporation through the federal program provided $995,000 in loans to help 30 local businesses cover fixed operating costs and maintain jobs.

A quarter of the amount loaned is forgivable if the remainder is repaid within a set period.

“A lot of people just need a little piece of mind and some liquidity support to get through what’s going on,” Wendy Timpano, the CDC’s general manager, told Simcoe.com.

The organization now has an additional $1 million through the federal funding program to distribute to eligible businesses in Orillia, Oro-Medonte, Severn, Ramara, and Rama.

The agency is focusing on assisting businesses with loans of up to $40,000.

For information, go to

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Proposal for $3-million skate trail in Orillia melts under budget scrutiny

Jun 25, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Any hope of approving a refrigerated skate trail for Orillia’s waterfront melted away amid concerns over cost, as the city aims for a zero per cent tax increase in 2021.

“If you ask anybody in the city if you’d like to have a skate trail in the park, I think probably 99 per cent of them would say yes,” Coun. Mason Ainsworth said.

Asking if it is wise for the city to spend $3.1 million for the feature at Centennial Park “would be a different story,” he argued.

The skate trail was recommended in the city’s Downtown Tomorrow Plan and in a recently completed waterfront parkland design study. Proponents said it would boost use of the waterfront during winter months, while also providing a space for festivals and special events in summer.

The price tag included an addition to the Orillia Waterfront Centre to accommodate a change room and resting area, as well as a small service building to house an ice resurfacer and ice-making equipment.

While councillors during a recent budget committee meeting chose not to fund the project, supporters framed the proposal as an investment in the community.

“This will be an attraction for the future,” Coun. Ted Emond said.

The project would have required $3.15 million in borrowing and a capital tax levy of $30,000 in 2021.

Ray Merkley, director of parks, recreation and culture, said the city is increasingly challenged to maintain outdoor rinks due to fluctuating temperatures.

“It’s probably a six-week period where you can kind of guarantee that we’re going to have some use of them … from early or mid-January through to the end of February,” he said.

A skate trail is comparable in cost to a recently opened West Orillia park that will primarily serve “a few neighbourhoods and for a part of the year,” Mayor Steve Clarke argued.

All decisions at budget committee require ratification at council.

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First it was toilet paper, then yeast. COVID-19’s next big shortage? Christmas trees

Jun 25, 2021 , , , , by shlf

In a year marked by shortages of everything from toilet paper to yeast, it may not come as much of a surprise that the next big shortage is shaping up to be the one thing many Torontonians were looking forward to most at the end of a terrible year — Christmas trees.

“By the 15th I think there’s not going to be a tree available,” said Judy Clark, manager of the East End Garden Centre, which on Tuesday got its last shipment of Christmas trees for the year.

Demand is higher than ever, Clarke said, with people “willing to pay a bit more for a good quality tree” in a year marked by devastation.

But the combination of low supply and high demand have led to Christmas tree lots being overwhelmed, many selling out early, Clarke said. “The places that were given designations to open up that do have trees are really getting bombarded.”

With COVID-19, it’s been a challenge to operate, she added — this year, the centre became an open-air market to safely accommodate customers. It’s also been more difficult than usual to get employees to come in, she said.

Many tree farms have already closed for the season, said Shirley Brennan, executive director of the Canadian Christmas Tree Growers Association. Though demand is higher than usual this year, supply has also been affected, she said, not just by COVID-19, but by the last big North American crisis — the recession of 2008.

Following the recession, Christmas tree farmers in North America didn’t plant as many trees as usual, she said, or didn’t go ahead with planned expansions.

And since Christmas trees take around 10 years to grow before they’re ready for your living room, we’re seeing the results of that dip now, Brennan said.

As well, nature has not been kind to tree growers, she said. For one, a few years ago there was a June freeze that affected Nova Scotia’s Christmas trees, and forest fires in British Columbia have caused droughts over the years that have also affected the trees.

“We have a business plan for 10 years, and in that 10 years a lot of things can happen,” she said, adding many sellers have had to buy from more sources than usual to fill demand.

All the while, demand for Christmas trees has steadily increased by 10 to 15 per cent every year, Brennan said — and this year, it spiked.

Jim Watson of Watson Christmas Trees said the farm, which is now closed for the season, started getting calls about Christmas trees even before they were open.

“I would say it was busier this year than other years,” he said, adding that demand for trees has gone up every year he’s been in the business.

“There’s always been a feeling that artificial trees are going to take over and put us out of business, and yet … it’s been busier every year since I’ve been in it.”

Brennan thinks this is because many younger people are turning to classic trees instead of plastic ones, and that families, unable to gather this year, are now buying one per household, as opposed to just one for the house where they would normally gather.

Amin Datoo, store manager of Sheridan Nurseries’ Toronto location, said their store has been lucky — they’ve received all the trees they preordered in May and June, and have been able to procure more to deal with heightened demand.

On Tuesday, they, too, got their last shipment of 400 trees, 250 more than they originally intended, Datoo said.

“We’re pretty well stocked now.”

Adding to the surge in demand, Datoo said, are people who normally go south for the winter; unable to travel, many are now buying a tree — even two, if they’re spending Christmas at the cottage.

The nursery is also seeing more young people buying smaller trees with roots to comply with condominium regulations, or tabletop trees.

Datoo said the price of Christmas trees has been rising every year, but this year the extra staffing and COVID-19 gear might drive up the cost a little more.

Christmas tree prices will vary depending on the type of tree, Brennan said, the location it’s being sold, and selling conditions. Most will be between $75 and $100, she said, and the price, like demand, has steadily risen each year with inflation and rising costs.

“If you’re in the Toronto area, your prices are different than if you’re in the Ottawa or Windsor area,” she said.

Rosa Saba is a Toronto-based business reporter for the Star. Follow her on Twitter:

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‘Largest development in the city’s history’: Four-tower SmartCentres project on Barrie’s waterfront clears major hurdle

Jun 25, 2021 , , , , by shlf

A proposal that would reshape the City of Barrie’s waterfront skyline is about to take a giant leap toward reality.

On Nov. 30, the municipality’s planning committee approved zoning bylaw and official plan amendments for a large mixed-use project on the 3.5-hectare lot at . SmartCentres has pitched four buildings ranging in height from 25 to 46 storeys.

This decision needs to be ratified by council next week. However, approvals of this nature are generally seen as a significant step on the long road to construction.

“The approval of the applications would permit the future development of four towers for residential rental apartments, a hotel, ground floor commercial uses, a parking garage, open space and preservation of environmental lands,” development services director Michelle Banfield said in a report. “Although there are no formally recognized affordable units identified for this site, this project may assist with overall affordability of rental housing by adding a substantial number of units to the available market.”

This project would generate about $4.56 million in building permit application and $9.64 million in cash-in-lieu of parkland fees for the city.

About 1,700 residential units, 3,500 square metres of ground-floor commercial space and 145 hotel rooms would be built. Public corridors would also link to existing natural features, such as the Bunker’s Creek eco-park and Kempenfelt Bay.

This site is between Bradford and Lakeshore Drive, near the city’s waterfront.

“I recognize not everyone is happy with the proposal,” Coun. Keenan Aylwin said, noting the city has to meet provincially-mandated growth targets. “Change is difficult. The reality is Barrie is changing and growing whether we like it or not. A substantial amount of that growth will be taking place in our downtown and waterfront.”

Residents have, in the past, expressed a number of concerns with the proposal, including building height and density, shadowing, light pollution, soil stability and increased traffic in the area.

“While the height is significant in terms of existing development, staff do not consider the height requested by this proposal to be out of character in an urban centre,” Banfield said.

Some Barrie councillors had hoped there would be interest from SmartCentres in , as a potential alternative to the proposed $50-million reconstruction of the nearby W.A. Fisher auditorium into a large theatre and event facility.

However, that thought was shot down earlier this month.

“A full-sized conference centre’s not in the cards for SmartCentres, both for parking and development reasons,” Mayor Jeff Lehman said two weeks ago.

The property was once owned by , which also had control of the nearby Collier Centre. Fortress bought the Harmony Village land in November 2016. Initial plans had included six residential towers, townhouses and ground-floor retail.

However, Fortress ran into legal issues in recent years, mostly related to its syndicated mortgage investors.

“This is the largest development in the city’s history,” Lehman said Monday night. “There is a significant portion of our population who have real concerns with this height. This may not be popular; that may not necessarily make it wrong.”

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Are Ontario’s health units losing the battle against COVID? 3 charts that examine that and how countries in Europe are faring

Jun 25, 2021 , , , , by shlf

As some regions in Ontario head into second week of lockdown, cases of in the province continue to climb with five more health units moving into an escalated risk category — with greater restrictions — in an effort to tamp down infections.

“Obviously we need patience, which is tough because we’re still seeing an unacceptable number of new cases per day,” said Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious diseases specialist at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute and the University of Toronto.

“But we wouldn’t expect to see any meaningful changes for around 10 to 14 days. It’s a little too soon to gauge whether this is successful or not.”

On Monday evening, Ontario’s local public health units reported a total of 1,832 confirmed or probable cases of COVID-19 and 13 deaths. This brought the rolling seven-day average to a new high of 1,657 cases per day.

Bogoch said that he thinks more needs to be done to address the underlying drivers of infection in the community that may not be impacted by the lockdown policy.

“There are a lot of sectors in the economy that are still open and people might be at risk in those areas. In addition to that, there might be people who are at risk in those areas who go to intergenerational homes and infect other people,” he said. “There still may be people having private gatherings and getting together in their own homes. So these are other drivers of the epidemic in Ontario that are more challenging to address.”

Here we take stock of Ontario’s battle against COVID-19 with expert commentary and check in on some European nations to see how they compare with Canada.

Toronto and Peel remain under lockdown

Public health officials in Peel have been targeting some of the underlying drivers of the pandemic, including unco-operative businesses that have had cases or outbreaks.

On Nov. 16, came into effect in the region that imposed a $5,000-a-day fine to employers and operators who didn’t take the necessary action to prevent or stop the spread of COVID-19.

Dr. Lawrence Loh, Peel’s medical officer of health, said that although many businesses were co-operative, there were some that were not “participating in our investigations or taking steps to protect their workers” such as directing an infected employee to stay home, he said, adding that he’s seen a higher level of compliance since issuing the order.

Cases continue to rise in the region, but more slowly, said Loh, which he thinks is a combination of the positive results of the Section 22 order and the lockdown, combined with more cases as a result of Diwali and Bandi Chhor Divas festivities two weeks ago.

Like Bogoch, he thinks we could see the results of the lockdown by the end of this week.

“That’s what I’m hopeful for at least, that we’ll see a plateau and then hopefully it will start to decline,” said Loh.

Toronto reported 643 cases on Monday, a new high for daily cases, which have fluctuated over the last week, from a low of 331 last Monday.

Dr. Eileen de Villa, the city’s medical officer of health, said in a press conference Monday that the “infections we’re seeing lately occurred now a week or even two weeks ago,” a reminder that the city is still in the early days of the current lockdown.

“High case counts are in a large part under our own control. By the same token, so is getting our case counts down,” said de Villa. “I know there is a real awareness of what we can do on an individual basis to play our part, as I know many, many people are doing. And I’m confident that we are going to see good results if we do just that.”

Deaths in both Toronto and Peel have accelerated recently.

Since the beginning of October, 421 people have died in Toronto from COVID, compared to 22 deaths in the two months before.

“We know death is a lagging indicator,” said Bogoch, “and certainly I wouldn’t be surprised if they climbed some more. It takes time.

“But when we start to see 1,500 to 1,700 new cases a day … some of those people are going to be hospitalized, some of those people are going to require intensive care and some of those people are going to succumb to the illness.”

“Sadly we have to take a stay-tuned approach because we’re going to see those numbers rise.”

Five regions in Ontario step up restrictions

Windsor-Essex county has 424 active cases, ranking it number 10 in the province for active cases. The health unit was moved into the red, or control, category by the province Monday, which means indoor social gatherings will be limited to five and restaurants can have a maximum of 10 people indoors, although weddings and funerals can continue at 30 per cent of venue capacity or 100 people out of doors.

The area has a population of 428,556 residents, about 50,000 fewer than Niagara Region, and more than double the active cases, according to an analysis by the Star’s Andrew Bailey.

In a press conference Friday, the area’s medical officer of health told residents to keep a diary of their whereabouts to aid public health’s ability to contact-trace should it become necessary.

“Have a plan,” said Dr. Wajid Ahmed, the area’s medical officer of health. “Don’t wait for public health to tell you to isolate and to do all of that.”

Ahmed said that for the last three weeks, an average of 40 or so cases are being identified every day and are putting significant strains on public health.

There are also numerous outbreaks in the region, including seven at workplaces and one at a hospital that Ahmed said he didn’t declare lightly because of the strain it would put on the community.

“The bottom line is we are getting worse,” said Ahmed. “We definitely don’t want the entire public health system to collapse. Or the acute-care system to collapse.

“We don’t have three or four hospitals in the region that can support this redirection of patients. Declaring an outbreak at the hospital, it was not an easy decision. We recognize it will have a huge impact with patient admissions and transfers.”

The province also downgraded four other health regions, moving Haldimand-Norfolk to orange, or the restrict category, which means intermediate measures such as limiting indoor private social gatherings to 10 people and to 50 for indoor organized events.

Hastings and Prince Edward Counties Public Health, Lambton Public Health and Northwestern Health Unit moved to the yellow, or protect category.

Norway shows the way

In Europe, leaders are trying desperately to bring down daily COVID-19 infections through a series of restrictions in advance of the Christmas holidays. And in at least one European nation — Norway — there are signs that infection control measures may have started to pay off.

In early November, the country introduced its strictest rules to date in an effort to curb the spread. These included limiting private gatherings in public spaces and rented venues to 20 people; denying entry to travellers from high-risk countries unless they show proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken within the last 72 hours; a recommendation that people stay at home as much as possible; and a ban on serving alcohol in restaurants and bars after midnight. In the capital, Oslo, settings where people congregate, such as cinemas, theatres and swimming pools, were shut down, while the serving of alcohol at any establishment at any time was banned.

“There is light at the end of the tunnel. We must hold on,” Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg said last week.

Three weeks ago, Norway and Canada had close to the same number of daily new confirmed cases per million (about 107 cases on a rolling seven-day average basis). As of Nov. 29, the trends in the two countries have diverged substantially, with Norway down to about 58 new daily confirmed cases per million and Canada up to about 144 new daily cases per million.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control reports that Norway currently has a 14-day cumulative number of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 of 141.2, the third-lowest in Europe (Iceland and Finland, respectively, have the lowest of these measures).

One of the reasons for Norway’s relatively good fortune to date, is its relationship between citizens and government, said Dr. Colin Furness, an infection control epidemiologist at the University of Toronto.

“It’s a socialist country,” he said. “They accept very high taxes and they get in return a lot of government services. So there’s a lot of orientation to the collective right there. Show me a population that rails against paying taxes and I’ll show you a population that favours inequity and every man for himself. Which population is going to do better when you need to have collective action?”

He added that the decision to suspend alcohol sales was smart. “If you think culturally, what they’re really saying is, restaurants are not the place to be. At home is the place to be, and that’s where the alcohol is.”

English woes

On Wednesday, England’s month-long lockdown will come to an end, but new restrictions will immediately come into place. The country will be broken up into three “tiers” depending on the severity of risk of infection. Most of the country will be in tiers 2 and 3, or “high” and “very high.

“They are definitely not out of the woods,” said Furness. “Public Health England has done an extremely bad job and the government that is trying to direct the show has done a worse job. It’s a real mess.”

London, for its part, will avoid Tier 3 and enter Tier 2, meaning bars and restaurants can reopen, along with gyms, shops and personal care services. Regions in Tier 3 will see their bars, pubs, cafés and restaurants stay closed, along with indoor entertainment venues, such as cinemas. Officials are also telling people living in Tier 3 areas not to travel outside their regions.

Major cities to remain in Tier 3 include Greater Manchester, Bristol and Birmingham.

The U.K. currently has Europe’s third-highest 14-day cumulative number of cases per 100,000 at 372, just behind Spain and France. The U.K. also has the third-highest number of cases since the pandemic began (1,617,327), behind Spain (1,628,208) and France (2,218,483), according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

“Countries that have done reasonably well, Iceland, Taiwan, New Zealand, they’re islands. They can literally pull up the drawbridges and say we’re not going to welcome people and we’re not going to travel for a while. The U.K. could have done that but they didn’t.”

Clarification – Dec. 1, 2020: This article was edited from a previous version to make clear that some regions in Ontario are heading into second week of lockdowns, not all of Ontario.

With files from Ed Tubb

Patty Winsa is a Toronto-based data reporter for the Star. Reach her via email:

Kenyon Wallace is a Toronto-based investigative reporter for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @KenyonWallace or reach him via email: