Locktario 20/21
Dec. 22nd, 2020 12:38 pmOntario will go into lockdown on Boxing Day. It will last for 28 days in the south (including Ottawa and the rest of the Eastern Ontario region) and 14 days from Sudbury to the northern border.
So is Ontario still ours to discover? Not so much. Is it a place to stand and a place to grow? Well, it seems that those blue-plate specials with the newer slogan on them were recalled for being illegible. And there are plenty of people around who can't stand Doug Ford, particularly in Ottawa. With one hand he virtually pats us on the head and tells us we're doing great at observing the health and safety rules while with the other, he signs orders putting us into lock-step with Toronto's shutdown.
Having said all that, I'll concede that it will not make a huge difference to my life as I know it and have lived it since March 2020. I'm somewhat relieved that the lockdown does not start on December 24 as many were expecting. In some quarters, of course, people are saying that it should have started even earlier than that.
The main rationale for including Ottawa in the lockdown is to prevent would-be Gatineau Boxing Week sales-goers from flocking across the bridges into the Ottawa shopping malls, their viral droplets in tow. But honestly folks, who knows what Legault & Co will decide to do next? Prediction is a fool's errand and our rules and regulations have never been completely in harmony with each other.
In Ottawa, restaurateurs will be particularly hard hit. I feel for those who had already lost out on office Christmas parties and then spent a whack of time and money assiduously planning Covid-safe New Year's Eve parties, thinking they could at least recoup a few of their losses from what has been a disastrous year for them. Will they be able to access enough in compensation packages to enable them to survive into 2021?
One can only hope.
So is Ontario still ours to discover? Not so much. Is it a place to stand and a place to grow? Well, it seems that those blue-plate specials with the newer slogan on them were recalled for being illegible. And there are plenty of people around who can't stand Doug Ford, particularly in Ottawa. With one hand he virtually pats us on the head and tells us we're doing great at observing the health and safety rules while with the other, he signs orders putting us into lock-step with Toronto's shutdown.
Having said all that, I'll concede that it will not make a huge difference to my life as I know it and have lived it since March 2020. I'm somewhat relieved that the lockdown does not start on December 24 as many were expecting. In some quarters, of course, people are saying that it should have started even earlier than that.
The main rationale for including Ottawa in the lockdown is to prevent would-be Gatineau Boxing Week sales-goers from flocking across the bridges into the Ottawa shopping malls, their viral droplets in tow. But honestly folks, who knows what Legault & Co will decide to do next? Prediction is a fool's errand and our rules and regulations have never been completely in harmony with each other.
In Ottawa, restaurateurs will be particularly hard hit. I feel for those who had already lost out on office Christmas parties and then spent a whack of time and money assiduously planning Covid-safe New Year's Eve parties, thinking they could at least recoup a few of their losses from what has been a disastrous year for them. Will they be able to access enough in compensation packages to enable them to survive into 2021?
One can only hope.