THUNDER BAY - The future of the school year will be made known early next week, while the state of emergency in the province is expected to be extended into June.
During the daily media briefing on Monday, Premier Doug Ford was asked when daycare centres will be allowed to begin operations given more businesses have been permitted to reopen this week and last week.
Ford said there will be an announcement early next week on school and daycare reopening, adding the plan is being finalized.
“We’re going to make it clear next week,” Ford said. “They are just crossing the Ts and dotting the Is on moving forward.”
All publically funded schools and daycares were closed on March 14 and were initially to remain closed for two weeks, but that order was extended to May 6 and then again with no definitive timeline.
Select emergency daycare centres were permitted to reopen across the province to provide childcare for essential workers.
The closures were part of the Emergency Measures Act instituted on March 17, which was extended by 28 days on April 13.
The Ontario Legislature will resume on Tuesday where it is expected the government will request to extend the state of emergency until June 2. The province requires approval from the legislature in order to seek an extension.
There are more than 20,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ontario, with 1,669 deaths.
“Every step we have taken has always put the health and safety of the people of Ontario first,” Ford said. “Within eight weeks we have come along way. We have avoided the worst-case scenario.”
“There are many reasons to be optimistic right now. Yesterday we had 294 new cases, the lowest increase in six weeks. Today we have 308 new cases. Please remember we are looking for a trend and these numbers are a good sign we are moving in the right direction.”
The three-stage framework for reopening the economy requires at least two weeks of decreasing positive cases in the province before moving forward.
Retail businesses with a street entrance were permitted to provide curbside pickup on Monday, with garden centres and nurseries opening last Saturday, and hardware stores opening last Friday.
“We’ve come a long way, but we still have a long way to go,” Ford said. “We are working to get more businesses and services up and running again as safely as we can."
