Premier Ford provides an update in Niagara Falls | March 29

[Music] good morning everyone very good to see people here very pleased to be able to welcome today to beautiful niagara the premier of the province of ontario doug ford the minister of heritage sport tourism culture industries of the honorable lisa mcleod a friend of niagara's and a friend of mine and of course the minister of finance peter bethlehem falvey who last week presented a budget before the legislature a budget that invests in protecting the health and safety of ontarians while also ensuring that our economy is protected and kept strong going forward as many of you know niagara has been hit extremely hard by covid and of course the economic consequences of covet today we're going to be hearing some good news uh that's been in the budget presented to ensure that ontario and niagara are kept safe moving forward and that our economy and the jobs that so many in the niagara region uh depend upon are ensure that they're also protected going forward so without further ado i wish to turn it over to the minister mcleod to say a few words thank you sam it's great to be here with you in niagara alongside our leader premier doug ford and our friend minister of finance and treasury board president peter bethlehem this past year has tested the resiliency of ontario's heritage sport tourism and culture industries unlike any other they were hit first the hardest and are expected to take the longest to recover from the pandemic while traveling the province last summer it became clear to me that they face a triple threat a public health crisis an economic crisis and a social crisis these crises have severely impacted operators of all sizes and in every region of the province from the large-scale attractions here in niagara falls to the many small family-owned bed and breakfasts in the north and everything in between pre-pandemic the sectors i represent supported a spectacular double bottom line 75 billion dollars in economic activity and a unique social fabric felt in every single community across this wonderful province today they're working to recover more than 20 billion dollars in lost revenues and hundreds of thousands of jobs including right here in niagara falls a city of ninety thousand who lost forty thousand jobs during this pandemic and our government has acted to support them we flowed more than sixty two million dollars to protect our iconic tourism institutions we launched a new 105 million dollar community building fund to support non-profits we provided 2.5 million dollars to increase museums digital capacity committed 25 million dollars to help our artists and our arts organizations and dedicated 1.5 million dollars to the new tourism development and recovery fund we provided 2.5 million for the love of live music more than 10 million for innovative festivals and events and 15 million dollars to support our sports sectors and much much more combined with the supports outlined in the 2021-22 provincial budget we're providing nearly one billion dollars to ensure ontario remains the best place in the world to live work play and to visit this funding will go to a suite of sectors who have demonstrated sheer resilience creativity and innovation during this pandemic a true testament to the ontario spirit many of the athletes artists and attractions i represent told me they cannot recall a time when their livelihoods were the centerpiece a provincial budget particularly to this magnitude the investments in this budget will allow us to recover reconnect and rebuild with the aid of our tourism economic recovery task force and our upcoming five-year plan that recovery starts today at canada's premier tourism destination known world over right here in niagara falls i'll now turn it over to premier ford and minister bethlehem falvi to tell you more about how ontario's action plan is working to protect the lives and livelihoods of those in ontario's hardest hit sectors premier that's great and good afternoon everyone and thank you minister mcleod for that introduction and thank you for all you've been doing during this this pandemic you've been doing an incredible job for the tourism sector i can tell you lisa has been working non-stop during this pandemic on your behalf she's been a strong advocate for the tourism industry making sure my cabinet and i know exactly what you need to get through these trying times i also want to acknowledge peter bethanvalvi my all-star minister of finance and sam usterhoff our mpp for niagara west i also want to thank niagara falls mayor jim diodati and i need to give a special shout out to bart maeves bart has been an absolute champion for the people of niagara for a long time and he knows this area better than anyone so bart thanks for everything you do to continue to do and please keep it up because there's a lot of work left to be done to get niagara back on its feet because as we know the tourism sector has been hit harder than any other sector during covet 19. it has been asked to sacrifice so much to keep us safe during covet 19 the impact on individuals families and operators has been absolutely devastating more than 200 000 jobs and more than 1.8

i'm sorry 18 billion in revenue has been lost clearly this sector is down but it's not out i know it will recover i have such confidence in the people of ontario but it will take time and it will take help you can be sure our government will always be there to support and protect our vital tourism industry in our 2021 budget ontario's action plan we made a commitment to protect people's health and protect jobs to help us achieve those goals we're investing 200 million dollars to support our tourism industry to see them through this difficult time this includes a hundred million dollars for a new ontario tourism and hospitality small business support grant and 100 million for a new one-time recovery program we have created these programs to help our large medium and small businesses during this very difficult period because our commitment to supporting businesses is unwavering in the budget we also announced an additional round of support through the ontario small support grant to help eligible employers impacted by difficulties and necessary public health restrictions this will now deliver 3.4 billion dollars to approximately 120 000 eligible small businesses in ontario to help them get through this extraordinary period and can you continue to protect vital jobs we made a promise to make sure every business supported is supported and well positioned to contribute to our economic recovery once this virus has been beaten and nothing will stop us from keeping that promise so whether it's the tour boat operators sorry tour boat operators down the river the motel up the road or the lodges up in northern ontario we are here for you we've got your back because we're all in this together as part of team ontario thank you and god bless the people of ontario i'll pass it over to minister bethlehem well thank you uh it's just so amazing to be standing here behind with this backdrop and also with the uh incredible minister mcleod who's doing such a great job premier ford and sam you guys are doing incredible work while the world has changed in the past year our government has remained steadfast in its commitment to do whatever it takes to defeat covet 19 and keep people safe as the pandemic has continued to unfold people have been very clear that they expect us to focus on two vital priorities first and foremost they expect us to protect the people's health your health and second they expect us to protect our economy your economy and that's exactly what the 2021 budget does we know that hard-working tourism hospitality and cultural businesses and workers have been particularly affected by covet 19 which is why we are introducing the 100 million ontario tourism recovery program as part of the 2021 budget the budget also introduces a new ontario tourism and hospitality small business support grant which will provide an additional estimated 100 million dollars in one-time payments of ten thousand to twenty thousand to eligible small businesses our support for these industries doesn't end there in fact through the 2021 budget ontario is investing an additional 400 million over the next three years in new initiatives to support the tourism hospitality and cultural sectors this builds on previously announced investments of 225 million to support these hard-hit sectors bringing the total to more than 625 million since the pandemic began overwhelmingly the people employers of our province have done what it takes to protect each other from covet 19. even when these sacrifices have impacted their livelihoods this is especially true in the tourism hospitality and cultural sectors and we recognize these sacrifices and in the 2021 budget we are taking further steps to provide direct support to the families workers employers who have sacrificed so much the 2021 budget brings the government's total investment to protect ontario's economy to 23.3 billion that's just part of the ontario's total response to covet 19 which is now 51 billion dollars over four years our focus is on protecting health and jobs today and setting the foundation for sustained success in the long run for the tourism hospitality and culture sectors and for the province as a whole because we know that economic growth is the way that ontario will recover stronger from the pandemic there is hope on the horizon ontario will emerge stronger and communities that make ontario a great place to discover like niagara are going to play a critical role in making this a reality thank you we'll go to the phone line for questions first question please uh mike crowley at cbc news please go ahead hi mike uh premier uh the postponed march break is uh now coming up it's just two weeks away and we're actually sitting in a situation where uh the number of infections uh happening every day is uh much higher than it was at the middle of march uh is your what's your government's thinking about uh whether you need to postpone uh this break as well because that was what you said was the the right thing to do uh back in uh back in mid-march to keep the kids safe yeah so uh the minister will be keeping a sharp eye on it as well as myself and the chief medical officer and i i just uh might be very frank i don't want to predict two weeks out but uh we'll we'll be out here every single day communicating with the people i just i can't give you a direct answer uh right now two weeks down the road follow-up uh and premier i don't think we've heard from you directly yet in response to the supreme court's decision about uh the federal carbon pricing um now that uh the the courts weighed in and you've had some time to uh think about it are you gonna change stack at all is ontario going to bring it in its own form of of uh carbon pricing and do you have any regrets about spending 30 million uh dollars of taxpayer money uh fighting this court case well first of all start off with regrets i never have regrets fighting for the the taxpayers of ontario keeping prices low they think 30 million is uh tough wait until the gas prices get jacked up over and over again everything that you uh buy is going to go up it's a terrible tax but in saying that i respect the courts i have a great deal of respect for the courts and we're going to have conversations with the federal government to sit down and and collaborate with them i've always said from day one and the prime minister and i have mentioned this there's going to be things that we just will never ever agree on and then there's going to be a tremendous amount of things that we do agree on so this is one of the the few things that we're we're going to disagree on but in saying that we're going to work collaboratively collaboratively with the federal government and do what's right for the taxpayers of this province next question from christina tinelia from cp24 please go ahead hi christina how are you hi premier um so zamertory has been urging and pleading with the people of toronto to get vaccinated there are thousands of appointments available we've also just learned in the last half hour of course they operate separately federally but in new york starting tomorrow those 30-plus are eligible to schedule and receive vaccines and on april 6 though 16 plus will be eligible so when are you going to lower the the age range for people here considering in toronto at the mayor's urging there are appointments available for those in the priority groups but they're not coming it only seems that everyone who's wanted the vaccine has already gotten it in those groups yeah so let's go to 80 plus uh 82 percent have either received their vaccine or their book for their vaccine we have a little over a hundred and hundred thousand and change i encourage everyone please sign up i'm talking to the mayor almost almost every day and uh i encourage everyone 70 plus please sign up please go out and get your vaccines to answer your other question uh christina uh it comes down to the volume of vaccines that we can get i'm gonna give you one example uh today we're we're gonna get a good chunk of uh pfizer but moderna i think it's a fourth or fifth time we were expecting it i think fifth time that we thought we're getting we aren't getting now we aren't getting until next week so you know the the yardstick it keeps constantly moving and then astrazeneca i understand it's gonna land here uh tomorrow and uh then we'll we'll see how quickly we can get it but i just do not understand how the federal government they know it's landing tomorrow and they can't give us a time when it's going to land here in toronto we just can't snap our fingers to these pharmacies and and turn them on overnight so we just need some uh notice when when stuff's coming it's uh it's the single most frustrating thing throughout this whole pandemic not knowing when you're going to get supply follow-up uh premier on astrojedica we've just learned that prince edward island the province is suspending the use of astrazeneca because of rare blood clots associated with the vaccine the province was using astrazeneca in those 18 to 39 for those who already had a relatively low risk of severe outcomes from infection uh this information also i should point out tweeted by dr isaac bogash who is on your vaccine rollout team you're aware of the hesitancy people have already with receiving the astrazeneca vaccine are you going to speak to dr williams considering what's just come out from pei about rethinking this vaccine reconsidering it do you have any concerns or apprehension well christina we'll take our advice off off dr williams but again we get the advice on what age area we go with from the federal government and the feds are saying it's still safe for 55 plus and i understand there has been blood clots uh some patients in the uk uh female uh folks about 30 35 years old but i'll tell you i won't hesitate to cancel that and half a heartbeat if it's going to put anyone in harm we'll we'll just we just we just won't use it simple as that but i am getting my advice off the federal government and dr williams next question from randy rath at chch tv please go ahead hi randy hi premier um uh to get back to christina's question about uh vaccine hesitancy and the astrazeneca use being suspended on people under 55. um you just said that you wouldn't hesitate to cut the use of it if it's um necessary um isn't this going to add in an extreme way to to hesitancy of people to get that vaccine whether they're over 55 or under 55.

yeah again uh we we got updated just uh late last night probably about 10 11 o'clock at night and the federal government will be in full discussions as we have been since yesterday and today to see the direction uh of which way we're going to go with this but if there's any issues uh below 70 i mean sorry below 55 i won't hesitate to just say enough i'd rather wait uh it means a month or two months for pfizer and moderna and jane jay then roll the dice on on this uh astrazeneca follow-up so um have people that have gotten that vaccine already have they rolled the dice no no don't don't no no not at all i'm talking about 35 years of age and that's where they see the problems they don't see it 55 plus the guidance from the federal government is it is safe for people over 55. i'm talking about younger people uh taking it 35 years of age and uh in that range that's where the problem is not with 55 plus next question from rob ferguson at the toronto star please go ahead hi rob hi premier uh just to get back to the carbon tax what what is the suitable way going forward then uh you canceled uh cap and trade you you uh had the supreme court ruling uh last week what what are the what are the options available to you at this point for for pricing or whatever on carbon how are you going to do that now yeah you know something uh robert what i i believe in sitting down talking the federal government coming up with a plan that's going to be satisfying uh satisfactory to them satisfactory to us and we'll we'll work it out we'll do the right thing but what we're we're doing we're putting the largest investment into battery-operated cars which is uh massive emissions uh that come out of cars as we know we're going to be the largest manufacturer battery-operated cars anywhere in north america and i also you know we never rule out the confidence in the private sector uh you know with when they're they're manufacturing any sort of packaging everything is focused around the environment on any of these major companies uh making sure that they use compostable materials the polyethylene poster multiple materials and i have confidence in them because every major company out there that's what they're focused on follow-up thanks creamer just switching gears back to vaccines and ask her after dennica we are clean cases really rise i'm wondering um what are the criteria for the new power to for the for the chief medical officer to put an area back into uh shut actual shutdown not just locking down the shutdown what what are the criteria for that and how could this act that unfolding astrazeneca situation complicate things because there are a lot of people calling for the vaccine strategy to be adjusted to get the vaccines into the hot spots to help keep people out of icu yeah really we work collaboratively with a local medical officer and and when the medical local medical officer puts a request in uh there isn't once that we've ever uh refused their their request and uh they put it into dr williams and then from there we we move forward uh that's that's what we do rob is not you know it's not too too complicated no one knows their area better than a local medical officer so we're gonna uh make sure we we stick with that uh protocol and everyone's gonna work together i wanna go back to the message about uh making sure that people are getting out there getting vaccinated and especially in the toronto regions the other regions that we move to 70 plus please register make a phone call everything seems to be working well online and on the phone call so please go out and get uh vaccinated the quicker we can get vaccines into people's arms the quicker we can get the economy back up and running last question from richard southern at 680 news please go ahead hi premier thanks for taking my call i wanted to ask you about the situation in icu's uh i understand there's more than 400 coven icu patients right now and some of the doctors we've been speaking with say if infections continue if the rates are continuing now uh the icu situation is going to be in a very bad spot in in not too much time what new actions are your is your government planning to take today to prevent that's from happening sir yeah it's always uh concerning i think we're at i believe it was 82 that i saw icu capacity right now it fluctuates obviously depending on what area but we're going to keep a sharp eye on it and thank goodness that we put billions of dollars into uh increasing our capacity when it comes to icu and acute care beds we've created 3 100 new beds in in ontario since this pandemic and we're going to continue creating more capacity but we're keeping a very sharp eye on it and the message is here i just got off the phone uh from the the cabinet and dr williams the message is you know number one 50 of the cases are with younger people now and i got a message to the young folks guys this this party's uh not over you know i mean you you just gotta make sure you follow the protocols follow the guidelines because what happens you bring it home to one of your loved ones your parents your grandparents it's unacceptable when we're seeing 50 of the cases from young people and by the way the young people when they get an icu they stay there a lot longer so they're taking up more capacity so i just can't stress it enough but you know you go down the street and uh and especially in toronto you just can't guys we got to watch it this is this is serious so please follow the guidelines protocols and uh we still have a ways to go before we can uh loosen anything up follow-up it just seems that you know your government is starting to loosen restrictions just as we're starting to see this trend i wonder if you can weigh in on that as well i want to press you if i could premiere again about the the april 12 school break i know you say you don't want to predict two weeks out but with the utmost respect it is the government's job i think to try and do their best to predict that and parents are going to need some uh need a heads up on this two weeks away is there any more you could say about whether or not that break is going to happen sir you know i agree 100 with you they need the two weeks but god forbid we say we're going to close it we're going to open it and things change drastically we see the numbers going up at a rapid speed right now by the end of the week we'll have a clear direction that will still give people at least a week to 10 days notice but i understand people have to make make plans thanks everyone thank you everyone thank you you

2021-03-31 02:15

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