On April 9, Ontario premier Doug Ford said that he was confident that Ontario's economy will bounce back stronger than before once the COVID-19 pandemic has ended.
During his press conference on April 13, Ford was questioned about Ontario's economy, and the premier said that it will be a slow and measured process and that you can't just "flick the lights on".
"We can't just flick it on and open the gates, we just can't, we aren't ready yet," said Ford. "Until we see some modelling that the curve goes down, then we do trickles opposed to just opening things up."
Provincial officials have been doing focus polling throughout this pandemic, and Ford says that the number one concern, even more than the virus itself, is the economy.
"They want to find out how they're going to put food on the table, how they're going to pay rent, how they're going to pay a mortgage, that's their number one (concern), by far over anything," said Ford.
"Number two is people are just getting restless, they're getting squirrely staying inside the house and I know it's difficult, but that's why we see a little glimmer of hope. My biggest fear is all of a sudden we get another wave and it hits us, I just want to make sure we do it properly, cautiously and not just jump into this and open up the floodgates, I think it'd be irresponsible."
Minister of finance Rod Phillips doubled down on Ford's comments, explaining that the province needed the go-ahead from health officials first and foremost, and that it was likely the return to some sense of normalcy as far as the economy goes would be in phases.
"The recovery could be happening prospectively in different places at different times once we get the go ahead from our health officials, it could be in different sectors at different times depending on what changes can be made in terms of physical distancing," said Phillips.
"I have to emphasize, the good news that we hope we will get is because of the physical distancing, because of what people have been doing, the collaboration and cooperation of Ontario employers and workers and families and all the ways people celebrated Easter and Passover separately this weekend in a different way, but that's what will be the very important first step.
"Absolutely at the premier's direction that work is going on right now, we will of course be working very closely with our medical team and with different medical health officers in different areas to understand where the opportunities are and when it's safe we will have the plan in place to get the economy back on its feet as soon as possible."
