Short-term cottage and airbnb rentals can reopen on Friday in Ontario, says Minister Fedeli
Minister Vic Fedeli tweeted the announcement on Thursday afternoon.
The province will allow short term rentals to resume operations as of 12:01 a.m. on Friday June 5.
This includes short term airbnb rentals, cottage rentals as well as lodges and B&B’s.
Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade Vic Fedeli tweeted the announcement on Thursday afternoon.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford was asked about the announcement during his daily media briefing from Queen’s Park on Thursday.
Ford didn’t confirm the news, only saying he’s hoping to “roll out” news on short-term rentals next week, pending approval of the health committee.
Ford said the health committee was discussing short-term rentals today.
On getting to Stage Two of reopening Ontario’s economy, Health Minister Christine Elliott said they can’t say exactly when that will happen, but the government has to be prepared for it.
“The numbers are gradually going down, we’re going to need to see that continue,” she said.
Federal public health officials released updated modelling figures on Thursday that show Ontario and Quebec continue to be the worst hit provinces, accounting for 90 percent of the country’s caseload over the past two weeks.
“Community spread persists in the Toronto and Montreal areas,” said Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Theresa Tam.
The new modelling projects that by June 15, Canada could have up to 107,454 cases and up to 9,400 COVID-19 related deaths.
Ontario reported 356 additional cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, for a total of 29,403 cases, 79 percent of which are now resolved.
A total of 20, 822 test samples were recorded yesterday, which is a record high for the province but still short of its capacity of 25,000 tests per day.
Ontario creates new advisory council on challenges facing youth, especially during COVID-19
Meanwhile, Ford announced The Premier’s Council on Equality of Opportunity, a new advisory group to help young people overcome social and economic barriers.
“The council will also advise the government on long-term actions we can take to support youth during the COVID-19 outbreak,” Ford said.
Jamil Jivani, Ontario’s Advocate for Community Opportunities, will serve as chair of the council for the first year.
As an immediate priority, Jivani said the council will identify strategies to support vulnerable and marginalized youth to recover from the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak.
“We did not wait for CNN to tell us there was a problem, rather we have been working on this for months,” Jivani said about racial issues in Ontario and government programs that have been in place. “Our efforts are not over, nor are they complete.”
