Trudeau Lays out Conditions for Restarting Economy

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Provincial/ Territorial governments have agreed to conditions that would restart the national economy following COVID-19.  The announcement came following Trudeau’s morning press conference.

“Our priority is keeping all Canadians safe, while getting back to normal as much as we can. That’s why First Ministers have worked on a set of shared principles to gradually restart the economy, based on science and evidence-based decision-making. Together, we will continue to work collaboratively to keep Canadians safe and healthy, and protect our economy,” Trudeau said

The leaders acknowledge that all territories, and provinces will customize their approach to reopening based on their situation.  They have agreed to allow science to guide their approach, and will focus on the following four criteria:

• protecting the health of Canadians;
• easing restrictions gradually;
• protecting high-risk groups (e.g., those vulnerable due to age, underlying health conditions, remote location, close living spaces, and temporary or unstable living spaces);
• ensuring our public health capacity remains strong to prepare for, and respond to, any future waves of the pandemic, including through enhanced testing and contact tracing; and,
• supporting a broad range of economic sectors.

“Science and evidence-based decision-making; decisions to ease and/or reinstate measures should be based on current public health situations as advised by public health officials,” the statement said.  Ontario has laid out an approach that would see nothing done before the province shows 2-4 weeks of steady decline in COVID-19 positive cases.

Provinces and Territories would be required to monitor transmission of COVID-19, and add additional support for the more vulnerable populations.  Approximately 79% of the national fatalities have come from long-term care homes.  Ontario, and Quebec have received help from the Canadian Armed forces.

“All orders of government have been working closely together to keep Canadians safe.  Restarting Canada’s economic engine will require a coordinated approach, given different parts of the country are at different points in the fight against COVID-19,” Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said.  Social distancing measures are expected to be in place sometime yet.