Doug Ford Announcement Press Conference Transcript June 2: No In-Person School

Doug Ford: (00:50) Well, good afternoon, everyone. I want to first start off by addressing the awful tragedy unearthed at the former residential school in British Columbia. My heart breaks for indigenous communities. It breaks for the families and survivors. This discovery also reminds us the pain caused by residential schools continues to haunt indigenous communities across our country, including here in Ontario. Minister Rickford has been very clear. We will work with the indigenous partners and the federal government to investigate former residential school sites right here in Ontario. I want to personally thank Regional Chief Roseanne Archibald for leadership and partnership. Thank you. Doug Ford: (01:42) Now, I want to talk to you about the situation with our schools. COVID-19 has taken a significant toll on everyone in Ontario, but our children have been impacted more than most. The pandemic has disrupted their lives. It's taken away their ability to go to school, to see friends, to connect with each other. Last week, I wrote to the public health, medical and education experts asking for their opinion on the best path forward. It's no secret that some of them said kids should be back in school on a regional basis for the last couple of weeks of school. Doug Ford: (02:28) Here's what the experts couldn't say. They couldn't tell us that returning to in-class learning before more students and teachers are vaccinated, won't lead to thousands and thousands of new cases. In fact, we've seen clearly in the modeling from Dr. Brown, that returning kids and teachers back to school before they're vaccinated will lead to thousands of new cases. The experts couldn't tell us that it wouldn't risk spreading dangerous variants and avoid us from moving to other stages. It won't risk the health of our kids. Well, no one wants kids back in school more than I do. Doug Ford: (03:10) As your premier, these aren't risks I'm willing to take. Today, I have to announce that schools will not be returning for in-class learning until the fall. I know this is difficult, very difficult news. It was a hard choice to make, but I will not and I repeat, I will not take unnecessary risks with our children right now. The fact is we're fighting a third wave driven by variants, and unlike the original strains, we know that some of the variants we're fighting right now are more dangerous for children. It can make younger people very, very sick. We also know that until we get more students and teachers vaccinated, outdoor activities are safest right now. That's why our reopening plan starts with outdoor activities. We will focus on getting kids outside, getting them to summer camps, day camps, sports, outdoor activities, as soon as possible. Activities that we know are critical to the mental and physical wellbeing of our kids. Doug Ford: (04:20) Now, I understand this is going to be very difficult for many parents. You've done remarkable jobs in the hardest of circumstances, and we understand how hard this remains on everyone's physical and mental wellbeing. We will continue to support both parents and children as we move forward to make sure everyone has the help they need yesterday. We announced an additional $31 million in new mental health funding for our children and youth. This is in addition to everything we've already done in both education and mental health supports. We're sparing no expense right now to have your back and support you through these very difficult times. We will use this time to get our teachers and students vaccinated. We'll use this time to continue investing in ventilation in our schools, because the decisions we make today will help us ensure a safe summer and most importantly, a safe and normal return to school in September. Doug Ford: (05:23) I want to say directly to all our kids in Ontario, kids, I know this has been very, very hard on each and every one of you. I know it's been hard adjusting. You miss your friends, you miss school, you miss your sports and activities and you're sick and tired of all this. I get it. I can't imagine what it's been like for you. I don't think that adults, we can really fully appreciate what it's been like for our kids. I assure you, it's not lost on me. That's why I want schools to host in-person outdoor graduation events and other opportunities for you to meet with your friends and reconnect outside before the end of the year. We'll be working with school boards and health officials to make sure we can have outdoor graduation ceremonies for all students in all grades this summer, rather than just grade eight and 12. It should be for all students, because we know that we need to do as much as possible to get people outdoors, to enjoy the summer, enjoy the nice weather. Doug Ford: (06:33) We can do this safely by sticking to our reopening plan. A plan that was developed by Minister Elliott and the medical community. It's a plan that has been widely supported by health experts. It gives us clarity and certainty on what opens and I'm cautiously optimistic right now. We're doing as well as a province can do, and that's thanks to each and every one of you and the frontline healthcare workers. I'm so hopeful that as things are going, we may be able to enter step one safely earlier than June the 14th. Right now, we're waiting for Dr. Williams and his team to tell us when we may be ready to do so, because I know it's very important for people in Ontario to get to step one, to get to step two, as soon as it's safe to do so. To ensure we enter into the roadmap to get kids outside playing sports, team sports, going to camp, day camps, enjoying organized activities this summer, hanging around with her friends. That's what we want to get to. Doug Ford: (07:44) Thanks entirely entirely to our incredible frontline workers, pharmacists and public health officials. Our vaccination rollout continues to do its job. These are really staggering numbers, folks. Over 9.2 million vaccinations have been delivered, and that number is increasing each and every day. We're now offering second doses to our most vulnerable and are on pace to fully vaccinate everyone who wants to be by the end of this summer. Today's difficult decision will help ensure we do have a summer, a safe summer, and we get to stage one and stage two and create conditions for a safe and normal return to in-class learning in September. Thank you, and God bless the people of Ontario. Now, I'll pass it over to Minister Lecce. Minister Lecce: (08:39) Good afternoon. The one constant in this pandemic has been that we have always erred on the side of caution. Caution for our students, their families, and the staff within our schools. Caution for every family in this province, young and old, urban and rural. Especially with the emergence of new variants, the B16172 variant notably, that creates [inaudible 00:09:01] of a significant unknown. Minister Lecce: (09:02) ... that creates the sign stable side of a significant unknown, because by remaining cautious and vigilant, we protect our summer, we protect September and we provide stability and routine to children who have faced dramatic disruption due to this global pandemic. We have done this because safety has been our guiding light and the principle for families. Because of our cautious approach and our $1.6 billion plan endorsed by the chief medical officer of health, Ontario has one of the lowest case rates for youth under 20 in Canada. Our cautious approach will protect our reopening through the establishment of camps, organized sports, small get together and play dates, which will help facilitate that social human interaction that children so desperately deserve. Now, we know how critical mental health is for our students, especially right now. Minister Lecce: (09:51) We know that at home and abroad, children are facing incredible difficulty. And it's why just yesterday, our government announced an additional $31 million investments in community-based mental health supports for youth. It's why earlier this month, we announced an $80 million investment in school-based mental health services. That represents a 400% increase in investment when it compared to the former liberal government. It's why we increase investment for special education students. The highest investment in spec ed and mental health in Ontario history. And I want to be clear, learning continues in Ontario. We built up an online learning system with over 200,000 more laptops and tablets and thousands of internet connections along with training for educators in the high standards of live Zoom style learning. Class is in session across the province and the full support of our schools remain available to your children, from guidance counselors, to educators, EAs and teacher librarians. Minister Lecce: (10:48) We know that learning and attendance gaps have emerged due to COVID-19, and it's why we announced a plan to support learning recovery and renewal with over $85 million that targets reading and math supports, and student re-engagement to bridge those gaps. It includes the largest summer learning program in Ontario history and includes access to tutors, including math educators for children in both English and in French. It includes more mental health supports that this summer will allow students to access support throughout the summer, not just throughout the school year. We're focused on a safe and stable September to ensure that we're getting all students who want to vaccine age 12 and up both doses ahead of September. We're announcing that all education childcare staff will receive their second dose ahead of September, if not already expedited through their age cohort or other eligibility. Minister Lecce: (11:40) We've announced a two billion increase in funding, including $1.6 billion in COVID-19 resources to protect our schools this September. We're increasing investment in mental health and with vaccine rates rising, we are working to deliver a more normal September with extracurricular, sports, phys ed and clubs. We have worked as a government over the past weeks to ensure that school boards can create the in-person graduation ceremonies to honor the achievement of students graduating from kindergarten all the way to grade 12. With the stay-at-home order now lifting today as we approach step one of the roadmap to reopening, school boards can create safe outdoor graduation ceremonies working with their local medical officers of health. I want to take this opportunity to thank parents in Ontario for wearing many hats and for their commitment to the safety of their kids. Minister Lecce: (12:31) I want to sincerely thank our education partners and our school boards, administrators, our educators and the school staff for their tireless work throughout this school year. And to Ontario students, we look forward to a two dose summer and September with a sense of optimism because our focus will continue to be delivering a stable, normal, safe return to in-class learning in September. We will continue to do everything we can to protect the summer, September and the safety of families. Thank you. Speaker 1: (13:03) We'll go to the phone line for questions. First question, please. We're ready for the first question. We're just having some technical difficulties. Randy: (13:44) Sorry about that. I didn't hear you call my name. Hi, premier? Doug Ford: (13:49) Hi. Randy: (13:49) I'm wondering, the key to all of this seems to be vaccination. Are vaccinations going to be mandatory for anyone old enough to receive one when they go back to school this year? And if not, why not when you consider that things like measles vaccinations are mandatory? Doug Ford: (14:13) Well, we can't force anyone to go get a vaccination, Randy, and we encourage them. We want them to get vaccinated, we want the students as many as possible to get vaccinated, we want the teachers to get vaccinated as many as possible. We want them to get the second dose to make it safer to go back in September. It's proven that it works. You look at our long-term care homes, you look at the cases coming down, you look at the ICU numbers coming down. So it's going in a positive trend because the vaccinations. They work, I encourage people to take them. Do I believe in forcing anyone to take them? No, I don't, but I'm strongly encouraging everyone to take a vaccine. Speaker 1: (14:56) Follow-up. Randy: (14:58) Okay. And as far as going into stage one of the reopening earlier, are you talking about a couple of days early, a week early? Do you have any sort of timeframe in mind or is it possible to know that at this point? Doug Ford: (15:12) Well, we put it forward to Dr. Williams and the health table, and we're waiting for a response from Dr. Williams, and we'll listen to Dr. Williams moving forward. Right now, we're at the 14th. Sure, would myself, everyone love to see it based on the numbers going down, ICUs going down, positivity rates going down. Sure, everyone wants it to open up earlier. Again, I'm going to rely on Dr. Williams to give us the green light in the health table before we do that. Speaker 1: (15:43) Next question. Speaker 2: (15:45) Your next question comes from Cynthia Mulligan with City News. Please go ahead. Doug Ford: (15:49) Hi, Cynthia? Cynthia M.: (15:50) Hi, premier. Are you choosing the economy over school? So is that why you're keeping schools closed? Because ideally you would have to have a gap between the schools opening, wait a couple of weeks to see what happens and then start phase one. So are you choosing the economy over school? Doug Ford: (16:12) No, not at all, Cynthia. What I'm choosing is avoiding two million kids going indoors for eight hours a day for a two week or a three week period. And we want to get everyone vaccinated. Right now, we don't have enough kids vaccinated, we don't have enough teachers vaccinated, not to mention the second vaccination. And do we want the kids to go to summer camps? Yeah. Day camps? 100%. Do we want them to go be able to see their friends, get to stage one? 100%, but all I've heard from the docs, and we've all heard the same thing, indoors, bad, outdoors, good. Indoors, bad, outdoors, good, and we're going to put two million kids? Dr. Brown has already said we're going to see an increase as high as 11%. Look, that could be thousands of cases. We also know because of lack border controls, we've seen the B1617 variant come in and has increased by 600% over the last two weeks. Doug Ford: (17:16) And as Dr. Lowe mentioned today, that's going to be one of the dominant variants in the Peel region in a month. This gives me nightmares of back in stage two, exactly where we were with the UK variant with loose border restrictions. And the thing that's frustrating to myself and a lot of the premiers, this could have been avoided. We have to make the tough decisions because the federal government refuses, absolutely refuses to tighten up the borders. 134,000 people went across our land borders in one week last week and that's where we saw the jump. And just the land borders alone that we caught was over 400- Doug Ford: (18:02) ... that we caught was over 400 cases. So, we need to tighten up the borders and we need to get to stage one and have the kids have a great summer and get ready for September. Speaker 3: (18:13) Follow-up? Speaker 4: (18:17) Premier, are you ignoring that schools have not been safe? I mean, your government has been insisting steadfastly throughout the entire pandemic that schools were safe, that there was enough ventilation and that your government was doing everything that was necessary. Are you now acknowledging that not enough has been done and that schools have been a source of spread? Doug Ford: (18:36) No, not at all. Matter of fact, I think minister Lecce has done an incredible job, as I've heard. It's world-renowned, the rollout that we had with education and what has changed? We have the Indian variant, which is deadly, better known B-167 variant, known as the Indian variant. That's in play right now. And, what's in play that we didn't have before, we need the kids vaccinated. We need the teachers vaccinated as quickly as possible, and we're doing that throughout the summer. So, that that's the difference right there. Speaker 3: (19:10) Next question. Speaker 5: (19:13) Your next question comes from Kris Rushowy with the Toronto Star. Please go ahead. Doug Ford: (19:17) Hi, Kris. Kristin Rushowy: (19:18) Thank you. Thanks for taking my questions. Doug Ford: (19:20) Thank you. Kristin Rushowy: (19:20) Premier Ford, you asked for a consensus. I mean, you asked teachers. You asked your science people. You've got regional offices of health on board. I mean, you got your consensus, but you decided to do the opposite of what they recommended and why bother asking for their opinion if you were only going to ignore it? Doug Ford: (19:36) Well, there wasn't a consensus. They didn't answer the questions. They answered one question. Yeah. Let's put the kids back in school. What they refused to answer is how many cases? I got to give Dr. Brown credit. He was one of the few that went out there earlier on and said it's going to increase the cases by 11%. That's going to increase the cases by thousands. We know the Indian variant is here. It's taken hold, and I think it would be irresponsible to put 2 million kids in the classroom for eight hours a day, and we know it's going to spread. Then they're going to bring it home. They're going to give it to their parents. They're going to give it to family members. They're going to give it to their grandparents, and here we go again, back to stage two. We need to get more students vaccinated. We need the teachers vaccinated as quickly as possible to make it safe. Speaker 3: (20:26) Follow-up? Kristin Rushowy: (20:29) Thank you. The other issue I wanted to ask about is the fact that Ontario students have now been out of class more than any others in the country. So, we're now at about 23 weeks and counting since the pandemic began. I'm sure, now we're going to be the only province where all the kids are not in school. I mean, you've often said that Ontario does better than other jurisdictions, and that education minister has said schools are safe. So, why is it that other provinces can reopen schools, but Ontario can't? Doug Ford: (20:54) Well, we're, we're really when it comes to all the different provinces, there's no comparison to any province in the entire country like Ontario. We're 15 million people. The closest is Quebec at 8.5 million, but all the rest are one quarter of our size and probably one 10th our size. They don't have 134,000 people, 134,000 people crossing their land borders. They don't have 30, 40, 50,000 flights coming in to the largest airport in Pearson. They don't have Buffalo Airport as their second international border, that thousands of people are flying into Buffalo, taking a taxi, walking across the border, which is unheard of. Again, I implore the federal government that tighten up the borders. So, we're dealing with sheer numbers, sheer size, and there is real, no good comparison anywhere in the country. All I know is, I don't want to chance. I don't want to risk the health of our kids and cutting off their summer. Doug Ford: (21:56) Just think, if these variants, which they're here and they start taking hold and we stick all the kids indoors, we've lost the summer. That would be a disaster. Right now, we're on a great path thanks to the frontline healthcare workers, everyone doing their jobs. Thanks to the people of Ontario, following the guidelines. That's the reason the numbers are dropping right across the board. So, it's really positive. If we can just stick to the framework, move forward cautiously as we have, and which every medical advisor in the province agrees, this is a good framework and we're moving very cautiously. I don't want to roll back to the end of February and March. I don't want to go through that again, and neither does anyone else. So, folks, let's just stick to the framework. We will get there. We will have a fabulous end of June. We'll have a fabulous July and August, but we have to stick with the program. Speaker 3: (22:55) Next question. Speaker 5: (22:58) Your next question comes from Matt Bingley with Global News. Please go ahead. Doug Ford: (23:02) Hi, Matt. Matt Bingley: (23:03) Hi Premier. When you say that you have to stick to the program and to the framework, should people take from that, that there's no way that we will enter stage one before the 14th? Or, if that's not the case, then will you give more certainty to people when they can actually expect an answer on it? Because, as parents will know, they had to wait days for this one. Doug Ford: (23:28) Matt, I appreciate your questions. So, let's differentiate from framework and date. As we see the numbers come down and they're dropping rapidly, we've put forward to Dr. Williams and the medical team, that option about opening up earlier based on a cautious approach, based on the numbers coming down. The framework won't won't change. So, what you're allowed to do will not change. That will stay consistent, but we want to get the stage one. Everyone wants to get to stage one. Then, three weeks after that, then we get to go to stage two. If we were able to open up a few days later, based on Dr. Williams' advice, then we get to go to stage two before July 1st. I think that would be fabulous, based on the numbers, based on being cautious. Doug Ford: (24:13) There's no one out there that wants this province to open up sooner than I do, but I want to do it cautiously. I want to do it through the guidelines and, and through Dr. Williams. I'll pass this over to the Minister of Health, which by the way, has just done an incredible job, along with the Minister of Education, just, shoulder to shoulder with us, right from day one. So, I'll pass it over to Minister Elliott. Christine Elliott: (24:43) Well, thank you for the question. We are seeing the numbers going down. The vaccination rates are good, but of course we have to look at the number of new cases coming into our hospitals, the number people in intensive care, the R factor, how quickly the numbers are reproducing and infecting new people and public health capacity as well. So, there's a range of factors that need to be taken into consideration. We are reviewing them daily, and as soon as we hit the levels that Dr. Williams and the team consider are safe, then we will be able to move into stage one. Speaker 3: (25:18) Follow-up Matt Bingley: (25:20) Yeah, just on schools, I'm just wondering, Minister Lecce was speaking a little bit about preparations over the summer. But I'm just wondering, how can you guarantee that the students who have been so disrupted this year will not be left behind and that they actually are at the level that they need to next year? What about daycare? If schools can't open, how can they? Doug Ford: (25:46) I'll pass this over to minister Lecce. Stephen Lecce: (25:51) Yeah. Thank you for the question. First off, we have put in place, well ahead of today's decision, a plan specifically targeting learning gaps for English, for areas of reading and math, where we've seen regression, given the challenges and the disruptions of the pandemic. To be fair, that's a phenomenon. That's a reality young people are facing around the world, but we have a plan in this province. $85 million targeting those learning gaps to help bridge them. We've also put in place the largest summer learning program. We've expanded access to tutoring for subjects, including mathematics, where teachers would lead tutoring instruction in English and French for more students in the province. We've done all of that, recognizing that we have work to do to support these kids, both from a mental health perspective and from a learning perspective. Stephen Lecce: (26:38) On the mental health side, it was literally a day ago where the Ministry of Health announced a $31 million net increase in youth- related community supports for kids. I announced some weeks ago, an $80 million investment in schools to allow for more psychiatrists and psychotherapists and social workers, right in our schools to support our kids. That's a 400% net increase in mental health support, and our government knows how important- Stephen Lecce: (27:03) .... that increase in mental health supports, and our government knows how important it is, especially when it comes to September. Now in the context of how do we ensure September is more stable and better for kids, and the fact is today 25% of youth 12 and up have a vaccine. We're going to get that rate much higher, we're working hard to encourage them to be vaccinated. As you know, we have a plan and today we've confirmed again, every student in Ontario who wants a vaccine, every educator in Ontario who wants a vaccine will have received two doses ahead of September, that is a material change that we didn't have a year ago. We didn't have vaccines one year ago, but we do today. That gives us a great sense of promise that that will help make those schools and really the community safer because we know our schools have been safe in this province. Stephen Lecce: (27:47) In this province we have one of the lowest rates of case rates for youth in Canada under 20. I mean, that's not in spite of our plan, it's because we've invested and followed best expert advice. And we're going to do that, we've been consulting with the chief medical officer of health and all medical officers of health on September, and our aim is to make it more normal, where kids could have access to clubs, as well as extracurriculars and gym, as well as sports. All of these things make a difference, they were denied those experiences in the country this past year, and we want to work very hard to make sure we could restore them for the benefit of children in September. Speaker 6: (28:28) Last question. Speaker 7: (28:30) Your final question comes from Caroline Alphonso with the Globe and Mail. Please go ahead. Doug Ford: (28:36) Hi, Caroline. Caroline Alphonso: (28:36) Hello, Premier. Thanks for taking my question. Doug Ford: (28:39) Thank you. Caroline Alphonso: (28:39) Premier, you had said that kids are a priority. You've also said that schools are safe. In fact, Minister Lecce said earlier this week that schools are safe. So did you mislead the public? Are those statements inaccurate? Doug Ford: (28:55) No, not at all. The difference is, especially over the last month we see the variants coming in and we saw the cases climb. Obviously, there was a reason why Public health shut down the schools, they were concerned, I was concerned. And the difference is now we have the variant, the B.1.617 variant taking hold. And on a positive note, we're able to get the kids vaccinated now moving forward and get the teachers vaccinated. That's our biggest concern to make sure the kids are safe. And I'll go back to the same situation that we've been hearing for months, indoors aren't safe, outdoors are safe. So I just don't want to risk it. I don't want to risk the kid's summer. They're looking forward to this summer, and that's where we're at right now. My heart breaks for them, but it would even break even twice as much if we said the summer's canceled, there's no activities, no sports teams, no nothing. Speaker 6: (29:58) Follow up? Caroline Alphonso: (30:01) Just to follow up on my colleague, [Chris Reshobe's 00:30:03] question, all other provinces have been able to keep their schools open. They're all dealing with the pandemic as well, so what gives it Ontario? Why can't your government keep schools open? Doug Ford: (30:16) Well, there's no other province and a good question, but I'll repeat what I said, there's no other province that has two million students. There's no other province that has 15 million people. There's no other province that has the largest international airport with weak border controls at our land borders of 134,000 people coming across our borders, walking across. No other province has that, and no other province has larger cases of the Indian variant coming in then than we do. And again, it just boggles my mind why we aren't doing anything. The federal government is just twiddling their thumbs right now. I don't understand why they aren't tightening things up. Why they have 88,000 people that are exempt, that get a pass. There's rules for all of us, and then there's an exemption for 88,000 other people, who are they? I don't get it. So that's the concern right now. Speaker 6: (31:17) Thanks everyone. Doug Ford: (31:18) I just want to tell one last story before we finish. So I get a letter dropped off at my house, I got a lot of letters dropped off my house, and I read it and it's from a young gentleman named Arthur. And they lived a few blocks away, and real passionate. This is what kills me, I'd rather get drilled down by the reporters than sit and talk to these kids because it rips your heart out when you talk to them. So I took it upon myself to hop in my pickup, I drove over to the house and I didn't tell him I was coming. And he goes to a French school, and it was all written in French, the mother translated it into English on the other side for me. So I went over and I knocked on the door and this little guy comes out and I said, "Are you Arthur?" And he said, "No, I'm Marcus." I said, "Is your mom home?" And he said, "No, they're out in the back having dinner, come with me." He was great, he was like a little mother, "follow..." Doug Ford: (32:14) He put this mask on, I had my mask on. And so we went in the backyard, the nicest family you could ever, ever meet. And it was so difficult. So I met Arthur, and I'll tell you he's going to be the future premier. I sat and I asked him, I said, "Arthur, this is a situation. I'm going to bring it to cabinet..." I was very upfront with him, "But I'm really concerned about putting all the kids in the classroom. If there was a choice, do you want to go to back to class or do you want to..." I said, "Are you going to camp?" He goes, "Yeah, I'm going to camp." I said, "Well, I'm just concerned about that, which one would you want?" He goes, "Well, I want to go back to class." Doug Ford: (32:53) So after going back and forth, back and forth, he was a tough, by the way, I got to get him into some of the negotiations, but at the end he said, "I'd be happy if we had a graduation day." And that's for all grades, not just grade eight and 12, and get to see his friends and then he gets to go to camp and he has a great summer. So what a great young man he is, and the family was just absolutely incredible. I'm very grateful that I met him last night. And if I could sit there and go to every single family and explain the situation we're in, I think they'd understand. Doug Ford: (33:33) I do not want to risk the summer. I do not want to risk stage one. Folks, we are doing so well, so well as a province and all thanks to each and every one of you, thanks to the frontline healthcare workers, you're all absolute champions. We need to stick with a framework. We need to move forward. Dr. Williams will get back to us if we can reopen earlier, but let's not waiver, let's keep moving forward. And the kids are going to have a fabulous summer, as long as we keep moving in the right direction. Thank you and God bless each and every one of you. Thank you. Thank you.