Coronavirus: Ford announces $1-billion COVID-19 Resilience Stream for infrastructure funding | FULL

Credit:Global News

Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Wednesday announced applications will be released for a new program: the COVID-19 Resilience Stream.

This is a federal-provincial “funding stream” that will make more than $1 billion available for municipalities, Indigenous communities, long-term care homes, day cares and schools, and other community projects, to further “critical” infrastructure projects, he said.

Also, when asked about the future re-opening of gyms in Ontario regions that have reverted to Stage 2 in coronavirus restrictions, Ford said “there’s no one that wants to open the economy more than I do.” The question for Ford came after GoodLife Fitness sent an email to members asking gym-goers to email their local Ontario MPPs as the industry faces “serious challenges as a result of the global pandemic.”

Ford added that “there’s no one pushing the health table more than I do,” and stated he’ll be collaborative with mayors in the four regions with tighter COVID-19 measures in the meantime.
This briefing comes as Ontario reported 834 new cases of coronavirus on Wednesday, bringing the provincial total to 72,885. Wednesday’s case count is a slight increase from Tuesday’s which saw 827 cases but lower than Monday’s at 851. Active cases in Ontario now stand at 7,474.

According to Wednesday’s provincial report, 299 new cases were recorded in Toronto, 186 in Peel Region, 121 in York Region, 76 in Ottawa and 26 in Durham Region. All other public health units in Ontario reported under 25 new cases.
minor tweaks