MacLeod promising review of Ottawa lockdown after two weeks

Lisa MacLeod on Ottawa Lockdown Minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries Lisa MacLeod discusses the conversations between Premier Ford and Mayor Watson

OTTAWA — Nepean MPP and provincial cabinet minister Lisa MacLeod says the lockdown situation in Ottawa will be reviewed after two weeks.

However, the minister for culture, tourism and sport also stressed that exempting Ottawa from the initial provincewide shutdown would have been a mistake.

On Monday, the Ontario government announced a provincewide lockdown beginning at 12:01 a.m. Dec. 26. It comes with strict measures on social gatherings and the closure of many non-essential businesses. For areas of the province to the south of Sudbury, including Ottawa, the lockdown is scheduled to last 28 days. Northern Ontario would be locked down for 14 days.

Mayor Jim Watson and Medical Officer of Health Dr. Vera Etches both said Monday afternoon that they disagree with a full 28-day lockdown in Ottawa, and are urging the province to reopen the city after 14 days.

Speaking on CTV Morning Live on Tuesday, MacLeod said she heard from Watson early Monday morning and relayed his frustration to Premier Doug Ford.

"I did ask, at the request of our mayor, if we could look at areas like Ottawa and other parts of eastern Ontario and review the cases over a two-week period and the premier agreed," MacLeod said. "We made a decision as a cabinet that we would continue to look at this. I think that was a positive win for the city of Ottawa and for our mayor."

The mayor's office also confirmed a review would take place, in a statement to CTV News on Tuesday.

"Both Premier Ford and Ministers MacLeod and (Merrilee) Fullerton conveyed to the Mayor their willingness to revisit near the end of 14 days," the statement from the mayor's office said.

Nevertheless, MacLeod said she supports the lockdown for at least the first two weeks.

"I think, as we go into holiday season, it would be imprudent to say we're an island and we're not going to be affected," she told host Leslie Roberts. "If we remained fully open—and Dr. Etches is aware of my concern of having gone from orange to possibly yellow—that over the holidays we'd see an increased spread and spike after Christmas and New Year's."

She also said keeping Ottawa open while surrounding areas are locked down would risk enticing travellers to visit.

"I don't think we’d have a Boxing Day or New Year's Eve celebration without people coming to our city had we remained open. And I don't think people coming from Quebec or Toronto would be coming here to socially distance and wear their masks, they would have been here to socialize and likely spread COVID-19," she said.

"The reality is I do support this. We've seen Ottawa hovering at around a 1.4 per cent positivity rate. We lost two people in Ottawa in the last two weeks to COVID-19, we have 19 people right now in hospital, and the modelling we've seen around the cabinet table is that, in the next 10 days, we could see over 300 people provincewide in ICU," MacLeod said. "We don't want to be in a position where we cancel surgeries or deny people that need other supports in our hospitals that level of care that they couldn't get in previous lockdowns."

Ottawa Public Health has reported eight COVID-19 deaths in the past 14 days.

No decision on Sens at CTC

The NHL announced on Sunday that it had reached a deal with the NHLPA to begin a shortened season on Jan. 13, with all Canadian teams in a temporary "North Division" due to border restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, the start of play would fall right in the middle of the Ontario lockdown for the two teams that call the province home.

MacLeod told CTV Morning Live that she has met with other sports ministers and the federal government, but no decision has been made as to whether the Ottawa Senators or the Toronto Maple Leafs will be able to play in their home arenas.

"No decision has been made; we're going to continue to meet weekly. Our high-performance and our professional athletes can continue to train in their own conditioning facilities provided that they uphold rigorous safety protocols and sanitation. At the moment, there is no return to play for any league in the entire province, regardless of if it's amateur or professional," MacLeod said.