Ontario reopening plan 2021

View quoted message Omg it edited the emails out ffs 🤦🏽‍♀️ if you just Google premier of Ontario email and Christine Elliott email they’ll pop up!

View quoted message Absofreakinglutely LOL

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And then just good local MP’s in your area and you’ll find them all listed on a government page that pops up. I fired off some to every single one in Niagara lol I didn’t hold back! I never got a single reply. But A for effort! Lol

View quoted message That’s actually an amazing email. I too have been ended since November 2018, I’m so tired and ready to give up. Can you share the emails you so I can also send an email?

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This was my one of many emails :

Hello,
My name is Kimberlee Ciupa, and I am reaching out to you regarding the reopening of the province, and am asking you to once again please reconsider the restrictions you have put in place on the wedding industry.

As mentioned in my previous emails, I am what they call a “COVID bride” and have been engaged since December 2018. We have been forced to postpone our wedding 4 times with our date now being July 24th 2021. We have an outdoor location, and a guest list of 100 people where 74 have now been vaccinated with one dose. We have kindly asked and discussed the vaccination process with our guests, some of which received the vaccine in order to safely attend our wedding. With these new restrictions, you have somehow deemed it unsafe to gather outside with no more than 25 guests.

My fiancé and I made the drive down to Niagara Falls yesterday on the Sunday of the long weekend only to see LARGE gatherings taking place. Walkways were jam packed, grassy areas were over run with large family’s having picnics and barbecues, unmasked and not socially distanced. How is this okay, but to have a wedding of 100 mostly vaccinated people outdoors not okay? It is okay to travel to Costco or Walmart and surround ourselves with strangers, but you have deemed it unsafe for 100 people to socially distance at an outdoor wedding reception. You have done nothing but target the wedding industry from the very beginning and it’s extremely unfair.

My venue, Club Roma in St. Catharines, has a large outdoor pavilion where my wedding would be held. The pavilion fits 400 people. There is plenty of room to distance a group of 100. I would like to reiterate- 74 OUT OF 100 OF THE GUESTS HAVE BEEN VACCINATED. Can you please explain to me the risk? How is this a greater risk than Walmart, Costco, or Niagara Falls on a long weekend? Private dwellings, I am more understanding. But a staffed venue ensures proper safety protocols are being followed and that should be enough for reconsideration.

I have to say, it makes no sense to move away from a framework where 100 people were allowed at a reception last year when no one was vaccinated, to a framework that more than 25 are not allowed even though 60% of Ontario has received a dose. I understand the variants are a concern, but again, with majority of my guest list vaccinated, where is the risk?

I strongly ask you to reconsider these outrageous restrictions, and adjust them to what makes sense. Because these current restrictions DO NOT MAKE SENSE. If you believe they do, I politely ask you to please explain them to me. Because again, I do not see or understand the risk associated with an outdoor wedding reception where guests are vaccinated, masked, and socially distanced.

Respectfully,

Kimberlee Ciupa

View quoted message I spent all weekend emailing Doug Ford, Christine Elliott, and all local MPP’s with these exact points + more. Numerous emails. They need to make this make sense. This is such a target to the wedding industry that employs SO many people. It’s so wrong.

View quoted message 10000% it is insane. I don’t know why the event industry is not speaking up more about this. It is not protecting anyone.

View quoted message This post is perfection!! All my thoughts exactly - glad I’m not the only one lol. It makes absolutely no sense!! I really hope phase 2 allows for larger outdoor receptions in a venue; why would I be allowed 25 ppl in my small backyard and also 25 ppl in a venue that can hold over 250 outside ?! So frustrating

We were also supposed to get married August 1, 2020 and have rescheduled multiple times, even being moved to a new venue because our original one closed. Are current date is Aug 1st of this year and our new venue (within the same company) doesn’t have an outdoor option and they’ve said they do not have any instructions on how many people may be allowed if stage 3 does happen by Aug 1st. How can we plan for something ahead of time and not know any of the rules? We have $22,000 out there in deposits on various things including venue and I’ve never felt so stuck. If we cancel we lose money but how longer can this go on. At the one wedding show I went to someone was selling wedding insurance and I thought why would anyone want that....if only! lol

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I agree completely, how the wedding and catering industries are not speaking up on this makes no sense to me.

A few thoughts:

1. How can they allow 10 people indoors for ceremonies in "Lockdown" and also only 10 people indoors for ceremonies in phase 1?

2. How can they allow patio dining at tables of 4 in phase 1 but not allow outdoor receptions with 4 person tables spaced out and managed/monitored by professional caterers and venue owners?

3. How could they allow outdoor receptions of 50/100 last summer with 0 vaccination coverage and next to nothing this year?

4. Why would they release NO details for outdoor wedding receptions and vague details on outdoor wedding ceremonies? Drop the bomb they did last week and then wait an entire week to provide more details?

Answer: incompetency of the ford government

My partner and I were originally supposed to get married on Aug 15, 2020. Now are aiming for June 13, 2021 however we will wait for Phase 1 to start which looks to be latest June 14th...

The 10 person outdoor gathering limits does not apply to outdoor wedding receptions as they are in licensed venues with caterers/professionals who are responsible for abiding my health guidelines.

I called the Ontario "stop the spread" covid business hotline and it sounds like more details are coming this week. They couldn't answer any of my questions. Basically you may have a shot in hell at 25 people or more outdoor reception, outdoor ceremony would be more pending how large the space is but indoor is not going to go ahead it seems...

Either way, Ontario is the worst place in Canada to be for weddings this summer. They are making it up as they go...

View quoted message Https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/200364


On here! This is for stage 3.

View quoted message Where did you find the numbers 50 and 100? Are they not from the previous colour zones?

View quoted message I’m on this date too but I found something on Ontario’s site that says the 25 is for private dwellings. I’m not certain at a venue it just says to follow physical distancing. Stage 3 says specifically 50 inside or 100 outside.

View quoted message If fingers crossed we start step 1 June 4th which is 2 weeks after hitting the vaccination target which is supposed to happen this weekend, we could be in step 2 July 18th best case scenario. Meaning you can have a 25 outdoor reception which still sucks tbh. You’re probably better off doing it at home in your backyard if you’re able to or at an Airbnb and bend the rules a little 🤷🏻‍♀️


We just have to pray and hope Ford does what he always does which is scrapping the plans last minute and reopening everything at once end of June which low key I won’t even be surprised

View quoted message Yep I couldn’t agree more! I was originally August 1st 2020 and have postponed 4 times now and am July 24th now but I have little hope. I have so much regret over not doing it last year but out of my control now. But it’s so unfair. They moved us from a colour tiered system where even in red we could have 100, to now a number system where even with 70% of the population vaccinated with one dose we can still only have 25 in stage 2. My guest list was 100 people, and 72 out of the 100 have received one dose. 15 have had both. It’s so unfair.

View quoted message I feel for couples who postponed from 2020 thinking summer 2021 would’ve been better. In fact they were better off getting married last summer with the larger capacity limit.


The wedding industry needs to put pressure on the government to provide more clear and direct communication regarding receptions. What does this government have against weddings I do not understand. They have had venues closed and restricted since November last year and they now find out they cannot operate during peak wedding season?
Saskatchewan will be allowing 150 outdoors sometimes mid June to gather but in Ontario we cannot even have more than 10. In fact, modelling suggests we are going to hit all vaccination targets end of June for step 3 so what are we waiting for? And to top it off we did not get any indication of when and if we will see an end to step 3? Where’s step 4? Where is the end of restrictions and limits? Atleast Quebec could come outright and suggest by end of August.
If this is going to be an under promise over deliver situation that is a huge disappointment. We need a clear outline now so we know whether we should be going ahead, cancelling, modifying etc our plans. I’m supposed to get married end of August and I still do not know based on this plan what the gathering limit will be for indoors and outdoors.

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• I’ve been told that weddings fall under the gathering limit which makes zero sense. People can swim at a public pool, can go to wonderland in stage 2, but we can’t have a wedding outdoors socially distanced and masked with more than 25 people.
  

I’ve been told that weddings fall under the gathering limit which makes zero sense. People can swim at a public pool, can go to wonderland in stage 2, but we can’t have a wedding outdoors socially distanced and masked with more than 25 people.

Our wedding is August 8th, and we have no idea what to do again. It was already postponed last year when we had an international wedding planned. The plan released yesterday was incredibly vague for indoor weddings. Our venue doesn't have an outdoor reception option. We have thought about doing just the ceremony and cocktail hour and postponing the dinner and reception until dancing is allowed.


Even if we go through with it as is and hope for the best (because I truly cannot go through another year of planning a wedding...), do you guys think hair salons will even be allowed to open before then? We're not paying thousands for a photographer to capture my hubby looking like a bushman lol This is honestly so stressful and heartbreaking yet again. Starting to feel like that movie title, the Five Year Engagement.
Also, my mom thinks we should do a tiny backyard ceremony and postpone the venue until next year. If we do that, do I wear my wedding dress?? To me that ruins the reveal for the beautiful venue later. But, I've already had the dress for almost 2 years now and it's currently at the seamstress being fitted for my body now...

What I would like to know is does the reception fall under the “gathering” limit or the “event and meeting spaces” limit if it is being hosted through a licenced venue?


This plan is complete crap. It does not give brides any idea or clarity on what they can expect in each of the steps we still do not know where receptions fall.
They intentionally left step 3 vague because even they don’t know what the numbers will be. And they have not given us any details on when we can expect all restrictions to end and return to normalcy. All other countries have given a date of when to expect all restrictions to life. NYC first week of July no more restrictions no capacity limits etc and the UK June3 23rd. But in Ontario apparently even in August we will still have limits. Complete BS.

View quoted message I’m also expected to get married August 21, were are looking to postpone to next year as these new rules don’t explain or give any hope for normalcy. Can we dance? Does our venue have to shut down by 10pm? So many unknowns.

They're purposely keeping it vague cuz they don't know. Remember last fall when they released the colour code plan and Dr Williams couldn't tell you what a Grey Zone lockdown entails? This is exactly like that. It looks like they want to be able to open a wee bit (step 2.5?) vs fully upon depending on what suits their agenda at the moment.

It seems like they're keeping it relatively vague for indoor so they can re-assess as we get closer to that stage. We have a good idea of the trajectory of cases/hospitalizations/deaths based on other places like the UK, but it's hard to say for sure what percentage of people will need to be vaccinated to reach herd immunity. Maybe they'll give more specific details though in the next couple of weeks?

Outdoor limit seems to be based solely on capacity limits though so if you're planning an outdoor wedding your venue can probably tell you what that number will be.

Edit: Oh I think I was just looking at ceremonies. Receptions are pretty vague too even for outdoor.