Letter to Premier Doug Ford Jan 14 2022
On April 3, 2020 I sent an email to Premier Doug Ford asking him to look into this. Today, I sent Premier Doug Ford another e-mail. But I don't hold out much hope of an answer. Here is the letter:
January 14, 2022
Subject: Fitness and Pool Amenities Closures
Dear Premier Ford: I am writing to you once again in the early months of January 2022 to plead with you, to ask your government, your science round table etc., to take a closer look at the above.
While not all condominiums are alike, we certainly all have many things in common. I am not asking for any special treatment or allowances and firmly believe that the closure of our fitness and pool amenities is not substantiated by science. Especially when you consider the same people also frequent shopping malls, big box stores and grocery stores.
On a comparative basis, how can one justify not allowing one, two or three people to use a safe semi-private gym or pool, when at the same time these same people face greater exposure to Covid 19 when they frequent crowded venues, with little or no crowd or access control and fewer safety measures.
As stated in my previous, letter to you dated April 13 2021, about 1.6 million Ontarians live in condominium settings, and I do believe we deserve more attention than has been given to this sector to this date.
At this very moment our fitness facility and pool are yet again closed and should not be. In my former letter I stated the reasons why this is so and that has not changed.
Being able to use a fitness amenity is not a luxury, for many people it is an absolute necessity, and I could easily identify 10 to 20 residents in our building who are unnecessarily suffering mentally and physically as a result of not being able to use these two amenities in particular.
As I write this letter it is minus 10 C, our most vulnerable residents cannot go outside to get their much needed 15 or 20 minutes of exercise. But they could, if they are double vaccinated, have reserved the sanitized amenity, go upstairs, as a single-family unit, and exercise on our elliptical, rowing machine or treadmill for 15, 20 minutes or a maximum of 45 minutes.
I know you and your government have a lot on your plate, but I do not think it would take that much extra time or effort to insert a section into the various and sundry Covid related Regulations the government has produced over the past few years to identify Condo Corporation use in a manner similar to how these Regulations identify and address the use of Libraries, Hotels, Real estate agencies, Conference centres and convention centres etc.
The latest version of Regulation O 263/20 dated January 3,2022 allows “athletes, coaches or officials training or competing to be a part of Team Canada at the next summer or winter Olympic Games or Paralympic Games, and they are permitted to train, compete, coach or officiate under the safety protocols put in place”. We should also be able to use our fitness and pool amenities under the stringent safety protocols we have had in place all along. While I fully support our Team Canada and Olympic Game athletes, we should not leave behind those amongst us who are recovering from leukemia, a brain injury, or mobility issues, who could benefit from much needed physical activity.
In my estimation what we're doing here is creating a situation for the future, which is going to be much worse than what we have now, as more people become ill from having been shut in. People are suffering mentally and physically and the price for that on an ongoing basis will be astronomical.
Based on the lack of response from my last letter I do not expect much from this letter as well.
Mr. Ford PROVE ME WRONG.
Regards,
Joe Gaetan