MPP Fedeli reflects on first days of COVID-19, future plans to deal with pandemic

Vic Fedeli, MPP for Nipissing, said when the first case of COVID-19 was reported at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference in March, the pandemic became real to him.  

"There were 25,000 people there," Fedeli said. "So I had our people in my office checked, everybody who went near that person, that type of thing."

"I went to the Medical Officer of Health. I said, 'look, should I be tested?'" 

Fedeli said he stepped aside when it became apparent there were others who needed the testing more urgently. Since then, though, Fedeli said he's been tested twice for the virus, and is due back for another.

"But, you know, I don't have any symptoms," he said. "But [PDAC] was like a light bulb went on. Oh wow. Something separate. This is not the big pandemic from Italy and the UK that we were reading about. This is Sudbury."

Once the pandemic hit, and the lockdown became imminent, Fedeli said he was part of a select group tasked by the provincial government with developing a list of essential services that should remain open during any lockdown. 

"You need three things," Fedeli said. "You need food, you need water, and you need a roof over your head. So basically anything that could somehow be related to those went on one list and anything that truly was not related to those went on a list of no-brainers, these are going to have to be shut down."

He said it was a complicated set of decisions the committee made – Fedeli even now won't name the other people participating – but public health was the determining factor, with the Chief Medical Officer of Health being in constant communication. 

That included keeping northern Ontario mines open, a sector neighbouring Quebec shut down. 

We'll never see anything like this again in our careers- Vic Fedeli

"We knew that those minerals are needed in our supply chain or we're not going to have a supply chain for goods," Fedeli said. "And that will bring your whole economy, your whole society down."

"And so Ontario is the leader in these things. We need to be the leader," he added. "We did not shut down manufacturing. The auto plants decided on their own to shut down, mostly because the U.S. supply chain was shutting down."

In his role as Trade Minister, Fedeli said he also ended up working long hours to make sure the economy didn't grind to a halt.

"It was very, very connected," he said. "We were on the phone worldwide. We started our calls in Asia very, very early in the morning and we worked our way across Europe, across Canada and into my office in California late at night."

Fedeli also said it was a tiring job, and also "nuanced" considering the political challenges facing each country.

"This is a horrible thing to say. But, you know, there were a lot of deaths. And horrible sicknesses and illnesses for people, but from a business perspective, we'll never see anything like this again in our career."

"This was a fascinating operation to not only witness, but to be a very active part of day to day lives," he said.

As for the current increase in COVID-19 cases across Ontario, Fedeli said the numbers "raise some concern," and he isn't ruling out further lockdowns, or returning to Phase 2 if the numbers continue to climb.

"Protecting the health and well-being of families in Ontario, that's going to be our top priority," he said.

"We are taking a pause right now for four weeks. Two of those 14-day cycles. but we'll always look at advice from our local medical officers of health, as well as the chief medical officer of health as we make those decisions about any changes and openings, or closings."

"But every option is on the table," he said. "I have to tell you that. Every option is on the table."