Doug Ford says Ontario's back-to-school plan is 'far ahead' of other provinces, amid 125 new cases

Premier Doug Ford again lauded the province's back-to-school plan Tuesday as the best in the country, as Ontario reported 125 new cases, the highest daily increase this month.

Ontario's strategy to bring students back into classrooms in a few weeks has been criticized by educators and parents, as there are concerns about class sizes, adequate air filtration and the efficacy of online learning, among other issues.

"I understand parents are nervous. I have four girls, I get it. We have the best plan in the country, end of story," said Ford at his daily COVID-19 news briefing in Scarborough, adding the province has consulted with SickKids Hospital, the Ministry of Health in preparation for the back-to-school plan.

The endorsement from Dr. David Williams, Ontario's chief medical officer of health, is proof their policies for the return of school are as safe as possible, he said. Ford said the province is "pulling out all the stops" with $25 million spent on cleaning and putting another $30 million towards hiring more staff. 

Requiring mandatory masks for Grade 4 and above is beyond what other provinces and territories are doing, Ford said. 

"We're so far ahead of the rest of the country it's staggering," he said

At the same news conference, Ford announced that his government is issuing requests for proposals for tunnelling work on the Scarborough Subway Extension. It's a project residents have waited for for three decades, he said. 

The premier also took a moment to praise Chrystia Freeland, now the new federal finance minister. Freeland was named in the new role on Tuesday, to take over from Toronto Centre MP Bill Morneau who stepped-down yesterday. 

"If there's one person I have confidence in, it's Chrystia Freeland," said Ford. "Shes' going to do a incredible job, she's a good friend and I can't wait to start working with her to move our projects forward."

New cases due to increases mostly in Windsor-Essex, Toronto and Peel

Ontario reported an additional 125 cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, the most on any single day since the end of July. 

In a series of tweets, Health Minister Christine Elliott acknowledged the slight uptick relative to recent days but attributed it to "localized increases" in a handful of public health units.

Windsor-Essex saw the most new cases, with 28. Toronto confirmed another 27, Peel had 17, Waterloo reported 12 and Ottawa eight. 

All of the figures used in this story are found in the Ministry of Health's daily update, which includes data from up until 4 p.m. the previous day. The number of cases for any particular region on a given day may differ from what is reported by the local public health unit, which often avoid lag times in the provincial system.

Ontario has now seen a total of 40,870 confirmed infections of the novel coronavirus since the outbreak began in late January. Of those, about 90.8 per cent are considered resolved. Another 90 were marked resolved in today's report.

There are currently some 951 confirmed, active cases provincewide. 

After three straight days of zero new deaths, Ontario's official COVID-19 death toll grew by four and now sits at 2,793. A CBC New count based on data from public health units, a measure that avoids lag times in the provincial reporting system, puts the real toll at 2,827 as of yesterday evening.

The province's network of about 30 labs processed 23,067 test samples since the last update and another 16,128 were added to the queue to be completed.

Eviction protest in Toronto

Dozens gathered in downtown Toronto Tuesday to protest the restart of evictions enforcement in the city.

Demonstrators blocked off a garage used by sheriffs at the 361 University Avenue courthouse in order to prevent them from leaving in their vehicles to enforce eviction orders.

The Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board began processing eviction applications again on August 4, after a provincial moratorium on the process was officially lifted.In July, the provincial government passed Bill 184, controversial piece of legislation that tenant advocacy groups have argued will make it easier for landlords to obtain eviction orders.

Opponents say it will harm Ontario's most vulnerable renters, while some landlords, on the other hand, say it doesn't go far enough to address their concerns about the resolution process for disagreements with tenants.

Infant hearing checks restart

Meanwhile, the government announced today it is restarting in-person infant hearing checks after the service was temporarily halted as part of the province's emergency COVID-19 measures. 

It says it will also commit $3.8 million to ensure that newborns who missed their check because of the shutdown will have the option of having one done. 

Infants usually receive their check before they are discharged from the hospital or, in some cases, in community locations.

"Supporting the health and well-being of newborns and their families is a priority," said Todd Smith, minister of children, community and social services said in a news release.