Toronto sets January date for city workers to return to the office, amid rising COVID-19 cases, Omicron uncertainty, and the ongoing Ford debacle
When Toronto set January as its target date for city workers to return to the office, many residents worried, but not entirely sure what to expect. The city was set to announce the decision on Monday, April 20th at 3:30pm, marking the return of essential workers to their desks “as soon as possible,” says Toronto mayor John Tory. But then another bombshell: the City of Toronto had decided to call off a meeting with staff to discuss the virus’s growing impact on the city.
“There really is no time to waste, but we can’t do what we always do, which is to delay our decision,” Tory said on Monday morning, before that decision was made. “We have to do what we thought would be very hard, but now I think we are actually able to make the decision, because we have to.” Tory also said that he had not heard about “rumours” that the council was going to change the date that essential workers were returning to the office on their own. “No such decision was made by council,” says Tory. Instead, the city had decided to cancel staff meetings. “The best case scenario would be to tell people to go home and rest. But in reality, there’s a huge difference between that and what we want to be doing.”
Tory said that staff would now be meeting Monday evening to talk about the impact of COVID-19 and that he hoped to get back to work as soon as possible in the new year. For people on the frontlines, their work and life will now be put on hold for two months. “That’s a big one,” says TPS member and city councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam. “It’s hard because you have to take care of your kids at this time of the year, because of school and when you do come back, it’s your job. So it
