"It is just not the time to be doing anything that puts our kids in jeopardy," advised Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli on the subject of kids going door-to-door collecting candy on Halloween this year.
In a Canadian Press report from Thursday, Premier Doug Ford said children moving around neighbourhoods for Halloween trick-or-treating makes him "nervous," a sentiment Fedeli said he "absolutely," agrees with.
"This is an unusual year. Everybody's going to look back years from now and think of their own particular story from 2020," said Fedeli at a news conference this morning.
Ford has said his preference is for parents to keep kids at home for Halloween and he has Fedeli's endorsement.
"The numbers in Ontario are moving," observed Fedeli, "and we want to make sure we are flattening the curve. We've got to do everything we can to discourage large gatherings or to discourage things that aren't absolutely necessary."
Fedeli added he is also in favour of cancelling events such as Christmas parades, a move the City of North Bay made yesterday. The annual Halloween open house for families held at the fire station was also officially nixed.
"Going to work," said Fedeli, "is going to put food on people's plates. That's important for our economy."
Fedeli, standing on the set of a local film production, pointed to the economic activity generated by the film industry and to the work being strictly monitored and held to high health and safety standards as examples of "encouraged" practices.
"We've seen a change here, in North Bay and Parry Sound — there are new cases again, said Fedeli. "We cannot let our guard down. We just simply cannot do that. We must be diligent. We're a long way away from beating this yet."
As far as Halloween, Fedeli added, "Sadly, we're going to have to miss it."
