After almost a year and a half, our Toronto business community is eager to come back stronger than ever and when we’re given the green light – We’re Ready Toronto!
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Toronto Region Board of Trade has brought together a team of Toronto’s business leaders to ensure everything is in place so when it’s safe to do so, businesses can start welcoming back employees and customers. This has taken significant planning to ensure large, medium and small enterprises have the leading-practice resources and tools they need, when they need them.
Watch as our Region’s leaders share critical information on what you can expect as the economy reopens.
Speaker 1: [00:01:00] Work from home started with a lot of questions. How long will this last? How do we adjust? [00:01:30] What will happen when it's time to go back? As a business owner, you've made sure your team has everything they need to succeed while away from the office. We're making sure you have everything you need to come back.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Toronto's leaders, top businesses, and decision-makers, have been working hard on a plan to bring you and your team back downtown. Our community-wide reopening [00:02:00] program will support your business so you can return safely and confidently. You're ready to adapt. You're ready to collaborate. We're ready, Toronto.
Dina Pugliese: [00:02:30] Good morning, everybody. Thank you all for tuning in to join us here at Toronto's Nathan Phillips Square, which is on their traditional territory of many indigenous nations; including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat people's.
I'm Dina Pugliese.
Sid Seixeiro: And my name is Sid Seixeiro.
Dina Pugliese: That's it, you're done?
Sid Seixeiro: Go ahead, you're doing great.
Dina Pugliese: Okay. We are the hosts of Breakfast Television. Speaking to you a little bit later than our usual time slot. We are so thrilled to be at this special announcement, [00:03:00] all about reopening Toronto's downtown.
Sid Seixeiro: That's right, Dina. Yes. For the past 15 months, Breakfast Television has been informing viewers on COVID case numbers, in-person restrictions, and city-wide closures. All of which is fundamental and important for Torontonians to know, obviously.
But today, today we are especially excited to be a part of this event to share amazing news and a good news story for our city.
Dina Pugliese: And, Sid, when we see good news, we're not just talking about the hair salons and the barbershops opening, we're talking [00:03:30] about Mayor Tory giving us the keys to the city.
Sid Seixeiro: That's not happening.
Dina Pugliese: Oh.
Sid Seixeiro: That's not happening.
Dina Pugliese: Okay. Well, as we know, Toronto has broken worldwide vaccination records. And the province, in step with public health officials, are lifting restrictions, allowing more and more spaces to finally reopen.
Sid Seixeiro: That's right, Dina. Of course, the city's been in a state of lockdown for some time. And offices, shops, and other businesses might need some help welcoming people back after all of this.
Fortunately, while most of us have been staying distant and waiting for that precious [00:04:00] vaccine appointment, the City and Toronto Region Board of Trade, as the representative for the business community, were hard at work making sure our city was ready for this exact moment. Today, I am elated to tell you they're ready to share those efforts with you.
Dina Pugliese: Yeah, they are. Without further ado, let's get right to it. We all want to see our colleagues in person, we want to return to our favorite shops and restaurants.
Sid Seixeiro: We're here.
Dina Pugliese: You're going to hit a patio soon. That feeling of excitement is shared by so many of us who live in, or commute to, Toronto, [00:04:30] as Sid says.
Sid Seixeiro: Exactly, Di. And it's outstanding to see so many businesses involved in this effort to reopen Toronto's downtown more fully. We want to acknowledge, in this moment, the Board of Trades partners, including the financial district business improvement area, and the Urban Land Institute, Toronto, and dozens more. You can see all the logos of all the involved partners right here and on the screen below.
Dina Pugliese: All right, let's do it. Shall we?
It is our pleasure to introduce our first speaker. He is known [00:05:00] as the Mayor with the ultimate man mane. He's got a wicked sense of humor. He happens to razzle and dazzle our audiences every Thursday morning on Breakfast Television and roast this guy. We're talking about Toronto Mayor, John Tory.
Here's Johnny, with the good hair.
John Tory: Well, Sid and Dina, and of course my friend and partner in this enterprise, Jan De Silva, who's been so much a leader [00:05:30] in this, good morning and welcome.
I should just say, with respect to that reference to the key to the city being awarded to Sid and Dina. Dina is definitely on the candidate's list. Sid, in his case, has a lot of work to do with respect to his non-support for the Toronto Maple Leafs. And we'll be watching that carefully to see if he can make the list of candidates going forward. But, at the moment, I'm doubtful.
I want to thank them for that introduction and for being very much a part of this. And thank everyone for joining us for this, really, first step forward today. There's lots of ground yet to be [00:06:00] covered. But we wanted people to know there were plans that had been being made for some time and that we're ready to roll those plans out when the moment comes.
We are now just one week into the second stage of the province's reopening plan. But the impact of that transition is being felt across the city. Not just in the salons and the personal service businesses, and the fact that we're now able to access outdoor dining; which many people are enjoying. But you can feel it. You can feel it. You can see it on the streets. There's that strong sense of optimism. That strong sense that we're beginning [00:06:30] on the path to returning to normal. And that is beginning to define this summer.
You can see the sidewalks and the streets that are coming back to life, downtown but also across the city. And this is the first of many encouraging steps to come. And our job is really to try and help that along and make sure that that happens in many different places, not just the personal service businesses or the sidewalks for that matter.
It is becoming more and more clear that Toronto, in a post-pandemic period, is going to [00:07:00] be different than the pre-pandemic Toronto. But that can be, and it will be, a good thing. It can be, and it will be, a good thing.
Overall, I think that we have maybe achieved, during this pandemic, a greater awareness for each other's space. That's something that's come from this. We have a deeper appreciation than ever for the vital role that essential workers play, whether it be people who work in healthcare, but also cashiers and retail workers and transportation workers and sanitation staff, and the role they play in our lives. We deeply appreciate [00:07:30] that, more so than we deeply appreciated before.
We know, in a moment of crisis, that what's really important is that we care for each other. And we've seen countless examples of that during the course of the pandemic. And learned from that, in terms of the context within which we can best support each other. We have a keener appreciation of how we can support people better who are marginalized. And those are people who were marginalized before the pandemic and who have been in that state of affairs during the pandemic. We've learned better [00:08:00] how to support them. And we know that when we're faced with these kinds of tough challenges, that we will, and we can, pull through.
That is because this city has the right fundamentals in huge quantity, starting with the right set of core underlying values. But we also have had, throughout, before the pandemic, during the pandemic, and we will have after, a huge quantity. We're blessed to have a huge quantity of the fundamentals.
So I want to thank Torontonians who have done their part, who've checked in on their neighbors, who've helped to make sure people had proper food [00:08:30] to eat, who've taken a special look to make sure that our elderly citizens were well looked after, who volunteered at a vaccine clinic, and done countless other acts of care during the course of the pandemic.
And that includes care that people took for themselves, and of themselves, by wearing a mask and by getting vaccinated. And I should say that while the numbers are encouraging, with respect to vaccinations we've seen more than 3.7 million doses put into people's arms, we still have some distance to go on that. And that is why, today, we're [00:09:00] going to tell you of some of the plans that we have to help reopen the city. But all of them won't necessarily take effect right away because we still have some distance to go in meeting the challenge of vaccination.
But, now, the city is definitely entering a new phase of the pandemic. One that comes with greater ability to move around, greater ability to interact with one another. And that's all thanks to our vaccine efforts throughout the city and all the people that made that happen, whether it's health partners, the City itself, all the volunteers and healthcare workers who've been so much a part of that.
And I know [00:09:30] that business owners are particularly excited about our ability to enter this new phase. And they're particularly excited about that because they know how vital they are to the livelihood, the success, the vitality, the vibrance, of our main streets and of our malls and of our underground, and places like that that really represent the heartbeat of this city day in and day out. And of course represent, in that way, the economic heartbeat of this country, because of the importance that Toronto had as to the wellbeing of the country.
Those very same people; those business people, their [00:10:00] staff members, their partners, their suppliers, they have been such patient people during this 15 months. They've been so innovative in finding ways to make sure they could keep themselves in business in unbelievably stressful circumstances. So pivoting to online, pivoting to take out and delivery in many cases, and just doing things differently to keep themselves on track for the period of time that is now coming upon us.
And I know, I know, and I know Jan De Silva knows, and we all know ... those of us [00:10:30] who've been working away at reopening plans ... that that came with incredible sacrifices for the enterprises themselves, but also for the staff members that make them go on a day-to-day basis; individual sacrifices and collective sacrifices made by businesses.
I've heard, as Jan and the other partners in this reopening enterprise have heard, about those sacrifices and about the struggles and the challenges faced by business and the impact the pandemic had on them. And we know that it has come at an extraordinary price, [00:11:00] a high price indeed, for many of those people. Many businesses have emptied out their savings. They've taken on debt. They've said goodbye to staff. And in some cases had to take even more extreme measures than those.
We've been working closely together, the Board of Trade, the City of Toronto, the Urban Land Institute, and the downtown Financial District BIA, to make sure that we could listen to those accounts and do whatever we could to help during the pandemic.
This was difficult, in that there were programs [00:11:30] that were beyond our ability to help. But we did manage to, I think, be an effective advocate, or effective advocates, to the other governments for help. And I will say, to give them their due, they came through for us with a lot of programs that made the difference between businesses being able to arrive at this day and still have a chance to get back on their feet and nod. And I want to thank them for that and commend them for that, and say that this was part of the listening exercise we did as well to make us more effective advocates to those governments.
[00:12:00] But, ultimately, when the time came for people to help workers and customers and so on, it was the businesses themselves that answered that call. And while we all waited out temporary restrictions and looked ahead, Toronto and the business community were the ones that were looking ahead the most.
And so I want you to know that, from day one of the pandemic, Toronto has never stood still, never stood still. We always had our sight lines on the future and how we would come to this period of time when we can start to open our doors and [00:12:30] have people back at work, where they want to be in many cases, and businesses back in business, where they most certainly want to be and need to be. And we know that our task was to do the work that was needed, in partnership with one another, to make sure that when those days came, as they're now coming, that we were ready to meet them.
So the City, and the Board of Trade, and dozens of partners, and many of those partners have been shown on your screen, including inputs from hundreds of experts, quite literally, in their field. The work that has been done ... led, I should say, by Jan De Silva and the Board of Trade ... [00:13:00] to put together comprehensive research that didn't just develop a plan out of thin air, but really looked at what was needed and what people thought was feasible and what could be done. And that that work has been done during that period of time.
And I am proud to say that, with the help of the teen Toronto vaccine effort, which has had the incredibly positive results so far, that I made reference to earlier, we're now at the point where we can share more of the work that has been done and what is going to help us to get on with the [00:13:30] necessity. It's not just a plan and it's not just a challenge, it's a necessity that we get at Toronto reopened in full.
And so today we're announcing the beginning of a campaign called We're Ready Toronto. And in a moment I will ask Jan De Silva, appropriately, as the leader of this entire exercise and as the president and CEO of our Regional Board of Trade, to speak more about what the campaign entails.
But I can tell you what it's about, more than anything else, is exactly what the titles suggests. It's about being ready. And I can confidently say, [00:14:00] that because of the work that's been done, we are going to be ready to help support the reopening, the full reopening of the city, starting with its downtown but being spread right across the entire city. And that day is going to come for that fuller reopening in a matter of weeks, not longer. It's about getting Toronto, and especially its business community, ready to welcome back workers and customers and visitors, when it is safe to do so. And that day is fast approaching.
Just as we did 15 months ago, we are asking businesses [00:14:30] to answer the call. We ask them to answer the call of the sacrifices and they did. I'm sure regretfully, in many cases. But they did. And now it's a call to make sure that we can reopen, but at the same time keep people safe, so that we don't ever regress back into another lockdown for this kind of health reason.
And we believe that, this time, businesses can play a much more active role. Rather than staying closed, we're looking to businesses to adopt practices, together with a reopening, a reopening and the calling of people back to work, to adopt practices [00:15:00] that keep people safe and healthy and make sure that COVID-19 is kept at bay. As well, we're hoping that they can be vigilant allies with us in monitoring cases and monitoring health outcomes that happen through the city in the months to come.
Last month's announcement about the City and the Board delivering free COVID screening kits to Toronto small and medium-sized businesses is one. It's a good example of one in the many ways in which we can be of support, and be of help is part of this process of safely reopening and how we [00:15:30] plan on continuing to support, in many other ways, businesses as they reopen.
As for the other pieces, they have been put together by the Board, with the Urban Land Institute, with the Financial District BIA, and with many, many other partners, including private sector partners that have stepped up to help us put these plans together. And we, at the City, are going to do our part. With our principle task being to make sure the transit system is safe, and that we can restore and build up confidence in the transit system as the way that people get to and from. [00:16:00] Because, in the end, many, many people, thankfully, for the sake of the environment and other things, use the public transit system to get to and from. And we need to make sure that they feel safe and that they in fact are safe. And we're hard at work on that task.
It is important to know that I will not consider this business reopening work complete until businesses are able to return, all of them. And that includes the visitor economy, if I can call it that. The hospitality industry, the hotels, people that rely on activity taking place in the downtown core, but [00:16:30] also on visitors coming to our city.
And so it is very important that the work of normalizing our borders also continue. And that we don't just see an announcement once in a while, but we see a continuous normalization of those arrangements at the borders. So that, as safe to do so, we can see visitors begin to return to our city, to do business here and just to visit here and be part of the tourism economy.
I will also say it is past time, it is past time for the province to come forward with the guidelines that a lot of these businesses need in order to [00:17:00] reopen. In many cases, they don't know, even weeks from now, what is allowed of them and what is expected of them in the context of their being able to reopen safely, but get back in business. And that includes a lot of venues where things happen that are part of the recreational and cultural life of our city. But those are businesses too, and they employ many people and need the help coming from those guidelines.
So I will just say, we will not be reopening in full until it is safe to do so. And we're going to be very much guided and in partnership with the province, as we have been, in that regard. But all of the signs [00:17:30] are very hopeful, including our rates of vaccination and including the case counts and hospitalization numbers, which are going down.
I know how difficult it was for businesses to tell themselves, and to be told, and to have to tell their employees, how they had to close down when the time came for that. And we want to make sure that when we were open, we can do so confidently. And confident that we can stay open, that there will not be a resurgence that will lead to any kind of backsliding when it comes to this reopening. And we want to be confident of [00:18:00] what is going to lie ahead for us in the days ahead.
And I'll conclude on this very optimistic note. This city has all the fundamentals that it had before the pandemic. It has the smart people. It has the critical mass of enterprise. It has the arts and culture. It has the quality of life. It has the underlying values.
So I have maintained, as I know Jen De Silva has, we've all maintained our optimism throughout this process. And that has been enhanced and strengthened by the fact that so many companies, during a pandemic, [00:18:30] during unbelievably difficult circumstances, have chosen Toronto. This includes Netflix, and Reddit, and Sanofi, and Amazon, and Wayfair, and many more. There are companies that have chosen to come to Toronto during the pandemic because they knew the fundamentals were here, as a great place to live and a great place to do business. And many Toronto-based enterprises have chosen to expand their operations. Others have chosen to make application to develop things here, office space and residential accommodation, because they have confidence, [00:19:00] as I do, in the future of the city of Toronto.
And we've learned the importance of being there for each other. And that includes the plans that are to unfold as part of the We're Ready campaign. And now it is my opportunity to ask Jan De Silva to come up here.
And I just want to say one more time, because it deserves repetition, she has been an outstanding leader in putting all of this together. There are a number of us, including myself and Richard Joy, and also the head [00:19:30] of the Financial District BIA, who have been very much a part of leading this process of getting these plans pulled together. But it is Jan who's been the leader. And I want to acknowledge that and say thank you for that. And ask her to come up and get into some further detail as to these plans that I think mark an exciting time for our city as we reopen.
Jan, thank you. And over to you.
Jan De Silva: Thank you Mr. Mayor, for that introduction and for all your work over these many months, [00:20:00] and for sharing your backyard to launch We're Ready Toronto. I also want to thank all the partners who've assembled under the banner, We're ready Toronto. Leaders who've been with us from the very start, like the Mayor, the Urban Land Institute Toronto, and the Financial District BIA. But also the hundreds more business owners, public health officials, and other experts who came together to fight for and protect Toronto's downtown business community.
Pre-COVID, downtown Toronto [00:20:30] attracted 550,000 daytime workers, who were the customers of more than 2,500 main street businesses. When we started this work last October, we are about to go into another lockdown. Main street businesses, just beginning to recover from the last one, were once again asked to stay closed, stay distant, and hold out for case numbers to go down.
They did their part, but not without sacrifice. As the Mayor indicated, many took [00:21:00] on debt. Some are still teetering on closing their doors forever. We want those businesses to know that we've not been idle. While they have been patient, waiting for restrictions to lift, the City, and other members of our community, have been rallying to ensure Toronto is ready to reopen when the time is right.
We didn't know where this work would take us. But when we called out for collaborators, that call was answered. After all, COVID has had a differing impact to different businesses, [00:21:30] different workers, and different districts. Our research into the pandemic's economic impact proves as much.
Large international companies came to the table with reopening toolkits and insights from other markets, helping us create guidelines for smaller businesses. Technology firms contributed expert no-cost guidance to businesses taking their first steps into eCommerce and digital transformation. Transit, science, industry, tourism, every sector [00:22:00] joined our cause. They did so because this is an issue that impacts all of us. Our city's vibrancy, culture, and economic future, is dependent on this interconnected community. Small, medium, and large businesses, we all rely on the whole.
As the Mayor said, we're coming out of this pandemic as a new city, and I would add, as a more connected one. Be them competitors or partners, businesses came together during this crisis. [00:22:30] And now we're doing the same to reopen. Together, we found ways to lift each other up.
We're Ready Toronto is a campaign to share everything we've learned about how to welcome back workers, customers, and visitors to downtown Toronto safely. About how to reinforce confidence in taking transit. About where to find free rapid COVID tests and other mitigations. At bot.com/getready you'll find everything needed to reopen, things like better HVAC systems, [00:23:00] strategies to manage elevator and traffic flow, sanitation practices, screening practices, and so much more.
But the campaign isn't just about preventing another lockdown, it's also about creating excitement and momentum for coming back downtown when the time is right. Here, the activation partnerships we've formed under the We're Ready Toronto, will shine. For instance, with Destination Toronto, we'll help remind people about the joy of experiencing downtown. [00:23:30] And with Ritual, we'll drive traffic to the many great eateries in the city.
Many large employers and companies are putting their weight behind these campaigns and the small businesses they hope to support. And we're not stopping with downtown either. We've got a huge, big city. We're doing the same work for the businesses around Pearson Airport and in Scarborough Center; two economically important areas for the city just like downtown. We're getting them ready to reopen. And we have Mississauga Mayor, Bonnie Crombie, and Toronto's [00:24:00] Deputy Mayor, Michael Thompson, helping lead those efforts.
If We're Ready Toronto has its intended impact, and I know it will, here's what's going to happen when the time is right. People are going to get back to the in-person work interactions they've been craving, feeling more engaged and productive on the job. Customers are going to go back to enjoying their favorite restaurants, salons, shops, patios ... I think I heard Sid was going to ... and eventually music and entertainment venues, returning countless [00:24:30] jobs to those sectors and protecting those businesses. Visitors are going to return, along with the more than $11 billion in economic activity they generate annually. Conferences are, once again, going to pick Toronto as the place they want to be.
This is all within our reach when we get the green light to reopen, for our work since October means we're ready Toronto. And, with that, let's welcome back Dina and Sid to close out this announcement. Thank you.
Sid Seixeiro: [00:25:00] All right. Great stuff. Thank you very much, Jan and Mayor Tory for those remarks and for the leadership you and the Board of Trade have shown during this time of immense disruption for the business community, no doubt.
If you are a business in Toronto, to echo what Jan just said, bot.com/getready, one more time, I'll say it, bot.com/getready, to view all the resources [00:25:30] and information about safely reopening in the City of Toronto.
Dina Pugliese: And, like Jan said, there is a lot on the table. If we can work together and prevent a future lockdown, we can finally return to a sense of normal, all while of course supporting the businesses and industries that have been so deeply impacted by this pandemic.
Sid Seixeiro: Thank you again to the City and the Board of Trade for inviting us to help you introduce this initiative today. This was a blast. Thank you very much.
As two people who work downtown, live in the city, have been in the [00:26:00] city forever, we're so excited for your success and we are ready as well to get this thing going.
Dina Pugliese: Thank you, everybody, for watching. Stay safe. And may I also say, for all my Euro Cup fans, Forza Azzurri.
Sid Seixeiro: Had to get it in.
Dina Pugliese: Forza.
Sid Seixeiro: Goodbye everybody.
Grant Humes: Here, our many people, representing tens of thousands of workers, have been hard at work, getting [00:26:30] ready for you. We're really excited to have you back. We're ready, Toronto.
Julie Barker-Me...: We know you're ready. And BMO is too. See you soon, Toronto.
Jon Ramscar: CBRE has been poised and ready for this big moment. It's now time to rally together and prepare our great city for the bounce. Let's go, Toronto.
Jan De Silva: It's been such a long time coming, but we're so ready Toronto. Can't wait to see you soon.
John Tory: [00:27:00] We've been working hard to get ready. And it's finally time. See you soon, Toronto.
Olesy Alekseev: Delos has been getting ready for you. And it's finally time. Toronto, we're ready for you.
Scott Beck: We know you're ready. Destination Toronto is too. See you soon, Toronto.
Hillary Marshal...: Everyone at Toronto Pearson is working hard to put your health and safety first with our Healthy Airport [00:27:30] travel program. When travel restrictions start to ease, we'll be ready to welcome you back, Toronto. Can't wait to see you again.
Brad Carr: We know you're ready. Mattamy Homes is too. See you soon, Toronto.
Phil Verster: Metrolinx has missed you. We are so glad to have you back. Let's do this, Toronto.
Angela Brown: We know you are ready. Moneris is too. See you soon, Toronto.
Alli Wolfe: [00:28:00] Oxford's been working hard to get ready. And it's finally time, Toronto.
Steve McGregor: We know you're ready. And so is Pattison Outdoor Advertising. So let's get back at it, Toronto. What do you say?
Diane Kazarian: PwC Canada is excited to get back. And we've been working so hard to get ready. So let's do this, Toronto.
Kris Depencier: We know you're ready. RBC is too. See you soon, Toronto.
Stephen Young: Here, at Ritual, we're excited [00:28:30] to welcome you back, Toronto. Let's go.
Faisal Kazi: Here, at Siemens Canada, we are helping Toronto to get back to work safely. We look forward to welcoming you back soon.
Kenn Lalonde: Toronto, TD is getting ready to welcome you back. See you soon.
Rick Leary: I know you're ready to get back out there. And I'm here to let you know, we are ready to welcome you back. I look forward to seeing you on the TTC.
Richard Joy: So [00:29:00] many business leaders have been getting ready for this moment. And we're ready. We hope you're ready. ULI's ready. Let's reopen this economy.