London recreation centres ready to reopen, but not all businesses will
The Ontario government plans to gradually ease public health measures starting Jan. 31.
The province says the process will be in steps, while maintaining protective measures such as capacity limits.
This means, beginning Monday, Londoners can once again access city pools, arenas and community centres.
“We have been preparing our facilities with the appropriate signage, doing some staff training and doing some other items, so that we are well prepared on Monday, Jan. 31,” says Director of Recreation and Sport for the City of London Jon-Paul McGonigle.
The city says all local health guidelines and provincial regulations, including capacity limits, mask-wearing and proof of vaccination will be in place to ensure the safety of participants and staff.
Due to capacity limits, people are encouraged to use the Play Your Way online portal ensure availability.
"To look at a variety of different programs, across our senior centres, our aquatic facilities, our arenas, our community centres...We do ask that people register for whatever date and session or activity that they would like, and it's important to note that we kind of control the 50 per cent piece in the background in terms of our participants thresholds,” said McGonigle.
Anyone over the age of 12 is required to be fully vaccinated and will need a vaccine certificate with a QR code to access the facilities.
And although it’s exciting for residents that many businesses will be able to re-open – not all can do so immediately.
"I mean you can't flip that on a dime,” said Deb Harvey, the executive director of the Grand Theatre in London.
She adds that the cast and crew will need more time to prepare for their next big production, ‘Room,’ scheduled for March. The production has already been rescheduled twice, but Harvey is hopeful that the curtain will rise by spring.
"That has to be planned usually months, and certainly this time weeks, in advance to try to get that," said Harvey. “Our actors will come back to the theatre to start rehearsals again Feb. 24 to get back up on the stage and ready for the first show on March 8."
For a full list of what will reopen with capacity limits in place, click here.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.