Toronto Police asked to more strictly enforce social distancing rules

Toronto Police enforcing social distancing rules should be even stricter, according to a letter Mayor John Tory just sent to Chief Mark Saunders and Carleton Grant.

"I thank you for your leadership which has helped us to have hundreds of police and bylaw enforcement officers at work this holiday weekend across the city helping us to educate and to enforce our physical distancing rules," he begins.

Tory notes that "physical distancing between people is the best way we will slow down the march of COVID-19 and thus save lives and get us back to our normal way of life as quickly as possible" according to public health officials before stating his concerns about gatherings in Toronto.

"When, after a week, we are still having informational chats with hundreds of people who don't get it or won't comply, the time has come for stricter enforcement and more tickets," Tory writes.

"We have reports of everything from bonfires on the beach to hanging out in groups in parking lots to playing pickup sports in closed areas, all of which involve groups of people who don't live with each other and thus could spread the virus."

Fines for those caught gathering in groups already reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. You can be ticketed for using public parks, which you might have noticed are all wrapped up in caution tape recently, or even fined for violating the two-metre rule.

"We are facing a deadly virus -tragically it has already claimed the lives of 77 Toronto residents," Tory writes. "As an elected official I cannot direct law enforcement as to how they enforce the law, but I am by way of this letter offering my strong opinion and support as Mayor for stricter enforcement."