Anti-lockdown politician gets dragged for complaining that Toronto is still a ghost town
To many, this summer feels like the closest we've had to normal in some time, with major events back in full force, so many people travelling that the airport is completely screwed, and bars, restaurants, beaches and more absolutely bustling.
But, despite the fact that traffic — car, foot, and other kinds — is back up to pre-pandemic levels, there is one controversial Toronto politician who is still complaining that things aren't busy enough, and that it's a residual effect of government mandates and an instilled fear of COVID.
Former York Centre MPP Roman Baber, who was ousted from his position last year for posting anti-lockdown messaging critical of the province, took to Twitter on Wednesday to bemoan how Toronto is still too dead.
"Downtown Toronto is still a ghost town," he wrote, linking to a blogTO article about Toronto being named the 20th-worst city in North America for post-lockdown recovery levels.
"Governments need to encourage people to come back to work, instead of perpetuating fear in order to justify the disaster of the last two years."
Downtown Toronto is still a ghost town.
— Roman Baber (@Roman_Baber) July 27, 2022
Governments need to encourage people to come back to work, instead of perpetuating fear in order to justify the disaster of the last two years. #cdnpoli #cpcldr #TOpolihttps://t.co/uMpR4ET6yA
Unfortunately for Baber, it doesn't seem that many people agreed with his assertion. Actually, they found the city to be quite the opposite lately.
Some suspect that the wannabe Conservative Party Leader might be talking about office buildings specifically, as most companies that can have transitioned into some sort of hybrid work model that permits employees to work from home at least some of the time.
"You must have money in commercial real estate," one person suspected.
As one who lives here, I can promise you that downtown Toronto is hardly a ghost town when it comes to bars, restaurants and entertainment. People aren't "coming back to the office towers" not because they are afraid but because they found out they prefer working from home.
— RevDaniel (@RevDaniel) July 27, 2022
The work-from-home trend has indeed persisted through summer, leaving a fair chunk of Toronto's office space (11.9 per cent) still vacant.
A few replying to Baber cited increasing costs of gas, transit, parking food and more as the main reasons they're continuing to work at home if possible.
"Zero interest in spending hours commuting on my own dime, sitting in an office smelling my co-workers' microwaved fish, paying for lunches out, getting monthly colds, or being dragged into irrelevant meetings. Cities as they were are over now. Let's not be regressive," one said.
I live downtown, right in the heart. You are just plain wrong, sorry.
— Chris Jancelewicz (@CJancelewicz) July 27, 2022
Others felt they must be looking at different cities, suggested Baber need new glasses, and wondered if he has even walked through downtown T.O. at all this summer.
Basically, the politican's attempt to further drag on a debate about long-gone government mandates and lockdown rules was unsuccessful.
Here's hoping in time that he can at long last find something else to talk about.
