City of Toronto explains pool closures after barrage of public complaints
While the City of Toronto surely deals with a flurry of complaints on any given day, the negative public reaction to one particular item has apparently been strong enough for leaders to swifty respond and apologize.
Residents struggling in recent days with temperatures that felt like over 40 C amid our first hit of summer heat this year were shocked to hear that some municipal outdoor pools — key places for the public to cool off — were somehow shutting down because of the weather, and just days after they had opened for the season, to boot.
"Due to extreme humidex levels exceeding 45 C, outdoor pools will have intermittent closures to ensure staff health and safety protocols are met. Please check individual pool pages for updates," read a statement posted to the City's website over the weekend.
Just two days earlier, official City social media pages had excitedly shared news that the second and final spate of said pools were ready for visitors, with all 50-plus operating on at least a partial schedule as of Saturday, June 21.
The decision to suddenly shutter some so soon in the midst of a heat event spurred an outpouring of critical posts, including from leaders like Beaches-East York City Councillor Brad Bradford, who went to check his local pool in person in the middle of all the online chatter.
"Public pools closed in 35+ degree heat — because it was 'too hot'? Only in Toronto. Families showed up to cool down and were turned away. No warning. No plan. Just locked gates," Bradford wrote alongside a video arguing that "When it's hot out, the pools have to be open, full-stop."
And, hundreds agreed, with the message heard loud and clear by Mayor Olivia Chow.
How stupid can you be to close a pool on a hot day… https://t.co/m0hBOxJXFj
— NickPirbus (@NicholasPirbus) June 24, 2025
On Tuesday, Chow likewise took to X to share that she's now pushing at City Council for an updated response to extreme heatwaves like this week's.
This starts with "immediate actions to ensure pools stay open (in line with worker health and safety rules)," and also includes measures like "ensuring nurses and/or paramedics are on-call to support the undisrupted operation of outdoor pools."
Additional recommendations include distributing more water to help people cool down (both bottled water and water trucks), bringing back previously closed 24/7 cooling centres, and potentially even appointing someone to an all-new position of Chief Heat Officer.
The mayor also formally apologized for the pool shutdowns during a news conference on Monday, saying "it cannot happen again" and acknowledging that "when it's hot outside, residents need to be able to get out to the pools and cool down."
A City of Toronto spokesperson further explained to blogTO that the sole reason pools were briefly closed was for safety.
"The City abides by the Occupational Health and Safety Act, which requires employers to have policies in place to support staff during elevated humidity levels. Once the humidex reaches 45, we need to have a medical professional on site to support staff health and wellness," they said.
"We briefly closed 20 pools for varying lengths of time, anywhere between 45 minutes to under five hours. Humidity levels vary by location and we had to close the pools where the humidex reached 45+. But we were able to re-open the pools once the humidex went down."
Provisions to help lifeguards on the clock get through hotter days include ensuring there is shade at lifeguard stations, encouraging "regular cooling opportunities" and dispatching the mentioned medical professionals, along with more lifeguard staff.
All this instead of allowing a life guard a 2min break to jump in the pool.
— Unacceptable Goofball (@Landon29868131) June 24, 2025
Everything in this city has to be complicated https://t.co/Ta555XL6nc
As much as constituents may appreciate that the issue was quickly addressed, it seems some are still taking issue with the proposed approaches to sky-high temps, and the levels of bureaucracy intrinsic to getting anything done in the city.
While some joked that our taxes will now be escalating again due to the proposed spending (and denounced Chow's allocation of public funds more broadly), others questioned how so many steps were necessary "instead of just allowing a lifeguard a two minute break to jump in the pool."
