Reopening on the fast-track, convoy on the ropes

Plus: CARP cancels Ford, sounding the alarm over home care, staffing up at Transportation, PCs get a contender in Ajax, Grits cash in on Galentine's Day

ABOVE THE FOLD

RUMOURS ABOUND — Pandemic restrictions could lift sooner than planned. Meanwhile, the Ford government is looking to ratchet up its response to convoy blockades.

Sources confirm that Premier DOUG FORD asked health officials to report back on a fast-tracked timeline for easing lockdown measures, some of which is already taking place, with most measures gone by mid-March, per the current reopening schedule.

Details are scant, and while there’s no official meeting on the schedule, cabinet could consider new moves as early as today. It also means we could get a specific timeline for the end of vaccination certificates and mask mandates, which the province initially said would happen around March, but had to backtrack amid Omicron.

But that wave has crested and is now “behind us,” according to top doc KIERAN MOORE — who also says it’s time to reassess the value of vax passes.

Pressure is mounting from Opposition critics and local politicians to speed up the reopening as other p…