Mayor wants to set up task force aimed at economic recovery after COVID-19

Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenbergerwants to pull together a task force made up of local expertscharged with setting the city up for economic recovery after COVID-19.

In a motion on the agenda for Wednesday's council meeting, Eisenbergerdescribesthe pandemic as an "economic challenge"and says it's time to start looking beyond the virus to make sure the city can rebound as quickly as possible.

His plan calls for the directors of economic development and tourism and culture to come up with some terms of reference for the task forcemade up of representatives from local business,labour, industry and the academic community and bring them back to council.

In his motion the mayornotes a business impact survey that was recently filled out by all 13 business improvement associations and local chambers of commerce identified how the virus will affect specific industries.

He's askingthat a report be completed once those results have been compiled.

Province to provide roadmap for re-opening Ontario

Provincial officials are also focused on the economy, with Premier Doug Ford set to reveal with government's roadmap for"re-opening" Ontarioafter the widespread shutdown of non-essential businesses during the pandemic.

Ford is scheduled to hold a news conference at 1:30 p.m. He will be joined by Minister of Health Christine Elliott, Minister of Finance Rod Phillips and Vic Fedeli, minister of economic development, job creation and trade.