The Municipality of Chatham-Kent will not be sending a letter to the provincial government to push for ending lockdowns in certain regions.
On Monday night, Councillor Mark Authier put forward a motion asking that the mayor send a letter to Premier Doug Ford requesting him to review lockdowns and apply them on a regional basis considering COVID-19 numbers.
Authier said while he was in favour of other public health measures, he feels lockdowns are negatively impacting small businesses and the mental health of many individuals.
"After this lockdown, we'll have been in lockdown approximately half of this year," he said. "Lockdowns have made people lose their businesses, their jobs and their residences. If lockdowns truly work, why were we locked down in February and then again a month later?"
However, the motion was voted down by council 72 per cent to 22 per cent per cent (one councillor abstained from voting).
Mary Claire Latimer was one of the councillors who said they had a tough time supporting the letter.
"Alarm bells have been ringing for weeks and modeling has demonstrated that limiting mobility does effectively slow the spread of this virus," she said. "Every public health measure being observed comes with a cost to every one of us."
Authier's motion included a second item, which was voted on separately, asking the municipality to send a letter to Ford requesting that more funds be directed to businesses that are closed and doing take-out only as well as to mental health initiatives.
"Many of the businesses that have mortgages are getting no money towards their mortgages for their buildings," Authier said. "What most people get is some money to pay themselves, pay workers, but none of this goes to the actual building, the utilities, to taxes, to the business licence... I realize that many of [my fellow councillors] may not support motion one. If you do not, please at least support motion two so that the companies that are being devastated by the shutdown can get some extra money to help them through this horrible time."
The second part of Authier's motion received unanimous support.
