Dozens of Ontario small businesses planning to reopen in defiance of lockdowns on February 11

After more than two months of lockdowns in large metropolitan areas such as Toronto, frustrated small business owners have decided they will go against provincial health guidelines and open up shop.

A website called WeAreAllEssential.ca has a directory of small businesses that plan on reopening next week. The site says that they are empowering small businesses.

A poster for the campaign claims that 222,000 small businesses could close due to lockdowns, which would result in the loss of 3 million jobs.

While other provinces have reopened or plan to reopen soon, Ontario's lockdown future remains more unclear. Doug Ford's stay at home order is penned to expire on February 9.

Additionally, Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams says that lockdowns wont be lifted until ICU numbers provincewide drop by half, and cases drop below 1,000.

However, many business owners say they will not be able to survive for that long, said event organizer Vladislav Sobolev to BlogTO.

"We had over 10,000 restaurants close across Canada since last March... The hospitality industry is one of the largest employers for people, and when those restaurants disappear, those jobs do too," said Sobolev.

So far, Ontario businesses that have defied the lockdown have been met with prosecution from the government. Etobicoke restaurant owner Adam Skelly opened his restaurant in defiance of the Ford lockdown orders in November. He now faces nine charges.