A Toronto fitness instructor who neighbours say sees clients face-to-face despite lockdown rules has only been given a warning even though bylaw officers appear to have caught him conducting a training session.
Larry Track, the subject of several Global News reports including one in January where he was observed working with clients inside a closed residential garage, won’t face any financial penalties, according to a city of Toronto spokesperson.
“A charge has not been issued. The officers educated the personal trainer on the specifics of the ROA (Reopening Ontario Act) and noted that this activity was not permitted at this time,” a City statement issued to Global News said.
A Global News camera crew observed Track appearing to finish a training session with two clients in his midtown Toronto garage on Monday as two bylaw officers stood outside making notes. The officers declined to comment.
READ MORE: Gyms closed under Ontario’s emergency laws, but clients working out in garage with trainer
Following a tip, Global News originally reported on how Track trained several clients in the garage, even though the law in January did not permit fitness providers to do so. In Toronto, face-to-face training is still not allowed.
“Being indoors is not acceptable,” said Carleton Grant, the executive director of municipal licensing and standards for the City of Toronto, in January.
“These businesses are not permitted to operate.”
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But more than a month after the Global News story, neighbours complained that Track continued to see clients in the garage.
Neighbours said instead of entering through the large garage door, clients now walked along a shared pathway with a nearby home and came in through a back door.
Global News approached Track for comment on the street twice, but he offered no explanation.
“I’m not doing anything illegal,” Track told a reporter.
“Can you please leave?”
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After one encounter, Track contacted Toronto police. An officer told a reporter by telephone that the news crew was within its rights to record video from public property as had been done.
On another occasion when asked to explain what appeared to be clandestine training sessions, Track turned and pursued a reporter with his camera phone, keeping less than half a metre of distance despite the journalist’s objections. He was not wearing a mask.
Toronto Mayor John Tory, responding to a Global News question about the case, said it appeared the trainer was showing disrespect for the law.
“The law is put there to protect their health … and the trainer in question is showing disregard for the health of his clients,” he said during a press conference.
Earlier in the day, two City of Toronto bylaw officers arrived at Track’s rented home and said they found him training two female clients in the garage. A Global News camera crew was present.
“You’re disgusting,” Track muttered to the news crew.
Instead of facing a charge and a fine, the municipality reported Track was “educated” by the bylaw officers.
The City of Toronto received 856 complaints about businesses under the Reopening Ontario Act in February, but only 14 charges were laid.
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