LONDON, ONT —
It’s been a long time coming, but many local businesses are finally able to celebrate their reopening as Ontario reaches the first stage in the plan to restart the economy.
At Bark and Purr pet grooming salon on Wharncliffe Road South in London tails are wagging once again. The business has been closed for eight weeks, and owner Samarr Knight doesn’t know how much longer they would have lasted.
“I had a three-month plan, after that I don’t know what I would have done,“ Knight told CTV News. “We’re super happy that we’re allowed to be back open in stage one. Actually, a lot of groomers lobbied hard to get into stage one and be included in that, so we’re super happy we’re open and now the dogs can be more comfortable.“
As of Tuesday, any business that opens to the street can resume operations with customers inside, as long as strict physical distancing guidelines are adhered to.
At Source for Sports on Wharncliffe Road South in London several precautions are in place, said Scott Kernaghan, who works as a manager.
“We ended up taking about 25 per cent of our racks away to create more space and laneways for people to walk through. Also with Lysol wipes, masks, all our staff are wearing them as you can see. And then when we are doing fits we are taking the product and quarantining it for four days before we can put it back on the shelf.“
Meanwhile downtown, Dundas Place is beginning to see signs of life again. The owner of Attic Books, Marvin Post, said he believes the downtown has a better chance of bouncing back than some shopping malls.
“I think the downtown is quite viable. A lot of the malls are going to be in fairly tough shape because the rents are fairly high and they recirculate the air within.”
The government has said that businesses should only reopen if they are ready. Each stage in the restart process is going to be monitored for two to three weeks to ensure it’s safe to proceed.
Retail openings build on weekend start
Over the long weekend recreational businesses such as golf courses and marinas began to open.
Saturday as the weather cooperated golfers could be seen hitting the fairways, and rough, of Thames Valley Golf Course, one of three locations owned by the City of London.
The City of London itself managed to open community gardens by the long weekend after they were declared essential heading into May.
Now libraries can open for delivery and pick-up, and the city will also open off-leash dog parks Tuesday and is working to open tennis and pickleball courts, however a date has not been set.
The city has yet to announce if they have a plan for reopening other services that may now be allowed.
So what exactly is allowed to reopen Tuesday? Here is a list of business and services that can start back up:
All construction and essential workplace limits lifted, including land surveyors
All retail stores with a street entrance can open with limited capacity
Office-based media operations
Non-emergency diagnostic imaging and surgeries in public hospitals, private hospitals and independent health facilities, clinics, and private practices to resume based on ability to meet specified pre-conditions
In-person counselling and scheduled surgeries based on the ability to meet pre-specified conditions
Libraries for pick-up or delivery
Outdoor recreational sports centres for sports not played in teams, with limited access to facilities. This includes tennis courts, rod and gun clubs, cycling tracks, horse riding facilities and indoor golf driving ranges
Professional and amateur sport activity for individual/single competitors, including training and competition
Veterinary services by appointment and animal services such as grooming and training
Private households could now employ workers on or about the premises in activities primarily concerned with the operation of the household, including cleaners, cooks and nanny services
General maintenance, and repair services
So what are the rules for reopening?
While these businesses and services can start back up there are new guidelines issued by the province that will affect how those businesses operate.
For example retail stores are only allowed fitting rooms if they have a door, no curtains. The number of customers allowed in stores will also be limited.
Ontario has said that each stage will last roughly two to four weeks while officials monitor the effect of reopening and whether it is safe to move forward.
Stage two would see more workplaces open, and allow larger gathers while phase three will see larger public gatherings and opening all workplaces.
Prevously the government has hinted at allowing some form of gatherings in the coming days with Health Minister Christine Elliott saying people may soon be able to “get together for barbeques and other occasions.”
OTTAWA – The federal government is expected to boost the minimum hourly wage that must be paid to temporary foreign workers in the high-wage stream as a way to encourage employers to hire more Canadian staff.
Under the current program’s high-wage labour market impact assessment (LMIA) stream, an employer must pay at least the median income in their province to qualify for a permit. A government official, who The Canadian Press is not naming because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the change, said Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault will announce Tuesday that the threshold will increase to 20 per cent above the provincial median hourly wage.
The change is scheduled to come into force on Nov. 8.
As with previous changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker program, the government’s goal is to encourage employers to hire more Canadian workers. The Liberal government has faced criticism for increasing the number of temporary residents allowed into Canada, which many have linked to housing shortages and a higher cost of living.
The program has also come under fire for allegations of mistreatment of workers.
A LMIA is required for an employer to hire a temporary foreign worker, and is used to demonstrate there aren’t enough Canadian workers to fill the positions they are filling.
In Ontario, the median hourly wage is $28.39 for the high-wage bracket, so once the change takes effect an employer will need to pay at least $34.07 per hour.
The government official estimates this change will affect up to 34,000 workers under the LMIA high-wage stream. Existing work permits will not be affected, but the official said the planned change will affect their renewals.
According to public data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, 183,820 temporary foreign worker permits became effective in 2023. That was up from 98,025 in 2019 — an 88 per cent increase.
The upcoming change is the latest in a series of moves to tighten eligibility rules in order to limit temporary residents, including international students and foreign workers. Those changes include imposing caps on the percentage of low-wage foreign workers in some sectors and ending permits in metropolitan areas with high unemployment rates.
Temporary foreign workers in the agriculture sector are not affected by past rule changes.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
OTTAWA – The parliamentary budget officer says the federal government likely failed to keep its deficit below its promised $40 billion cap in the last fiscal year.
However the PBO also projects in its latest economic and fiscal outlook today that weak economic growth this year will begin to rebound in 2025.
The budget watchdog estimates in its report that the federal government posted a $46.8 billion deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland pledged a year ago to keep the deficit capped at $40 billion and in her spring budget said the deficit for 2023-24 stayed in line with that promise.
The final tally of the last year’s deficit will be confirmed when the government publishes its annual public accounts report this fall.
The PBO says economic growth will remain tepid this year but will rebound in 2025 as the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts stimulate spending and business investment.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the level of food insecurity increased in 2022 as inflation hit peak levels.
In a report using data from the Canadian community health survey, the agency says 15.6 per cent of households experienced some level of food insecurity in 2022 after being relatively stable from 2017 to 2021.
The reading was up from 9.6 per cent in 2017 and 11.6 per cent in 2018.
Statistics Canada says the prevalence of household food insecurity was slightly lower and stable during the pandemic years as it fell to 8.5 per cent in the fall of 2020 and 9.1 per cent in 2021.
In addition to an increase in the prevalence of food insecurity in 2022, the agency says there was an increase in the severity as more households reported moderate or severe food insecurity.
It also noted an increase in the number of Canadians living in moderately or severely food insecure households was also seen in the Canadian income survey data collected in the first half of 2023.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct 16, 2024.
