TORONTO — Public health restrictions loosened in three Ontario regions with low rates of COVID-19 on Wednesday, with local officials warning that visitors from other areas weren’t welcome at reopened businesses.
The provincial government is gradually rolling back a stay-at-home order as regions move to a colour-coded pandemic restrictions system in the coming days.
Hastings Prince Edward; Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox and Addington; and Renfrew County transitioned to the least-restrictive green category of the system on Wednesday, which meant restaurants and non-essential businesses could reopen.
The rest of the province, except for three hot spots in the Greater Toronto Area, moves to the restrictions system next week, with the category regions are placed in dependent on local case rates.
In Hastings Prince Edward, an order from the medical officer of health that went into effect Wednesday meant only people from regions not under a stay-at-home order could make reservations for dining, accommodation or personal services.
The order also requires businesses to take contact information from patrons and to play music “no louder than the volume of a normal conversation.” Violations carry a potential fines up to $5,000 for each day of the offence.
The region’s top doctor, Dr. Piotr Oglaza, noted the continuing risk to residents from COVID-19 and cited the risk of new, more infectious variants detected in the province.
‘We must remember this is not a return to normal,“ Oglaza said in a statement.
“In order to maintain our progress, all residents are asked to remain thoughtful about daily choices, as our actions can have a huge impact on efforts to stop the spread of illness.”
The top doctor in Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox and Addington also discouraged outside visitors, though he stopped short of issuing an official order.
“It is absolutely not an invitation for anyone else to come to our region,” Dr. Kieran Moore told reporters.
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He asked people to remain vigilant and said additional measures might follow if the situation changes.
“We will monitor the situation closely and will not hesitate to put additional measures in place if rates of transmission increase in the region,” he said in a statement.
In Renfrew County, the region’s top doctor applauded residents for working to keep cases low, but advised people to continue staying home where possible and limit travel between areas under different restrictions.
“Please remember that this does not mean we can let our guard down,” Dr. Robert Cushman said in a statement.
Ontario’s daily infections have dropped since the province introduced the stay-at-home order last month, but officials have said the spread of new, more infectious variants are a concern.
Ontario reported 1,072 new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday and 41 more deaths linked to the virus.
The province also reported that 1,709 more cases were resolved since Tuesday’s report.
1:36 Kingston businesses react to moving out of lockdown, reopening
Kingston businesses react to moving out of lockdown, reopening
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.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales in August fell to their lowest level since January 2022 as sales in the primary metal and petroleum and coal product subsectors fell.
The agency says manufacturing sales fell 1.3 per cent to $69.4 billion in August, after rising 1.1 per cent in July.
The drop came as sales in the primary metal subsector dropped 6.4 per cent to $5.3 billion in August, on lower prices and lower volumes.
Sales in the petroleum and coal product subsector fell 3.7 per cent to $7.8 billion in August on lower prices.
Meanwhile, sales of aerospace products and parts rose 7.3 per cent to $2.7 billion in August and wood product sales increased 3.8 per cent to $3.1 billion.
Overall manufacturing sales in constant dollars fell 0.8 per cent in August.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.
