Ontarians will soon be allowed to gather in groups of up to 10 and many more businesses and services will be allowed to begin operating again as part of the next phase of the province’s regional reopening, set to begin in some areas later this week.
Premier Doug Ford outlined the details of Phase 2 of Ontario’s plan to lift restrictions on its lockdown, implemented to help curb the spread of COVID-19, at his daily briefing Monday afternoon.
Twenty-four of Ontario’s 34 public health units will be allowed to move into Phase 2 on Friday. The remaining 10, concentrated primarily in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) and near the U.S.-Canada border, will need to wait until new daily case numbers consistently decrease.
Ontario’s chief medical officer of health will provide an update at 3 p.m. ET. You can watch it live here.
Dr. David Williams, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, and Dr. Barbara Yaffe, associate chief medical officer of health, provide their daily COVID-19 update NaN:NaN
You can read the government’s full Stage 2 plan at the bottom of this story.
In addition to increasing the size of social gatherings from five to 10, the government says places of worship in regions allowed to go into the next phase will be able to welcome congregants again with a 30 per cent capacity limit. Both changes also take effect on Friday throughout the province, regardless of public health unit.
In areas allowed to move into the next phase, restaurants, bars and food trucks will be able to open for outdoor dining on patios and in parking lots or adjacent premises. The province is allowing licensed establishments to set up or expand their outdoor eating spaces without an application fee to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario.
This map shows the public health regions in Ontario that will be allowed to move into the next phase of reopening on Friday. (Government of Ontario)
Attorney General Doug Downey said the move will give the hospitality sector more tools to be able to recover, and will help ensure physical distancing. The measures for patios will still be subject to municipal approval and will be in place until Jan. 1. The new or expanded patios will have to be adjacent to the bar or restaurant and the capacity doesn’t exceed 1.11 square metres per person.
WATCH | Premier Ford lays out the details of Phase 2 reopening in Ontario:
Twenty-four of Ontario’s 34 public health units will be allowed to move into Phase 2 on Friday. The remaining 10, concentrated primarily in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) and near the U.S.-Canada border, will need to wait until new daily case numbers consistently decrease. 3:17
Here is a list of businesses and services allowed to reopen in regions entering Stage 2:
Select personal and personal care services with the proper health and safety measures in place, including tattoo parlours, barber shops, hair salons and beauty salons;
Shopping malls under existing restrictions, including food services reopening for takeout and outdoor dining only;
Tour and guide services, such as biking and walking, bus and boat tours, as well as tastings and tours for wineries, breweries and distilleries;
Water recreational facilities such as outdoor splash pads and wading pools, and all swimming pools;
Beach access and additional camping at Ontario Parks;
Camping at private campgrounds;
Outdoor-only recreational facilities and training for outdoor team sports, with limits to enable physical distancing;
Drive-in and drive-through venues for theatres, concerts, animal attractions and cultural appreciation, such as art installations;
Film and television production activities, with limits to enable physical distancing; and
Weddings and funerals, with limits on social gatherings to 10 people.
Child care services will shift away from providing solely emergency services throughout the province, regardless of what phase each region is in, allowing for a gradual reopening of regular service. The province says there will be a limit on operational capacity and other strict public health measures that will need to stay in place.
Ford said more information will be announced on Tuesday.
Province to implement commercial eviction ban
During the briefing, Ford announced that Ontario will ban commercial evictions starting June 3 until the end of August as business owners struggle with the fallout of the pandemic.
Ford said the moratorium applies to small businesses who qualify for the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance program, where their revenues have dropped at least 70 per cent due to the pandemic.
Ontario joins British Columbia, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia as provinces that have implemented some form of a commercial eviction ban.
Last month, five business groups co-signed an open letter calling for the Ontario government to impose a commercial eviction moratorium during the pandemic, warning that many small- and medium-sized businesses were at risk of closing as June rent came due.
The organizations included the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, Ontario Chamber of Commerce, Ontario Restaurant Hotel & Motel Association, Restaurants Canada and the Retail Council of Canada.
Ford had previously resisted a push from groups representing small business owners for a temporary ban, instead appealing on several occasions for landlords to “have a heart” and allow for grace periods on rent fees.
On Monday, Ford said some landlords have not been listening to his appeal, prompting the province to order this legislation.
“Our small business owners are the backbone of our communities and now more than ever, we all need to support them,” Ford said.
243 new COVID-19 cases
The news comes as Ontario reported 243 additional cases of COVID-19 on Monday.
The 0.8 per cent jump brings the total number of cases in Ontario to 30,860 since the outbreak began in January. Around 79.4 per cent of all cases are now resolved.
Eighteen of the province’s 34 public health units reported no new cases today, while 10 more reported fewer than five. More than two-thirds of active COVID-19 cases are concentrated in the Greater Toronto Area.
Meanwhile, the province’s network of labs processed 15,357 tests, below the benchmark of 16,000. Test numbers have typically dropped on Sundays throughout the pandemic period. The backlog of tests waiting to be processed sits at 4,811.
Ontario’s official COVID-19 death toll increased by 24 and currently sits at 2,450. A CBC News count based on data from regional public health units puts the real toll at 2,490 as of last evening.
Here’s the full document outlining the government’s Stage 2 plan:
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
