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Toronto, Peel Region set for 28-day lockdown: What’s open and closed – CityNews Toronto
With Toronto and Peel Region set to become the first areas to enter the ‘lockdown’ tier of the province’s COVID-19 response framework as of 12:01 a.m. Monday for at least the next 28 days, here’s a look at what that means for residents in those areas.
WHAT’S OPEN
- Schools, childcare centres, pharmacies, doctors, and dentist offices will be staying open during the lockdown
- Essential services such as supermarkets, grocery stores, convenience stores, hardware stores, discount and department store-type retailers, LCBO and beer stores and safety supply stores will also be open. There will be a 50 per cent capacity limit for in-person shopping, which means there could be lineups to get into these places.
- Vet services will remain open
- Motor vehicle sales are permitted by appointment only
- Garden centres and plant nurseries are open by appointment only unless outdoor curbside pickup or delivery is available to the public
- Outdoor markets are allowed with current public health measures
CLOSED WITH NO EXCEPTIONS
- Hair salons and barber shops
- Nail salons
- Tattoo parlours
- Casinos, bingo halls and gaming establishments
- Amusement parks
- Strip clubs, bathhouses and sex clubs
- Museums, galleries, science centres, zoos and aquariums
CLOSED BUT WITH EXEMPTIONS
No indoor organized public events or social gatherings of any kind are allowed except with members of the same household. Outdoor gatherings, where physical distancing can be maintained, are limited to 10 people
Funerals, weddings, religious services
There is a limit of 10 people both indoors and outdoors as long as physical distancing can be maintained. The Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto says it is suspending public masses for the duration of the lockdown, however, churches will remain open for private prayer.
Restaurants, bars, food/drink establishments
Indoor and outdoor service is prohibited but establishments can offer take out, drive through and/or delivery which includes the sale of alcohol.
Retail malls
- Curbside pickup or delivery only for non-essential businesses; no in-person shopping
- Essential businesses located within malls are permitted to be open with 50 per cent capacity limits
- Food courts are open for take-away service only
- Two-metres of physical distancing must be maintained while standing in line
Sports and recreation facilities, gyms, fitness centres
- All gyms are closed
- All indoor facilities such as courts, pools and rinks are closed
- Indoor team and individual sports are prohibited, including training. Exemptions are in place for high performance and pro league teams/athletes
- Community centres and multi-purpose facilities are allowed to be open for such things as child care services
- Outdoor sports, classes and amenities are limited to 10 people
Meeting and Event spaces
These spaces are closed with exemptions for court and government services while mental health and addiction support services are limited to 10 people.
Movie theatres/cinemas
Only drive-in theatres/cinemas are permitted.
Cannabis
Cannabis dispensaries can only offer curbside pickup. No in-person shopping.
Driving instruction
In-person instruction is not allowed; virtual instruction is permitted.
Horse racing
No races are allowed, only training.
Housekeeping, maids, nanny services, babysitters, maintenance services
All of these are permitted with public health measures.
Hotels, motels
Hotels and motels can remain open but pools, fitness centres and meeting rooms are all closed
Libraries
- Curbside delivery and pick-up permitted
- May be open for permitted services such as daycare
- No classes allowed
Nightclubs
Nightclubs can only remain open if they offer take-out, drive through or delivery of food/drink service.
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Divisions within the Bank of Canada over the timing of a much-anticipated cut to its key overnight interest rate stem from concerns of some members of the central bank’s governing council that progress on taming inflation could stall in the face of stronger domestic demand — or even pick up again in the event of “new surprises.”
“Some members emphasized that, with the economy performing well, the risk had diminished that restrictive monetary policy would slow the economy more than necessary to return inflation to target,” according to a summary of deliberations for the April 10 rate decision that were published Wednesday. “They felt more reassurance was needed to reduce the risk that the downward progress on core inflation would stall, and to avoid jeopardizing the progress made thus far.”
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Others argued that there were additional risks from keeping monetary policy too tight in light of progress already made to tame inflation, which had come down “significantly” across most goods and services.
Some pointed out that the distribution of inflation rates across components of the consumer price index had approached normal, despite outsized price increases and decreases in certain components.
“Coupled with indicators that the economy was in excess supply and with a base case projection showing the output gap starting to close only next year, they felt there was a risk of keeping monetary policy more restrictive than needed.”
In the end, though, the central bankers agreed to hold the rate at five per cent because inflation remained too high and there were still upside risks to the outlook, albeit “less acute” than in the past couple of years.
Despite the “diversity of views” about when conditions will warrant cutting the interest rate, central bank officials agreed that monetary policy easing would probably be gradual, given risks to the outlook and the slow path for returning inflation to target, according to the summary of deliberations.
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They considered a number of potential risks to the outlook for economic growth and inflation, including housing and immigration, according to summary of deliberations.
The central bankers discussed the risk that housing market activity could accelerate and further boost shelter prices and acknowledged that easing monetary policy could increase the likelihood of this risk materializing. They concluded that their focus on measures such as CPI-trim, which strips out extreme movements in price changes, allowed them to effectively look through mortgage interest costs while capturing other shelter prices such as rent that are more reflective of supply and demand in housing.
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They also agreed to keep a close eye on immigration in the coming quarters due to uncertainty around recent announcements by the federal government.
“The projection incorporated continued strong population growth in the first half of 2024 followed by much softer growth, in line with the federal government’s target for reducing the share of non-permanent residents,” the summary said. “But details of how these plans will be implemented had not been announced. Governing council recognized that there was some uncertainty about future population growth and agreed it would be important to update the population forecast each quarter.”
• Email: bshecter@nationalpost.com
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Shares in US tech giant Meta have sunk in US after-hours trading despite better-than-expected earnings.
The Facebook and Instagram owner said expenses would be higher this year as it spends heavily on artificial intelligence (AI).
Its shares fell more than 15% after it said it expected to spend billions of dollars more than it had previously predicted in 2024.
Meta has been updating its ad-buying products with AI tools to boost earnings growth.
It has also been introducing more AI features on its social media platforms such as chat assistants.
The firm said it now expected to spend between $35bn and $40bn, (£28bn-32bn) in 2024, up from an earlier prediction of $30-$37bn.
Its shares fell despite it beating expectations on its earnings.
First quarter revenue rose 27% to $36.46bn, while analysts had expected earnings of $36.16bn.
Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said its spending plans were “aggressive”.
She said Meta’s “substantial investment” in AI has helped it get people to spend time on its platforms, so advertisers are willing to spend more money “in a time when digital advertising uncertainty remains rife”.
More than 50 countries are due to have elections this year, she said, “which hugely increases uncertainty” and can spook advertisers.
She added that Meta’s “fortunes are probably also being bolstered by TikTok’s uncertain future in the US”.
Meta’s rival has said it will fight an “unconstitutional” law that could result in TikTok being sold or banned in the US.
President Biden has signed into law a bill which gives the social media platform’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, nine months to sell off the app or it will be blocked in the US.
Ms Lund-Yates said that “looking further ahead, the biggest risk [for Meta] remains regulatory”.
Last year, Meta was fined €1.2bn (£1bn) by Ireland’s data authorities for mishandling people’s data when transferring it between Europe and the US.
And in February of this year, Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg faced blistering criticism from US lawmakers and was pushed to apologise to families of victims of child sexual exploitation.
Ms Lund-Yates added that the firm has “more than enough resources to throw at legal challenges, but that doesn’t rule out the risks of ups and downs in market sentiment”.
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Oil companies planning to ship crude on the expanded Trans Mountain pipeline in Canada are concerned that the project may not begin full service on May 1 but they would be nevertheless obligated to pay tolls from that date.
In a letter to the Canada Energy Regulator (CER), Suncor Energy and other shippers including BP and Marathon Petroleum have expressed doubts that Trans Mountain will start full service on May 1, as previously communicated, Reuters reports.
Trans Mountain Corporation, the government-owned entity that completed the pipeline construction, told Reuters in an email that line fill on the expanded pipeline would be completed in early May.
After a series of delays, cost overruns, and legal challenges, the expanded Trans Mountain oil pipeline will open for business on May 1, the company said early this month.
“The Commencement Date for commercial operation of the expanded system will be May 1, 2024. Trans Mountain anticipates providing service for all contracted volumes in the month of May,” Trans Mountain Corporation said in early April.
The expanded pipeline will triple the capacity of the original pipeline to 890,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 300,000 bpd to carry crude from Alberta’s oil sands to British Columbia on the Pacific Coast.
The Federal Government of Canada bought the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion (TMX) from Kinder Morgan back in 2018, together with related pipeline and terminal assets. That cost the federal government $3.3 billion (C$4.5 billion) at the time. Since then, the costs for the expansion of the pipeline have quadrupled to nearly $23 billion (C$30.9 billion).
The expansion project has faced continuous delays over the years. In one of the latest roadblocks in December, the Canadian regulator denied a variance request from the project developer to move a small section of the pipeline due to challenging drilling conditions.
The company asked the regulator to reconsider its decision, and received on January 12 a conditional approval, avoiding what could have been another two-year delay to start-up.
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