• Local restaurants, bars, wineries, breweries, and other food and beverage service operators will soon be required to ask for information including if patrons have any symptoms of illness, and to confirm that patrons are dining only with their household or persons essential to maintaining physical and mental health. A workplace-based checklist that can be used when questioning patrons can be downloaded here. Acting Medical Officer of Health for Niagara Region Dr. M. Mustafa Hirji has issued a message to the Niagara community urging everyone in Niagara to:
  • Limit in-person social interactions to people within your household and avoid in-person social interactions with friends, with co-workers when not at work, and with extended family. Dining at restaurants, going to the movies, or partaking in other social activities should be limited to household members.
  • Stay home if you have any symptoms of illness, however mild.
• The City Council of St. Catharines has approved the 2020 Community Improvement Plan (CIP) to provide funding for redevelopment projects that include the provision of affordable housing, commercial buildings and heritage preservation, in addition to brownfield sites to ensure contaminated land is cleaned up and restored. Since 2004, the City has approved 98 CIP applications with a commitment of approximately $20.75 million. Once all projects are completed as approved, they will represent the generation of approximately 2,100 new residential dwelling units, 280 permanent new jobs and an estimated increase in property tax assessment of approximately $396 million. Formal passage of the by-law will be before Council on Nov. 16.
• Heddle Shipyards has reached a new long-term agreement with Vancouver-based shipyard Seaspan to fabricate Ontario-made ship components under the National Shipbuilding Strategy. Over the next decade, Heddle Shipyards will be the primary supplier for ladders, gratings and handrails for the JSS 1 (currently under construction), JSS 2, and an Offshore Oceanographic Science Vessel. These components will be manufactured at their facilities in St. Catharines, Hamilton, and Thunder Bay.
• The Ontario government is investing $500 million over four years to make public sector services more customer-focused, and more efficient and cost effective. The funding is flowing through the Ontario Onwards Acceleration Fund to support modernization projects such as making government services more digitally accessible, reducing red tape and simplifying policies, and improving government purchasing to save both time and money. This initiative is part of the 2020 Budget, Ontario’s Action Plan: Protect, Support, Recover. Details were announced today by Peter Bethlenfalvy, President of the Treasury Board and Minister Responsible for Digital and Data Transformation, Amy Fee, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Children, Community and Social Services, and Michael Harris, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry.
• The Ontario Onwards Acceleration Fund will help with the implementation of projects that emphasize digital-first and lean methods to ensure efficient and effective delivery, while also providing seed funding to set up pilot projects that test-drive new initiatives that show promise. In some cases this could include collaboration with the private sector. Projects eligible for funding must have:
  • A strong return on investment and deliver immediate benefits to the people and businesses of Ontario
  • Focus on the outcomes and needs of Ontarians
  • Clear governance to ensure accountability and support the tracking and reporting of results
• European Union regulators have filed antitrust charges against Amazon, stating that the company is using data from companies selling products on its website in order to gain an unfair advantage for its own offerings. This is the latest in a salvo against Big Tech from EU regulators, including a total of $10 billion of antitrust fines levied against Google and two antitrust investigations into Apple. It also follows last month’s filing of antitrust charges against Google by the U.S. Department of Justice and an investigation into Amazon by the Competition Bureau of Canada.
• To gain more insight on COVID-19’s impact on the retail sector, Niagara Workforce Planning Board is conducting one-on-one engagements and focus groups with local retailers. If you would like to participate, please contact NWPB Project Manager Thalia Semplonius at thalia@nwpb.ca.

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