Ontario releases technology and standards for digital identity
The Ontario government is publicly launching the technology and standards that will build Ontario’s digital identity ecosystem, which aims to empower simpler, faster and better access to more convenient and secure online services. When fully launched, Ontario’s Digital ID should allow people and businesses to prove who they are both online and in person with built-in safety features that protect users’ privacy and personal information.
Click here for more information.
Welland requests deferral of integrated public transit until 2023
Receiving an updated report from the Niagara Region on revised strategies for a consolidated transit system, Welland city council reiterated its support for inter-municipal transit services but maintained concerns about the financial, governance, and service models. These concerns prompted council to receive and support a subsequent staff report requesting the deferral of the project until 2023.
Click here for more information (PDF link).
Niagara-on-the-Lake Community Centre & Arenas reopen to rentals
Effective immediately, the Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake is welcoming user groups back to the Community Centre and Centennial and Meridian Credit Union Arenas, as permitted in Provincial regulations, by reopening for room and ice rentals and programming. This is the first time programming and room rentals have been available at the Community Centre since it first closed on March 13, 2020, due to Provincial Emergency Orders related to COVID-19.
Click here for more information (PDF link).
Bank of Canada maintains policy rate, continues forward guidance and current pace of quantitative easing
The Bank of Canada today held its target for the overnight rate at the effective lower bound of ¼ percent, with the Bank Rate at ½ percent and the deposit rate at ¼ percent. The Bank is maintaining its extraordinary forward guidance on the path for the overnight rate. This is reinforced and supplemented by the Bank’s quantitative easing (QE) program, which is being maintained at a target pace of $2 billion per week.
Click here for more information.
The Election Section
Niagara federal vote projections
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Seats (Projection)
| Niagara Centre | Niagara Falls | Niagara West | St. Catharines | Canada (338canada) | Canada (CBC) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bloc Quebecois | 7% (32 seats) | 6.8% (31 seats) | ||||
| Conservative Party | 30% | 38% | 46% | 32% | 31.4% (126 seats) | 31% (119 seats) |
| Green Party | 3% | 3.7% | 3.9% | 3.5% | 3.4% (2 seats) | 3.5% (1 seat) |
| Liberal Party | 35% | 31% | 29% | 36% | 31.9% (148 seats) | 31.5% (155 seats) |
| New Democratic Party | 24% | 21% | 14% | 23% | 19.3% (31 seats) | 19.1% (32 seats) |
| People's Party | 7.6% | 6% | 6.5% | 5.8% | 6% (0 seats) | 7% (0 seats) |
| Christian Heritage | - | - | 1.1% | - | - | - |
Data are provided by 338canada.com and the CBC using an aggregate of polls. Projections are updated daily. Click here for more information and margins of error.
Download the Canadian Chamber’s policy tracker, which summarizes party commitments made to date.
Niagara’s Prosperity Matters: Growing a prosperous economy
Canadians are hardworking and innovative, so it is no surprise SMEs are Canada’s biggest employers. The next Parliament must ensure an environment that helps Canada’s entrepreneurs grow and create jobs.
The GNCC is calling on all parties to champion local products. The pandemic has highlighted both the need to support local businesses in the face of global competition and the advantages of shortened supply chains when goods are in high international demand. The government should work to promote and support locally-produced goods across a broad range of Canadian industries.
Click here to read more about the GNCC’s Niagara Prosperity Plan.
Explainer: The Canadian federal election: what has happened and what’s at stake
Reuters
Canadians go to the polls on Sept. 20 in an election that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called two years early, seeking to turn public approval for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic into a fresh, four-year mandate.
Since 2019, Trudeau has only commanded a minority in parliament, leaving him dependent on other parties to govern. Trudeau argues the pandemic has changed Canada like World War Two did and Canadians should now choose who they want to make important decisions for decades to come.
Trudeau has struggled to explain why an early election during a worsening fourth wave of COVID-19 was a good idea. Conservative leader Erin O’Toole consistently accuses the Liberal leader of putting Canadians in harm’s way for personal ambition. People also seem to be tiring of Trudeau, who carries the baggage of having governed for six years.
Since Trudeau called the election, his hefty opinion poll lead has vanished: surveys point to a tight race in which he could lose to the opposition Conservatives.
But steady Conservative gains during the first three weeks seemed to have stopped as Trudeau attacked O’Toole for his opposition to vaccine mandates and his promise – now reversed – to legalize some assault weapons the Liberals had banned.
What do the federal parties have to do to win a majority this election?
CTV News
With just 12 days left in the federal election campaign, the two leading political parties appear to be locked in a dead heat with neither of them poised to win a majority government, according to national polling data.
So how can the Liberals and Conservatives move the political needle in their favour and where do the other parties stand?
According to Nanos Research’s nightly tracking data conducted for CTV News and the Globe and Mail, which was released on Wednesday morning, the Conservatives have 32.6 per cent support among Canadians and are in statistical tie with the Liberals at 31.6 per cent.
Reading Recommendations
Canada has opened up its borders to fully vaccinated foreign travellers. Are there risks?
CBC News
While the Canadian government has implemented strong measures to ensure fully vaccinated foreign travellers coming into Canada won’t be a significant source of COVID-19 spread, those protections will certainly not eliminate the risk, medical experts say.
“Certainly the optics aren’t ideal, as we are in a fourth wave and cases continue to climb across the country,” said Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease specialist and member of Ontario’s COVID-19 vaccine task force.
Learn more about COVID-19 vaccines here.
Top privacy concerns around mandatory vaccines
Canadian HR Reporter
Last week, we looked at some of the practical considerations around what an employer should be thinking about when implementing a mandatory vaccination policy at the workplace.
But what about privacy, especially when we are talking about potentially sensitive employee medical information? Canadian HR Reporter asked Lyndsay Wasser, partner privacy data protection at McMillan in Toronto, about some of the ways employers should safeguard that data.
Niagara COVID-19 statistics tracker
These data show the status of the COVID-19 pandemic in Niagara. The Province of Ontario is now using a provincewide approach to reopening, and these data no longer have any influence on Niagara’s restrictions. Lower numbers are better in all metrics.
| December 18 | December 25 | January 1 | January 8 | January 15 | January 22 | January 29 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reproductive number | 1.4 | 1.8 | 1.4 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 0.9 |
| New cases per 100,000 | 101.2 | 267.3 | 469.8 | 575.8 | 507.1 | 295.5 | 250.6 |
| New cases per day (not including outbreaks) | 60.7 | 178.7 | 311.7 | 376.9 | 325.4 | 182.7 | 145.7 |
| Percent of hospital beds occupied | 97% | 95.2% | 98.2% | 103.2% | 104.5% | 103.6% | 106% |
| Percent of intensive care beds occupied | 78.8% | 77.3% | 87.9% | 87.9% | 90.9% | 89.4% | 93.9% |
| Percentage of positive tests | 6.1% | 15.6% | 28.1% | 28.6% | 26.6% | 21.2% | 16.2% |
Last updated: September 4, 2021
Click here for definitions of terms used in this table.
On September 7, there were 13 patients admitted to Niagara Health with COVID-19, of which 12 were unvaccinated, 0 were partially vaccinated, and 1 was fully vaccinated. There were 4 patients with COVID-19 in a Niagara Health Intensive Care Unit.
Over the last 28 days, a Niagara resident vaccinated with 1 dose was 3.7 times more likely to contract COVID-19, and an unvaccinated person was 8.4 times more likely.
Data are drawn from Niagara Region Public Health and Niagara Health.
Niagara COVID vaccination tracker
Niagara’s most up-to-date vaccination numbers are presented below, along with comparison data from Ontario, Canada, and G7 countries.
| Percentage of population with one dose | Percentage of population fully vaccinated | |
|---|---|---|
| Niagara | 82.7% | 78.2% |
| Ontario | 84.6% | 79.1% |
| Canada | 84.7% | 78.6% |
| United States | 75% | 64% |
| United Kingdom | 78% | 72% |
| Germany | 76% | 74% |
| France | 80% | 77% |
| Italy | 83% | 76% |
| Japan | 80% | 79% |
| World | 63% | 53% |
Total doses administered in Niagara: 672,163
New daily doses administered to Niagara residents: 1,253
Last updated: September 8, 2021
Data are drawn from Niagara Region, the Government of Ontario, and Oxford University’s Our World in Data project.
Free rapid COVID-19 testing kits are now available to businesses. Visit gncc.ca/workplace-self-screening-kits to learn more and reserve kits for your organization.
Information on government grants, resources, and programs, policies, forms, and posters for download and use, are available here. The GNCC is here to support you. Contact us with any questions you have.
Through the Daily Updates, the GNCC aims to deliver important business news in a timely manner. We disseminate all news and information we feel will be important to businesses. Inclusion in the Daily Update is not an endorsement by the GNCC.
