First cases of Omicron variant confirmed in Ontario
Today, the province of Ontario has confirmed two cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in Ottawa, both of which were reported in individuals with recent travel from Nigeria. Ottawa Public Health is conducting case and contact management and the patients are in isolation.
The Government of Ontario urged border restrictions as the “best defence against the Omicron variant.”
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Dr. Dan Patterson honoured with Minister’s Lifetime Achievement Award
Niagara College President Emeritus Dr. Dan Patterson was presented with a Minister’s Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing his lasting contribution to the Ontario college system and the postsecondary education system in Canada. In his 25 years as President of Niagara College, the college tripled its enrolment to more than 13,000 full-time students in more than 130 programs and underwent the largest capital expansion in Niagara College history. Under Dan’s leadership, Niagara College has also become a forerunner in applied research, consistently ranking in the top 10 of college research funding in Canada.
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Canadian industrial product prices rise 16.7% in 12 months
The price of products manufactured in Canada, as measured by the Industrial Product Price Index (IPPI), increased 1.3% month over month in October and 16.7% compared with the same month in 2020. Prices of raw materials purchased by manufacturers operating in Canada, as measured by the Raw Materials Price Index (RMPI), increased 4.8% month over month in October and 38.4% year over year.
Prices for energy and petroleum products were up by 7.4% in October, and were 72.1% higher than the same month last year. Motor gasoline (+5.3%), diesel and biodiesel fuels (+11.3%), as well as natural gas liquids and related products (+14.7%) all posted monthly increases. These gains were mainly due to higher prices for their feedstocks. Benchmark prices for crude oil reached a five year high in October as global demand outweighed supply.
Prices for softwood lumber reversed course in October, posting an 11.9% increase after four consecutive months of decreases. Prices were 3.6% lower year over year, but were 75.7% higher than October 2019.
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Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety offers free online courses for safe return to work
The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) has released two free online courses to help workplaces and employees prepare for a safe return to work during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Return to Work During COVID-19 provides employers, managers, supervisors, and operations staff with an overview of COVID-19 control measures.
Return to Work During COVID-19: Preparing Workers is intended to help employers, managers, and supervisors prepare their workers for a safe return to the workplace during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Both courses are available for free on the CCOHS website.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey steps down, shares surge
Jack Dorsey, the co-founder and chief executive officer of Twitter Inc., is stepping down, ceding the position to the company’s Chief Technology Officer Parag Agrawal.
The move is effective immediately, though Dorsey will stay on the board of the social media company until his term expires in 2022, Twitter said in a statement Monday.
Dorsey has a net worth of $12.3 billion, with Square accounting for more than $10 billion of that amount. He’s publicly pledged much of his stake in Square to charitable causes, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
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Moderna jumps, says Omicron vaccine ready early 2022
Moderna Inc. is having its best two-day rally in a year after the company said a new vaccine to fight the omicron strain of the coronavirus could be ready by early 2022 if required.
The stock soared as much as 14 per cent to the highest level in two months, after jumping 21 per cent during Friday’s global risk-asset selloff, to reclaim its place as top performer on the S&P 500 year-to-date. The company mobilized hundreds of workers on Thanksgiving Day last Thursday in order to start work on omicron, Chief Medical Officer Paul Burton said over the weekend.
Moderna’s mRNA technology is ideally suited to adapting vaccines to new variants, according to Piper Sandler analyst Edward A. Tenthoff, who has an overweight rating on the stock.
Reading Recommendations
If the way we work is going to change, offices are going to change, too
CBC News
At organizations across Canada, decision-makers are looking at how their physical workspaces need to function, as they plan how their people will make use of them in the future — even if their staff end up spending less time there in the long term.
In some cases, that’s spurring changes to those spaces, including office equipment and infrastructure upgrades, as well as a rethink of the ways people will work there.
4 common ways companies alienate people with disabilities
Harvard Business Review
Every day, business leaders make seemingly small but meaningful mistakes that leave a large population of users with disabilities out in the cold. Companies are aware that they should be prioritizing the accessibility of their product — and in turn the inclusiveness of their brand — in order to maximize their reach and value. Yet in many cases, they make the wrong choices because they don’t know where their gaps in understanding are or who they’re unintentionally excluding. For example, earlier this year, there was outrage after leading UK train websites went grayscale as a tribute to Prince Philip after his death — a well-intentioned change that left people with visual impairments unable to use them.
Executives and product team leaders need to stop excluding people with disabilities and understand that their decisions affect how users interact with every aspect of their products and services. At this point, we have the right tools at our disposal, but we need to become more aware of our oversights. Avoid the following four mistakes that prevent people with disabilities from interacting with your company.
Niagara COVID-19 statistics tracker
Niagara COVID vaccination tracker
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.
