• The Supporting Local Restaurants Act, 2020 was passed today, and will reduce fees charged by food delivery companies in areas where indoor dining is prohibited to help more small and independent restaurants stay in business. The Honourable Prabmeet Sarkaria, Associate Minister of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction, has confirmed that this legislation, which he introduced, has now been approved by the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and received Royal Assent this afternoon. Currently, fees placed on restaurants by food delivery companies can reach as high as 30% in Ontario. After working with the sector, the government intends to cap delivery fees at 15%, similar to what has been put in place in New York City, with an overall cap of 20% inclusive of all fees. This approach would ensure that delivery drivers’ pay would be protected and delivery apps would not reduce service areas or restaurant selection.
• Last night, St. Catharines City Council approved amendments to the City’s Official Plan, which included the re-designation of industrial land on Ontario Street for residential and mixed-use purposes. Changes to the City’s Official Plan were triggered by direction to study the potential redevelopment of industrial land located at 282 to 285 Ontario Street to allow for mixed-use purposes. This change required an amendment to the Official Plan, and as such a comprehensive city-wide Land Needs Assessment was completed by the City’s Planning and Building Services department. The recommendations approved at Council mean the re-designation of 60 hectares of Employment Land to Mixed Use Land, which will provide for a variety of housing and employment opportunities. This included the properties at 282 to 285 Ontario and lands west and south of the Niagara Health St. Catharines site on Fourth Avenue. Changes to the City of St. Catharines’ Official Plan will now go before the Niagara Region for final approval.
• The Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce are looking for your insight on what matters to business amidst the pandemic. The interactive results from the first round are live! Click here to see the preliminary results. This survey will take a deeper dive on business confidence as well as other pressing issues. Tell us how confident you are in Ontario’s economy and recovery, and what your organization’s outlook is for 2021. Share your views by taking a short three-minute survey here.This survey is being conducted by Golfdale Consulting, an independent consulting firm. All responses will be kept strictly anonymous and confidential.
• A new report from Niagara Workforce Planning Board on the retail sector focuses on the broader implications of the pandemic with respect to retail trade businesses, with future briefing notes to focus on retail trade employees, the link between retail trade in Niagara and the tourism sector, as well as what a post-pandemic reality might look like for Niagara’s retail trade sector. The report discusses the decline in the number of Canadians shopping at bricks-and-mortar retail outlets and the adaptation of retailers to a new, restricted world.

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