Vital updates:

• Today, the Ontario government introduced the Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act, 2020. The ability to extend and amend orders under the new legislation would be limited to one year, unless extended by the Ontario legislature.  The Act would, if passed, legislate the following:
  • Continue emergency orders in effect under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act (EMCPA) under the new legislation for an initial 30 days.
  • Allow the Lieutenant Governor in Council to further extend these orders for up to 30 days at a time, as required to keep Ontarians safe.
  • Allow the Lieutenant Governor in Council to amend certain emergency orders continued under the EMCPA if the amendment relates to:
    • labour redeployment or workplace and management rules;
    • closure of places and spaces or regulation of how businesses and establishments can be open to provide goods or services in a safe manner;
    • compliance with public health advice; or
    • rules related to gatherings and organized public events.
  • Not allow new emergency orders to be created.
  • Allow emergency orders to be rescinded when it is safe to do so.
• Ontario-based privately-run cannabis stores will no longer be allowed to provide delivery or curbside pickup services to customers this month when a provincial emergency order expires, according to a government spokesperson. Cannabis stores in the country’s biggest consumer market were allowed to open and provide additional services such as delivery in April following an emergency order approved by the provincial cabinet amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Uber Technologies Inc. will roll out a grocery delivery service via its Uber and Uber Eats platforms in Toronto and Montreal. A successful trial could see the service come to regions such as Niagara.
• A new poll conducted by Nanos Research for CTV News surveyed 1,049 Canadians within the past week, and found that two-thirds of respondents support, or somewhat support, another round of business closures in the event of a significant rise in cases and hospitalizations. Forty-two per cent of respondents said they support the closures, while another 28 per cent said they somewhat support them. About one in four Canadians oppose (16 per cent) or somewhat oppose (11 per cent) the idea. The poll also found that most Canadians support the mandatory wearing of masks in all public spaces, with 54 per cent in support and 25 per cent somewhat supportive. Support for mandatory face masks was highest in Ontario, at 65 per cent.

Reading recommendations:

• The Pandemic’s Big Mystery: How Deadly Is the Coronavirus? Donald G. McNeil, Jr., The New York Times
• Cash and the coronavirus: COVID-19 is changing our relationship with money, Anwar Mohammed, The Conversation
• Bank of Canada survey says business hiring plans remain muted due to pandemic, Canadian Press staff, CTV News