• The Government of Ontario will permit certain businesses to reopen under strict conditions on May 4th at 12:01am. The government is still in Phase One of its reopening plan. These businesses will be those classified as:
  • Garden centres and nurseries with curbside pick-up and delivery only;
  • Lawn care and landscaping;
  • Additional essential construction projects that include:
    • shipping and logistics;
    • broadband, telecommunications, and digital infrastructure;
    • any other project that supports the improved delivery of goods and services;
    • municipal projects;
    • colleges and universities;
    • child care centres;
    • schools; and
    • site preparation, excavation, and servicing for institutional, commercial, industrial and residential development;
  • Automatic and self-serve car washes;
  • Auto dealerships, open by appointment only;
  • Golf courses may prepare their courses for the upcoming season, but not open to the public; and
  • Marinas may also begin preparations for the recreational boating season by servicing boats and other watercraft and placing boats in the water, but not open to the public. Boats and watercraft must be secured to a dock in the marina until public access is allowed.
• The federal government has issued the expected regulations, retroactive to March 15, 2020, to expand eligibility for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (the “CERB”) to include:
  • those earning up to $1,000 per month;
  • seasonal workers who have exhausted their EI regular benefits and are unable to undertake their regular seasonal work as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak; and
  • workers who have recently exhausted their EI regular benefits and are unable to find a job or return to work because of COVID-19.
• May 1st is Doctors’ Day. Please show your appreciation for doctors on the frontlines of the COVID-19 struggle, and all the doctors who work to keep us healthy, by shining the flashlight on your phone from your window, porch, or balcony at 9pm for five minutes.

Reading recommendations:

• The race for coronavirus vaccines: a graphical guide, Ewen Callaway, Nature
• This Is the Internet We Were Promised, Andrea Misri, The Walrus
• Let’s reopen Ontario and Quebec. You go first, Paul Wells, Maclean’s
• Death of the office, Catherine Nixey, 1843 Magazine/The Economist
• 10 Facts You Must Know About Recessions, John Waggoner, Kiplinger
• Why summer likely won’t save us from the coronavirus, German Lopez, Vox

If you are showing symptoms, you must self-isolate for a minimum of 14 days. Call a public health authority immediately. Do not visit any healthcare provider in person before you have been directly advised to by public health authorities.  

It is important that everyone practice physical distancing to prevent the spread of aCOVID-19. Remain at home unless absolutely necessary. Minimize contact with other people. Wash hands frequently and thoroughly. Avoid touching the face. Maintain a 2-meter distance from others if you are required to be out in public. If you have recently traveled outside the country, you are legally required to self-isolate for 14 days.

Previous updates can be accessed here.

Stay safe and be vigilant. The GNCC is here to support you. Contact us with any questions you have.