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.

Canada extends U.S. travel restrictions through July 21

Travel restrictions at the Canada-U.S. border will remain in place for at least another month, the CBC has reported. Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said the Canadian and American governments are extending restrictions on non-essential international travel until July 21.

He added in a tweet that the government will provide details Monday of plans to let fully vaccinated Canadians and permanent residents enter the country.

The measures at the border have been in place since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. The pressure to relax the restrictions has been building from businesses on both sides of the border — and increasingly from American lawmakers — as vaccination rates climb in Canada.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that 75 per cent of Canadians would have to be vaccinated before restrictions could be lifted. To that condition, Trudeau also added the caveat that the outbreak needs to be at a stage where minor flare-ups can be handled without the risk of wider spread.

Premier Ford announces changes to cabinet

Changes to the Executive Council include the following:

• Jill Dunlop, MPP for Simcoe North, becomes Minister of Colleges and Universities.
• Dr. Merrilee Fullerton, MPP for Kanata-Carleton, becomes Minister of Children, Community and Social Services.
• Parm Gill, MPP for Milton, becomes Minister of Citizenship and Multiculturalism.
• Rod Phillips, MPP for Ajax, becomes Minister of Long-Term Care.
• Dave Piccini, MPP for Northumberland-Peterborough South, becomes Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks.
• Greg Rickford, MPP for Kenora-Rainy River, assumes a merged role as Minister of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry, as well as remains Minister of Indigenous Affairs. This new northern and economic focused ministry will enhance development potential and sustainability in the North. Energy will transfer to a new separate ministry.
• Todd Smith, MPP for Bay of Quinte, becomes Minister of Energy.
• Rosario Romano, MPP for Sault Ste. Marie, becomes Minister of Government and Consumer Services.
• Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria, MPP for Brampton South, becomes President of the Treasury Board.
• Kinga Surma, MPP for Etobicoke Centre, becomes Minister of Infrastructure.
• Lisa Thompson, MPP for Huron Bruce, becomes Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
• Stan Cho, MPP for Willowdale, becomes Associate Minister of Transportation, reporting to Minister Mulroney.
• Jane McKenna, MPP for Burlington, becomes Associate Minister of Children and Women’s Issues, reporting to Minister Fullerton.
• Nina Tangri, MPP for Mississauga Streetsville, becomes Associate Minister of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction, reporting to Minister Fedeli.
• Kaleed Rasheed, MPP for Mississauga East-Cooksville, becomes Associate Minister of Digital Government, reporting to Minister Bethlenfalvy.

Peter Bethlenfalvy, MPP for Pickering-Uxbridge and Minister of Finance, will assume responsibility for Ontario’s digital government strategy within the Ministry of Finance.

Housing market continues to moderate in May

Statistics released today by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) show national home sales and new listings were both down between April and May 2021.

Ward 3 by-election campaigns begin in Welland

Campaigning has begun for the Welland Ward 3 By-Election (PDF link). At the request of Council, staff have prepared safe campaigning practices for the candidates. During the COVID-19 Pandemic information regarding Safe COVID-19 Practices for Campaigning is included in the candidates’ nomination package they receive when they file nomination papers with the City Clerk.

Nominations close June 25, 2021 at 2:00 p.m. (Nomination Day). Voting Day is August 9, 2021. All information is available by visiting this link.

Brock’s 109th Convocation goes live with a message of resiliency

In his final Convocation as President of Brock University, Gervan Fearon sent the Class of 2021 off with words of encouragement, reminding them that they are uniquely prepared to deal with life’s unanticipated developments.

“In my video message to last year’s graduates, I spoke about how the past few months had brought remarkable challenges, compelled us to make astonishing changes and to accept many compromises in our normal routines. But that despite all these considerations, we have collectively persevered and grown from the experience,” said Fearon, whose tenure as Brock President concludes on June 30. “However, I did not foresee at the time that graduates one year later would have completed the past year and a half virtually, through online classes. It is an accomplishment that makes you, the Class of 2021, remarkable, outstanding and, indeed, very special.”

With the pandemic continuing to place restrictions on the size of public gatherings, the University’s Spring Convocation — Brock’s 109th overall — was delivered as a personalized online portal for the nearly 3,300 graduands.

Reading Recommendations

Canadian mortgage debt grew by $18 billion in April, biggest monthly gain ever, StatsCan says

CBC News

Canadians took out almost $18 billion worth of new mortgage debt in April, the fastest monthly increase on record and enough to bring total housing debt to almost $2 trillion.

Statistics Canada reported Friday that while consumers appear to be tightening their belts when it comes to other forms of debt, they seemingly have an inexhaustible appetite to borrow money to purchase and renovate homes.

Canadians had a total of almost $1.69 trillion worth of mortgage debt at the end of April after a $12.9 billion increase in March followed by an even larger one — $17.7 billion — in April. That means total mortgage debt in Canada has grown by 7.8 per cent in the past year.

To stop the ransomware pandemic, start with the basics

The Economist

The first attempt at ransomware was made in 1989, with a virus spread via floppy disks. Cybercrime is getting worse as more devices are connected to networks and as geopolitics becomes less stable. The West is at odds with Russia and China and several autocracies give sanctuary to cyber-bandits.

Trillions of dollars are at stake. Most people have a vague sense of narrowly avoided fiascos: from the Sony Pictures attack that roiled Hollywood in 2014, to Equifax in 2017, when the details of 147m people were stolen. The big hacks are a familiar but confusing blur: remember SoBig, or SolarWinds, or WannaCry?

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NWPB project seeks to break barriers to employment

NWPB is conducting a project designed to identify and break down barriers to employment. We are asking employers to encourage their staff to complete a brief questionnaire that will lead to new insights on how employers can retain their current workforce and attract quality new hires as we move into a time of growing labour competition. The questionnaire can be completed here.

Unsure how this project will help your business? We know that COVID-19 has:

• Accelerated retirements
• Made it harder for women to find full-time work
• Shrunk commutes so that local employers have more competition with the GTA and beyond

Recognizing how each of these realities can delay projects and create turnover costs, NWPB wants to use this project to support Niagara employers with potential low/no-cost strategies to retain existing talent and attract a new workforce. NWPB will begin publishing the results of this project over the summer. If you have any questions, please feel free to connect directly with Adam Durrant (adam@nwpb.ca) at the Niagara Workforce Planning Board.