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.

Ontario maintains COVID-19 restrictions as Stay-at-Home Order is set to expire

Ontario’s Stay-at-Home order will expire on June 2, 2021.

The Stay-At-Home order required Ontarians to remain at home except for the purposes set out in the order, such as exercise, going to the grocery store or pharmacy, or accessing health care services. Once the Stay-at-Home order expires on June 2, these restrictions will no longer be in effect.

However, all other existing measures will remain in place provincewide, including restrictions on gatherings, businesses, services and activities. This includes limiting indoor gatherings to households only and outdoor gatherings to up to five people, subject to limited exceptions, maintaining a cap of 25 per cent capacity for essential retail where only certain goods are permitted to be sold, restricting non-essential retail to curbside pickup and delivery only, as well as limiting short-term rentals to individuals in need of housing and allowing Ontario Parks and campgrounds on public lands to be used for day-use only, subject to limited exceptions.

Paid parking returns to St. Catharines streets, lots and garages; begins at beach lots on June 2

With the provincial stay-at-home order nearing completion, the City of St. Catharines is set to resume paid parking at on-street meter spaces, off-street lots and garages – in addition to the initiation of new paid parking at City beaches.

Earlier this year City Council had approved temporary free parking in response to the provincial restrictions in an effort to support businesses that continued to operate during the shutdown. With reopening set to take place later this month, paid parking will return on June 2.

Free curbside parking will continue at designated spaces downtown, in Port Dalhousie and on Facer Street, offering 15-minute parking for individuals who are accessing local businesses for pickup and takeout.

Niagara Medical Officer of Health offers new COVID-19 briefing

Real gross domestic product (GDP) grows 1.1% in March

Retail trade grows in March

Real gross domestic product (GDP) grew 1.1% in March, following 0.4% growth in February. This 11th consecutive monthly increase continued to offset the steepest drops in Canadian economic activity on record observed in March and April 2020. However, total economic activity was about 1% below the level observed in February 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Retail trade increased 3.7% in March, following a 5.9% jump in February, as 10 of 12 subsectors were up.

Activity at building material and garden equipment and supplies retailers jumped 15.3% in March as the continued easing of restrictions and temperatures above the seasonal average in some parts of the country contributed to the growth.

Construction rose 2.2% in March, building up on increases in the previous three months, as all subsectors were up.

The residential building construction subsector contributed the most to the growth, with a 4.1% expansion in March, as all types of construction activities were up.

Reading Recommendations

New stress test level makes it harder to qualify for a mortgage in Canada

CBC News

It’s a bit harder to qualify for home loan as of today as the government has raised the minimum financial bar that anyone applying for a mortgage must meet.

Ottawa raised the level of the so-called “stress test” for mortgages today, setting the new level at 5.25 per cent — or two full percentage points above the borrower’s mortgage rate, whichever is higher. That’s an increase of about half a percentage point from where it was before.

Launched in 2017 to cool down the overheated market of the time, the stress test is a minimum threshold that anyone applying for a home loan in Canada has to meet. It doesn’t make the loan itself any more expensive. Rather, it ensures anyone getting a mortgage will be able to pay it off if rates go up.

Featured Content

Servant Leadership

Pollice Consulting Group

Servant leadership is a leadership philosophy in which the goal of the leader is to serve. Given the upheaval that we have experienced over the past twenty months, servant leadership has been taking on a life of its own in some major organizations.

This is a very different approach from the traditional leadership style where the leader’s main focus is the thriving of their company, usually based on metrics. A servant leader shares power, puts the needs of the employees first and helps people develop and perform as efficiently and effectively as possible. In other words, servant leadership inverts the norm, which puts the customer and the employee as a main priority. Instead of the people working to serve the leader, the leader exists to serve the people.