Ontario invests $106.4 million to help publicly assisted colleges and universities
The Ontario government is providing $106.4 million to help publicly assisted colleges and universities address the financial impacts of COVID-19. This investment will support the sustainability of the postsecondary sector and aims to ensure students continue to get the skills and education they need for the in-demand jobs of today and tomorrow.
The funding will provide immediate and targeted support for postsecondary institutions that are most affected by decreases in tuition and ancillary revenues and have incurred expenses associated with online learning, personal protective equipment and enhanced cleaning. Institutions can also use the funding in 2020-21 to offset COVID-19 expenses related to student financial supports and human resources.
Niagara College received $6.8M, while Brock University was allocated $7.9M.
Goodman School of Business earns prestigious designation for contribution to economy
Brock University’s Goodman School of Business has received the Business School Impact System (BSIS) label in recognition of the significant contribution the School makes both locally and globally.
The BSIS external review quantifies the extent and nature of a business school’s impact on its environment. What it found was Goodman’s contribution to the Niagara economy adds up.
The School’s activities contribute to an economic impact totalling $380 million annually through direct, indirect and induced contributions.
Goodman is just the third North American business school to receive this label.
Region seeks input on Regional Incentive Review
Niagara Region offers a wide range of incentive programs to help create jobs, build affordable housing, protect our environment and improve our communities. Many of these programs match funding provided by Niagara’s cities, towns and townships. These programs are paid for using Regional property taxes.
Since 2002, the number of Regional incentive programs has grown, and many no longer meet the critical needs of our communities. Niagara Region is undertaking a review of these incentive programs, in consultation with Regional Council, local municipalities, community stakeholders and the public.
Following the review and consultation, Regional staff will bring a new incentives strategy to Regional Council for consideration in the summer of 2021.
The Region encourages you to share your views through a brief survey on Regional incentives, located here: https://niagararegion.ca/projects/regional-incentive-review/default.aspx. The survey will be available through April 1, 2021.
If you would like to learn more about Regional incentives and the incentive review, there will be a free Zoom webinar on Wednesday, March 24 at 6:30 p.m. You can register for this webinar and learn more at the link above.
Ontario ‘by-name list’ strategy aims to combat homelessness
The Ontario government is directing municipal service managers to begin collecting detailed, up-to-date information from individuals experiencing homelessness and use a strategy called by-name lists. This innovative approach is being launched across Ontario following significant consultation, and will help connect people with local housing and homelessness supports that better respond to their needs.
By-name lists are a real-time list of people experiencing homelessness that includes detailed information about the needs of each individual. They can help create a foundation to improve access to supportive housing, connect people to services, and provide a more standardized approach for assessment and referral protocols to make sure people are being matched to the services they need.
Ontario is partnering with the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness (CAEH) to support service managers throughout the process. CAEH has significant expertise in this area and will develop a best practices guide to help service managers develop and implement effective by-name lists. CAEH will also deliver training and workshops, offer intensive coaching and provide a portal with online tools.
Vaccine appointment bookings will extend to individuals aged 75 and over on Monday
With over 50 per cent of Ontario residents aged 80 and over having received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, the Ontario government is expanding appointments through its online booking system to individuals aged 75 and over, effective Monday, March 22, 2021, ahead of schedule.
Ontario began vaccinating individuals aged 80 and over in February, and launched an online booking tool and a call centre to help answer questions and support appointment bookings at mass immunization clinics. Since the provincial booking system was launched on March 15, more than 239,000 appointments have been scheduled for the first and second doses.
Ontario is leading the country in the total number of vaccines administered and has fully immunized more individuals than all provinces and territories combined. To date, over 1.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered across the province, including over 129,000 doses administered to long-term care home residents. Over 294,000 Ontarians are fully immunized, including over 61,000 long term-care home residents.
On March 16, 2021, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) expanded its recommendation for the use of the AstraZeneca/COVISHIELD vaccine to people 18 years old and older. In alignment with NACI’s latest recommendation and Ontario’s Ethical Framework, as of March 22, 2021, participating pharmacies and primary care settings will offer vaccination appointments to individuals aged 60 and over. Eligible Ontarians can contact a participating pharmacy directly to make an appointment. In addition, many primary care providers are directly contacting eligible patients to book an appointment.
Canada to ratify Canada-United Kingdom Trade Continuity Agreement
Today, the Honourable Mary Ng, Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade, during a call with Elizabeth Truss, the United Kingdom’s Secretary of State for International Trade, announced that Canada is ratifying the Canada-United Kingdom (U.K.) Trade Continuity Agreement (TCA). This announcement follows the Royal Assent of Bill C-18: An Act to implement the Agreement on Trade Continuity between Canada and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the House of Commons.
The Canada-U.K. TCA will provide Canadian exporters and businesses with continued preferential access to the U.K. market and 98% of Canadian products will continue to be exported to the UK tariff-free. The agreement provides much needed predictability and stability, and will support workers and businesses on both sides of the Atlantic. Canada and the U.K. are taking all necessary steps required to implement this agreement for April 1, 2021.
As the Canada-U.K. TCA is meant to be an interim measure, Canada and the U.K. look forward to engaging in future negotiations on a new, high-standard and ambitious free trade agreement that will best reflect the bilateral relationship and trade priorities.
Health Canada confirms benefits of AstraZeneca vaccine continue to outweigh risks
Health Canada confirms that the benefits of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in protecting Canadians from COVID-19 continue to outweigh the risks, and encourages Canadians to get immunized with any of the COVID-19 vaccines that are authorized in Canada.
There have been recent reports in Europe of blood clots following vaccination with the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. Health Canada communicated on March 11, 2021 that it was assessing these events, in collaboration with international regulatory partners, particularly the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Today, both the EMA and the MHRA communicated that the benefits of the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine continue to outweigh any risks.
Health Canada has assessed the available data on the reported events and has determined that the AstraZeneca vaccine has not been associated with an increase in the overall risk of blood clots. There have been very rare reports in Europe of blood clots associated with low levels of blood platelets (thrombocytopenia). Blood clots, sometimes fatal, can also be due to COVID-19. Health Canada will continue to work with international regulators and review data and evidence as it becomes available, including as it pertains to these rare events. The Department is also working with AstraZeneca to ensure that healthcare professionals and Canadians have the safety information they need.
For further information on COVID-19 vaccines authorized by Health Canada, including post-market updates, please visit Health Canada’s COVID-19 vaccines and treatments portal.
Grimsby Green Advisory Committee seeks members
The Town of Grimsby is seeking individuals interested in serving on the Grimsby Green Advisory Committee for the remainder of the current term (term ends December 31, 2022). There are 2 volunteer positions to be filled. Applicants must be qualified to be elected as a member of Council, must be 18 years of age, a Canadian citizen and a resident in the Municipality or the owner or tenant of land, or spouse of such person. Application forms and further information about the Committee can be found at www.grimsby.ca/apply.
Niagara-on-the-Lake seeks feedback on customer service throughout COVID-19 pandemic (PDF Link)
The public is invited to complete a Customer Service Survey, available through the Town’s Join the Conversation platform. Results of the survey will assist Staff in making service adjustments, as required, and will help to support Council’s strategic plan initiatives regarding customer service delivery.
Tourism Industry Association of Ontario seeks input for advocacy
The tourism sector of Ontario is a $36bn industry that supports over 200,000 businesses and 400,000 jobs. It provides billions in tax revenues and helps to drive economic growth in our province. The catastrophic effects of COVID-19 mean that sector will require prolonged and targeted support to survive a period of adaptation and reduced and limited operations.
TIAO asks for your help to shape their message to government on what support you need to secure your business’ future and ensure the tourism industry bounces back stronger than ever. It’s never been more important for our industry to be at the decision-making table with a clear and strong message. Please take a few minutes to complete the following survey, compiled in cooperation with TIAO’s partners at Navigator.
Click here to start the survey.
Please note that the survey will be open until 5 p.m. on March 29th.
U.S extends travel restrictions at Canada, Mexico land borders
U.S. land borders with Canada and Mexico will remain closed to non-essential travel until at least April 21, the U.S. government said on Thursday. The 30-day extension is the second announced under President Joe Biden and comes as U.S lawmakers in northern border states have urged lifting the nearly year-old restrictions to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a notice Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security said the three countries have all “determined that non-essential travel … poses additional risk of transmission and spread of the virus.” Canadian Public Safety Minister Bill Blair confirmed the extension of restrictions on Twitter.
Canada has shown little interest in lifting the restrictions and last month imposed new COVID-19 testing requirements for some Canadians returning at land crossings.
On Jan. 26, the U.S. government began requiring nearly all international air travelers to get negative COVID-19 test results within three days of travel but has no similar requirements for land border crossings.
The Biden administration has spent weeks reviewing whether to impose COVID-19 testing requirements for land border crossings but has not issued new requirements.
Retail sales fall for second consecutive month
Retail sales decrease in January
Retail sales fell for the second consecutive month, down 1.1% to $52.5 billion in January. Sales declined in 6 of 11 subsectors, representing 39.4% of retail sales.
Core retail sales—which exclude gasoline stations and motor vehicle and parts dealers—also posted their second consecutive decline, falling 1.4% in January because of lower sales at clothing and clothing accessories stores, furniture and home furnishings stores, and sporting goods, hobby, book and music stores.
In terms of volume, retail sales fell 1.6% in January.
With the resurgence of COVID-19 cases in Canada, provincial governments began to reintroduce physical distancing measures, which directly affected the retail sector. Based on respondent feedback, approximately 14% of retailers were closed at some point in January for an average of three business days.
Statistics Canada thanked retailers for their continued collaboration during these challenging times.
Core retail sales fell for the second month in a row, down 1.4% in January because of lower sales at non-essential retailers, which were mandated to close their brick and mortar stores to in-person shopping in many regions across the country. Clothing and clothing accessories stores (-17.8%) led the decline, down for a fourth consecutive month.
Furniture and home furnishings stores (-15.1%) posted declines in January after decreasing by 7.1% in December.
Sales down in 6 of 11 subsectors
Sales were also down at sporting goods, hobby, book and music stores (-16.8%).
Sales at food and beverage stores were flat in January (+0.1%), driven by lower sales at supermarkets and other grocery stores (-1.9%). The decline in supermarkets and other grocery stores followed gains in November and December, when more Canadians hosted their own holiday dinners following pandemic-related restrictions on gatherings.
Sales at general merchandise stores—many of which are considered essential—increased by 3.3% in January after falling in December. Building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers also posted gains (+2.9%) in January, following a decrease in December.
Sales at motor vehicle and parts dealers contracted by 1.0% in January—their third consecutive decline. The decrease was mostly due to lower sales at other motor vehicle dealers (-13.5%) and used car dealers (-6.5%). By contrast, new car dealers (+1.2%) posted their first gain in four months.
Sales at gasoline stations increased for the second month in a row, rising 0.9% in January. Growth was largely the result of higher gasoline prices, which were up on a month-over-month basis. In volume terms, sales at gasoline stations were down 1.2%.
In Ontario, sales decreased by 2.6% on lower activity at clothing and clothing accessories stores. Much of the province was under lockdown restrictions in January, which included the closure of non-essential retailers to in-person shopping, while physical distancing measures were in place at essential retailers.
On an unadjusted basis, retail e-commerce sales were up 110.7% year over year to $3.5 billion in January, accounting for 7.8% of total retail trade. The continued rise in e-commerce sales coincided with an increase in store closures in January.
Reading recommendations
Plastic credits are the newest kind of pollution offset—but do they make a difference?
Kristin Toussaint, Fast Company
One factor at the core of our climate crisis is excess: We’re producing too many carbon emissions, more than our atmosphere can handle. We’re creating too much single-use plastic, more than can be recycled. This excess has reached dangerous levels. Our planet has just 9% of its global carbon budget left, and each year, 8 million tons of plastic makes its way into our oceans.
To combat all this excess, companies can try to simply produce less, but these excesses can be hard to remove entirely from a business model. When a company can’t reduce, there are offsets or credits, which create a market for the effort to reduce these pollutants. When an organization does something that would reduce carbon, like planting trees, they can sell that benefit to a company looking to effectively reduce their emissions. The 1997 Kyoto Protocol standardized carbon credits: each credit would represent one metric ton of CO2. That protocol also created different types of credits, from emission trading—when one country hasn’t emitted as much pollution as they’re “allowed” to, they can sell the left over amount to countries that have already passed their emission targets—to removal units, which use things like reforestation to remove CO2.
Now, the concept of credits are moving beyond emissions to one of the other most pressing forms of pollution: plastic. But while the idea of buying and selling plastic pollution credits is gaining traction, no standards like the Kyoto carbon credit standards exist. Instead, there’s a hodgepodge of different types of plastic removal, and different types of plastics, making environmental experts concerned about whether any promises that a company makes about being “plastic neutral” can be taken at face value if they involve credits.
Ontario’s 3rd wave of COVID-19 could hit younger adults harder. Here’s why
Lauren Pelley, CBC News
Across Ontario, there’s growing consensus among medical experts that the province has entered a third wave of COVID-19 cases.
There’s also growing concern that anecdotal evidence of recent serious infections skewing toward younger adults is a harbinger of a difficult stretch to come — one that may upend persistent notions of COVID-19 typically only being a grave illness for the elderly.
Clinicians and epidemiologists suspect multiple factors could shift the trajectory of the pandemic in Ontario.
On one hand, vaccinations are slowly making an impact for certain populations, including front-line health-care workers and the elderly — with the death toll in long-term care dropping dramatically as vaccination rates have picked up.
But there are still hospitalizations and deaths happening among other groups, with younger adults remaining vulnerable, said Dr. Kali Barrett, a critical care physician at Toronto’s University Health Network and a member of the COVID-19 Modelling Collaborative, a group of scientists and clinicians affiliated with Toronto’s university and hospital system.
Against that backdrop, there’s a patchwork of restrictions and reopenings across the province, giving people more chances to mingle and spread the virus, whether that’s in a shopping mall or a spin class.
Niagara COVID status tracker
Niagara’s most up-to-date COVID statistics, measured against the targets for the various stages of the Ontario COVID-19 Response Framework, are presented below. This does not predict government policy, but is offered to give you an idea of where Niagara is situated and how likely a relaxation (or further restrictions) may be. These data are drawn daily from Niagara Region. The Grey-Lockdown level does not have its own metrics, but is triggered when the COVID-specific measurements in a Red-Control region have continued to deteriorate.
| December 18 | December 25 | January 1 | January 8 | January 15 | January 22 | January 29 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reproductive number | 1.4 | 1.8 | 1.4 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 0.9 |
| New cases per 100,000 | 101.2 | 267.3 | 469.8 | 575.8 | 507.1 | 295.5 | 250.6 |
| New cases per day (not including outbreaks) | 60.7 | 178.7 | 311.7 | 376.9 | 325.4 | 182.7 | 145.7 |
| Percent of hospital beds occupied | 97% | 95.2% | 98.2% | 103.2% | 104.5% | 103.6% | 106% |
| Percent of intensive care beds occupied | 78.8% | 77.3% | 87.9% | 87.9% | 90.9% | 89.4% | 93.9% |
| Percentage of positive tests | 6.1% | 15.6% | 28.1% | 28.6% | 26.6% | 21.2% | 16.2% |
Definitions:
- Weekly Incidence Rate: the number of new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people per week
- Percent Positivity: the number of positive COVID-19 tests as a percentage of all COVID-19 tests performed
- Rt: the reproductive rate, or the number of people infected by each case of the virus
