On Saturday, April 11, 2020, the Ontario government announced the extension of its emergency orders concerning the COVID-19 pandemic until April 23, 2020. This extension applies to all emergency orders made by the province in response to COVID-19, including the closure of non-essential places of business previously discussed by this writer. For more information, the Ontario government’s press release includes a full list of the affected emergency orders.
The press release also includes the announcement of several new measures targeted at reducing the spread of COVID-19:
- Facilitating the repurposing of existing buildings and putting up temporary structures to assist the healthcare industry and emergency shelters in responding to local needs.
- Removing labour relations implications to temporarily enable hospitals to increase capacity by using beds and services of retirement homes
- Prohibiting camping on Crown land.
- Taking emergency action to support construction workers and emergencies, including lifting the suspension of limitation periods and procedural time periods under the Construction Act and allowing the release of holdback payments to contractors and subcontractors.
As details of these new measures emerge, we will continue to provide updates relevant to the local business community. Depending on the status of COVID-19 in Ontario over the coming days, watch for the possible extension of some or all of the emergency orders.