COVID-19 Updates | Daily Workplace Round Up for April 28, 2020

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Below are the key announcements from the Federal, Ontario, and Alberta governments that touch on workplace issues for April 28, 2020. 

Federal

Restarting the Canadian Economy - Necessary Measures Identified

Today, Justin Trudeau announced that the federal, provincial, and territorial governments have come together and agreed to a set of common principles for restarting the Canadian economy, based on shared understanding and appreciation of what science and experts are telling us.

The statement identifies four main principles, including:

• taking a science and evidence-based approach to decision-making;
• coordination and collaboration between all jurisdictions;
• continued accountability and transparency of all governments, and; 
• flexibility and proportionality as information changes over time.

The statement also identifies more specific criteria and measures that need to be in place in order to begin to take steps to restart the economy.

Read the full statement here.

News! National Day of Mourning will acknowledge essential, frontline workers’ sacrifices through COVID-19

Today, April 28, 2020, on the National Day of Mourning, or Workers Mourning Day, Canadians will pay tribute to workers who have died, were injured, or made ill from their work.

It's also a day on which to renew organizational commitments to preventing future workplace tragedies, says Anne Tennier, president and CEO at the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS).

“On this day, we encourage workplaces to renew their commitment to safety as we remember those touched by tragic events from their work,” she says.

For more information, check out this news release. 

Ontario

COVID-19: Tackling the Barriers - Website Launched for Ontario Businesses

The Ontario government has launched the COVID-19: Tackling the Barriers website to help businesses overcome the unique challenges created by COVID-19.

Businesses working to retool their operations to produce health-related products, or those that want to continue their operations in this new environment of physical distancing, can submit any potential roadblocks to the website.

The province is prepared to allow temporary changes to provincial rules and regulations in order to remove any barriers that are hindering business and negatively impacting Ontario's supply chain.

Visit the COVID-19: Tackling the Barriers website to submit a request. 

For more information, check out this news release.

Ontario Unveils Guiding Principles to Reopen the Province

On April 27, 2020, the Ontario government released A Framework for Reopening our Province, outlining the criteria health experts will use to advise the government on the loosening of emergency measures, as well as guiding principles for the safe, gradual reopening of businesses, services and public spaces.

The key takeaways from the framework: 

• No hard dates have been set. It will depend on the spread and containment of the virus, health system’s capacity, public health system’s capacity and continued incident tracking.

• The framework is based on how/conditions to reopen, not when; Ontario will take a gradual three-stage approach, with two to four weeks between easements to assess the case numbers.

• Details on types of businesses that will be able to reopen (in stage 1) have not been announced yet.

• In the coming days, the Ontario Jobs and Recovery Committee will begin discussions with business leaders to better understand the challenges that each region and sector is facing.

• The government will provide guidelines to employers on how to open safely and protect their employees and customers. They will be developed in partnership with public health officials and Ontario’s Health and Safety Associations. Release dates of these documents are still to come. 

  See the three stages mentioned above, outlined in this news release and official framework. 

Alberta

Select Registry Services Available Remotely

The Government of Alberta has identified registry agents as an essential service. To limit the number of Albertans who need to visit them, registry agents are offering the following services through alternative delivery methods:

• All corporate registry services, available by fax or email
• All personal property registry services, available by fax or email
• Select motor vehicles services, available by telephone, fax, mail or email (with secure encryption), including:
  • One-year driver’s licence and identification card renewals (with existing photo)
  • Driver’s licence and ID card replacement or cancellation
  • Vehicle registration renewals
    • If no changes are required to passenger vehicle or motorcycle registrations, one-year renewals can be completed online
  • Duplicate vehicle registration certificates
  • Replacement expiry date stickers for licence plates
  • Vehicle registration transfers (to a new vehicle)
  • Driver abstracts
  • Specialty plate orders

For more information, check out Alberta's official news release.

News! Albertans deserve credit for keeping COVID-19 numbers well below projections, top doctor says 

Alberta's case numbers and hospitalization rates for COVID-19 are well below modelling projections released earlier this month because the public has followed public health orders about physical distancing, says the province's Chief Medical Officer of Health.

For more information, check out this news release.

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Sarah Visca is the Operations Manager at ConnectsUs HR, a company that provides tools & resources to quickly set up a Human Resources department.  
You can contact her here. 

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