Important Covid-19 Newsletter

Dear Members, Partners and NOTL’s business Community at large,

For many years our primary mandate has been to create demand for our tourism attractions through promotion and more recently to manage the new challenges that the destination is facing. But as the COVID-19 pandemic spreads, we are making a pause in our travel stories by providing a calm, reasonable update with links to official information related to the tourism industry. Since last week, we are communicating on behalf of all our stakeholders, including residents, through our Newsletter; now available to anyone that wants to subscribe (free and with no obligation) at membership@niagaraonthelake.com

We are trying to be transparent and clear:

· Identifying official sources of information related to business and tourism , so you can act appropriately when you have the facts. We are closely collaborating with TIAO (Tourism Industry Association of Ontario), TIAC (Tourism Industry Association of Canada) and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce

· Placing health and safety first, The health and safety of locals and visitors in our destination always come first. Your social media audiences contain both visitors and residents, so keep this in mind, especially if we reach a stage where travel is restricted

· Supporting government recommendations (National, Provincial and Town) about events, gatherings and general movements of the population. We rely on our governments information about the current travel risks, restrictions and recommendations and encourage you to do the same

In this special Newsletter we are attaching:

· The latest news from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce including the recommended policies measures

· TIAO’s last survey, this is an essential information from the frontline

Please make sure that you participate in this survey, TIAO and industry representatives are meeting with Minister Macleod on March 23 and the information that we’ll collect from the survey is precious to help us advocate in the right direction.

The health and safety of our employees, volunteers, visitors and the broader community is our utmost priority. We are very proud of all our members for coming together to help mitigate the spread of the virus.

Be well and stay healthy,

The Team of the Chamber of Commerce and Tourism NOTL

SECOND PHASE COVID-19

INDUSTRY SURVEY NOW OPEN

In cooperation with partners, members, stakeholders and the office of Minister Lisa MacLeod, TIAO has today released an updated COVID-19 industry survey.

The updated survey marks a shift in focus from measuring the broad impact of COVID-19 on the industry, to measuring the specific economic impact of the disruption on the ground to help shape an economic recovery package.

The survey asks about cancellations, lay-offs and temporary or permanent closures caused by COVID-19.

The survey link is https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HXXC9Y6

Please take a moment to complete the survey, email it to your members and share it with your partners and stakeholders.

Please put the link on your website, social media channels and any other ways you think will help drive traffic to the survey.

A larger sample size means we will paint a much more reflective picture of the economic impacts COVID-19 is having on the front-line and, in turn, a recovery plan that meets those challenges.

Please note the survey will close at 8am on Monday 23rd March so that we can collate and analyze the information before our weekly conference call with Minister MacLeod.

Please ensure that when sharing the survey you include the closing date prominently.

Thank you for your continued support and collaboration during this difficult time.

The TIAO team

COVID-19 | Business Resilience

COVID-19 Update

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, 2020. At the time of writing, there are 424 confirmed cases within Canada.

Last Friday and in subsequent announcements, the Government of Canada announced a $1 billion COVID-19 Response Fund that includes:

$50 million to support the Public Health Agency of Canada’s COVID-19 communications and public education efforts.
$500 million to the provinces and territories for critical health care system needs and to support mitigation efforts as needed.
Waiving the mandatory one-week waiting period for Employment Insurance (EI) sickness benefits (for those eligible for EI benefits).
Exploring additional measures to support other affected Canadians, including income support for those who are not eligible for EI sickness benefits.
Enhancing the Work-Sharing Program to help support employers and their workers who are experiencing a downturn in business due to COVID-19, doubling the length of time that employers and workers are eligible to the program from 38 to 76 weeks, and streamlining processes so help can be accessed as soon as possible.
$100 million to support federal public health measures such as enhanced surveillance, increased testing at the National Microbiology Laboratory, and ongoing support for preparedness in First Nations and Inuit communities. (This is in addition to an initial $50 million that was provided to support the immediate public health response.)
$275 million to enhance Canada’s capacity in research and development, including research on medical countermeasures, including antivirals, vaccine development and support for clinical trials (in addition to the recent $27 million announcement to fund coronavirus research in Canada).
$50 million to the Public Health Agency of Canada to support purchases of essential protective medical equipment by the provinces and territories, as well as to address federal needs.
$50 million to support the efforts of the World Health Organization and other partners to address the worldwide outbreak and help more vulnerable countries prepare for and respond to the virus.

Credit Facility Program

$10 billion will be available to SMEs through the Business Development Bank (BDC).

There are also a number of government programs currently in place to support business. They are:

As you know, COVID-19 will significantly interfere with normal operations for business, the health care system and the health and well-being of people across Canada and around the world. According to feedback we received from members, the pandemic has also highlighted the fact that many small businesses do not have business continuity plans in place and need tools and resources to help them develop plans.

Where and when appropriate, we will continue to advocate for those policies and measures that businesses require to remain resilient in the face of this unprecedented public health crisis.

While the federal government has announced measures to support employers and employees, we will continue to provide support to businesses and represent their collective voice with government.

Recommended Policy Measures

Based on input from our members, partner business associations and the broader Canadian business community, to date, we recommended the following measures for governments to implement to support Canadian business through this crisis and ensure a more effective recovery.

Deferring tax deadlines, audits and payments (both for individuals and businesses) to both assist with short-term liquidity and allow them to focus on dealing with the pandemic.
Offering flexibility on remittance payments (e.g. consider eliminating interest penalties).
Reducing tariffs on essential goods and medical supplies needed to deal with the pandemic.
Building upon previous announced measures to help affected businesses of all sizes access credit and capital swiftly.
Helping businesses, SMEs particularly, pay furloughed employees and finance remote work options.
Accelerating government payments owed to private sector and non-profit vendors.
Postponing government consultations that are not germane to COVID-19 and place a moratorium on the introduction of new regulations and policies that are nonessential to avoid forcing businesses to divert their attention from dealing with the crisis at hand.
Providing provisional extensions for temporary foreign workers already in Canada.
Identifying and supporting front line workers for essential goods and services.

Pandemic Preparedness For Business. A reminder that we have an online resource for information and tools to support business through the pandemic. This is an interim page until we launch a more comprehensive online hub for information, tools and engagement. Our pandemic preparedness page can be found here .

For those businesses who are still working through preparedness, this landing page provides access to a Pandemic Preparedness Guide for Business.

Our Pandemic Preparedness web page also has a number of other timely resources, including information on webinars you can sign up for.

Update from Johnson Insurance to Its Policyholders

As COVID-19 continues to evolve, our EBS partner Johnson Insurance has important information to share with its policyholders regarding MEDOC travel insurance.

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