In Today's Update
- Program for Northern Businesses to be Announced Monday, September 28th
- Provincial Government's Fall COVID-19 Plan
- Federal Government's Throne Speech Highlights
- ADAPT 2020 Webinar on CEWS - September 29th
- Hardest Hit Businesses Letter Writing Campaign
We will continue to strive to bring forward pertinent information to the tourism industry as it becomes available. We will also do our best to find answers to your questions. Do not hesitate to contact us. We are here for you.
NOTO Contact Emails:
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Northern Ontario Recovery Program to be Announced
There will be an important announcement for Northern Businesses coming Monday, September 28!
Join Minister Rickford to learn more about
new financial support for Northern Businesses.
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Provincial Government's Fall COVID-19 Plan
This week, the Government released a few details from it's fall COVID-19 preparedness plan entitled Keeping Ontarians Safe: Preparing for Future Waves of COVID-19, which sets out a series of steps to prevent, identify and respond to any outbreaks. Although the finalized document has yet to be released, the Government has already begun implementing components of this plan.
This plan includes:
- Maintaining strong public health measures, including continued expansion of testing and case and contact management;
- Quickly identifying, managing and preventing COVID-19 outbreaks;
- Accelerating efforts to reduce health service backlogs;
- Prepare for surges in COVID-19 cases;
- Recruit, retain, train and support health care workers, while also continuing to engage families and caregivers; and
- Implement the largest flu immunization campaign in Ontario's history.
The flu vaccination campaign will prioritize seniors and those with pre-existing health conditions, including those located in long-term care homes, hospitals and retirement homes. The vaccines will also be made available through local pharmacies. Immunizing the population for the flu will help reduce the stress on Ontario's health care system in the fall.
Ontario also announced that as of Friday, September 25th, 60 pharmacies across the province will now be able to test asymptomatic individuals for COVID-19. This will help reduce lines at testing facilities while prioritizing testing for symptomatic individuals at these centers.
Effective immediately, Ontarians should only seek testing at assessment centres if you are:
- Showing COVID-19 symptoms;
- Have been exposed to a confirmed case of the virus, as informed by your public health unit or exposure notification through the COVID Alert app;
- A resident or work in a setting that has a COVID-19 outbreak, as identified and informed by your local public health unit; and
- Eligible for testing as part of a targeted testing initiative directed by the Ministry of Health or the Ministry of Long-Term Care.
The Government is also investing $1.07 billion to expand COVID-19 testing and case and contact management and $30 million to prevent and manage outbreaks in priority sectors, including the province's long-term care homes, retirement homes and schools.
More details from this plan will be revealed over the next few days.
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Federal Government's Throne Speech
In the Throne Speech read by the Governor General, supporting the Travel, Tourism and Culture Industries was identified as a top priority for the Federal Government. The Throne Speech highlighted that these sectors have been the hardest hit and the sectors that need the most support. The Government promises to create new targeted support programs for these sectors. It should be noted that the travel, tourism and culture industries were the only sectors clearly identified in the Throne Speech. This is good news and speaks to the tireless efforts of all of you and the supporting organizations across the country.
The Throne Speech also featured promises to extend CEWS to summer of 2021, extend and change the eligibility requirements to the Canada Emergency Business Account and the Business Credit Availability Program.
The Government is also planning on phasing out CERB and moving everyone to EI. The Government is also looking at adapting the EI system to meet the needs of the 21st century. Today, the Federal Government introduced a bill which if passed, would create the Canada Recovery Benefit, the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit, and the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit. These programs offer the following:
- The Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB): $500 per week for up to 26 weeks, to workers who are self-employed or are not eligible for EI and who still require income support. This Benefit would support Canadians who have not returned to work due to COVID-19 or whose income has dropped by at least 50%. These workers must be available and looking for work, and must accept work where it is reasonable to do so;
- Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB): $500 per week for up to two weeks, for workers who are sick or must self-isolate for reasons related to COVID-19. This Benefit supports our commitment to ensure all Canadian workers have access to paid sick leave; and,
- Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (CRCB): $500 per week for up to 26 weeks per household, for eligible Canadians unable to work because they must care for a child under the age of 12 or family member because schools, day-cares or care facilities are closed due to COVID-19 or because the child or family member is sick and/or required to quarantine.
Canadians will be able to apply for the CRB, CRSB, and CRCB through the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) for one year up until September 25, 2021. For more details on these newly proposed programs, please click here.
Other items mentioned in the throne speech included an action plan to get woman back to work, subsidies for child care, taxing the wealthy and wealthy corporation, working with provinces to fix long term care, further increase benefits to seniors and those with disabilities and PSWs who take care of them, increase family doctor availability, continuing to fight the opioid and homelessness crisis, invest in mental health introduce universal pharamacare, invest in infrastructure in Northern and rural areas including expanding internet connectivity, invest in employment training, enhance the first time home buyer's incentive, supporting farmers to increase Canada's food supply, create new urban parks, continue to fight climate change, and continue to promote immigration of high skilled workers such as nurses and doctors and for family reunification. The Government also promised to continue working with First Nations to increase clean water access, improve infrastructure and to continue on the work of reconciliation.
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Adapt 2020 Presents: Canada Revenue Agency Presentation on the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy
September 29th, 2020 - 11:00 am EDT
Presented by: Cindy Odell, Liaison Officer, Canada Revenue Agency
The Government of Canada recently implemented changes to adapt the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy to protect jobs and promote growth.
Join us for a webinar with Liaison Officers from Canada Revenue Agency to discuss the changes made to the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS), including a demonstration on using the online calculator.
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Hardest Hit Businesses Letter Writing Campaign
Last week, we included a piece about the newly formed Coalition of Hardest Hit Businesses. The Coalition of Hardest Hit Businesses representing Canada’s hardest hit sectors (including tourism, arts, culture, events, and hospitality), is a new coalition that has formed to call on the government to provide additional supports for their employees.
This coalition is represented by:
- Charlotte Bell, President and CEO, Tourism Industry Association of Canada
- Susie Grynol, President and CEO, Hotel Association of Canada
- Keith Henry, President and CEO, Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada
- Martin Roy, Executive Director, Festivals and Major Events Canada
The majority of people working in these sectors are Canadians running small or medium-sized businesses in their communities. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, these industries were strong, growing, and employed more than 2 million Canadians – or about every 1 in 11 jobs. However restrictions on mass gatherings, border closures, and capacity reductions required to protect public health have impacted our industries more than others and leave our otherwise sustainable businesses in peril.
In an effort to gather additional supports for these sectors, the Coalition of Hardest Hit Businesses is calling on the industry to participate in a letter writing campaign. To participate in this campaign, please click on the button below.
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NOTO's COVID-19 Page
This page was created to keep you informed on the latest developments that may impact/help your businesses. This page features links to our COVID-19 newsletters, Government resources, information that may be useful to tourism operators and links to supports for tourism operators as they become available. This page will be updated regularly during this pandemic.There are FAQ's with answers and tips from NOTO. FAQs will be regularly updated as well.
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Federal & Provincial Government Information
The Ontario and Federal Governments are regularly updating COVID-19 information, travel information, Minister statements, Government initiatives and statistics on their websites. For additional information from the Ontario or Federal Government, please click on the buttons below.
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NOTO is a membership based organization that works hard to support the outdoor tourism industry through advocacy and information services. We do not receive Government funding for operating and rely on annual memberships from tourism businesses, organizations, product and service suppliers, and partners. For more information about membership with NOTO visit noto.ca
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