ONTARIO MOVING INTO STEP ONE IN ROADMAP TO REOPENING

Ontario will move into the first phase of the three-stage plan to reopen Ontario for Business on Friday, June 11, 2021 at 12:01 a.m.

For more on this Plan, please visit https://www.ontario.ca/page/reopening-ontario

For dealers this will mean you no longer have to sell by appointment only or have restricted hours, subject to any capacity limits (we recommend 25%) and other safeguards:

STEP ONE

• The public must not be permitted in areas where products are neither sold nor displayed for sale
• A safety plan is required to be prepared and made available upon request
• Retailers must have passive screening notice for customers and active screening for staff
• Individuals must physically distance and wear a face covering
• Test drive restrictions

1. the test drive must be limited to no more than 10 minutes,
2. a maximum of two people, including up to one sales representative, may be present in the vehicle, boat or watercraft during the test drive, and
3. if two people who are not members of the same household are present in the vehicle during the test drive, any windows in the vehicle, boat or watercraft must be opened at all times.

The province will remain in Step One for at least 21 days to evaluate any impacts on key public health and health system indicators. If at the end of the 21 days the province has vaccinated 70 per cent of adults with one dose and 20 per cent of adults with two doses and there are continued improvements in other key public health and health system indicators, the province will move to Step Two of the Roadmap.

An important note here.  Any Public Health authority can override this provincial order if it believes circumstances within its area justify it.  In fact, for the Timmins area, this appears to be the case as the Porcupine Health Unit is not moving into Stage 1 on Friday.  Please check with your local health unit if in doubt.

For more detailed and sector-specific guidance please visit https://www.ontario.ca/page/enhancing-public-health-and-workplace-safety-measures-provincewide-shutdown

See our previous Dealer Alerts at  www.ucda.org/dealer-alerts/

ONTARIO STATE OF EMERGENCY AND STAY AT HOME ORDER EXTENDED

Premier Doug Ford has announced an extension of the State of Emergency and Stay at Home Orders.  The extension means the orders, first put in place on April 8^th, and extended on April 17^th, will remain in place until at least June 2, 2021.

Full details about the new measures can be found at:

https://www.ontario.ca/page/enhancing-public-health-and-workplace-safety-measures-provincewide-shutdown#section-4

• Sales by Appointment only
• 25% capacity limit (divide the total square metres of floor space accessible to the public [not including shelving and store fixtures] by 16 and round down to the nearest whole number)
• restricting allowable hours of operation to 7 a.m. and 8 p.m.
• Work from home where possible
• Must post capacity limits
• A safety plan is required to be prepared and made available upon request, see https://www.ontario.ca/page/develop-your-covid-19-workplace-safety-plan for template
• Retailers must have passive screening notice for customers and active screening for staff
• Individuals must physically distance (2 metres) and wear a face covering
• Curbside pick-up and delivery permitted Curbside pickup and delivery permitted, as are online sales
• Test Drive Restrictions in effect:

• • limited to no more than 10 minutes
  • a maximum of two people, including up to one sales representative permitted
  • windows must be opened at all times unless if two people who are not members of the same household are present in the vehicle

For more information on remote sales please visit:

https://www.omvic.ca/portal/NewsPublications/DealerBulletins/2020/tabid/559/aid/457/Default.aspx

Members may be eligible for relief from the Federal and Provincial Governments. Please visit Federal: https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/economic-response-plan/covid19-businesses.html and Provincial: https://covid-19.ontario.ca/covid-19-help-businesses-ontario#financial-relief for more information.

Please visit Ontario.ca/covidresponse for the full list of public health region classifications.

For your region, and more information, see our previous Dealer Alerts at  www.ucda.org/dealer-alerts/

ONTARIO OFFERS FREE COVID-19 TEST KITS TO BUSINESSES

The Ontario government has unveiled a plan to make rapid COVID-19 testing kits available to essential businesses.

Qualified businesses can have these packages shipped to them FREE OF CHARGE so they can test their workers and help keep everyone safe.

Businesses are encouraged to participate in the program by registering at https://covid-19.ontario.ca/check-your-eligibility-provincial-antigen-screening-program.  For dealers, select sector category “Other” and follow the prompts.

Program eligibility was recently expanded to include any business that is allowed to be open and requires staff to work on-site:

• A COVID-19 rapid screening test can be performed anywhere (e.g., on-site, at the place of employment) and does not require shipping a specimen to a lab for processing. It takes about 15 minutes to yield a result.
• Rapid antigen point-of-care testing does not replace public health measures, such as symptom screening, physical distancing, masking and hand hygiene.
• Any positive results from a rapid antigen point-of-care test must be confirmed with laboratory-based polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing.
• Businesses with fewer than 150 employees can participate in workplace rapid antigen screening through a program run jointly by the Ontario government and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce.

https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/1000107/ontario-continues-to-expand-access-to-rapid-testing-for-workplaces

For all COVID related information, please see our previous Dealer Alerts at  www.ucda.org/dealer-alerts/

ONTARIO PASSES PAID SICK LEAVE PROGRAM

As promised in our last Dealer Alert on the subject of paid sick days in Ontario, we are following up with our Members to confirm the legislation passed on April 29^th.

Full-time and part-time workers in the province who need time off due to COVID-19, will be eligible to receive up to three paid days as part of a temporary sick leave program.

This program will be retroactive to April 19, 2021 and effective until September 25, 2021.  It is administered by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board who can answer any questions you may have.

For more details, please click here

For all COVID related information, please see our previous Dealer Alerts at  www.ucda.org/dealer-alerts/

ONTARIO ANNOUNCES PAID SICK LEAVE PROGRAM

Yesterday, the Ontario government announced that full-time and part-time workers in the province who need time off due to COVID-19, will be eligible to receive up to three paid days as part of a temporary sick leave program.

This measure will not come into effect until it is passed by the legislature

If it does, as expected, employers will be required to provide employees with up to three days of paid leave because of certain reasons related to COVID-19, including:

• going for a COVID-19 test
• staying home awaiting the results of a COVID-19 test
• being sick with COVID-19
• going to get vaccinated
• experiencing a side effect from a COVID-19 vaccination
• having been advised to self-isolate due to COVID-19 by an employer, medical practitioner or other authority
• taking care of a dependent who is:
  • sick with COVID-19 or has symptoms of COVID-19
  • self-isolating due to COVID-19

If the legislation passes, employers will be required to pay employees up to $200 a day for up to three days. The three days would not need to be taken consecutively.

This does not apply where employees already get paid sick leave from their employer.

Employers would be able to apply for a reimbursement of up to $200 per employee day taken, from the Ontario government. If the employee’s regular rate of pay is less than $200 day, the employer will only be eligible for a reimbursement of the employee’s regular rate of pay.

Although it is not yet officially in place, this program would be retroactive to April 19, 2021 and effective until September 25, 2021.

We will provide an update once it has passed into law.

For more details, and links to other employee benefits, please visit:  https://www.ontario.ca/page/covid-19-worker-income-protection-benefit

For all COVID related information, please see our previous Dealer Alerts at www.ucda.org/dealer-alerts/

www.ucdasearches.com

 

As a result of the current State of Emergency Order, the UCDA has temporarily suspended evening and Saturday phone in search services. In conjunction with the current Order, the suspension of services will remain in effect until at least May 20. Faxed in search requests will be filled during regular 9:00 am to 5:00 pm weekday hours.

 

Online searches continue to be available as always at www.ucdasearches.com.

ONTARIO EXTENDING STATE OF EMERGENCY AND STAY AT HOME ORDER

 

As most Members know, on Friday, Premier Doug Ford announced a two-week extension of the State of Emergency and Stay at Home Order effective Saturday, April 17, 2021 at 12:01 a.m.  The extension means the orders, first put in place on April 8^th, will remain in place until at least May 20, 2021.

Dealer operations are largely unaffected by Friday’s announcement.  For the benefit of Members, we are repeating those rules here:

Full details about the new measures can be found at:

https://www.ontario.ca/page/enhancing-public-health-and-workplace-safety-measures-provincewide-shutdown#section-4

• Sales by Appointment only
• 25% capacity limit (divide the total square metres of floor space accessible to the public [not including shelving and store fixtures] by 16 and round down to the nearest whole number)
• allowable hours of operation restricted to between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m.
• Work from home where possible
• Must post capacity limits
• A safety plan is required to be prepared and made available upon request, see https://www.ontario.ca/page/develop-your-covid-19-workplace-safety-plan for template
• Retailers must have passive screening notice for customers and active screening for staff
• Individuals must physically distance (2 metres) and wear a face covering
• Curbside pick-up and delivery permittedCurbside pickup and delivery permitted, as are online sales
• Test Drive Restrictions in effect:

• • limited to no more than 10 minutes
  • a maximum of two people, including up to one sales representative permitted
  • windows must be opened at all times if two people who are not members of the same household are present in the vehicle

For more information on remote sales please visit:

https://www.omvic.ca/portal/NewsPublications/DealerBulletins/2020/tabid/559/aid/457/Default.aspx

Members may be eligible for relief from the Federal and Provincial Governments. Please visit Federal: https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/economic-response-plan/covid19-businesses.html and Provincial: https://covid-19.ontario.ca/covid-19-help-businesses-ontario#financial-relief for more information.

Please visit Ontario.ca/covidresponse for the full list of public health region classifications.

 

For your region, and more information, see our previous Dealer Alerts at  www.ucda.org/dealer-alerts/

PROVINCE-WIDE STATE OF EMERGENCY AND STAY AT HOME ORDER

Ontario is once again in a State of Emergency with another Stay at Home Order in effect as of 12:01 a.m. Thursday, April 8, 2021.  This will be the case for at least another month due to rising COVID-19 case counts and overloaded hospital ICUs.

Full details about the new measures can be found at:

https://www.ontario.ca/page/enhancing-public-health-and-workplace-safety-measures-provincewide-shutdown#section-4

This is what it all means for motor vehicle dealers, repairers, rental, leasing, their staff and customers:

• Sales by Appointment only
• 25% capacity limit (divide the total square metres of floor space accessible to the public [not including shelving and store fixtures] by 16 and round down to the nearest whole number)
• restricting allowable hours of operation to 7 a.m. and 8 p.m.
• Work from home where possible
• Must post capacity limits
• A safety plan is required to be prepared and made available upon request, see https://www.ontario.ca/page/develop-your-covid-19-workplace-safety-plan for template
• Retailers must have passive screening notice for customers and active screening for staff
• Individuals must physically distance (2 metres) and wear a face covering
• Curbside pick-up and delivery permittedCurbside pickup and delivery permitted, as are online sales
• Test Drive Restrictions in effect:

• • limited to no more than 10 minutes
  • a maximum of two people, including up to one sales representative permitted
  • windows must be opened at all times unless if two people who are not members of the same household are present in the vehicle

For more information on remote sales please visit:

https://www.omvic.ca/portal/NewsPublications/DealerBulletins/2020/tabid/559/aid/457/Default.aspx

Members may be eligible for relief from the Federal and Provincial Governments. Please visit Federal: https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/economic-response-plan/covid19-businesses.html and Provincial: https://covid-19.ontario.ca/covid-19-help-businesses-ontario#financial-relief for more information.

Please visit Ontario.ca/covidresponse for the full list of public health region classifications.

For your region, and more information, see our previous Dealer Alerts at  www.ucda.org/dealer-alerts/

 

PROVINCE MOVES TO SHUTDOWN LEVEL

The third wave of this stubborn virus is upon us.  On April 1, the Ontario Government announced its intention to move the entire Province into the SHUTDOWN level as of Saturday, April 3, 2021 at 12:01 a.m.  All public health units will move into this level regardless of what level they were in previously.

For dealers, this is what the SHUTDOWN level looks like:

SHUTDOWN

• 25% capacity limit (divide the total square metres of floor space accessible to the public [not including shelving and store fixtures] by 16 and round down to the nearest whole number)
• Work from home where possible
• Must post capacity limits
• A safety plan is required to be prepared and made available upon request
• Retailers must have passive screening notice for customers and active screening for staff
• Individuals must physically distance (2 metres) and wear a face covering
• Curbside pick-up and delivery permittedCurbside pickup and delivery permitted, as are online sales
• Test Drive Restriction in effect

• • limited to no more than 10 minutes
  • a maximum of two people, including up to one sales representative permitted
  • windows must be opened at all times unless if two people who are not members of the same household are present in the vehicle
• For now, dealers are not restricted to appointment only selling, but this may change

Public health officials cite the rapid deterioration of trends in key indicators, as the reason the emergency brake is being applied to help reduce further spread of the virus in the Province.  This level is expected to remain in place for at least the next 4 weeks and specific rules for businesses, including dealers, may change during that time. The UCDA will continue to monitor the situation and provide further updates as needed.

Please visit https://www.ontario.ca/page/enhancing-public-health-and-workplace-safety-measures-provincewide-shutdown for SHUTDOWN level details.

Please visit Ontario.ca/covidresponse for the full list of public health region classifications.

For your region, and more information, see our previous Dealer Alerts at www.ucda.org/dealer-alerts/