February 23, 2021
New health and safety education campaigns to help small businesses in the province reopen safely have been announced, in conjunction with inspections from provincial offences officers who will be visiting businesses and carrying out inspections in regions opening into grey, red and orange zones.
Educational resources available include:
- Free webinars on how to operate a business safely, and comply with health and safety requirements, during COVID-19.
- A free 30-minute online course on infection prevention and control provided by the Public Services Health and Safety Association.
- Provincial Employment Standards Call Centre (webes@ontario.ca) and Occupational Health and Safety Contact Centre (webohs@ontario.ca) to answer small business health and safety questions.
Extension of Federal Benefits
At his Feb. 19 press conference, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the government will introduce regulatory and legislative amendments to increase the number of weeks available for benefits under the Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB) and the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (CRCB) by 12 weeks, thus extending the maximum duration of the benefits to 38 weeks. The number of weeks available under the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB) would also be increased to four weeks from the current two.
The proposed changes would also increase the number of weeks of EI regular benefits available by up to 24 weeks to a maximum of 50 weeks for claims that are made between Sept. 27, 2020, and Sept. 25, 2021.
The full government of Canada News Release can be found »» at this link.
The full government of Ontario News Release can be found »» at this link.