July 27, 2020
Last week the government of Ontario, in cooperation with the opposition parties and independent Members, agreed to safe, limited sittings of the Legislative Assembly to allow for the passage of two pieces of legislation and move to adjournment of the Assembly until September 14, 2020.
I have provided summaries for you below, as well as the government’s full News Releases.
More regions move to Stage 3 of reopening
Beginning Friday, July 24, all but three (3) Ontario public health regions are permitted to move to Stage 3 of the province’s Framework for Reopening.
Details of Stage 3 can be downloaded (.pdf) from the Ontario website: Framework for Reopening our Province: Stage 3
The decisions on when a region is safe to move to Stage 3 is made in consultation with the Chief Medical Officer of Health and is based on local trends such as rate of COVID-19 transmission, ongoing hospital capacity, capacity to conduct rapid case and contact management, and a significant increase in testing.
The three regions remaining in Stage 2 are:
- Peel Public Health
- Toronto Public Health
- Windsor-Essex County Health Unit
Public Health officials will continue to assess trends in these regions to determine when each can progress to Stage 3.
Bill 195, Bill 197
Two Bills were passed and Royal Assent received on July 21, 2020:
- Bill 195, Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act, 2020, and
- Bill 197, COVID-19 Economic Recovery Act, 2020
Bill 195 came into force on July 24, 2020 to coincide with the termination of the declared provincial emergency. It ensures that measures remain in place to address the threat of COVID-19 once the provincial declaration of emergency has ended.
Bill 197 is a wide ranging bill that largely makes amendments to other bills, including the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Regarding Schedule 13 of Bill 197, ‘Occupational Health and Safety Act’ the Explanatory Note from the Legislative Assembly of Ontario advises:
Currently, subsection 70 (2) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act includes the authority to make regulations that adopt by reference certain codes, standards, criteria and guides. An amendment is made to provide that the power to adopt codes, standards, criteria and guides includes the power to adopt them as they may be amended from time to time.
It is unclear at this time what specific codes, standards, criteria and guides may be subject to the Bill. I will keep you informed as more information becomes available.