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In anticipation of reopening the provincial economy, the Ontario government has released workplace safety guidelines for employers with COVID-19 precautions, including sector-specific health and safety guidance.  The guidelines provide direction to the manufacturing, food manufacturing and processing, restaurant and food service and the agricultural sectors.  They are in addition to the more than 60 guidelines […]

On March 24, 2021, Minister of Finance and President of the Treasury Board, Peter Bethlenfalvy released Ontario’s budget for 2021, Ontario’s Action Plan: Protecting People’s Health and Our Economy. The 2021 Budget is a response to COVID-19 and is the second Budget released during the pandemic. Protecting People’s Health is the first pillar of the […]

Introduction Canadians have been blindsided by the COVID-19 health and economic crisis. The impact has been swift, painful, and enduring. In March 2020 alone, Canada lost a record one million jobs. In the face of this crisis, Parliament passed legislation creating the COVID-19 Economic Response Plan – an unprecedented economic assistance program. As part of […]

Over the past two months, governments across the country have begun implementing various vaccination measures in an effort to curb rising COVID-19 case numbers. All provincial governments have announced or have begun implementing some form of vaccine passport system to restrict access to certain non-essential businesses to only fully vaccinated individuals or, in some instances, […]

CRA has published its position on collections, audit, objections and appeals in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most noteworthy, CRA’s stated positions are the following: “Collections activities on new debts will be suspended until further notice, and flexible payment arrangements will be available.” “Collections staff will address pre-existing situations on a case-by-case basis to prevent […]

On April 7, 2022, the Canadian Federal Government released its 2022 Budget entitled A Plan to Grow Our Economy and Make Life More Affordable. The Budget includes various supports for the health sector, including responding to the effects of COVID-19, the backlog of health procedures resulting from COVID-19, the need for widespread mental health services […]

In recent days, much of the conversation around the COVID-19 pandemic has shifted to the subject of re-opening various sectors of the economy and the eventual return to a “new normal”. While the precise details of this re-opening remain unscheduled in many provinces, including in Ontario, what is certain is that employers will encounter a […]

On April 6, 2021, Ontario passed Regulation 251/21 under the Corporations Act, further extending the temporary legislative provisions permitting Ontario not-for-profit Corporations to hold Member, Board and Board Committee meetings electronically from May 31, 2021 until December 31, 2021. These changes were originally introduced in May 2020 and further extended in October 2020.  With the […]

Program can minimize business interruptions like COVID-19, rail strike Businesses across Canada are still feeling the effects of the recent CN rail blockades that continue to cause delays in the movement of goods. Moreover, the impact of COVID-19 (coronavirus) has seriously impacted the importation of goods from Asia. Stock markets worldwide are experiencing alarming declines. […]

Employers that are contemplating or have established a supplementary unemployment benefit plan to assist their employees who are collecting benefits further to a temporary or indefinite layoff due to COVID-19 will have to keep in mind the tax consequences of such measures. A supplementary unemployment benefit plan (“SUBP“) is a plan set up by an […]