New government support includes revised commercial rent program
ONTARIO REIMPOSES RESTRICTIONS AS HOSPITALIZATIONS GROW, SECOND WAVE OF COVID-19 INTENSIFIES
OTTAWA • With COVID cases rising exponentially, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered new support to businesses Friday, just as many will be forced to close their doors due to new lockdowns.
“We are at a tipping point in this pandemic. Not only is the second wave underway, but yesterday we saw the highest daily recorded cases, well above what we saw in the spring,” Trudeau said at a press conference.
Trudeau pleaded with Canadians to come together, do the right thing, reduce their exposures and bend the curve downward.
“When things were at their bleakest during the first wave, Canadians pulled together,” he said. “We flattened the curve before. We can do it again.”
Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced new restrictions in Ottawa, Toronto and Peel Region as his province hit a new record number of daily cases with 939 new cases and hospitalizations also on the rise.
“The pandemic has picked up speed at an alarming rate,” Ford said.
Hospitalizations in the province have grown 250 per cent in the last three weeks, and Ford said if the trends continued, ICUs would be overwhelmed.
“Left unchecked, we risk worst-case scenarios first seen in Italy and New York City.”
Early in the pandemic, in parts of New York City and Northern Italy, hospitals were overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients and death rates spiked because doctors couldn’t keep up with the influx of sick people. Ford’s officials warned that hospitals could be overwhelmed in a matter of weeks if cases continue to rise.
Ontario was not alone with rising case counts. Quebec had more than 1,000 new cases on Friday, as it has for almost all of the last week.
And the number of COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital there is likely to surpass the number of beds available for them within one month, according to new projections from Quebec’s National Institute for Excellence in Health and Social Services.
Alberta is also seeing cases on the rise, particularly around Edmonton.
However, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says his government will continue to take a “lighter approach” when it comes to restrictions.
“We want as much as humanly possible to maintain our approach, which is focused on people exercising personal responsibility,” Kenney said Friday.
New modelling from the public health agency predicts a rapid rise in case over the next 10 days. Canada currently has roughly 175,000 cases, and in a worst-case scenario could reach as many as 200,000 by Oct. 17, and about another 250 deaths.
Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada's chief public health officer, said individual Canadians have to reduce their contacts if the virus is to be contained. She urged people to stay home as much as possible. “This will not be easy and will require hard choices between what we need to do and what we would like to do.”
Ford's closures will end indoor-dining in the three communities. The province will also close gyms, casinos and cinemas. The measures, which began Saturday, will last for at least 28 days.
The Ontario premier has been under pressure for weeks to take more aggressive measures to curb the virus's spread. Hospital and local public health officials have called for him to act sooner, but he said he was awaiting clear data and that arrived Thursday evening.
Ford said he was desperate to avoid closing businesses, but felt he had no choice. “It was the single toughest decision I've made since I've taken office,” he said.
The shuttered businesses will be able to take advantage of new supports, including a revamped commercial rent program after their initial program didn't deliver the results they had hoped for.
The new program will cover up to 65 per cent of rent costs for businesses that have a revenue decline of 70 per cent or more. They can also get an additional 25 per cent top-up if they become subject to lockdowns due to public health orders.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said the new steps are designed to help businesses get through the pandemic. “These targeted measures will provide a bridge to businesses,” she said. “This is the economically smart thing to do and it is the right thing to do.”
In contrast to the federal Liberals' initial rent program, the money will go directly to tenants, and landlords will not have to take part. Under the old program, landlords had to agree to be part of the program and to reduce rents by 25 per cent.
Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses, said he believes the old program left out more than half of eligible businesses and this change will help a great deal.
“These are not perfect measures, but certainly a giant improvement over the supports that were in place until today,” he said.