The Ford government is extending its most of its coronavirus emergency powers until July 29 as it works to pass a law that would enable it to impose future emergency orders where and when needed as the province completes the reopening of its economy.
Most provisions of the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act, which originally came into force on March 17, remain, including limiting long-term care home workers to one location of work, capping residential electricity prices at 12.8 cents per kilowatt hour, overriding collective agreements of healthcare workers to ensure hospital capacity and provisions banning price gouging.
"Although the trends in public health indicators continue to improve, we must remain on our guard and only relax emergency orders if and when safe to do so," Premier Doug Ford said. "By following our gradual plan to reopen the province, we are seeing people get back to work and resume many activities safely.”
A wide swath of the province including London, Ottawa, Barrie Waterloo Region, Kingston and Peterborough will enter Stage 3 of the province’s reopening plan on Friday, allowing things like gym activity and indoor dining for the first time in nearly four months.
The GTA, Hamilton, Windsor and Niagara will be held back until their case growth declines.
On Thursday, the GTA accounted for 72 of the province’s 111 lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases.
The Ford government has also introduced a bill, The Reopening Ontario Act, which would allow it to extend individual emergency orders monthly and keep them in effect for a year if necessary.
