A weekend blitz of big box stores in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton areas resulted in 23 businesses being issued tickets under the Reopening Ontario Act and dozens more being given formal warnings.

Inspectors with the Ministry of Labour visited 240 different stores over the course of the weekend and found violations during 75 of those visits.

According to data provided to CP24 on Monday, the inspectors issued a total of 23 tickets and 26 formal warnings. They also issued 53 orders under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

“It is not good enough,” Labour Minister Monte McNaughton said of the roughly 70 per cent compliance rate during an interview with CP24 on Monday morning. “I have said clearly that most businesses have stepped up during the course of the pandemic but if there are bad actors out there we are coming for them.”

McNaughton told CP24 that there were about inspectors with the Ministry of Labour assigned to visit big box stores on both Saturday and Sunday.

He said that while “the majority of businesses have done an incredible job during very, very difficult time,” it is important “that they do even more today” given the surging number of COVID-19 cases in many communities.

“Ensure that you are pre-screening customers coming in so they are symptom free, make sure that the masking policies are being followed, make sure that people are physically distancing in retail stores and grocery stores. We have to do more,” he said.

More than 34,000 COVID-19-related workplace inspections have been conducted since the beginning of the pandemic.

McNaughton said that none of the businesses ticketed this weekend are being identified publicly as investigations are ongoing.