Ontario declaration of emergency extended to June 2
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Economy COVID-19The provincial government has also passed new legislation that will allow for more virtual or remote transactions during COVID-19.
The Ontario government has extended the state of emergency in the province until June 2.
The declaration will allow Ontario to continue to enforce current emergency orders, such as restricting retirement and long-term care home employees from working in more than one facility and prohibiting events and gatherings of more than five people.
The emergency was first declared in Ontario on March 17.
“We are making steady progress to flatten the curve and get more people back to work safely, including our legislators, but we still have far to go in defeating COVID-19,” Premier Doug Ford said in a May 12 statement. “Extending the declaration of emergency will allow us to continue to take action to protect Ontarians, while carefully and cautiously reopening more parts of our economy.”
A full list of emergency orders can be found on the e-Laws website, under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act.
The Ontario legislature also passed the “COVID-19 Response and Reforms to Modernize Ontario Act, 2020,” which will help people conduct business while practicing physical distancing by:
- Providing authority to address in-person attendance rules for school board trustees’ meetings in regulation;
- Enabling corporations to call and hold meetings virtually, as applicable, and extending the time period in which annual meetings must be held;
- Allowing designations of a beneficiary to be provided electronically for Retirement Savings Plans, Retirement Income Funds, Locked-in Retirement Accounts, Life Income Funds and Tax-Free Savings Accounts;
- Allowing electronic filing of business registration documents, and the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services to accept copies of business registration documents and e-signatures;
- Allowing for regulations to set out the parameters for remotely commissioning or notarizing a document;
- Extending the legislated four-year period during which a Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO) election is mandated to be held to give more time to support remote voting.
