New safety measures have been announced with outbreaks of COVID-19 continuing to crop in businesses across Ontario.
Lambton-Kent-Middlesex MPP and Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development, Monte McNaughton says increased measures to educate and enforce the current regulations in place will keep employees, consumers, and the public safe.
“We’re taking deliberate steps to stop the spread of COVID-19, and we know most workplaces are too,” McNaughton says. “My Ministry has had boots on the ground since the start of this pandemic, conducting over 27,000 inspections.”
In the past month, provincial offences officers have visited more than 1000 businesses across Ontario focusing on the hot spots.
If a person or business is not found compliant with orders under the Reopening Ontario Act, they could be ticketed with a fine of $750 under the Reopening Ontario Act.
Where prosecuted without issuing a ticket and on conviction, individuals could be fined up to $100,000, and directors and officers of a corporation could be fined up to $500,000. Any individual convicted of an offence under the Reopening Ontario Act could also receive a term of imprisonment of up to one year.
The maximum fine for a corporation convicted of an offence under the Reopening Ontario Act is $10,000,000.
“From big box stores in Mississauga to nail salons in Waterloo, our officers are educating and guiding businesses on staying safe and staying open,” McNaughton says. “They are checking that businesses are following public health measures, such as completing a workplace safety plan.”
Premier Doug Ford says there will more announcements coming today to tighten restrictions in Ontario’s COVID hot spots, primarily around the GTA.