Emergency orders extended until November

The Ontario government is extending most emergency orders until Nov. 21.

This marks the third time that the government has extended most but not all emergency orders under the Reopening Ontario Act (ROA).

All orders have been extended with the following exceptions:

• Electricity Price for Regulated Price Plan (RPP) Consumers has only been extended until Oct. 31, 2020.  Beginning Nov. 1, 2020, time of use customers will have the option of choosing between time of use electricity rates or tiered pricing. 
• Access to Personal Health Information by Means of the Electronic Health Record will expire on Oct. 22, 2020 as changes to the Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004, that recently came into force, make the order unnecessary. 

The orders extended until Nov. 21 include work redeployment and limiting work for healthcare workers, retirement homes and long-term care homes, signatures of wills and powers of attorney, rules for areas in Stage 2 and 3, and rules related to special pandemic pay. More information on the extension can be found here.

On July 21, the Ontario Legislature passed the ROA to ensure important measures remained in place to address the sustained threat of COVID-19 once the provincial Declaration of Emergency came to an end.

In a press release issued today, Solicitor General Sylvia Jones stated, “With the cold and flu season upon us and the continuing high number of COVID-19 cases in certain parts of the province, it's critical we continue to take the necessary steps to protect the health and safety of Ontarians.”

Currently, all but four health units are in Stage 3 of reopening. York, Peel, Ottawa, and Toronto regions have been put into a modified Stage 2 in order to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The government originally declared a provincial state of emergency on March 17.