Good Afternoon All, This is the start of week 10 and for some of you the start of a new week in which you will be opening your doors to customers. Many of you have already posted the measures that you're taking to ensure the safety of you, your staff and your customers. I encourage all businesses that are reopening this week to please post your particular safety details so they are well known prior to customers coming to your…

Good Afternoon All, Today is May 16th and it is the day that landlords are able to lock commercial tenants out if arrangements for overdue rent have not been made. I'm hoping that, while we are all still waiting for further government assistance in this area, businesses and landlords have been able to discuss their options. In his briefing today, the PM once again made no mention of the CECRA program. I went back through my daily notes and it…

Good Afternoon All, This afternoon at 2pm NDP Party Leader Andrea Horwath will be hosting a media conference to discuss the issues surrounding commercial rent relief. Ms. Horwath will be joined by our MPP Peter Tabuns, and our BIA business members Ginger Robertson (The Edmund Burke, Off The Hook) and Nathan Hynes (The Auld Spot), and our BIA Board Treasurer Philip Kocev (iPro Realty) and Valerie Mah VP for the Chinese Chamber of Commerce East Toronto. This media conference will…

Hi All I know many of you are currently looking at different PPE suppliers in advance of being able to open. There are a lot of companies trying to get your business. The Province released their PPE Directory today. They will continue to update it but they say it provides reliable supplier information. Here's the link: Workplace PPE Supplier Directory (Province of Ontario) When you get to the landing page you need to scroll to the bottom and accept the…

Good Afternoon All, Here are today's updates. There's a number of updates so please take the time to read through this email and the attachments. Phase One Opening in Ontario: This afternoon Premier Ford announced the opening of Phase One - attached please find the Province's detailed list and guidelines for opening within each category - for our Retail members please read the attached carefully as there are details about what you are able to do within your stores based…

Good Afternoon All, Please note that I've added a new person to the top send line of this email. In addition to our MP Julie Dabrusin, MPP Peter Tabuns and City Councillor Paula Fletcher, I've included Zachary Nixon - Special Assistant, Regional Affairs Ontario, Federal Ministry of Small Business, Export Promotions & International Trade - Zachary works for Minister Ng. Today is May 13th - it's been 20 days since April 24th which was the day the PM announced the…