Face of Nation International : Ontario is cracking down on price gouging for essential hygiene and medical supplies, and pushing to limit gatherings to five people or fewer, as part of ongoing efforts to handle the COVID-19 outbreak across the province.
On Saturday, Premier Doug Ford called out the “bad apples” who are hiking prices and “trying to take advantage of vulnerable people during these dark days.”
Ford announced an emergency order bringing in immediate new fines and potential jail time to combat price gouging — ensuring businesses and individuals can’t charge unfair prices for necessary goods such as: Personal protective equipment like masks and gloves, disinfectants, non-prescription medications for treating COVID-19 symptoms, and personal hygiene products including soap and paper products. “I have zero tolerance for this kind of nonsense,” Ford told reporters.
Individual offenders can face a ticket of $750, or, if summoned to court and convicted, could face a maximum penalty of a $100,000 fine and one year in jail, the province said in a statement. If convicted, a company director or officer could face a fine of up to $500,000 and up to a year in jail, and a corporation could face a fine of up to $10 million.
Ontario prohibits gatherings of 5 people or more
Late Saturday night, the province issued a new emergency order under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act that prohibits organized public events and social gatherings of more than five people. The order takes effect immediately.
“If we are going to stop the spread of COVID-19 now and keep our communities safe, we need to take extraordinary measures to ensure physical distancing,” said Ford. “I strongly encourage everyone to do the responsible thing and stay home unless absolutely necessary. I can assure everyone that we will do everything in our power to stop this virus in its tracks.”
The order does not apply to private households with five people or more. It would also not apply to child care centres that support frontline health care workers and first responders, provided the number of people at each centre does not exceed 50 people. Funerals would be permitted to proceed with up to 10 people at one time.
“We are acting on the best advice of our chief medical officer of health and other leading public health officials across the province,” said Minister of Health Christine Elliott. “These are extraordinary times that demand extraordinary measures to stop the spread of COVID-19 and protect our people. Nothing is more important.”
151 new cases confirmed
The changes come as provincial officials announced 151 new lab-confirmed cases of the respiratory illness, for a total of 1,144 cases reported to date. Among the latest to test positive for COVID-19 is a screening officer at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport.
The employee tested positive on March 26, according to a statement sent to CBC News by GardaWorld, a private security firm that provides officers to the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority. So far, at least 19 people across the province who have tested positive have died and eight others have recovered.
On Saturday evening, Education Minister Stephen Lecce tweeted that there was sad news from Vaughan, extended “deepest sympathies” to family and friends of that’s city’s first victim of COVID-19. It was not immediately clear if the victim mentioned in Lecce’s tweet is included in the 19 deaths reported by provincial officials. (Source: CBC News – Canada)
