REOPENING ONTARIO – ROAD MAP EXIT STEP

The following public health and workplace safety measures of interest to motor vehicle dealers will come into effect at 12:01 a.m. on March 1, 2022:

• No capacity limits in all indoor public settings
• No limitations on test drives (aside from mask/face covering and screening requirements)
• Other protective measures, such as mask/face covering requirements and active/passive screening of patrons, will continue to be in place with a specific timeline to lift this measure to be communicated at a later date
• Public health units can deploy local and regional responses based on local health indicators

https://covid-19.ontario.ca/public-health-measures#returning-to-our-plan-to-safely-reopen-ontario

See previous Dealer Alerts at  www.ucda.org/dealer-alerts/

ONTARIO’S PLAN TO REOPEN

Yesterday, Premier Doug Ford announced the Plan to safely reopen Ontario.

For dealers, nothing has changed and will not change until February:

• 50 per cent capacity
• music played is not above a decibel level where normal conversation is possible
• safety measures for vehicle test drives sales, such as a maximum of 10 minutes for a test drive, a maximum of two people in a vehicle, including one sales representative, windows must be rolled down, active screening, masking, etc.
• Post visible and conspicuous signs that state the capacity limits in the establishment (50 per cent of the maximum occupant load as calculated in accordance with the Fire Code)
• Ensure physical distancing in-store
• Clean and disinfect commonly touched areas of surfaces and objects, including inside vehicles

Restrictions will loosen further on February 21, 2022 with a further step and additional barriers removed on March 14, 2022.  The full plan can be viewed here:

https://covid-19.ontario.ca/public-health-measures#returning-to-our-plan-to-safely-reopen-ontario

ONTARIO MOVES DEALERS TO A MODIFIED STEP 2

As some may have already heard, Doug Ford announced he has moved the Province, effective Wednesday, January 5, 2022 at 12:01 a.m. for at least 21 days (until January 26, 2022), subject to trends in public health and health system indicators, to a modified Step 2 in the plan to reopen Ontario.

Essentially, for dealers, the modification affects the advice on test drives:

If the business permits members of the public to test drive any vehicles, boats or watercraft,

1. the test drive must be limited to no more than 10 minutes,
2. a maximum of two people, including up to one sales representative, may be present in the vehicle, boat or watercraft during the test drive,

iii. if two people who are not members of the same household are present in the vehicle during the test drive, any windows in the vehicle, boat or watercraft must be opened at all times,

1. the members of the public must be actively screened in accordance with the advice, recommendations and instructions of the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health before they participate in the test drive, and
2. all participants in the test drive must wear a mask or face covering in a manner that covers their mouth, nose and chin, unless they are entitled to any exceptions.

All retailers, including dealers, must remain at 50% capacity.

• Post visible and conspicuous signs that state the capacity limits in the establishment (50 per cent of the maximum occupant load as calculated in accordance with the Fire Code)
• Ensure physical distancing in-store
• Clean and disinfect commonly touched areas of surfaces and objects, including inside vehicles

For more detailed and sector-specific guidance please visit https://www.ontario.ca/page/enhancing-public-health-and-workplace-safety-measures-provincewide-shutdown

See previous Dealer Alerts at  www.ucda.org/dealer-alerts/

The early success of vaccines made us all hope the worst was behind us, but then the OMICRON Covid-19 variant came along, and we are all back in the soup.  Worldwide transmission rates are soaring, and Ontario’s infection numbers are as bad now as they were way back in April.

All retailers, including dealers, must move to 50% capacity as of 12:01 a.m. on Sunday, December 19, 2021.  In establishing 50% capacity at all retail stores and service facilities, the Ontario Government seeks to slow the spread and help us all enjoy a safe holiday season.

These are things dealers need to know:

• No more than 50% capacity in-store
• Post visible and conspicuous signs that state the capacity limits in the establishment (50 per cent of the maximum occupant load as calculated in accordance with the Fire Code)
• Ensure physical distancing in-store
• Test Drives: If the business permits members of the public to test drive any vehicles:

–  members of the public must be actively screened in accordance with the advice, recommendations and      instructions of the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health before they participate in the test drive    https://covid-19.ontario.ca/screening/customer/

and

–  all participants in the test drive must wear a mask or face covering in a manner that covers their             mouth, nose and chin

• Clean and disinfect commonly touched areas of surfaces and objects, including inside vehicles

Finally, please try to get your booster shot as soon as possible and watch for news from your local office of Public Health.

For more detailed and sector-specific guidance please visit https://www.ontario.ca/page/enhancing-public-health-and-workplace-safety-measures-provincewide-shutdown

See previous Dealer Alerts at  www.ucda.org/dealer-alerts/

ONTARIO MOVING INTO STEP THREE IN ROADMAP TO REOPENING

Thanks to careful crisis management, high vaccination rates and lower infection numbers, Ontario will move into the third phase of the three-stage plan to reopen Ontario for Business on Friday, July 16, 2021 at 12:01 a.m. This is earlier than originally anticipated by almost a week and is a hopeful sign that we are truly getting ahead of this pandemic.

Having said this, we are clearly not out of the woods yet so dealers must remain vigilant and continue social distancing practices, sanitizing and masking protocols.

For more details on this announcement, please visit https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/1000501/ontario-moving-to-step-three-of-roadmap-to-reopen-on-july-16

STEP THREE

• Capacity restricted to the number of people in a facility able to maintain at least two meters (six feet) distance from every other person in the facility
• Signs posted to state capacity limits for the facility
• Test drive restrictions

1. members of the public must be actively screened
2. all participants in the test drive must wear a mask or face covering in a manner that covers their mouth, nose and chin

For more detailed and sector-specific guidance please visit https://www.ontario.ca/page/enhancing-public-health-and-workplace-safety-measures-provincewide-shutdown

Weekend and Evening Search Office Hours Set to Resume

We’re happy to announce that Saturday and Weekday Evening phone and fax searches are set to resume soon.

Saturday search office hours will resume Saturday, June 19 during our regular Saturday hours of 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Evening search hours will resume the following Monday, June 21. Searches will once again be available from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

We appreciate your patience during these current closures necessitated by the lockdown orders issued by the Ontario Government.

The UCDA Search Team

ONTARIO MOVING INTO STEP ONE IN ROADMAP TO REOPENING

Ontario will move into the first phase of the three-stage plan to reopen Ontario for Business on Friday, June 11, 2021 at 12:01 a.m.

For more on this Plan, please visit https://www.ontario.ca/page/reopening-ontario

For dealers this will mean you no longer have to sell by appointment only or have restricted hours, subject to any capacity limits (we recommend 25%) and other safeguards:

STEP ONE

• The public must not be permitted in areas where products are neither sold nor displayed for sale
• A safety plan is required to be prepared and made available upon request
• Retailers must have passive screening notice for customers and active screening for staff
• Individuals must physically distance and wear a face covering
• Test drive restrictions

1. the test drive must be limited to no more than 10 minutes,
2. a maximum of two people, including up to one sales representative, may be present in the vehicle, boat or watercraft during the test drive, and
3. if two people who are not members of the same household are present in the vehicle during the test drive, any windows in the vehicle, boat or watercraft must be opened at all times.

The province will remain in Step One for at least 21 days to evaluate any impacts on key public health and health system indicators. If at the end of the 21 days the province has vaccinated 70 per cent of adults with one dose and 20 per cent of adults with two doses and there are continued improvements in other key public health and health system indicators, the province will move to Step Two of the Roadmap.

An important note here.  Any Public Health authority can override this provincial order if it believes circumstances within its area justify it.  In fact, for the Timmins area, this appears to be the case as the Porcupine Health Unit is not moving into Stage 1 on Friday.  Please check with your local health unit if in doubt.

For more detailed and sector-specific guidance please visit https://www.ontario.ca/page/enhancing-public-health-and-workplace-safety-measures-provincewide-shutdown

See our previous Dealer Alerts at  www.ucda.org/dealer-alerts/

ONTARIO STATE OF EMERGENCY AND STAY AT HOME ORDER EXTENDED

Premier Doug Ford has announced an extension of the State of Emergency and Stay at Home Orders.  The extension means the orders, first put in place on April 8^th, and extended on April 17^th, will remain in place until at least June 2, 2021.

Full details about the new measures can be found at:

https://www.ontario.ca/page/enhancing-public-health-and-workplace-safety-measures-provincewide-shutdown#section-4

• Sales by Appointment only
• 25% capacity limit (divide the total square metres of floor space accessible to the public [not including shelving and store fixtures] by 16 and round down to the nearest whole number)
• restricting allowable hours of operation to 7 a.m. and 8 p.m.
• Work from home where possible
• Must post capacity limits
• A safety plan is required to be prepared and made available upon request, see https://www.ontario.ca/page/develop-your-covid-19-workplace-safety-plan for template
• Retailers must have passive screening notice for customers and active screening for staff
• Individuals must physically distance (2 metres) and wear a face covering
• Curbside pick-up and delivery permitted Curbside pickup and delivery permitted, as are online sales
• Test Drive Restrictions in effect:

• • limited to no more than 10 minutes
  • a maximum of two people, including up to one sales representative permitted
  • windows must be opened at all times unless if two people who are not members of the same household are present in the vehicle

For more information on remote sales please visit:

https://www.omvic.ca/portal/NewsPublications/DealerBulletins/2020/tabid/559/aid/457/Default.aspx

Members may be eligible for relief from the Federal and Provincial Governments. Please visit Federal: https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/economic-response-plan/covid19-businesses.html and Provincial: https://covid-19.ontario.ca/covid-19-help-businesses-ontario#financial-relief for more information.

Please visit Ontario.ca/covidresponse for the full list of public health region classifications.

For your region, and more information, see our previous Dealer Alerts at  www.ucda.org/dealer-alerts/

ONTARIO OFFERS FREE COVID-19 TEST KITS TO BUSINESSES

The Ontario government has unveiled a plan to make rapid COVID-19 testing kits available to essential businesses.

Qualified businesses can have these packages shipped to them FREE OF CHARGE so they can test their workers and help keep everyone safe.

Businesses are encouraged to participate in the program by registering at https://covid-19.ontario.ca/check-your-eligibility-provincial-antigen-screening-program.  For dealers, select sector category “Other” and follow the prompts.

Program eligibility was recently expanded to include any business that is allowed to be open and requires staff to work on-site:

• A COVID-19 rapid screening test can be performed anywhere (e.g., on-site, at the place of employment) and does not require shipping a specimen to a lab for processing. It takes about 15 minutes to yield a result.
• Rapid antigen point-of-care testing does not replace public health measures, such as symptom screening, physical distancing, masking and hand hygiene.
• Any positive results from a rapid antigen point-of-care test must be confirmed with laboratory-based polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing.
• Businesses with fewer than 150 employees can participate in workplace rapid antigen screening through a program run jointly by the Ontario government and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce.

https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/1000107/ontario-continues-to-expand-access-to-rapid-testing-for-workplaces

For all COVID related information, please see our previous Dealer Alerts at  www.ucda.org/dealer-alerts/