As Ontario moves toward economic re-opening, the
provincial government is releasing information about sectors that
can re-open as well as about the guidelines that will apply to each
of those sectors. In this post, which will be updated regularly as
developments occur, we discuss the latest Ontario relaunch
developments. The most recent update reflected the December 21,
2020 announcement that the entire province would be subject to a
lockdown beginning on December 26, 2020.
Ontario's New Framework and the December 26 Lockdown
On November 3, 2020, the Government of Ontario released the
COVID-19 Response Framework ("New
Framework"), which replaces the previous Framework for
Reopening Our Province ("Old Framework"). The New
Framework introduces a five-level, colour-coded scheme with
clearly-defined criteria for each stage. Shortly thereafter, on
November 13, 2020, some of the criteria in the New Framework were
revised in order to allow for the introduction of more
