This week brings significant developments for some provinces and territories that have been the last to lift restrictions for food businesses. The following are the provinces and territories that will be seeing restriction changes this week or movements into the next phase of reopening.
As of Sunday, June 21, the province of Manitoba has moved into Phase 3 of its reopening plan. In the previous phase, restaurants, bars and other food businesses were permitted to operate patio and dine-in services. Businesses had to maintain occupancy limits of 50% of normal business levels. In Phase 3, the occupancy limits for food businesses are lifted.
Read the entire Restoring Safe Services Plan here.
During a June 15th press conference, Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Michael Patterson announced that as of June 22, restaurants and bars will be permitted to reopen at half capacity. Strict social distancing measures must be enforced and the last call for alcohol will be at 9:00 p.m. The COVID-19 health orders will be reassessed every 2 weeks.
Read the entire Reopening Plan here.
On June 22, Premier Doug Ford announced that Toronto and Peel Region will be moving into Phase 2 of reopening as of Wednesday, June 24. This leaves Windsor-Essex as the final region in the province to move to Phase 2. Windsor-Essex will continue in Phase 1 for at least another week due to a COVID-19 outbreak among migrant workers.
Read the entire Reopening Framework here.
As of June 22, food businesses within the Greater Montreal area, Joliette and l'Epiphanie are permitted to reopen. This includes those that are in food courts and shopping malls. These areas have been eagerly waiting to reopen following the rest of the province which was permitted to reopen on June 15. Food businesses that reopen in these areas fall under the same restrictions applicable to the rest of the province which includes: limiting the exchange of objects between customers and staff, enforcing physical distancing guidelines, conducting frequent cleaning and sanitizing, and recommending face masks. Food businesses are not subject to a capacity limit but rather it is the responsibility of business owners and managers to decide how many customers to allow within the premises at one time.
Read the entire Reopening Plan here.
The following provinces and territories are currently still in the same phase of reopening since our last update, or they have moved phases but have not made changes to food business restrictions:
Alberta — In Phase 2
British Columbia — In Phase 2
New Brunswick — In “Yellow level”
Newfoundland and Labrador — In Alert Level 3
Northwest Territories — In Phase 2
Nova Scotia — No changes to food business restrictions
Prince Edward Island — In Phase 3
Saskatchewan — In Phase 4
Yukon — In Phase 1