Ontario Governments Giving Aid to Local Business in Fighting COVID-19
The government of Ontario is allocating more than $700,000 from the Ontario Together Fund. This is to give aid to 2 local businesses to make hand sanitizers to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the city.
More than $450,000 from the funds will be given to Dairy Distillery. It is a startup business based in Almonte that manufactures alcohol such as cream liquors and vodka. Around $290,000 will be given to New Ontario Brewing, a craft brewery established in 2014 in Northern Ontario. The funds are granted to assist them in their operations to make more hand sanitizers.
This is done in the hopes of improving and recovering the economy. Also, this can ensure that Ontario has solutions prepared whenever and wherever needed. Therefore, they plan to work with other world-class businesses. Through this, they can sustain the economy in Canada and come out stronger than before.
Dairy Distillery has donated over 30,000 hand sanitizers to those in Canada. New Ontario Brewing has plans to change some of its facilities and set up special equipment to produce ethanol in response to COVID-19.
School Bus Drivers in Ontario Demand Standardized Safety Protocols Amid COVID-19
School bus drivers who are members of Unifor want the government of Ontario to have standardized COVID-19 safety policies to protect not only themselves but also the students.
The protocols for COVID-19 are different from one school board to another. As a result, there are no specific regulations about social distancing, wearing face masks, sanitation of buses, and passengers who can board a bus.
This demand was made around 2 weeks after Unifor communicated this on behalf of more than 2,000 drivers on August 13. The 5 demands they asked are as follows:
● Proper regulations on the use of gloves, gowns, masks, and shields and to make sure that all bus drivers are provided with protective equipment for their and the passengers’ safety
● Set a limit for the number of passengers who can board the bus as buses are confined spaces
● Give more funds in hiring and retaining drivers
● Students are required to wear masks while inside the bus
● After each run, buses have to be sanitized
