{"id":26834,"date":"2020-06-25T08:58:43","date_gmt":"2020-06-25T12:58:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=26834"},"modified":"2020-07-02T19:32:49","modified_gmt":"2020-07-02T23:32:49","slug":"consumer-confidence-key-to-re-opening-mpp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/consumer-confidence-key-to-re-opening-mpp\/","title":{"rendered":"Consumer confidence key to re-opening: MPP"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With Ontario\u2019s\nre-opening efforts underway, more work needs to be done on rebuilding consumer\nconfidence, according to Newmarket-Aurora MPP Christine Elliott.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to The\nAuroran on Friday afternoon as York Region moved into Stage 2 of the Province\u2019s\n
\nre-opening plan, she said local residents should be\n\u201ccongratulated\u201d in their efforts to slow the number of new cases of COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNewmarket-Aurora has\ndone such a fantastic job of following all the public health rules to get us to\nthis point,\u201d said Ms. Elliott, who also serves as Ontario\u2019s Deputy Premier and\nMinister of Health. \u201cThis would not have happened without everyone in the\ncommunity following those rules. We could have been in a state like Italy and\nSpain and some parts of the United States, but fortunately we are not. Our\nhospitals have not been overwhelmed and now that we\u2019re able to open up the\neconomy, people are able to get back to not a normal way that we used to know,\nbut a new normal way of living.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the community\ncould get to this point, Ms. Elliott says she heard from several local\nbusinesses that have been \u201canxious\u201d to re-open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey wanted to\nreturn to a new normal, and that means getting back into business and having\ntheir customers come back to them,\u201d she said. \u201cThe Ministry of Health has been\nworking with the Ministry of Labour, who have done a huge amount of work here,\nand they have produced over 160 different guidelines for workplaces in terms of\na return to work, depending on what it is their business is doing. That has\nbeen very helpful\u2026so that businesses feel confident that when they do re-open\nit is going to be safe for their employees as well as the general public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think what we\nstill need to work on is building consumer confidence. People have been\nself-isolating and remaining in their homes for the last number of months and\nare still a little bit apprehensive about going out in public again, going back\ninto food stores and pharmacies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People need to\ncontinue physical distancing, she says, and in situations where physical\ndistancing can\u2019t be done, the Province is asking people to wear a mask \u201cjust to\nmake sure we don\u2019t have further outbreaks of COVID-19.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want to keep\neveryone safe and healthy,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An important step in\nbuilding up that consumer confidence once again \u2013 as well as confidence of the\npublic at large \u2013 is the Province\u2019s new contact notification system. Announced\nlast week, Ms. Elliott says this new contact tracing app will be launching \u201cin\nseveral weeks\u201d and available to residents on a voluntary basis to let them know\nif they have been in contact with someone with COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf they are in\ncontact with someone who has COVID-19, the app will notify them and then they\ncan take the necessary steps to either have themselves tested, self-isolate,\nand also inform people they have been in close contact with,\u201d she explains. \u201cIt\nis completely anonymous, works on the Bluetooth system, and it has been\napproved by the Information & Privacy Commissioner of Ontario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPrivacy is a very\nimportant consideration, making sure they are safe and healthy, and also\nbalancing their civil liberties and their right to privacy. We have worked hand-in-hand\nwith the [Commissioner] who is satisfied that the app that has been developed\nin Ontario and is now going to be used by the Federal government and right\nacross the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is going to be\nvery helpful, I think, in helping to boost consumer confidence. It is not the\nonly step we\u2019re taking, of course, with contact management, but it is one of\nthe points of assistance that we have in order to make sure that people are\nsafe and that they feel safe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Stage 2 arrived in\nYork Region on Friday, Mayor Tom Mrakas said the Town will continue to work\nclosely with the Province and York Region Public Health to monitor the pandemic\nand its impact on the community while he also urged residents to remain\nvigilant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThank you to our\nresidents and businesses for your cooperation over the past few months as we\nall work to flatten the curve,\u2019 he said. \u201cI know it has been difficult, but our\ncollective sacrifices and efforts have resulted in a positive step forward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Town, he added,\nwill initiate a \u201cstaged approach\u201d to reopening community resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs the Province\nbegins to reduce restrictions, Town Staff are starting to assess and begin the\nnecessary preparations for a gradual reopening of Town amenities over the\ncoming months. Our top priority is to ensure all considerations are addressed\nto maintain the safety and wellbeing of patrons and staff. We know residents\nare anxious to get back to normal, but this will be a slow, gradual process in\norder to minimize the potential risk of future waves of COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs we enjoy these\nnew freedoms, I ask you to continue to follow the advice of our public health\nofficials. We should all be diligently maintaining physical distance with\nothers, washing hands with soap and water often, wearing a mask if necessary\nand staying home if you are feeling unwell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy following the guidelines set out by health officials, we have been able to move forward and if we stay vigilant we will continue to progress.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With Ontario\u2019s re-opening efforts underway, more work needs to be done on rebuilding consumer confidence, according to Newmarket-Aurora MPP Christine Elliott. Speaking to The Auroran on Friday afternoon as York Region moved into Stage 2 of the Province\u2019s re-opening plan, she said local residents should be \u201ccongratulated\u201d in their efforts to slow the number of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-6YO","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-22 14:35:07","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26834\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}