March 17 COVID-19 Update

As a result of the current COVID-19 situation, the Huntsville/Lake of Bays Chamber of Commerce will begin sending you daily updates. We recognize that you are currently being bombarded with information from multiple sources. It is our goal to provide you with concise, up-to-date, daily information in a quick and easy to read format. Below are some important local links for continued updates.

Provincial Government

Today the Government of Ontario enacted a Declaration of Emergency to help contain the spread of COVID-19. As a result, the following establishments are legally required to close immediately:
  1. All facilities providing indoor recreation programs
  2. All public libraries
  3. All private schools
  4. All licensed child day care centres
  5. All bars and restaurants except those that provide take-out food and delivery
  6. All theatres including movie cinemas, stage theatre, music and dance shows
  7. Concert venues

As well, all organized events larger than 50 people have been prohibited, which includes communal services within places of worship. This Declaration of Emergency also provides additional funds to combat COVID-19. For more information from the province, follow these links:

Federal Government

The Prime Minister announced today that federal measures are on the way to help Canadians during the COVID-19 crisis. Justin Trudeau said “We’re looking at giving more flexibility for people to be able to make payments and for businesses to have more liquidity at this time.” The Prime Minister said other financial support measures could be introduced, including:
Money for businesses to allow them to keep people on the payroll even when they are at home
New access to credit for businesses
Enhanced Canada Child benefits, GST credits for low-income Canadian
He also stated that by the end of the week the government will have more to say about the upcoming tax season, possibly even a tax filing deadline extension.

We will continue to update you on the latest Federal news as it becomes available.

Let Us Help

We have created a web page with resources and updates, including a survey for you to fill out about the status of your own business. Please take the time to complete the survey, to enable us to share your updates with fellow members and the community. If you have other suggestions on ways that the Chamber can help your business, we would find that feedback useful. Please feel free to provide your suggestions/insights on an ongoing basis at this email address: [email protected].

Further Resources

Canada’s Regional Development Agencies (RDA’s) are responsible for economic development and have issued an informative single-page document to help you understand their role and where you can reach out for assistance. You can contact FedNor for support for your business.

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce has published the following guide to assist businesses in working through the changes COVID-19 will have on your business.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses has also published helpful resources for your business.

We know your businesses are already experiencing the devastating effect COVID-19 is having on local tourism. Our regional tourism organization, RTO-12, has published the following update and information.

Moving Forward

In this time we need to work together as much as possible to enable Huntsville and Lake of Bays to weather this situation and to position ourselves as the tourism leader once we are able to re-open our businesses and services to the public. If you have questions or need help finding the appropriate resources to assist you or your business, please reach out to us at the following address: [email protected]
From all of us at the Huntsville/Lake of Bays Chamber of Commerce team we urge you to stay safe and promise to do everything in our power to assist you in this difficult time.