Uber Eats restaurant profits
Last week, Premier Doug Ford announced $300 million to help small businesses, including restaurants, offset fixed costs, including property taxes, hydro and natural gas bills. While details on that spending have yet to be announced, on Tuesday, Ford offered a little more help — the use of his bully pulpit to ask Uber Eats and other food delivery services to take a smaller bite out of restaurant revenue.
"And I have a message for the big third party food delivery services like Uber Eats — (it) is time for you to do your part," said Ford, who held his regular COVID-19 press conference at a family restaurant. "We need you to help out these mom and pop shops right now. Please consider reducing the commission rates you charge the restaurants impacted by these new health measures. We can't have restaurants paying as much as 30 per cent commission to have their food delivered right now."
Ford said that in some cases, that's on top of the service fees and delivery fees paid by consumers.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, third party platforms like Uber Eats continue to be an important option for restaurants to generate revenue and for delivery people to earn income," Uber Eats said through a spokesperson. "In addition to providing a platform to facilitate delivery and payment, Uber Eats also provides restaurants with exposure to a greater customer audience, promotional campaigns to increase demand, customer service and a streamlined order and payment processing system."
COVID deniers
Ford also used his platform to denounce COVID-19 deniers and anti-mask protesters.
"This is real, as real as I'm standing here," he said. "You can be a denier, you can be an anti-masker. You can do whatever this is democratic country, you can say what you want. But I'm just coming up here and telling you what I know, through the facts of the chief medical officer."
Ford slammed some of the anti-mask protesters who have been rallying outside his house and flying the flag upside down, calling it disrespectful to the country.
"I'm gonna repeat this again, there is no agenda," he said. "I'm the last guy in the world that would put up with that, it just, it just wouldn't happen under my watch. I'm here to protect the people of Ontario, keep them safe. I'm going to protect your family, I'm going to protect your kids at all costs."
'I'm just praying we don't have to expand this'
Ford was also asked if he has any plans to expand the number of jurisdictions subject to the modified stage two restrictions announced on Friday for Toronto, Peel and Ottawa.
The premier said he doesn't, right now, but he will listen to the advice of the province's chief medical officer of health, Dr. David Williams.
"I'm just praying we don't have to expand this," Ford said, and asked again for people to follow public health protocols. "Because I'll tell you, it's painful, doing what we had to do last week, and it really, really weighs on you. "
Red Cross called in
Ford was also asked about the federal government's decision to approve the province's request to send the Red Cross into seven long-term care homes in the Ottawa area.
He thanked Bill Blair, the federal minister of public safety, and the Red Cross.
Today, our government approved a request for the @redcrosscanada to help assess and stabilize the situation in 7 long term care facilities in Ottawa. Working together, we will get through this.
— Bill Blair (@BillBlair) October 11, 2020
Farm workers
The provincial and federal governments announced an additional $11.6 million to help support efforts to help the agricultural industry stop the spread of COVID-19 on farms, the province announced. The funding can go toward physical barriers for worker separation, upgrading HVAC systems and enhancing handwashing facilities.
Neglecting LTC
Green Leader Mike Schreiner issued a statement on testimony given to the commission into long-term care that the sector was ignored as the government focused on preparing hospitals for the pandemic.
“I was disappointed to learn that life-saving resources were diverted from long-term care homes during the first wave, leaving seniors to perish," he said. "My heart breaks that elders and workers were denied the (personal protective equipment) and physician care that could have saved their lives."
"It’s simply inexcusable that hospital beds sat empty while elders suffered and died alone in long-term care homes that were being overwhelmed," he continued. "These testimonies confirm that long-term care was deprioritized by the Ford government when this pandemic hit."
Schreiner said he is worried that the province has failed to make the necessary investments over the summer to prepare LTC homes for the second wave.
French teachers wanted
The Toronto District School Board said it has filled all its English-language teacher vacancies in its "virtual school" for elementary students.
This follows a delay in the start of classes and some students being left without a teacher following an influx of students switching from in-person to online learning. The TDSB announced last week it would be reassigning hundreds of teachers as a result — more than 500 teachers from 324 schools were expected to be moved to another location or the board's virtual school.
In an update to families during the Thanksgiving weekend, the board said teachers and students would "settle into their new assignments and classes" this week.
"We anticipate more stability in staffing once the transfer of permanent teachers from in-person TDSB schools to the Elementary Virtual School is complete," the board said.
The TDSB encouraged students to continue asynchronous activities provided by the board until they are assigned a teacher and noted that families would be informed about any changes to existing classroom teachers.
Some took to Twitter to relay their experiences with the reassignment of teachers, with one SickKids epidemiologist saying that he was "dealing with lots of tears now."
Today @tdsb reassigned boys’ teacher. We opted for virtual right away, so why are we still being subjected to this? The excuse that this was about the kids’ mental health never really convinced. It was never a priority. $ instead of teachers & kids. @shelleylaskin @rchernoslin
— Diego Bassani (@DGBassani) October 13, 2020
But the board is still short on French-language teachers and said that it has temporarily assigned English teachers to some French Immersion and Extended French classes. Some French teachers will also be moving from in-person schools to the virtual school.
"We continue to actively recruit French teachers and FI/EF classes with an English teacher assigned will have a French teacher assigned as soon as possible," the TDSB said.
A rate above
The Ontario government will continue its pandemic-era practice of set-rate electricity pricing.
As of November 1, the province will give ratepayers the option to stick with time-of-use rates as the default, or to opt into tiered rates.
"As we recover from COVID-19, our government remains focused on supporting Ontarians by keeping the cost of electricity affordable," stated Energy Minister Greg Rickford. "We are proud to offer the people of Ontario more options and the flexibility to choose between TOU and tiered pricing."
Offering a set rate through tiered rate pricing, where users pay a certain amount within a consumption threshold, was a priority of Premier Doug Ford. He had frequently complained in press conferences about how his wife Karla timed the laundry to avoid paying a higher rate for hydro consumption. Offering different rates at different times was a Liberal government initiative that was meant to provide incentives to smooth the demand curve for hydro demand, although it only affected consumption at the margins.
The province also expanded eligibility to the COVID-19 Energy Assistance Program and COVID-19 Energy Assistance Program for Small Business to households, organizations and businesses who had made partial payments to their hydro bills before the pandemic began.
The NDP used the energy news to remind voters that the government has not kept its promise to lower hydro rates by 12 per cent. "Premier Doug Ford not only broke his campaign promise to reduce electricity prices by 12 per cent – he’s raising prices again and again," stated Energy critic Peter Tabuns, who added that the price of hydro is scheduled to go up by 1.97 per cent on November 1.
Tabuns called for an "overhaul" of the hydro system rather than "tinkering" with time-of-use pricing.
-With files from Sneh Duggal and David Hains
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