Following advice from the Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health, on April 3, 2020, Ontario updated the list of essential businesses that can remain open after 11:59 p.m. on April 4, 2020. Businesses that are not on the list of essential businesses must close their physical locations. Teleworking and online commerce is permitted for all businesses. The list of essential businesses is as follows:

• Supply Chains
• Food
• Services
• Services to the public that are restricted to alternative methods of sale
• Financial services
• Telecommunications and IT infrastructure/service providers
• Maintenance
• Transportation services
• Manufacturing
• Agriculture and food production
• Construction
• Resources and energy
• Communication services
• Research
• Health care and social services

A full description of businesses that fall into the above categories can be found on the Government of Ontario’s website, located here.

The International Practice Group at Fisher Phillips will continue to monitor for further updates.