Legislature acts to temporarily block commercial evictions

The Ontario government has passed Bill 192, Protecting Small Business Act, 2020 temporarily halting or reversing evictions of commercial tenants and protecting them from being locked out or having their assets seized during COVID-19. The legislation applies to businesses that are eligible for the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) for evictions from May 1, 2020 (retroactively) until August 31, 2020. The pause on evictions does not apply to those already participating in CECRA, as that program already includes a stipulation of a 3-month eviction moratorium. Of note is that the legislation is reversing evictions as of May 1, whereas originally the province was considering reversing evictions on or after June 3.