With 2020 now behind us, a number of new rules and regulations take effect this upcoming year.
Nationwide, hundreds of millions of $1, $2, $25, $500, and $1,000 bank notes lost their legal tender status on Jan. 1.
Stores can still accept the bills if they choose to, however, this doesn’t mean that the bills are worthless as they can potentially be sold for more than face value to collectors.
The federal government announced plastic bags, cutlery and other hard-to-recycle plastic items would be banned by the end of 2021.
There are also some changes to workplace harassment legislation.
The federal government’s new “Workplace Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations” came into effect on Jan. 1, forcing federally-regulated organizations to formulate a workplace harassment policy, with an assessment of harassment risk factors and employee harassment training to be completed by Jan. 1, 2022.
As well, here in Ontario the provincial government is in the process of passing the ‘Helping Tenants and Small Businesses Act,’ which will freeze residential rent for the entirety of 2021.