Premier Doug Ford has stiff new penalties for price gougers — including $750 tickets on the spot — and a snitch line to call if consumers see hefty price tags on products needed in the fight against COVID-19.

The province also clamped down on the size of gatherings, reducing them to five from the current 50, effective immediately, with exemptions for essential services like grocery stores, the premier said Saturday.

There are a few exceptions, including for households with more than five people.

Child-care centres looking after the kids of front-line workers will be allowed to have a maximum of 50 people.

There’s also an exception for funerals, which will allow up to 10 people at a time.

The province had previously restricted gatherings to a maximum of 50 people.

“I can assure everyone that we will do everything in our power to stop this virus in its tracks,” Ford said in a statement released late Saturday night.

Ford took aim at rogue retailers as well as people who were “loading up” on hand sanitizers, masks, disinfecting wipes, toilet paper, soap and household cleaners to sell online or in stores with major mark-ups.

“If you’re out there trying to price gouge and take advantage of this situation … then stop, stop right now, because it’s un-Canadian it’s wrong,” said Ford.

He admitted being “furious” on Thursday when he first heard of upscale grocer Pusateri’s charging $29.99 for a package of Lysol disinfecting wipes. The company insisted the price, many times higher than other retailers charge, was a “mistake” and offered refunds.

“Help us find these people. If you see somebody that is price gouging … let us know,” Ford added, touting a hotline at 1-800-889-9768 that will begin taking calls Monday. There’s an online reporting option at ontario.ca/form/report-price-gouging-related-covid-19

The $750 tickets will be for individual offenders, who could face fines up to $100,000 and a year in jail if summoned to court and convicted under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act.

Those penalties rise to $500,000 fines for company directors, and up to a year in jail, and a maximum of $10 million for corporations.

Ford said bylaw officers and police will have to take into account wholesale costs and any higher input costs manufacturers face as suspected infractions are investigated on a “case-by-case” basis.

While most retailers are being reasonable, Ford said there are a few “bad apples” not getting the message.

Facing continued criticism from doctors and nurses on the front lines over a shortage of masks and other personal protective equipment leaving them vulnerable to COVID-19, the government invoked the Supply Chain Management Act in a bid to get medical materials to where they are needed.

A number of hospitals, including Sunnybrook and Niagara Health, have issued directives limiting the number of masks given to staff for each shift despite repeated assurances from Health Minister Christine Elliott that supplies are adequate.

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“Given the scarce supply of masks, everyone needs to do their part to conserve,” says a new memo from Niagara Health limiting staff in COVID-19 units, emergency rooms and urgent care centres to two masks per shift.

A respiratory therapist at Sunnybrook told CBC that two masks is inadequate, considering the high number of patients many medical staff encounter.

“You wonder how protected you really are,” said Julie Nardi.

Police and firefighters have also complained about a shortage of masks. Several police officers have already contracted COVID-19.

Ford said he would raise the concerns about masks in a conference call with hospital executives.

“We’ll make sure the front-line people are equipped.”

To date, 91 health care workers in Ontario have contracted COVID-19, although there is no breakdown on how many got it on the job.

The supply chain law empowers the province to centrally manage medical and other supplies and collect data on inventories at various health care institutions so that purchasing can be prioritized and incoming shipments sent where they are needed most, said Government and Consumer Minister Lisa Thompson.

That will ensure “there’s a fair distribution out there” and allow any surpluses of supplies to be shared, chief medical officer of health Dr. David Williams told a news conference.

With files from The Canadian Press

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