Canada added 2,145 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus to its nationwide tally on Sunday, along with 24 more deaths.
So far, 215,884 people in Canada have tested positive for the virus, while the country’s death toll stands at 9,946. Since the pandemic began, 181,429 people have recovered after falling ill and more than 11.1 million tests have been administered.
Sunday’s numbers represent a partial update on the pandemic because B.C., Alberta, P.E.I. and the territories only provide new figures on weekdays.
Chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam said the latest national data showed Canada was averaging 2,488 newly confirmed cases and 74,719 tests conducted per day, Of those tested, she said 3.1 per cent resulted in a positive diagnosis.
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“Outbreaks continue to contribute to COVID-19 spread in Canada,” Tam said in a statement.
“These vary in size from just a few cases to larger clusters occurring in a range of settings including long term care and assisted living facilities, schools, congregate living settings, industrial work settings and large social gatherings.”
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In Quebec — the country’s viral epicentre — health officials reported 879 new cases of COVID-19, tipping the provincial total past 100,000.
They added 11 more people had died, moving the number of deaths in the province up to 6,143.
As of Sunday, 84,828 people residing in the province had recovered and more than 2.9 million COVID-19 tests had been administered.
Ontario health officials detected 1,042 more infections of the virus, setting a new single-day record, and said seven more people had died.
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Since the pandemic began, the province has confirmed 70,373 cases of COVID-19 and 3,093 deaths.
More than 4.9 million tests for the virus have been conducted while 60,160 people are in recovery.
In the wake of the province’s grim milestone, Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott urged Canadians to follow public health guidelines and reduce the curve in a series of posts on Twitter.
“We all need to do our part to #StopTheSpread of #COVID19,” she tweeted.
We all need to do our part to #StopTheSpread of #COVID19. Please continue to follow public health advice: ✅#PhysicalDistancing ✅#WearAMask ✅#WashYourHands thoroughly and often ✅ Stay home when you’re feeling ill ✅ Limit trips outside of home, except for essential purposes
Sixty more people were diagnosed with COVID-19 in Saskatchewan, bringing the province’s national number to 2,729. So far, 25 people in the province have died from the virus, 2,085 have recovered and 247,909 tests have been administered by provincial health authorities. Twenty five people are in hospital and 619 cases are active.
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The number of active cases and hospitalizations are at their highest levels seen in the province.
Scott Moe, who is seeking reelection as premier this week, said during a campaign stop on Saturday that the spread of the coronavirus could be curbed without having to resort to shutdowns.
“We will not have to have an economy-wide shutdown. We understand the virus much better,” he said.
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In Manitoba, health authorities said four more people had died and 161 new cases of COVID-19 were detected. Since the start of the pandemic, the province has reported 4,249 cases and 54 deaths.
By Sunday, 2,142 people had recovered after falling ill and officials conducted 240,639 tests.
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Two more COVID-19-related deaths were recorded in New Brunswick on Sunday.
“I extend my deepest sympathies to the family and friends of the individuals, as well as to all of those in the Campbellton-Restigouche and Moncton regions,” chief medical officer of health Dr. Jennifer Russell said in a statement.
“Kindness and compassion, along with strict adherence to two-metre distancing, and mask use are how we will get through this together.”
The province also reported two new cases of COVID-19, for a total of 328 confirmed infections and six deaths. So far, 96,747 tests have been administered and 257 of the province’s confirmed cases are considered resolved.
Newfoundland and Labrador reported one more case of the virus on Sunday, bringing its total to 280. The case is tied to travel, officials said.
Among the provinces that provided updates on Saturday, Nova Scotia was the only one that did not see any new cases. The cumulative total stands at 1,110 infections, only six of which are currently active.
CALGARY – MEG Energy says it earned $167 million in its third quarter, down from $249 million during the same quarter last year.
The company says revenues for the quarter were $1.27 billion, down from $1.44 billion during the third quarter of 2023.
Diluted earnings per share were 62 cents, down from 86 cents a year earlier.
MEG Energy says it successfully completed its debt reduction strategy, reducing its net debt to US$478 million by the end of September, down from US$634 million during the prior quarter.
President and CEO Darlene Gates said moving forward all the company’s free cash flow will be returned to shareholders through expanded share buybacks and a quarterly base dividend.
The company says its capital expenditures for the quarter increased to $141 million from $83 million a year earlier, mainly due to higher planned field development activity, as well as moderate capacity growth projects.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.
Premier David Eby is proposing an all-party committee investigate mistakes made during the British Columbia election vote tally, including an uncounted ballot box and unreported votes in three-quarters of the province’s 93 ridings.
The proposal comes after B.C.’s chief electoral officer blamed extreme weather, long working hours and a new voting system for human errors behind the mistakes in last month’s count, though none were large enough to change the initial results.
Anton Boegman says the agency is already investigating the mistakes to “identify key lessons learned” to improve training, change processes or make recommendations for legislative change.
He says the uncounted ballot box containing about 861 votes in Prince George-Mackenzie was never lost, and was always securely in the custody of election officials.
Boegman says a failure in five districts to properly report a small number of out-of-district votes, meanwhile, rippled through to the counts in 69 ridings.
Eby says the NDP will propose that a committee examine the systems used and steps taken by Elections BC, then recommend improvements in future elections.
“I look forward to working with all MLAs to uphold our shared commitment to free and fair elections, the foundation of our democracy,” he said in a statement Tuesday, after a news conference by Boegman.
Boegman said if an independent review does occur, “Elections BC will, of course, fully participate in that process.”
He said the mistakes came to light when a “discrepancy” of 14 votes was noticed in the riding of Surrey-Guildford, spurring a review that increased the number of unreported votes there to 28.
Surrey-Guildford was the closest race in the election and the NDP victory there gave Eby a one-seat majority. The discovery reduced the NDP’s victory margin from 27 to 21, pending the outcome of a judicial review that was previously triggered because the race was so close.
The mistakes in Surrey-Guildford resulted in a provincewide audit that found the other errors, Boegman said.
“These mistakes were a result of human error. Our elections rely on the work of over 17,000 election officials from communities across the province,” he said.
“Election officials were working 14 hours or more on voting days and on final voting day in particular faced extremely challenging weather conditions in many parts of the province.
“These conditions likely contributed to these mistakes,” he said.
B.C.’s “vote anywhere” model also played a role in the errors, said Boegman, who said he had issued an order to correct the results in the affected ridings.
Boegman said the uncounted Prince George-Mackenzie ballot box was used on the first day of advance voting. Election officials later discovered a vote hadn’t been tabulated, so they retabulated the ballots but mistakenly omitted the box of first-day votes, only including ballots from the second day.
Boegman said the issues discovered in the provincewide audit will be “fully documented” in his report to the legislature on the provincial election, the first held using electronic tabulators.
He said he was confident election officials found all “anomalies.”
B.C. Conservative Party Leader John Rustad had said on Monday that the errors were “an unprecedented failure by the very institution responsible for ensuring the fairness and accuracy of our elections.”
Rustad said he was not disputing the outcomes as judicial recounts continue, but said “it’s clear that mistakes like these severely undermine public trust in our electoral process.”
Rustad called for an “independent review” to make sure the errors never happen again.
Boegman, who said the election required fewer than half the number of workers under the old paper-based system, said results for the election would be returned in 90 of the province’s 93 ridings on Tuesday.
Full judicial recounts will be held in Surrey-Guildford and Kelowna-Centre, while a partial recount of the uncounted box will take place in Prince George-Mackenzie.
Boegman said out-of-district voting had been a part of B.C.’s elections for many decades, and explained how thousands of voters utilized the province’s vote-by-phone system, calling it a “very secure model” for people with disabilities.
“I think this is a unique and very important part of our elections, providing accessibility to British Columbians,” he said. “They have unparalleled access to the ballot box that is not found in other jurisdictions in Canada.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.
WINNIPEG – A public memorial honouring former judge, senator and chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission into residential schools, Murray Sinclair, is set to take place in Winnipeg on Sunday.
The event, which is being organized by the federal and Manitoba governments, will be at Canada Life Centre, home of the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets.
Sinclair died Monday in a Winnipeg hospital at the age of 73.
A teepee and a sacred fire were set up outside the Manitoba legislature for people to pay their respects hours after news of his death became public. The province has said it will remain open to the public until Sinclair’s funeral.
Sinclair’s family continues to invite people to visit the sacred fire and offer tobacco.
The family thanked the public for sharing words of love and support as tributes poured in this week.
“The significance of Mazina Giizhik’s (the One Who Speaks of Pictures in the Sky) impact and reach cannot be overstated,” the family said in a statement on Tuesday, noting Sinclair’s traditional Anishinaabe name.
“He touched many lives and impacted thousands of people.”
They encourage the public to celebrate his life and journey home.
A visitation for extended family, friends and community is also scheduled to take place Wednesday morning.
Leaders from across Canada shared their memories of Sinclair.
Premier Wab Kinew called Sinclair one of the key architects of the era of reconciliation.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Sinclair was a teacher, a guide and a friend who helped the country navigate tough realities.
Sinclair was the first Indigenous judge in Manitoba — the second in Canada.
He served as co-chair of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba to examine whether the justice system was failing Indigenous people after the murder of Helen Betty Osborne and the police shooting death of First Nations leader J.J. Harper.
In leading the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, he participated in hundreds of hearings across Canada and heard testimony from thousands of residential school survivors.
The commissioners released their widely influential final report in 2015, which described what took place at the institutions as cultural genocide and included 94 calls to action.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.
