As daily life in Canada comes to a pause, 44 per cent of Canadian households say they’ve lost work or have seen layoffs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
That’s according to an Angus Reid survey released Wednesday, which outlines that another 18 per cent of Canadian households anticipate work loss.
Of the 44 per cent that have lost work, 66 per cent of Canadians said their employer is not paying for any lost hours. Twenty per cent said they are receiving all their regular pay, despite lost work; the remaining have some sort of pay but not full.
The loss of work has had a “disproportionate impact” on younger Canadians, explained Angus Reid Institute’s executive director Shachi Kurl.
“Who are younger workers here? They’re servers, they’re people working in the service industry, people working in retail, people working in the hospitality and tourism sector,” Kurl said.
Canadians aged 18 to 24 made up 45 per cent of the total number of those who lost work or jobs, followed by those between the ages of 24 and 34 at 30 per cent.
The loss of work was felt fairly evenly by Canadians across different wage brackets, Kurl noted. She added many Canadians may not be losing jobs, but are scaling down work, and it will have a “ripple effect.”
“That speaks to contracts lost, cancelled projects or put on hold, clients lost,” she said.
“It’s not just about big companies, or small, closing brick and mortar locations. It has to do with marketing budgets, advertising, supply chains.”
People in every province have experienced work loss.
In Alberta, 50 per cent of households said they had seen work or job loss due to COVID-19. In British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada the per cent of households who reported losses ranged from 42 to 47 per cent.
Saskatchewan and Manitoba saw the lowest number of job losses in the country at 37 and 32 per cent, respectively.
Layoffs have hit several Canadian sectors in the past days, with more expected in the coming weeks and months as some provinces shutter all businesses except essential services.
Many Canadians surveyed said they need financial support urgently.
Thirty-seven per cent of those who have lost work said they are not equipped to handle an extra $100 in expenses over the next 30 days. One in three households also said they may miss a rent or mortgage payment this month.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the government is working as fast as it can to get money to Canadians.
“We’ve put forward measures that will get money out to them quickly,” Trudeau told reporters outside his home in Ottawa, where he is in self-isolation.
“Recognize that the demand is massive across the country, and we are working very, very hard to be able to flow money to people very rapidly,” he added.
While the Trudeau government put forward a $82-billion emergency relief plan for Canadians affected by coronavirus fallout, it has faced questions about why the government is not directly sending cheques to Canadians like some other countries have promised.
“Nothing is off the table,” Trudeau said on the issue on Tuesday. “We are looking at a broad range of measures for supporting vulnerable people, for supporting businesses, small businesses specifically, and giving more help for Canadians.”
COVID-19 has produced a rapid downshift in the economy as businesses are forced to close and Canadians asked to stay home, which has led to a sharp drop in consumer spending and a sharp jump in claims for employment insurance benefits.
Last week alone, the government received 500,000 new EI claims. Many Canadians have reported experiencing difficulty making claims amid high demand.
According to the survey, thirty-one per cent of Canadians who have lost work said they have already applied for EI, but more than half called the process “difficult.”
In addition to technical issues, personal finance expert Rubina Ahmed-Haq noted that many Canadians are also facing misinformation and confusion when trying to access government funds.
“You don’t need to ask Twitter, you don’t need to ask your friends,” she said, urging Canadians to get information from reliable sources, such as the government itself.
Ahmed-Haq added that many Canadians already lived paycheque-to-paycheque before this pandemic caused greater uncertainty. She said that the coronavirus pandemic is an “extreme example” of why all Canadians need to work on having savings for an emergency.
“When the virus is contained, and we go back to some sort of normal — whatever the new normal is going to be — it’s so important to start building that emergency fund.”
While the past few weeks have been difficult for many Canadians, Kurl noted there are some positives.
Nearly half Canadian households who experienced reduced work said they were “certain” they would go back to normal workloads after the pandemic is under control, while another 35 per cent were “pretty sure.” Seventeen per cent were either doubtful or thought their jobs were gone forever.
“You still have a significant level of people who think, oh yeah, I’m coming back to my job for sure. There is that optimism or hope,” Kurl said, cautioning these numbers may shift quickly.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
