As of Aug. 9, American citizens and permanent residents will be allowed to enter Canada if they can provide proof they’ve been fully vaccinated for at least 14 days. Fully vaccinated U.S. travellers will be exempt from quarantining for 14 days.
Only the major airports in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary have been allowed to accept international flights during the pandemic.
Effective Monday, international flights carrying passengers will be permitted to land at the Ottawa International Airport, Halifax Stanfield International Airport, Quebec City Jean Lesage International Airport, Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport and Edmonton International Airport.
ALL EYES ON COVID-19 NUMBERS
Four weeks before the start of the new school year, Ottawa’s COVID-19 case numbers are increasing and the vaccine rollout continues to slow.
Ottawa Public Health reported 16 new cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa on Sunday, after 11 cases on Thursday, 18 on Friday and 12 on Saturday. It’s been the highest number of cases in Ottawa since late June.
Meantime, Ottawa’s COVID-19 vaccination rates continue to slow.
Ottawa Public Health reports only 3,378 vaccines were administered at community and pop-up clinics across Ottawa on Thursday, the lowest number of vaccines administered in Ottawa since March 28.
As of Friday, 83 per cent of Ottawa residents 12 and older have received one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 73 per cent are fully vaccinated.
The Quebec government is expected to unveil details of the COVID-19 vaccine passport this week.
ELECTION SPECULATION
Election speculation is rising in Ottawa.
CTV News’ Rachel Aiello reported this week that federal political parties are finalizing campaign plans behind the scenes in anticipation of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calling an election this month.
A survey by Nanos Research and commissioned by CTV News found three in five Canadians surveyed over the August long weekend said an election was unimportant or somewhat unimportant right now.
All parties have been working to nominate candidates.
As of Tuesday, the Liberals have nominated 226 candidates, the Conservatives have nominated 275 candidates, the NDP have nominated 126 candidates, and the Greens have 97 candidates nominated.
In Ottawa, the Liberals have not nominated a candidate to run in Ottawa Centre following Catherine McKenna’s decision not to seek re-election. Former Ottawa Centre MPP Yasir Naqvi was door knocking with McKenna on Saturday.
VERDICT AT JAGTAR GILL MURDER TRIAL
A verdict is expected Tuesday at the trial for an Ottawa man and his former lover, charged with first-degree murder in the death of Jagtar Gill.
Bhupinderpal Gill and Gurpreet Ronald pleaded not guilty to first degree murder.
The pair were convicted of first-degree murder in 2016, but the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled the trial judge made a legal error when instructing the jury and ordered a new trial.
PRO SOCCER RETURNS TO TD PLACE
Professional soccer returns to the pitch at TD Place on Saturday.
Over 535 days after the official announcement that Atletico Ottawa would become the eighth club competing in the Canadian Premier League, the soccer club will play its first game at TD Place.
To celebrate the first outdoor sporting event in Ottawa post COVID-19 lockdown, the team is giving 15,000 fans the chance to attend the game at TD Place for any price you want.
The “Pay What You Want” game will allow fans to pay any price to enter the stadium.
“You can choose for nothing. You can choose a little, or you can choose a lot. Any profits will go to the youth services foundation,” says Jeff Hunt, president of Atletico Ottawa.
Atletico Ottawa faces the Halifax Wanderers on Saturday, Aug. 14 at TD Place. Game time is 3 p.m.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
