Manitoba, Ontario, B.C., P.E.I. and Newfoundland and Labrador announced new restrictions on Friday as the Omicron variant continued to spread around the country.
The updates from health officials come amid a push for Canadians to get their vaccine booster shots to protect against the highly infectious variant.
In Manitoba, the province’s chief public health officer said it is the first time since widespread vaccination has been available that Manitoba has been forced to introduce a large set of pandemic measures that apply even to immunized people.
“It’s absolutely frustrating to be here again for all Manitobans,” Dr. Brent Roussin said as he announced the province is putting a smaller cap on the number of people allowed to gather in public and private settings.
Under the new measures, gyms, theatres, licensed venues and museums will also have their capacity cut down to 50 per cent, and indoor and outdoor sports tournaments are not allowed.
The province reported 239 new cases on Friday, continuing a trend of rising cases, and one additional death.
In Ontario, Premier Doug Ford unveiled new restrictions for businesses and social gatherings — including limiting indoor social gatherings to 10 people — as the province reported 3,124 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday.
“We need to meet this variant head on. We need to do everything we can to push it back,” said Ford.
Amid warnings from the province’s COVID-19 science table that the omicron variant could overwhelm hospitals in the coming weeks, the province has moved up its timeline for booster shots. Every Ontarian aged 18 and older who got their second dose at least three months ago is eligible to sign up on Monday.
Ford has also said the province is making millions of free rapid tests available at pop-up sites across the province, including at liquor stores.
People stand in a long line in the parking lot of an LCBO in Ottawa on Friday morning in hopes of snagging a COVID-19 rapid test kit. (Brian Morris/CBC)
In B.C., health officials announced new public health restrictions including limits on indoor gatherings, capacity limits in large venues, suspension of sports tournaments and across-the-board cancellations of organized New Year’s Eve events.
At an news conference Friday, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said health officials are seeing a major spike in cases driven largely by younger people who are becoming infected at informal parties.
The province reported 789 new cases and three new deaths on Friday.
In P.E.I., the province’s top doctor said the “exponential spread” of COVID-19 means new cases are coming in almost faster than public health officials can notify them.
“Every day matters,” Dr. Heather Morrison said as she announced new restrictions on personal gatherings, long-term care homes and public spaces such as retailers.
The new measures come as P.E.I.reported 31 new cases, a record high for the province, and its second case of the Omicron variant.
3rd dose of mRNA vaccine seemingly quite protective against Omicron, expert says
Getting a third dose of any mRNA COVID-19 vaccine is an effective way to protect yourself against the Omicron variant, says pediatric infectious diseases specialist Dr. Cora Constantinescu. 8:36
In Newfoundland and Labrador,anyone who is fully vaccinated and deemed a close contact of a positive case now needs to isolate for seven days, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald said at an afternoon news conference.
Weddings, funerals, burials and religious events will be under new capacity limits, and travel around the province for sporting events, arts events and recreation is banned.
The province, which reported 46 new cases on Friday, is also shortening its vaccine-booster timeline by about four weeks. People over 18 are now eligible for a booster 22 weeks after their second dose.
— From CBC News and The Canadian Press, last updated at 6:30 p.m. ET
What’s happening across Canada
Omicron ‘pushing us to our limits’: top N.S. health official
Saying many people will need to ‘self-manage’ their cases of COVID-19, Nova Scotia Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Robert Strang says the province needs to focus its resources on those who are most at risk and who have the most severe illnesses. 1:55
Nova Scotia announced 394 new cases, a record high, as Premier Tim Houston warned that the “sheer volume” of new cases is putting pressure on public health as it tries to keep up with tests. Tightened restrictions around masking, distancing and gathering limits took effect in the province on Friday.
In Quebec, health officials on Friday reported 3,768 new cases of COVID-19 — a new single-day high in the province — and seven additional deaths. The update came after Premier François Legault ramped up COVID-19 restrictions on Thursday as his province faced an uptick in cases.
Would-be Canadian travellers are again anxious after the federal government renewed warnings against non-essential international travel to try and reduce the spread of the Omicron variant. 2:02
As of Friday evening, more than 273.5 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University’s case-tracking tool. The reported global death toll stood at more than 5.3 million.
In Africa, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is making good progress with his recovery from COVID-19 while continuing to receive treatment for mild symptoms, the presidency said on Friday. Ramaphosa, who was given Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine in February, tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday.
In the Americas, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a new strategy called “test-to-stay” that allows unvaccinated children to stay in school even if they have been exposed to COVID-19, the institute’s director Rochelle Walensky said on Friday.
“If exposed children meet a certain criteria and continue to test negative, they can stay at school instead of quarantining at home,” she said.
Meanwhile, the NFL moved three games because of COVID-19 outbreaks: Las Vegas at Cleveland has been moved from Saturday to Monday; and Seattle at Los Angeles and Washington at Philadelphia have been moved from Sunday to Tuesday.
Over in the NHL, three teams — Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche and Florida Panthers — have been shut down until after the holiday break amid rising COVID-19 cases.
Nurse Sheena Davis administers a dose of a Moderna COVID-19 vaccine during a vaccination clinic at the Keystone First Wellness Center in Chester, Pa., on Wednesday. (Matt Rourke/The Associated Press)
In Europe, Denmark’s prime minister announced Friday that theaters, cinemas, concert halls, amusement parks, museums and art galleries across the country must close down under new restrictions to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the measures also would require stores smaller than 2,000 square metres and restaurants to limit the number of customers. Restaurants must serve their last meals and alcoholic beverages at 10 p.m. and close at 11 p.m. local time.
The partial shutdown order was approved later Friday by Parliament’s 21-member Epidemic Committee. Most restrictions apply as of Sunday at 8 a.m.
The Danish government is advising residents to limit social contacts over the holidays, and urged public and private companies to have employees work from home where possible.
In the Asia-Pacific region, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday his government is accelerating COVID-19 booster shots and securing oral medicines after speaking with Pfizer’s CEO. Japan has confirmed a handful of Omicron variant cases, while revealing a cluster of infections of about 100 U.S. troops on Japan’s southern island of Okinawa since earlier this month. Japan, which lacks home-developed vaccines, has so far approved booster shots from Pfizer and Moderna. Japan is also moving to shorten the interval between the second jab and boosters.
In the Middle East, the Palestinian health ministry reported its first cases of the Omicron variant in the territory.
— From Reuters, The Associated Press and CBC News, last updated at 6 p.m. ET
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.
