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Hello,
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced new measures to try to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus in Canada.
Those new measures include: not allowing any foreign nationals into Canada (with some exceptions, such as Americans and diplomats); airline operators will be ordered to not allow anyone with symptoms, including Canadians, onto planes bound for Canada; Canadians stranded abroad will have financial assistance; and starting Wednesday, the only airports allowed to accept international flights will be in Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Toronto.
Mr. Trudeau said the restrictions will not apply to the flow of trade and goods.
A package of broader financial assistance is expected to be announced on Wednesday.
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
There’s not much out there that’s not about the effects of COVID-19. For a full rundown, you can subscribe to our Coronavirus Update newsletter (sign up here). Here are a few stories that touch on the political and governmental response.
Former Bank of Canada governor David Dodge says businesses and workers are going to need a financial bridge from the government for what could be months of economic uncertainty. “You are not trying to stimulate demand in the normal sense,” he said.
The Canada Border Services Agency says it will begin telling all travellers coming into Canada to self-isolate for 14 days. The move comes days after the federal government started to tell travellers to come home immediately.
The Ontario government is drafting legislation to protect workers whose jobs are at direct risk from the virus’s impacts, or who have to stay home to care for children who can’t go to school.
And Spain, like Italy before it, is now on national lockdown. France ordered most shops, cafés and restaurants closed, but has not yet enacted a full quarantine.
Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail) on economic stimulus: “Some of the details may be complex, but Bill Morneau’s basic job in responding to the coronavirus and the economic uncertainty it has created is to pump money into the economy. Enough money to convince the public that things won’t be so uncertain by the fall. That means going big.”
Kelly Cryderman (The Globe and Mail) on hoarding: “But to me, the desire to stock up on some extra 24-roll packages of TP has been largely misjudged. It is mostly an act of wanting to be prepared for an unknown. It’s an attempt by people at exerting some control over a situation increasingly out of control. And a bit extra of everything to be ready for two weeks or more at home isn’t a bad or selfish thing – a reasonable level of preparation is actually helpful for society.”
Niall Ferguson (The Globe and Mail) on the failure to prepare: “No amount of quantitative easing and deficit spending can avert a recession in the United States if COVID-19 is spreading through the population at an exponential rate and if the combination of prudent cancellations and consumer panic will bring much economic activity to a halt.”
Tasha Kheiriddin (Global News) on self-isolation: “Canada is not Italy. Yet. But the implication is clear. If my daughter or I contract COVID-19, we could kill my mother.”
André Picard (The Globe and Mail) on what we are giving up: “These are sacrifices. They will last for a while. But we’ve survived much worse. No one is being sent to war – except perhaps our selfless health care workers, who could soon find themselves in battlefield conditions.”
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