The provincial government will release a framework early next week for how it plans to reopen Ontario’s economy, Premier Doug Ford said Friday.
During his daily news briefing on the COVID-19 crisis, Ford said community spread of the virus is moving in the right direction. But he also cautioned that any plans to reopen would come with the caveat of putting the health and safety of Ontario residents first.
“[The plan] will provide a gradual and measured approach for opening up,” Ford said.
Health Minister Christine Elliott also said the province will begin scheduling elective surgeries again “as soon as we’re able.”
“This is something I know is extremely anxiety-provoking for many people,” she said.
But, she noted, Ontario is still dealing with case counts of over 500 on a daily basis, and so officials have to ensure the province is past its peak of transmission to ensure hospital capacity is adequate.
Meanwhile, the military is now intervening at long-term care and retirement homes across the province, where the Ontario government reported a jump of 57 deaths on Friday.
There are currently 131 outbreaks in homes across the province, with 573 deaths total. Some 2,287 residents and 1,089 staff have also tested positive.
Altamont Community Care Centre, 28 resident deaths and one staff member, 58 resident cases, five staff cases.
Hawthorne Place, nine deaths, 47 cases.
Holland Christian Homes’ Grace Manor, two deaths, 49 resident cases, 21 staff cases.
Military support may be redeployed to other sites as required, said provincial spokesperson Ivana Yelich in a statement issued Friday.
“Our top priority is ensuring the staff at these long-term care homes can focus on providing care and have the resources they need to combat the spread of this virus,” the statement read.
Dr. Barbara Yaffe, the province’s associate chief medical officer of health, said at a news conference Friday afternoon that the province is “extremely concerned” about the numbers seen in long-term care and congregate settings, but “cautiously optimistic” about community spread.
Officials believe that numbers in the broader community have peaked, but, “we won’t for sure know when we’re at the peak until we’re … on the way down,” she said.
Dr. Barbara Yaffe said Friday that officials won’t really know that COVID-19 cases have peaked until numbers start to drop. (CBC)
Still, Yaffe said, it seems as if numbers have “plateaued” — but she could not say how long numbers would crest along that line.
“It could actually be weeks,” she said. “We don’t know.”
Province reports 640 new cases
Ontario also reported a record-breaking 640 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, bringing the total number of cases in the province since the outbreak began to 13,519.
The provincial government is reporting 763 deaths, though CBC News has counted 814 deaths according to data from local health units. Some 7,087 people have recovered.
The province says it completed 12,295 tests within the 24 hours since its last update, while 5,414 are currently under investigation.
Meanwhile, hospitalizations from the virus rose to 910 from 877.
The number of patients in intensive care and on ventilators also both increased, bringing the totals to 243 and 193, respectively.
These updated numbers come one day after Ford announced that his mother-in-law, who is a resident of a Toronto long-term care home ravaged by COVID-19, has tested positive for the disease.
Ford also announced Friday that the province is partnering with the federal government to provide relief for landlords and small businesses affected by the pandemic.
The province says it is committing $241 million through the new Ontario-Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance Program (OCECRA) to help provide relief.
According to a news release issued Friday, the program will provide forgivable loans to eligible commercial property owners experiencing rent shortfalls because their small business tenants have been impacted by the pandemic.
To receive the loan, property owners would be required to reduce the rental costs of small business tenants for April to June 2020 by at least 75 per cent and commit to a moratorium on evictions for three months, the province says.
“The vast majority of Ontario’s small businesses and landlords are struggling during this extraordinary public health emergency,” Ford said in a statement. “That’s why we are doing everything we can to support them through these tough economic times, so they can hit the ground running when we are in a position to open up the provincial economy.”
OTTAWA – Canada’s unemployment rate held steady at 6.5 per cent last month as hiring remained weak across the economy.
Statistics Canada’s labour force survey on Friday said employment rose by a modest 15,000 jobs in October.
Business, building and support services saw the largest gain in employment.
Meanwhile, finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing experienced the largest decline.
Many economists see weakness in the job market continuing in the short term, before the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts spark a rebound in economic growth next year.
Despite ongoing softness in the labour market, however, strong wage growth has raged on in Canada. Average hourly wages in October grew 4.9 per cent from a year ago, reaching $35.76.
Friday’s report also shed some light on the financial health of households.
According to the agency, 28.8 per cent of Canadians aged 15 or older were living in a household that had difficulty meeting financial needs – like food and housing – in the previous four weeks.
That was down from 33.1 per cent in October 2023 and 35.5 per cent in October 2022, but still above the 20.4 per cent figure recorded in October 2020.
People living in a rented home were more likely to report difficulty meeting financial needs, with nearly four in 10 reporting that was the case.
That compares with just under a quarter of those living in an owned home by a household member.
Immigrants were also more likely to report facing financial strain last month, with about four out of 10 immigrants who landed in the last year doing so.
That compares with about three in 10 more established immigrants and one in four of people born in Canada.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
The Canadian Institute for Health Information says health-care spending in Canada is projected to reach a new high in 2024.
The annual report released Thursday says total health spending is expected to hit $372 billion, or $9,054 per Canadian.
CIHI’s national analysis predicts expenditures will rise by 5.7 per cent in 2024, compared to 4.5 per cent in 2023 and 1.7 per cent in 2022.
This year’s health spending is estimated to represent 12.4 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product. Excluding two years of the pandemic, it would be the highest ratio in the country’s history.
While it’s not unusual for health expenditures to outpace economic growth, the report says this could be the case for the next several years due to Canada’s growing population and its aging demographic.
Canada’s per capita spending on health care in 2022 was among the highest in the world, but still less than countries such as the United States and Sweden.
The report notes that the Canadian dental and pharmacare plans could push health-care spending even further as more people who previously couldn’t afford these services start using them.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
As Canadians wake up to news that Donald Trump will return to the White House, the president-elect’s protectionist stance is casting a spotlight on what effect his second term will have on Canada-U.S. economic ties.
Some Canadian business leaders have expressed worry over Trump’s promise to introduce a universal 10 per cent tariff on all American imports.
A Canadian Chamber of Commerce report released last month suggested those tariffs would shrink the Canadian economy, resulting in around $30 billion per year in economic costs.
More than 77 per cent of Canadian exports go to the U.S.
Canada’s manufacturing sector faces the biggest risk should Trump push forward on imposing broad tariffs, said Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters president and CEO Dennis Darby. He said the sector is the “most trade-exposed” within Canada.
“It’s in the U.S.’s best interest, it’s in our best interest, but most importantly for consumers across North America, that we’re able to trade goods, materials, ingredients, as we have under the trade agreements,” Darby said in an interview.
“It’s a more complex or complicated outcome than it would have been with the Democrats, but we’ve had to deal with this before and we’re going to do our best to deal with it again.”
American economists have also warned Trump’s plan could cause inflation and possibly a recession, which could have ripple effects in Canada.
It’s consumers who will ultimately feel the burden of any inflationary effect caused by broad tariffs, said Darby.
“A tariff tends to raise costs, and it ultimately raises prices, so that’s something that we have to be prepared for,” he said.
“It could tilt production mandates. A tariff makes goods more expensive, but on the same token, it also will make inputs for the U.S. more expensive.”
A report last month by TD economist Marc Ercolao said research shows a full-scale implementation of Trump’s tariff plan could lead to a near-five per cent reduction in Canadian export volumes to the U.S. by early-2027, relative to current baseline forecasts.
Retaliation by Canada would also increase costs for domestic producers, and push import volumes lower in the process.
“Slowing import activity mitigates some of the negative net trade impact on total GDP enough to avoid a technical recession, but still produces a period of extended stagnation through 2025 and 2026,” Ercolao said.
Since the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement came into effect in 2020, trade between Canada and the U.S. has surged by 46 per cent, according to the Toronto Region Board of Trade.
With that deal is up for review in 2026, Canadian Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Candace Laing said the Canadian government “must collaborate effectively with the Trump administration to preserve and strengthen our bilateral economic partnership.”
“With an impressive $3.6 billion in daily trade, Canada and the United States are each other’s closest international partners. The secure and efficient flow of goods and people across our border … remains essential for the economies of both countries,” she said in a statement.
“By resisting tariffs and trade barriers that will only raise prices and hurt consumers in both countries, Canada and the United States can strengthen resilient cross-border supply chains that enhance our shared economic security.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
