Ontario’s education minister is aiming to reassure parents that his province’s school reopening plan is different than Quebec’s, where 46 schools have at least one case of COVID-19 since opening.
Stephen Lecce reacted Saturday to a report from the Quebec government that showed dozens of schools — including preschool, elementary, secondary and adult career centres — reported one or more infections between Aug. 26 and Sept. 3.
Lecce noted that Ontario has mandated masking in classrooms while Quebec has not, and said more than 600 public health nurses will be stationed in schools this fall.
“We have unique differentiators in this province that they do not,” Lecce said of Quebec. “I wouldn’t draw a parallel. Not all things are equal.”
Speaking at an event in Toronto, Lecce urged parents to actively screen their children for virus symptoms before sending them to school.
With just days to go before classes start at some Ontario schools, the Ford government has faced increasing pressure over its COVID-19 back-to-school plan.
School boards, teachers’ unions and some parents have called on the government to mandate smaller class sizes to ensure physical distancing is possible in the classroom — and provide funding to make it happen.
Premier Doug Ford has repeatedly defended the plan, which he said has been put together with the help of medical experts.
Last week, the government released new guidance on how to deal with potential COVID-19 outbreaks in schools.
It emphasizes prevention and at-home screening, while teachers and principals will be asked to isolate any child that develops symptoms at school.
‘If a challenge arises, we will be decisive,’ minister says
Public health officials will be given discretion to send entire cohorts of students home from school, or potentially close schools, if they feel that is the best way to manage an outbreak.
In an interview with The Canadian Press on Friday, Lecce didn’t rule out taking further action if the situation in schools changes in the coming weeks, adding that “if a challenge arises, we will be decisive.”
But Lecce would not say what form that action could take.
“Week after week we’ve added more levels of protection,” he said. “Our aim is to prevent that type of disruption…. The premier and I have also indicated that we will continue to take action to further improve the safety of our schools based on the advice of the medical community.”
‘People are very anxious,’ NDP education critic says
But NDP education critic Marit Stiles said the government has been anything but decisive in its approach to reopening the province’s schools, changing plans regularly and confusing parents and educators alike.
The news out of Quebec will just add to the stress parents are feeling this weekend, Stiles said.
“What I’m hearing over and over is people are very anxious,” she said. “I imagine a lot of people will be talking about this over the Labour Day weekend and maybe revisiting their plans.”
Stiles said Ontario has yet to address key safety concerns about its plan, including the need to physically distance in the classroom.
“Are we as ready as (Quebec)? Is this going to happen here? I really hope not,” she said. “But I do think that the big issue that’s outstanding is the physical distancing part.”
Ontario reported 169 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, with Peel Region, Toronto and Ottawa each reporting dozens of new diagnoses.
There were also 106 cases newly marked as resolved in the provincewide report.
The total number of cases in Ontario now stands at 43,003, which includes 2,811 deaths and 38,847 cases marked as resolved.
Health Minister Christine Elliott said Peel Region is reporting 46 new cases, Toronto has 42 and Ottawa has 30 new cases.
She said 28 of the province’s 34 public health units are reporting five or fewer new cases.
The province was able to complete 28,672 tests over the previous day.
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.
