A nurse visits a newly opened exhibition on China’s fight against COVID-19 at the Culture Expo Center in Wuhan, which earlier this year was the epicentre of the pandemic. (Getty Images)
New COVID-19 rent relief program won’t help struggling businesses until next month, group says
The federal government is prepared to offer small businesses rent and mortgage relief for October — but that money won’t actually get into the hands of business owners until November, according to one prominent Canadian business group. In the meantime, many small businesses are scrambling to make rent or mortgage payments in the midst of the economic slump caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. “There’s no question that it’s creating some additional stress for business owners,” said Laura Jones, executive vice-president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
Last Friday, the federal government unveiled a revamped program to help small businesses cover rent costs during the pandemic. While the previous program depended on landlords applying for the small business rent relief, the new program is supposed to make it easier for businesses to obtain rent and mortgage relief by allowing them to apply directly to the Canada Revenue Agency. Jones said the new program is “so much better” than its previous incarnation — but it needs new legislation to take effect and Parliament isn’t sitting this week.
Even after MPs return on Oct. 19, it will take time for the bill to be debated — including any late amendments — and for it to pass through both the House of Commons and the Senate, writes CBC’s Catherine Cullen. The CFIB has been told by government officials that applications for the program won’t open until November, Jones said. The previous incarnation of the program ended in September. “That leaves people with both their October rent to worry about and also their November 1st rent to worry about,” Jones said.
A spokesperson for Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s office said the government’s proposal ensures rent and mortgage support will be easy to access because it will go directly to small businesses — not through their landlords. Officials did not respond to repeated questions from CBC News about the application process beginning in November. The only reference to a timeline in any of the comments from Freeland’s office was a commitment to “quickly introduce legislation.” “Businesses will be getting rent relief for the month of October,” Small Business Minister Mary Ng told CBC News Power & Politics last week, adding relief would be backdated.
Jones said her members are pleased the new program will offer a “sliding scale” of rent relief. Businesses that have seen at least a 70 per cent drop in revenues can get up to 65 per cent of their rent covered under the program. Businesses with more modest losses will still be eligible for some relief, although it won’t be quite as much; that subsidy level hasn’t been confirmed yet. Businesses will also be eligible for even more help if they’ve been temporarily shut down by a public health order. While Jones said the new program is a substantial improvement over the old one, she said the government is taking far too long to implement it. “We’re seven months into the crisis and some businesses still don’t have rent relief. That’s too long,” Jones said.
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While the bulk of Canada’s COVID-19 cases remain in Ontario and Quebec, other provinces are facing surging outbreaks of their own and could soon face more restrictions. 2:00
IN BRIEF
Meet the experts trying to change the way we communicate about COVID-19
Keeping up with Canada’s COVID-19 public health information can feel like a full-time job, as ever-changing daily case numbers, countless news conferences, conflicting advice from officials and constantly updated guidelines can be overwhelming at the best of times. A group of experts has stepped up in an attempt to help with information overload by explaining the coronavirus in a clear and concise way that connects with a younger audience. “We need to meet people where they are at,” said Dr. Naheed Dosani, a physician and health-justice advocate in Toronto. “We need to think about what works for them.”
More than 45 per cent of Canada’s COVID-19 cases have occurred in those under the age of 40, and Dosani said the best way to connect with that demographic is through social media, something he called a “lost opportunity” with politicians and public health officials. Dosani, a palliative care doctor, began using platforms like TikTok and Instagram in January to reach a younger audience and share information in an effort to destigmatize the topic of death. When the pandemic struck, he shifted from focusing on palliative care to cutting through the noise about COVID-19. “People were really interested in the message. It was reaching them, and it was effective and it’s been quite a journey,” Dosani said.
Samanta Krishnapillai, an “equity-oriented health scientist” in Markham, Ont., started the On COVID-19 Project after months of feeling frustrated about how “ineffective” public health communication strategies were in reaching younger Canadians. “This isn’t a new problem, but during a global pandemic, it definitely should have been at the forefront of every pandemic plan,” said Krishnapillai, who has a master’s degree in health information science from Western University in London, Ont. The grassroots, youth-led and volunteer-based project, which launched over the summer, doesn’t yet have a huge following but has dozens of contributors, and more than 500 people have applied to join, which, Krishnapillai said, proves “young people want to do more.”
Trudeau says pandemic has amplified housing, connectivity gaps in territories
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed “the depths” of the gaps facing Canadians living in the territories. “We’re going to need to do a better job of delivering on housing, on things like broadband Internet access, which is no longer a luxury, but now a necessity. That’s what this pandemic has really emphasized,” Trudeau said in an interview with CBC North’s The Trailbreaker. The prime minister also committed to supporting the North’s mining sector and working to settle outstanding land claims in the region.
From 2016 to 2019, statistics show the Northern housing crisis has been getting worse. Those issues include the state of people’s homes, maintenance and a lack of affordability despite the Liberal government’s promises to put money into Northern housing as part of its national housing strategy in 2017. While the government has brought in funds to the North to address mounting problems in housing, Trudeau says he’ll be sitting down with housing experts later on Thursday, along with N.W.T. Premier Caroline Cochrane, to talk about further steps. Trudeau says the federal government has already made $300 million available to the territories for affordable homes, set $100 million for the North in the national housing co-investment fund and pledged millions more in other financial supports.
In the North and across Canada, Indigenous people have expressed for years they do not feel safe or that they’re assured respectful care in the health-care system. Trudeau said the federal government has committed to move forward on Indigenous health legislation that will shift “many of the ways [things are] done to be much more Indigenous-centred, much more Indigenous-led.” He said the government recognizes that the delivery of health care “needs to be anchored in community, and in language in leadership by the community itself and not brought in from outside.” “COVID needs to accelerate that,” Trudeau said. “We need to make sure that there is better health care that is not just better on a pure objective level, but better on a subjective level as well … without the systemic discrimination that unfortunately continues to exist throughout all our institutions across the country.”
Quebec conspiracy theorist kicked off YouTube for spreading COVID-19 misinformation
Quebec’s best-known conspiracy theorist, Alexis Cossette-Trudel, lost another media platform on Thursday when YouTube shut down his account, which had more than 120,000 subscribers. YouTube said it was removing Cossette-Trudel’s channel, Radio-Québec, for “repeatedly violating our community guidelines regarding COVID-19 misinformation.” Last week, Facebook shut down both Cossette-Trudel’s personal account and his Radio-Québec account, where he had also gained a large following.
Facebook said it took action against Radio-Québec because of its affiliation with the QAnon conspiracy movement, which believes, among other things, that world events are controlled by a cabal of Satanic pedophiles. YouTube said Thursday it, too, is taking measures to keep QAnon content off its platform. It announced that it will remove videos that target “an individual or group with conspiracy theories that have been used to justify real-world violence.” A spokesperson for YouTube told CBC News that 60 channels and 1,800 videos were removed Thursday under the new policy, and more terminations were expected in the coming weeks. The spokesperson, Zaitoon Murji, said Radio-Québec was removed not for its ties to QAnon but for spreading incorrect information about COVID-19.
The number of subscribers to Radio-Québec’s YouTube channel have more than tripled since the start of the pandemic. In his videos, some of which have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times, Cossette-Trudel repeats groundless claims that the dangers of COVID-19 are being exaggerated as part of a plot to undermine U.S. President Donald Trump. He also routinely maintains — without evidence — that Quebec government officials are manipulating statistics about deaths and hospitalizations. He argues that public health restrictions, such as wearing masks indoors, are unjustified. The Quebec government has expressed growing concern about the influence of conspiracy theories in the province. Premier François Legault said last week they posed a “real problem” to the government’s efforts at curbing the second wave of coronavirus infections.
A recent COVID-19 outbreak at a southern Ontario fitness studio is illustrating how certain indoor settings can provide a perfect storm for superspreading events. The studio, a downtown Hamilton Spinco location, has been connected to 69 cases of COVID-19 as of Wednesday, despite screening customers, operating at 50 per cent capacity and keeping the recommended two-metre radius around bikes.
So how did so many cases originate there? And does it raise concern about how the novel coronavirus can spread in a gym setting? “I can see where this could lead to perhaps gyms having serious restrictions placed on them if they want to avoid similar superspreading events,” said Dr. Matthew Oughton, an infectious disease expert at Jewish General Hospital and McGill University in Montreal.
Oughton said gyms and fitness studios have a few strikes against them when it comes to tailoring them for the pandemic.They’re operating almost exclusively indoors, which makes for poorer ventilation, and patrons aren’t usually masked when engaging in strenuous exercise. High-impact activity also leads to heavier breathing, which means droplets are being expelled from peoples’ mouths at an accelerated rate — and being propelled greater distances.
Dr. Andrew Morris, a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto, likens it to throwing a ball. The harder you throw, the farther it goes. “We still don’t have a perfect understanding of this,” he said. “But we do know that when people are exercising vigorously, the volume and distance of what comes out of their mouth and their lungs is dramatically different than when somebody is speaking [in a normal way].”
AND FINALLY…
Free rides offered to Winnipeg COVID-19 test sites, but many don’t know about the service
The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority’s ride service will take clients to one of the city’s drive-thru COVID-19 testing sites and wait with them until they get their test. (Lyzaville Sale/CBC)
Getting to one of the six COVID-19 testing site in Winnipeg can be a daunting task for people without access to a vehicle. Anyone who is sick is told to avoid taking public transportation, and cab fare may be too expensive for many. For months, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority has offered a free ride service to help people with “very unique needs” get to a site — but many COVID-19 test patients, as well as advocates for people with disabilities and low-incomes, told CBC News they had never heard of the service.
Scott McFadyen, director of development for Inclusion Winnipeg, said many people with intellectual disabilities face barriers to accessing transportation, and could benefit from a service like the one offered by the WRHA through Health Links. A spokesperson for the WRHA said the service, which has been available since April, provides rides for an average of 10 people per day, although the contractor that works with the health agency has as many as 15 vehicles available. The vehicles have shields that separate the driver from the client. The service takes people to one of the city’s drive-thru sites, and the patients wait in the vehicle until they get tested.
“The program has not been promoted through any standalone promotion or advertising specific to the program,” the WRHA spokesperson said in an email statement, “but the public has long been directed [on the province’s website, for example] to contact Health Links–Info Santé if they require assistance in accessing safe transportation for testing.” The spokesperson couldn’t say why fewer than 10 people per day have been using the service. Meaghan Erbus, advocacy and impact manager for Winnipeg Harvest, said she thinks the demand for the service is likely greater than the usage suggests. “I’m sure that there’s a criteria and that’s probably why it’s limited, but I think there’s lots of folks that would benefit from that service,” Erbus said.
Braxton Whitehead said Friday he has verbally committed to Arizona State, making him the first member of a Canadian Hockey League team to attempt to play the sport at the Division I U.S. college level since a lawsuit was filed challenging the NCAA’s longstanding ban on players it deems to be professionals.
Whitehead posted on social media he plans to play for the Sun Devils beginning in the 2025-26 season.
An Arizona State spokesperson said the school could not comment on verbal commitments, citing NCAA rules. A message left with the CHL was not immediately returned.
A class-action lawsuit filed Aug. 13 in U.S. District Court in Buffalo, New York, could change the landscape for players from the CHL’s Western Hockey League, Ontario Hockey League and Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. NCAA bylaws consider them professional leagues and bar players from there from the college ranks.
Online court records show the NCAA has not made any response to the lawsuit since it was filed.
“We’re pleased that Arizona State has made this decision, and we’re hopeful that our case will result in many other Division I programs following suit and the NCAA eliminating its ban on CHL players,” Stephen Lagos, one of the lawyers who launched the lawsuit, told The Associated Press in an email.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Riley Masterson, of Fort Erie, Ontario, who lost his college eligibility two years ago when, at 16, he appeared in two exhibition games for the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires. And it lists 10 Division 1 hockey programs, which were selected to show they follow the NCAA’s bylaws in barring current or former CHL players.
CHL players receive a stipend of no more than $600 per month for living expenses, which is not considered as income for tax purposes. College players receive scholarships and now can earn money through endorsements and other use of their name, image and likeness (NIL).
The implications of the lawsuit could be far-reaching. If successful, the case could increase competition for college-age talent between North America’s two top producers of NHL draft-eligible players.
“I think that everyone involved in our coaches association is aware of some of the transformational changes that are occurring in collegiate athletics,” Forrest Karr, executive director of American Hockey Coaches Association and Minnesota-Duluth athletic director said last month. “And we are trying to be proactive and trying to learn what we can about those changes.
Karr was not immediately available for comment on Friday.
Earlier this year, Karr established two committees — one each overseeing men’s and women’s hockey — to respond to various questions on eligibility submitted to the group by the NCAA. The men’s committee was scheduled to go over its responses two weeks ago.
Former Minnesota coach and Central Collegiate Hockey Association commissioner Don Lucia said at the time that the lawsuit provides the opportunity for stakeholders to look at the situation.
“I don’t know if it would be necessarily settled through the courts or changes at the NCAA level, but I think the time is certainly fast approaching where some decisions will be made in the near future of what the eligibility will look like for a player that plays in the CHL and NCAA,” Lucia said.
Whitehead, a 20-year-old forward from Alaska who has developed into a point-a-game player, said he plans to play again this season with the Regina Pats of the Western Hockey League.
“The WHL has given me an incredible opportunity to develop as a player, and I couldn’t be more excited,” Whitehead posted on Instagram.
His addition is the latest boon for Arizona State hockey, a program that has blossomed in the desert far from traditional places like Massachusetts, Minnesota and Michigan since entering Division I in 2015. It has already produced NHL talent, including Seattle goaltender Joey Daccord and Josh Doan, the son of longtime Coyotes captain Shane Doan, who now plays for Utah after that team moved from the Phoenix area to Salt Lake City.
A community legal clinic in Kingston, Ont., is denouncing the mayor’s calls to clear an encampment and close a supervised consumption site in the city following a series of alleged assaults that left two people dead and one seriously injured.
Kingston police said they were called to an encampment near a safe injection site on Thursday morning, where they allege a 47-year-old male suspect wielded an edged or blunt weapon and attacked three people. Police said he was arrested after officers negotiated with him for several hours.
The suspect is now facing two counts of second-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.
In a social media post, Kingston Mayor Bryan Paterson said he was “absolutely horrified” by the situation.
“We need to clear the encampment, close this safe injection site and the (Integrated Care Hub) until we can find a better way to support our most vulnerable residents,” he wrote.
The Kingston Community Legal Clinic called Paterson’s comments “premature and misguided” on Friday, arguing that such moves could lead to a rise in overdoses, fewer shelter beds and more homelessness.
In a phone interview, Paterson said the encampment was built around the Integrated Care Hub and safe injection site about three years ago. He said the encampment has created a “dangerous situation” in the area and has frequently been the site of fires, assaults and other public safety concerns.
“We have to find a way to be able to provide the services that people need, being empathetic and compassionate to those struggling with homelessness and mental health and addictions issues,” said Paterson, noting that the safe injection site and Integrated Care Hub are not operated by the city.
“But we cannot turn a blind eye to the very real public safety issues.”
When asked how encampment residents and people who use the services would be supported if the sites were closed, Paterson said the city would work with community partners to “find the best way forward” and introduce short-term and long-term changes.
Keeping the status quo “would be a terrible failure,” he argued.
John Done, executive director of the Kingston Community Legal Clinic, criticized the mayor’s comments and said many of the people residing in the encampment may be particularly vulnerable to overdoses and death. The safe injection site and Integrated Care Hub saves lives, he said.
Taking away those services, he said, would be “irresponsible.”
Done said the legal clinic represented several residents of the encampment when the City of Kingston made a court application last summer to clear the encampment. The court found such an injunction would be unconstitutional, he said.
Done added there’s “no reason” to attach blame while the investigation into Thursday’s attacks is ongoing. The two people who died have been identified as 38-year-old Taylor Wilkinson and 41-year-old John Hood.
“There isn’t going to be a quick, easy solution for the fact of homelessness, drug addictions in Kingston,” Done said. “So I would ask the mayor to do what he’s trained to do, which is to simply pause until we have more information.”
The concern surrounding the safe injection site in Kingston follows a recent shift in Ontario’s approach to the overdose crisis.
Last month, the province announced that it would close 10 supervised consumption sites because they’re too close to schools and daycares, and prohibit any new ones from opening as it moves to an abstinence-based treatment model.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
