Canada’s top doctor warned provinces against easing stringent public health measures Saturday, just as the premier of one of the provinces hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic said he hoped to do exactly that in a little over a week.
Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam said that even though daily cases of the novel coronavirus are trending down, it’s still too soon to lift lockdowns and ease other protective measures if the country hopes to bring the pandemic under control.
“It is crucial that strong measures are kept in place in order to maintain a steady downward trend,” Tam said in a news release. “With still elevated daily case counts and high rates of infection across all age groups, the risk remains that trends could reverse quickly and some areas of the country are seeing increased activity.”
She pointed to several concerning variants of the virus as evidence that it’s too soon for the provinces to let their guards down.
One such strain, which was first detected in the United Kingdom and has already been cited as the cause of a deadly long-term care outbreak in southern Ontario, is more contagious than other strains of the virus and has begun to spread in Canada.
“I would like, if the situation permits, to be able to give some oxygen to retail stores,” Legault wrote.
The premier said the changes would come into effect after Feb. 8, the day a province-wide curfew is scheduled to end.
Businesses designated “non-essential” have been closed across Quebec since Dec. 25, and the province has been under an 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew since Jan. 9.
On the day the curfew went into effect, Quebec reported an average of 2,685 new cases over the most recent seven-day stretch.
The province logged 1,367 new cases of the virus and counted 46 more deaths on Saturday. Officials said 14 of those deaths took place in the previous 24 hours, and the rest happened earlier.
Tam warned that outbreaks are still happening in high-risk communities, including in First Nations and remote parts of the country.
That was the case in Ontario, where a public health doctor called a small spike in COVID-19 cases in the remote northwestern part of the province a “wake-up call” for the area.
Dr. John Guilfoyle with the Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority said Saturday that eight total active cases recently detected across five First Nations communities — Poplar Hill, Webequie, Pikangikum, Lac Seul and Nibinamik — appear to have been contained, according to contact tracing and testing so far.
He characterized the containment is good news, but said it’s concerning to see so many communities recording new infections.
Across Ontario, public health officials reported 2,063 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, along with 73 more deaths.
Farther west, Manitoba counted 166 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, as well as two more deaths.
Saskatchewan, meanwhile, logged 258 new cases with eight more deaths.
Alberta reported 383 cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, while the number of deaths climbed by 11.
That province, too, is planning on lifting some restrictions, with Premier Jason Kenney announcing Friday that lower hospitalization numbers allowed him to ease public health measures on indoor fitness centres, school sports, restaurants and bars. Those changes, too, are slated to take effect on Feb. 8.
In Atlantic Canada, Nova Scotia recorded three new cases of the virus and New Brunswick added 12.
New Brunswick also saw one COVID-19 patient die — the 18th in the province since the pandemic began.
As for the new cases, more than half of them were reported in the Edmundston area of northern New Brunswick, which is currently in the midst of a full lockdown.
The number of confirmed cases in New Brunswick has risen to 1,230 since the beginning of the pandemic, by far the highest tally in Atlantic Canada. That figure includes 928 recoveries and 283 active cases.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 30, 2021.
OTTAWA – The New Democrats confirmed Thursday they won’t help Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives topple the government next week, and intend to join the Bloc Québécois in blocking the Tories’ non-confidence motion.
The planned votes from the Bloc and the New Democrats eliminate the possibility of a snap election, buying the Liberals more time to govern after a raucous start to the fall sitting of Parliament.
Poilievre issued a challenge to NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh earlier this week when he announced he will put forward a motion that simply states that the House has no confidence in the government or the prime minister.
If it were to pass, it would likely mean Canadians would be heading to the polls, but Singh said Thursday he’s not going to let Poilievre tell him what to do.
Voting against the Conservative motion doesn’t mean the NDP support the Liberals, said Singh, who pulled out of his political pact with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a few weeks ago.
“I stand by my words, Trudeau has let you down,” Singh said in the foyer outside of the House of Commons Thursday.
“Trudeau has let you down and does not deserve another chance.”
Canadians will have to make that choice at the ballot box, Singh said, but he will make a decision about whether to help trigger that election on a vote-by-vote basis in the House.
The Conservatives mocked the NDP during Question Period for saying they had “ripped up” the deal to support the Liberals, despite plans to vote to keep them in power.
Poilievre accused Singh of pretending to pull out of the deal to sway voters in a federal byelection in Winnipeg, where the NDP was defending its long-held seat against the Conservatives.
“Once the votes were counted, he betrayed them again. He’s a fake, a phoney and fraud. How can anyone ever believe what the sellout NDP leader says in the future?” Poilievre said during Question Period Thursday afternoon.
At some point after those comments, Singh stepped out from behind his desk in the House and a two-minute shouting match ensued between the two leaders and their MPs before the Speaker intervened.
Outside the House, Poilievre said he plans to put forward another non-confidence motion at the next opportunity.
“We want a carbon-tax election as soon as possible, so that we can axe Trudeau’s tax before he quadruples it to 61 cents a litre,” he said.
Liberal House leader Karina Gould says there is much work the government still needs to do, and that Singh has realized the consequences of potentially bringing down the government. She refused to take questions about whether her government will negotiate with opposition parties to ensure their support in future confidence motions.
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet hasn’t ruled out voting no-confidence in the government the next time a motion is tabled.
“I never support Liberals. Help me God, I go against the Conservatives on a vote that is only about Pierre Poilievre and his huge ambition for himself,” Blanchet said Thursday.
“I support the interests of Quebecers, if those interests are also good for Canadians.”
A Bloc bill to increase pension cheques for seniors aged 65 to 74 is now at “the very centre of the survival of this government,” he said.
The Bloc needs a recommendation from a government minister to OK the cost and get the bill through the House.
The Bloc also wants to see more protections for supply management in the food sector in Canada and Quebec.
If the Liberals can’t deliver on those two things, they will fall, Blanchet said.
“This is what we call power,” he said.
Treasury Board President Anita Anand wouldn’t say whether the government would be willing to swallow the financial implications of the Bloc’s demands.
“We are focused at Treasury Board on ensuring prudent fiscal management,” she said Thursday.
“And at this time, our immediate focus is implementing the measures in budget 2024 that were announced earlier this year.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
OTTAWA – Treasury Board President Anita Anand has been sworn in as federal transport minister at a ceremony at Rideau Hall, taking over a portfolio left vacant after Pablo Rodriguez resigned from cabinet and the Liberal caucus on Thursday.
Anand thanked Rodriguez for his contributions to the government and the country, saying she’s grateful for his guidance and friendship.
She sidestepped a question about the message it sends to have him leave the federal Liberal fold.
“That is a decision that he made independently, and I wish him well,” she said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was not present for the swearing-in ceremony, nor were any other members of the Liberal government.
The shakeup in cabinet comes just days after the Liberals lost a key seat in a Montreal byelection to the Bloc Québécois and amid renewed calls for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step down and make way for a new leader.
Anand said she is not actively seeking leadership of the party, saying she is focused on her roles as minister and as MP.
“My view is that we are a team, and we are a team that has to keep delivering for our country,” she said.
The minority Liberal government is in a more challenging position in the House of Commons after the NDP ended a supply-and-confidence deal that provided parliamentary stability for more than two years.
Non-confidence votes are guaranteed to come from the Opposition Conservatives, who are eager to bring the government down.
On Thursday morning, Rodriguez made a symbolic walk over the Alexandra Bridge from Parliament Hill to Gatineau, Que., where he formally announced his plans to run for the Quebec Liberal party leadership.
He said he will now sit as an Independent member of Parliament, which will allow him to focus on his own priorities.
“I was defending the priorities of the government, and I did it in a very loyal way,” he said.
“It’s normal and it’s what I had to do. But now it’s more about my vision, the vision of the team that I’m building.”
Rodriguez said he will stay on as an MP until the Quebec Liberal leadership campaign officially launches in January.
He said that will “avoid a costly byelection a few weeks, or months, before a general election.”
The next federal election must be held by October 2025.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said he will try to topple the government sooner than that, beginning with a non-confidence motion that is set to be debated Sept. 24 and voted on Sept. 25.
Poilievre has called on the NDP and the Bloc Québécois to support him, but both Jagmeet Singh and Yves-François Blanchet have said they will not support the Conservatives.
Rodriguez said he doesn’t want a federal election right away and will vote against the non-confidence motion.
As for how he would vote on other matters before the House of Commons, “it would depend on the votes.”
Public Services and Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos will become the government’s new Quebec lieutenant, a non-cabinet role Rodriguez held since 2019.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
— With files from Nojoud Al Mallees and Dylan Robertson
