ATLANTA —
U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said he would follow public health advisers’ advice if they called for a national shutdown should he take office and the coronavirus had not abated.
“I would be prepared to do whatever it takes to save lives. We cannot get the country moving until we control the virus,” Biden said in an interview broadcast Sunday night on ABC News.
Asked specifically whether he’d push a national shutdown if scientists said it was necessary, Biden replied: “I would shut it down.”
The former vice-president has previously called for the nation’s governors to impose mask mandates in their states, effectively a national mask mandate. But when he made that call, Biden avoided saying he’d attempt to use a nationally applicable executive order himself.
The former vice-president’s remarks came as part of his first joint interview with vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris. The pair accepted their party’s nominations during a virtual convention last week. On Monday, Republicans begin their convention to nominate Trump and U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence for a second term.
Biden laughed when asked about Trump’s recent assertion that the only way he’d lose was if the election were rigged, and the Democratic challenger dismissed any notions that Trump wouldn’t leave the White House voluntarily if he loses.
“The American people will not let that happen,” he said. “No one’s going to allow that to happen.”
Both Biden and Harris downplayed their bitter debate encounter last summer during the Democratic primary. Harris, a California senator, levelled deeply personal criticism against Biden for his opposition in the 1970s to federally mandated busing to desegregate public schools and remarks he’d made about having worked amicably alongside racist senators when he first came to Washington.
The first Black woman on a major party national ticket, Harris said she and Biden are on the same page on race amid the nation’s ongoing reckoning with systemic racism.
“There are real racial disparities that are rooted in systemic racism,” Harris said, noting wealth gaps and the disproportionate effects of COVID-19 on Black and Hispanic communities. Biden, she said, “is addressing these truths, he speaks these truths.”
Biden said, looking back, he understands how Harris, who was among the minority students bused in the 1970s, would criticize him so harshly. But he also said she and others may not have known his full record on civil rights. He said he, as a 77-year-old white man, cannot understand her lived experiences and that she, a 55-year-old daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants, can’t understand his.
But, he said, they “have the same value set” and are “on same exact page about what the possibilities are right now.”
Likewise, they downplayed policy differences that emerged when they were primary rivals, especially on health care. Biden has consistently backed adding a “public option” to existing private insurance markets. Harris signed on to Sen. Bernie Sanders’ bill that would create a single-payer government insurance system to replace private insurance.
“I signed on to bills that were about great ideas to fix the problem,” Harris told ABC, arguing that she and Biden “are completely aligned on making sure everyone has health care.”
Biden called any differences “tactical” but said, “We both believe that health care is a right, not a privilege.”
TORONTO – Strength in the base metal and technology sectors helped Canada’s main stock index gain almost 100 points on Friday, while U.S. stock markets also climbed higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 93.51 points at 23,568.65.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 297.01 points at 41,393.78. The S&P 500 index was up 30.26 points at 5,626.02, while the Nasdaq composite was up 114.30 points at 17,683.98.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.61 cents US compared with 73.58 cents US on Thursday.
The October crude oil contract was down 32 cents at US$68.65 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was down five cents at US$2.31 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$30.10 at US$2,610.70 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents US$4.24 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says wholesale sales, excluding petroleum, petroleum products, and other hydrocarbons and excluding oilseed and grain, rose 0.4 per cent to $82.7 billion in July.
The increase came as sales in the miscellaneous subsector gained three per cent to reach $10.5 billion in July, helped by strength in the agriculture supplies industry group, which rose 9.2 per cent.
The food, beverage and tobacco subsector added 1.7 per cent to total $15 billion in July.
The personal and household goods subsector fell 2.5 per cent to $12.1 billion.
In volume terms, overall wholesale sales rose 0.5 per cent in July.
Statistics Canada started including oilseed and grain as well as the petroleum and petroleum products subsector as part of wholesale trade last year, but is excluding the data from monthly analysis until there is enough historical data.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 150 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in the base metal and energy sectors, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 172.18 points at 23,383.35.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 34.99 points at 40,826.72. The S&P 500 index was up 10.56 points at 5,564.69, while the Nasdaq composite was up 74.84 points at 17,470.37.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.55 cents US compared with 73.59 cents US on Wednesday.
The October crude oil contract was up $2.00 at US$69.31 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up five cents at US$2.32 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$40.00 at US$2,582.40 an ounce and the December copper contract was up six cents at US$4.20 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
