Canada added 322 new coronavirus cases to its tally on Tuesday, bringing the total number of confirmed infections to 125,969.
Health officials said seven more people had died. Since the COVID-19 pandemic was first announced in March, the virus has claimed the lives of 9,090 people across the country.
So far, 112,050 people have recovered from the virus while 6,070,800 tests have been administered.
These numbers are incomplete, as Nunavut did not provide a COVID-19 update on Tuesday.
Health officials reported 58 new infections — including one epi-linked case — in British Columbia on Tuesday, for a provincial total of 5,242. They added there were no new deaths confirmed throughout the province. Overall, 203 people in B.C. have died from the virus, while 4,114 have recovered after falling ill.
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There were 77 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Alberta on Tuesday and one new death. The province has seen a total of 13,083 diagnoses and 235 people have died. So far, 11,714 people have recovered.
Saskatchewan recorded its 23rd COVID-19-related death on Tuesday, with officials saying one more person had died.
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Coronavirus: Quebec shelves COVID-19 tracing app for now
They said no new cases were detected, with the overall total for the province at 1,601. Officials added one previously counted case from Aug. 23 had been removed after deeming the case to be an out-of-province resident.
Manitoba reported 25 new COVID-19 infections on Tuesday, increasing the provincial tally to 1,018. Of those, 606 people have recovered. One more person had died from the virus, bringing the death toll to 13.
In Ontario, health officials detected 100 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday. So far, 41,607 in the province have been diagnosed with the virus, while 37,748 of those cases have recovered. Two more people had died from COVID-19, increasing the provincial total amount of people who died from the virus to 2,800.
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Quebec — the province hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic — saw 62 new infections on Tuesday, for an overall total of 61,803. The province’s death toll rose to 5,746 after health officials said two more people had died. More than 88 per cent of confirmed cases in the province — 54,850 people — have recovered.
New Brunswick reported one new COVID-19 diagnosis in its Moncton region on Tuesday, increasing the provincial tally to 190. Of those, 178 have recovered. Health officials said no one had died in the province on Tuesday, for an overall number of two.
Nova Scotia officials detected no new infections and said nobody had died from COVID-19 on Tuesday. So far, there have been 1,080 confirmed cases throughout the province while 1,011 have recovered. Sixty-five people have died.
There were no new COVID-19-related deaths or diagnoses recorded in Prince Edward Island on Tuesday. Nobody has died from the virus in the province. Out of the province’s 44 cases, 41 have recovered.
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Newfoundland and Labrador, too, saw no new COVID-19-related cases or deaths on Tuesday. The provincial tally stands at 268 confirmed cases, three deaths and 265 recoveries.
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In the Yukon, health authorities on Tuesday reported no new cases of COVID-19. Out of the territory’s 15 cases, all but one have recovered and no one has died from the virus.
All five confirmed cases in the Northwest Territories have recovered. As of Monday, Nunavut had yet to see its first case of COVID-19.
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.
