As COVID-19 cases continued to climb in Canada’s two biggest provinces on Sunday, officials in Ontario and Quebec said there are vacant vaccination appointments that need to be filled.
In Toronto, Mayor John Tory pleaded with those aged 70 and older to get vaccinated.
“We have the vaccines, we have the staff in place to do it and we have the appointments, so all we need now is you,” Tory said.
“It’s very, very important for people across the city of Toronto to get vaccinated.”
The city is set to open two mass vaccination clinics Monday now that the vaccine supply has been fixed, he said
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He said three new COVID-19 mass vaccination clinics will open Monday, but there are still many appointments unfilled.
“We’re now in a position where we have lots of appointments available, even appointments available for this coming week,” Tory said.
“We need you to sign up, not to put it off.”
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Tory’s comments comes amid another 4,321 new COVID-19 cases announced in the country Sunday, which pushed the national total to 965,409. Another 28 fatalities were also added, with the country’s death toll now standing at 22,880.
To date, over 898,000 patients have since recovered from the virus while more than 5.1 million vaccine doses and 27.8 million tests have been administered. A total of 2,188 patients are also currently in hospital after contracting COVID-19.
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Sunday’s data paints a limited snapshot of the virus’ spread across Canada however, as both British Columbia and P.E.I., as well as all three territories did not report any new COVID-19 data.
Ontario reported 2,448 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, the fourth consecutive day with more than 2,000 daily cases.
Tory says more than 450,000 people in Toronto have received doses thus far.
“I will say I’m not satisfied, and that doesn’t mean I’m critical or angry with anybody, it just means I’m asking people to take advantage of the opportunity to get vaccinated now and we’ll be satisfied when we have a sold out situation,” Tory said.
Ontario has fully vaccinated 309,285 people and has administered nearly two million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Michael Garron Hospital and the Toronto East Health Network opened up a vaccination standby list for those who are part of the province’s Phase 2 populations.
But the website crashed shortly after it opened up due to high volume, the Toronto East Health Network said.
On Sunday it said it has taken down the site for now due to “an extremely high volume of submissions” while it figures out how to move forward on standby vaccinations.
In Quebec, Minister of Health Christian Dube urged residents to get vaccinated.
“There are still appointments available in the coming days in some regions, especially in Montreal,” he said for those aged 60 years and older.
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Quebec has given doses to 76 per cent of those 80 and over, as well as 52 per cent of those 70 years and older and 17 per cent of those aged 60 to 69. The vast majority are first doses, very few have been fully vaccinated.
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As of last week, Quebec said about 75 per cent or more of all age groups 65 years and older had either received a vaccine or made an appointment.
The province reported 917 news cases of COVID-19 on Sunday after breaking the 1,000-mark on Saturday for the first time since mid-February.
In Atlantic Canada, several more provinces added new cases of the virus.
Newfoundland and Labrador added one new case while Nova Scotia added two more infections. New Brunswick reported the highest increase, with six more infections Sunday.
In the Prairies, Saskatchewan added 248 new cases of COVID-19 and three more deaths, while Manitoba added 55 new cases and one fatality. Alberta recorded 644 new cases and three more fatalities from the virus.
Worldwide, cases of COVID-19 continue to increase with over 127.1 million cases having been identified to date according to Johns Hopkins University. Over 2,783,500 people have since died from the virus as well, with the U.S., India, Brazil and Mexico leading in either cases or deaths.
Demands for government intervention in Air Canada labour talks could negatively affect airline competition in Canada, the CEO of travel company Transat AT Inc. said.
“The extension of such an extraordinary intervention to Air Canada would be an undeniable competitive advantage to the detriment of other Canadian airlines,” Annick Guérard told analysts on an earnings conference call on Thursday.
“The time and urgency is now. It is time to restore healthy competition in Canada,” she added.
Air Canada has asked the federal government to be ready to intervene and request arbitration as early as this weekend to avoid disruptions.
Comments on the potential Air Canada pilot strike or lock out came as Transat reported third-quarter financial results.
Guérard recalled Transat’s labour negotiations with its flight attendants earlier this year, which the company said it handled without asking for government intervention.
The airline’s 2,100 flight attendants voted 99 per cent in favour of a strike mandate and twice rejected tentative deals before approving a new collective agreement in late February.
As the collective agreement for Air Transat pilots ends in June next year, Guérard anticipates similar pressure to increase overall wages as seen in Air Canada’s negotiations, but reckons it will come out “as a win, win, win deal.”
“The pilots are preparing on their side, we are preparing on our side and we’re confident that we’re going to come up with a reasonable deal,” she told analysts when asked about the upcoming negotiations.
The parent company of Air Transat reported it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31. The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
It attributed reduced revenues to lower airline unit revenues, competition, industry-wide overcapacity and economic uncertainty.
Air Transat is also among the airlines facing challenges related to the recall of Pratt & Whitney turbofan jet engines for inspection and repair.
The recall has so far grounded six aircraft, Guérard said on the call.
“We have agreed to financial compensation for grounded aircraft during the 2023-2024 period,” she said. “Alongside this financial compensation, Pratt & Whitney will provide us with two additional spare engines, which we intend to monetize through a sell and lease back transaction.”
Looking ahead, the CEO said she expects consumer demand to remain somewhat uncertain amid high interest rates.
“We are currently seeing ongoing pricing pressure extending into the winter season,” she added. Air Transat is not planning on adding additional aircraft next year but anticipates stability.
“(2025) for us will be much more stable than 2024 in terms of fleet movements and operation, and this will definitely have a positive effect on cost and customer satisfaction as well,” the CEO told analysts.
“We are more and more moving away from all the disruption that we had to go through early in 2024,” she added.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
