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Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed on what you need to know today…
Tourism operators face heavy debt, even as business roars back
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Canada adds 72 more coronavirus deaths as 4 provinces report record high case numbers – Global News
Canada added 4,992 new cases of the novel coronavirus Saturday as four provinces reported new highs for daily infections.
Health authorities also reported another 72 deaths attributed to COVID-19, though only 45 of those fatalities occurred over the past 24 hours. To date, Canada’s total coronavirus infections stands at 325,409 and its death toll at 11,406. Over 258,000 patients have since recovered from the virus, while 13,650,000 tests have been administered.
Saturday’s data only paints a limited snapshot of the virus’ spread across Canada, however, as all territories except for Nunavut and both British Columbia and P.E.I. do not release new COVID-19 numbers on the weekend.
Health officials in New Brunswick, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta all reported new single-day peaks in diagnoses, recording 23, 1,588, 439 and 1,336 new cases respectively, as the nation’s top doctor sounded the alarm yet again.
“More and larger outbreaks are occurring in long term care homes, congregate living settings and hospitals, and spreading in Indigenous communities,” Dr. Theresa Tam said in a written statement.
“These developments are deeply concerning as they put countless Canadians at risk of life-threatening illness, cause serious disruptions to health services and present significant challenges for areas not adequately equipped to manage complex medical emergencies.”
Among those areas is the fly-in community of Fond du Lac First Nation in northern Saskatchewan, which was reporting 63 COVID-19 cases as of Saturday — 55 of them active.
About 1,000 people call the remote community home, and more than 300 of them have been told to self-isolate.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe called the record 439 new cases in his province on Saturday “very concerning,” adding the seven-day average for new daily cases is the highest it’s ever been at 203.
Nunavut is also recording a surge in new COVID-19 cases, though it hasn’t beat its single-day high.
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The territory saw 25 new cases on Saturday, including 22 in hard-hit Arviat and three in Whale Cove.
There are 107 active infections in the territory, which just confirmed its first case a little more than two weeks ago.
People arriving in the Northwest Territories and Yukon are once again required to self-isolate for 14 days, while a provincewide public health order in B.C. has barred social gatherings of any size in private homes except between members of the same “core bubble.”
Elsewhere, case counts rose in Atlantic Canada as Nova Scotia reported eight new cases on Saturday, pushing active infections to 33, while Newfoundland and Labrador reported five new cases for a total of 18 active infections there.
There are now 8,012 active infections in Manitoba, including 385 new cases, and 10 more people have died. The province has for weeks recorded the highest per-capita rate of new infections in Canada.
Premier Brian Pallister was put on the defensive on Saturday as he addressed Progressive Conservative party members at a convention, saying “every province west of Nova Scotia has its highest numbers in the last few days, including Manitoba.”
“Trying to make the political argument that Manitoba’s government missed the boat when everybody in the western world is under attack right now is not a fruitful thing — even if it was right, and it isn’t,” he said.
Quebec has reported 1,189 new cases and 32 more deaths, five of which occurred within the last day, while 646 people are in hospital.
Alberta set a new single-day record for new infections for a third straight day with 1,336 cases detected on Saturday. Officials have said the high caseload has strained the health-care system and overwhelmed contact tracing efforts, as public health workers don’t know where most of the 11,274 active infections in the province were contracted.
Ontario added another 1,588 cases of the virus on Saturday, also setting a new single-day record for new infections. The new data comes amid sweeping restrictions across the parts of the province set to be implemented Monday.
Another 21 deaths were also reported by health authorities, with the province’s case total standing at 102,378 and its death toll at 3,472.
The surging numbers come a day after new federal modeling showed daily COVID-19 tallies could reach 20,000 nationwide if Canadians don’t drastically limit their contacts in a bid to stop transmission.
Tam reported 52,739 active infections across the country, with an average of 71 deaths and 1,840 people treated in hospital every day between Nov.13 to 19.
The surge is “putting pressure on local healthcare resources and forcing hospitals to make the difficult decision to cancel elective surgeries and procedures in several areas,” she said in a statement.
Worldwide, cases of the virus have surpassed 57,365,000 according to tally kept by Johns Hopkins University. As of Saturday, 1,368,000 people have succumbed to the virus, with the U.S., Brazil and India leading in both cases and deaths.
— With files from Global News
© 2020 The Canadian Press
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Published Apr 23, 2024 • 3 minute read
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Canadian tourism operators says the tourism sector hasn’t returned to what it was pre-COVID.
Many businesses report carrying a heavy debt load, with Vancouver-based ecotourism company Maple Leaf Adventures saying it’s carrying it’s heaviest debt load in 38 years.
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Co-owner Maureen Gordon says while she and her competitors are recovering, higher interest rates are putting a damper on the post-COVID rebound.
Tourism Industry Association of Canada C-E-O Beth Potter says while the sector brought in 109-billion dollars in revenue last year, the federal government must help out by bringing in a new low interest loan program.
Tourism Minister Soraya Martinez Ferrada has said tourism operators have been affected by the warmest winter on record, but will be helped by the federal carbon rebate.
Here’s what else we’re watching …
Trudeau to make announcement in Saskatoon today
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be in Saskatoon today, where he will make an announcement highlighting measures focused on youth, education, and health that were contained in last week’s budget.
Joining Trudeau at the announcement in Saskatchewan’s largest city are minister for northern affairs Dan Vandal and Women and Gender Equality and Youth Minister Marci Ien.
Trudeau has faced conflict with the Saskatchewan Party government, whose leader, Premier Scott Moe, has been a vocal and long-standing opponent of the federal carbon levy.
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Moe is one of several premiers who have asked Trudeau to host a meeting to discuss alternatives to the consumer carbon price.
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‘Perfect storm’: Quebec farmer protests continue
Quebec farmers are continuing a series of protests that have brought slow rolling tractors to communities across the province’s agricultural regions.
The president of Quebec’s farmers union Martin Caron says producers are struggling with higher interest rates, growing paperwork and fees on plastic products, like containers of seeds, fertilizer and pesticides.
His organization is asking the current Coalition Avenir Quebec government to ensure farmers can get loans with interest rates of three per cent.
A spokesperson for Quebec’s agriculture minister says farmers can get emergency financial aid through a new program and that the government is consulting with the farmers union about reducing paperwork.
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Study shows caribou growth at wolves’ expense
New research suggests western Canada’s caribou population is growing.
But the same study also shows the biggest reason for the rebound is the slaughter of hundreds of wolves, a policy which will likely need to continue.
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Thirty-four researchers compared notes on herds in Alberta and British Columbia based on a study in Ecological Applications and found between 1991 and 2023, the caribou population dropped by half.
However, over the last few years the numbers have begun to slowly rise, as it’s estimated there are now more than 1500 caribou than there were had not restoration effort been made.
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Second World War hangar in Edmonton burns in fire
An aircraft hangar built during the Second World War at Edmonton’s former municipal airport has been destroyed by fire.
A spokesman for the City of Edmonton says in an email firefighters were called to Hangar 11 just before 7 p.m. Monday.
The city’s email says 11 fire crews were dispatched to the scene to deal with the heavy smoke and flames and the wooden building later collapsed.
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How a Newfoundland town shaped creepy ‘King Tide’
A new movie shot in Newfoundland showcases a community heavily reliant on a magical child.
“The King Tide” is about an isolated villagers having their lives forever changed after a mysterious infant washes up on their shores, the sole survivor of a devastating boat wreck.
They name the baby Isla, raise and learn she has healing powers promising immunity from injury and illness.
As the years pass, they become reliant on Isla’s abilities, but when her powers start to fade, a panic sets in as the community begins to fracture.
The movie was shot by Newfoundlander Christian Sparkes in Keels, Newfoundland, a former bustling fishing community which he says he’s been looking to film in for years, but couldn’t until recently due to the cost.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 23, 2024.
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We're still stockpiling reusable bags. Big grocers have adopted solutions, but experts have concerns – CBC News
Canada’s plastic bag ban has had an unintended consequence: a proliferation of reusable bags piling up in basements, closets and, eventually, landfills.
“They’re everywhere,” said environmental researcher Tony Walker. “We’re drowning in them, and we shouldn’t be.”
To combat the problem, several of Canada’s big grocers have introduced solutions. Last week, Walmart launched a free national recycling pilot program for the retailer’s reusable blue bags. Competitors Sobeys and chains owned by Loblaw Companies Ltd. use recyclable paper bags for grocery delivery.
But some environmental experts argue that paper bags are also problematic and that the best solutions are those that help customers actually reuse their reusable bags.
“We just can’t keep giving [them] out,” said Walker, a professor at Dalhousie University’s School for Resource and Environmental Studies in Halifax. “We’re only meant to have a few of them, and we’re meant to use them until they fall apart.”
In late 2022, the federal government rolled out a ban on the manufacture, import and sale of several single-use plastics, including checkout bags. The regulations are being contested in court, but in the meantime, they remain in effect.
The regulations have made single-use shopping bags scarce in Canada, but they’ve also led to the proliferation of reusable bags, especially for grocery delivery.
“It just creates more waste, which is what we’re trying to avoid in the first place,” Walmart customer Udi Sela said in a CBC News interview in late 2022.
At the time, Sela, who lives in Maple, Ont., estimated his family had acquired about 300 reusable Walmart bags via grocery delivery.
“We can’t return them, we can’t do much with them.”
Now, a little more than a year later, Walmart has launched a pilot project to address the problem.
It allows customers to pack up their unwanted reusable Walmart blue bags and ship them — at no charge — to a facility where they’ll get a second life.
How it works
According to Walmart, bags in good condition will be laundered and donated to charity, primarily Food Banks Canada. Damaged bags will get recycled into other materials. Reusable bags typically can’t go in blue bins because they’re costly and difficult to recycle.
Customers must sign up for Walmart’s program, and enrolment is limited.
Jennifer Barbazza, Walmart’s senior manager of sustainability, said the retailer will fine-tune the details as the program progresses.
“[We] know that some customers have more reusable bags than maybe they need,” she said. “One of the things that we’re really excited to learn about from the pilot is customer acceptance and customer feedback.”
WATCH | Is your home overrun with reusable bags? Join the club:
Reusable bags are living rent free in closets and car trunks across the country. Most major retailers made the switch away from single-use plastic bags about a year ago, but it’s taking time for some customers to catch on. They’re forgetting to bring their bags with them, and buying more every week.
Udi Sela has already signed up.
“I definitely think it’s a step in the right direction,” he said in an interview on Friday. “It’s something that needed to be done a while ago. God knows we’ve got a ton of bags kind of piled up.”
He said he’s concerned that some customers may find mailing the bags a hurdle. However, it’s not deterring Sela, who soon plans to ship hundreds.
Passing the buck?
Not everyone is keen on Walmart’s project. Emily Alfred, a waste campaigner with Toronto Environmental Alliance, said donating the bags to the food bank is just passing on the problem.
“We need to remove waste from the system entirely, and just sending these somewhere else for someone else to deal with is not really a solution,” she said.
Alfred said a better option is a program Walmart piloted in Guelph, Ont., in 2022. For a fee, customers could check out reusable bags from an in-store kiosk and later return them to be cleaned and reused.
“That’s a real circular reuse system,” she said.
Walmart’s Barbazza said the retailer is continuing to explore different reusable bag programs, including ones placed in stores.
She also said she’s confident Canada’s food banks will make good use of the bags.
“There’s definitely a need for sturdy items to distribute materials to the food bank clients.”
The paper problem
Among Canada’s major grocers, only Walmart offers a reusable bag program for all customers.
Loblaw recently switched from reusable to recyclable paper bags for grocery delivery. Sobeys did not respond to requests for comment, but according to its website, the grocer also uses paper bags and “reusable options” for home delivery.
Several environmental experts say paper bags aren’t a good solution, because their production leaves a sizable carbon footprint.
“Paper bags are a problem,” Alfred said. “It takes a lot of energy to recycle paper, takes a lot of trees and energy to make new paper.”
Loblaw said it continues to explore a variety of more sustainable solutions. “It’s a challenge we’re committed to addressing,” spokesperson Dave Bauer said in an email.
Both Walker and Alfred applaud Metro for its grocery delivery program, because the grocer, which operates in Ontario and Quebec, reuses delivery materials.
Metro said customers can get their goods delivered in a cardboard box or reusable bags, which can be returned and used for another delivery. Or customers can opt for a plastic bin and remove their groceries from it upon arrival.
Metro does not offer similar programs for in-store shoppers.
Alfred said the federal government should introduce regulations that mandate retailers adopt effective reusable bag programs for all customers.
“It’s up to our governments and people to demand that these companies do better,” she said.
But Walker suggested that the regulations would be hard to enforce and that incentives could be a better tactic.
For example, if retailers increased the price of reusable bags, shoppers might be less likely to forget them when they head to the store, he said.
“When the cost is a disincentive to do an activity, people change their behaviour.”
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