Editor’s note: A previous version of this story stated that the amount of recovered cases in Canada was 5,238. The story has been corrected to reflect the amount of recovered COVID-19 cases in Canada is 4,653.
The rise in numbers comes amid a total of 1,393 cases and 54 deaths newly announced across the provinces on Wednesday. Of the country’s positive cases, 4,653 have recovered.
Wednesday also saw several new announcements related to Canada’s response to COVID-19 on both the federal and provincial level.
According to Trudeau, businesses would need to show a 15-per cent decline in revenue for March as opposed to the previous 30 per cent to qualify.
New models showing the projection of Saskatchewan’s COVID-19 outbreak were also released on Wednesday, with health officials in the province forecasting at least 3,075 COVID-19-related deaths in a low-range scenario.
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The Saskatchewan Health Authority also predicts in that same scenario, about 153,000 people in the province could be infected with the virus over the full course of the pandemic.
Manitoba, on the other hand, has postponed the province’s 150th birthday celebration over the spread of the virus, after announcing four new cases.
During a press conference on Wednesday, Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister said that projections of the province’s outbreak were being calculated but did not want those numbers to spark alarm among residents.
Provincial health authorities did, however, hint at some positive news for the province’s outbreak, pointing out that its hospitalizations have dropped for the third consecutive day.
Cases in Canada’s epicentre of the outbreak, Quebec, also topped 10,000 on Wednesday. Quebec Premier François Legault said earlier this week that the province’s numbers were stabilizing, but warned that they had a long, difficult battle against the virus ahead.
Projections of Quebec’s virus spread points to the province seeing between 1,263 and 8,860 COVID-19-related deaths by the end of April.
As of April 8, the province has recorded 174 deaths from the virus. The modelling has since predicted the outbreak’s peak to be reached on April 18.
Both Quebec and Ontario, the latter of which announced 550 new cases and 21 deaths on Wednesday, registered the highest increase in cases and deaths among all provinces in the country.
Cases in Ontario have now surpassed 5,000, including 174 deaths as of April 8.
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Wednesday also saw a spike in cases in the Maritimes after 32 more people were diagnosed with COVID-19 in Nova Scotia.
As of April 8, the province has 342 cases of the virus, with its first COVID-19-related death announced just a day earlier, on Tuesday.
Prince Edward Island also reported three new cases of the virus on Wednesday, pushing the province’s total to 25. Its response to the COVID-19 outbreak has officially put its 2019-20 budget into a deficit, P.E.I. announced last week.
The report comes just a day after Premier Jason Kenney revealed grim projections of the virus’ spread across the province.
During a televised address on Tuesday night, Kenney said that anywhere between 400 to 3,100 people could die in Alberta from COVID-19 by the end of summer.
“Our hearts go out to all of those who have been affected,” Kenney said during a press conference Wednesday afternoon.
— With files from Global News’ reporters Olivia Bowden, Dave Giles, Elisha Dacey, Phil Heidenreich and Emerald Bensadoun
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.
