Some provinces and health officials saw glimmers of hope in the country’s COVID-19 numbers on Monday, even as the prime minister warned that Canadians shouldn’t expect life to return to normal any time soon.
Speaking in Ottawa, Justin Trudeau said officials will have a better idea of how long the crisis will last once models and predictions are developed, but success will depend on how fully Canadians practise distancing habits.
“To stay at home, to continue this period of isolation and distance is the best way to get out as quickly as possible, but certainly it will be a case of several weeks, perhaps several months,” the prime minister said in his daily update from Ottawa.
New infections and deaths continued to be reported across the country Monday, with 16,500 total cases and 321 deaths reported by 3 p.m.
Story continues below advertisement
Dr. Theresa Tam, the country’s top public health officer said she was especially concerned with recent outbreaks in hospitals and long-term care homes, which have been reported in several provinces.
1:12 Coronavirus outbreak: Trudeau thanks big banks for cutting credit card rates ‘almost in half’
Coronavirus outbreak: Trudeau thanks big banks for cutting credit card rates ‘almost in half’
Among the worst of those outbreaks is the Pinecrest Nursing Home in Bobcaygeon, Ont., where three more residents died on Sunday, bringing the total number of COVID-19 deaths at the facility to 26.
Tam said that while older people are at a higher risk for complications, people in their 20s have also died, and nobody should consider themselves immune.
But Tam also said there was reason to be optimistic that distancing efforts were working.
3:17 Coronavirus outbreak: Trudeau says they expect equipment shipments from U.S. to be delivered
Coronavirus outbreak: Trudeau says they expect equipment shipments from U.S. to be delivered
She said the case of British Columbia, which has seen its number of new cases decline in the past week, was a reason to believe that collective action could work to slow the pandemic.
“As Canadians, we may not outwardly demonstrate our pride, but our hearts are full of it and we are determined people,” she said. “When someone says flatten the curve, we say, ‘We’ll plank it.”’
Tam also updated guidelines on wearing non-medical masks, amid what she said was increasing evidence that COVID-19 can be transmitted by infected people who have not started to show symptoms or who never fall sick.
As a result, public health authorities have concluded that simple cloth masks can help prevent the wearer from spreading the virus to others in places where physical distancing is difficult, she said.
She said masks worn this way have not been proven to protect the people wearing them, and they don’t exempt wearers from other measures they should take against COVID-19, including physical distancing and regular handwashing.
While deaths rose by 13 in Ontario and by 27 in Quebec, officials in both provinces also saw reasons for optimism.
Ontario reported 309 new COVID-19 cases Monday, for a total of 4,347 cases, including 132 deaths and 1,624 patients who have recovered.
The total number of cases reported Monday represented a 7.7 per cent increase over the previous day’s total — a lower percentage increase than in previous days.
0:40 Coronavirus outbreak: Ford considering charges for those caught breaking physical distancing advice
Coronavirus outbreak: Ford considering charges for those caught breaking physical distancing advice
In Quebec, Premier Francois Legault said there was “light at the end of the tunnel,” despite 27 new deaths and a total case count that rose to over 8,500.
While the province recorded 636 new cases, Legault noted that the numbers appeared to be stabilizing, and the total number of hospitalizations had increased by only eight over the day before.
Story continues below advertisement
“If we can have this for a few days, that would mean we are approaching the peak,” he told reporters in Quebec City, regarding the rate of infection in the province. “I don’t want to speculate, but it’s just, the numbers are encouraging today.”
The leaders all stressed that now is not the time to back off on physical distancing measures, including staying home as much as possible.
1:23 Social distancing enforcement
Social distancing enforcement
Trudeau has himself been working from home since his wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, tested positive for COVID-19 on March 13.
He said that while he expects to return to the office in the days to come, he will mainly keep working from home because “that’s what we ask of everyone.”
Meanwhile, Trudeau said more than 300,000 people successfully applied for emergency financial aid in the first few hours after the federal government opened the process on Monday. The benefit offers $500 weekly payments for workers who have lost their income due to the pandemic.
The prime minister suggested the 16-week program would be expanded to offer help for people whose hours have been reduced but not eliminated, and he promised help for those who earn less than the benefit provides.
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.
