Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to speak to provincial, territorial and Indigenous leaders today about COVID-19 — but he’ll do it from self-isolation, as his wife is among the almost 160 Canadians who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
The school closure — which tacks two weeks on to the upcoming March Break — was made at the recommendation of the province’s chief medical officer.
Case numbers are still on the rise around the world, but there are signs of progress in the fight against the novel coronavirus, particularly in China, where the disease first emerged.
More than half of the world’s 128,000 people infected have already recovered. Most patients have only mild or moderate symptoms such as a fever or cold, though severe symptoms including pneumonia can occur, especially in older adults and people with existing health problems.
Here’s a look at what’s happening with COVID-19 in Canada, the U.S., the global economy and some of the harder-hit regions of the world.
Here’s a look at what’s happening in provinces with cases of COVID-19
Infectious disease experts and a doctor specializing in the elderly answer your questions about the COVID-19 pandemic. 9:03
Schools are closing in Ontario. Provincial officials in B.C. and Quebec are cautioning residents about international travel. Even in provinces without confirmed cases of COVID-19, people are being urged by health officials to practice proper hand hygiene and take precautions like staying home when sick.
In Ontario, the latest news is that schools are closing. The premier’s office said Thursday that it recognizes that the closures will have a “significant impact” on parents, students and communities as a whole, but Doug Ford’s office said “this precaution is necessary to keep people safe.” Read more about what’s happening in Ontario.
In B.C., the province’s top doctor is cautioning against all non-essential travel outside Canada, and recommending that large events be cancelled. Dr. Bonnie Henry said Thursday that people who leave the country and return to B.C. — including people who travel to the U.S. — should stay away from work and school for a period of 14 days. Read more about what’s happening in B.C.
In Alberta, the province’s top doctor is also calling for the cancellation of events of more than 250 people. Dr. Deena Hinshaw said Thursday there’s a “window of opportunity for Alberta to slow the spread of the virus.” As in B.C., Albertans are being advised not to travel abroad, and are being asked to self-isolate when they return. Read more about what’s happening in Alberta.
In Quebec, some school boards and universities will be shutting down, including major school boards in Montreal. The planned closures in Quebec come after Premier François Legault introduced his sweeping plan for the province, which included mandatory self-isolation for public sector workers who travelled abroad and voluntary isolation for anyone else who made a similar trip. Read more about what’s happening in Quebec.
In Manitoba, there were three presumptive cases reported Thursday. The province said it was opening screening centres in Winnipeg for the novel coronavirus in a bid to increase testing. Read more about what’s happening in Manitoba.
In New Brunswick, the top medical officer is calling for the cancellation of all events with more than 150 people. The province has reported one confirmed case of COVID-19. Read more about what’s happening in New Brunswick.
The Public Health Agency of Canada says the risk associated with COVID-19 is low for the general population, but they note that could change quickly. People who are over 65, have a compromised immune system or underlying health conditions face a higher risk of “more severe outcomes” if they contract the virus — which the WHO says is mild for most who get it.
As of early Friday morning, provinces in Canada were reporting almost 160 presumptive and confirmed cases.
Here’s a look at what’s happening in the U.S.
From Reuters and The Associated Press, updated at 6 a.m. ET
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday morning that coronavirus testing in the United States will soon happen on a large scale, but did not provide any details on how that would be accomplished.
“The changes have been made and testing will soon happen on a very large-scale basis. All red tape has been cut, ready to go!” he wrote in a tweet.
Trump also criticized the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one of the U.S. organizations leading the fight against the deadly infection, for having a testing system that he said would “always be inadequate and slow for a large-scale pandemic.”
Trump did not elaborate on why the system was inadequate, but on Thursday, the top U.S. official on infectious diseases, Anthony Fauci, said people cannot get tests easily and the U.S. testing system “is not really geared to what we need right now.”
U.S. officials and lawmakers are struggling to get a sense of how many people in the country have contracted the virus, which they attribute to low testing rates.
While Washington scrambled to shape an economic rescue package, the European Union pushed back against Trump’s sharp restrictions on travel from Europe to the United States, slamming Trump’s “unilateral” decision and declaring the virus a “global crisis, not limited to any continent, and it requires co-operation.”
WATCH: How scientists at Johns Hopkins University are tracking COVID-19
Scientists at Johns Hopkins University had predicted the COVID-19 outbreak and are now working to track the virus. 2:03
Schools emptied of students and workplace cubicles went vacant. Crowded gatherings were restricted from New York to California, and dozens of cultural hubs were closed. Disneyland and Disney World will close in coming days. And sports fans couldn’t cheer their favourite teams from the safety of their living rooms since basketball, baseball, hockey and other leagues cancelled and postponed games.
Here’s a look at what’s happening in the business world
From The Associated Press, updated at 8 a.m. ET
European markets have opened mostly higher after a turbulent trading session in Asia.
Shares rose in Paris and London but fell 6.1 per cent in Japan following Wall Street’s biggest drop since the 1987 Black Monday crash.
WATCH: Sports and cultural events cancelled as COVID-19 cases rise
The NHL, NBA and MLB suspend their seasons and the Juno Awards have been cancelled in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19. 1:59
The German government is pledging at least €460 billion in guarantees to cope with the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak. Germany’s economy minister, Peter Altmaier, said there was no limit to the amount the government was willing to use to support everyone from individuals, such as taxi drivers, to large companies to prevent the coronavirus pandemic from causing permanent harm to the economy.
China’s government on Friday freed up additional money for lending by reducing the amount of deposits commercial banks are required to leave on reserve at the central bank.
Markets worldwide have been on the retreat as worries over the economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis deepen and the meltdown in the U.S., the world’s biggest economy, batters confidence around the globe.
Here’s what’s happening in Europe
From The Associated Press, updated at 8 a.m. ET
In Italy’s hardest-hit Lombardy region, hospitals were overwhelmed with both the sick and the dead. The country’s restaurants, cafes and retail shops closed in a lockdown on personal movement, though grocery stores, pharmacies and markets were allowed to operate.
France, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Lithuania, Algeria and Slovakia shut down their schools, and Europe’s most successful soccer team, Real Madrid, put all its players into quarantine after one tested positive. The Czech government tightened border checks for some countries, and Slovakia closed its international airports and ground transport hubs.
WATCH: How is Europe reacting to Trump’s travel restrictions?
Long lines, anxiety and confusion at European airports after Donald Trump bans travel from Europe to the U.S. 2:01
Spain has ordered its first mandatory lockdown, confining over 60,000 people to four towns as infections of the novel coronavirus increase sharply. All restaurants, bars and shops except supermarkets and pharmacies in the Madrid region will need to close over the coronavirus pandemic, Spanish media said on Friday.
Lawmakers in Denmark approved a temporary law giving authorities the ability to ban access to public places and stores and force people to undergo tests. Estonia declared “an emergency situation,” meaning no gatherings in public spaces.
Europeans were adjusting to new U.S. travel restrictions, which exempted Britain and Ireland, raising questions about the policy’s coherence.
Here’s what’s happening in China, South Korea and Japan
From The Associated Press, updated at 7:30 a.m. ET
China, where the virus emerged late last year, still accounts for more than 60 per cent of global infections. But on Friday it reported just eight new cases and seven deaths. More than 64,000 people have been released from hospitals.
With China’s caseload slowing, the government was helping other countries with its expertise. A Chinese medical crew was heading to Italy and surplus supplies were sent to Iran.
Chinese President Xi Jinping told the UN leader his nation wants to conduct joint research on drugs and vaccines and offer “as much assistance as it can” to countries where the virus is spreading. State media reported Xi told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres by phone that economic and daily life are gradually returning to normal in China thanks to “arduous endeavours” at prevention and control.
South Korea reported 114 new cases and was near 8,000 overall. Officials said 177 patients were released from hospitals, making Friday the first day recoveries outnumbered new infections since the country’s first patient was confirmed on Jan. 20.
Japan, which has 675 cases — not including the nearly 700 from the Diamond Princess cruise ship — enacted a controversial law Friday that would allow Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to declare a state of emergency if the coronavirus outbreak worsens in the country. Government officials in Japan said there is no immediate plan to declare a state of emergency, but Abe is expected to make a decision based on experts’ latest evaluation of the outbreak.
Here’s what’s happening in Iran
From Reuters and The Assoicated Press, updated at 7:30 a.m. ET
The total number of deaths in Iran from the coronavirus outbreak has risen by 85 to 514, a health ministry official said on state TV Friday, adding that the total number of infections had increased by more than 1,000 in the past 24 hours, to 11,364.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif urged the Trump administration to immediately lift sanctions over the country’s nuclear program. He said they made it difficult to import medicine and medical equipment, including to identify and treat coronavirus patients.
State-run TV reported a positive test and home quarantine for Ali Akbar Velayati, a trusted adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the 80-year-old leader of the Islamic Republic. Iran’s senior vice-president, cabinet ministers, members of parliament, Revolutionary Guard members and Health Ministry officials are also infected.
WATCH: How social distancing helps slow the spread of COVID-19
Social distancing measures like working from home, school closures and cancelling sporting events could lead to a drop of new infections of coronavirus. 1:54
Here’s a glimpse at what’s happening in some of the areas of the world that have not seen a major surge in cases:
Authorities in Kenya say a woman has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the first case in the East African country. The patient had travelled from the U.S. via London, the health minister said.
The West and Central African nations of Ghana and Gabon also announced their first confirmed cases of the disease. Ghana Minister of Health Kwaku Agyeman-Manu said two people who returned from Norway and Turkey tested positive and are in isolation. Gabon’s first case of the virus is in a 27-year-old who returned after staying in Bordeaux, France.
Nepal moved to suspend all climbing permits for Mount Everest — and every other peak in the mountainous nation because of the coronavirus. China has already shuttered its side of Mount Everest.
Officials in Pakistan quarantined roughly 4,000 pilgrims in tents and buildings in the southwestern border town of Taftan upon their return from Iran, officials said Friday.
The Indonesian government announces 35 new cases of COVID-19 infections, bringing the country’s confirmed cases to 69 on Friday, including two toddlers. In Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, the government launched a cleaning campaign for 10,000 mosques. The religious affairs minister called on each mosque to roll up carpets and spray disinfectant, while also urging Muslims to not shake hands or share a kiss on the cheek to avoid spreading the virus.
OTTAWA, W.Va. – U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s promise launch a mass deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants has the Canadian government looking at its own border.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said Friday the issue is one of two “points of focus” for a recently revived cabinet committee on Canada-U.S. relations.
Freeland said she has also been speaking to premiers about the issue this week.
“I do want Canadians to know it is one of our two central points of focus. Ministers are working hard on it, and we absolutely believe that it’s an issue that Canadians are concerned about, Canadians are right to be concerned about it,” Freeland said, after the committee met for the first time since Trump left office in 2021.
She did not provide any details of the plan ministers are working on.
Public Safety Minister Dominic Leblanc, whose portfolio includes responsibility for the Canada Border Services Agency, co-chairs the committee. Freeland said that highlights the importance of border security to Canada-U.S. relations.
There was a significant increase in the number of irregular border crossings between 2016 and 2023, which the RCMP attributed in part to the policies of the first Trump administration.
The national police service said it has been working through multiple scenarios in case there is a change in irregular migration after Trump takes office once again, and any response to a “sudden increase in irregular migration” will be co-ordinated with border security and immigration officials.
However, Syed Hussan with the Migrant Rights Network said he does not anticipate a massive influx of people coming into Canada, chalking the current discussion up to anti-migrant panic.
“I’m not saying there won’t be some exceptions, that people will continue to cross. But here’s the thing, if you look at the people crossing currently into the U.S. from the Mexico border, these are mostly people who are recrossing post-deportation. The reason for that is, is that people have families and communities and jobs. So it seems very unlikely that people are going to move here,” he said.
Since the Safe Third Country Agreement was modified last year, far fewer people are making refugee claims in Canada through irregular border crossings.
The agreement between Canada and the U.S. acknowledges that both countries are safe places for refugees, and stipulates that asylum seekers must make a refugee claim in the country where they first arrive.
The number of people claiming asylum in Canada after coming through an irregular border crossing from the U.S. peaked at 14,000 between January and March 2023.
At that time, the rule was changed to only allow for refugee claims at regular ports of entry, with some specific exemptions.
This closed a loophole that had seen tens of thousands of people enter Canada at Roxham Road in Quebec between 2017 and 2023.
In the first six months of 2024, fewer than 700 people made refugee claims at irregular crossings.
There are 34,000 people waiting to have their refugee claims processed in Canada, according to government data.
In the first 10 months of this year, U.S. border officials recorded nearly 200,000 encounters with people making irregular crossings from Canada. Around 27,000 encounters took place at the border during the first 10 months of 2021.
Hussan said the change to the Safe Third Country Agreement made it less likely people will risk potentially dangerous crossings into Canada.
“Trying to make a life in Canada, it’s actually really difficult. It’s more difficult to be an undocumented person in Canada than the U.S. There’s actually more services in the U.S. currently, more access to jobs,” Hussan said.
Toronto-based immigration lawyer Robert Blanshay said he is receiving “tons and tons” of emails from Americans looking at possibly relocating to Canada since Trump won the election early Wednesday.
He estimates that about half are coming from members of the LGBTQ+ community.
“I spoke to a guy yesterday, he and his partner from Kansas City. And he said to me, ‘You know, things weren’t so hunky-dory here in Kansas City being gay to begin with. The entire political climate is just too scary for us,'” Blanshay said.
Blanshay said he advised the man he would likely not be eligible for express entry into Canada because he is at retirement age.
He also said many Americans contacted him to inquire about moving north of the border after Trump’s first electoral victory, but like last time, he does not anticipate many will actually follow through.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024
VANCOUVER – The British Columbia New Democrats have a majority government of 47 seats after a recount in the riding of Surrey-Guildford gave the party’s candidate 22 more votes than the provincial Conservatives.
Confirmation of victory for Premier David Eby’s party comes nearly three weeks after election night when no majority could be declared.
Garry Begg of the NDP had officially gone into the recount yesterday with a 27-vote lead, although British Columbia’s chief electoral officer had said on Tuesday there were 28 unreported votes and these had reduced the margin to 21.
There are ongoing recounts in Kelowna Centre and Prince George-Mackenzie, but these races are led by John Rustad’s B.C. Conservatives and the outcomes will not change the majority status for the New Democrats.
The Election Act says the deadline to appeal results after a judicial recount must be filed with the court within two days after they are declared, but Andrew Watson with Elections BC says that due to Remembrance Day on Monday, that period ends at 4 p.m. Tuesday.
Eby has said his new cabinet will be announced on Nov. 18, with the 44 members of the Opposition caucus and two members from the B.C. Greens to be sworn in Nov. 12 and the New Democrat members of the legislature to be sworn in the next day.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
MONTREAL – The employers association at the Port of Montreal has issued the dockworkers’ union a “final, comprehensive offer,” threatening to lock out workers at 9 p.m. Sunday if a deal isn’t reached.
The Maritime Employers Association says its new offer includes a three per cent salary increase per year for four years and a 3.5 per cent increase for the two subsequent years. It says the offer would bring the total average compensation package of a longshore worker at the Port of Montreal to more than $200,000 per year at the end of the contract.
“The MEA agrees to this significant compensation increase in view of the availability required from its employees,” it wrote Thursday evening in a news release.
The association added that it is asking longshore workers to provide at least one hour’s notice when they will be absent from a shift — instead of one minute — to help reduce management issues “which have a major effect on daily operations.”
Syndicat des débardeurs du port de Montréal, which represents nearly 1,200 longshore workers, launched a partial unlimited strike on Oct. 31, which has paralyzed two terminals that represent 40 per cent of the port’s total container handling capacity.
A complete strike on overtime, affecting the whole port, began on Oct. 10.
The union has said it will accept the same increases that were granted to its counterparts in Halifax or Vancouver — 20 per cent over four years. It is also concerned with scheduling and work-life balance. Workers have been without a collective agreement since Dec. 31, 2023.
Only essential services and activities unrelated to longshoring will continue at the port after 9 p.m. Sunday in the event of a lockout, the employer said.
The ongoing dispute has had major impacts at Canada’s second-biggest port, which moves some $400 million in goods every day.
On Thursday, Montreal port authority CEO Julie Gascon reiterated her call for federal intervention to end the dispute, which has left all container handling capacity at international terminals at “a standstill.”
“I believe that the best agreements are negotiated at the table,” she said in a news release. “But let’s face it, there are no negotiations, and the government must act by offering both sides a path to true industrial peace.”
Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon issued a statement Thursday, prior to the lockout notice, in which he criticized the slow pace of talks at the ports in Montreal and British Columbia, where more than 700 unionized port workers have been locked out since Nov. 4.
“Both sets of talks are progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved,” he wrote on the X social media platform.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
