News
Coronavirus: What's happening in Canada and around the world on Friday – CBC.ca
The latest:
- Ontario to hold emergency meeting with hospital heads as 7-day average of new COVID-19 cases hits another high.
- COVAX program doubles global vaccine supply deals to 2 billion doses.
- U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence gets COVID-19 vaccine live on television.
- Canada reports more than 7,000 new COVID-19 cases for the first time.
- Alberta sees its deadliest day of the pandemic with 30 new deaths.
- P.E.I. eases ‘circuit-breaker’ restrictions early.
- Spain’s Supreme Court orders investigation into nursing home deaths during pandemic.
- Have a coronavirus question or news tip for CBC News? Email us at COVID@cbc.ca
With the largest mass immunization effort in Canadian history now underway in almost every province, health authorities are urging members of the public to keep up their efforts to control the spread of COVID-19, especially as the holiday season approaches.
Case counts, hospitalizations and deaths are still increasing in many parts of the country, with Canada reporting more than 7,000 new COVID-19 cases for the first time on Thursday.
In Ontario, where more than 2,000 new COVID-19 cases are being reported for a fourth straight day, Premier Doug Ford is set to hold an emergency meeting with top hospital officials this afternoon.
I’m convening an emergency meeting today with Minister Elliott, Dr. Williams and Ontario’s hospital leaders to discuss next steps to break the concerning trends in cases and hospitals in our province. Everything is on the table when it comes to protecting the health of Ontarians. <a href=”https://t.co/1upuB6prAQ”>pic.twitter.com/1upuB6prAQ</a>
—@fordnation
This comes a day after the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) called on the provincial government to “implement and robustly enforce” a four-week lockdown in every public health unit where there is an infection rate of 40 per 100,000 people or higher.
The OHA said that its member hospitals are struggling to keep up with current needs while working to catch up on about 150,000 procedures that were postponed during the pandemic’s first wave in the spring.
“We are now in the holiday season and if members of the public choose to ignore public health measures and gather outside their households, the consequences risk overwhelming Ontario’s hospitals,” the OHA statement said.
Ontario on Friday reported 2,290 new cases — pushing the seven-day average to a new high of 2,089 — and 40 more deaths. There were 877 people hospitalized with COVID-19, 261 of whom were in intensive care.
Meanwhile, Alberta recorded a single-day record of 30 COVID-19 deaths Thursday, a figure the province’s chief medical officer of health called “heartbreaking.”
“If anyone still needs reminding of the seriousness of this virus, of the importance of the restrictions that are currently in place, and the importance of doing everything possible to limit our interactions and break the chains of transmission, this is it,” Dr. Deena Hinshaw said.
The province also reported 1,571 new cases of the virus, with 763 people being treated in hospitals for COVID-19, including 138 in intensive care.
WATCH | Alberta’s top doctor says no safety concerns with COVID-19 vaccinations:
Alberta’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw says that the new vaccination against COVID-19 is safe and it works. 1:54
Hinshaw said there have been many examples of people attending gatherings when they have mild symptoms such as headaches or stuffy noses that they didn’t connect with COVID-19, or were infectious and didn’t know it.
She stressed that the safest way for people to celebrate the holidays this year is within their own household, or with two designated close contacts for those who live alone.
“This year we can and must celebrate differently,” she said. “Holiday gatherings with people outside of your household are not only against the restrictions that are in place, they are also the wrong thing to do right now.”
Quebec and Ontario administered Canada’s first doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine on Monday, with other provinces following suit throughout the week.
As of Friday, New Brunswick is the only province that has yet to begin vaccinations, which Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Jennifer Russell attributed to “logistical and human resource reasons.” The province is scheduled to hold its first vaccination clinic at the Miramichi Regional Hospital this weekend.
The territories are not receiving the initial doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine because its ultra-low temperature requirements for storage have been deemed too challenging logistically for northern, rural and remote communities.
Instead, they expect to receive the Moderna vaccine, which has less stringent temperature requirements, when it is approved by Health Canada.
What’s happening across Canada
As of 10:45 a.m. ET on Friday, Canada’s COVID-19 case count stood at 490,928, with 76,568 of those cases considered active. A CBC News tally of deaths based on provincial reports, regional health information and CBC’s reporting stood at 13,956.
British Columbia reported 673 new COVID-19 cases and 21 additional deaths on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Big White Ski Resort near Kelowna has fired some of its employees for breaking a social responsibility contract after health officials announced that 60 confirmed cases of COVID-19 had been linked to the resort.
In Saskatchewan, new restrictions took effect on Thursday as the province reported 238 new cases and seven deaths.
Under the new measures, which are in place until at least Jan. 15, residents can no longer have guests in their homes and outdoor socializing is capped at 10 people.
Starting Saturday, bingo halls and casinos must also close, and personal care services, such as hairdressers, must reduce their capacity to half. Retailers have until Christmas Day before they also need to drop to 50 per cent capacity. Larger stores will be limited to 25 per cent.
WATCH | Sask. hospitals overloaded even as cases decline:
Daily COVID-19 cases in Saskatchewan are declining, but hospitals and ICUs in the province are overloaded. All the while, many residents are growing frustrated with what they call mixed messages and contradictory restrictions. 2:02
Manitoba reported 221 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, the lowest single-day increase in infections since 103 were registered on Nov. 3, as well as 14 more deaths related to the virus.
Its provincial test positivity rate, which has been among the highest in Canada, fell to 13 per cent, its lowest level since Nov. 15.
Despite the signs of improvement, health leaders say medical and intensive care units are still strained by the number of patients they’re seeing. There were 384 COVID-19 patients in hospital, including 48 in intensive care.
In Quebec, tighter restrictions took effect in several regions on Thursday as yellow zones moved to orange, and orange zones to red, the highest alert level.
Saguenay and the Laurentians are among the regions that have become red zones, with restaurant dining rooms, bars, gyms, museums and theatres shutting down as a result.
The provincial government is attempting to reverse a worrisome trend in COVID-19 numbers. Quebec reported 1,855 new cases and 22 more deaths on Thursday, with 1,002 people in hospital — passing the 1,000 mark for the first time since June — including 134 in intensive care.
In Atlantic Canada, Prince Edward Island is easing COVID-19 restrictions, including allowing larger gatherings, more visitors in long-term care homes and a resumption of organized sports. The province reported one new case on Thursday.
Nova Scotia and New Brunswick each recorded six new cases on Thursday, while Newfoundland and Labrador reported three new cases.
WATCH | N.B. chief medical officer urges residents to follow rules during holidays:
The province’s chief medical officer says she worries gatherings and non-essential travel could lead to a rise in cases of COVID-19. 2:51
In the North, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories recorded one new case each on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Yukon announced the territory has added more school buses and will implement new mask rules during bus rides in order to facilitate safe transportation for students in the upcoming school year.
What’s happening around the world
From The Associated Press and Reuters, last updated at 9:45 a.m. ET
As of 9:45 a.m. ET on Friday, more than 75.1 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide with more than 42.4 million of those cases considered recovered or resolved, according to a COVID-19 tracking tool maintained by Johns Hopkins University. The global death toll stood at more than 1.6 million.
The COVAX alliance that aims to secure COVID-19 vaccines for the world’s most vulnerable people said on Friday it had gained access to nearly two billion doses, roughly doubling its supply, with the first deliveries expected in the first quarter of 2021.
The initiative run by the Gavi vaccine alliance and World Health Organization said that it aimed to deliver 1.3 billion doses of approved vaccines next year to 92 eligible low- and middle-income economies.
“Today’s announcements offer the clearest pathway yet to end the acute phase of the pandemic by protecting the most vulnerable populations around the world,” it said in a statement.
New agreements announced on Friday include an advance purchase agreement with AstraZeneca for 170 million doses, and a memorandum of understanding for 500 million doses from Johnson & Johnson.
In the Americas, U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence was vaccinated for COVID-19 on Friday in a live-television event aimed at reassuring Americans the vaccine is safe. He celebrated the shot as “a medical miracle” that could eventually contain the raging coronavirus pandemic.
Pence, the highest-profile official yet to receive the vaccine, has taken an increasingly visible role in highlighting the safety of the shot, including touring a vaccine production facility this week.
WATCH | U.S. vice-president receives COVID-19 vaccine:
The vice-president of the United States, Mike Pence, has received a first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, saying he was ‘more than happy’ to take this ‘safe and effective’ coronavirus vaccine. 0:16
Pence’s wife, Karen, and Surgeon General Jerome Adams also received shots during the televised White House event in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Adams, who is Black, emphasized the “the importance of representation” in outreach to at-risk communities and encouraged Americans to avoid disinformation around the vaccines.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell both said Thursday that they will get vaccinated in the next few days. President-elect Joe Biden expects to receive his shot as soon as next week.
Brazil’s Supreme Court says coronavirus vaccination can be made mandatory, delivering a blow to the nation’s nascent anti-vaccine movement.
However, the court also says Brazilians may not be vaccinated against their will. A court statement says Thursday’s ruling does pave the way for state and municipal governments to approve laws imposing fines or restrictive measures for anyone refusing to take a vaccine.
In Europe, Spain’s Supreme Court on Friday ordered an investigation into the deaths of elderly people in nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic and the lack of protective gear for health workers.
Magistrates were asked to find out if deaths at nursing homes “were associated with political, administrative or management decisions and whether those decisions are criminally reproachable.”
French President Emmanuel Macron is suffering from fever, cough and fatigue as he rides out the coronavirus in a presidential retreat at Versailles, officials with the presidency said Friday.
Macron’s positive test on Thursday has prompted contact tracing efforts across Europe following meetings he had with EU heads of government.
In Asia, South Korea has reported 1,062 new cases of coronavirus infections, its third straight day above 1,000 as the virus continues to slam the greater capital area where hospital beds are in short supply.
The viral resurgence has put pressure on the government to raise social distancing restrictions to maximum levels, something policymakers have resisted for weeks out of economic concerns.
In Africa, a second wave of infections is hitting the continent’s West and Central regions, and experts are warning it could be worse than the first as cooler weather descends on a region where most countries cannot afford a vaccine.
Nigeria, Niger, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Mali, Togo and Democratic Republic of Congo are all at or near record levels of infection, data compiled by Reuters shows. Infections in Senegal are also rising fast.
More money will land in the pockets of Canadian families on Friday for the latest Canada Child Benefit (CCB) installment.
The federal government program helps low and middle-income families struggling with the soaring cost of raising a child.
Canadian citizens, permanent residents, or refugees who are the primary caregivers for children under 18 years old are eligible for the program, introduced in 2016.
The non-taxable monthly payments are based on a family’s net income and how many children they have. Families that have an adjusted net income under $34,863 will receive the maximum amount per child.
For a child under six years old, an applicant can annually receive up to $7,437 per child, and up to $6,275 per child for kids between the ages of six through 17.
That translates to up to $619.75 per month for the younger cohort and $522.91 per month for the older group.
The benefit is recalculated every July and most recently increased 6.3 per cent in order to adjust to the rate of inflation, and cost of living.
To apply, an applicant can submit through a child’s birth registration, complete an online form or mail in an application to a tax centre.
The next payment date will take place on May 17.
News
Capital gains tax change draws ire from some Canadian entrepreneurs worried it will worsen brain drain – CBC.ca
A chorus of Canadian entrepreneurs and investors is blasting the federal government’s budget for expanding a tax on the rich. They say it will lead to brain drain and further degrade Canada’s already poor productivity.
In the 2024 budget unveiled Tuesday, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said the government would increase the inclusion rate of the capital gains tax from 50 per cent to 67 per cent for businesses and trusts, generating an estimated $19 billion in new revenue.
Capital gains are the profits that individuals or businesses make from selling an asset — like a stock or a second home. Individuals are subject to the new changes on any profits over $250,000.
The government estimates that the changes would impact 40,000 individuals (or 0.13 per cent of Canadians in any given year) and 307,000 companies in Canada.
However, some members of the business community say that expanding the taxable amount will devastate productivity, investment and entrepreneurship in Canada, and might even compel some of the country’s talent and startups to take their business elsewhere.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland unveiled the government’s 2024 federal budget, with spending targeted at young voters and a plan to raise capital gains taxes for some of the wealthiest Canadians.
Benjamin Bergen, president of the Council of Canadian Innovators (CCI), said the capital gains tax has overshadowed parts of the federal budget that the business community would otherwise be excited about.
“There were definitely some other stars in the budget that were interesting,” he said. “However, the … capital gains piece really is the sun, and it’s daylight. So this is really the only thing that innovators can see.”
The CCI has written and is circulating an open letter signed by more than 1,000 people in the Canadian business community to Trudeau’s government asking it to scrap the tax change.
Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke and president Harley Finkelstein also weighed in on the proposed hike on X, formerly known as Twitter.
We need to be doing everything we can to turn Canada into the best place for entrepreneurs to build 🇨🇦<br><br>What’s proposed in the federal budget will do the complete opposite. Innovators and entrepreneurs will suffer and their success will be penalized — this is not a wealth tax,…
—@harleyf
Former finance minister Bill Morneau said his successor’s budget disincentivizes businesses from investing in the country’s innovation sector: “It’s probably very troubling for many investors.”
Canada’s productivity — a measure that compares economic output to hours worked — has been relatively poor for decades. It underperforms against the OECD average and against several other G7 countries, including the U.S., Germany, U.K. and Japan, on the measure.
Bank of Canada senior deputy governor Carolyn Rogers sounded the alarm on Canada’s lagging productivity in a speech last month, saying the country’s need to increase the rate had reached emergency levels, following one of the weakest years for the economy in recent memory.
The government said it was proposing the tax change to make life more affordable for younger generations and fund efforts to boost housing supply — and that it would support productivity growth.
A challenge for investors, founders and workers
The change could have a chilling effect for several reasons, with companies already struggling to access funding in a high interest rate environment, said Bergen.
He questioned whether investors will want to fund Canadian companies if the government’s taxation policies make it difficult for those firms to grow — and whether founders might just pack up.
The expanded inclusion rate “is just one of the other potential concerns that firms are going to have as they’re looking to grow their companies.”
He said the rejigged tax is also an affront to high-skilled workers from low-innovation sectors who might have taken the risk of joining a startup for the opportunity, even taking a lower wage on the chance that a firm’s stock options grow in value.
But Lindsay Tedds, an associate economics professor at the University of Calgary, said the tax change is one of the most misunderstood parts of the federal budget — and that its impact on the country’s talent has been overstated.
“This is not a major innovation-biting tax change treatment,” Tedds said. “In fact, when you talk to real grassroots entrepreneurs that are setting up businesses, tax rates do not come into their decision.”
As for productivity, Tedds said Canadians might see improvements in the long run “to the degree that some of our productivity problems are driven by stresses like housing affordability, access to child care, things like that.”
‘One foot on the gas, one foot on the brake’
Some say the government is sending mixed messages to entrepreneurs by touting tailored tax breaks — like the Canada Entrepreneurs’ Incentive, which reduces the capital gains inclusion rate to 33 per cent on a lifetime maximum of $2 million — while introducing measures they say would dampen investment and innovation.
“They seem to have one foot on the gas, one foot on the brake on the very same file,” said Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
Some business groups are worried that new capital gains tax changes could hurt economic growth. But according to Small Business Minister Rechie Valdez, most Canadians won’t be impacted by that change — and it’s a move to create fairness.
A founder may be able to sell their successful company with a lower capital gains treatment than otherwise possible, he said.
“At the same time, though, big chunks of it may be subject to a higher rate of capital gains inclusion.”
Selling a company can fund an individual’s retirement, he said, which is why it’s one of the first things founders consider when they think about capital gains.
Mainstreet NS7:03Ottawa is proposing a hike to capital gains tax. What does that mean?
Tuesday’s federal budget includes nearly $53 billion in new spending over the next five years with a clear focus on affordability and housing. To help pay for some of that new spending, Ottawa is proposing a hike to the capital gains tax. Moshe Lander, an economics lecturer at Concordia University, joins host Jeff Douglas to explain.
Dennis Darby, president and CEO of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, says he was disappointed by the change — and that it sends the wrong message to Canadian industries like his own.
He wants to see the government commit to more tax credit proposals like the Canada Carbon Rebate for Small Businesses, which he said would incentivize business owners to stay and help make Canada competitive with the U.S.
“We’ve had a lot of difficulties attracting investment over the years. I don’t think this will make it any better.”
Tech titan says change will only impact richest of the rich
Toronto tech entrepreneur Ali Asaria will be one of those subject to the expanded capital gains inclusion rate — but he says it’s only fair.
“It’s going to really affect the richest of the rich people,” Asaria, CEO of open source platform Transformer Lab and founder of well.ca, told CBC News.
“The capital gains exemption is probably the largest tax break that I’ve ever received in my life,” he said. “So I know a lot about what that benefit can look like, but I’ve also always felt like it was probably one of the most unfair parts of the tax code today.”
While Asaria said Canada needs to continue encouraging talent to take risks and build companies in the country, taxation policies aren’t the most major problem.
“I think that the biggest central issue to the reason why people will leave Canada is bigger issues, like housing,” he said.
“How do we make it easier to live in Canada so that we can all invest in ourselves and invest in our companies? That’s a more important question than, ‘How do we help the top 0.13 per cent of Canadians make more money?'”
More money will land in the pockets of Canadian families on Friday for the latest Canada Child Benefit (CCB) installment.
The federal government program helps low and middle-income families struggling with the soaring cost of raising a child.
Canadian citizens, permanent residents, or refugees who are the primary caregivers for children under 18 years old are eligible for the program, introduced in 2016.
The non-taxable monthly payments are based on a family’s net income and how many children they have. Families that have an adjusted net income under $34,863 will receive the maximum amount per child.
For a child under six years old, an applicant can annually receive up to $7,437 per child, and up to $6,275 per child for kids between the ages of six through 17.
That translates to up to $619.75 per month for the younger cohort and $522.91 per month for the older group.
The benefit is recalculated every July and most recently increased 6.3 per cent in order to adjust to the rate of inflation, and cost of living.
To apply, an applicant can submit through a child’s birth registration, complete an online form or mail in an application to a tax centre.
The next payment date will take place on May 17.
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