Quebec’s first night of a curfew to curb the spread of COVID-19 resulted in tickets being given out to small groups of anti-curfew protesters.
The government imposed the four-week curfew, between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. daily, for all regions of the province. Those without a valid reason to be out between those hours could face fines of between $1,000 to $6,000.
On Saturday night, a handful of tickets were given out to small groups of a dozen or so anti-curfew protesters in Sherbrooke and Quebec City. A similar demonstration garnered about 50 people in Montreal. According to Radio-Canada, Montreal police ticketed 17 people for violating the curfew.
WATCH | Quebec enacts curfew to curb COVID-19 spread:
CBC News medical contributor Dr. Peter Lin discusses the overnight curfew in Quebec and answers viewer questions. 7:50
The province reported 3,127 new cases on Saturday, topping 3,000 for the first time, and 41 more deaths. There were 1,392 people in hospital for COVID-19, including 206 in intensive care.
A curfew is also one of the options on the table for Ontario as the province deals with its own surging COVID-19 numbers. Ontario reported 3,443 new cases and 40 more deaths on Saturday.
On Friday, Premier Doug Ford said further restrictions are coming, with new modelling coming early next week painting a potentially dire scenario in the province.
“We’re in a desperate situation, and when you see the modelling, you’ll fall out of your chair,” Ford said. “There will be further measures, because this is getting out of control.”
What’s happening across Canada
As of 7:30 a.m. ET on Sunday, Canada had reported 652,473 cases of COVID-19, with 82,252 cases considered active. A CBC News tally of deaths stood at 16,833.
In Atlantic Canada, New Brunswick recorded 30 new cases on Saturday, bringing the total number of active cases to 171. The province has experienced a surge in cases in the new year, sending the entire province back to the orange phase.
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Dr. Ilan Schwartz with the University of Alberta explains how a drug made to treat a type of coronavirus in cats could one day help treat human COVID-19 patients. 6:51
Nova Scotia has announced it is tightening border restrictions with New Brunswick following the outbreak of cases there. N.S. reported three new cases on Saturday.
Newfoundland and Labrador registered no new cases for the fourth straight day on Saturday, and its active caseload dropped to four after five people recovered.
In Prince Edward Island, the chief public health officer said the Island’s COVID-19 vaccine supply is reserved for year-round residents only, and that seasonal residents should get their shots in their home province. According to the province, P.E.I. has roughly 3,500 seasonal residents.
In the Prairies, Manitoba saw 203 new COVID-19 cases and seven more deaths on Saturday, while Saskatchewan registered 332 new cases and seven additional deaths.
Alberta announced 989 new COVID-19 cases and 31 new deaths on Saturday. The new deaths, a single-day record for the province, brought Alberta’s total number of deaths from COVID-19 to 1,272.
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Two provinces with similar COVID-19 infection numbers have made opposite decisions on school going forward. Alberta is sending kids back to the classroom next week, while Ontario is keeping most students at home. 2:00
In British Columbia, Kelowna RCMP say they have issued a $2,300 fine to the organizer of a protest and march in the city’s downtown Saturday that contravened provincial public health orders related to COVID-19.
In the North, the three territories did not issue any COVID-19 updates on Saturday. As of their last updates, the Northwest Territories has no active cases, while Yukon has 11 and Nunavut has one.
What’s happening around the world
As of early Sunday morning, more than 89.7 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, with more than 49.8 million of those considered recovered or resolved, according to Johns Hopkins University’s COVID-19 case tracking tool. The global death toll stood at more than 1.9 million.
In Europe, thousands of people 80 and older have started receiving invitations to get the coronavirus vaccine in England. Britain is ramping up its national vaccination program in a bid to meet its target of inoculating about 15 million people by the middle of February.
The government has given a first dose of the vaccine to more than 1.2 million people so far. Officials are hoping a speedy mass vaccination rollout will help get Britain out of its third national lockdown, which was ordered this month to curb an alarming surge of COVID-19 infections and deaths.
A London Transport bus passes a sign warning of a new coronavirus variant during England’s third national lockdown of the pandemic in London on Friday. (Dominic Lipinski/PA/The Associated Press)
Belgium’s death toll from coronavirus infections, one of the highest per capita in the world, has breached the 20,000 mark, according to official data published on Sunday.
Pope Francis confirmed in an interview with an Italian broadcaster that he has an appointment to get the COVID-19 vaccine when the Vatican starts its vaccination program next week. The pope also said everyone should get the vaccine, calling it an “ethical option, because you are playing with your health, life, but also with the lives of others.”
In the Americas, California health authorities on Saturday reported a record high of 695 coronavirus deaths as many hospitals strained under unprecedented caseloads, raising the state’s cumulative death toll to 29,233. The U.S. leads the world in total COVID-19 deaths with more than 372,000, according to the tally by Johns Hopkins.
Doctors intubate a patient in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at Providence Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, Calif., on Friday. (Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)
Mexico posted another daily record for newly confirmed coronavirus cases, with 16,105 new infections reported Saturday, and a near-record of 1,135 deaths related to COVID-19 in the latest 24-hour period.
In the Asia-Pacific region, more than 360 people have tested positive in a growing coronavirus outbreak south of Beijing in neighbouring Hebei province. China’s National Health Commission reported Sunday that 69 new cases had been confirmed, including 46 in Hebei.
The outbreak has raised particular concern because of Hebei’s proximity to the nation’s capital. Travel between the two has been restricted, with workers from Hebei having to show proof of employment in Beijing to enter.
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, police officers in protective suits stand on duty at a temporary checkpoint in Shijiazhuang in northern China’s Hebei province on Saturday. (Jin Haoyuan/Xinhua/The Associated Press)
In the Middle East, thousands of Israelis on Saturday renewed weekly demonstrations against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling for the long-serving leader to resign over corruption charges against him and his alleged mishandling of the coronavirus crisis.
The protest in a Jerusalem square near Netanyahu’s official residence comes as Israel is the midst of its third national lockdown, which was recently tightened to shutter schools, and as the country presses forward with a world-leading vaccination drive.
In Africa, South Africa remains the country hardest hit by COVID-19 on the continent. Government data put the total number of confirmed cases at more than 1.2 million and the total number of deaths at more than 32,000 as of Saturday.
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.
