News
Coronavirus: What's happening in Canada and around the world on Sunday – CBC News
The latest:
The World Health Organization said Sunday that a UN-backed program shipping coronavirus vaccines to many low-income countries has now delivered one billion doses, but that milestone “is only a reminder of the work that remains” after hoarding and stockpiling in rich countries.
A shipment of 1.1 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Rwanda on Saturday included the billionth dose supplied via the COVAX program, the United Nations health agency said.
WHO has long criticized unequal distribution of vaccines and called for manufacturers and other countries to prioritize COVAX. It said that as of Thursday, 36 of its 194 member countries had vaccinated less than 10 per cent of their population and 88 had vaccinated less than 40 per cent.
The program has made deliveries to 144 countries so far, “but the work that has gone into this milestone is only a reminder of the work that remains,” WHO said in a statement.
“COVAX’s ambition was compromised by hoarding/stockpiling in rich countries, catastrophic outbreaks leading to borders and supply being locked. And a lack of sharing of licences, technology and know-how by pharmaceutical companies meant manufacturing capacity went unused.”
At the end of December, WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged everyone to make a “New Year’s resolution” to get behind a campaign to vaccinate 70 per cent of countries’ populations by the beginning of July.
In a newspaper interview published Sunday, Germany’s new international development minister, Svenja Schulze, said she wants to use her country’s presidency this year of the Group of Seven industrial nations to ensure that COVAX gets the resources it needs in 2022.
Germany urges other countries to catch up
“Unfortunately, there are still too few countries participating in the financing of the global vaccination campaign,” Schulze was quoted as telling the Funke newspaper group. “Alongside Sweden, Norway, Canada and the U.S., we are the ones who are giving most. The other industrial countries have significant ground to catch up.”
Germany has said it donated 103 million doses to poorer countries last year and plans to donate another 75 million in 2022.
What’s happening across Canada
If you don’t have access to an N95 mask, or an equivalent, layering masks can be a good option — but that’s only if they’re being worn correctly. Dr. Anna Wolak, a family physician and member of Masks4Canada, breaks down the dos and don’ts of mask layering, as well as some hacks to help your masks fit better. 3:22
With lab-based testing capacity deeply strained and increasingly restricted, experts say true case counts are likely far higher than reported. Hospitalization data at the regional level is also evolving, with several provinces saying they will report figures that separate the number of people in hospital because of COVID-19 from those in hospital for another medical issue who also test positive for COVID-19.
For more information on what is happening in your community — including details on outbreaks, testing capacity and local restrictions — click through to the regional coverage below.
You can also read more from the Public Health Agency of Canada, which provides a detailed look at every region — including seven-day average test positivity rates — in its daily epidemiological updates.
In British Columbia, the 2022 B.C. Winter Games have been cancelled over COVID-19 concerns.
In the Prairies, students in Manitoba are preparing to go back to in-person schooling on Monday. The two largest universities in Alberta are delaying a return to in-person classes until late February. In Saskatchewan, an epidemiologist is countering a claim made by the province’s premier that restrictions don’t curb the spread of Omicron.
Mostly unvaccinated patients are overwhelming the ICU at a Sarnia, Ont., hospital and some will head home with a new perspective on COVID-19, the vaccine and life. 3:39
In Ontario, there were 579 people in hospital ICUs as a result of COVID-19 on Sunday, up by 21 people from the previous day, health officials said.
In Quebec, health officials said there were 282 people undergoing treatment for COVID-19 in hospital ICUs on Sunday, up by seven from Saturday.
Students in the province are returning to classes on Monday after an extended winter break. The Quebec government has said carbon dioxide readers will be coming to classrooms this coming week to better assess the ventilation needs of schools.
In the Atlantic provinces, Nova Scotia on Sunday reported that 68 people are in hospital because of COVID-19, including 10 in intensive care. Admissions grew by 10 patients, while the ICU number remained unchanged from Saturday.
Newfoundland and Labrador confirmed the province’s 25th death related to the virus on Saturday; New Brunswick entered Level 3 of its lockdown measures — the province’s most restrictive level — on Saturday; and in Prince Edward Island, where the pandemic only made limited inroads in previous waves, officials recorded 309 new cases on Saturday.
In the North, Nunavut reported five new cases on Saturday, plus one presumptive case in the village of Naujaat, while the Yukon government is imposing stronger public health measures starting on Tuesday.
What’s happening around the world
As of Sunday, roughly 326.6 million cases had been reported worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus tracker. The reported global death toll stood at more than 5.5 million.
In Asia, state media are reporting the Chinese city of Xi’an has gradually begun lifting restrictions after more than three weeks of lockdown as authorities sought to stamp out a local outbreak.
They report that lockdown measures have been either partially or completely lifted in some communities designated as lower risk, allowing people to leave their homes for a limited time to purchase daily necessities.
The partial lifting of measures comes after the city went into strict lockdown on Dec. 22, following a local COVID-19 outbreak that officials attributed to the Delta variant.
In Europe, Austria’s government proposed on Sunday setting the minimum age for mandatory vaccinations against COVID-19 at 18 and rolling out the program in stages from Feb. 1, seeking to build broad consensus for the disputed step.
The conservative-led government had said last month it intended the mandate to apply to all people aged 14 and up, which would make it the first European Union country to make vaccinations compulsory for the general population.
The federal government says all truck drivers crossing into Canada must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, regardless of nationality, effective Saturday. Trucking associations on both sides of the border say that policy could hurt already strained supply chains by taking even more drivers out of circulation. 2:00
Denmark has lifted a number of COVID-19 restrictions and allowed the reopening of certain venues despite the spread of the Omicron variant in the country.
Cinemas, zoos, museums and theatres were among the places that could open their doors on Sunday. Limited numbers of spectators were allowed to attend indoor and outdoor sports events.
Visitors are required to wear masks at most of these places and provide proof that they have been vaccinated or have recovered or recently tested negative for COVID-19. The government is planning to relax coronavirus restrictions further in Denmark on Jan. 31.
In the Middle East, cases of COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia remain high after the kingdom recorded its highest daily number of infections last week, Health Ministry data showed, breaking through 5,000 cases. An additional 5,281 new infections were reported on Saturday, bringing the total number of cases to 609,953 since 2020.
News
We're still stockpiling reusable bags. Big grocers have adopted solutions, but experts have concerns – CBC News
Canada’s plastic bag ban has had an unintended consequence: a proliferation of reusable bags piling up in basements, closets and, eventually, landfills.
“They’re everywhere,” said environmental researcher Tony Walker. “We’re drowning in them, and we shouldn’t be.”
To combat the problem, several of Canada’s big grocers have introduced solutions. Last week, Walmart launched a free national recycling pilot program for the retailer’s reusable blue bags. Competitors Sobeys and chains owned by Loblaw Companies Ltd. use recyclable paper bags for grocery delivery.
But some environmental experts argue that paper bags are also problematic and that the best solutions are those that help customers actually reuse their reusable bags.
“We just can’t keep giving [them] out,” said Walker, a professor at Dalhousie University’s School for Resource and Environmental Studies in Halifax. “We’re only meant to have a few of them, and we’re meant to use them until they fall apart.”
In late 2022, the federal government rolled out a ban on the manufacture, import and sale of several single-use plastics, including checkout bags. The regulations are being contested in court, but in the meantime, they remain in effect.
The regulations have made single-use shopping bags scarce in Canada, but they’ve also led to the proliferation of reusable bags, especially for grocery delivery.
“It just creates more waste, which is what we’re trying to avoid in the first place,” Walmart customer Udi Sela said in a CBC News interview in late 2022.
At the time, Sela, who lives in Maple, Ont., estimated his family had acquired about 300 reusable Walmart bags via grocery delivery.
“We can’t return them, we can’t do much with them.”
Now, a little more than a year later, Walmart has launched a pilot project to address the problem.
It allows customers to pack up their unwanted reusable Walmart blue bags and ship them — at no charge — to a facility where they’ll get a second life.
How it works
According to Walmart, bags in good condition will be laundered and donated to charity, primarily Food Banks Canada. Damaged bags will get recycled into other materials. Reusable bags typically can’t go in blue bins because they’re costly and difficult to recycle.
Customers must sign up for Walmart’s program, and enrolment is limited.
Jennifer Barbazza, Walmart’s senior manager of sustainability, said the retailer will fine-tune the details as the program progresses.
“[We] know that some customers have more reusable bags than maybe they need,” she said. “One of the things that we’re really excited to learn about from the pilot is customer acceptance and customer feedback.”
Reusable bags are living rent free in closets and car trunks across the country. Most major retailers made the switch away from single-use plastic bags about a year ago, but it’s taking time for some customers to catch on. They’re forgetting to bring their bags with them, and buying more every week.
Udi Sela has already signed up.
“I definitely think it’s a step in the right direction,” he said in an interview on Friday. “It’s something that needed to be done a while ago. God knows we’ve got a ton of bags kind of piled up.”
He said he’s concerned that some customers may find mailing the bags a hurdle. However, it’s not deterring Sela, who soon plans to ship hundreds.
Passing the buck?
Not everyone is keen on Walmart’s project. Emily Alfred, a waste campaigner with Toronto Environmental Alliance, said donating the bags to the food bank is just passing on the problem.
“We need to remove waste from the system entirely, and just sending these somewhere else for someone else to deal with is not really a solution,” she said.
Alfred said a better option is a program Walmart piloted in Guelph, Ont., in 2022. For a fee, customers could check out reusable bags from an in-store kiosk and later return them to be cleaned and reused.
“That’s a real circular reuse system,” she said.
Walmart’s Barbazza said the retailer is continuing to explore different reusable bag programs, including ones placed in stores.
She also said she’s confident Canada’s food banks will make good use of the bags.
“There’s definitely a need for sturdy items to distribute materials to the food bank clients.”
The paper problem
Among Canada’s major grocers, only Walmart offers a reusable bag program for all customers.
Loblaw recently switched from reusable to recyclable paper bags for grocery delivery. Sobeys did not respond to requests for comment, but according to its website, the grocer also uses paper bags and “reusable options” for home delivery.
Several environmental experts say paper bags aren’t a good solution, because their production leaves a sizable carbon footprint.
“Paper bags are a problem,” Alfred said. “It takes a lot of energy to recycle paper, takes a lot of trees and energy to make new paper.”
Loblaw said it continues to explore a variety of more sustainable solutions. “It’s a challenge we’re committed to addressing,” spokesperson Dave Bauer said in an email.
Both Walker and Alfred applaud Metro for its grocery delivery program, because the grocer, which operates in Ontario and Quebec, reuses delivery materials.
Metro said customers can get their goods delivered in a cardboard box or reusable bags, which can be returned and used for another delivery. Or customers can opt for a plastic bin and remove their groceries from it upon arrival.
Metro does not offer similar programs for in-store shoppers.
Alfred said the federal government should introduce regulations that mandate retailers adopt effective reusable bag programs for all customers.
“It’s up to our governments and people to demand that these companies do better,” she said.
But Walker suggested that the regulations would be hard to enforce and that incentives could be a better tactic.
For example, if retailers increased the price of reusable bags, shoppers might be less likely to forget them when they head to the store, he said.
“When the cost is a disincentive to do an activity, people change their behaviour.”
[unable to retrieve full-text content]
CTV National News: Honda’s big move in Canada CTV News
Source link
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says she thinks unhappy premiers will come around on measures in the federal budget that touch on provincial legislation, even as they push back.
At an event in Toronto on Sunday, Freeland — who presented the federal budget on Tuesday — said the national government needs to push ahead on such issues as housing and she was “extremely optimistic” premiers would choose to co-operate.
“Housing is a national challenge, and the federal government needs to be leading the charge,” she said.
“My own experience has been when there are big issues that really matter to Canadians, after all the sound and the fury, people are prepared to roll up their sleeves and find a win-win outcome for Canadians.”
Several premiers have pushed back against the federal government in recent months and again after the budget was released on the grounds that some measures touch on provincial jurisdiction.
This week’s federal budget has premiers lashing out at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over a planned increase to capital gains taxes as well as what they say is overstepping on infrastructure and pharmacare.
In a letter released Friday by the Council of the Federation, which represents the leaders of all 13 provinces and territories, the premiers said Ottawa should have consulted them more ahead of the budget.
Individual premiers have shared more pointed critiques.
“It’s a never-ending spending platform that we’ve seen now for the last 10 years,” New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs said on CBC’s Power & Politics on Friday.
“My initial thoughts about the federal budget are that they are overtaxing, overspending, overborrowing and over interfering in provincial affairs,” Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said earlier this week.
Alberta has clashed with the government repeatedly over housing. Smith introduced legislation earlier this month that would require provincial oversight of deals made between municipalities and the federal government, including for future agreements around federal housing funds.
At Issue this week: The Liberals work to sell their multibillion-dollar spending plan and capital gains tax hike. Pierre Poilievre tells Radio-Canada what he thinks of the federal budget. And another province pushes back on the carbon tax.
Freeland said on Sunday that, as an example, the federal child-care program negotiated through a series of deals with provinces and territories showed that co-operation was possible.
Capital gains tax changes criticized
The federal government has also faced some opposition on what was perhaps the most prominent measure revealed on budget day: changes to Canada’s capital gains tax rules. The government has proposed raising the inclusion rate to 67 per cent on capital gains above $250,000 for individuals.
“The 21st-century winner-takes-all-economy is making those at the very top richer, while too many middle-class Canadians are struggling,” Freeland said Sunday, adding the government was asking wealthy Canadians to pay their “fair share.”
“We do need to ensure that we have some revenue coming in. This is a very limited way of ensuring that that occurs,” Treasury Board President Anita Anand said in an interview on Rosemary Barton Live on Sunday.
Treasury Board President Anita Anand joins CBC chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton to talk about the federal budget and its focus on young Canadians — as well as the criticism it’s receiving.
Critics have raised concerns that the changes could result in reduced investment or capital flight.
“The big concern right now … is this going to have a detrimental impact to the progress we’re trying to make in making Canada a hub for innovation,” said Kirk Simpson, CEO of the tech company goConfirm, in a separate interview on Rosemary Barton Live.
“With productivity the way that it is, we want more capital, not less, flowing into business innovation,” Simpson told CBC chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton.
Freeland said Sunday that the changes will affect very few Canadian individuals — the government estimates 0.13 per cent — and the revenue will go to pay for investments in areas like housing.
We're still stockpiling reusable bags. Big grocers have adopted solutions, but experts have concerns – CBC News
Proposed Toronto condo complex seeks gargantuan height increase – blogTO
Vaughn Palmer: Brad West dips his toes into B.C. politics, but not ready to dive in – Vancouver Sun
Silver investment demand jumped 12% in 2019
12 Bizarre Things People Did Just To Make Social Media Content
Global Media Markets, 2015-2020, 2020-2025F, 2030F – TV and Radio Broadcasting, Film and Music, Information Services, Web Content, Search Portals And Social Media, Print Media, & Cable – GlobeNewswire
-
Business10 hours ago
Honda to build electric vehicles and battery plant in Ontario, sources say – Global News
-
Science10 hours agoWill We Know if TRAPPIST-1e has Life? – Universe Today
-
Investment13 hours ago
Down 80%, Is Carnival Stock a Once-in-a-Generation Investment Opportunity?
-
News15 hours ago
Honda expected to announce multi-billion dollar deal to assemble EVs in Ontario
-
Business22 hours ago
Elon Musk comments on Tesla’s pricing strategy following cuts – TESLARATI
-
Sports20 hours ago
Jets score 7, hold off Avalanche in Game 1 of West 1st Round – NHL.com
-
Tech14 hours ago
Indigenous Craft and Vendors Market a success in Halifax
-
News14 hours ago
Can Canada have an effective climate action policy without a carbon tax?
