Facing months of increasing pressure, Ontario announced Wednesday thatthe province will provide a plan for paid sick days.
Labour Minister Monte McNaughton is introducing legislation that would require employers to provide workers with up to $200 of pay for up to three days if an employee has to stay home because of COVID-19.
This program would be retroactive to April 19, 2021, and effective until Sept. 25, 2021.
Employers will be reimbursed for costs of up to $200 a day for three days.
McNaughton also said the province has offered to provide funding to the federal government to double the Canada recovery sickness benefit payments for Ontario residents, adding an additional $500 per week to eligible individuals, for a total of $1,000 per week.
For months, Ontario Premier Doug Ford has resisted bringing in a provincially-run program, arguing the federal sick leave program was adequate.
The province on Wednesday reported 3,480 new cases of COVID-19 and 24 additional deaths. Hospitalizations stood at 2,281, with 877 people in intensive care units as a result of COVID-19.
-From CBC News and The Canadian Press, last updated at 3:45 p.m. ET
What’s happening elsewhere in Canada
WATCH | Nova Scotia enters lockdown:
With COVID-19 stretching Nova Scotia’s health-care system to its limits, officials ordered a provincewide lockdown to try and prevent further spread of the virus. 2:01
As of 6:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Canada had reported 1,202,743 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 83,354 considered active. A CBC tally of deaths stood at 24,117.
People in Nova Scotia are under new rules Wednesday after officials imposed a provincewide lockdown for at least two weeks to deal with an uptick in COVID-19 cases.
Health officials in the province reported 96 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday — a new single-day high — followed by 75 on Wednesday.
The restrictions, which will be in place until at least May 12, call for strict rules around gatherings, sweeping closures and a shift to remote learning.
“We won’t hesitate to use whatever means that we need to do,” Rankin said, noting that he has confidence that, “Nova Scotians, by and large, will follow these orders.”
In New Brunswick, meanwhile, health officials on Wednesday reported eight new cases of COVID-19 and no deaths. A lockdown that was in effect for nearly three weeks in the Edmundston and Upper Madawaska regions ended, though a lockdown at the Fredericton’s campus of the University of New Brunswick had to be extended through Sunday because of an outbreak at one of the residences.
The province lifted the order overnight Tuesday, placing that section of the Edmundston region, Zone 4, under the less restrictive orange COVID alert level.
Newfoundland and Labrador reported four new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday, including its first case of the P1 COVID-19 variant of concern, which was first identified in Brazil. The province has confirmed 46 cases in April so far, and Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says the majority of those have now been linked to variants.
The province has also had a case of the B1167 variant of interest, which first emerged in India, as well as several cases of the B1351 variant, first detected in South Africa.
There were two new cases reported by Prince Edward Island.
In Quebec, health officials on Wednesday reported 1,094 new cases of COVID-19 and 12 additional deaths. COVID-19 hospitalizations, as reported by the province, stood at 643, with 161 people in intensive care.
The province’s public health director says the government is studying the possibility of vaccinating children between the ages of 12 and 16 over the summer. Dr. Horacio Arruda says he is following the ongoing studies involving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and said the province could move quickly if the shot is authorized for those under 16.
WATCH | Inside a Montreal ICU where COVID-19 patients are getting younger:
CBC News goes inside the intensive care unit of Montreal’s Jewish General Hospital where doctors say everyone — no matter their age — needs to take COVID-19 seriously. 6:23
Across the North, Nunavut reported six new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the number of active cases in the territory to 50. Health officials in Yukon reported that more than 70 per cent of people in the territory have received a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. The Northwest Territories had no new cases Wednesday.
In the Prairie provinces, Manitoba reported 189 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday and three additional deaths, including two people in their 20s. The province is expanding vaccine eligibility to include more hard-hit regions. Individuals 18 and older living in the designated neighbourhoods, as well as people working in specified front-line jobs, will be able to book appointments for a COVID-19 vaccine at one of the province’s supersites or pop-up clinics.
Today, I approved a three-step change to Alberta’s vaccine rollout to help protect residents in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo and Banff areas. <br><br>These areas are being hardest hit by the third wave, yet seeing lower than average vaccine coverage. 1/7
In British Columbia, health officials reported 841 new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday and five additional deaths. COVID-19 hospitalizations stood at 515, with 171 in intensive care. A provincial court judge sentenced a man who turned his condo into a makeshift nightclub during a lockdown in January to a day in jail plus 18 months probation.
“If someone who had been at your party was infected and died, as far as I’m concerned, you’re guilty of manslaughter. If someone who had been at your party was infected and passed it on to grandma, as far as I’m concerned, you’re guilty of manslaughter,” Judge Ellen Gordon told Mohammad Movassaghi.
-From CBC News and The Canadian Press, last updated at 6:30 p.m. ET
What’s happening around the world
Wearing a mask to curb the spread of COVID-19, volunteer math teacher Yanina Lopez helps Oscar Martinez at a makeshift school set up by Guarani language professor Edgar Villalba in the Bañado Norte slum of Asuncion, Paraguay, earlier this week. (Jorge Saenz/The Associated Press)
As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 149 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported around the world, according to Johns Hopkins University. The global reported death toll stood at more than 3.1 million.
In Europe, the European Commission’s lawsuit against drugmaker AstraZeneca over vaccine supplies began at a Brussels court, where the bloc’s lawyers pressed for immediate deliveries from all factories. The parties agreed to hold two more hearings on May 26.
The Netherlands on Wednesday became the latest European country to begin cautiously relaxing its lockdown even as infection rates and intensive care occupancy remain stubbornly high.
The Dutch follow Italy, Greece, France and other European nations in moving to reopen society and edge away from economically crippling lockdowns.
In the Middle East, Iran has found three suspected cases of the coronavirus variant discovered in South Africa, its health minister said.
Authorities in Lebanon on Wednesday recommended a ban on travellers arriving from hard-hit India and Brazil unless they had been out of the two countries for more than two weeks.
In the Asia-Pacific region, Pakistan recorded more than 200 deaths in a day for the first time since the start of the pandemic, while the COVID-19 death toll in India topped 200,000. The country also reported 362,757 new infections in one day, a global record.
South Korea said it will offer some exemptions to mandatory quarantine measures for people who have been fully inoculated against COVID-19.
People try to secure a ticket to go back to their village a day prior to lockdown in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Wednesday. Tens of thousands of people left the Nepalese capital Wednesday, a day ahead of a 15-day lockdown imposed by the government because of spiking cases of COVID-19 in the country. (Niranjan Shrestha/The Associated Press)
In Africa, Egypt’s daily reported cases of coronavirus have surpassed 1,000 for the first time in months amid a surge in infections in the Arab world’s most-populous country. The health ministry recorded 1,003 cases and 61 fatalities in the past 24 hours.
South Africa has resumed giving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to health-care workers after a more than two-week pause in the use of the only vaccine in the country. South Africa implemented the pause on April 13 after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reported the J&J vaccine might be linked to rare blood clots. The country’s drug regulatory body determined the vaccine is safe.
In the Americas, Mexico will produce Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine domestically, its foreign minister said on a visit to Moscow.
A Senate inquiry into the Brazilian government’s handling of the pandemic kicked off on Tuesday, with lawmakers launching what may be a major headache for the president ahead of next year’s election.
-From The Associated Press and Reuters, last updated at 5:00 p.m. ET
LONGUEUIL, Que. – People in a part of Longueuil, Que., were being asked to stay indoors with their doors and windows closed on Thursday morning after a train derailed, spilling an unknown quantity of hydrogen peroxide.
Police from the city just east of Montreal said it didn’t appear anyone was hurt, although a CN rail official told a news conference that three employees had been taken to hospital as a precautionary measure.
The derailment happened at around 9 a.m. in the LeMoyne area, near the intersection of St-Louis and St-Georges streets. Mathieu Gaudreault, a spokesman for CN rail, said about eight cars derailed at the Southwark rail facility, including four that toppled over.
“As of this morning, the information we have is it’s hydrogen peroxide that was in the rail car and created the fumes we saw,” he said, adding that there was no risk of fire.
François Boucher, a spokesman for the Longueuil police department, said police were asking people in the area, including students at nearby schools, to stay indoors while experts ensure the air is safe to breathe.
“It is as a preventive measure that we encourage people to really avoid exposing themselves unnecessarily,” he told reporters near the scene.
Police and fire officials were on site, as well as CN railworkers, and a large security perimeter was erected.
Officers were asking people to avoid the sector, and the normally busy Highway 116 was closed in the area. The confinement notice includes everyone within 800 metres of the derailment, officials said, who added that it would be lifted once a team with expertise in dangerous materials has given the green light.
In addition to closing doors and windows, people in the area covered by the notice are asked to close heating, ventilation and air exchange systems, and to stay as far from windows as possible.
Gaudreault said it wasn’t yet clear what caused the derailment. The possibilities include a problem with the track, a problem with a manoeuvre, or a mechanical issue, he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia’s Liberal party is promising to improve cellphone service and invest in major highways if the party is elected to govern on Nov. 26.
Party leader Zach Churchill says a Liberal government would spend $60 million on building 87 new cellphone towers, which would be in addition to the $66 million the previous Progressive Conservative government committed to similar projects last year.
As well, Churchill confirmed the Liberals want to improve the province’s controlled access highways by adding exits along Highway 104 across the top of the mainland, and building a bypass along Highway 101 near Digby.
Churchill says the Liberals would add $40 million to the province’s $500 million capital budget for highways.
Meanwhile, the leaders of the three major political parties were expected to spend much of today preparing for a televised debate that will be broadcast tonight at 6 p.m. local time.
Churchill will face off against Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Houston and NDP Leader Claudia Chender during a 90-minute debate that will be carried live on CBC TV and streamed online.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2024.
TORONTO – A group of hotel service workers in Toronto is set to hold a rally today outside the Fairmont Royal York to demand salary increases as hotel costs in the city skyrocket during Taylor Swift’s concerts.
Unite Here Local 75, the union representing 8,000 hospitality workers in the Greater Toronto Area, says Royal York employees have not seen a salary increase since 2021, and have been negotiating a new contract with the hotel since 2022.
The rally comes as the megastar begins her series of six sold-out concerts in Toronto, with the last show scheduled for Nov. 23.
During show weekends, some hotel rooms and short-term rentals in Toronto are priced up to 10 times more than other weekends, with some advertised for as much as $2,000 per night.
The union says hotel workers who will be serving Swifties during her Toronto stops are bargaining for raises to keep up with the rising cost of living.
The union represents hospitality workers including food service employees, room attendants and bell persons.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2024.
