COVID-19: B.C. reports 87 new cases, 3 deaths over 72 hours - Global News

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COVID-19: B.C. reports 87 new cases, 3 deaths over 72 hours – Global News

Published

3 years ago

July 6, 2021

Harry Miller

B.C. health officials on Monday reported 87 new cases of COVID-19 over the past three days, along with three additional deaths.

There were 30 cases from Friday to Saturday while 37 cases were reported from Saturday to Sunday, and 20 from Sunday to Monday.

1:56
B.C.’s slow climb in first dose COVID-19 vaccination rate

B.C.’s slow climb in first dose COVID-19 vaccination rate

Of the new cases, five were in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 33 were in the Fraser Health region, 45 were in Interior Health, one was in Island Health and one was in Northern Health. Two cases involved people who reside outside of Canada.

The seven-day rolling average of new cases in the province is 35. The seven-day rolling average of B.C.’s positivity rates is one per cent.

23:58
Focus BC: Conversation with Dr. Bonnie Henry as B.C. enters Stage 3

Focus BC: Conversation with Dr. Bonnie Henry as B.C. enters Stage 3

There were 85 people in hospital with COVID-19, a decrease of 14 from Friday. Twenty-two of those patients are in intensive care.

There have been a total of 147,790 cases of COVID-19 in B.C. since the start of the pandemic, of which 652 are active.

Seventy-eight per cent of eligible British Columbians aged 12 and older have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine while 36 per cent have received two doses.

The numbers come after the first weekend under Step 3 of the province’s restart plan.

— With files from Simon Little

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'It's disgusting:' Doug Ford lashes out at oil companies over double-digit gas price hike – CityNews Toronto

Published

41 mins ago

April 18, 2024

Harry Miller

Premier Doug Ford lashed out at the gas companies for the double-digit overnight increase in the price of gas across the GTA, calling it unacceptable and disgusting.

Speaking at an unrelated announcement in Oakville, Ont., on Thursday, Ford took a moment to vent on behalf of “16 million people” across the province.

“You go out last night and you’re sitting there for 20 minutes in the lineup to get gas. It’s unacceptable,” said Ford. “Everywhere I was going it was a $1.59. You wake up this morning and it’s $1.80. It’s absolutely disgusting.”

Prices at the pumps surged 14 cents overnight to 178.9 cents/litre at most GTA stations. Analysts attribute the increase to the annual changeover from winter gas to summer gas.

“That is why prices are going up so significantly all at once is essentially we’re seeing discounts on winter gasoline to get rid of it but now that we’ve made the jump, summer gasoline inventories are much lower and thus a much higher price,” Patrick De Haan, the head of petroleum analysis at Gas Buddy tells CityNews.

That explanation, Ford said, was simply a way for the gas companies to gouge people.

“It’s absolutely disgusting what the oil companies are doing,” said an agitated Ford as he questioned whether the gas companies are waiting for the tanks to drain at gas stations before filling them up with the new summer formulation. “Or are you using the old gas and charging the higher cost.”

“I have my opinion that it’s not physically possible to drain every single gas station to put the fresh stuff in. So either you’re putting the fresh stuff in last month or you’re gouging the people right now.”

Ford went on to say that after consulting with some friends in the United States, he found that gas prices were trending around $3.80 per gallon. “Folks, let’s do the math – it’s a $1.80 (a litre) that’s $7.20 (a US gallon).”

Mike Eppel, 680 News Radio Toronto Senior Business Editor, says it also comes down to a refining capacity issue in this country.

“So there’s lots of oil, that’s not the issue – oil supplies are high. It’s the refining capacity. We haven’t had a refinery built in eastern Canada since whenever – you can’t get a pipeline built. And anytime there is any disruption in the system, up goes the price for gas.”

Ford did not limit his anger on rising gas prices to just the oil companies, closing his rant by taking a shot at the federal government’s carbon tax, which took effect on April 1 and pushed gas prices up three cents a litre.

“This goes back to the federal government sticking their hands in the people’s pockets, they don’t care that we have some of the highest prices in North America on the carbon tax, they jack it up 17.5 per cent,” explained Ford. “And then of course the oil companies thought they’d hop on board, no one’s going to notice, because if I remember … just a few months ago I remember filling up for $1.30 to $1.34. Did the barrel of oil go up 30 per cent? The answer is no. So where is the 30 per cent.”

While the price of gas is expected to fall by four cents/litre on Friday, prices will continue to fluctuate with no real relief in sight until June or July.

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Google fires 28 employees who protested $1.2B contract with Israeli – National Post

Published

2 hours ago

April 18, 2024

Harry Miller

Google has fired 28 employees after a number of staffers protested the company’s cloud contract with the Israeli government.

The workers were terminated after staging protests inside Google’s offices in New York and Sunnyvale, California, per CNN.

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In a statement, Google’s parent company Alphabet said that “physically impeding other employees’ work and preventing them from accessing our facilities is a clear violation of our policies, and completely unacceptable behavior.”

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The protests were organized by the No Tech For Apartheid campaign and protesters held signs that read “No More Genocide For Profit” and “We Stand with Palestinian, Arab and Muslim Googlers.”

The company said it would continue to investigate and take action as needed, reports The Guardian.

The protesters say that Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion contract granted to Google and Amazon.com in 2021, provides cloud services to the Israeli government and aids in the creation of military applications.

A form letter on the campaign’s website demands that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, Amazon Web Services CEO Adam Selipsky, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian “end all ties with Israeli apartheid and cut the Project Nimbus contract.”

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Google says the Nimbus contract “is not directed at highly sensitive, classified, or military workloads relevant to weapons or intelligence services.” It added that Google Cloud “supports numerous governments around the world, including the Israeli government.”

“We have been very clear that the Nimbus contract is for workloads running on our commercial cloud by Israeli government ministries, who agree to comply with our Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy.”

The No Tech for Apartheid campaign called the firings a “flagrant act of retaliation” and a “clear indication that Google values its $1.2 billion contract with the genocidal Israeli government and military more than its own workers.”

The campaign added that some of the individuals fired did not directly participate in the protests.

Despite what its critics allege, Israel has attempted to warn and shield civilians as the IDF hunts the Hamas terrorists who hid themselves among Gaza’s civilian population and infrastructure after the group’s October 7 attack. As well, critics who call Israel an apartheid state ignore the freedoms enjoyed by the democratic country’s Arab citizens, who play major roles in business, the judiciary and even the Knesset.

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our newsletters here.

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GTA gas prices to jump 14 cents a litre – Toronto Sun

Published

22 hours ago

April 17, 2024

Harry Miller

Gas prices have not been this high since August 2022

Published Apr 17, 2024 • Last updated 3 hours ago • 1 minute read

HST is applied to the cumulative amount at the pump, including the actual gasoline price, the provincial gasoline tax, the federal excise tax and the carbon tax. Photo by Postmedia Network /file photo

There’s a price shocker coming at the pumps.

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Gas in Ontario, including the GTA, will go up 14 cents a litre overnight for customers filling up on Thursday, says Dan McTeague, the president of Canadians for Affordable Energy.

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“So going from $1.65.9 (per litre) going to $1.79.9,” said McTeague adding the increase will affect the entire province except for northwestern Ontario, which gets its prices from the prairies market.

“That’s the highest level since August, 2022, almost two years ago,” he added.

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McTeague said the reason for the price hike is that stations are switching over to summer-blend gasoline.

“Around this time of year prices go up to reflect the new blend of gasoline, which is more expensive to make,” he explained. “Butane is used in the winter, for gasoline, whereas in the summer it’s alkyaltes. Alkyaltes are extremely expensive.”

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“In the winter you want your ignition to start quickly in cold temperatures, you uses volatile butane. You take that out in the summer. That’s a big difference. This is going to be around for awhile and it could get higher,” McTeague said.

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COVID-19: B.C. reports 87 new cases, 3 deaths over 72 hours – Global News

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