Canada’s death toll from the novel coronavirus pandemic has now surpassed 13,000, according to updated public health data released on Thursday.
The milestone comes amid another 126 deaths reportedly linked to the virus, which pushes the national death toll to 13,109. Thursday’s fatalities now stand as the highest daily reported death toll in seven months, after 139 more deaths were reported on June 4.
Another 6,738 new cases of COVID-19 were also announced by health authorities Thursday, raising Canada’s total infections to 441,705. To date, over 355,000 patients have since recovered from the virus, however, while another 15.9 million tests have been administered.
Thursday’s grim milestone comes just 11 days after the country’s previous one, in which COVID-19 deaths surpassed the 12,000-mark.
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Several new announcements on Thursday also came amid the rise in cases, deaths and hospitalizations in Canadian communities.
In a press conference, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that his government would be footing the bill over the costs of the coronavirus vaccine, including the costs of supplies to administer them.
The announcement comes just hours after a first ministers meeting, in which the prime minister was expected to address the long-term health-care funding with the country’s premiers.
0:39 Coronavirus: Procurement minister confirms COVID-19 vaccines to arrive in Canada on Monday
Coronavirus: Procurement minister confirms COVID-19 vaccines to arrive in Canada on Monday
“The meeting of today gave us the opportunity to talk about our work in common to fight this pandemic and what we’re doing to help Canadians and Canadian businesses during this crisis,” said Trudeau, who noted again that the vaccine would be completely free for all Canadians.
Premiers were quick to express disappointment Thursday however after the prime minister did not agree to the premiers’ demands of another $28 billion in funding each year for annual federal transfers for health care. The government has already spent hundreds of billions to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as previously directing $25 billion in funding to provinces and territories to boost their health systems, among other things.
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The prime minister did agree with ministers’ sentiments to increase federal health funding, but said that he would be willing to address the issue once the pandemic is over.
Trudeau also announced a new “pan-Canadian” program to address any injuries from the vaccine, but stressed that the Health-Canada approved Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was safe and effective.
“After being vaccinated, it’s common to have mild and harmless side effects — this is the body’s natural response, as it’s working to build immunity against a disease. However, it is also possible for someone to have a serious adverse reaction to a vaccine,” read a statement from the Public Health Agency of Canada which announced the program.
“The chances of this are extremely rare — less than one in a million — and we have a duty to help if this occurs.”
“This has been a wonderful week for Canadians. We are going to have vaccines in this country on Monday,” said Anita Anand while speaking during question period in the House of Commons Thursday.
Pfizer’s vaccine was only approved Wednesday by Health Canada, with government officials announcing that it would begin rolling out to priority groups “within days.”
1:32 Coronavirus: Canadian military official says they are focused on security of vaccine supply chain
Coronavirus: Canadian military official says they are focused on security of vaccine supply chain
Several other vaccine candidates are still being reviewed by Health Canada, including ones from Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, though it is still unclear if those treatments would be approved by the end of this year.
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Virus cases continue to reach record numbers across Canada, with Ontario hitting a new daily high of 1,983 more cases Thursday. Another 35 deaths were also reported, raising the provincial death toll to 3,871.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said the province would begin to administer its first shots of the Pfizer vaccine at hospitals in Toronto and Ottawa Tuesday. According to retired general Rick Hillier, who is heading Ontario’s vaccination program, a total of 6,000 doses would arrive Monday to be split between Toronto and Ottawa, while another 90,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine was expected to arrive in province over the course of December.
1:50 Coronavirus: Canadian military official says first COVID-19 vaccine could arrive Monday
Coronavirus: Canadian military official says first COVID-19 vaccine could arrive Monday
Hillier also noted on Thursday that Moderna’s approval was not going to be “far behind the Pfizer approval” and that expected it to be approved for use in Canada by the end of December for initial use in long-term care home sites.
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Quebec added another 1,842 cases on Thursday as well as 33 more deaths. The province, which has been the hardest hit part of Canada in terms of both virus deaths and cases, also faced scrutiny Thursday over how its long-term care system fared during initial on-set of the pandemic.
According to a new report from Ombudsman Marie Rinfret, Quebec’s system failed to ensure long-term care home residents’ safety during the initial spread of the virus.
Alberta reported 1,566 more cases and another 13 deaths linked to COVID-19. Health authorities in the province also announced they would start distributing their initial supply of 3,900 vaccines next week to front-line health-care workers.
Saskatchewan reported 324 more cases and Manitoba another 292, raising their infection totals to 11,223 and 19,947, respectively.
British Columbia added another 722 cases of the virus Thursday, raising its total confirmed caseload to 39,696. Another 364 cases are considered “epi-linked” which are patients with symptoms and are close contacts of confirmed cases, but were never tested.
7:46 Coronavirus: BioNTech CFO on vaccine shipments, doses Canadians can expect
Coronavirus: BioNTech CFO on vaccine shipments, doses Canadians can expect
In Atlantic Canada, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia both added four new virus cases while Newfoundland and Labrador reported just one additional infection. P.E.I. and all of the territories did not report any cases Thursday during their daily updates.
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A total of 69,496,000 cases of the novel coronavirus have been diagnosed worldwide according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University. To date, the virus has claimed the lives of more than 1,579,000, with the United States, Brazil and India continuing to lead in both cases and deaths.
— With files from The Canadian Press and Global News’ Amanda Connolly and Rachel Gilmore
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.
Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).
SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.
The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.
WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.
SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.
SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.
SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.
The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.
Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.
“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.
“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”
Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.
On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.
If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.
These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.
If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.
However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.
He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.
“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.
Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.
The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.
Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.
Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.
Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.
Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.
Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”
In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.
“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.
The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.
The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.
RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.
The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.
RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
