HALIFAX –
New Brunswick is announcing two more deaths related to COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the total number of people who have died of the disease in the province to 74.
The latest deaths involve a person in their 70s in the Moncton region (Zone 1) and a person in their 80s in the Fredericton region (Zone 3).
“I encourage all New Brunswickers to keep these people’s loved ones in their thoughts,” said Premier Blaine Higgs in a news release. “We must all follow the rules and stay within our single household this Thanksgiving weekend to slow the spread and prevent future tragedies from occurring.”
“I send my heartfelt sympathies to the loved ones of the people who have lost their lives to COVID-19,” added Dr. Jennifer Russell, chief medical officer of health. “As we spend time with the people in our single household this weekend, please take steps to protect the people closest to you. Wear a mask in indoor public spaces, wash your hands frequently and book an appointment to get fully vaccinated if you have not already done so.”
The province has reported 18 COVID-19 related deaths since Tuesday, Sept. 28.
Health officials in New Brunswick are also reporting 73 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, along with 38 recoveries, as the total number of active cases in the province rises to 962.
According to health officials, 45 of Sunday’s 73 new cases, or 62 per cent, are not fully vaccinated. Fiftight een cases, or 11 per cent, are partially vaccinated, and 20 cases, or 27 per cent, are fully vaccinated.
The province says there are currently 53 people in hospital in New Brunswick due to COVID-19, with 22 in an intensive care unit. Of those currently in hospital, 42 are unvaccinated, three are partially vaccinated, and eight are fully vaccinated.
A senior’s advocate in the province says those hospitalization numbers are especially concerning.
“We’re all being punished for the people who are out being, should be, responsible this is an important occasion, Thanksgiving it’s just as important as Christmas, in fact it could be more important because sometimes at Christmas time we can’t get together because of the weather,” said Cecile Cassista, executive director of the New Brunswick Coalition for Seniors.
New Brunswickers are being asked to limit their Thanksgiving weekend gatherings to the people living in their household.
Sunday was a busy day at Isaac Way’s restaurant in downtown Fredericton, with patrons flocking to enjoy a turkey dinner outside their household bubble, while staying within the province’s restrictions.
“It’s great for business most years thanksgiving weekend is pretty quiet, everybody goes home to families and has thanksgiving at home but this year with our regulations we’re able to welcome them into the restaurant it’s a lot busier, we have lots of reservations,” said Kristin Thurlow, Co-Owner/Manager of Isaac’s Way.
With everyone in a Thanksgiving holiday weekend lockdown, restaurants are one of the only ways people of separate households can gather.
“So I am actually living in Saint John at the moment so I had plans to come home to Fredericton to see my family and things changed obviously, with the new COVID protocols so we had to resort to brunch at a restaurant so we’re making that work,” said Shelby Harnish, who took advantage of the vaccination record screening to eat out.
Public health says all New Brunswickers, including those who are not covered by the circuit breaker, must not have gatherings anywhere other than a place at which the law requires proof of vaccination with anyone they do not currently live with during the Thanksgiving long weekend, between 6 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 8, and 11:59 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 11.
“We’re pretty happy that the government has made regulations for everyone’s safety and having people able to gather in a place that has identification, vaccination records, and is controlled that people can get together,” added Thurlow.
Public health says the household can be extended to include caregivers for any of those people, plus any parent, child, sibling, grandparent or grandchild of those people who requires support, along with any one additional person who lives alone at another address who requires support.
All businesses may remain open for regular operations but must follow measures listed under the mandatory order. This includes businesses that are not required to see proof of vaccination, such as hair salons, retail and grocery stores, and those that are required to request proof of vaccination, such as restaurants and entertainment venues. Children under 12 accompanied by a fully vaccinated adult will also be admitted.
New Brunswick has had 5,160 cumulative cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.
In total, 4,123 people have recovered and 74 people have died in the province from COVID-19.
Public health says a total of 489,917 COVID-19 tests have been processed since the start of the pandemic.
The number of cases are broken down by New Brunswick’s seven health zones:
Nineteen new cases were reported in the Moncton region (Zone 1) involving:
Thirteen cases are under investigation and six are contacts of previously confirmed cases.
Ten new cases were reported in the Saint John region (Zone 2) involving:
Seven cases are contacts of previously confirmed cases and three are under investigation.
Thirteen new cases were reported in the Fredericton region (Zone 3) involving:
Eleven cases are under investigation and two are contacts of previously confirmed cases.
Eight new cases were reported in the Edmundston region (Zone 4) involving:
Four cases are under investigation and four are contacts of previously confirmed cases.
Nineteen new cases were reported in the Campbellton region (Zone 5) involving:
Fourteen cases are contacts of previously confirmed cases and five are under investigation.
Two new cases were reported in the Bathurst region (Zone 6), involving one person age 19 and under, and one person in their 40s. One case is under investigation and the other is a contact of a previously confirmed case.
As of Sunday, 81.4 per cent of New Brunswickers age 12 and older are fully vaccinated and 90.6 per cent have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
In total, 1,197,985 vaccine doses have been administered in New Brunswick.
All eligible New Brunswickers can book their second dose appointments now for a date that is at least 28 days after their first dose.
A full list of potential COVID-19 exposure notifications in New Brunswick can be found on the province’s website.
Anyone with symptoms of the virus, as well as anyone who has been at the site of a possible public exposure, is urged to request a test online or call Tele-Care at 811 to get an appointment.
Alberta’s minister of forestry and parks said the RCMP national security investigation team is involved in a probe looking into what caused a pipeline to rupture and catch fire west of Edmonton earlier this week.
On Tuesday, a wildfire was sparked following a natural gas pipeline rupture about 40 kilometres northwest of Edson, Alta. The fire has since been deemed under control.
“We have no indication of any kind of cause on that fire yet; the investigation is happening,” Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen said at a wildfire-related news conference Thursday morning. “The national security investigation team of the RCMP are investigating the cause.
“My understanding, since the cause was unknown, that’s standard practice for them to come in on anything that’s unknown.”
RCMP said as of Tuesday, initial reports had shown no signs of foul play.
Global News has reached out to the RCMP for more information. On its website, the RCMP states it has a wide range of national security-related mandates and responsibilities. It says its national security criminal investigations program involves critical infrastructure protection and critical incident management.
Officials say the investigation into what caused the TC Energy pipeline to break could take months or even years.
The Canada Energy Regulator had investigators on site on Wednesday. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is also investigating the incident.
The rupture sparked a blaze that could be seen for kilometres, sending large flames and plumes of smoke into the air.
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No injuries were reported, and officials said the fire was never a threat to any surrounding communities.
“I want to commend the Yellowhead County Fire Department, industry and our wildfire team for the timely manner that this fire was brought under control,” Loewen said Thursday.
“Fast information sharing between all parties facilitated an effective wildfire response.”
The wildfire sparked by the pipeline rupture is located about 28 kilometres northeast of Obed Lake. More than 30 firefighters were expected to be in the area Thursday to continue working on the wildfire.
— with files from The Canadian Press
— more to come…
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
A St. John’s woman says she won’t be paying many more visits to Tim Hortons, after an email from the coffee chain led her to believe that she’d won a new boat — when she hadn’t won anything at all.
“I go to Tim’s quite a lot, seven days a week. I’m afraid now that’s going to change to no days a week,” Carol Evans told CBC News on Thursday.
Evans said she received an email from Tim Hortons on Wednesday afternoon while on a break from her work as an licensed practical nurse.
The email recapped the prizes she’d won in the annual Roll Up the Rim to Win contest, but there was one extra prize included — a brand new boat and trailer, valued at about $55,000.
Unfortunately, the excitement was over by the time she got home from work.
“I was just so excited, really excited. I thought I really won a boat and a trailer, $55,000 worth, and to find out at five to six, I had an email from them come in telling me it was a technical error,” she said.
“I don’t get my boat and I don’t get my trailer.”
Carol Evans of St. John’s was elated when she got an email from Tim Hortons saying she won $55,000 worth of prizes. Another email from the coffee giant a few hours later, telling her it was an error, had her crushed — and fuming.
Evans said her win was the talk of her co-workers.
“I work with about a hundred people in the run of a day, and more than that outside the OR, and everybody was so happy for me. They couldn’t believe it, I finally won something in my life,” she said.
“But to find out a few hours later I didn’t, it was disappointing, very disappointing.… I cried, it was so sad.”
Although she may not have taken it out on the water, Evans said winning would have meant a lot to her, like helping fund her retirement after more than five decades in nursing.
“I could have sold the boat and trailer and had some money, paid off some bills, probably could have, who knows, retired after 55 years of work,” she said.
In an emailed statement to CBC News on Thursday, Tim Hortons said the message was meant to show what each customer won over the course of the contest — and the boat was included by mistake.
“We developed a Roll Up To Win recap email message with the best intentions of giving our guests a fun overview of their 2024 play history.
“Unfortunately there was a human error that resulted in some guests receiving some incorrect information in their recap message.”
The company didn’t disclose how many people across the country received the email, but CBC News spoke to another person in western Newfoundland who got it.
Others in Edmonton, Hamilton and Brampton, Ont., were also told they’d won the boat.
By Wednesday afternoon, a Facebook group had formed with more than 200 people expressing outrage about the mistake and threatening to file lawsuits.
Tim Hortons sent the affected customers a letter, telling them to disregard that winning email and that it was sent as a result of “technical errors.”
“Unfortunately, some prizes that you did not win may have been included in the recap email you received. If this was the case, today’s email does not mean that you won those prizes,” the letter read.
“We apologize for the frustration this has caused and for not living up to our high standards.”
It’s a familiar story for Tim’s, however, as last year, its app mistakenly informed users they’d won $10,000.
Evans said two years of big mistakes just isn’t fair. She’d like to see Tim Hortons move away from the Roll Up to Win smartphone app and back to paper cups.
“It’s not fair to the public who spend their hard-earned money to go into Tim’s and buy their coffee every day, buy their lunch, and then think they won a prize and all of a sudden you learn, three hours later, you didn’t win a prize, and it’s not fair.”
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The new regulations will take effect in Bowen Island, Tofino, Pemberton and 14 other communities on Nov. 1
Published Apr 18, 2024 • Last updated 2 hours ago • 5 minute read
With less than two weeks before B.C.’s short-term rental restrictions take effect, visitors staying at an Airbnb, Vrbo or other short-term rental homes are told to check with their hosts to make sure they are not staying in illegal accommodations.
Guests should ask hosts if they are compliant with the new rules, said B.C.’s housing minister, even as he reassured guests they won’t be on the hook.
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“The responsibility to comply with the rules fall with the hosts and the short-term rental platforms,” said Ravi Kahlon at a news conference with Premier David Eby in Langley on Thursday. “We encourage people to continue to explore beautiful British Columbia, and stay in legal short-term rental accommodations.”The new regulations set to take effect on May 1 would restrict short-term rentals to principal residences and either a secondary suite or a laneway home/garden suite on the property.
They apply to more than 60 B.C. communities with populations of more than 10,000 people, as well as 17 smaller communities, including Bowen Island, Tofino, Osoyoos, Pemberton, and Gabriola Island, which have decided to opt in. For these communities, the rules will take effect on Nov. 1.
The new legislation carries penalties of $500 to $5,000 a day per infraction for hosts and reach as high as $10,000 a day for platforms.
Eby said the province’s principal residence requirement is meant to crack down on speculators while allowing homeowners to rent out spaces in their principal residences if they choose to do so.
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He acknowledged the restrictions could put some property owners’ investment and retirement plans into disarray, but made no apologies, saying people with money to invest should put their money elsewhere.
“Do not compete with individuals and families who are looking for place to live with your investment dollars,” Eby said, adding the government will “tilt the deck every single time toward that family.”
The government has set up a provincial enforcement unit, currently staffed by four people, to conduct investigations into alleged non-compliant units.
The enforcement will be largely done digitally and includes the use of a short-term rental data portal that’ll help local governments monitor and enforce regulations.
Municipalities with their own short-term rental restrictions can upload non-compliant properties to the portal, said Kahlon. Platforms will have five days to verify whether the units are on their sites. Local governments without short-term rental licensing can report properties they believe are not compliant.
The platforms will be required to remove non-compliant listings at the request of local or the provincial governments and provide the province with a monthly update of short-term listings on their sites, said Kahlon.
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Companies such as Expedia and Booking.com are working to get ready for the new rules, and he’s hopeful other platforms will follow suit by May 1.
Airbnb said it has been in discussions with the provincial government for months and plans to comply with the new rules, but predicts they will harm the province’s tourism sector by taking extra income away from residents and limiting accommodation options for people, while doing little to improve the housing crunch for residents.
“They’re doing this because they say there’s going to be an impact on housing, that this will free up more housing for people,” said Nathan Rotman, Airbnb’s policy lead in Canada. “That is just not true.”
Despite several years of Airbnb restrictions in Vancouver, for example, rents have gone up while vacancies stayed low, he said.
Kahlon said the pending rules are already having a positive impact on housing availability with short-term rentals being converted to long-term use or being put up for sale.
In March, more than 19,000 entire homes in B.C. were listed as short-term rentals for most of the year, said the province. Even if half of those units are returned to the long-term market, that’ll make a “substantial difference” in communities, said Kahlon.
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Eby said there has been a “massive upswing” in hotel construction in key tourist areas as an unintended result of the new policies.
Bowen Island, a small community of 4,200 whose council voted in March to opt into the province’s short-term rental regulations, has seen increased pressure from tourists and housing demand in recent years.
The decision was council’s way “to balance what is appropriate use in residentially-zoned neighbourhoods while still allowing property owners to still do what they want with their properties,” said Mayor Andrew Leonard.
The principal residence requirement still allows for Airbnb and other short-term rentals on the island, he pointed out. “The vast majority of short-term rental operations are unaffected. This just keeps it in the homes of homeowners instead of speculators.”
Some communities, including Parksville’s Resort Drive area, were granted an exemption last month under the province’s exemption for strata hotel or motels. The area was purpose-built as tourism accommodation more than two decades ago.
The new legislation is being challenged in B.C. Supreme Court by Victoria-based groups and the Westcoast Association for Property Rights, who are calling for a review of the new rules and compensation for financial losses.
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According to Airbnb, Airbnb bookings and related spending generated around $2.5 billion in B.C. in 2023 and created 25,000 jobs.
The company says that for every $100 spent on an Airbnb booking, guests also spent about $229 on other travel spending.
More than three quarters of hosts polled by the company say they use their Airbnb earnings to cover rising costs of living, especially housing.
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