Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam says the new variant of COVID-19, which has prompted many countries to implement travel restrictions against the United Kingdom, has not yet been identified in Canada.
Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has said it is analyzing known cases to determine whether the new strain, which research suggests is significantly more transmissible than the variant currently dominant in Canada, is already in the country.
“Obviously it’s an evolving situation,” Tam said. “We’ve been very active in the last couple of days and activated all the scientific networks in Canada.”
Tam made the remarks during an update on Canada’s fight against COVID-19 Tuesday.
WATCH | Canada’s public health agency says they haven’t detected the new COVID-19 strain found in the UK
Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer spoke to reporters in Ottawa on Tuesday. 1:39
She said PHAC had to date looked at over 25,000 sequences of the virus already collected in Canada, saying these were the highest quality samples, and was working to determine the quality of other samples.
PHAC had also linked with several provincial authorities who were also sequencing existing samples, noting they had not detected the variant.
The ongoing analysis would target high-probability samples, Tam said, such as from people who had recently travelled.
Health Minister Patty Hajdu, Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc, Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam and Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Howard Njoo were present at the briefing.
Moderna decision coming ‘very soon’: Hajdu
At the briefing, Hajdu told reporters that Health Canada now has all the data it needs in order to complete its review of the Moderna vaccine. The government previously said the country could receive 168,000 doses of the vaccine by year’s end.
“My understanding is that decision will be very soon,” Hajdu said, noting she couldn’t speak for the independent regulators.
The appearance of the new variant of COVID-19 has sparked concern that it may reduce the efficacy of existing vaccines.
But Tam said the current expert research suggests it is unlikely to have a significant effect on the current or soon-to-be-approved vaccines.
“Right now, we remain optimistic on that front,” she said. Tam said it was important to work with the vaccine manufacturers and international partners — particularly the United Kingdom, which is also rolling out the Pfizer vaccine — in order to determine the potential effect of the new variant.
Countries across the world have halted air travel to the U.K., and France banned British trucks from entering for a period of 48 hours, while a new strain of the coronavirus is assessed. 4:25
‘Perilous time’
Tam also warned that Canada was currently on track for a strong resurgence of the virus over the next several months. She pointed to disturbing trends in cases, hospitalizations and mortality, and urged Canadians to continue to follow public health guidelines.
“This is a perilous time,” she said.
Tam noted that there are again outbreaks in long-term care homes, and that unlike the first wave of the pandemic in the spring, the virus was also reaching remote communities.
“With the widespread resurgence right now, there’s a much more broad impact across all areas of Canada, and you can see the impact in Nunavut,” Tam said. Nunavut reported its first two deaths related to COVID-19 on Sunday.
“And we’re only getting into the winter,” she said.
She said the exhaustion of health-care workers, and ordinary Canadians, was one reason the next few months would be so difficult.
As of 2 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Canada had recorded a total of 519,709 cases of COVID-19, and a CBC News tally of deaths stood at 14,381. Ontario and Quebec each recorded more than 2,000 new cases today.
Blair pushes back on border concerns
Ministers also sought to counter criticism on their handling of border restrictions, brought on by the announcement of the three day ban on flights from the United Kingdom.
“Unfortunately over the past few days we’ve heard a number of comments which frankly are an unfortunate misrepresentation of what is actually happening at our borders,” Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said.
He described the screening and quarantine measures in place since the spring and argued Canada has been among the most aggressive countries in controlling entry during the pandemic.
“We have not been slow and not been unresponsive to the concerns that Canadians have,” Blair said.
A passenger sits in a quiet Pearson airport, in Toronto, on Dec. 21, 2020 as Premier Doug Ford announces that all of Ontario will move into a lockdown starting on Boxing Day and travel restrictions aimed at the United Kingdom go into effect. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)
The remarks follow harsh criticism from Ontario Premier Doug Ford on both Monday and Tuesday. Ford described the border as a “sieve” and argued for a more effective testing system at airports across the country.
Ford on Tuesday said he was asking the federal government to implement a requirement for pre-departure tests for people trying to come to Canada.
Blair said international travel was the source of just 1.8 per cent of COVID-19 cases in Canada throughout the pandemic.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
