OTTAWA —
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that the federal government has signed a deal to secure up to 26,000 doses of a COVID-19 therapeutic drug from Eli Lilly, with the option to receive thousands more.
He also sought to temper Canadians’ expectations around the timing and rollout of an eventual vaccine or vaccines to immunize against the novel coronavirus.
“To keep Canadians safe, we need access to as many potential vaccines and treatments as possible,” Trudeau said during his Rideau Cottage address on Tuesday.
Trudeau said that, while there has been promising news about some vaccine candidates that Canada will receive millions of doses of, it will still be months before vaccines are expected to arrive on Canadian soil.
The prime minister has previously said that Canada is expecting initial doses — to be distributed on a priority basis — in the early months of 2021 once granted approval by Health Canada, but several other nations are making plans to begin administering vaccines next month.
Among the promising candidates so far are Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca, all of which Canada has begun the domestic approval process for. However, Trudeau said that because it’s been years since Canada’s had domestic production capacity for vaccines, the countries where these pharmaceutical companies are based will “obviously” prioritize vaccinating their citizens before shipping doses internationally.
As a result, the federal government is working with the dates vaccine companies are providing them.
“We have reached out and have actually one of the very best vaccine portfolios of any country around the world with far more doses for Canadians, potentially then we actually have Canadian population. That’s because we don’t know which vaccines are going to be most effective, which ones are going to arrive early, but we have done everything we can to ensure that Canadians get these vaccines as quickly as possible,” Trudeau said, acknowledging Canada is at a “disadvantage,” because it is relying on other nations.
“But it is premature to start, you know, crossing out [or] circling dates on a calendar or saying that ‘this vaccine is going to arrive in this amount, on this day, in this community,’ because there’s still a lot of work to do between now and then, but we’re on it,” he said.
The prime minister said that Canada has begun funding domestic vaccine production capacity because “we never want to be caught short again,” but it will take “years” to get in place and likely won’t help Canada’s COVID-19 vaccine situation, but will be in place should there be future pandemics.
Updating on the status of the logistical planning, Procurement Minister Anita Anand said that the federal government has signed contracts for freezers capable of storing vaccines. To-date the government has the capacity to store up to 33.5 million vaccines at cold temperatures and enough needles and syringes to administer 24 million doses with more en route. By next week, Anand said she expects contracts will be awarded to provide the government with dry ice as well as end-to-end distribution to assist in the transportation of these vaccines.
The government says it’s keeping a close eye on the approval processes for vaccines in allied countries, but isn’t expected to fast-track authorization until the domestic evaluation is complete, which Trudeau said is being done to assure Canadians the vaccines are safe, in hopes that’ll encourage the maximum number of people get immunized.
Logistical planning about the rollout is underway, but details remain sparse other than the military likely playing a role and all provinces and territories needing to provide input. Trudeau said Tuesday, the federal Liberals will have more to share once the “mobilization plan” is “up and running.”
EMERGENCY THERAPY APPROVED
Over the weekend, Health Canada authorized the monoclonal antibody therapy for emergency use in helping treat COVID-19 infections, and Canada will begin receiving doses over the next three months.
The single antibody treatment called bamlanivimab has been approved for use in adults and children aged 12 or older with mild to moderate coronavirus infections.
Lilly says the treatment is for those who risk progressing to severe COVID-19 symptoms or hospitalization. It is not authorized for patients who are already hospitalized or require oxygen.
Bamlanivimab is the first monoclonal antibody to be authorized for use in treating the novel coronavirus and was granted emergency-use by the Food and Drug Administration in the U.S. at the beginning of November.
The antibody therapy, which must be infused in a hospital or other health-care setting, was developed in partnership with the Canadian biotech company AbCellera, which the federal government has provided funded to over the course of the pandemic.
“To the scientists and researchers across the country: Thank you for everything that you do. Just like always, your dedication and expertise is making Canadians heathier and safer, and is building a better tomorrow. Canada is lucky to have thousands of world-class scientists and researchers,” said Trudeau.
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.
