Ontario is making some changes to its public-health rules to deal with rising COVID-19 numbers and a massive 90,000-case testing backlog.
Public health officers say that schools and daycares should not be so insistent on seeing COVID-19 tests, as the swell of concerned parents and children has contributed to the overwhelming of assessment centres. The province is expected to make all centres appointment-only to reduce the long lineups.
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The provincial government is also expected to announce new restrictions on mask wearing and business operations.
Other parts of the country appear to have the virus under more control, for various reasons. Atlantic Canada has managed to keep a tight lid on the virus’s spread, through advantages of geography, lower population density and, some say, sound political management. Atlantic Canadians are just hoping they can keep it that way.
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
Health Canada has launched an accelerated review process for the coronavirus vaccine candidate being developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University.
The federal government is putting $600-million more in its Regional Relief and Recovery Program for small- and medium-sized businesses, after the initial $962-million fund was spent. The partially forgivable loans and grants are being handed out by the government’s regional development agenices.
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Small differences between the Employment Insurance system and the new Canada Recovery Benefit are providing economists with a “great experiment” into how clawing back income affects Canadians’ willingness to work more.
The Senate has finally agreed on hybrid sittings. The chamber has so far struggled to debate emergency legislation since the pandemic started earlier this year. Senators have also now agreed to external oversight of their finances, some eight years after the Senate expenses scandal began.
Canada apparently banned the shipment of military goods to Turkey last year, but that did not stop a Canadians arms manufacturer from getting an export permit in May for a targetting system that’s since been used in drone attacks on Armenia. In an interview with The Globe, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan blamed Turkey for stoking the fires of conflict between his country and Azerbaijan, which is using the Canadian-made equipment.
And U.S. President Donald Trump and his wife Melanie Trump have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The President is in a high-risk category for how severe the effects of the virus could be, but he is apparently so far healthy. It is too early to say yet if he could end up like Canadian Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole, who tested positive but showed no symptoms, or British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who ended up in a hospital’s critical-care unit earlier this year. Joe and Jill Biden, who were in the same room as Mr. Trump for the presidential debate on Tuesday, have tested negative.
Anita Agrawal (The Globe and Mail) on the federal pandemic programs to help small businesses: “For most small businesses, rents were so high even before COVID-19 that most months it was a tight race to make rent and still break even or pocket away a small profit. With highly reduced business traffic, or no business traffic at all for some, small businesses went through those savings pretty quickly. And without any effective government programs or supports to help small businesses with rent costs, most are just barely hanging on, and it’s inevitable that many more will close.”
Adam Radwanski (The Globe and Mail) on changes to the Canada Infrastructure Bank: “The other perceived obstacle has been bureaucratic resistance, with the Infrastructure Department not leaping to fast-track proposals by a new quasi-independent agency to lay claim to spending initiatives that might otherwise be handled by the public service. [Minister Catherine] McKenna now appears to be signalling to her department that the CIB has her trust, and the leeway afforded to the bank to pursue its new spending plans backs that up. Those obstacles removed, we’re about to find out whether the basic concept of the CIB is a sound one.”
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John Ibbitson (The Globe and Mail) on what could happen if the U.S. election result is disputed: “The worst of all worlds would involve political and judicial institutions struggling to settle on a duly-elected president, as demonstrators clash with increasing violence in the streets, and the global community splits into factions over which presidential claimant is legitimate. America as Venezuela. America as Ukraine.”
Robyn Urback (The Globe and Mail) on Trump’s beliefs: “U.S. President Donald Trump is probably too self-centred to be a bona fide white supremacist. White supremacists, after all, are preoccupied with the notion of a superior white race; Mr. Trump appears mostly concerned with the superiority of one particular white septuagenarian.”
Elizabeth Renzetti (The Globe and Mail) on the unfortunate qualities that Canada and the U.S. share: “Americans who flee to our fairer shores will find a country ankle-deep in reports about biased treatment toward racialized communities and First Nations. They might know about the gruesome reports that migrant women detained in ICE custody in their country were subject to forced sterilizations, but do they know that the same thing has been happening to Indigenous women in Canada for decades?”
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OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
