Canadian citizens and permanent residents airlifted from Wuhan, China, the epicentre of the country’s coronavirus outbreak, have settled in to life under quarantine at Canadian Forces Base Trenton in Ontario.
The 290-room Yukon Lodge, about 170 kilometres east of Toronto, was built for military personnel and their family members. But for the next two weeks, it will host the hundreds of people who were evacuated from China.
“I’m getting used to it,” said Myriam Larouche, a 25-year-old graduate student from L’Ascension, Que., about life under quarantine.
WATCH: Myriam Larouche on life under quarantine
Canadian graduate student Myriam Larouche gives a tour of the room she is staying in while under quarantine at Yukon Lodge on CFB Trenton. 0:55
Larouche landed at Trenton on Friday in the first of two groups. The first, with 174 evacuees, was a plane chartered by the Canadian government. The second, which carried 39 Canadians out of Wuhan, was an American flight.
Another Canadian plane is now on its way to pick up others who have asked to return from China.
The rooms for evacuees at the Yukon Lodge are typical hotel rooms, with basic furniture, bathrooms, TVs and WiFi. Staff deliver drinks and hot Canadian Forces-issued boxed meals to the rooms.
Watch: Kai Huang gives a tour of his room
Ottawa resident Kai Huang gives a tour of the room he and his mother are staying in while under quarantine at Yukon Lodge on CFB Trenton. 0:42
There are laundry facilities on site and, to the surprise of some, the guests are allowed to venture outside into a restricted area for exercise and fresh air.
They’re even allowed to interact with other evacuees, although they’ve been told to stay at least two metres away from each other and to avoid physical contact.
“It’s just so good to have human interaction,” said Larouche. “Finally, I get to see another person who is in the same situation as me.”
Public health officials provide health checks at least once a day, she said
WATCH: Kai Huang describes the food at Yukon Lodge
Ottawa resident Kai Huang describes the food provided to people quarantined at a motel on CFB Trenton. 0:51
Larouche says the quarantine is similar to what she experienced in China, although the main difference is that there is clear communication from Canadian officials and an end in sight.
“In China I didn’t have any answers. I didn’t know for how long it was going to be. I didn’t know what would happen after,” she said.
“Now I’m here, I know that it’s only 14 days. I know that I have people taking care of me. I know what’s going to happen after.”
Kai Huang, an Ottawa resident who returned with his 78-year-old mother, said the room he is staying in is comfortable. His temperature is being checked regularly.
“We feel very good,” Huang, 50, said. “We feel safe in their care.”
Less than a week ago, Huang was concerned if his mother would make it back to Canada. Neither Huang nor his mother, a permanent resident, were on the list of evacuees for the first flight. But they both got on the second, U.S.-chartered flight.
Now, he said he spends his days communicating with people on WeChat and listening for news from Wuhan.
When Huang leaves his room, he wears a mask. He also keeps his distance from the other evacuees.
WATCH: Myriam Larouche and other evacuees outside on CFB Trenton
Canadian graduate student Myriam Larouche describes her experience spending time outside the Yukon Lodge while under quarantine with hundreds of others evacuated from Wuhan, China. 0:19
Being with his mother makes quarantine easier, Huang said, but it’s difficult being away from his wife and two children.
The whole experience, from being under lockdown to being in quarantine, is a life experience he’ll never forget, he said.
“In 12 days, we will see my wife, my daughter, my son,” he said. “And our life will be back to normal.”
Huang said the first thing he’ll do once he gets home to Ottawa is shovel snow. But before that, Huang said he plans to hug and kiss his family before taking them to dinner.
Demands for government intervention in Air Canada labour talks could negatively affect airline competition in Canada, the CEO of travel company Transat AT Inc. said.
“The extension of such an extraordinary intervention to Air Canada would be an undeniable competitive advantage to the detriment of other Canadian airlines,” Annick Guérard told analysts on an earnings conference call on Thursday.
“The time and urgency is now. It is time to restore healthy competition in Canada,” she added.
Air Canada has asked the federal government to be ready to intervene and request arbitration as early as this weekend to avoid disruptions.
Comments on the potential Air Canada pilot strike or lock out came as Transat reported third-quarter financial results.
Guérard recalled Transat’s labour negotiations with its flight attendants earlier this year, which the company said it handled without asking for government intervention.
The airline’s 2,100 flight attendants voted 99 per cent in favour of a strike mandate and twice rejected tentative deals before approving a new collective agreement in late February.
As the collective agreement for Air Transat pilots ends in June next year, Guérard anticipates similar pressure to increase overall wages as seen in Air Canada’s negotiations, but reckons it will come out “as a win, win, win deal.”
“The pilots are preparing on their side, we are preparing on our side and we’re confident that we’re going to come up with a reasonable deal,” she told analysts when asked about the upcoming negotiations.
The parent company of Air Transat reported it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31. The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
It attributed reduced revenues to lower airline unit revenues, competition, industry-wide overcapacity and economic uncertainty.
Air Transat is also among the airlines facing challenges related to the recall of Pratt & Whitney turbofan jet engines for inspection and repair.
The recall has so far grounded six aircraft, Guérard said on the call.
“We have agreed to financial compensation for grounded aircraft during the 2023-2024 period,” she said. “Alongside this financial compensation, Pratt & Whitney will provide us with two additional spare engines, which we intend to monetize through a sell and lease back transaction.”
Looking ahead, the CEO said she expects consumer demand to remain somewhat uncertain amid high interest rates.
“We are currently seeing ongoing pricing pressure extending into the winter season,” she added. Air Transat is not planning on adding additional aircraft next year but anticipates stability.
“(2025) for us will be much more stable than 2024 in terms of fleet movements and operation, and this will definitely have a positive effect on cost and customer satisfaction as well,” the CEO told analysts.
“We are more and more moving away from all the disruption that we had to go through early in 2024,” she added.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
