The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada (all times Eastern):
11:15 a.m.
Quebec is reporting 945 new COVID-19 cases and four more deaths linked to the novel coronavirus, including one in the previous 24 hours.
Health authorities say 496 people are in hospital, a drop of 12 patients, with 117 requiring intensive care, down by one.
The province gave 39,814 doses of vaccine on Wednesday for a total of 1,065,823 since the COVID-19 vaccination campaign began.
Quebec has reported a total of 305,435 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 10,630 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic and has 7,173 active cases.
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11 a.m.
The major-general overseeing the country’s vaccine program says there is “no indication” that shipments of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to Canada will be delayed, but adds that discussions are ongoing.
Media reports Wednesday said India has halted exports of Covishield, the version of AstraZeneca produced at the country’s Serum Institute.
India has already supplied 500,000 doses of a planned two million to Canada, with another one million still slated for arrival in mid-April followed by a final shipment a month or so later.
Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin’s remarks to reporters echoed those of International Trade Minister Mary Ng, who said Wednesday there is nothing to indicate Canada’s supply chains will be disrupted.
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10:35 a.m.
Ontario is reporting 2,380 new cases of COVID-19, but the Ministry of Health says that number is inflated by a data processing issue.
A ministry spokeswoman says that approximately 280 cases were added to the count because of a data catch-up process.
Health Minister Christine Elliott says that 1,016 of those new cases are in Toronto.
She also says there are 294 new cases in Peel Region, 244 in York Region and 152 in Ottawa.
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10:15 a.m.
Canada’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout has reached a double-digit milestone, as 11 per cent of the country’s adult population is now at least partially protected from the virus.
Canada’s deputy chief public health officer Dr. Howard Njoo says the country has surpassed the 10 per cent mark of residents over 18 who have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Njoo adds, however, that 11 per cent isn’t enough to stop the spread of the virus, and more transmissible variants continue to pose a “significant threat” as widespread protection is still not established.
Njoo says over 4.3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Canada since the rollout began in mid-December.
Sixty per cent of Canadians over the age of 80, and 19 per cent of those aged 70 to 79 years have received at least one dose, Njoo says.
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10 a.m.
Health Canada has updated the product label for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to warn about blood clotting, but says reports of those events are “very rare” — and in Canada nonexistent.
The label warning follows reports from Europe that AstraZeneca might cause a rare type of blood clot in the brain in a very small number of patients.
Health Canada’s chief medical adviser Dr. Supriya Sharma says she agrees with European health authorities that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh any potential risks, and that all four vaccines approved for use in Canada are considered safe.
Sharma says Health Canada is keeping an eye on developments across the Atlantic, where researchers say they have identified a possible cause for the blood clots, but little information is available so far.
She says about 300,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s Covishield vaccine, made at the Serum Institute of India, have been administered in Canada to date, with no serious health events reported.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 25, 2021.
TORONTO – A 21-year-old man is dead after what police are describing as an “interaction” with officers during the execution of a search warrant in Toronto.
York Regional Police say their officers were executing a search warrant in the area of Evans Avenue and Sherway Gardens Road at approximately 5 a.m. Monday.
Police say officers had an “interaction” with a man.
They say a 21-year-old man suffered life-threatening injuries and was taken to hospital.
Police say the man was pronounced dead there.
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit is investigating.
The watchdog agency investigates the conduct of police officers that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault and/or discharge of a firearm at a person.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
The head of a group that helps homeless people in Saint John, N.B., says it is mourning the death of a 58-year-old man whose body was found in an encampment over the weekend.
Johanne McCullough of Street Team Saint John says John Surette was known for his kindness and for taking care of people around him.
The Saint John Police Force say Surette’s body was found in a tent near Paradise Row in the north end of the city Saturday morning.
Investigators say the circumstances of the death are not considered criminal in nature and an autopsy has been scheduled.
Surrette was found not far from where three people died last winter in two separate tent fires.
McCullough says the community will remember Surrette for his helpfulness and generosity.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
OTTAWA – Liberal House leader Karina Gould lambasted Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre as a “fraudster” this morning after he said the federal carbon price is going to cause a “nuclear winter.”
Gould was speaking just before the House of Commons is set to reopen following the summer break.
“What I heard yesterday from Mr. Poilievre was so over the top, so irresponsible, so immature, and something that only a fraudster would do,” she said from Parliament Hill.
On Sunday Poilievre said increasing the carbon price will cause a “nuclear winter,” painting a dystopian picture of people starving and freezing because they can’t afford food or heat due the carbon price.
He said the Liberals’ obsession with carbon pricing is “an existential threat to our economy and our way of life.”
The carbon price currently adds about 17.6 cents to every litre of gasoline, but that cost is offset by carbon rebates mailed to Canadians every three months. The Parliamentary Budget Office provided analysis that showed eight in 10 households receive more from the rebates than they pay in carbon pricing, though the office also warned that long-term economic effects could harm jobs and wage growth.
Gould accused Poilievre of ignoring the rebates, and refusing to tell Canadians how he would make life more affordable while battling climate change. The Liberals have also accused the Conservatives of dismissing the expertise of more than 200 economists who wrote a letter earlier this year describing the carbon price as the least expensive, most efficient way to lower emissions.
Poilievre is pushing for the other opposition parties to vote the government down and trigger what he calls a “carbon tax election.”
The recent decision by the NDP to break its political pact with the government makes an early election more likely, but there does not seem to be an interest from either the Bloc Québécois or the NDP to have it happen immediately.
Poilievre intends to bring a non-confidence motion against the government as early as this week but would likely need both the Bloc and NDP to support it.
Gould said she has no “crystal ball” over when or how often Poilievre might try to bring down the government
“I know that the end of the supply and confidence agreement makes things a bit different, but really all it does is returns us to a normal minority parliament,” she said. “And that means that we will work case-by-case, legislation-by-legislation with whichever party wants to work with us. I have already been in touch with all of the House leaders in the opposition parties and my job now is to make Parliament work for Canadians.”
She also insisted the government has listened to the concerns raised by Canadians, and received the message when the Liberals lost a Toronto byelection in June in seat the party had held since 1997.
“We certainly got the message from Toronto-St. Paul’s and have spent the summer reflecting on what that means and are coming back to Parliament, I think, very clearly focused on ensuring that Canadians are at the centre of everything that we do moving forward,” she said.
The Liberals are bracing, however, for the possibility of another blow Monday night, in a tight race to hold a Montreal seat in a byelection there. Voters in LaSalle—Émard—Verdun are casting ballots today to replace former justice minister David Lametti, who was removed from cabinet in 2023 and resigned as an MP in January.
The Conservatives and NDP are also in a tight race in Elmwood-Transcona, a Winnipeg seat that has mostly been held by the NDP over the last several decades.
There are several key bills making their way through the legislative process, including the online harms act and the NDP-endorsed pharmacare bill, which is currently in the Senate.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
