The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada (all times eastern):
7:45 p.m.
article continues below
Trending Stories
Yukon is reporting five new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of active infections to 65.
Acting chief medical health officer Dr. Catherine Elliott says in a statement that two of the new cases are in rural communities while locations for the others are still being identified.
She says the territory has seen 527 cases since March 22, 2020, with 458 of them being since June this year.
There have been a total of six deaths related to COVID-19 with four recorded over the past two months.
—
6:15 p.m.
Alberta is reporting 69 new COVID-19 cases today and two additional deaths.
The province now has 606 active cases.
Ninety-eight of those people are in hospital, with 27 of those patients being treated in intensive care units.
There has been a total of 2,318 deaths in Alberta due to the disease.
—
6 p.m.
British Columbia has reached a new vaccination milestone, with 80 per cent of eligible people aged 12 and over getting their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Just over 54 per cent of people in that group have been fully immunized.
The province is reporting 76 new cases of the virus, and there are 692 active cases, with 12 people in intensive care.
Nearly 147,000 people who tested positive for COVID-19 have recovered.
—
5:55 p.m.
Saskatchewan is reporting 22 new cases of COVID-19 today, and no new deaths.
After 42 more people have recovered, the province has 242 active cases.
The province is also reporting 55 people in hospital, including 10 in intensive care.
The seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases in the province has dropped to 25, its lowest mark since Oct. 12, 2020.
Provincewide, 74 per cent of those aged 12 and older have now received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
Of those 12 and older, 59 per cent are fully vaccinated.
—
1:55 p.m.
Manitoba is reporting 36 new COVID-19 cases.
The five-day test-positivity rate stands at 3.6 per cent provincially and 3.2 per cent in Winnipeg.
—
12 p.m.
The federal government is seeking to assure Canadians who mixed and matched vaccines that they will not have a problem crossing borders.
Canadian health authorities have allowed mixing and matching but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been reluctant to sanction the practice, saying it should only be done in “exceptional situations.”
The different view raises questions about how easily Canadians who mixed and matched will be able to cross into the United States once it opens its land borders to its northern neighbour.
Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc says he believes data sharing and conversations between nations will lead to an “evolution” and “adjustment” of the more conservative approach of some countries.
—
11:50 a.m.
New Brunswick is reporting no new cases of COVID-19 today.
Health officials say there are seven active cases in the province and no one is hospitalized with the disease.
Officials say about 59.7 per cent of New Brunswickers aged 12 and older are fully vaccinated and 80.7 per cent have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
—
11:45 a.m.
Health officials say Prince Edward Island is free of COVID-19.
Officials are reporting no active cases on the Island.
Chief medical officer of health Dr. Heather Morrison says the last new case of COVID-19 was reported June 30.
She says more than 191,000 applications have been received for a P.E.I. Pass, which allows people travel to the Island, adding that 46 per cent of applications are from Atlantic Canadians.
—
11 a.m.
Quebec is reporting 76 new cases of COVID-19 today and no additional deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus.
The Health Department says hospitalizations dropped by one, to 77, and 21 people were in intensive care, a drop of two.
Authorities say 82,153 doses of vaccine were administered Monday, and Quebec’s public health institute says 83 per cent of residents over 12 have received at least one dose of vaccine and 56.1 per cent are adequately vaccinated.
The institute says there have been no reported deaths linked to the novel coronavirus in the province since July 15.
—
10 a.m.
The Nunavut government says Iqaluit’s COVID-19 outbreak is officially over after nearly a month with no new cases.
It has been 28 consecutive days without cases, which meets the threshold for the outbreak to be declared over.
Iqaluit’s first case of the pandemic was reported on April 15 and swelled to 253 cases in the northern city of about 8,000 people.
—
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 20, 2021.
OTTAWA – The New Democrats confirmed Thursday they won’t help Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives topple the government next week, and intend to join the Bloc Québécois in blocking the Tories’ non-confidence motion.
The planned votes from the Bloc and the New Democrats eliminate the possibility of a snap election, buying the Liberals more time to govern after a raucous start to the fall sitting of Parliament.
Poilievre issued a challenge to NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh earlier this week when he announced he will put forward a motion that simply states that the House has no confidence in the government or the prime minister.
If it were to pass, it would likely mean Canadians would be heading to the polls, but Singh said Thursday he’s not going to let Poilievre tell him what to do.
Voting against the Conservative motion doesn’t mean the NDP support the Liberals, said Singh, who pulled out of his political pact with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a few weeks ago.
“I stand by my words, Trudeau has let you down,” Singh said in the foyer outside of the House of Commons Thursday.
“Trudeau has let you down and does not deserve another chance.”
Canadians will have to make that choice at the ballot box, Singh said, but he will make a decision about whether to help trigger that election on a vote-by-vote basis in the House.
The Conservatives mocked the NDP during Question Period for saying they had “ripped up” the deal to support the Liberals, despite plans to vote to keep them in power.
Poilievre accused Singh of pretending to pull out of the deal to sway voters in a federal byelection in Winnipeg, where the NDP was defending its long-held seat against the Conservatives.
“Once the votes were counted, he betrayed them again. He’s a fake, a phoney and fraud. How can anyone ever believe what the sellout NDP leader says in the future?” Poilievre said during Question Period Thursday afternoon.
At some point after those comments, Singh stepped out from behind his desk in the House and a two-minute shouting match ensued between the two leaders and their MPs before the Speaker intervened.
Outside the House, Poilievre said he plans to put forward another non-confidence motion at the next opportunity.
“We want a carbon-tax election as soon as possible, so that we can axe Trudeau’s tax before he quadruples it to 61 cents a litre,” he said.
Liberal House leader Karina Gould says there is much work the government still needs to do, and that Singh has realized the consequences of potentially bringing down the government. She refused to take questions about whether her government will negotiate with opposition parties to ensure their support in future confidence motions.
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet hasn’t ruled out voting no-confidence in the government the next time a motion is tabled.
“I never support Liberals. Help me God, I go against the Conservatives on a vote that is only about Pierre Poilievre and his huge ambition for himself,” Blanchet said Thursday.
“I support the interests of Quebecers, if those interests are also good for Canadians.”
A Bloc bill to increase pension cheques for seniors aged 65 to 74 is now at “the very centre of the survival of this government,” he said.
The Bloc needs a recommendation from a government minister to OK the cost and get the bill through the House.
The Bloc also wants to see more protections for supply management in the food sector in Canada and Quebec.
If the Liberals can’t deliver on those two things, they will fall, Blanchet said.
“This is what we call power,” he said.
Treasury Board President Anita Anand wouldn’t say whether the government would be willing to swallow the financial implications of the Bloc’s demands.
“We are focused at Treasury Board on ensuring prudent fiscal management,” she said Thursday.
“And at this time, our immediate focus is implementing the measures in budget 2024 that were announced earlier this year.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
OTTAWA – Treasury Board President Anita Anand has been sworn in as federal transport minister at a ceremony at Rideau Hall, taking over a portfolio left vacant after Pablo Rodriguez resigned from cabinet and the Liberal caucus on Thursday.
Anand thanked Rodriguez for his contributions to the government and the country, saying she’s grateful for his guidance and friendship.
She sidestepped a question about the message it sends to have him leave the federal Liberal fold.
“That is a decision that he made independently, and I wish him well,” she said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was not present for the swearing-in ceremony, nor were any other members of the Liberal government.
The shakeup in cabinet comes just days after the Liberals lost a key seat in a Montreal byelection to the Bloc Québécois and amid renewed calls for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step down and make way for a new leader.
Anand said she is not actively seeking leadership of the party, saying she is focused on her roles as minister and as MP.
“My view is that we are a team, and we are a team that has to keep delivering for our country,” she said.
The minority Liberal government is in a more challenging position in the House of Commons after the NDP ended a supply-and-confidence deal that provided parliamentary stability for more than two years.
Non-confidence votes are guaranteed to come from the Opposition Conservatives, who are eager to bring the government down.
On Thursday morning, Rodriguez made a symbolic walk over the Alexandra Bridge from Parliament Hill to Gatineau, Que., where he formally announced his plans to run for the Quebec Liberal party leadership.
He said he will now sit as an Independent member of Parliament, which will allow him to focus on his own priorities.
“I was defending the priorities of the government, and I did it in a very loyal way,” he said.
“It’s normal and it’s what I had to do. But now it’s more about my vision, the vision of the team that I’m building.”
Rodriguez said he will stay on as an MP until the Quebec Liberal leadership campaign officially launches in January.
He said that will “avoid a costly byelection a few weeks, or months, before a general election.”
The next federal election must be held by October 2025.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said he will try to topple the government sooner than that, beginning with a non-confidence motion that is set to be debated Sept. 24 and voted on Sept. 25.
Poilievre has called on the NDP and the Bloc Québécois to support him, but both Jagmeet Singh and Yves-François Blanchet have said they will not support the Conservatives.
Rodriguez said he doesn’t want a federal election right away and will vote against the non-confidence motion.
As for how he would vote on other matters before the House of Commons, “it would depend on the votes.”
Public Services and Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos will become the government’s new Quebec lieutenant, a non-cabinet role Rodriguez held since 2019.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
— With files from Nojoud Al Mallees and Dylan Robertson
