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The latest on the coronavirus outbreak for Nov. 19 – CBC.ca

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A sign expressing thanks in several languages is displayed outside Trillium Hospital’s emergency department in Mississauga, Ont., on Thursday. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)

Manitoba bans visitors to homes, in-store sales of non-essential items

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Manitoba, dealing with the highest per capita daily COVID-19 case numbers among Canadian provinces, is enacting new orders effective Friday to limit the spread of the virus.

The public health orders will forbid people from having anyone inside their home who doesn’t live there, with limited exceptions, and prohibit businesses from selling non-essential items in stores. In addition, large retailers are to restrict capacity at a given time to 25 per cent of their normal limit or a maximum of 250 people, whichever is lower.

Chief Provincial Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin said previous, less strict measures clearly hadn’t proven effective, and he pleaded with Manitobans to stay home in the near future and only go out for essential items.

There were 475 new cases of COVID-19 and eight more deaths in the province on Thursday, with a significant five-day test positivity rate at 14 per cent.

A record 263 patients are in hospital, up 14 from the previous day, and 43 people are in intensive care as a result of COVID-19, also a new high.

Click below to watch more from The National

An infectious disease expert and epidemiologist answer questions about navigating the holiday season during the COVID-19 pandemic, including what lessons may have been learned from Thanksgiving. 5:51

IN BRIEF

Ontario reaching ICU threshold, which could leave surgical patients waiting again

There are now 150 patients in Ontario intensive care units being treated for COVID-19, according to a report Thursday morning to critical care stakeholders, which means the province has hit a key threshold that makes it harder for hospitals to support other patients and procedures.    

The metric comes from a Critical Care Services Ontario report, obtained by CBC News, which is based on an end-of-day Wednesday tally of adults in ICUs with COVID-19-related critical illness.   

Provincial modelling, released in September by the Ministry of Health, noted that with fewer than 150 COVID-19 patients in ICUs, Ontario would be able to maintain non-COVID capacity and all scheduled surgeries. 

Dr. Brooks Fallis, medical director and critical care physician at a hospital in Peel region, warns the prospect of more surgery cancellations is a real concern with COVID-19 cases spiking.  

“Inevitably, resources have to be diverted to COVID,” Fallis tells CBC’s Lauren Pelley. “And that will inevitably mean that other things can’t get done, such as elective surgeries.” 

Toronto resident Rochelle Roberts finally had surgery to remove non-cancerous tumours on Wednesday after a delay of months for a procedure date, but other patients may have to wait.

Read more about what’s happening in the province

Sask. doctors question decision to leave bars, nightclubs open

Doctors in Saskatchewan say the provincial government’s refusal to temporarily close bars and other high-risk venues will cause COVID-19 to spread unnecessarily. 

“If we can only have a few people at home, and there’s a good reason for that, I’m not sure why we would gather in much larger groups in other settings, especially without masks,” Saskatoon trauma specialist Dr. Brent Thomas said in an interview with CBC News this week. 

Currently, there is a 10 p.m. curfew for restaurant and bar alcohol sales. But patrons of bars, nightclubs and restaurants don’t have to wear a mask when seated. 

Last week, more than 400 doctors signed a letter saying the COVID-19 restrictions announced by the province to that point needed to be stricter. The doctors called for a 28-day closure of bars, bingo halls, gyms and places of worship. 

There was mixed news Thursday in the daily provincial report: There were 34 more virus recoveries than new cases, but seven additional COVID-19 hospitalizations pushed the current total to 83.

Read more about the situation

Nunavut outbreak highlights longstanding health inequities in Canada’s North

Nunavut has entered a two-week lockdown in an effort to get a handle on its first serious outbreak — which stands at 74 cases on Thursday — and to avoid overwhelming Nunavut’s small, isolated health-care centres.

None of the Nunavut communities with COVID-19 infections has a hospital. The only hospital in the territory, in Iqaluit, is more than 1,000 kilometres east of Arviat — the community with the most infections — and doesn’t have an intensive care unit.

“The thing that everyone is worried about is the fact that medical infrastructure to care for people who are severely ill is really quite limited in some places,” says Barry Pakes, a University of Toronto professor who was previously Nunavut’s medical health officer.

Hospitalizations have yet to occur, but sending seriously ill patients to Manitoba in the south may not be an option as that province is also dealing with limited capacity.

So far, Nunavut has not asked for help from the federal government. But Nunavut Health Minister Lorne Kusugak says the territory is in constant communication with Ottawa, and the federal government is able to send the military as a last resort.

Read more about what’s happening in Nunavut

(CBC News)

Stay informed with the latest COVID-19 data.

THE SCIENCE

AstraZeneca vaccine shows promise in elderly patients

AstraZeneca and Oxford University’s potential COVID-19 vaccine produced a strong immune response in older adults, data published on Thursday in the Lancet medical journal showed, with researchers expecting to release late-stage trial results by Christmas. 

The data thus far suggests that those aged over 70, who are at higher risk of serious illness and death from COVID-19, could build robust immunity. Late-stage, or Phase 3, trials are ongoing to confirm the findings, researchers say.

The first two sets of interim data from vaccine trials from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna have previously been released, with promising results so far but several issues still unknown. 

Unlike the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna shots, both of which use new technology known as messenger RNA (mRNA), AstraZeneca’s is a viral vector vaccine made from a weakened version of a common cold virus found in chimpanzees. 

Canada has struck deals to access the vaccines of Pfizer, Moderna and Astra Zeneca, among others, should they gain regulatory approval.

AND FINALLY…

Fisher River Cree Nation students get free laptops and internet access for online learning

Grade 12 student Koby Wilson is one of 230 students in Fisher River Cree Nation who received a laptop and MiFi box for online schooling. (Submitted to CBC)

Manitoba high schooler Koby Wilson says school has been stressful at times this fall, a sentiment no doubt shared by students across the country amid the pandemic.

But now Wilson is one of 470 students who attend the two schools in Fisher River Cree Nation to receive a laptop to keep and a connection device from the local school authority, which made the change after a positive coronavirus test and inefficiencies with sending out and receiving bulky homework packages.

“It’s a great thing … because not every family actually has the money to afford a laptop,” the Grade 12 student says.

According to Kelly Selkirk, the Fisher River post-secondary co-ordinator, the online education that students are receiving is “leaps and bounds above the pen and paper homework that they were getting.”

While the Grades 5-12 students in Fisher River have received laptops, those up to Grade 4 will soon be receiving their own iPad to connect with their teachers and fellow students.

Read more about the initiative here

Find out more about COVID-19

Still looking for more information on the pandemic? Read more about COVID-19’s impact on life in Canada, or reach out to us at covid@cbc.ca if you have any questions.

If you have symptoms of the illness caused by the coronavirus, here’s what to do in your part of the country.

For full coverage of how your province or territory is responding to COVID-19, visit your local CBC News site.

To get this newsletter daily as an email, subscribe here

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Child care in Canada: Trudeau unveils new help for providers – CTV News

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The federal government is launching a new loan program to help child-care providers in Canada expand their spaces, and will be extending further student loan forgiveness and training options for early childhood educators, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Thursday.

The prime minister unveiled a trio of child-care-centric commitments that will be included in the upcoming federal budget, with the aim of opening up more $10-a-day child-care spaces across the country, as the Liberals continue to work towards creating 250,000 new spaces by March 2026.

Specifically, the Liberals are vowing to offer $1 billion in low-cost loans and $60 million in non-repayable grants to public and not-for-profit child-care providers, so they can build or renovate their care centres. 

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This funding will be administered through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMCH), which Trudeau called “a common sense approach that will help child care be developed alongside housing.”

An additional $48 million is being earmarked for the next four years to extend student loan forgiveness — similar to the program offered to rural doctors and nurses — to early childhood educators, in an effort to incentivize more teachers to work in smaller communities. 

The federal government is also promising $10 million over the next two years to train more early childhood educators.

The prime minister, speaking in Surrey, B.C., alongside the minister currently leading the file, Jenna Sudds, touted the bilateral child-care agreements in effect across the country for seeing thousands of children placed in affordable spaces.

However, in recent months Canadian parents and care providers have sounded alarms about increasingly long daycare waitlists. And, operators in some provinces have threatened to withdraw from the lower-cost program because they’re struggling to make ends meet. 

Trudeau said while the government has funded 100,000 spaces so far and is aware of the challenges in rolling out this new national program, not enough families have access and not all provinces are moving as fast as they should. 

“I want to take a moment to talk to young moms, many of you millennials. You’ve grown up with so many pressures in this economy, the 2008 recession, COVID, climate change … and we want to make sure that everyone — especially moms raising kids — has the best chance to succeed and thrive,” Trudeau said.

“As Canada grows, as families grow, we want to make sure more kids can access high-quality child care… That’s what fairness for every generation is all about.”

The prime minister also got political, accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of opposing the program, despite the Official Opposition voting in support of a recently passed Liberal piece of legislation meant to enshrine in law a commitment to the Canada-wide early learning and child-care system, and the long-term funding needed to maintain it. 

Reacting to the news, NDP MP and critic for children, families, and social development Leah Gazan said the announcement was a “direct result of advocacy” by her party, care workers, unions, and women’s organizations.

She also pointed the finger at the Conservatives, accusing them of trying to stall the program and push for a “for-profit private system that parents can’t afford.” 

Liberal pre-budget strategy

Similar to how Wednesday’s rollout of renter-fairness-focused pre-budget news went, cabinet ministers are making echo announcements of the new child-care affordability measures across the country Thursday afternoon. 

This is all part of a new communications strategy the Liberals are employing in the lead up to the release of the April 16 federal budget.

Practically every day between now and when Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland releases the massive economic document, the Liberals are expected to tease out bits and pieces of the budget.

In an effort to stretch out their ability to market the measures within it, Trudeau as well as members of his cabinet will unveil new initiatives over the next two weeks, to the point that the vast majority of the budget will be public prior to budget day.

Traditionally, governments have held budget news — save for some pre-tabling leaks — for the day the document is tabled in the House of Commons post-daylong reporter and stakeholder lockup.

Kicking off this strategy on Wednesday, Trudeau issued a video across social media platforms indicating the overall theme for the 2024 budget will be “generational fairness,” a message meant to speak to millennials and Generation Z.

“When I first decided to run for office, one of my biggest motivations was working to create a Canada that young people saw themselves… As prime minister, I’ve never lost sight of that,” Trudeau said in the clip.

“You as a young Canadian are the heartbeat of our economy. You power our growth and you deserve an economy that gives you a fair shot at success. But, this moment we’re all living in is throwing big challenges your way… So we’re going to roll up our sleeves and work like hell. And we’re going to tell you about what we’re doing to fix it, over the next two weeks.”

While Trudeau’s 2015 election victory was credited in part to a historic surge in young people turning up at the polls, Poilievre has been chipping away at that Liberal voting bloc of those aged 43 and under, seeking to appeal to their current struggles to get ahead with his “powerful paycheques” and housing affordability arguments.

In November 2023, Trudeau tapped Max Valiquette, a marketing guru with self-described expertise in understanding younger generations, as his new executive director of communications.

“We’re witnessing a different communication strategy from the government. They’re implementing something they’ve not tried before. We’re not going to have a budget day on April 16. We’re going to have budget days between now and April 16,” said political commentator Scott Reid in an interview on CTV News Channel.

“Frankly, this government knows that it needs to break through, it knows that it needs to connect with Canadians… Is it going to turn around the polls overnight? No. Might they get a little bit more of a hearing than they otherwise would have been? Probably.” 

With files from CTV News’ Vassy Kapelos and Annie Bergeron-Oliver

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Ontario releases 2023 Sunshine List, top earner made $1.9M – CBC.ca

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Five employees at Ontario Power Generation are in the top 10 earners on the province’s so-called sunshine list for 2023, with the province’s highest salary nearing $2 million.

The annual sunshine list documents public sector employees with salaries over $100,000. In this year’s edition, there are 300,570 names, more than 30,000 higher than last year.

Kenneth Hartwick, CEO of the electricity Crown corporation, is in the top spot again with a salary of $1.93 million.

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Two other executives at the organization — chief strategy officer Dominique Miniere and chief projects officer Michael Martelli — made nearly $1.2 million and nearly $1 million, respectively.

You can find a list of the top 100 earners below.

The presidents and CEOs of the Hospital for Sick Children and the University Health Network are also in the top 10, earning around $850,000 each. So is Phil Verster, who is president and CEO of the provincial transit agency, Metrolinx, with a $838,097 salary.

Caroline Mulroney, president of the Treasury Board, highlighted other high growth areas in a release.

“The largest year-over-year increases were in the hospitals, municipalities and services, and post-secondary sectors, which together represented approximately 80 per cent of the growth of the list,” she said.

The list shows 17 professors or associate professors at the University of Toronto had earnings of $500,000 or more.

A statement from a University of Toronto spokesperson said the school competes with top universities and private-sector employers around the world for faculty members.

“This occasionally results in salaries above the usual range for a small number of faculty members.”

An Ontario Power Generation building.
Five employees at Ontario Power Generation are among the top 10 spots of the annual sunshine list for 2023. (Cole Burston/The Canadian Press)

Premier Doug Ford earned $208,974 last year. His chief of staff, Patrick Sackville, earned $324,675.

Matthew Anderson, CEO of Ontario Health, a provincial agency the Ford government created in 2019, earned $821,000. Meanwhile the public servant leading the Ministry of Health, deputy minister Catherine Zahn, earned $477,360, and Health Minister Sylvia Jones, $165,851.

There are more than 25,000 registered nurses on the list, including seven who earned more than $300,000 last year.

Chief Justice Sharon Nicklas, who was appointed to the top post in the province’s judiciary last May, earned $388,960.

The police chiefs of Thunder Bay, Daniel Taddeo, ($376,428) and Hamilton, Francis Bergen, ($374,492) were paid more last year than OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique ($373,472). Taddeo retired in April 2023. 

Toronto police Chief Myron Demkiw, who took over the post in late 2022, earned $353,411. 

Organizations that receive provincial government funding are also required to disclose salaries for the sunshine list, so it includes top earners at some registered charities.

The chief executive of the True Patriot Love Foundation, Nicholas Booth, earned $421,149. The foundation funds support programs for veterans and military families. 

The president and CEO of the Canadian Red Cross Society, Conrad Sauve, earned $412,970, while the YMCA of Greater Toronto’s chief executive, Medhat Mahdy, earned $394,057.

Salaries of other key Ontario public figures include:

  • $826,539 for Ontario Pension Board CEO Mark Fuller.
  • $709,581 for Ontario Lottery and Gaming Association president & CEO Alfred Hannay.
  • $601,376 for Registered Nurses Association of Ontario CEO Doris Grinspun.
  • $596,392 for Dean of Ivey Business School, Western University, Sharon Hodgson.
  • $563,291 for LCBO president & CEO George Soleas.
  • $546,053 for Dean of the Faculty of Health Science, Queen’s University, Jane Philpott.
  • $533,112 for Royal Ontario Museum president & CEO Joshua Basseches.
  • $486,192 for University of Toronto president Meric Gertler.
  • $464,148 for Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore.
  • $455,091 for Chief Coroner Dr. Dirk Huyer.
  • $404,003 Art Gallery of Ontario director and CEO Stephan Jost.
  • $395,974 for former auditor general Bonnie Lysyk.

Adjusting sunshine list threshold

The sunshine list has been around for almost 30 years, always set at six figures and up. 

At Queen’s Park on Thursday, some members of provincial Parliament faced questions on whether the $100,000 starting point should be adjusted.

Green Party of Ontario Leader Mike Schreiner said it should be pegged to the rate of inflation, but others disagreed.

“I think that people think that $100,000 is still a lot of money, especially in an affordability crisis,” said NDP MPP Catherine Fife, who’s also the finance critic.

Government House Leader Paul Calandra said the government has no plans at this time to change the threshold on the sunshine list.

“I think it’s an important document that serves the people well in highlighting the salaries of our public employees.”

The Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act, enacted by former Progressive Conservative premier Mike Harris in 1996, compels organizations that receive public funding from the province to report the names, positions and pay of people who make more than $100,000.

The interactive chart below shows the top 100 earners on the list, based on both salary and benefits.

Search the complete Sunshine List for yourself here.

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1 dead, 2 critically injured after car crash in Montreal

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Montreal

Three people are in hospital with critical injuries after their vehicle crashed into a tree. Police believe they might be connected to two drive-by shootings that took place early Thursday morning.

2 drive-by shootings also took place overnight

an SPVM car near a taped-off crime scene
Montreal police are investigating a car crash possibly linked to two drive-by shootings. (Mathieu Wagner/Radio-Canada)

Urgences-santé say one person died and two others were critically injured after their vehicle hit a tree in the Rosemont neighbourhood.

Montreal police believe the crash may be linked to two drive-by shootings early Thursday morning.

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The first happened around 5 a.m. on Pie-IX Boulevard. Police say a car was shot at repeatedly and the driver, a 41-year-old man, was injured in the upper body. He was transported to hospital, but his life is not in danger, say police.

Shortly afterward, shots were reported in the Plateau Mont-Royal borough, near the intersection of Saint-Joseph Boulevard and Henri-Julien Avenue. No one was injured.

Police say they are investigating to determine if there is a connection between the collision and the shootings. Montreal police spokesperson Jean-Pierre Brabant says it’s possible those in the vehicle were involved in the shootings.

The province’s independent police watchdog is now involved.

with files from Chloë Ranaldi

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