Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that reopening the economy or easing restrictions at the U.S.-Canada border isn’t happening anytime soon and is still “many weeks” away.
Trudeau has urged Canadians to be patient and said for any reopening to occur, there has to be rapid COVID-19 testing on a wide-scale basis and extensive contact tracing in place to prevent against a potential second wave of outbreaks.
“I don’t think we can talk about reopening things until we are confident that we have exactly the plan on responding to future resurgences of the virus,” Trudeau said Thursday during his daily briefing.
Trudeau said there was still a “significant amount of time” before the two countries could loosen restrictions on non-essential across the border. An agreement between Canada and the U.S. to limit border crossings is due to expire in the coming days.
Story continues below advertisement
0:40 Coronavirus outbreak: Trudeau says it will be ‘significant’ amount of time before government considers easing border restrictions
Coronavirus outbreak: Trudeau says it will be ‘significant’ amount of time before government considers easing border restrictions
“The work that we continue to do to keep our citizens safe while coordinating very carefully is unlike our approaches with other countries around the world,” he said. “We will continue coordinating our efforts, collaborating, but the reality is we are still weeks away from being able to talk about softening these measures at the border or others.”
Trudeau also announced Thursday support for small and medium-sized businesses that pay commercial rent with a new program, called Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance. He said details of the program are still being worked out as Ottawa will have collaborate with the provinces.
0:39 Coronavirus Outbreak: Trump says Canada-U.S. border to be one of earliest to reopen
Coronavirus Outbreak: Trump says Canada-U.S. border to be one of earliest to reopen
The prime minister also reiterated his previous message that a complete return to normal won’t be possible until a vaccine is ready, which some experts have said is still 12-18 months away.
“It would be absolutely disastrous for us to open up too early or too quickly, and have another wave hit us that could be just as bad as this one, and find ourselves in the situation of having to go back into quarantine the way we are right now and have everything we’ve done these past weeks be for nothing,” Trudeau said.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford shot back at Trump’s suggestion that he is looking at loosening restrictions at the border.
Story continues below advertisement
“Trudeau should say no right away,” Ford said Thursday. “Until we have this under containment, we need to have our borders closed.”
Meanwhile, Donald Trump has said he’s eager to start returning to normal life, even as his country grapples with an outbreak of the novel coronavirus that’s killed more than 28,000 people.
Trump told reporters Wednesday that Canada is “doing well” in its efforts to control the spread of the virus.
“Our relationship with Canada is very good — we’ll talk about that. It will be one of the early borders to be released,” Trump said. “Canada’s doing well, we’re doing well — so we’ll see.”
The two countries negotiated a mutual ban on non-essential travel in both directions in mid-March, an agreement that explicitly exempted the flow of trade and commerce, as well as frontline health care workers.
1:44 Coronavirus outbreak: Canada’s top doctor says positive testing rate is within global range
The agreement is currently scheduled to expire early next week.
Trump is expected to announce Thursday new guidelines for allowing some States to relax social distancing rules and reopen some non-essential businesses.
His administration has even floated a potential target of May 1 to begin re-opening parts of the economy, but some health experts have pushed back saying that could be too soon.
Both Canada and the U.S. have seen unemployment levels from the fallout of COVID-19 comparable to the Great Depression.
Roughly six million people have now applied for government help since mid-March as non-essential businesses were shuttered and workers told to stay at home to ease the spread of the virus. In the U.S. more than 22 million have lost their jobs in just four weeks.
Canada passed a grim milestone of 1,000 deaths on Wednesday, but the country’s chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam said there is evidence the epidemic’s rate of spread is slowing.
Tam said the number of cases in the country is now doubling every 10 days or so, compared to every three days near the end of March.
However, she warned that it still too early to begin easing social distancing measure and said that emerging from COVID-19 would “be like making our way down the mountain in the darkness.”
“We mustn’t rush or let go of our safety measures, or the fall will be hard and unforgiving,” she said in her daily briefing in Ottawa. “Any break in our resolve could spark a new outbreak and delay our progress … let’s maintain our collective resolve and crush this curve.
TORONTO – Strength in the base metal and technology sectors helped Canada’s main stock index gain almost 100 points on Friday, while U.S. stock markets also climbed higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 93.51 points at 23,568.65.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 297.01 points at 41,393.78. The S&P 500 index was up 30.26 points at 5,626.02, while the Nasdaq composite was up 114.30 points at 17,683.98.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.61 cents US compared with 73.58 cents US on Thursday.
The October crude oil contract was down 32 cents at US$68.65 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was down five cents at US$2.31 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$30.10 at US$2,610.70 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents US$4.24 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says wholesale sales, excluding petroleum, petroleum products, and other hydrocarbons and excluding oilseed and grain, rose 0.4 per cent to $82.7 billion in July.
The increase came as sales in the miscellaneous subsector gained three per cent to reach $10.5 billion in July, helped by strength in the agriculture supplies industry group, which rose 9.2 per cent.
The food, beverage and tobacco subsector added 1.7 per cent to total $15 billion in July.
The personal and household goods subsector fell 2.5 per cent to $12.1 billion.
In volume terms, overall wholesale sales rose 0.5 per cent in July.
Statistics Canada started including oilseed and grain as well as the petroleum and petroleum products subsector as part of wholesale trade last year, but is excluding the data from monthly analysis until there is enough historical data.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 150 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in the base metal and energy sectors, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 172.18 points at 23,383.35.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 34.99 points at 40,826.72. The S&P 500 index was up 10.56 points at 5,564.69, while the Nasdaq composite was up 74.84 points at 17,470.37.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.55 cents US compared with 73.59 cents US on Wednesday.
The October crude oil contract was up $2.00 at US$69.31 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up five cents at US$2.32 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$40.00 at US$2,582.40 an ounce and the December copper contract was up six cents at US$4.20 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
