Cabinet yesterday said it was still drafting final wording of a sweeping regulation to restrict Canadians from crossing the U.S. border effective tonight. A Public Health Agency officer said the measure will not curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus: "Do they have to be pulling a tractor-trailer to get across?"
Transport Canada says it is still weighing aid for industry after the Canadian Airports Council put its losses at $1.3 billion this year. Transport Minister Marc Garneau acknowledged air travel faces a “precipitous” collapse in revenue.
A high-rolling businessman who bought an $89,000 Tesla rather than remit sales and payroll taxes has been jailed for twenty-one months. “While he is not the worst offender, he comes quite close,” ruled a justice of the peace in Ontario Provincial Court.
Cabinet yesterday said it will close the Canada-U.S. border to non-essential traffic but would not define "essential", say when the order takes effect, or put the regulation in writing. The Opposition expressed exasperation with the vague decree only days after federal officials dismissed border closures as pointless: "They need to be concise and clear."
The CBC yesterday cancelled all flagship local suppertime TV newscasts for the first time since 1952. Executives blamed the Covid-19 pandemic, though the local television news blackout follows years of disastrous ratings and falling ad revenue: "Extraordinary times require extraordinary measures."
Cabinet yesterday proposed to spend billions to ward off a recession but cautioned the course of the Covid-19 pandemic is uncertain. “It’s important we tell Canadians what we know and what we don’t know,” said Finance Minister Bill Morneau. “We can’t know the full impact or the duration of the challenge we’re facing.”
Canadians should brace for multiple waves of Covid-19 infections that could continue for months, the Chief Public Health Officer said yesterday. Dr. Theresa Tam earlier signed a Canadian Pandemic Influenza Plan that forecast as many as 58,000 Canadians could die from a virus without a vaccine like Covid-19: "This virus is going to be with us for some time."
Federal agencies have approved billions in emergency aid to corporations to stem a Covid-19 recession. Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz, asked how much the agency was prepared to spend, replied: “According to need, okay?”
The Department of Health in a 2006 pandemic master plan predicted even a mild outbreak would kill from 11,000 to 58,000 Canadians, see ten million others take sick days from work, and last a full year. The prophetic study predicted the pandemic would originate in Asia: “It is unlikely an effective vaccine will be available.”
Cabinet yesterday said it may invoke extraordinary measures under the Emergencies Act to stem the Covid-19 pandemic. “I did not expect to have it invoked in my lifetime,” said a former Conservative minister who wrote the law thirty-two years ago.
Thousands of small businesses already face ruin due to the Covid-19 pandemic, says a Canadian Federation of Independent Business survey. Cabinet said it will detail an aid package today: "We’ve never seen this before in Canada."
SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. received another federal contract the very day it pleaded guilty to fraud, records show. The company was awarded $23.3 million in federal contracts in a year it spent awaiting trial: "Staggering."
A British Columbia landlord who asked an Indigenous tenant to stop smudging in the apartment has been ordered to pay $23,300 in damages. The tenant cited the 2015 final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as evidence of system discrimination against First Nations: "The smoke cleanses negative energy."
Cabinet has approved an executive order naming Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay as successors in case the Prime Minister is incapacitated. Justin Trudeau has been in self-quarantine since March 12 when his wife Sophie was diagnosed with Covid-19: "This is not the time to quibble."
About a quarter of Canadians would not take a vaccine against Covid-19 even if it was available, suggests a Department of Health study. Researchers found a significant minority of people including parents are wary of vaccinations: "I don't believe in them."
