A Summary of the day's activities of Wednesday, August 12 follows.

Federal Government Relief Measures

The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Marie-Claude Bibeau, announced over $10 million in funding from Canada Economic Development for the Quebec Region to help agri-food businesses grow and create jobs.

The Minister emphasized that the Canadian agri-food industry has been hit hard by COVID-19. The Government of Canada has therefore taken significant action to help the industry get through this difficult period and is committed to providing the necessary tools needed to be part of our economic recovery and to emerge from the crisis stronger and more competitive than before. Thus, the government is working closely with Quebec agri-food businesses to help them innovate and increase their productivity, and thus create jobs.

This financial assistance from CED will help these businesses enhance their productivity, specifically through the acquisition of digital and automated equipment, the diversification of their products and services, and the modernization of their facilities. The contributions will support the agri-food industry in its growth efforts and the achievement of its goals with respect to the transition to Enterprise 4.0—key aspects in maintaining the industry's competitiveness in a constantly changing market.

Statement of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Prime Minister Trudeau did not hold a press conference today.

Federal Government Briefing

  • Tam, Chief Public Health Officer of Canada, Public Health Agency of Canada

Dr. Tam provided her daily COVID-19 update. There have been 120,421 cases of COVID-19 in Canada, including 8,991 deaths. Eighty-eight percent of people have now recovered. Labs across Canada have tested 4,541,747 people for COVID-19 to date. Over the past week, an average of 43,000 people were tested daily, with one percent testing positive. Based on the most recent seven days, there have been an average of 443 cases reported daily from across the country.

To begin, Dr. Tam affirms that public health authorities and Canadians across the country continue with efforts to limit the spread of COVID-19, the Canadian Public Health Agency is closely monitoring disease activity indicators such as daily case counts and percentage of people testing positive.

Nationally, significantly fewer new cases are being reported daily compared to the more intense weeks of COVID-19 activity in Canada from late March to June. Case counts peaked in late April and early May at close to 1,800 cases reported daily and then steadily declined reaching a low of 270 cases per day in early July. COVID-19 transmission has increased recently with the opening of economic and social spaces. Over the last several weeks, national daily case counts are averaging between 350 to 500 cases.

Fortunately, the number of new deaths reported daily has remained low following a steep decline from the peak in early May when close to 200 deaths were reported daily. Fewer than 10 deaths have been reported per day on average over the last four weeks. Hospitalizations and ICU admissions also remain low across most jurisdictions with fewer than 400 individuals in hospitals and fewer than 100 individuals in critical care across the country on any given day over the last several weeks.

According to Dr. Tam, Canadians under the age of 40 years have comprised over 50% of cases in the previous two weeks. Since early July, the incidence of COVID-19 has remained the highest among individuals aged 20 to 29 years in particular, compared to all other age categories, although the number of cases in this age group has begun to decline in recent weeks.

Statement of Ontario Premier Doug Ford

Premier Doug Ford was joined by Rod Phillips, Minister of Finance, Kinga Surma, Associate Minister of Transportation (GTA), and Jim McDonell, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, to make an announcement.

All of Ontario is now in stage 3. This according to the Premier demonstrates proof that the province is making progress, but he assured the government will not rest “until everyone is back on their feet”. A $4 billion agreement with the federal government has allowed Ontario to invest in health care, public transit and families. Premier Ford affirmed that the next six to eight months are going to be important for the economic stimulus.

$1.6 billion will be provided to municipalities to address families' needs in the first round of Emergency Funding. Of this amount, $695 million will address local priorities, such as health and well-being of the people of Ontario. $660 million will support transit systems and public transit and $212 million will go through the Social Relief Fund to help vulnerable people find shelter.

The Minister of Finance stated that public transit is a pillar of economic recovery. $2 billion is being transferred from the federal government in two separate phases to keep the public transit system functional and to ensure the safety and security of workers.

He also stated that funds will be provided to municipalities to address undue economic pressures in phase two. Municipalities are working with the province on the management of the funds and it will help municipalities deal with the financial deficit. $400 million will go to Toronto to ensure safe and reliable public transit.

When questioned about the government's plan to erase the deficit, Premier Ford stated that no money was saved during the pandemic. “Every penny was invested in hospitals, medical supplies and in local enterprises.” He added that the “government's priorities are to ensure that citizens will be able to get back on their feet, pay their leases and be healthy”.

In addition, the Minister of Finance stated that no funds should be kept during a pandemic of this nature. “The way to stimulate the province economy is by making sure that everyone is healthy and able to work.”

To conclude, Premier Ford affirmed that the government could not prevent a pandemic from happening. Therefore, it is normal to deal with a deficit for a long period of time. However, he stated that public funds are being well managed by the Minister of Finance who is transparent with Ontarians by publishing regular reports on government spending.

Statement of the Minister of Finance of Ontario

The Ontario government is continuing to support the province's recovery from COVID-19 over the long-term while delivering on its commitment to transparency and accountability with the release of 2020-21 First Quarter Finances and an update to Ontario's Action Plan: Responding to COVID-19.

To protect the health and economic well-being of the people of Ontario, the government continues to invest and budget for further contingencies in the fight against the COVID-19 outbreak. These investments bring the government's COVID-19 response action plan to a projected $30 billion, up from $17 billion announced in Ontario's Action Plan: Responding to COVID-19 on March 25, 2020.

Since announcing the first steps in the government's response to the global pandemic, the government is making additional investments in the fight against COVID-19, including:

A total of $7.7 billion to provide ongoing support for health care to build hospital capacity, prevent and contain the spread of COVID-19 in long-term care homes, ramp up testing and purchase personal protective equipment and critical medical supplies.

A total of $11.3 billion to support people and jobs, which supports investments in a temporary pandemic pay for more than 375,000 eligible frontline workers totaling over $1.5 billion, $4 billion in targeted funding to help municipal partners and transit agencies to continue to deliver critical services, and temporary immediate relief for residential, farm, small business.

The Ontario government is now projecting a deficit of $38.5 billion in 2020-21, which incorporates the most up-to-date economic information and additional supports for the pandemic recovery period and the safe restart framework. Private-sector forecasts, on average, project that Ontario's real GDP will decline by 6.6 per cent in 2020, down significantly from when the March 2020 Economic and Fiscal Update was finalized. Total revenue is projected to be $150.6 billion in 2020-21, $5.7 billion lower and program expenses are projected to be $13.1 billion higher than forecast in the March 2020 Economic and Fiscal Update.

In June and July, Ontario's employment increased by 528,600 net jobs and the unemployment rate decreased to 11.3 per cent. Home resales in the province rose 56.6 per cent in May and 67.0 per cent in June, after declining for two consecutive months. Ontario manufacturing sales increased 17.5 per cent in May, while retail sales rose 14.2 per cent, after both declined for two consecutive months.

To conclude, the Province's next fiscal update will be a multi-year provincial Budget, to be delivered no later than November 15, 2020.

Statement of Quebec

Premier François Legault was accompanied yesterday by Mathieu Lemay, Member of Parliament for Masson in the Lanaudière region, for a press conference.

Earlier in the day, the Premier met with the future orderlies who will begin working in CHSLD's this fall. Asked whether an investigation will be held to determine the causes of the outbreaks in the CHSLD's, the Premier said that a public investigation will be held, but cannot for the moment determine the format of it, since a second wave of COVID-19 is expected. However, he said the main cause of the high number of deaths was due to Orderlies who did not wear masks when providing assistance to seniors. He said he believes this problem will not recur.

Asked what the government's concerns and fears are at the dawn of a second wave, the Premier said that the province will be better prepared to deal with it, especially with the arrival of the 10,000 new orderlies who trained this summer. In addition, the mandatory wearing of masks will reduce the number of community transmission in CHSLD's and in the public places.

Lastly, the government has not yet taken a position on the COVID-Alert tracing application. The Premier acknowledged that Quebecers have mixed feelings about the likely implementation of such an application, particularly because they are afraid that their data will be used for other purposes. Mr. Legault wished to reiterate to Quebecers that the main weapon in the second wave will be to increase the number of screenings per day and to ensure that results are transmitted within two days.

Elsewhere in Canada

Alberta

On August 11, Jason Copping, Minister of Labour and Immigration, announced that over the next three years, Alberta will provide $4.5 million in grants to support mental health treatment for first responders, including leading-edge research, prevention and stigma reduction. Grants totaling $1.5 million per year will be awarded to non-profit organizations and researchers working to improve first responder mental health. Applications to the Supporting Psychological Health in First Responders grant will be open until September 20. This announcement is part of Alberta's Recovery Plan, as it is investing in first responders who have been critical to Alberta's COVID-19 response.

Jason Kenney, Alberta's Premier, and Prasad Panda, Minister of Infrastructure, announced that Alberta will invest $15 million in the construction of the new K-6 Chester Ronning School. The construction will create more than 84 jobs for Albertans. The new school, expected to open in September 2022, will replace the current aged facility and will serve about 350 students. The construction is part of the $10 billion infrastructure spending announced as part of Alberta's Recovery Plan.

Also as a part of Alberta's $10 billion infrastructure spending, Premier Kenney and Ric McIver, Minister of Transportation, announced Alberta is investing almost $12 million for upgrades to the City of Camrose's airport and wastewater treatment plant, which will create more than 40 jobs. The $10.2-million grant under the Alberta Municipal Water/Wastewater Partnership will go toward a $38.8-million upgrade of the wastewater treatment plant to meet new environmental standards for treatment of effluent. The City of Camrose will also receive $1.6 million under the Community Airport Program toward the $2.2-million cost of resurfacing the airport runway.

The province released guidance documents for seniors centres and seniors serving organizations so that this sector can better prepare for reopening.

Alberta Health did not release the COVID-19 case count for August 11.

British Columbia

Yesterday, on August 11, Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, and Dr. Bonnie Henry, British Columbia's Provincial Health Officer announced 46 news cases of COVID-19, for a total of 4,111 cases in British Columbia. Currently, eight people are hospitalized with COVID-19, five of whom are in intensive care. There have been no new health-care facility outbreaks in the region. In total, seven long-term care or assisted living facilities and one acute care facility have active outbreaks. There are no new community outbreaks. The Krazy Cherry Fruit. Co. outbreak in the Interior Health region has been declared over. However, there continue to be community exposure events; including ones in Vancouver Coastal Health and Interior Health, and on flights into and out of British Columbia. In Vancouver, this includes Foot Locker at 919 Robson Street from August 4-5; and in the Kelowna this includes the Cactus Club on Water Street on August 8.

The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure yesterday also confirmed that the transit funding envelope of the Safe Restart Agreement will include eligibility for BC Ferries. The Safe Restart Agreement was announced on July 16, where the Province earmarked up to $1 billion in provincial spending targeted to address COVID-19 impacts and restart plans for local governments and public transportation services; this funding was conditional on matching federal contributions with a 50-50 cost-sharing under Canada's Safe Restart Agreement. Yesterday's announcement further confirms that BC Ferries will receive a portion of the federal funding – though the exact amount is not decided – “to ensure that ferry fares remain affordable through the pandemic recovery and essential ferry service is maintained, so the public can continue to access appropriate, safe and reliable transportation to and from coastal communities”.

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Glad to discuss these issues with you.

Originally published 12 August, 2020

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