On Sunday, the Ontario health department released a report saying that 4,250 new cases were confirmed in a single day, 18 new deaths were reported in a single day, and the number of people hospitalized and in ICU wards soared to new highs again. The outbreak is so urgent that Ontario Premier Ford has taken it upon himself to ask international partners to lend a helping hand in hopes of securing more vaccines for Ontario.
The Canadian federal government has also announced that it will use all its resources to support Ontario. In an unprecedented move, Canada’s Minister of Public Service and Procurement also said today that he would not rule out using the Federal Emergency Act, which has never been used in Canada’s history to further tighten restrictions, in the face of a growing third wave of the epidemic, which is usually implemented in war-like situations. On Sunday, Ontario revealed 4,250 new cases confirmed in a single day, with a positive rate of at least 9.2 percent. The province now has a cumulative total of 416,995 diagnoses and 7,716 cumulative deaths. From most areas Toronto has 1,392 new cases on a single day, Peel 714, York 483, Durham 279, Houghton 127 and Hamilton 151. Ontario’s health department said Sunday that 2,107 infected patients are currently being treated in hospitals, compared with 2,065 on Saturday. the number of people in ICU wards rose to 741 from 726 on Saturday, with at least 506 of them requiring ventilators, the highest numbers recorded in Ontario during the entire virus pandemic.
Last week, a senior Ontario Health Ministry official said the hospital system will invoke triage protocols to determine who gets the highest level of care once the number of newly crowned patients admitted to the ICU reaches 900. In recent days, Ontario’s health ministry has said that between 60 and 80 per cent of all positive cases are infected with the variant virus, with the British variant accounting for the vast majority of cases. As of Saturday, the total number of vaccinations administered in Ontario reached 3.8 million doses. More than 345,000 people have now completed two doses of the vaccine. Amid the vaccine shortage, Ontario Premier Doug Ford issued a statement today asking consulates around the world for help in securing more vaccines for Ontario.
We are waiting for the federal government to lower the age of vaccination for the AstraZeneca vaccine, and to add insult to injury, the delivery of the Modena vaccine has been repeatedly delayed,” the statement said. So Premier Ford has begun reaching out to consulates to enlist the support of international partners to obtain more vaccines for Ontario.” The statement said Ontario has the capacity to vaccinate more people, but it was the lack of vaccine supply that affected the vaccination schedule.
It was reported that Canada was scheduled to receive 1.2 million doses of the Modena vaccine by the end of this month, and Ontario could receive about 500,000 doses, however, the batch has now been reduced to 650,000 doses. At the same time, the statement argues that the federal policy of only allowing people 55 years of age or older to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine has also affected the rate of vaccination in Ontario.
Currently, Ontario is calling on the federal government to lower the age for AstraZeneca vaccination as the number of new confirmed cases and hospital admissions in a single day continues to rise. The statement emphasized, “Vaccines are the only way to end this outbreak, and the Premier will do whatever it takes to get more Ontarians vaccinated as soon as possible.” As recently as Sunday evening, the Ontario government had announced. , starting Tuesday, April 20, individuals aged 40 and older will be able to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine at pharmacies and primary health care facilities.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced yesterday (18) at noon that he is in discussions with the provinces and territories to send more health care workers to Ontario, particularly to the Greater Toronto Area, where the outbreak is most severe. At the same time, more rapid testing agents will be distributed to Ontario, especially for essential service employees and their workplaces, in the hope of helping Ontario contain the ferocious third wave of the outbreak. Trudeau said he has discussed with the premiers of Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island and Scotia to see how the provinces can coordinate and work together to provide support to Ontario.
Trudeau said the federal government and some provinces will call in medical care and medical equipment to support Ontario in controlling the new crown outbreak. The federal government will cover all costs associated with providing this additional assistance, including the cost of flying health care workers to Ontario from their home provinces. Trudeau pledged to implement this assistance in terms of human resources and equipment for Ontario in the coming days.
In addition, in the face of a growing third wave of the epidemic, Canada’s Minister of Public Service and Procurement Anand also said yesterday that he would not rule out the use of the Federal Emergency Act (Canada Emergencies Act) to further tighten restrictions. The Federal Emergencies Act gives the federal government the power to issue executive orders and deploy public funds quickly after parliamentary review. However, Canada has never used this act in its history.
During the first wave of the epidemic last year, the federal government did not declare a state of emergency, but many provinces have declared public health emergencies and initiated emergency measures. Canada now faces a severe third outbreak, driven by a more contagious variant of the virus, and the health care system is already under threat of being overwhelmed. Anand, whose work also includes procuring vaccines for Canada, sidestepped the question of whether the federal government has failed in vaccine supply, stressing only that Canada has done well for a country that has not produced a new crown vaccine, having now received more than 12.7 million doses. Historically, Canada has used the War Measures Act three times in the past, during World War I, World War II and the October Crisis in 1970, which was repealed in 1988 and replaced by the Federal Emergency Act.
- The new federal budget: luxury car tax, childcare fee of $10 per day
The Trudeau government will release its budget on Monday afternoon as the number of new crown infections surges, with billions of dollars in pandemic recovery measures, $2 billion for national child care services, $10 a day for national child care fees and a new luxury tax.
Trudeau’s first budget package released in two years will set aside $12 billion to extend the wage and rent subsidy program through this fall, according to the Toronto Star. The subsidies, which were scheduled to expire in June, have been extended to September. The government will also announce a new “Canada Recovery Hiring Program” that will provide employers with subsidies of up to $1,100 for the first month of hiring new employees. According to the CBC, the new budget promises to spend more than $2 billion as the “starting point” for a national child care program that will be modeled on Quebec’s child care system, which is the envy of Ontarians, and will cost $10 a day and is expected to be implemented within the next 12 to 18 months. The plan is expected to be implemented in the next 12 to 18 months.
The federal deficit will be less than $400 billion in 2020-2021. Last November, the federal government projected a deficit of $381.6 billion, which would be the highest level since the Second World War. Other economic stimulus measures introduced in the new budget include a focus on climate and green infrastructure programs such as the Strategic Innovation Fund, which is open to multiple sectors, and may provide targeted support in specific industries that have been hard hit as well as new details on improving housing conditions, boosting the job market for Canadians to address unemployment.
The new budget includes a luxury tax on new cars and private jets worth more than C$100,000 and boats worth more than C$250,000 starting in 2022, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. A sales tax will be imposed on online and e-commerce platforms starting in July, and a digital services tax will be imposed on Web giants Google and Facebook starting in 2022. The finance minister pledged last November to provide an economic stimulus package of up to $100 billion over three years to kick-start an economic recovery that could be achieved by mid-election year, and the federal government has so far stood by that pledge.
In an interview with the CBC, federal Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson confirmed that the new budget will be ambitious and that the government will invest in jobs and growth to rebuild the economy, although he added that fiscal spending will be on a sustainable growth trajectory. The new budget faces a key political test, as the Liberals are a minority government and must secure the support of the opposition to get the budget passed. If the Liberals are unable to secure the support of another major party, the new budget could be overturned, triggering a federal election. The NDP had previously signaled that they would support the Liberal government as long as the epidemic raged, so a general election is not expected to happen.
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