MONTREAL — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says federal departments and some Canadian provinces are working to send health-care workers and equipment to help Ontario as it battles record-breaking COVID-19 numbers. Trudeau said in a video update today that health care workers employed by government departments such as national defence and immigration will be redeployed to Ontario, and the Greater Toronto area in particular.
Canada
April showers bring May flowers — and they may also bring snow to southern Ontario this week. Weather specialists are keeping a close eye on a system that could bring plenty of heavy wet snow to parts of the province by mid-week. It’s a double whammy situation.
At least one Calgary church leader is praising the decision by Alberta Health Services to shut down GraceLife Church west of Edmonton, after its pastor and congregants repeatedly defied public health orders for months. Fences were put up around the building on Wednesday after months of non-compliance with COVID-19 restrictions and charges pending against GraceLife pastor James Coates. In a media statement, AHS said it “physically closed” the building and has prevented access until the church “can demonstrate the ability to comply with Alberta’s chief medical officer of health’s restrictions.” Rev. Greg Glatz is the minister at Calgary’s Knox United Church and says GraceLife has flagrantly, and arrogantly, defied public health orders.
A section of temporary fencing put up around GraceLife Church west of Edmonton last week was pulled down by a group gathered outside the property Sunday morning. Global News video captured a group of people pulling down a section of the fence as RCMP officers stood on the other side, but other protesters attempted to put it back up and reprimanded them. The fence was put up around GraceLife Wednesday, April 7 at the direction of Alberta Health Services after the church failed to comply with the province’s COVID-19 restrictions throughout the pandemic. Hundreds of people gathered outside GraceLife on Sunday to protest the church’s closure. By 11 a.m., around 300 people were outside the church, some singing hymns at times as numerous RCMP officers stood at the roadway leading to the fenced-in church.
Scrapping “Trudeau’s carbon tax” is a core promise the Conservative Party has made to its supporters for years. O’Toole won the Conservative leadership race last year while repeatedly promising to get rid of it, even signing a pledge that he would never introduce a carbon tax of his own. When Conservative leader Erin O’Toole announced on Thursday that his party will include a carbon price on consumer fuels as part of their election platform, internal backlash was inevitable.
While it was certainly welcome news yesterday to hear of increases in the amount of Pfizer vaccines arriving in Canada next month and in June, it was disappointing to hear of the more immediate disruption in shipments of the Moderna vaccine. Ultimately, Canada will have large quantities of vaccine available — and that is undoubtedly a good thing — but we are in the throes of a very serious third wave at the moment and we need as much of a vaccine arsenal we can get. Obviously Moderna’s production issues are outside our control and we can’t just wave a magic wand and make vaccines appear. But at the very least we can do is make use of the resources we have here at the moment: specifically, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.