PM under pressure to flesh out promise to top up pay for long-term care workers
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be under pressure today to flesh out his promise to do more to protect seniors in long-term care homes, which have been hardest hit by the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.
Trudeau promised earlier this week that the federal government would provide funding to top up the wages earned by essential workers in nursing homes who earn less than $2,500 a month.
That promise was discussed during a conference call among first ministers late Thursday.
No details of the call were immediately forthcoming, other than a brief summary of the discussion issued by the Prime Minister's Office which said first ministers "agreed on the urgent need to ensure long-term care facilities have the resources they need to protect the health and well-being of their residents and workers."
Since the salaries paid to workers in long-term care homes fall under provincial jurisdiction, Trudeau has been clear that whatever the federal government does must be in collaboration with the provinces.
Seniors Minister Deb Schulte told CBC News late Thursday that the federal government will boost transfer payments to the provinces and territories to allow them to top up wages. She did not say how much money Ottawa is prepared to ante up.
Personal support workers in nursing homes often work poorly paid part-time jobs in multiple facilities, which has contributed to the spread of COVID-19.
Topping up their wages is intended to compensate them for orders in some provinces that ban them from working in more than one facility. It's also intended to encourage them to stay on a job that has become increasingly risky as COVID-19 sweeps like wildfire through long-term care homes across Canada.
About half of Canada's more than 1,000 deaths from COVID-19 have involved residents of long-term care facilities.
Quebec has already announced it will top up the wages of essential workers in nursing homes; Ontario Premier Doug Ford indicated Thursday that his province will follow suit but first he wanted to see what financial assistance Ottawa would offer.
Trudeau's government will also be under pressure today from the Conservatives to have in-person sittings of the House of Commons throughout the crisis.
Parliament has been adjourned since mid-March, except for two single-day sittings to pass emergency aid legislation. It is to resume business as usual on Monday, unless all four recognized parties in the Commons agree to a further suspension of business.
Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer is insisting that a small group of MPs must sit up to four days each week in the Commons in order to hold the government to account for what he contends is a sloppy response to the health crisis.
Until the logistics for a virtual Parliament can be worked out, Trudeau's Liberals have offered to sit one day a week, with two or three hours devoted to what's called committee of the whole, which would allow for longer questions and more thorough answers than are allowed during the normal 45-minute daily question period.
In a letter late Thursday to Commons Speaker Anthony Rota, Conservative whip Mark Strahl argued that regular sittings could be done safely without putting at risk the health of MPs or Commons staff at a time when all Canadians are being advised to keep two-metres physical distance from one another and stay home as much as possible.
Strahl said only essential staff necessary for the operation of the Commons should be required to work, they should be issued with masks and gloves where necessary and hand sanitizing stations should be set up at entrances and exits of the Commons and other strategic locations throughout the parliamentary precinct.
The latest numbers on COVID-19 in Canada
The latest numbers of confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 4 a.m. ET on April 17, 2020:
There are 30,106 confirmed and presumptive cases in Canada.
_ Quebec: 15,857 confirmed (including 630 deaths, 2,841 resolved)
_ Ontario: 8,961 confirmed (including 423 deaths, 4,194 resolved)
_ Alberta: 2,158 confirmed (including 50 deaths, 914 resolved)
_ British Columbia: 1,575 confirmed (including 78 deaths, 983 resolved)
_ Nova Scotia: 579 confirmed (including 3 deaths, 176 resolved)
_ Saskatchewan: 305 confirmed (including 4 deaths, 219 resolved)
_ Newfoundland and Labrador: 252 confirmed (including 3 deaths, 170 resolved)
_ Manitoba: 239 confirmed (including 5 deaths, 121 resolved), 11 presumptive
_ New Brunswick: 117 confirmed (including 80 resolved)
_ Prince Edward Island: 26 confirmed (including 23 resolved)
_ Repatriated Canadians: 13 confirmed
_ Yukon: 8 confirmed (including 6 resolved)
_ Northwest Territories: 5 confirmed (including 2 resolved)
_ Nunavut: No confirmed cases
_ Total: 30,106 (11 presumptive, 30,095 confirmed including 1,196 deaths, 9,729 resolved)
Champagne, Ukraine reject Iran crash report suggesting immunity for Tehran
OTTAWA — Canada and Ukraine flatly rejected a report suggesting the Iranian regime was seeking immunity from future legal action after shooting down a passenger jet in January.
The Iranian military shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 on Jan. 8 shortly after it took off from Tehran, killing all 176 people aboard, including 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents.
Iran has yet to deliver on its promise to surrender the flight recorders from the downed airliner to the Ukrainian government, a pledge that came during the March 11 meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organization in Montreal.
Earlier this week, a report from Radio Farda said Iran wants Ukraine to sign a memorandum of understanding in which the families of the crash victims would sign away their future rights for legal compensation.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard fired two missiles at the commercial airliner, but Radio Farda says Iran wants Ukraine to accept that "human error" was the cause of the plane's downing.
Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne says he has not seen the proposed Iranian memo, and that there is no chance that Canada, Ukraine or any of the other countries that lost citizens would ever agree to waive their rights to hold Iran to account.
"That would not be in line with the discussion we have had so far and the resolve we have shown to stand up for justice for the families," Champagne said Thursday in an interview with The Canadian Press.
"Some entities may want to spread some information that may not be accurate," the minister added.
"I would be a little bit careful at this time that there might be actors that might want to spread rumours, at a time where the grieving families are looking for facts. They are grieving, and they want to be reassured that we are all working in a similar fashion to achieve that."
Radio Farda is a Persian-language broadcaster that is part of the independent Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty network funded by the U.S. Agency for Global Media.
Thursday marked 100 days since the crash, and Ukraine's ambassador to Canada said his country is losing patience with Iran, regardless of the formidable challenges the country has faced in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Andriy Shevchenko, the Ukrainian envoy, said his government may consider other "mechanisms" to force Iran to hand over the black boxes but he declined to say what those might be.
"We are very dissatisfied with the non-progress on this," he said in an interview Thursday. "We've had more than enough time to have some action and some concrete steps on this."
Shevchenko confirmed that his government received a memo from Iran that he called "a working document that does not address all the issues we want to be covered." He said the memo deals with the issue of compensation.
Shevchenko said Thursday's anniversary of the incident was significant.
"It's 100 days today. We have had too much grief, too few answers and too little action."
On Wednesday, the international group comprised of the countries that lost nationals in the crash — Canada, Ukraine, Sweden, Afghanistan and Britain — held a teleconference during which they discussed another avenue of compensation for the grieving families.
Champagne said the group received an update from the lawyer representing Ukraine International Airlines and its insurance company to check on the progress of the statutory compensation that the airline is required to pay to the families of the victims under international civil aviation rules.
"It's a private matter between the families and the airline. But since the beginning I've paid a particular interest," Champagne explained. He said he and his fellow foreign ministers want to do what they can to help the process along.
"We got a status report from the law firm," said Champagne, but he had no timeline on when that process might bring results for grieving families.
Last month, the government appointed former Liberal cabinet minister Ralph Goodale as its special adviser to the Ukraine plane crash investigation. The former Saskatchewan MP held many portfolios, including Public Safety, which oversees the RCMP.
Champagne said Goodale has been talking to the victims' families "for a good part of the week."
Grieving families have previously complained the government became too preoccupied with the pandemic to deal with them.
Trump wants some states to reopen soon but new outbreaks continue in nursing homes and food processing plants
President Donald Trump told governors they can reopen their states soon if they want but health officials across the country are still battling numerous coronavirus outbreaks.
"Our national shutdown is not a sustainable long-term solution," Trump told reporters.
Trump unveiled new guidelines on Thursday to help states loosen social distancing restrictions and restart the economy. The guidelines, which won't be mandatory, suggest a phased approach that will still keep schools closed and allow some restaurants and gyms to operate under social distancing protocols. Each governor will ultimately decide on how and when to open.
We are not opening all at once, but one careful step at a time," Trump said. "And some states will be able to open up sooner than others. Some states are not in the kind of trouble that others are in.
While the number of new cases is dropping in some states, health officials have identified new outbreaks. In New Hampshire, clusters were identified at three long-term care facilities, according to Lori Shibinette, health commissioner with the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services.
Meanwhile, more than half of the 143 new cases of Covid-19 in South Dakota were linked to the Smithfield Foods plant, one of the country's largest pork processing facilities, a spokesman with the state's health department said.
An influential model previously cited by the White House shows that number of new cases has dropped on a national level while "places like New York seem to be stuck at the peak for longer than we originally expected."
Dr. Christopher Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, told CNN's Anderson Cooper during CNN's coronavirus town hall those hot spots are seeing longer peaks than what Spain and Italy experienced. He noted that Southern states will not be hit as hard as initially estimated.
More than 670,000 people have tested positive in the US with at least 33,101 deaths linked to the virus, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. About 4,811 deaths were reported Wednesday alone.
It's unclear whether the latest death toll includes probable cases. Federal health officials have said they'll start including probable cases, which meet clinical criteria for symptoms and evidence of Covid-19 -- but with no lab test confirming the disease.
Governors extended stay-at-home orders and formed pacts
Several governors extended stay-at-home orders to fight the coronavirus and new partnerships had emerged among them before Trump told them they will call their "own shots."
Seven states -- Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky -- will work together to reopen the Midwest regional economy, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced.
"We will make decisions based on facts, science, and recommendations from experts in health care, business, labor, and education," Whitmer said in a statement.
New York and six other Northeast states extended stay-at-home orders through at least May 15. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has said his city will likely not permit public sporting events and concerts until next year.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards announced the creation of the "Resilient Louisiana" task force, which will work toward the reopening of the state's economy.
Edwards says experts will make recommendations on how to reopen businesses in a way that adequately protects public health.
More testing is needed before reopening, officials say
Before social distancing mandates are relaxed, authorities and experts say that increased coronavirus testing will have to be conducted nationwide to track how much the virus has penetrated communities and enable officials to separate those who are infected.
Following Trump's call with the governors, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper emphasized the need for testing and personal protective equipment, noting the federal government should step in.
"We will continue working with our federal and local partners to beat this virus, protect people's health and recover our economy," Cooper said in a statement.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee called rapid testing the key to determining when emergency restrictions can be lifted. "We need to build the equivalent of a fire brigade," he said.
Unemployment claims continue rising
Another 5.2 million Americans filed for their first week of unemployment benefits in the period ending April 11, according to new figures by the US Department of Labor.
In total, 22 million people have filed first-time claims since mid-March as the pandemic forces businesses to close and lay off workers.
The Small Business Administration said it had run out money for the Paycheck Protection Program and was unable to accept new applications.
With the $349 billion emergency small business lending program out of funds, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Democrats will reconvene Thursday on a package to increase funding immediately.
Former Vice President Joe Biden called choosing between reopening the economy and ending the pandemic a "false choice."
"Look, I think it's a false choice to say you have to choose between the economy and our health. If you don't fix the health side of it, the economy is never going to get right," he said during CNN's coronavirus townhall on Thursday.
Protesters rally against restrictions in two states
Medical experts have emphasized that the key to fewer coronavirus cases is for people to practice social distancing. As a result, all but seven states are under stay-at-home orders from their governors.
But in at least two states, protesters rallied against the social distancing mandates, calling them a violation of individual freedoms.
In Lansing, Michigan, vehicles jammed several streets around the Capitol in a protest organized by conservative groups against Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
"It's time for our state to be opened up. We're tired of not being able to buy the things that we need," Brenda Essman of Kalamazoo told CNN affiliate WLNS. "We need to open our businesses."
And in Raleigh, North Carolina, demonstrators gathered outside the state legislative building Tuesday to protest the state's stay-at-home order, CNN affiliate WRAL reported. Police officers told them they were defying social distancing rules by standing too close together, and asked them to disperse. Most left.
Michigan is one of the hardest-hit states with nearly 2,000 deaths reported while North Carolina has had 135.
Companies report changes in testing
Some commercial lab companies say they've seen some recent decline in demand for coronavirus tests following weeks of increases.
Quest Diagnostics said demand declined in recent days, allowing the company to wipe out the remnants of its coronavirus test backlog. Its average turnaround time is now less than two days.
Another company, Eurofins USA, said its labs have excess testing capacity, in part because many hospitals are now testing in-house. A company spokesperson said another contributing factor is some of its labs have been denied entry into some insurance plan networks.
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Thank you for doing all you can to flatten and crush the curve!
We are seeing positive signs that our efforts are working, so stay strong.
We are seeing positive signs that our efforts are working, so stay strong.
All My Best
Lalaka
The Founder/CEO at Sahar-TV Network.
Lalaka
The Founder/CEO at Sahar-TV Network.
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