Parses captions for PM Trudeau's daily speeches and presents them in a more human readable format
Rosemary:
and that is the Prime Minister of Canada speaking after a couple of days off, going back to his regular 11:15 briefing to Canadians about how his government is handling COVID-19. Lots of news in there, let’s dig into it with both Vassy kapelos and David Cochrane. One of the things that I’ve been contemplating over a couple of days off was hearing other countries, European countries inparticular, start to talk about how they can unleash the economy little bit, remove some of the restrictions a little bit. The Prime Minister was asked about that as well. His response to reporters on that idea is the reality is it is going to be weeks still. This isn’t going to happen in Canada any time soon because of the number of cases we are stillseeing. Vassy, let me go to you. You can start wherever you want, but maybe we should start with the questions directly related to the news out of your program.
Vassy:
That was from tom Perry based on what Jason kenneysaid first about his intent or desire to not wait for health Canada to approve I believe he meant the serological test, those antibody tests and rely on regulators such as in the United States or the European union to get the tests quicker. The Prime Minister said that he understands these are unprecedented times and there is – people are anxious and can be impatient, but he deferred to the process that’s in place with health Canada. He also didn’t directly address the pointed comments from premier Kenny towards Dr. Tam. Premier kenney, just to remind our viewers, said Dr. Tam was repeating talking points from the people’s republic of china when she suggested there was no evidence to support human-to-human transmission. That’s what public health officials were telling people two months ago and that has beenproven to be wrong. He didn’t take the bait there and didn’t say anything directedat the premier or specifically about Dr. Tam, other than he continues to rely on her advice and believes in it and believes Canadians have confidence in it as well. That is one thing I would highlight. Not a huge specificity on the allegations from premier kenney, but it sounds like nothing will change with the government’s procedures and processes with health Canada and the potential approval of those tests or the process by which they will be approved. The other thing was a question to him as well on the weekend hespent. You mentioned he took two days off. He received lots of questions and conversation about whether he should have gone to see his family at the cottage. The central question there is wehave heard from public health officials across the country, don’t go to your cottage. This is not the time to go away. You’re supposed to be staying home. He got a few questions there in french, if that is the message to the public, why is it okay for you to go there. Again, he didn’t specifically address anything about that. That almost juxtapositioned. He repeated he said he was afterthree weeks in self-isolation going to go visit them over easter and that’s what he did.
Rosemary:
and I think the Prime Minister’s office would say that that is not a cottage, that it is one of his official residences. That’s at least the explanation they’re using. But both the Prime Minister and Andrew Scheer got similar kinds of questions today about the nature of their travel and whether they were actually practising what they preach. Neither of them really gave substantive answers for Canadians. David, over to you maybe on some of the procurement stuff.
David:
We’ve got news of four planes coming in had over the weekend delivering 1.4 million n95 masks and gloves which will be distributed to the provinces as soon as their verified by federal officials that they’re up to insufficient and also domestic gowns supply and also the tests being delivered from spartan bioscience. That’s an important help on the frontlines. The provinces are doing their own procurement measures from the United States. The federal government has built its own supply network out of china to bounce off the procurement efforts of the provincial governments. We’re talking about opening up. Look at these measures. They brought in a bunch more medical supplies. There’s $130 million specifically for northern communities, to ramp up their health systems and get food up there. There is a promise for rent support coming for businesses, which is a big demand for the small business sector going back through all of this and support for students and specific sectors and a mandatory quarantine requirement coming into place at midnight tonight for people returning to the country who don’t have a credible quarantine plan, they’re going to be forced to quarantine in a hotel. These are hunker down measures, not open-up measures. If you look at what everyone is doing, there is some talk of if this stays this way, maybe we can open up. The national effort still is on hunkering down, supporting people as much as they can, and building capacity in domestic P.P.E. Supply while buying what they can on the market to make sure the healthcare system doesn’t get overwhelmed as we move closer and closer to the peak of this epidemic, particularly in central Canada, in Ontario and quÉbec. If you look at what these measures tell us and not what the politicians are telling us, Canada is nowhere near ready open for business. Keep everyone home and safe.
Rosemary:
The Prime Minister said it would be weeks. At the same time, you’ve got the premier of Saskatchewan who is planning to gradually reopen the province next week if cases remain low. Obviously there are regionalizedpandemics inside the country so it will be different, but it will be interesting how that gets federal coordination.
David:
One thing on that too, Rosie, is you could gradually reopen something and think you’re okay and then there are more cases and you have to close it down again. The starts and stops is what people are keen to avoid. It is different in prince edwardisland where you can control who comes in and out of the province versus Ontario and quÉbec. There are sub epidemics at the municipal levels.
Rosemary:
I’m going to leave you two just for a moment as we wait for the federal briefing from cabinet ministers and federal health officials. I will add the Prime Minister was asked about the long-term care centres situation in this country. It is a provincial jurisdiction, so it is limited what the federal government can do beyondthe guidelines issued, but he says there are conversations with provinces particularly to see if they can increase benefits and salaries for those workers who don’t get paid enough to do the work they’re doing. Before we get to the top of the clock and information from our officials. Adrienne arsenault got a rare look inside a hospital, toronto’s humber river hospital, one of the most advanced for infectious diseases. Adrienne’s story revealed how workers are struggling to save lives, the emotional battles they are going through. It was an emotional story. One of the people in that story was Dr. Nimjee and she was on “the national”. she was on “the national” and makes time for me now. Thank you for making the time for us.
Interview:
My pleasure.
Rosemary:
It was very difficult to watch that piece that Adrienne did. I don’t know how you felt watching it yourself, but it wasvery, very raw. So I wanted your assessment of, is there anything else that you are – that you need at the hospital to make your job easier? that’s what it seemed to me that it was extremely – your job is difficult on a good day, but made so much more complicated by the pandemic.
Interview:
I mean, certainly that’s true. I think when we agreed to do this piece we really wanted to be able to give the public a sight line into what’s happening on the inside of hospitals. I think this piece allows for that to happen and really to put some human faces on this story, not just our faces and the faces of healthcare workers, but of those who are suffering and of the families at home who can’t reach their loved ones inside the hospital. That’s really what we wanted to get across. Certainly I know I was a part of that story, but there are so many people like me and it takes village.
Rosemary:
Obviously one of the things that struck, I’m sure everyone who watched it, was the situation with P.P.E. and how controlled it is in getting it to doctors and nurses. If the hospital knew that there was a more reliable stockpile, the Prime Minister just minutes ago said there’s tons more coming in terms of masks and gloves, but if you knew there was a more reliable stockpile, would that be more reassuring for you and your colleagues?
Interview:
Yeah, there’s no doubt about it. I think the level of commitment here is extraordinarily high and the anxiety that comes from the potential of getting yourself sick is really decreased when you have the right equipment, and that’s the P.P.E. That we require. Certainly we all understand and appreciate why we’re doing things so carefully here becausewe know that we need the P.P.E. To last because we’re really in this for the long haul. Hearing that we have more n95 masks coming our way and we’ve been able to secure surgical masks well as well and we’re working on a strategy for gowns makes a huge difference.
Rosemary:
There were some patients in the story last night and we didn’t know the outcome for all of the patients, but give me a sense how it is to treat people with COVID-19 versus someone who has a regular – an illness that you know better, for instance.
Interview:
Certainly there’s a lot of uncertainty for that individual, for that patient, and you have a lot of empathy and compassion for that. I think also for the fact that they’re alone and feeling a lot of loneliness and anxiety. and then you as an individual and healthcare worker going in and out of the room, needing to make sure you are meticulous about your P.P.E. Going in and out that room so you don’t contaminate yourself. Also doing more with your entry so you can decrease the number of times you have to go in and out of room if this is a high-risk case. Those are things we wouldn’t normally worry about.
Rosemary:
How do you, when you’re under such pressure and exhausted, how do you get your mind trained to do that so you don’t slip up at one moment and touch your face – give us a sense of how you train your mind.
Interview:
I think everybody is a little bit different but we depend on our team. Every time you’re going in to DOA high-risk procedure, you have someone watching and spotting tomake sure you do things right intaking off your P.P.E. So that you don’t contaminate yourself. When we’ve had a tough case and we’re feeling low on fuel, so tospeak, we prop each other up and remind ourselves why we’re doingthis. It’s that togetherness. This is about the community coming together and not about the individual. That’s true on the inside or the outside of the hospital.
Rosemary:
The Prime Minister was asked today about when some of these restrictions will be relaxed and the economy can start moving again. He said it would be weeks still. What would you say to Canadians who are maybe feeling antsy and would very much like to know when this will be over?
Interview:
I can empathize and understand you want your normalcy back. We all do. Until we have decent serologic testing and understand how many people have immunity, it’s hard to open things up again because you run the risk of looking like new York or an Italy which we don’t want to do. I think our public health officials and our leaders have done a great job of mitigating the risks as much as we can. We need to continue doing that until we have some good data that says we can confidently open things up safely.
Rosemary:
Thank you, Dr. Taslemm nimjee for sharing your time and coming on the show. Thank you for all the good work you do and stay healthy.
Interview:
Thank you.
Rosemary:
If you haven’t seen that piece with Dr. Nimjee, you should check it out on “the national’s” website. As we stand by for an update from federal health officials, we will give you a taste of the country. You can continue watching on CBC News network and CBC News. Ca. I’m rosemary Barton. [ please stand by ]
Rosemary:
He addressed concerns about the restriction sat Canada’s border with the United states. We are strengthening measures. Now, if asymptomatic travelers cannot explain a incredible quarantine plan, they will be required to quarantine in ahotel. This will come into effect at midnight tonight. We’re also announcing 20 million dollars for the Canadian food inspection agency to strengthen food inspections and keep our food supply safe. In regards to the americanborder, we recognise this will be important in terms of containing the COVID-19 incanada and we will continue to work with the Americans and people around the world to ensure that we continue with these restrictions.
Rosemary:
My colleagues are here as we wait for our federal briefing and let’s just touch on some of the things I’m not sure we got to in the last hour, particularly the return ofparliament. It is supposed to return onmonday if they cannot get agreement to suspend the sittings and it does not seem that agreement women be easilyreached, Vassy. Andrew Scheer saying he wants real accountability and believes that has to happen of some sort of in-person form.
Vassy:
This was attached to the conservative’s support of the waive subsidy programme, they ca med to have the two intertwined and backed down last weekend and instead decided to support the legislation and separate this issue. But you’re absolutely right. They bring it up and they want more accountability. They’re studying the possibility of a virtual parliament and how that may work but that’s an umber of weeks off. and the conservatives have said so far, they’re willing to look the the possibility of the virtual sittings but want that done in conjunction with something in-person. The government argued it wouldnot be inclusive to not have itonly in-person because it canonly involve a fewer number ofM.P.s, basically, and most wouldhave to be from this area. So they would be concentrated inareas in central Canada. There are provinces, forexample, let’s think aboutquebec or in atlantic canadawhere you can’t even leave theprovince right now and if youcome back, you have to be inself-isolation and that preventsanother impediment of fulfillingthat in-person sitting andhaving full regionalrepresentation and theconservatives insist, though, accountability is necessary andthere are a number of decisionsthey want to be able toscrutinize of the government andthey want to have more say whenit comes to measures like theone passed this weekend aroundthe wage subsidy or expandingthe crv. They would like more ability toscrutinize the government.
Rosemary:
I think all of that makes sense. I think those are legitimateconcerns, but it seems odd anddavid I’ll get you to weigh inhere – that the rest of the world is able to adapt to putting things online and being able to do their jobsdifferently. and yet, parliament seems stuck in some sort of, I don’t know what era, and can’t wrap its head up around doing it throughzoom. It doesn’t involve flying 338people to Ottawa who shouldn’tbe coming to Ottawa, frankly.
David:
The bedrock principle of accountability and direct accountability with the opposition particularly in minority parliament, but then there is the absolute health risk of putting a lot of people in a tiny space. So I don’t know if you would have a parliamentary sitting that goes along the lines we’veseen with the special sittings, like 30 to 35 people in theroom, all spaced out. But that becomes a challenge with regional representation asit’s very difficult for any of the Atlantic M.P.s to get therebecause of the mandatoryself-isolation orders that exist in those provinces. and correct me if I’m wrong, because I don’t know the details of what’s happening in everyprovince, but some of the provisional legislatures have agreed to suspend without great clamoring to bring thoseback. So that has been happening in the interest of public health and public safety. So this is a particularlychallenge. It has exposed fundamental weaknesses how we operate as acountry. The most glaring example how senior care and handled incanada and the second is how medical supply, how reliant we are with overseas manufacturing for things we urgently need on the front lines in Canada in the middle of a crisis and the third is how our government equips to function in 2020 the way businesses are supposed to function in 2020 through virtual operating fashion. This is something the government committees have all flirtedwith. It’s time to get serious and move beyond the flirtation phase and move to a serious commitment to find a way to get this up and running because it’s quite possible this is wave one of this pandemic and we need to find a way to function.
Rosemary:
I think the need for accountability in question sis the right one and I applaud the push for that. I just don’t know how to make itwork, but there seems there must be a solution. Just on the long-term care issueas we wait for a federalbriefing, this was an issue withdr. Tam saying more than half ofthe 800 deaths are connected tonursing homes, to senior’s hope, to long-term care centres andcertainly, we’ve seen outbreaks in those in Quebec and ontariothat have seemed to be, frankly, impossible almost unable tocontrol. Vassy, this seems to be verymuch in the province’s controlin terms of how to contain thisor change thins that afundamental way going forward.
Vassy:
The provinces have jurisdiction over these home sand then you have the added complication of some of them being public ally funded and privately funded. The Prime Minister hit on this, released a set of guidelines for homes across the country, but they are just that, because of jurisdictional issues. The federal government says they can just be guidelines. They’re not formal rules and if you break them, nothing specifichappen. One thing worth following up andi’m interested to see what has to be said is around the number of staff. So, for example, British Columbia introduced rule in long-term care homes astaff member can only work atone. So they can’t work at a bunch ofthem. The chief medical officerbelieves that contributed to anearlier, at least sign, offlattening the curve than we’veseen in other provinces. Certain provinces are saying, Ok. we’ll get on that, but notevery province has. It’s interesting that the Prime Minister would say that – hehit on it saying it was a goodidea. What does that mean? is there any ability for thefederal government to compelprovinces given the rate atwhich people are dying in thesehomes right across the countryto sort of elevate themselves toone set of standards? I take the point it’sguidelines. I take the point aroundjurisdiction, certainly, but ido think there are very genuinequestions. People who have loved ones inthese homes aren’t worriedwhether it’s the province orfederal government in charge. They want to make sure there’s aset of standards to better keeptheir loved ones safe in thisperilous time. I think the situation for peoplewith loved ones in those homesis a real scarry one right now.
Rosemary:
For sure. My producer equipped me withthis, there are over 4, 000canadians living in senior homes according to the last census. So that’s a lot of people in these homes. It does seem, David, as you pointed out, to have exposed some problems in terms of how we are looking after oldercanadians in this country. The situation we were talking about with peter and the loss of his father and his mother, that was a private home that clearly had ongoing underlying issues that the coroner and police are now investigating. But when you put a pandemic on top of that, it does seem to expose some fundamental flaws in terms of care for oldercanadians.
David:
You look at themake-up of elder care in thiscountry, it’s not well-trainedpeople looking after everybodywho is in some of these rooms. There’s four to a room, separated by curtains. You have attendants, long-termcare workers and a lot of them, as has been talked about, working in multiple homes to getthe hours they need to make endsmeet because they’re very oftenat the end of the economicladder. There have been short suppliesof ppe going into these placesand this has become, really, thefront line of dealing with thebreak-out of COVID-19 in thiscountry when you just look atthe sheer number of deaths andoutbreaks and the underlyingweaknesses that exist in thosesystems that are allowing thisto happen. I don’t know if this an issuethey consider about theemergencies act. The approach has been to allowthe provinces to handle itselfuntil they say we can’t do itany more and we need to step in. But you look at the success ofbritish columbia, bonnie henryvery smartly and early when thelynn valley outbreak happened, brought in a restriction ifyou’re a carehomeworker, youwork in one home and that is it. We’ve seen similar things inwindsor, where they said you caneither work in a canadianhospital or in an americanhospital but you’re not goingback and forth into both becausewe need to limit chains oftransmission as much as we can. So far, it hasn’t worked the wayeveryone had hoped in thelong-term care homes and that’swhere the urgent need forremedies exists right now.
Rosemary:
It takes political will because premier Horgan said something his government wanted to make sure happened and changed in the previousgovernment. I’ll leave it there and comeback. Thank you for your help andwe’ll go to the federal briefing with federal cabinet minister sand here is the deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.
As of today, the government of Canada is amending the federal quarantine act. All of those who arrive incanada by land, sea or air will have to self-isolate for 14days. This update to the federalquarantine orders will make itsuch that all of those whoarrive in Canada, whether or notthey have symptoms will have toisolate somewhere where theywill not be endangeringvulnerable people such asseniors or all people withpreexisting, underlying medicalconditions. Travelers will have todemonstrate that they have anappropriate self-isolation planwhere they will have access tofood and medication. They will have to demonstratethat they will not be nearvulnerable people. People traveling to Canada willhave to plan their quarantinelocation ahead of time. and all those who do not have anappropriate self-itis allegationor quarantine plan will have toself-isolate in a locationselected by the chief publichealth officer of Canada. This could be, for instance, ahotel. This is an additional step thatcanada is taking to protect thehealth of all Canadians.
The Prime Minister announced this morning as of tonight atmidnight, the government ofcanada is updating the emergency order under the quarantine act that requires all persons entering Canada whether by land, air or sea to isolate or quarantine for 14 days. With the updated order, any traveler arriving in Canada, whether they are symptomatic or asymptomatic is forbidden to isolate in a place where they will be in contact with people who are vulnerable, such as adults of 65 years of age or older and people of all ages with preexisting medicalconditions. Upon arrival, travelers will also need to confirm that they have a suitable place to isolate where they will have access to basic necessities such as food and medicine and will not come into contact with vulnerablepeople. Travelers arriving into canadaneed to make plans in advance for where they will isolate orquarantine. Any traveler who does not have an adequate place in which to isolate or quarantine themselves must go to a place designated by the chief public healthster of . these new measures are an additional layer in Canada’sactions to protect the health of all Canadians. This follows conversations with many provinces and the new measures we announced together with British Columbia last week. The measures which include a new legal requirement to provide aself-isolation plan supporttravel orders and support thisunder the quarantine actrequiring people entering canadato self-isolate for 14 days. and now today, we will hear fromcanada’s chief public healthofficer, Dr. Theresa tam and drrof northern affairs. (speaking french).
We will hear from the minister of health. So Dr. Tam, please.
Bonn jour. Our usual update on the number of COVID-19 cases in Canada and there are now 26, 631 cases including 823 deaths. These results, of course, changeover the day. So the lab testing, we’vecompleted tests for over 450, 000people with now close to 6%confirmed positive as canadacontinues to improve or testing to practise whether disease isspreading. These times have been challenging for all of us, but they can be especially hard forchildren. Children’s daily routines have been turned upside down expect things they have been most looking forward to have beencanceled. As for us, it is for them. Silence and secrets do not protect children. Honesty and openness do. We can talk to kids honestly and reassuring them we will get through this. Open discussion helps kids to separate fact from fiction and to look for ways to have some control and be mindful of theirconsumption. We can show children how to express gratitude for the efforts of everyone who is helping us through this time, like healthcare workers on the front line and all of the people working to keep our essential supplies open and grocery storesstocked. At the same time, it’s a lesson in all of the many roles that people play all across Canada to keep our society running. Over the weekend, I was reminded that this April marks the 40th yfox’s marathon of hope. Terry believed that anything is possible if you try and that even one person can make adifference. Although terry was not able to complete his journey, his spirit of hope remains with canadiansall these years later. Right now, we need to heed his message more than ever. The sacrifices we are making to maintain physical distancing are making a difference to slow the spread of COVID-19. So stay home, save lives andlet’s give our best efforts to plank the curve and then crushit. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Dr. Tam.
and now over to you, Dr. Nyoo.
Thank you. Hello. I will begin with our usual update on the number of COVID-19cases in Canada. There are now 26, 631 cases ofcovid-19 in Canada, including823 deaths. These results change daily andthroughout the day. As for lab testing, we havecompleted tests for over 450, 000people with now close to 6%confirmed positive. Canada continues to improvetesting to better track wherethe disease is spreading. These times have beenchallenging for all of us, but it can be especially hard forchildren. children’s’ daily routines havebeen turned upside down expectthings they’ve been most lookingforward to have been canceled. Children are the same as us inthat silence and secrets do notprotect them. Honesty and openness do. When we talk to childrenhonestly and reassure them we can get through this, we canhelp them rebuild theirresilience. Open discussions help kids tosort fact from fiction. Open discussion helps kids lookfor ways of having control andto be mindful of their mediaconsumption. We can also show our childrenhow to express gratitude for theefforts of everyone helping usthrough this time, likehealthcare workers on frontlines and all of the people whoare working hard to keep ouressential stores open andstocked. At the same time, this is alesson in the many roles thatpeople play in canadian societyto keep our society running. April 2020 marks the 40th anniversary of terryfox’s marathon of hope. Terry believed that anything ispossible if you try and thateven one person can make a bigdifference. Although terry was not able tocomplete his marathon of hope, his spirit of hope remains withcanadians 40 years later. Right now, we need to heedterry’s message which is moreimportant today than everbefore. The sacrifices we are making now to maintain physical distancingare making a difference inslowing the spread of kuhn. COVID-19. So let’s stay home and savelives and give it our all toplank this curve as soon aspossible.
Thank you, Dr. Njoo. a video link from Winnipeg, danvandell.
I have been in constant communication with territorial premiers as well as first nationinuit and met is partners across the north. We recognise that many canadiansare facing financial hardship and we have concerned for theirhealth, their jobs, their loved ones and their neighborhoods. This is especially true incanada’s north. There are exceptional challenges in meeting the unique needs of northerners in this pandemic. (speaking french).
Last month we announced305 million in funds to support the indigenous communities and organizations across Canada to address immediate needs related to COVID-19. This is in addition to inuithealth and complements other supports including firstnations, Inuit and metis. There are priorities to prepare for and to respond to thecovid-19 pandemic and to avoid the spread of the virus. Today we are announcing significant next steps to address concerns facing the north including support tohealthcare, nutrition and for air transport. The government of Canada is transferring $89.9 million to the territorial governments and to support continuity of air transportation services to northern communities. a majority of this funding is primarily for territorial healthcare systems including critical healthcare needs, preparedness and mitigationefforts. and as we know, airlines are critical link to maintaining the supply chain for the movement of essential goods and services. In order to do this, the government of Canada providing$17.3 million in immediate relief to support critical air transportation links on key central routes in Nunavut and northwest territories and in theyukon. (speaking french).
Today’s funding builds on the funding from March 11th for provisional and territorial healthcare needs and to support the increased costs and special circumstances facing territorialgovernments. Families are facing increased financial pressures and should not be worried about how to pay for nutritious food or essentialhouseholhouse supplies. We have investing $25 million to support northern families, in access be safe, nutritious food by increase the subsidy rate on the goods families depend on. We have also added cleaning is personal hygiene to eligible items in north Canada to all of the northern communities. I’m also very pleased that funding for the first year of the harvester’s support grant has been allocated to indigenous nations and partners and we are working diligently to flow the next wave of money quickly. This grant who developed with indigenous partners helps northerners to return to traditional harvesting andfood-sharing practises byalleviating the high costsassociated with the traditionalhunting and harvesting of foods. As you know, this crisis isevolving very rapidly and we will continue to support thehealth and safety ofnortherners. We will collaborate withterritorial, provisional andother partners to determinefuture responses as a part of our ongoing efforts to fightcovid-19. By ensuring we maintain ourphysical distancing, by stayinghome and connecting remotely asi As today, we can plank thecurve and get through thistogether. Thank you.
Ok. thank you very much, Dan. (speaking french).
We will now hear from the president of the treasury board. Go ahead.
Thank you, and helloeveryone. The Prime Minister spoke today about protection, about protecting those who work in healthcare and are protectingus. The Prime Minister spoke of the importance of collaboration of working with the provinces, especially in distributing and sharing Poe and tests that are so important for those working in the healthcare system. Another lawyer of protection was just presented to us by ministervandal, and that is to protect those living in Canada’s north and they face substantial hardship in social service’stransportation and getting critical supplies, such as food and medication. We must also protect our seniors living in long-term carefacilities, living in residents, front-line workers help them andprotect them. and we are working withprovinces and territories. We’re constantly in talks withprovinces and territories tobetter remunerate workers whohelp our seniors. One final message and layer ofprotection. Canadians need to be able tomake ends meet, stay healthy andkeep others healthy and that’swhy the canadian emergencyresponse benefit is soimportant. Last week, we received3.5 million applications for thecerb and we have received sixmillion applications for thecerb and 5.5 millions of whichhave been processed.
We are protecting the ability of Canadians to make ends meet and to look after the health of their loved ones is done by the provision of the canadaemergency response benefit so total of 3.5 million applications have been posted in of the last week and a total of six million since March 15th and 5.4 million have beentreated.
Thank you, jean-yves.
We will start with one question on the phone and onequestion, one follow-up.
Operator, over to you.
Please press star 1 at this time if you have a question. Our first question, please goahead. (speaking french).
Question, Lena dibb. I have a question about the newannouncement, about the federal quarantine orders. Why is it necessary to take this step now? I thought that when the act was originally announced, quarantine would necessarily be mandatory for everyone arriving in Canada. So have you been noticing, forexample, noncom appliance that makes this step necessary. Answer, thank you for thequestion. You are absolutely right thatself-isolation and quarantinefor in-coming travelers havebeen mandatory since the outset. But we are taking additionalsteps. This will give more tools intoolboxes to enforce quarantine. Dr. Njoo speaking. The federal orders under thequarantine act are alreadyenforced, but we are taking thisadditional step because thosewho arrive to Canada must havean adequate plan. We don’t want incoming travelersgoing to self-isolate withseniors over the age of 65 orwith those who have preexistingunderlying medical conditions. Those who arrive in Canada willhave to provide a detailed plan. They will have to demonstratethat they will have access toessential supplies such as foodand medication. To give you a bit moreinformation, we will be givingmasks to all incoming travelers, whether they have symptomming ornot. So we are taking this additionalstep in order to clarify andenforce what is mandatory. Follow-up question, lena dibb.
Please go ahead.
Question:
Good afternoon, everybody. I’m directing this question to the deputy Prime Minister but, perhaps, others will want toanswer. The leader of the opposition this morning was raising questions about the world health organization and he said he has concerns about the reliability of the data, the relationship with china and we’ve seen newreporting, raising some questions related to this in recent days. and so how much faith shouldcanadians have right now where they should be exercising caution or taking a second look at what they’re hold by theW.H.O.?
Thanks for the question, mike. When it comes to medical expertise and health expertise, the first people we rely on arecanada’s outstanding public health professionals. , our great team in Ottawa and the professionals across thecountry. We are lucky in Canada to have an excellent healthcare system and very, very smart public health professionals. When it comes to internationalcooperation, I think we all appreciate that the novelcoronavirus is a globalpandemic. and that does require international collaboration, multilateral collaboration. The W.H.O. is the internationalbody that coordinatesinternational response topandemics and so, of course, wework actively with the W.H.O. We also collaborate closely withother allies in other fora. Our Minister of health hasregularly been meeting with, including just last week, the g7health ministers, for example. I don’t know, patty, if youwould like to add anything.
I’ll just say a couple ofwords, yes. It’s important to realize that think that the W.H.O. is not astand-alone organization without multiple sources of research feeding into it. and when I think about the expert committee that Dr. Tam sits on, in fact, those committee meetings are extremely important for the world to coordinate its response tocoronavirus and I think that the deputy Prime Minister is exactlyright, that when we look at illness and disease in a globalsetting, in fact, we cannot defeat this virus or any virus or illness without or global partners and we’ve seen that multiple times with a variety of different illnesses. So I think we have these structures internationally and they play an important role and it is about the coordination ofresponse. I think, Dr. Tam, would you like to say a few things about the kinds of things discussed at the special committee? that might help to highlight how the thinking has evolved, forexample, as the research has.
I think the W.H.O. Doesconsist of all of the member’sstates, of which Canada is one. It taps into the community ofscientists, researchers, epidemiologists and I think ithas multiple committees and somelook at the research anddevelopment and some will lookat the surveillance in trying tokeep the world appraised of thelatest evolution in the virus, for example. So there are multitudes of manylayers of expert committees andthat is one of the key roles. For sure, nobody sort of cananticipate this evolution inknowledge, of course, of thevirus. People tried to get theinformation as fast as they can. I think as we progress, absolutely, the whole world hasto be able to provide epidemiccontrol of the virus for canadaand the rest of the word to lookat what the new normal mightlook like. But we’re dependent on othercountries, also, being able tocontrol their illness. and so I think now more thanever international collaborationis key.
Mike?
Question:
I understand, perhaps, you may not want to be showing doubt in a major international organization at this time. Be that as it may, Dr. Al red was supposed to give us an insight into the W.H.O. and now theopposition is saying that’sunfortunate, that shouldn’t havehappened. and they want to know more abouthow Canada is engaging with theW.H.O. In light of criticismsthat, again, keep continuing tosurface about whether china hasbeen living up to itsobligations, perhaps, or not inrelation to its work with theW.H.O. Could someone please addressthat concern that the W.H.O., that it was raised by the leaderof the opposition, very clearlythis morning in a pressconference.
Well, I’ll just add to whatwe’ve already said about the role of the W.H.O. and theimportance in terms ofunderstanding the globalpandemics and the trajectory ofillness around the world and howwe work together to manage that. I will say in terms of thehealth committee, we have beenregular participants at thehealth committee and as I’vementioned, Dr. Tam is an expertadviser to the committee atworld health organization that’sbeen leading the responsecoronavirus and we’ve beenavailable to the healthcommittee at every request. In fact, we spent numerous hoursa couple of weeks ago, I thinkdr. Tam, Dr. Njoo and myselfanswering the questions of thecommittee and we’ll continue dothat. This is, I believe, a time wherewe do need to pull together, notjust internationally, but alsonationally. This is an actual health crisisfor Canada and we work very hardto make sure that the oppositionhas an ability to ask thosequestions and has theinformation at their fingertipswhen they ask for it.
Thank you, Minister. Operator, next question, please.
Thank you, Merci. Our next question fromradio-Canada.
Question:
Hello. I’d like to know what provinces are asking of you, what support are provinces asking for asconcerns, retirement homes andlong-term care facilities andwhat type of hope could thefederal government provide? thank you for the question. We can offer different times ofsupports. Today the type of support thatwe are looking to give, in fact, that we’ve already given wasraised by the prime ministerthis morning. We have issued guidelines thatwere codeveloped by theprovinces, territories and thefederal government. Provinces play a key, key rolein helping our seniors. Another way that we can help isby sharing and distributingmedical equipment. It’s important to have themedical equipment not just inhospitals but in senior’s homes. We are sending out this medicalequipment at break-neck speed. and we’re very happy to be ableto help these essential workerssuch as nurses and caregivers inlong-tem care facilities. We’re happy to help theseworkers doing essential work inquebec and elsewhere in Canada. Prime Minister trudeau announcedlast Monday that we want to ensure that these workers haveworking conditions that aregood. We want to be able to hire andkeep people in these positions. Follow-up question.
Question:
Are you considering financial support? are you considering giving funding to help out theselong-term care facilities in soin Son many facilities, theydon’t have enough staff andequipment. Will you help other provinces? you have touched on importantthings. First, Quebec has taken a stepthat is very, very positive, which is to increase thesalaries of essential workersand you’ve also raised theimportant point that needs aresimilar everywhere in Canada. The federal government isconsidering financial supportsfor provinces and territories sothat they can continue to offerservices in long-termfacilities. Minister Freeland speaking. I would like to add, we arediscussing this with otherproblems. Thank you, and I will take anyother questions in the room.
I would like to continue on the long-term care facilities. Who are our leaders on thisissue? like, do we have anyone who isgetting it right and that we canlearn from?
Well, thank you for thequestion. and first of all, I just want to thank Minister deb Schultz in working with our team to come up with the long-term careguidancedocument taz are now podthere are people getting itright. It’s slow but coming. This is unlocking some of theanswers on how we reduce thetransmission of the illness. I think the guidance is quitebroad and I’m sure if you take alook, you’ll see the number ofrecommendations, but I do thinkthat there is a value in havinga larger conversation inlong-term care homes and the waywe manage those homes ingeneral. coronavirus and COVID-19 will bewith us for some time and giventhe epidemiology we know aboutthis virus, the disease patternwe know now, we’ll need to beprotecting our seniors for along time and I think there’s anargument to be made that thishas been an area that’s neededsome attention for a long time, as well.
You mentioned British Columbia and I was wondering if there are any other provinces taking strategies or strategies to send across the board that are latched on and working that we can apply across the country.
I’ll give this over todr. Tam. She may have more from the workshe’s been doing on the specialcommittee.
I would say that every province and territory are seized with doing bestpractises, so you’ve probably seen them publically, updatingcanadians on what they’re doing. They include things like restrictions of visitors and the new recommendation about wearing masks and also looking at improving howhehe facilities can screen health wokers, visitor sand residents. They are trying hard to do this and exchanging their ideas across the board. Over the last several days, you’ve seen many provinces trying to strengthen whatthey’re doing because of knowing the epidemiology itself.
Question:
Ian wood, ctvnews. You’ve told us that Canada has relied on the W.H.O. Forintelligence on a global level, knowing what’s happening abroadfor information and dataregarding COVID-19. But was Canada assisted by anyother sources of intelligence, in our own intelligencecommunity in knowing what wasgoing on abroad? if so, when did we first get analert from this intelligencesource that there was a pandemicissue?
So we actually scan global media and other open sources for information on a daily basis. We have a system in canadacalled the public intelligence network and we do that from public health perspective. We were able to detect, as well as other public health intelligent sources, the unusual outbreak in Wuhan when we were alerted and I had already communicated by the ND ofjanuary when we thought this looks a bit unusual. That was before we knew what virus caused this. So that public intelligence is very much alive.
We have personal contacts with our counterparts across theworld, including the United States and I had daily phone calls with the head of infectious disease son the head of the CDC even from the beginning of January. There was a lot of sharing of information between ourselvesesand the CD c.
Question:
My second questioni’ll direct towards the deputy prime Minister. Intelligence experts have suggested as we’ve just talked about that we have anoverreliance on open-sourcedata, what was being given, say, to the W.H.O. We received, monitoring media, that sort ofthing. So with regard to the intelligence community, when did we get intelligence from china that there was something bigger, greater than what was being see non open-source data? and was our intelligencecommunity prime to act on thissort of information they werereceiving?
Well, as you’ve alreadyheard, Ian, our public health officials were very seized of this issue from the beginning ofjanuary and were very involve din conversations both in canadaand around the world about what this novel coronavirus was. When it comes to Canada’sintelligence partners and intelligence sharing, we have, of course, talked about thecoronavirus with our intelligence partners very energetically throughout thiscrisis. For reasons of confidentiality, I’m not going to go into thespecifics, but there has been, in a decision to the work done by the public health officials, there has been intelligence conversations around this. Wit hour closest allies.
Question:
Julie vanduesenwith CBC. This is about Jason Kenny and what he said about jumping on tests and vaccine, circumvent health Canada if it takes too long and he took some swipes at you about your positions on borders and human transmission. What do you say about that? and maybe you would like to jumping, too.
Well, thank you very much and first of all, just to say that we are so grateful as a deputy prime Minister has said to have the leadership of Dr. Tam anddr. Njoo and the entire health team working day and night to help us as a country manage thecoronavirus, COVID-19 and our response to it. I will also say that I also have confidence in how hard healthcanada is looking at every potential tool, every potentialdrug, every potential avenue to both treat and protectcanadians. But I will also say it’simportant and I think canadianswould want to know this, that we validate these things using science to make sure that they are effective, that they are not dangerous and that they are use din appropriate ways with scientific guidance. and so, we work, as I said, extremely diligently, as always, but more so now during this time and I just want to thank the public servants for how hard they are working to expedite approvals of tests, for example, or other kinds of equipment that we need.
Question:
Theresa tam, maybe you could answer. Do you think he’s trying to undermine you?
I think collaboration with the chief medical officers, including the chief medical officer in Alberta and we work really well together and all of us are trying very hard thatcanada across the board is giving us our best response. and I do think that canadacolleagues have authorized a lot that Canadians can use. They’ve sort of authorized 51devices and 13 authorizations for test kits, 39 authors es fornon-in-vitro diagnosis and thelist goes on. But we want to ensure safety andi think the health communityunderstands that. Certainly we encourage, also, the use of medications that theybe used in the context ofclinical trials, as well, because that ensures the fastestway to get some results, as towhether they’re effective or notand whether they are safe and ithink that’s really important.
Question:
There would be third question, Julie. We’re already a little short ontime. So one question on the phone.
One final sentence or twosentences, if I may. So Julie, I think when it comes to Canada’s response to the novel coronavirus, I would highlight two real strengths that we have shown as a country. The first is across the country, we have shown that we are country that does believe in the value of expertise and in the value of science at the federallevel. That has meant we’ve understood the importance of our public health officials, Dr. Tam anddr. Njoo, playing a central role and in provinces across thecountry, the public chief health officers have been central to responses in municipalities across the country, chief public health officers have been central to municipal responses. I have observed as a former journalist that chief public health officers across the whole country have become thisgeneration’s rock stars and that is entirely appropriate. The second strengthful our national response, I think, has been a very strong collaboration between the federal government and provisional governments. That’s essential always, but Otis particularly important when we face a shared health crisis, a crisis where provinces deliverfront-line healthcare and wherethe federal government needs toplay an essential role, as well. Our approach is going to be tocontinue to build up and usethose two core strengths ofcanada’s response.
Thank you, deputy Prime Minister. We’re already running short on time so one last question on the phone before we turn back to the room for one last question. Operator.
Thank you. Our next question, please.
Question:
Good afternoon. The new quarantine rules forin-coming travelers, I have aquestion about that. For those who will have to bequarantined in a hotel, willthat be at their own expense orwill the government be footingthe bill. Dr. Njoo talking. The federal government will bepaying costs if we have toquarantine someone, then thefederal government will bepaying the bill. Follow-up question, and iniunderstand no problems haverequested that the canadian armforces help out but can themedical corps help workers insenior centres and seniorresidences that are reallyoverwhelmed? patty hadju, answer. We have an online portal inwhich volunteers can offer theirservices to help problems with anumber of things, includinghelping out in senior centres. Answer, Chrystia Freeland, themedical corps of the medicalarmed forces are today alreadyparticipating in canadasefforts to fight the virus allover the country. Answer, the canadian armedforces have the ability to helpout if the provinces make a arerequest. Question for Minister ducloves. What is occurring? the situation in long-templecare facilities, we could haveseen it coming and do you thinkthese facilities underpreparedor not prepared moreover shouldsome hospital resources havebeen transferred directly tolong-term care facilities forseniors? this is a great question thatyou’re answering and yourquestion is about provisionaland territory logistics andperhaps Minister hajdu wouldlike to answer. I would like to answer inenglish because it’s differentfor me to express myself infrench.
I heard the question.
Perfect.
I think your question is one that I answered earlier for another reporter, but I thinki’ll expand a bit because think it’s a real important question about the way that we value people who care for people and I’ve talked about this a lot and I’m going to step out on limb and talk about it againtoday. and I was the Minister of statuswomen, as you know, when I was first appointed and worked on the gender wage gap. You may ask, how is thisrelated? but it is related because, infact, we tend to devalue the work of caring for people and think this is an opportunity forcanada to think about how we value those who serve the most vulnerable in our societies, whether it is old people or whether it is children and used to wonders when I was the minister of status women why Otis we value more people who cared for vehicles than people who cared for people. I think this is an opportunity for Canada to actually think more about how we will move forward with the stronger system of care for people who areaging. Because, in fact, all of the us in this room will end up there and these are our mothers and fathers and our grandparents an daunts and uncles. Most of us have had an experience of visiting someone we love in a long-term carehome. There are some that are runvery, very well and notuniversally terrible but thereare others that struggle andsome of it is around the way wepay people and some of it is theway we care for those facilitiesand some of it is the way thatwe can conceptualize aging. That is a large project forcanada but it’s one I’m excitedabout, tale. Actually, because I thinkin every crisis there’s a silverlining and with provinces andterritories to think about howwe will move forward from thistime and really refocus orefforts to make sure thateverybody has opportunity to agein dignity with the care theydeserve at the end of theirlife.
Follow-up question. This is a question for ministerfreeland.
Question:
Can you tell us what stage your discussions are at with the United States with reopening our shared border with nonessential travel? answer, Minister Freeland. We put in place restrictions on nonessential travel at our shared border and we said at that time that we would reassess in 30 days. We work very closely with ouramerican partners. We talk to our americanneighbours and counterparts several times a day. Here is Canada’s stance. We feel that at this point, Otis too early to envision lifting travel restrictions. As the Prime Minister said thismorning, we feel that it’simportant to add tools to our toolbox to make sure that the border restrictions be fully enforced and mandatory. Now is not the time to be lifting restrictions. I am absolutely certain that our shared border will be open again one day, open to all, but fornow, we must continue to prioritize the health ofcanadians and Americans. Thank you, deputy Prime Minister, that concludes the press conference.
Rosemary:
and that is our daily federal briefing from the cabinet ministers and federal public health officials. They’re giving us a possibility of how Canada is coping with thechinatown. COVID-19. I’ll start on the long-term careissue. (please stand by)
Rosemary:
That becomes an issue of the spread of viruses or illnesses when they’re working at different places.
David:
I heard from the health Minister who said we tend to devalue the care of those this way. In the crisis unfolding in this pandemic, that may start a conversation about how to fix it and make elder care better. a transient workforce bouncing back and forth between facilities and people in a room with just a curtain or a drape separating each other. When you look at what the public health guideline is to limit contact and physically distance as much as you can, those are not the conditions that are existing in these long-term carehomes in this country and the special needs homes that are problematic as COVID-19 COVES through the population. We saw a very smart and early move by British Columbia to limit the workers to a single place so they weren’t bouncing back and forth between locations, they were only in onehome, and that would limit contact and reduce the spread. That seems to have worked there. British Columbia seems to have abetter handle on this than some other provinces, but most notably in long-term care. If you look at the facilities reporting an outbreak and look at the terrible number of deathsthat we’re seeing, right now these are the hot spots in the country. This is – last week we were talking urgent about P.P.E. and seeing supplies coming in. We are seeing Alberta that has amarvellous and super-advanced digital procurement system generously sharing its supplies with other provinces in need. The urgent focus right now is onthis ongoing crisis in long-termcare homes in central Canada, inontario and quÉbec.
Rosemary:
We heard about the cases in quÉbec. I’ll update on the situation in Ontario in terms of the care centres. There’s outbreaks in 89 care homes right now. At least 120 deaths as of Sunday. So they are certainly the most vulnerable people to this virus. Unfortunately, no one seems to have a good handle on how to deal with it at this stage. Let’s go back to some of the highlights from the Prime Minister if we can do that. That is I think where the news primarily came from today. He does suggest that there will be – I mean, it does sound likethere’s a lot more measures coming to deal with some of the people who would not have been included in the previous measures announced in benefits, but there will also be some sect oral announcements very soon as well. We know that the oil and gas sector in particular, transportation, others are all waiting anxiously for that too, David.
David:
You saw a lot of things from the Prime Minister, procurement, 1.1 million n95 masks and gloves and the capacity they’re building up. We saw the benefits of that in terms of the gown supply as well as the rapid test kits that we redeveloped by spartan bio science here in Ottawa. Tens of thousands of those are going to be ready for use in Canada basically now. You’re right, the economic initiatives, there’s $130 million for the north because of their acute needs to bring in fresh food and also the promise of rent help. Fixed costs like rent haven’t been covered by anything. The promise there and also for students.
Rosemary:
Thank you, David, with your help on our coverage. You can catch David on “the national.” My thanks to Vassy as well. You can watch Vassy on “power & politics” later. I will leave you with the briefing from quÉbec city. FranÇois legault, the premier, and other officials giving the briefing. I’ll hand you over to Andrew Nichols, My colleague, and see you tomorrow.
Premier François Legault:
[voice of interpreter] of course our great