Parses captions for PM Trudeau's daily speeches and presents them in a more human readable format
Rosemary:
That is the Prime Minister of Canada giving us his daily briefing today. The focus on the wage subsidy programme which starts today, which brings me to our next guest who I’m going to try to squeeze in before the top of the hour and that is Michael Carmichael. We have spoke to him before. The president of c. E.a. Up awe a toe. You laid off more than half your staff, michael. Do you plan to tap into this programme? have you already applied this morning?
We have already applied and Keisha, My controller, has been on the site already and it is a programme we’re very excited about and to have brought 10 people back on because of it.
Rosemary:
Has your application gone through? do you have a sense of how easy or difficult it was?
I think understanding the various mechanics of what categories of kind of wages are covered and a just kind of doing the math to figure out who, you know, who’s the net beneficiary of the programme has been some – you know, there’s been some movement and learning on that absolutely. But I think once we get the mechanics of equation down, it is pretty straight forward.
Rosemary:
So that is 10 people you can bring back. Do you anticipate bringing more people back or are there people paid outside the subsidy and then becomes too costly for you to bring them back, making you make up part of the difference.
It comes down to balancing between who is, you know, relative to being on the CERB versus coming back. Some people, it is a material difference. As I made those calls last week to folks bringing back on it, you know there’s more motherly cash flow to make sure you’re supporting the local restaurants and, you know, do what you can to get the economy going with this increase of cash flow and, you know, as the Prime Minister said, it is critical to keep folks koekted to us as the employer and keep the dialogue and the relationship going and make people feel confident that they have a role to come back to and that is a major plank of what this subsidy allows us to do from a liquidity and survivability, ultimately.
Rosemary:
Ok. Michael Carmichael, sorry I didn’t have more time for you. Appreciate getting your instant reaction and glad it went Ok.for you. That’s michael carmichael, a car dealership owner, who will take advantage of that wage subsidy programme, bringing back 10 employees. The Prime Minister says more than 10, 000 businesses have applied as of 6:00 AM this morning. That ends our coverage here on cbc news. If you want to continue watching, cbc news network, CBC News. Ca. Thank you for watching.
Rosemary:
Hi, again. I’m rosemary Barton near Ottawa. Join join on CBC news network, streaming wherever you might be in the world, on CBC News. Ca and our CBC news app. We’re tracking the big developments on COVID-19 at this hour. The Prime Minister confirming just moments ago that 10, 000 businesses have already applied for the government’s wage subsidy programme. Subside we’re tracking all of those stories. Let me bring in My colleagues, David Cochrane and host of “power & politics”, Vassy kapelos. We can talk about wage subsidy, if you like. I wouldn’t mind starting with the things that the Prime Minister said around the re-opening of the economy and some clear messages he had as well around the notion of herd immunity, which is something that Dr. Tam was asked about on the weekend because it is a notion, certainly that – I mean, it exists scientifically, certainly. But in Quebec, they were sort of predicating a re-opening of the economy on that idea. and it doesn’t sound like the science backs that up for now. I’ll get both of you to weigh in on those things because it was sort of interesting to hear the Prime Minister. Vassy?
Vassy:
Yeah. Dr. Tam earlier this weekend was quite clear that the science doesn’t back that up at this moment in time. We’ve seen some evidence of that in jurisdictions around the world, that decided to pursue the herd immunity route from the start, that it didn’t work and they had to backtrack and a end up closing their economy like our country did and other countries, of course, in the world. I think the other interesting thing to hit on, the Prime Minister said it was too early to talk about that and conjunction ally also talked about something else that Dr. Tam talked about this weekend and that is around her hesitancy to proclaim the inevitability of a vaccine. We’ve heard from the Prime Minister that a full return to normal won’t happen until there is a vaccine. There isn’t always a vaccine. I think it is unprecedented what Dr. Bogosh and other infection disease specialists have told us, the number of teams – I think there is 86 around the world working on the possibility of this vaccine. In no way do I want to say it is not going happen. But there are instances in the past where no vaccine has been found and you heard the Prime Minister amend a question saying that there won’t be any kind of normalcy or that full return to normal, I’m paraphrasing for a second. But unless there’s a vaccine or a suite or set of treatments that can help mitigate the public health effects of this – of the spread of this virus so I think it is sort of interesting as we follow this almost bouncing ball to know that there isn’t a guarantee of a set of treatments or vaccines which is unnerving because we’re being told so constantly that while we can carefully re-open sectors of the economy, we won’t be living a normal life where we’re traveling or all businesses are open or sitting next to each other closely in a restaurant until there is some sort of treatment or some kind of vaccine. Again with the caveat that there are so many scientist and unprecedented number of scientists working on it right now.
Rosemary:
There is a good story on “the national” last night and on our website right now about the many Canadian scientists that are doing that because the government punched a lot of money into that as woel. I think last week it was maybe Dr. Tam who made the comparison to aids or maybe it was you, day. – you, David, I don’t know. But we were talking about how aids doesn’t have a vaccine, but there is plenty of treatment now for people who are HIV Positive. I’m not saying that, you know, where we know where we’re going but I think your spoils a good one, Vassy, that we might be looking just for some way to protect ourselves or heal as opposed to a vaccine. Depending on how things go. David, lots of talk there, too, about the re-opening of the economy and he was very careful when asked by a french reporter, quÉbÉcois reporter, about whether they were going to, you know, make sure the provinces were doing the right thing. He was very careful to say no, no, no we’re not the boss of the province. That is not how it is going go.
Reporter:
We keep saying re-opening the economy and I wonder if that is too narrow because schools and things like that are part of the conversation. It is really re-opening society in a lot of ways and the conversation on Friday at the first ministers meeting was, look, we need a national sense of how to do this. The final call rests with the provinces and in some cases m*um – municipalities on how they’re going operate in certain ways. Take, for example a trucking company that goes across different boardses. Once a general idea of what it would be if it has to do with a shipment from British Columbia to Ontario, how that will work. If you are a national chain that operates in multiple jurisdictions, you want a sort of idea of what the common markers would be in terms of how to re-open and stay open and in terms of what your expectations would be from jurisdiction to jurisdiction or even into a city like here, rosey, where people live in gatineau, work in ottawa. and vice verse sa. and if things are going re-open on one side, that could have implication on the other side. You sort of want to have at least a broad understanding of what the standards would be from place-to-place. But look, you look at everything the Prime Minister says when he’s asked about this, about re-opening and quickly and I would note that we’ve gone from asking the government questions of why aren’t you getting money to people faster to now asking why are you giving them so much money? there is no incentive to work. It is an amazing transition in just five weeks. But it’s – the point he keeps making and the programmes they keep rolling out is to allow people to hunker down. We’re still largely broadly in that phase. There are different examples across the country. You know, British Columbia is not Ontario. Places like Prince Edward Island, for example, where the daily update is no new cases. Small population, everyone is largely recovered with essentially one bridge, one boat, one airport, you can close down and re-open at the same time in a place like Prince Edward Island if you keep restriction on travel coming into the province. It varies, right? it’s not one pandemic. The montreal experience, just a little ways down the highway from here, is very different than the ottawa experience. That city is really the epicenter in Canada right now. So, the provinces and territories will be able to make decisions to meet their specific needs. What the federal government is trying to do, it’s a little bit – on this, it is a library like what teresa tam is trying to do with the public health agency. a sort of national benchmark and then the provinces adapt to those based on their individual circumstances.
Rosemary:
We’re standing bill for the federal briefing here from cabinet ministers and public health officials. I must have bad eye sight. I don’t see anyone sitting there yet. No movement, thank you. I’m going to come back to both of you but I want to talk a little bit more about the Ontario plan to re-open the economy, or as david is saying, re-open society. Premier doug ford is scheduled to speak in just over an hour. Of course, we’ll bring that to you live. Let’s bring in the cbc’s mike crawley, our queen’s park reporter. There’s some pressure to re-open the economy. Although the vast majority of public opinion polls show that Canadians are Ok. We can hang tight a little longer. What do we know about what kind of things the premier is considering here and how quickly he can do it?
Reporter:
Yeah, rosemary, it’s really competing pressures, right? there is that pressure to re-open the economy and that’s big pressure to get things right. So, it seems to be that what I’m going to be looking for is what are the first steps? because we know for one thing that is going to happen in phases. There is not going to be one single re-opening of the whole economy. What are the workplaces, for instance, that Ontario decides to open first? in particular, like what kind of workplaces? premier ford has hinted that. He would be looking at workplaces where it’s most easy to maintain physical distancing and refered to outdoors specifically. So I think there could be some re-opening of outdoor space first for people. That would be one thing. and then I’ll be looking to see what are then the next steps. How many phases do they envision doing this in? is it – is there anything in the way of a timeline? because I know that’s a really hard thing for them to be able to specify to say, you know, we’ll take the next step in a certain number of weeks or anything like that. So I’m sure that there will be lots of unanswered questions after today, but there will be a lot more certainty about the steps that Ontario’s going to take.
Rosemary:
I think My ministers are coming in. I do want to ask you this, mike crawley, there was a clear indication over the weekend about school not opening until the end of may. Of course, school and daycare are really critical to anybody being able to go back do work. Should that give us any kind of hint about how slowly this is going to happen?
Reporter:
Yeah. There is no question that it is going to happen, anything other than slowly. The exact timeframe, who knows. I’m seeing, though, rosemary, all sorts of different thoughts about schools, for instance, do they bring in some sort of phased or re-opening of schools? do they re-open schools in particular for younger kids first, to help parents out. So, lots of possibilities out there. and it is going to be interesting to compare how the different provinces approach the school question differently. Also, are there regional differences? I mean, Ontario’s got 400 new cases every day, but very, very few of those cases are happening in northern Ontario. and I asked the premier whether they’re considering some regional differences in the re-opening and he said that that’s certainly under consideration, but might be difficult to manage. So lots of stuff at play.
Rosemary:
Ok. Appreciate you joining us. The premier’s press conference will be at 1:30 eastern. For now, let’s go back to Ottawa for the federal ministers briefing of public health officials. This is deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.
Interpreter:
The process will be gradual and done in cooperation and will be based on science.
Let me start by emphasizing something the Prime Minister said earlier today. If you are an essential worker, we are working with the provinces and territories to ensure that your wages are boosted if your paycheque doesn’t reflect incredible work you’re doing every day. Thank you. I also wanted to emphasize that we are actively discussing re-opening plans with our provincial and territorial partners. I want to re-assure Canadians that this process will be gradual. It will be collaborative. and it will be guided by science and our obligation to protect the health and safety of Canadians. Ok. Today OE will hear from Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Teresa tam, the deputy chief public health officer, Dr. S howard njoo and and the president of the treasury board. Dr. Tam?
Hello, everyone. and I’ll start with the latest on COVID-19 in Canada. There are now 47, 327 confirmed cases, including 2, 617 deaths. To date, labs across Canada have tested over 717, 000 people with about 7% of these testing positive. Another week is upon us and I know that we’re all weary and the longer days and warmer weather are making us all feel increasingly antsy. In fact, these past weeks have made the words of millions of kids ring true as we shout from the back seat “are we there yet”? [laughter]I think I speak for all of us when I say we all feel like that kid. and I’m sorry to say not yet. But we can’t let go of the wheel yet. My reflection this past weekend was very much on the bigger picture so when I think about where we are right now. With outbreaks and vulnerable settings and underserved populations driving the epidemiology of COVID-19, I AM reminded of the critical importance of addressing inequities. This pandemic has exposed the fragilety of some of our populations, especially those living in long-term care homes, group housing, those experiencing homelessness, our vulnerable indigenous communities and it has also highlighted the basic challenges of those working in our essential services who cannot self-isolate, such as our health care workers and those growing, delivering and stocking our foods, medicines and other vital supplies t. Bad bugs are not going away. So, if we are to end the tragedy of increased disease and death rates in vulnerable populations, we need to make things right right now. This is not someone else’s problem or someone else’s sort roefm inequities touch us all. That means we need to look beyond the health system to the expanse of the public health, social, cultural and economic fabric of our society. and this approach needs to be woven into both our cautious dissent now in the academic curve as well as going forward to living with COVID-19. To put this virus in a corner where we manage it and not the other way around, we need to adapt our daily lives to the need for hand washing, physical distancing and other control measures and at the same time, we need to build protective supports into our social fabric to provide long-term protection against future waves of COVID-19 and future pandemics of emerging disease. Last night, canadian luminaries from the worlds of music, sports, science, advocacy, television and cinema brought us together virtually for the stronger together special. In addition to being extremely emotional and entertaining, it raised much needed funds for food banks across Canada and allowed us to pay froiblt the heroic efforts of our frontline workers during this crisis. Stronger together is how we are going to get through this. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Dr. Tam.
Interpreter:
Good morning, everyone. First of all, here are the last figures on COVID-19 in Canada. 47, 327 confirmed cases, 2, 617 deaths. Labs have analyzed samples of more than 717, 000 people, about 7% have tested positive. We’re starting a new week and we know that we’re weary and longer days and better weather is making us febrile. This week has given us a good look at the millions of kids who shout from the backseat “are we there yet”? I think I speak for all of us when we say we’ve never felt more like that kid. Though I’m sorry to say, no, not quite. and though we are getting closer all the time, we can’t let go of the wheel yet. My reflection this past weekend was focused on the big picture. So when I think about where we are right now, without w outbreaks in vulnerable settings and a under served populations, driving the epidemiology of the COVID-19, I’m reminded of the critical importance of addressing inequities. The pandemic has exposed the fragility of some of our populations, especially those living in long-term care homes, group housing, homelessness or vulnerable indigenous communities. It is also highlighted the basics of assistance challenges of those working in our essential services who cannot self-isolate, such as health care workers and those growing, delivering and stocking our food, medicines and other vital supplies. The bad bugs are not going away. So if we are to end the tragedy of increased disease and death rates in vulnerable populations, we need to make things right right now. This is not just someone else’s problem or someone’s sorrow. Inequalities touch us all. They affect the health and social well-beg of all Canadians, such as they diminish our humanity. That means we need to look I don’t want the health system to the expanse of the public health, social, cultural and economic fabric. Of our society. and this approach needs to be woven into both our cautious descent down the economic curve as well as living with koifds. To put this virus in a corner where we manage it and not the other way around, we need to adopt our daily lives to the needs of hand washing, physical distansing and other control measures. At the same time, we need to build protective supports into our social fabric, to provide long-term protection against future waves of COVID-19 and future pandemics of emerging disease. That is when we’ll know we are well and truly there. Thank you.
Merci. doctor. Mary ng, please?
Thank you very much, deputy Prime Minister. Good afternoon, everyone. this is direct odd to small business owners and entrepreneurs in communities all across the country. . you have worked incredibly hard to turn your idea into successful businesses and that means having to miss birthdays, recitals, family dinners throughout years. For you, this is personal. and it is also personal for me. Not only as the Minister responsible for helping small business succeed, but as someone who grew up in a family-run business, I understand how dev staying it must be to close your doors and feel like you might have to give up on this dream that you worked so hard to make a reality.
Interpreter:
Our government is there for you.
As of today, you can now apply to receive the Canada emergency wage subsidy that will cover 75% of your employees’ wages, up to $847 a week. If your business of any size, a charity or nonprofit organization and you’ve seen a drop in revenue for the month of March, April and may, apply through your “My business” account or the Canada revenue agency’s online portal. Keep in mind that this benefit is retroactive to March 15 and available for a period of 12 weeks or until June 6.
Interpreter:
We have worked hard to make this process as simple and efficient as possible.
All claims will be accepted through the automation system and your payment will be sent to you on May 5. We have partnered with banks and financial institutions to enroll payroll accounts for direct deposit, which means that businesses should begin to see money in their accounts as of May 7. For applications that require additional checks or more information from the employer, a secondary verification should take no more than 72 hours to complete. If wage subsidy will not only help save Canadian jobs, it is about keeping your teams together, which we know will be key to your success once we’re on the other side of this and we are into recovery. Our team recently fleaeder a bakery owner in Atlantic Canada. She will be using a 75% wage subsidy to pay for her five employees. In turn, this will free up the cash flow she has to pay for other operating expenses, including improving on an online ordering platform since she’s had to close her doors. Simply put this means relief for business owners along with their employees. We’re hear of stories of resilience from this, like this all over Canada and our work is far from dpun. We’re still listening. We will don’t do everything possible to support you, your businesses, your valued employees and families across the country. Thank you. Merci.
Interpreter:
Thank you very much. The main message by the Prime Minister this morning was one of assistance and mutual assistance in decision-making, first of all. We want the federal government to properly develop shared cooperative decisions to guide us in important ways in the coming weeks by using considerable national expertise of scientists and researchers across the country and expecting, of course, that this information, this advice will be applied locally by provincial and municipal administrations and also to guide entrepreneurs and companies in this important exercise that they have to conduct in order to ensure the safety and security of workers in the coming weeks and months. Secondly, essential workers that are often working for very modest wagesing, we want to thank them for everything they do for our communities and for all the people who need them. and we are very pleased with the progress in the discussions as the Prime Minister mentioned this morning between the federal government and the province and territories. and as Minister ng just said, aid to employers to pay their wages. On April 11, just a few days ago, the house of commons voted for the proper provisions to store this wage subsidy on April 21, 10 days later, that is last Monday, we were able to launch a website that $300, 000 companies visited in the last few days. Today, April 27, 16 days after this was adopted in the house of commons and adopted the regulations, we have the opportunity, thanks to the remarkable work of C.R.A. Employees to ask companies to feel for their wage subsidy and as Minister nag just said a few fomenting ago, as of May 5, that is next week, answers will be provided to companies and on May 7, payments will start to flow and be deposited. That is because of the extremely cooperative work. and as president of the treasury board once again, I want to thank all the public servant working in very demanding can’t, both professionally and personally, for the remarkable work they do. It is so appreciated because they’re helping Canadians. Thank you.
Our Minister of health, patty hajdu is here as well and available to answer your questions as are we all. Carl?
Thank you, deputy Prime Minister. Operator?
Operator:
Thank you. Please press star 1 if you have a question.
Interpreter:
Please press star 1 right now.
Operator:
First question,
Reporter:
Interpreter:
Good morning. My first question would be for Mr. Duclos or ms. Freeland. The Canadian army is deployed in Quebec and has been there for several days to see what the needs are in long-term care facilities. So there’s been a reconnaissance mission the last few days confirm we get more details about how many additional troops will be sent to Quebec and when they will start to arrive? answer, to begin with, we are fully engaged in organizing this deemployment. This is the work of the Minister of national defence and Minister of public safety, bill blair. The work has already begun. By working with Quebec, 15 facilities have been identified as priorities and go things are being done now. Reconnaissance of these establishments to understand what they need and training of the canadian forces personnel doing this important work. and I want to add that this is work in which Quebec has the lead with strong support from the canadian forces and there are also red cross volunteers that will play a very important role. In addition, we have volunteers that health Canada has organized. Do you have anything to add?
Interpreter:
Yes, very briefly. You summarized the situation very well. Let’s do a recall before we talk about the current situation. I think April 16, a Thursday, a request was made by the government of Quebec for the reemployment of 125 members of the Canadian forces who have medical expertise and on the following Saturday, the members of the Canadian forces were deployed. But that is a somewhat different context from the one we’re seeing now. Now we’re seeing the reemployment of a larger number of members of the Canadian forces. We’re talking about 1, 000 and people whose responsibilities and skills are not necessarily strictly medical. That is why the objective here, prime objective focused on by the Quebec government is that this deployment support the work of health care workers there are place and patients that are there. This personnel is not necessarily ready to deploy quickly and immediately. There is a preliminary measure which is recognizance of the establishments and determining responsibilities. Follow-up? question?
Reporter:
Interpreter:
Yes. While many provinces are unveiling their plans to re-open the economy, My question is for Dr. Njoo Nor Dr. Tam. Wouldn’t this be the right time to come out for or against wearing masks? if you consider this in the context of de-ice lacing. is it compulsory to wear a nonmedical ?afk yes, thank you for that question. This is Dr. Njoo. Dr. Tam and I continue to work closely with our provincial and territorial counterparts. We had a good discussion yesterday with the special advisory committee on this very issue. We agree that there are principles that have to be maintained. We may make some public health measures such as physical distancing and proper practices such as frequent hand washing. We have to keep that. After that, we did agree on four criteria. Each province must have good evidence that transmission in their own jurisdiction is well-controlled. They have good capacity in their health care system. and their public health system. To properly diagnose all these cases. Isolated cases. They have to do
Tracy:Ing and so forth. We know that every province and territory have their own epidemic. They may be in different realities. So it’s possible that one province is starting to find that it could relax its rules when others are not. With regard toss the mask, business is still an issue and we continue our discussions. We know that it is another option, a good way for people to perhaps help protect others. It’s always something we consider permissive because it is not really to protect yourself from others, but if you leave the house, perhaps it is difficulter to maintain the two-metre distance in a grocery store or public transit so we continue to examine the science and probative data. Right now that is where we are. Thank you.
Thank you, doctor. Operator, next question.
Operator:
from the “national post”. please go ahead.
Reporter:
Oh hi, Dr. Tam. You mentioned that over 700, 000 Canadians have been tested with about a 7% confirmed positive. But there are concerns that the swab testing, the rpcr testing has a high false negative rate because it can be tricky to get a decent sample . what does your data show about the prevalence of false negatives?
I think in general they have a good specificity and quite a high sensitivity in general. You just mentioned that taking a swab is not completely simple procedure. You have to take it using the right technique at the right time, etc., to detect the virus and I know also that sometimes people need to have more than one test taken if there is some degree of suspicion that someone actually has the virus, but was tested negative the first time and will then perhaps need a follow-up test as well. So I think absolutely this is a potential issue. We do know that we do not have a full accounting of all people infected in Canada and that is part of the work that will be doing as part of the immunity task force to assert what level of infection has occurred in Canada.
Follow-up?
Reporter:
Yeah. and that was going to be My follow-up, sorry, that the n. I.h. and c. D.c. Have started the sterilizing testing. Again, I’m wondering what assumptions you’re working with when thinking about what proportion of the population has been inspected. is it 10 times the number of confirmed cases. 50, 100. What is what are the assumptions that your agency is working with? I think that is part of the work going forward, to actually determine through different meth dogs the different areas of Canada. Maybe the hotspots of the ones that didn’t have as much reported cases, the age group, structure so all of that it will be part of the forward looking design. Some jurisdictions are also already planning these studis to answer specific questions of exactly the type of question that you are asking as well. We’re also looking at a design that is more longitudinal. Because of some of the serologic tests are not necessarily, again, have the high enough specificity or sensitivity so by looking more longitudinally, maybe you would detect something at a later date as well. All of these questions are par of the – you know, go into part of the design of the studies going forward.
Thank you, doctor. Operate tore, next question, plea.
Operator:
Thank you. The next question,
Interpreter:
Canadian press. Question – ms. Freeland, we got the impression over the weekend that Quebec and you did not have the same understanding of herd immunity. I’m wondering where things stand? do you now believe that the legault government, and you, are on the same page? that they also understand? the concept of herd immunity and its usefulness right now.
Interpreter:
Answer, because this is a scientific question, I will ask Dr. Njoo or Dr. Tam to answer you. I’m sorry, but I don’t want to have herd immunity explained to me. My question is political. That’s why I’m asking you. Do you believe that Quebec understands the same thing you do?
Lena, could I ask Dr. Njoo to answer and then I will be very pleased to answer on My behalf. Thank you. This is Dr. Njoo. Thank you for your question. I think that in the scientific community, public health and health directors in all provinces and territory and me, I’ve had good discussions with Dr. Arruda and I think from a public health perspective and scientific perspective on data we don’t have any on collisions right now. We know that people who have already been infected will have an anti-body reaction. But the question is, we don’t know whether that reaction provides immunity. and if it does, for how long. How long will that last? is it a few weeks? a few months. Maybe for life. We don’t know. Because we do have evidence from other countries that people who are already infected had a second infection. Were reinfected. So, that is some indication that an infection does not give you immunity. If you’re talk about herd immunity, collective immunity, I don’t think that we can use that to manage this pandemic because the evidence is not there. Right now. So we have to continue to follow the scientific evidence and data and Dr. Arruda in Quebec and we had a good discussion at our special advisory committee and a everybody grease. We have to follow science. Thank you. Ok. AK apromised you, ly give you a political answer now. I’m neither a scientist nor a doctor. But I do know that the federal government and all the provincial premiers and territorial premiers agree that we have to follow the advice of our doctors and scientists as Dr. Njoo just said. We have an advisory council where all directors of public health across Canada toque each other and a exchange views and ideas. That is a very good thing. and I know that discussions at that level, among doctors and scientists in Canada, is a very collaborative and open one. They talk very often. Now with regard to re-opening that is a very important question. On Friday, we had good discussions between the Prime Minister of Canada and the provincial and territorial premiers. We’re getting an agreement on the principles that will guide re-opening for the whole country. and I can assure Canadians that the process will be gradual, it will be collaborative and I know that no in all of Canada, the process across this country that is so huge, so vast, the process will be guided by science. Thank you. Follow-up? yes, thank you. My follow-up would be for Mr. Duclos. I don’t quite understand why this can’t be deployed more quickly, these 1, 000 military personnel. It can’t be faster. Why can’t it be faster? it is rapid. But there are different issues compared to the first deployment where there was a smaller number of members of canadian forces that were called to serve. They had initial skills that were different. I was more restrained – restricted groups. They were medical technicians deployed in these long-term care facilities. Now the demand is broader, the numbers are bigger and the number of accomplishments is larger, too. That is why this deployment is done differently from the first one. Thank you, Minister. Julie ?r
Reporter:
Any first question is for Dr. Tam. Considering what the W.H.O. Said, that you can get COVID-19, recover from it and then doesn’t make you immune from getting it again. Were you surprised by that and how much of a setback is it?
Actually, I don’t know that we know the full answers to that question. I think we know that people who are infected with COVID-19 will develop some kind of antibody response and that will probably provide some level of protection. We just don’t know what level of protection, how strong that protection is and how long it will last. I think that is the – the scientific discourse right now. That is why those studies need to be done and that we should be cautious about how we interpret the results, for example, of some of the serologic testing. I know that so many countries in the world, now including Canada with the immunity task force, we’ll try to get to the both of those answers. But right now we just don’t have enough information.
Ok. I’ll make a little comments and go to My second question. It sounds like you agree with the W.H.O. Now My second question and that would be –
That is – I don’t think that’s correct.
Reporter:
No?
No. I think what Dr. Tam – I think what the W.H.O. Has said is we don’t know for sure what’s happening and I think that is what Dr. Tam –
Yeah. Globally, including the W.H.O., but all the scientists around the world are trying to gather this information. We can base some of the knowledge about past knowledge of infections are respiratory viruses but that doesn’t mean it is the same with COVID-19. That means we’re still trying to discover the answer to those questions. I do think that we expect some level of immunity. Again, just how strong that is and how long it lasts is unknown. and we will get to some of these answers with these studies.
and My interpretation of what the W.H.O. is saying is to be careful, those countries and jurisdictions that are thinking that you could issue an immunization or immunological pass port. Countries all around the world are trying to figure out a way out of this and rightly so and I think the warning from the W.H.O. is exactly, as Dr. Tam has said, it is far too early to be giving out any societier that says oh, you had COVID-19 and now you are immune because that is a dintion line of thinking when we don’t have the science yet caught up to what the evidence actually says. It is very important, I think, to all citizens who have had COVID-19 to know that there is a caution around assuming just because you had it that, in fact, you are now protected. and that is exactly why we have an immunity task forces in Canada and many other countries are studying serological prevalence so we can understand what the extent of exposure is and also what the extent of immunity is, both very important questions.
Reporter:
Thank you for being for so full some in My first question. [laughter]
You provoked us, Julie. Roy er the second question is about testing. We know that testing is very important in terms of re-opening economies and we have had problems with testing in terms of lack of swabs recently in the past couple of weeks. Backlog of cases in Ontario and Quebec and other provinces. I’m wondering if it’s resolved to your satisfaction and considering that economis are starting to talk about re-opening within the provinces very soon.
I’ll do a two-part answer again with an overview and turn to Dr. Tam about the conversations. I think obviously Canada can do better and we have done a lot and we’re very happy with the growth of testing that’s happening and the capacity of provinces and territories to increase capacity of testing over the last several weeks. Part of that is domestic production of some of the equipment that you mentioned, including something called reagent, which is essentially the chemical, the fluid that is required to complete the testing and now we have a local manufacturing source for the reago, which is making it easier for provinces and territoris to get that component of the testing done. But there is more to do. and, of course, I will also say that testing is one layer of what I would call a health safety net that we will need to be putting into place so that provinces, territories and communities can get back to the new normal. Arrive at the new normal, if you will. That testing strategy has been evolving and we’re extremely encouraged by the work of the provinces and territories. and I’ll turn to Dr. Tam. Maybe you can speak a little bit about the special committee’s work on testing.
Yes and it will keep on an undergoing evolution as we move to the next reality, if you like. So right now I think many jurisdictions are still increasing the capacity and including Ontario and others have really ramp ed up the testing. and broadening testing, of course, to focus on, say, long-term care homes because systematically testing of them and much more widely is very, very important so you see the rise in numbers as a result of those systematic testing approaches. In terms of going forwards, make sure we widen the testing crew. – testing criteria. Certainly to look at a broader array of symptoms, even mild symptoms. Right now very few people are showing up to be tested, given that we’re not getting the respiratory illnesses. We are rapidly identifying cases with contacts and any outbreaks particularly in vulnerable settings where you have to cast them net-wise in terms of testing. Some of the areas for sure as we go forward. But I think we continue to evolve, the strategy right now. and it all involves actually increasing capacity and I think we’re all looking to plan for all eventualities, for example, for what might happen next winter. Making sure we gear up and be prepared. It is a very, very dynamic situation and very complicated from every aspect of the sourcing of these different components of the lab testing. But I think that we’re pulling out all the stops including domestic options. So I think we’re working all towards increasing lab capacity for sure.
Thank you, doctor.
Dr. Tam, on Friday, you talked again about the need to be cautious in the re-openings. You talked about concerns of importation and I want to understand what you’re talking about and what now that you’ve seen that the United States has nearly one-third of global cases, what is your concern there and how soon do you think that that border can be re-opened?
I’ll start and then turn to Dr. Tam in terms of that. You know, everything that we do in the next phase will be done carefully and in terms of the relationship with the United States in partnership with the United States and I think that the Prime Minister and many others for their hard work on making sure those relationships stay strong and we can have those conversations. That is part of the work that we’re doing now as a government is to sort out how we do a better job when we begin to see an increase in travel. Whether it’s Canadians going abroad and then coming back, which they will always have the right to do and how we manage those re-entries carefully so that we can continue to prevent numbers of cases from arising from countries that perhaps don’t have a very good handle on what is going on in their country from infectious perspective or that maybe have outbreaks that will create a health and safety concern for Canada. But I can maybe turn to Dr. Tam about some of the conversations around borders that are happening at the committee.
We will be extremely cautious about doing any changes to our international public health approach. It is dependent on looking carefully at the – what’s happening in other countries for sure. But our approach, though, is to make sure we get what is inside Canada well managed, well controlled and moving towards that new living with COVID-19 as the primary step before we can consider what we need to adjust from our international perspective.
and I noticed today you haven’t – at least in a little while ago, the websites hadn’t been updated with the new infections picture in Canada. Yesterday, new cases seem to have picked up a bit. and I AM unclear on what the national picture is. You say all the provinces managed their own data. But in the federal government gets that data, you are not releasing provincial data. I’d like to understand, a, what – what is the national picture right now from your perspective? have we successfully flattened the curve? where are we on the curve? and have you asked the provinces to allow you to release their data or are they telling you you’re not allowed to release their data?
So, we have been publishing the national picture and updating it every day. So in terms of our website. What we do swank a deeper dive into details. You will see the map of Canada and the numbers updated in real time as well as, of course, the tragic deaths that have been reported as well. What we do want to get to and we’re improving as we go along is a deeper dive on to the actual knowledge of who is most severely impacted. We all know long-term care facilities and certain at-risk populations are impacted, but we do need more granular data on some of that, for sure. I think that interestingly, from My perspective, it is – I would say it is part of the stronger together theme when I was thinking about it is that public health and chief medical perspective partnership is strong. But we have to invest in our infrastructure and how we do data collection and sharing in a way that is more efficient for the frontline and busy trying to work on all sorts of things while still getting the national data that we need. So, I think there is a lot of room for moving forward to really enhance that. and I certainly hope that, you know, as we get through this pandemic together, we don’t forget public health and the need for public health and what that capacity requirement is to provide something what people think is simple, which is data. Data comes from different sources from health care, from labs, from public health, all of these are important and they need to come together and we need to look at the most efficient way that we can do that. and it is an area that we need to address. But, you know, we are – we do have a look across the country and they have managed not to have it. Some that have had community transmission and are getting addressed. But of course the four biggest provinces were most of the cases are coming from a slightly different stage in the epidemiology and they have been erroring on that as well. and that impangs the detail and the planning of that next phase and you will hear the sort of details from each of the individual provinces as well. We at this special advisory level is looking at a broad set of criteria of how jurisdictions could go about moving into that next phase.
Woo led buffalo has asked the military to assist in the evacuation because of dmraoding and stuff. Will the military be made available to help with this situation?
Thank you for the question, mike. We are aware of the flooding in fort mcmurray. and are looking right now urgently at ways we can help. As we have known from the outset, the fact that flooding season and, in due course, forest fire season is coincide sing with coronavirus in Canada, is posing some special challenges. We have been gearing up for those from the outset and this is an issue that we’re looking at urgently today.
Rosemary:
Ok. We’ll pull away from this federal briefing. That was the deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland responding to a question about military support in Alberta where fire season has started in fort mcmurray and other community around it and they are asking for military support that will come. At the same press conference, we did get a sense of the military support that is heading into Quebec. 15 long-term care facilities have now been targeted or selected as particular crisis points for Quebec and the military will be sent into those 15 facilities to help out in different capacities. As we come to the end of our coverage today, I’ll bring back Vassy kapelos and david Cochrane. Vassy?
Vassy:
a couple of things. We heard a lot from Dr. Tam as well as the health Minister on the concept of different parts of society have to hit for that re-opening process or as david put it, maybe not just the economy but society as a whole to take part or to take place. and I thought the comments around testing and particularly what we hear from the w. S h. O. this weekend in which they first said there is no – or they did say there is no obvious that the serological testing, so testing once to show you already have it is actually working and then they had to backtrack and say we think that it likely – you likely are immune, but we just don’t know for sure. That is true. We don’t have a ton of evidence. There are instances, for example, where you have the antibodies and you’re not necessarily immune. Dr. Naylor talked about that last week. But it does bring up how complicate it might be to figure out what is safe to re-open. How safe is it? and the last comment from Dr. Tam about those provinces that have more cases are at a different point on the curve than many provinces that we have seen flatten the curve where there is fewer instances, for example, of community transmission. So very regional differences.
Rosemary:
On the testing criteria, the fact that Dr. Tam said we’ll need to broaden the criteria because there are lots of people showing who up don’t have respiratory problems. That also complicates things if you don’t know what you’re looking for at that point. Hard to find out what picture you have in the country overall, David.
Reporter:
The comment is right and the answers to the questions about when can we re-open and what about the serological testing and herd immunity, is what is not known about this vie rufms it’s called the novel coronavirus because it is brand-new. Even though in every country in fact world there is scientific evidence and data to make firm conclusions it just isn’t there and won’t be there far while. There is a lot of variable laboratory testing and vaccine developments and scientific experiments going on to find out more about it and quite frankly Canada is not at a point that Canada has broad-based testing to draw any firm conclusions. Only recently Ontario has broadly expand assessing to everybody in a long-term care home and that is where the singular crisis is, in this country. It’s in those long-term care and group home settings with vulnerable populations. So, until that gets under control, the sort of level of certainty we’re going to need to make big decisions is just not going to be there until testing has expanded and the science has evolved.
Rosemary:
Ok. Thank you both very much for all of your help. You can see Vassy kapelos on “power & politics” at 5:00 eastern and David in various locations I’m sure through the day. Thank you both very much. I appreciate it. and I’ll wrap up the coverage. Reminding you that the government focus today is on the wage subsidy programme. It is now open. The Prime Minister says the 10, 000 companies have applied so far for 75% subsidy of wagesing. That is online and available to companies everywhere. and on that, I’ll leave our coverage, knowing that we’ll be looking to ward now within the next hour to the coverage of Ontario premier Doug ford and his plan to re-open Ontario. Andrew, over to you. [please stand by]