Parses captions for PM Trudeau's daily speeches and presents them in a more human readable format
Rosemary:
My deepest condolences to you and your entire family.
Thank you. It’s a difficult time.
What was Abigail like? she was a young woman, obviously very focused and what kind of gal was she?
She was just unlimitedenergy. She had long, luxurious red hair and she was a tempest in ateapot. [ laughter ]
Sounds like My kind of gal.
She definitely would be your kind of gal. [ laughter ]
What brought her to the navy? why did she get involved? I don’t know if it’s a family involved in the Canadian forces or if this is your first.
Not really, her mom and her second husband moved topeterborough and Abigail has three brothers, Simon, august and Sebastian and when they moved to peterborough, tanyadecided she was going to put them into cadets and she knew, basically, she would never be able to afford to send them to university and she really hoped that they would choose the military as a career. and so, they got in the cadet sand Abby realized from that that she could have a very good career in the Canadian military. So she graduated a couple of years ago from MC in kingstonand was posted to Dartmouth as sublieutenant in the navy upongraduation. So it was basically the story of join the navy and see the world. This deployment was actually her third in the mediterraneanregion and she loved the sea. She loved navy. She just loved everything aboutit.
and she had been on thismission, general Vance said, about 100 days, they had been away and expected back in July. What was she doing and telling you her days were like over there during this mission?
Actually, I had – I’m going to take one second here and pull up My last communication with her because she told me exactly what her days were like. She said I’m going to read it toyou. I’m enjoying myself here. My day consists of anearly-morning run, work-out, studying, learning working onequipment because she was anengineer and eating meals andsnacks and reading a good bookbefore bed. So at this point, they were toldthat they couldn’t stop and theports and get off the ship. So the one thing she loved, because abby loved food aboveeverything else, and she justloved the port stops andliterally got to see the world.
So she was the big sister to three brothers and have you talked to them today? have you talked to her mother and father? and can you give me a sense of how people were doing?
We got the call last night from her eldest brother, Simon, who is 22, and he’s in the armyreserves. and the younger son is also in the army reserves. So they got a visit by three officers in military uniform. So they knew right away that –they live in Toronto, and they knew right away that something tragic had happened. So Simon called me and said, grandma, can we come over. I said, no, you can’t, because me and grandpa are isolated and we haven’t seen family for along time. We got our groceries dropped off on the veranda and he said, grandma, we need to see you, abbey died and we need to comeover. So we talked for hours and shared our stories.
and how are people doing? I can’t imagine in the midst of everything that, you know, we’reall going through, now havingthis?
It’s tragic and everybody that I know, you know, will say that a child should never betaken before and elder and it’sbackwards and it’s so hurtful and we’re all in so much pain. She was just – she was a ray oflight. Everything that she did, she was so passionate about and she was just – whether she played her pipes or walked in a room, she was just a presence. and I’m sure you guys can see her Facebook postings and the folks that are putting messagesup, but she touched liveseverywhere.
What will you remember mostabout, Brenda, as yourgranddaughter? I went away to do My degrees and abbey was about five and I came home from being away for couple of weeks and she just bounced in the house with her curls just all aflutter and ran into My arms and she said, grandma, I wish you so much. Let’s go on your big bed an dread a good book! but that’s just who she was and it just continued her wholelife. She just was a force, absoluteforce. Now she played in many military bands and she was a reallywell-known piper, as well. So it was one of her hobbies andsomething that she did extremelywell.
You know, one of the things we talked about when the shooting happened in nova scotiaand we all have to talk about it here again is because of thepandemic, you won’t really be able to have a memorial forabbigail, a funeral for abbigailand I wonder if you’ve given that thought and how much more difficult it will be because ofthat.
Yeah, it will be difficult. .at this point, when we were talking last night, although the military had stopped in to talk to abbi’s gad and her olderbrother, they couldn’t give any information on even when the body might be sent back and there might be some restrictions because of COVID-19. So that also is a concern. At this point, we don’t know. They were hoping to get more details today and they had been assigned an officer to be with them 24/7 until some of the information comes forward and they can settle in a little bit and know what the next step willbe.
She was this the navy, but she was on this helicopter. Did you know she was going to be on the helicopter? do you have a sense of what that work would have been?
No, not at all. No idea. No idea. I just even read this morning that the helicopter was assigned to the HMS Fredericton and so, ire ally don’t know what theirmanoeuvr or purpose was.
The fact that she was in the military and lost her life on this training mission, what does that mean to you that she sacrificed so much for, for something her country asked her to do?
It’s the kind of girl shewas. She was a very principled young woman and if called to duty, she would take the call.
Well, I’m sorry I didn’t knowher. She does sound remarkable.
She really, really was.
Brenda, everyone in the country is thinking about you and your family right now and wishing you all the best and
Thank you, and I want to extend My condolences to the other families. It’s painful, but at least we know ab bi was found and we can start to grieve. The other families must be Justin devastated states.
Yeah, Brenda, I know it’s not easy to talk, but important for us to get to know yourgranddaughter. Thank you so much.
Thank you, rosemary.
That was the grandmother of sublieutenant abbigailcowbrough. Let’s bring back My colleague sand just to bring back some of the details of what we learned of accident. I’ll start with you, Murray, about what stood out there in terms of new information that may have brought you any sort of better understanding of what we know now.
The reference that generalvance made to the accident site, the 3, 000 feet of water, that really struck me, because that’sapproximately 10, 000 feet andthat’s very deal. He also made reference to the debris field being spread over aide area. Although they didn’t say it, it’s pretty clear now to us, based on those statements, that this is why there’s not been much clarity in terms of what happened and in terms of how many victims there potentially might be and it also explains why they were so careful to say we have one dead, but fivemissing. So I would also suggest that this could potentially be a longrescue/recovery operation. They weren’t very specific aboutwhether this is a search andrescue or whether this is asearch and recovery, becausethere is a very distinctdifference between the two, butthat’s the main thing that leptout at me right away.
They found the cockpitrecording, the black box and ate am that would do the tabs work and they, obviously, have sources for more information to understand what might havehappened. I’ll just get you, Murray, before I get everyone else in, to weigh in on the fact that the fleet has been paused, put on an operational pause and it didn’tsound like general Vance was overly concerned at this stage with the aircraft itself.
Well, general Vance was very specific in terms of his support for the aircraft and he said that he’s not had any concerns about it and there were a lot of things officials have told us over the years, about how good it is in terms of the its ability to be able to stop submarines and what a quantum leap forward it is compared to the sea kings. He was very careful, though, about answering questions about whether or not there is any idea of whether this could have been mechanical in any way. and given the fact that the aircraft was flying and had been already on a mission, was on it sway back, that was a significant bit of information and that means everything had been performing normally and there were problems up until a very sudden incident of some kind. and the fact that there is large debris field indicates that not only the aircraft hit the ocean hard, but it brokeapart. So that’s going to make the investigation in particular kind of difficult, time consuming andcomplicated.
and we don’t know and he was asked clearly whether there was may-day call and he didn’twant to go down that road atthis stage. Flares were spotted but wouldhave gone off automatically whenthe helicopter went down, hesaid. So again, not a lot ofunderstanding of how that mighthave unfolded. I’ll keep you there and bring invassey kapelos on the helicopterpart, what stood out for you interms of the very early hours oftrying to understand whathappened as they continue tosearch in that, as murray said, a large debris field.
Vassy:
The size of the debris field stood out to me. As far as the investigationgoes, we do know via generalvance that both recorders, the cockpit and the flight data recorder have been recovered an dare coming back to Canada and will be analyzed at the national research centre. As well, there is a team from the Canadian armed forces headed over there to assist in theinvestigation. So it sounds like there is, at least the beginning of a very thorough investigation and the fact that the data is there lends itself to the idea that there will be a conclusion reached at the end of the investigation versus so many other instances, not necessarily pertaining to the military, but when we talk about crashes where you don’t have that dataavailable, nor is it in the hands of Canadian investigators. So that really struck me. Also some Murray mentioned wanted to pick up on, how routine the exercise was. General Vance was careful to point out this was just at raining exercise and no evidence of contact, no evidence of quote, unquote, shoot-downand it was at 6:52, they wereheaded back when contact waslost. and then just a few momentslater, they saw those flares. So that gives us an indicationof something happened, right, something went wrong and also, on the question of the fleet, very careful to say they’re notgrounding the fleet, that thiswas an operational pause andthey ant to make sure, ofcourse, the entire fleet is Ok. but he was explicit when he wasasked by our colleague at the toronto star , do you haveconfidence, are you concernedabout this fleet and he said, ido not have concerns. I don’t have a lack ofconfidence. Obviously, we’ll await theoutcome of that investigationbut significant the fleet is onoperational pause right now.
I’ll also just add we know there were 240 members on thehncs fredricton, on their 100day or so of operation and that mission was slated to end injanuary and right now, they are dealing with the devastating situation for the whole crew that is there. David, I don’t know if you want to weigh in as we come to the end of our coverage on cbctelevision but anything you picked you on as needing further analysis or talking about.
David:
The thing that strikes me is the terrible irony of the forces to deal with the tragedy here in Canada, in particular in the long-term carehomes. It’s one of those day. In Ontario and in Quebec, morethan 500 soldiers are going to be deployed in the long-termcare homes in Quebec and howmuch we rely on the armed forces in these times of great nationalurgency right now with themedical crisis going on, buteven earlier this year when theywent to st. John’s to digeverybody out from the snowstorm. For them to have done so much tohelp and now deal with this. Like I said, 2020 has been aterrible, terrible year.
Definitely tough for the whole country. Thank you all for your help with the coverage on CBC television and I’ll be back to you as we end this special. and I’ll bring everyone up to date on what we know after that press conference from the Prime Minister, the Minister of national defense is the chief of the defense staff. We know that five Canadians are still missing at this hour, that one Canadian sublieutenantabbigail cow borough was a part of that. They have recovered much of the data they’ll need to better upset what went wrong in this cyclone helicopter, but the debris field is large and so, the data will help certainly, but the investigative team that is over there right now ass recovery and search mission continues or rescue missioncontinues, it will be important to try to put those pieces together as they try to understand just what happened with this helicopter. The helicopter fleet itself has been put on an operational pause right now, not because generalvance says he has any lack of confidence in those helicopters, but the head of the airforcedoes this, in part, because of the tragedy that people that area part of the air force are dealing with and to make sure this is not a fleet-wide problemand a one-off accident, if youwill. I Will also tell you that theyexpect to bring us moreinformation, obviously, asevents unfold. They don’t know a lot about howthis unfolded, just that thehelicopter was coming back from a training mission and they madeclear it was a training missionand that flares were spotted, flares that would have gone offautomatically. But we don’t know, really, howmuch of this unfolded as of yet. I’ll just also say thank you tobrenda, the grandmother ofsublieutenant abbigail. She wanted to make sure we got asense of who her granddaughterwas and we appreciate that. That ends our coverage for nowand we’ll have more on thepandemic coming up on “cbc newsnetwork” and cbc. Ca. I’m rosemary barton.
Rosemary:
Welcome back. We’re going to switch gears and take you back to our ongoing coverage of the pandemic, COVID-19. This is Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa tam, giving us un-update.
Helping to get supplies to the frontlines. Conquer COVID-19 began until it picked up steam from two ofcanada’s big names, Olympic and hockey legend. Another Olympian has just received her medical degree last week and headed straight to work to help in long-term care homes in Quebec as they bear the bruntof this pandemic. These Canadians exemplify whatit takes to get down thismountain, the grit of anolympian with a can-do attitudeand a readiness to help others. To all Canadians who arehelping, thank you, Merci.
Thank you, Dr. Tam. (speaking french).
I give the floor tomr. Howard njoo. As usual, I will start with the latest numbers on COVID-19 incanada. and there are now 52, 057confirmed cases include the first case in Nunavut. There are also 3, 082 deaths. To date, labs across Canada have tested over 800, 000 people forcovid-19 with about 7% of these testing positive. This week things have been Little flat just like thecovid-19 curve and this is excited what it means forgetting out of our houses. Those as I’ve said before, we have to be cautious going down the side of the pandemic curve. It would be a whole lot easier if this was a well-trodden pathwith many who have gone beforeus. But we are largely newexplorers, so we’ll need to curbour enthusiasm and tighten thesafety roaps for the way down. Already on this path, we’ve seenworrisome transmission eventsemerging. Having learned a lesson aboutvulnerabilities in long-termcare homes, we’re now tacklingintroductions and spread andcertain work settings andcongregate housing. To raise our spirits and keep usgoing, I would like to share acouple of the many expiringexamples of canadian who’s arejoining the call for volunteersand some are helping to getneeded supplies to thefrontlines. While others are joining thefrontlines themselves wherepossible to help those in need. Many of these efforts havestarted as grass rootinitiatives by everydaycanadians using their skills, creativity and generosity tohelp in any way they can. a great example is conquer COVID-19 and that began like the littleengine that could in onefamily’s home in markham, Ontario, until it picked upsteam from two of Canada’s bignames. Olympian and hockey legendhayley wickenheiser and actorbrian reynolds joined forceswith conquer COVID-19 to provideppe for our healthcare workers. Another olympian, joanierochette, having received hermedical degree last week isheading to long-term care homesto help. and these Canadians exemplifywhat it takes to get down thismountain and the precision andgrit of an olympian with acan-do attitude and readiness tohelp others, we thank you.
Thank you, Dr. Njoo. We’ll hear from Marc miller. (speaking french)
Good afternoon.
As of April 29, there have been 129 COVID-19 cases on reserve and 16 confirmed cases in thenunavut communities. As stated by Dr. Tam and njoo, this brings the first case inpondlet. We will be giving this our full attention and maximum containment efforts areundertaken. To date, over $690 million in funding has been directly allocated by indigenous services towards the health response tocovid-19. This includes activities undertaken directly by thedepartment, such as procurement of supplies and nursingservices, as well as preparedness measures undertaken by communities. (speaking french).
Indigenous service’s canadacontinues and will continue to keep individual safety equipment for first nations and supplies. This is for healthcare professionals who are taking care of patients sick withcovid-19. To date, we have sent several orders of Poe and surgical masks across the country. We want to support them during this pandemic and we continue to rapidly respond to demand within24 hours. This pandemic is impacting communities in many ways. Whether there are cases or no tor close to their communities, people find themselves experiencing distress, anxiety and uncertainty. This is particularly the case for people who are higher risk or the family members of those who are at high risk. These are real and understandable reactions. and there are mental wellness supports to help. It’s important to underscore many are adapting to respect the requirement for physical distancing and should continue to do so. For example, in our case, we have increased the crisis intervention councillors on shift at the help-line receivingmore than 100 calls and chats a week. The help-line is available forimmediate, culturally safesupport for first nation’s inuitand metis 24 hours a day, sevendays a week and the number is(855)242-3310. Online chat ishopeforwellness. Ca. In english and in french andupon request in cree, ojibwe andnunavut. (speaking french).
The funding was paid to the indigenous community funds including 15 million for urbanpopulations. As previously announced additional funding was also sent to support shelters that offer essential support to women and children that are fleeing violence on the reserves. We’ve announced support for indigenous communities and for post secondary students, I would like to say that more support will be necessary and we will continue to work with communities at every step of the process to ensure that we meet their needs. It should come as no surprise to anyone who knows someone who ha sworn the uniform that today our nation grieves and in the face of uncertainty, the members thecanadian armed forces are stepping up to help those mos tin need. These are people that are prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for Canada and that is just a small window into the character of these people across the country, we have seen rangers and Canadian armed forces members step up wherecanadians need it most. In our long-term carefacilities, in areas with acuteresource needs and in remoteareas the country. They’ve done this unfailinglyand with a level of grace andprofessionalism that we havecome to expect from the canadianarmed forces. Today they do so with heavyhearts. (speaking french).
We understand that seniors inlong-term care homes areparticularly vulnerable to thisvirus and their health andsafety are utmost priority. We are deeply concerned by thespread of this virus across thecountry and we recognise thetragic events that took place inquebec long-term care homes andthat is why we’ve providedsupport to these institutionsthat are affected by COVID-19covid-19. Thanks to the use of tecanadian armed forces, thered-cross and resources havebeen mobilized to help quebecget through this tough time. We also do this when anemergency situation threatensour citizens. The canadian armed forces doeverything they can to helpthose in need. To date, roughly 500 medicalpersonnel and cif supportmembers have been deployed inlong-term care homes in Quebec. This will help doctors andnurses locally to ensure thatthey can manage patients andprovide healthcare to those whoare in long-term carefacilities. We will also help with thecoordination of nursing andlogistic’s needs and provideindividual protection for thosewho work in long-term carehomes. Moreover, roughly 160 canadianrangers employed in Nunavut willprovide general and logisticalreport locally by creatingmobile clinics and by guidingthe local population. It will be the work and partnerswith innuit and metis and asthey discuss the easing ofrestrictions, we will beextremely vigilant. By working together, we’reflattening the curve and we’llcontinue this together with workin all communities, secure inthe knowledge that we will allkeep our fellow citizens safe. By working together, we’resaving lives. Thank you, Merci.
Ok. thank you, Marc. and now I give the floor to the president of the treasurereport, Mr. Duclos. Good afternoon, everyone. I would like to also say that our hearts go out to the families and friends of the victims the terrible crash of the helicopter that took place in the Mediterranean sea and like the deputy prime ministersaid, our thoughts are with you during this very difficult and painful time. Talking about commitment at thecanadian armed forces, I would like to quickly talk about the deployment and the work of techs in long-term care homes inquebec where there’s also atragic situation that affectsthousands of vulnerable seniors. and 125 medical technicians weredeployed in five care homesafter the request that thequebec government made onapril 23rd. In recent days, we have seen thedeployment of 320 other membersof the canadian armed forces ineight long-term traditional carehomes, to total of nearly 500members in total and roughly 550soon. We also expect the deployment ofmany canadian armed forces inseven other long-term care homes in Quebec and this will give usthe opportunity to thank themembers of the caf and also themembers of the variousinstitutions and long-term carehomes for their very strong workthat is highly appreciated andwe also would like to thank therepresentatives and theofficials of all levels ofgovernment that allow us tocooperate together to provideservices and to support seniorswho so need this care. Thank you. We’re now ready to answer yourquestions.
Thank you, deputy Prime Minister and as usual, we’llstart on the phone with threequestions, one question, onefollowup.
Thank you.
Operator:
The first question is from agent qmi. Your line is open.
Question:
Hello, My question is for Mr. Duclos. It is about the assistance provided by the senior on force sand long-term care homes. You’ve said that there will becare provided to eight new carehomes and can we get an I. D. ofwhich long-term care homesyou’re talking about and howmany personnel will be sent perinstitution and what will bedone exactly?
Answer:
Thank you for yourquestion. There are five, eight and seven numbers and so there are 125members that were deployed and eight additional long-term carehomes that received numbers fora total of 550 members that willbe deployed very soon in thesecare homes and there are somemembers that are already thereand we expect the deployment to be completed by may 11th. the are changing and this is indone in cooperation with thequebec government and in termsof the number of Quebec carehomes, this will be communicatedvery shortly. and separately. Follow-up question. Thank you.
Question:
In terms of these teams of personnel, you’vementioned nurses and medical technicians and how many military personnel have training in medicine versus those whoaren’t trained, who are just there to serve meals, forexample? s.
Answer:
In terms of that, that’s more technical on the health side and I will give the floor to Dr. Njoo. What I can tell you generally is that there is a key balance between medical responsibilities and support responsibilities to other types of services. They have to make sure they have the necessary equipment for these long-term care homes sothe king of armed fors are wellequipped to do these activities. and we do recognise that whattests are done depends on thelong-term care homes inquestion. I don’t have much to add to whatmr. Duclos has just said. The canadian armed forces withtheir personnel and, obviously, they have the necessary skillsand the needs are changing andwe’re working in cooperationwith the Quebec government forthese long-term care facilities. We have to examine what theneeds are and we will betterunderstand what every person cando. In terms of doctors, there maybe skills for them andactivities that meet theirqualifications, but thesituation is evolving and we’llhave more details in comingdays.
Operator:
The next question is from Ryan from national post and your line is open and you may proceed with your question.
Question:
Yeah, hi there. I’m asking the commercial rent subsidy programme, hearing concerns from businesses that they have to show a 70%reduction in revenue as compared to the 30% reduction in revenue for the wage subsidy and I’mwondering why this 70% was set.
Thank you for the question. As we know, it is important to be reminded of his part of abroad package to support the economy and most importantly our workers through the very difficult situation. These measures are emergency measures and there to help businesses and workers in their specific circumstances and that is the case with other measure sand there are criteria so that we can allocate the resources to those most in need and these criteria both take into account the importance of the needs but the ability of the federal government to be helpful in the manner in which it is complimentary to the work of provinces and territories. In this particular context, as you well know, the agreements were necessary and important in order to implement the programmebecause regulations around rent, regulations around the operation of relationships with orders andrenters, that’s all guided and enforced by problems andterritories. That’s why those rules we redesigned with provinces and territories and will be implemented in collaboration an din support of the territories. First, indeed, we came to quick agreement on the best way to join forced and implement support to businesses and smallbusinesses, in particular. and the context of the very severe pressures that they are facing in the crisis and second, that ongoing work, we are required the collaboration of the banking sector because it’sbeen identified as key. That’s why those parameters were specified in the agreement an din the announcement.
Thank you, Minister. The next question, please.
Operator:
Thank you. The next question, please.
Question:
Good afternoon, Mr. Duclos. I’d like to talk to you about this CERB, your government reached an agreement with the opposition yesterday to do certain things for students and make some adjustments. Will there be a delay in the implementation of the CERB forstudents?
Answer:
Thank you for reminding everyone that we were able to work effectively with the opposition partiesyesterday. What we saw yesterday was that all parties realized the importance of helping ourstudents. I was a teacher for many year sand I was also a student myself before that and I know how an economic crisis can have very serious effects on students, not only during the time when theystudy, because often, they wonder if it’s worth continuing their studies, which is serious situation for them an dour society as a whole, butalso, when they get out of theirstudies, when they want to take on a job, the economic crisis could have a negative impact onthem, even this the very longerterm. So yesterday’s results were veryimportant. The senate, if I understandcorrectly, will soon ratify this legislation and this will bring us to the next step. We’re all aware that the next step will happen quickly, namely, and the implementation of the system that will allow students to receive the CERB and we see how much we can count on the skills and the commitments of the public servants in canadato rapidly implement thisprogramme for students and there are 7 million recipients of thiscerb and many Canadians that were skeptical about our ability to offer such a sizeable assistance programme so quickly, well, they’ve now seen we’reable to do this. a followup. My question was about the regulations that you’ll have toadjust, will that delay the implementation of the CERB? and do you have a figure about the number of requests for wage subsidies from companies and do you see this as an indication that people are turning away from this CERB and asking for the wage subsidy?
Answer:
You’ve asked a lot of good questions and it’s hard to answer all of the questions that are asked. In terms of the regulations, the new specifications that we remade yesterday will allow us to rapidly incorporate regulations to implement the CERB forstudents. and in terms of your question, repeat it once again, please. Could you repeat your question, please. You had three other questions, ithink. They were all connected to eachother. We have to ensure that companies continue to pay their workers so that workers can continue to be available for the economy when it starts up again. Thank you very much, minister and we’ll take a question from the room. I know the medical officer of health in Ottawa is engaged with the community and I don’t know the specifics of set-up, but ithink that question is best leftto her, but, of course, icertainly recognised howdifficult it is for families notseeing their loved ones in thelong-term care homes and I thinkour collective advice is to justdo that safely. a canadian worker from peel hasdied and they say many of herworkers do not have access toprotective equipment and do nothave the steps to keep themsafe. What do you say to those who arenot protecting them adequatelyand are you aware of anyprovinces or multiples facingany direct shortages right nowwith ppe?
Well, I know that our teams are working, you know, everyday to look and forecast any needs from the different provinces and territories and so that Poe can be allocated? I can’t comment on specific distribution to answer thefront-line, but I know for sureall recommendations that we have to protect are front-line.
We’ll pull away from this federal briefing on the federalgovernment’s response tocovid-19, as well as the public health officials and a couple of things of note. I would say 129 cases have been identified on first nation’sreserves in this country and the first case and the first case had been in pond inlet. It had been case-free until nowthere is the possibility offurther restrictions for assaultweapons in in country. The Prime Minister also expectedto have a call with premier andterritorial leaders later todaybecause these calls arehappening on a weekly basis, inlarge part, to talk were thereopening of the economy which, as you know, is happening at adifferent pace. I will hand it over to andrewnichols.
Andrew:
This is CBC news network and we are following that story. a number of breaking and developing stories for youtoday.