Parses captions for PM Trudeau's daily speeches and presents them in a more human readable format
Rosemary:
All right, that is the Prime Minister of Canada giving us a daily update, his daily update on what the government is doing to respond to the pandemic. I’ll bring back Vassy kapelos and David Cochrane. Lots of bits and pieces there from the Prime Minister’s announcement, but much of the questioning focused on the reopening of the economy, the steps that need to be taken next. Vassy, I don’t know where you want to go with it, but I’ll let you start.
Vassy:
I’ll jump off where we left off prior to the Prime Minister’s press conference, and that is around the call for certain opposition leaders, Andrew Scheer at the federal level and then provincial politicians, some premiers, who are voicing concerns over what they say is the probability or the possibility, rather, that the CERB and various other financial aid measures put forth by the federal government will in fact sort of take away the incentive for people to go back to work, and I interviewed brianpallister, the premier of Manitoba, last week who said specifically he’d heard that concern from a number of business organizations as his province, rosy, as you pointed out earlier, is one of the first to open up in kind of a bigger way than many other provinces. The phases are beginning now, and like you said, even patios at half capacity will be open eventually, and various retail locations and things like that. He had been hearing from those business owners that they were concerned about their ability to rehire people who were already benefiting from some kind of financial aid from the government. That question was put to the Prime Minister, and he was pretty explicit in saying, quoteunquote, we’re not there yet. So the idea of weaning down those programs or getting off those programs, he says, is not something at this moment that I guess he is in the midst of figuring out how to do. He said attention was being paid to UT and they were talking about it, but it’s not time for that right now. I think there’s sort of two things to take away from this. The first is, you know, I haven’t – I think it will be interesting for people to put forward some evidence that that is the case first before we can ascertain whether or not that ISS problem. I think it’s true that there are concerns from businesses about how they’re going to reopen. Those concerns involve re-hiringpeople. They involve having the right personal protective equipment, knowing that there’s going to besome sort of immunity. There’s a whole host of concernsfor businesses and very valid concerns about how they are supposed to open in the coming weeks and the coming months. On the flip side, the Prime Minister was then asked, you know, if now’s not the time, areyou going to extend a lot of these programs. Because the other part of this is so many of the financial aid programs that have been put forth, wages, the subsidy is forup to three months. The commercial rent program, which isn’t even in effect yet, ends on June 1. It’s for rent on April, may and June. and the CERB is for four months as well. So we’re getting to a point where we’re in this odd sort of space where it’s not the worst part of everything, everything’sshut down, but we’re also not onthe other end of things. We’re somewhere in the middle, and that middle ground is going to last a while, and I think that there are very genuine questions for the federal government about what these programs look like going forward. Do they stay the same? are they extended? is there some sort of weaning off process or a fettering down of it? those questions have yet to be answered, and I think they are genuine. They should be asked at this point because as provinces startto reopen, these problems becomeless of sort of a thought and more of a reality.
Rosemary:
Yeah, those are all really good points. Also important to remember, though, that every province is at a different space completely. So just shutting down the CERB right now, you know, would have an impact on places where you wouldn’t want it to. So it’s a tough one to figure out, for sure. David, not sure if you want to jump in there too.
David:
Yeah, to build on whatvassy was talking about there in terms of the middle point we are with these support programs, andandrew Scheer had an interesting and positive suggestion earlier when he said you could make changes to things like the CERB to allow people to make more than $1, 000 a month and have some gradual reduction in the benefit, but still come out ahead. Because right now one of the problems is you can make up to $1, 000 and qualify for these aidpackages. If you make $1, 010, you lose the$1, 000 and the CERB. That becomes a disincentive to work over a certain amount, and then the question is how that interacts with the wage subsidy program where you can be re-hired and have the wages subsidized and whether that’s not more beneficial. So it’s the push-pull of these programs that needs to sort of be resolved as various institutions move towards reopening in various provincial jurisdictions. But the Prime Minister said he was looking forward to that moment when you could start scaling back. I think we all are looking forward to that moment.
Sure.
David:
But definitely not there yet. There are still larger things they need to resolve. There is a legitimate question of whether they’re going to have to expand the wage subsidy, extend it or extend CERB because while things might get better, say, in New Brunswick, where there are no active reported cases right now, Quebec still has a long way to go. So things could vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. But also, rosy, he said in days or weeks we will see specific sect oral packages. This is something people have been waiting on for a while. The airline sector, tourism hospitality sector. They are waiting to get a sense of a full impact of this before they come up with something and the focus has been to get the wide-based programs out fast, tohelp as many businesses, as manypeople in as universal a way as possible, although that hasn’t been perfect, before they do these sector-specific things. Still waiting on that. Also one other point, very important question about the cargill meat plant, what’s happening there. We are seeing reports that costco and places like that are limiting how much meat you can buy because of interruptions in processing capacity and what that may do to the delivery of food to retail outlets. The cargill plant in Alberta almost has as many COVID-19 cases at Nova Scotia, at a single place. They are both somewhere between 900 and a thousand. This is going to be an issue to watch going forward in terms of how we can ensure as a country that food processors and food suppliers are safe.
Rosemary:
I was going to say, the two biggest outbreaks in the country have been at meat processing plants in Alberta. and one of the other things, or I think the government has to grapple with as it thinks about this middle point, as you so rightly put it, Vassy, is how do you make sure that people feel safe enough to return to work. That is the problem at the car gill plant, is the union is saying they don’t feel safe enough to send their workers back. If you have someone that wants to come off the CERB and go back to work but doesn’t feel well equipped, how do you navigate that? you want to make sure that everybody feels safe at work and that they have the financial capacity to stay home if they need. 30 seconds, Vassy, sorry.
Vassy:
Yeah, and that’s not an easy problem to solve. and especially on whether or not businesses feel equipped to reopen and people feel personally safe to re-enter those businesses. There is a whole other conversation and set of questions for the federal government on personal protective equipment, and actually questions for the provincial government too because it’s almost shared jurisdiction at this point. But we are hearing from a numberof, again, business owners who are unsure that they have the equipment they need to be able to reopen their business, and soagain, like I said, more questions for the feds on that.
Rosemary:
Okay, both of you, thank you very much for your special coverage here today. Appreciate it. We’ll talk in just a moment. But we will leave things here now on CBC television. If you want to continue watching the federal briefing with cabinet ministers and public health officials, you can catch that on CBC news network” and streaming wherever you are on CBC. Ca. I AM rosemary Barton here in thenation’s capital. We’ll see you back here tomorrow. Thanks for watching. ♪♪
Rosemary:
Hello again. I’m rosemary Barton here in Ottawa. Thanks for joining us on CBC news network”, streaming right around the world on our CBC news app and CBC. Ca. The Prime Minister reiterated a pledge today of $850 million to attempt to boost global efforts towards developing a vaccine or treatment for COVID-19. Justin Trudeau made the promise during an international video conference with other world leaders. It’s aimed at raising close to $12 billion Canadian for scientific research. In his daily address today, Trudeau says the federal government is looking also closely at how it can help the embattled airline sector. This morning air Canada revealed losses topping $1 billion in the last quarter. The CEO calls it the darkest period ever in the history of commercial aviation. The bailout that they are looking for comes somewhere in the order of $3 billion. The Prime Minister today says that they will look at sect oral aid in the days and weeks ahead, whether it be the airline industry or the energy industry. All of this coming, though, on Ada when many provinces are starting to relax some of the rules, different degrees of rules, of course, depending on where you are. Some provinces taking a much more aggressive approach than others. We will, of course, take a look at that national picture across the country. Let’s start with the province that is doing a whole lot on this day, and that is Manitoba. Chris graves is preparing to reopen his restaurant in Winnipeg. He’s the owner of king’s head pub, and he joins us live now. Chris, good to see you.
Hey, rosemary, how are you?
I’m good. I think I’ve actually been to your pub. I know where you are in the exchange district there in Winnipeg. There are some particular rules for how you’re allowed to do this. I know lots of people anxious to get out and socialize a bit. How are you preparing?
Interview:
Well, you know what, when this was announced basically for Manitoba on Wednesday, we had to kind of quickly pivot, and first of all we had to make sure that what we were going to do and open up on the patio was going to be safe. We thankfully have already been able to keep employees going as well. We initiated a curbside pick-up and delivery grocery service, sowe were able to keep a lot of our staff going. So one of the great things thereis we already have been adheringto safety protocols anyway with, you know, making sure we had sanitizer in-house, face masks and gloves. So you know, when this all came down, I mean, we were a little bit surprised, I’ll be honest with you. We did not expect to be part of phase one, but we were also verycautiously excited because it’s been six weeks for us.
Rosemary:
Yeah, it’s long. So is the restaurant itself allowed to open? or just the patio? have you reduced space? give me a sense of what it’s going to look like.
Interview:
Yeah, so inside dining is not permitted at this time. We’re, you know, expecting that to possibly be a June 1, if the phase one of opening the patio goes according to plan. We’re at basically a 50% capacity right now on our patio. Distance has to be no less than 6 feet apart from each other, or half your capacity, which is basically where we are. I mean, we have been taking it like one or two steps above. I mean, what current regulationsare, we’re trying to go above and beyond that. There is a regulation that no more than 10 people at a table. Essentially the max that we’re going to have is no more than, like, five or six to a table at all.
Rosemary:
and you said that you’ve been doing this curbside pick-up. So you have some equipment, but what about the servers, the people that have to get close toput the stuff on the table. Do they have masks, gloves? what are you doing for them to make sure they are safe?
Interview:
So there’s another bit of an issue, right? I mean, a lot of the regulations that were put out were not super specific on what had to happen in terms of service to a table. But we’re going, like I said, above and beyond. So our servers are going to be wearing face masks. They are going to be wearing gloves. We’re also doing things like one-time use cups. So disposable cups, disposable cutlery, disposable condiments, one-time use only. Typically we have condiments on tables, and again, something else, we’re even taking this onestep further and we’re doing a contactless menu. So when people sit down, actually as part of their place setting, they have a url where they can actually go to look at our menu so they don’t actually have to physically touch a menu.
Rosemary:
Well, it sounds like you’ve thought of some good ways to deal with this. I will just end on this because the other briefing is about to start. You said you were surprised. Do you feel like this is happening too quickly? or do you think you can make it work? what’s your assessment?
Interview:
Well, I’m very confident in the staff that we have at the king’s head, but we would not be doing this if it wasn’t for us basically deferring to the health experts and the province of Manitoba, which I will absolutely say have done a phenomenal job. We’re very, very happy with where we are right now, and you can tell by the way the curve has flattened here.
Rosemary:
Chris, good of you to make the time. I do wish I was allowed to go Ina patio, but we’re not there yethere. Good luck with everything. I appreciate it. That’s Chris graves, the owner of king’s head pub in Winnipeg. Let’s take you back to Ottawa. This is the deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland just beginning with introductions about how this will unfold. Here we go. Let’s listen live.
I will start with the latest numbers on COVID-19 in Canada. There are now 59, 844 confirmed cases, including 3, 766 deaths. To date, labs across Canada have tested over 919, 000 people for COVID-19 with just over 6.5% of these testing positive. We are at the start of a new week. As we all inch closer to social and economic reopening, most of us will be feeling the full gamut of emotions, from excited anticipation to nervous apprehension. All of these feelings are warranted, given the uncertainties that lay ahead. Still, there are continued sign sour efforts have slowed the growth of COVID-19 overall in Canada. In some places the epidemic has been brought under good control and the time is right for cautious reopening. Other areas of the country may not be quite there yet but will follow, guided by the careful assessment of public health authorities. During these many weeks, public health tools have helped us to tackle COVID-19 spread, buying us time to protect and bolster our health care capacity, ramp up research and increase capacity for testing and tracing. Going forward, adapting these tools will be a big part of managing COVID-19 for the monthsahead. No matter where we live, living with COVID-19 is something we all need to reconcile with. This means physical distancing, hand hygiene and cough etiquette must continue everywhere. and although we’ll be getting out of our homes more and more, it will be vitally important that at the slightest sign of symptoms we stay home to save lives. Working while sick can no longer be a thing. As we move through the weeks ahead, let’s not forget we are all in this together and we will work our way through it with good science, strong evidence, careful steps and the shared goals to succeed, despite the hardships. Together we can do hard things. Today is may the 4th, so may the force be with us. Thank you.
Thank you, Dr. Tam. Dr. Njoo, please. [ voice of interpreter ]
Thank you. Good afternoon. As usual, I’ll start with the latest numbers on COVID-19 in Canada. There are now 59, 844 confirmed cases, including 3, 766 deaths. To date, labs across Canada have tested over 919, 000 people for COVID-19 with over 6.5% of these testing positive. We’re at the start of a new week, and as we all inch closer to social and economic reopening, most of us will be feeling the full gamut of emotions, from excited anticipation to nervous apprehension. All of these feelings are warranted, given the uncertainties that lie ahead. Still, there are continued signs that our efforts have slowed the growth of COVID-19 overall in Canada. In some places, the epidemic has been brought under good control and the time is right for a cautious reopening. Other areas of the country may not be quite there yet but will follow. Guided by careful assessment of public health authorities. During these many weeks, public health tools have helped us to tackle COVID-19 spread, buying us time to protect and bolster our health care capacity, ramp up research and increase capacity for testing and tracing. Going forward, adapting these tools will be a big part of managing COVID-19 for the monthsahead. No matter where we are living, living with COVID-19 is something we will all need to reconcile. This means physical distancing, hand hygiene and cough etiquette must continue everywhere. and although we will be getting out of our homes more and more, it will be vitally important that at the slightest sign of symptoms we stay home to save lives. Working while sick can no longer be a thing. As we move through the weeks ahead, let’s not forget we are all in this together and we will work our way through it with good science, strong evidence, careful steps and a shared goal to exceed – succeed, rather, despite the hardships. Together we can do hard things. May the fourth be with us. Merci.
Thank you, Dr. Njoo. We will now go to jean Yves Duclos, please.
Thank you, Chrystia, and goodafternoon, everyone. As you know, we’re facing a global pandemic that requires global action when it comes to action and health. That’s why Prime Minister Trudeau made an important announcement this morning saying that Canada would continue to play an important role internationally, despite the issues that we are facing on the national front. There are some 800 million dollars for testing, tracing and vaccination in order to prepare for the production and distribution of products, treatments, vaccines that will protect us and help cure us fromcovid-19. [ end of interpretation ]. – health crisis at the international level, and that’s why we also reacted, as you saw this morning with the Prime Minister, nationally and internationally, and with the health crisis has also come an economic crisis, and I would like briefly to summarize a few of the emergency response statistics that we have seen over the last few days. First, when it comes to helping workers through the Canada emergency response benefit, a total of 7.3 million Canadians have received the CERB for a total of 10.6 million applications. Second, when it comes to providing help for wage subsidies, emergency wage subsidies, as of 3rd of may, 96, 000 applications have been made on the part of businesses and a total of 1.7 million workers are being helped throughthe emergency wage subsidy. and finally, to help support oursmall businesses in this very difficult time, through the Canada emergency business account, 518, 000 businesses haveapplied and have received a positive response following their applications for the emergency business account, helping them go through the crisis in order that when the crisis is over we can still relyon the great level of leadershipand ability of our small businesses to grow again the economy. Thank you, Chrystia.
All right. [ voice of interpreter ]thank you, jean-yves. We are now ready to take your questions. [ end of interpretation ]. Minister hajdu is here to answerquestions as well. Thank you.
Thank you, deputy Prime Minister. As you know, we’ll start on the phone with three questions before we turn to the room. One question, one follow-up. Operator?
Operator:
Thank you. Merci. If you have a question, please press star 1 on your telephone key pad. We have a question from Laura osmonde from the Canadian press. Please go ahead. The line is open.
Reporter:
Good morning, ministers. For anyone who’s able to answer, the Chinese embassy says the million masks from china that the public health agency said couldn’t be distributed last week were held up by a contractual dispute and it’s been resolved. Are you able to elaborate at all on what happened and what the status of those masks is now?
Hi, we will have to get details back to you. I’m sorry we don’t have that technical information right now.
Laura, follow-up?
Reporter:
Deputy Prime Minister Freeland, I was wondering if I could ask you a for political question. I’m wondering to what extent you’re concerned about the rhetoric coming from your policyrivals, the conservatives, in their refusal to express their confidence in the nation’s top doctors.
Well, first of all, let me be clear about one thing, which is that to ever impugn the loyalty to Canada of a Canadian based on their racial or ethnic background or whether they were born in this country or immigrated here is completely unacceptable. a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian. and I AM so confident that the overwhelming majority of Canadians understand and believethat. When it comes to the public health officers in Ottawa and across the country, I think Canada has been very well served by the dedication and the expertise and the collaboration of our public health officers across the country, and I think political leaders across the country have been really uniform in spending a lot of time with our public health officers, really working hard to understand their advice and to listen to their advice, and I think that has served Canada andcanadians very well.
Thank you, deputy Prime Minister. Operator, next question, please.
Operator:
Thank you. Merci. [ voice of interpreter ]the next question is from lynne adib, canadian press.
Reporter:
Good morning, Mr. Duclos. I’d like to go back over the numbers you just shared with us. They are very interesting. You talked about 7.3 million Canadians out of the 10.6 applications for the CERB. Were there rejections? you also talked about 1.7 million workers who received the wage subsidy. Are those people who – well, infact, what I’m trying to do is see whether people are being transferred from one program to the other. Could you please give some additional details on those numbers?
Going to the first question with respect to the emergency benefit, 7.3 million Canadians applied, made one or two applications, because the total number of applications is 10.6. and the applications that came in were approved, so the difference between the two numbers is that some people have received more than one payment. Now as of April 11, people could make – put in a new application in addition to the one that they had made initially. With respect to the wage subsidy, yes, 96, 000 companies applied for salaries paid between March 15 and April 11. So that covers 1.7 million workers. So 1.7 million workers who have no need to apply for the CERB.
Follow-up question.
Reporter:
So these aren’t people who were transferred one to the other. I had another question, a more technical one, with respect to the student emergency benefit. Now we know that school calendars are different in Quebec. They were supposed to be finishing in May, it will be the end of may. So will cegep students, for example, receive the benefit forjune, July, August? what about high school students who are heading off to university? will they be eligible for July and August? because their school year ends at the end of June?
Well, to clarify, to add some clarity to the first question that you put, it all depends on the workers’ circumstances. and one situation doesn’t apply to all. So some may have received benefit under the CERB, then realized that the company they are working for would be paying out emergency wages, so then they would be reimbursing or already reimbursed the amount they received because they are now receiving the wage subsidy. Now with respect to the benefit for students, what’s important is the time when they complete or finish their studies and when they would have normally started looking for a job. So for cegep, for example, in Quebec it’s different in Quebec because outside Quebec there are no cegeps, but once they finish their year and they will be looking for a job, that is when they would become eligible for the emergency benefit for students. With respect to secondary or high school students who have finished their year and plan to go on to post-secondary studies, now outside of Quebec it’s normal at the end of June that they would become eligible, and for university students, it is the start of may.
Thank you, Minister. We’ll go to the operator for the next question. [ end of interpretation ].
Operator:
Thank you. The next question is from rolandgardner from politico. Please go ahead. The line is now open.
Reporter:
Thanks, this question is for Dr. Tam. You’ve talked a lot about the need for Canada to ramp up testing to 60, 000 a day, and I’mwondering when you think that Canada can get to that point and what – and until then, what needs to be done to get there.
So yes. So I think there’s increased testing, as you’ve seen, day over day. So I think the common goal is to increase that. 60, 000 is just the capacity target for the provinces and territories based on the existing public health laboratory capacity, but we are investigating any other avenue for increasing lab testing, including point of care. and also the role of serologic testing when they do come on board. I think it’s not a magic number. That is a capacity number. You do have to test the right people at the right place at the right time according to the epidemiology of the provinces. So they have to adapt their testing strategy based on what they are seeing. It’s very different from a jurisdiction that have no cases and no community transmission, but there is increased testing, of course, being ramp ed up, for example, in Quebec, particularly in communities where there’s been more reporting of cases. So I know that chief medical officers and provincial public health authorities, they are seized with the need to use testing to inform the next stage. So I think we would expect to provide as much support as we can from the federal levels to enable that to happen. But every day, as I think ms. Hajdu will attest, we are constantly monitoring every bit of the supply chain, and every day there may be something that we need to tackle together. So that’s just sort of a daily reality of the supply issue. But we are also tackling supplies from a domestic manufacturing ramp-up as well, so I think a lot of those are trajectories means that we can absolutely be increasing testingin Canada.
Follow-up?
Reporter:
Yeah, My follow-up is for the deputy Prime Minister. I’m wondering kind of what is the next stage of Canada’s engagement with the United States on COVID-19 response, just given looking at the large caseload inthe unite States and the differences between the states on what some are doing in terms of promoting physical distancing versus moving to reopen their economiesand the impact that could have on Canada as we move further along and get further away from the immediate public health response. Do you have any thoughts about what might need to change in terms of Canada’s collaboration or interactions with the United States oncovid?
So let me just start by commenting a little bit on the premise of the question, the idea that there would be a next stage. The reality is that the canadianrelationship with the United States is so close and there is a connection and an interdependence on so many levels that this is a relationship that we are working on literally every day, even every hour, and not only at the federal level. The premiers are very engaged particularly in working with the governors of their border states. Mayors are involved, business peoples are involved. So it’s something that is happening every single day, every single hour, and that is exactly as it ought to be. and it’s a relationship when it comes to coronavirus that has a lot of different aspects to it. There is obviously the border relationship, and I think that that is working out today very well for both countries. We have told Canadians, we had asked Canadians to stay at home, and it’s been very neighbourly to offer that same approach when it comes to our American neighbours. At the same time, essential travel is still happening and that is happening really effectively, and that is so important for things like being sure that we have groceries in our grocery stores. We also have been working really effectively when it comes to the medical equipment supply chain. So this is an ongoing relationship. It is something that is a priority for any Canadian government, very much including this one, and it’s going to develop as the situation with the coronavirus and on many other issues develop.
We will now turn to the room starting with Julie van Duse from CBC.
Reporter:
I think it’s for Theresa Tam or for patty hajdu. President trump says he believes that COVID-19 is the result of horrible mistake in china that he and mike Pompey have evidence that it originated in Wuhan lab. What’s the government’s view? where did it come from? how did it start?
Well, I’ll start and I’ll turn to Dr. Tam as she’s been actively involved in monitoring the illness since it first maedzits appearance back in December. There will be time, obviously, and a lot of of interest and importance to understand how this virus became prevalent in the human species, and I think those questions are being asked, rightfully so. Certainly the research and scientist community is all over it and trying to understand where the virus originated from and how it’s evolved and mutated since it’s been present in humans. But for me as the Minister of health and the government of Canada, although those questions are important because they will help us prevent future outbreak sand understand what we can learn from this particular virus, what’s even more important right now is to stay focused on Canadians’ health and helping Canadians get through the outbreak that we’re in now, how we flatten the curve together and how we protect and strengthen the health and social fabric of our communities, and so that’s the work that I remain focused on. Dr. Tam, did you have anything further to add about your work?
I don’t think we’ve seen any specific information to say that this is a laboratory accidental release. But at the same time, we don’t know the exact origins of this virus. Of course the hypothesis is it comes from a reservoir like bats. It’s very likely to have involved another animal somewhere in-between, the zoo nottic or animal-to-human transmission, so that question hasn’t actually been answered fully as yet, so I think there’sa lot of work, including geneticanalysis and more collection of animal and other data. There is international constructs with W.H.O., oie and others just to try and get to the bottom of the sort of where that zoon ottic transmission occurred. I think the natural history of the evolution of this virus will – you know, may be found in the upcoming months. Sometimes you actually might notfind that until many months later. The sars virus wars the same thing. You had to sort of trace back, do a lot of analysis in order tocome up with a hypothesis, so I’m not sure that this is something that will be immediately obvious, but work iscontinuing on that front.
Reporter:
Okay, so I didn’t hear the words “wet market” so it seems that it’s not 100% clear where it came from. and on a similar kind of vein, it wasn’t so long ago, and I guess the question is for eithertheresa tam or patty hajdu, it wasn’t so long ago the government said temperature taking was not reliable, there was no reason to take people’s temperatures when they came into the country. That was maybe a couple of months ago. Now air Canada – you won’t be able to get on a plane unless you have your temperature taken, our wearing a mask. I guess I’m wondering do you regret being so definitive or is it just really hard to get your footing when it comes to this virus?
Well, as a novel virus, it undergoes a lot of evolution in terms of knowledge, but the more you actually understand this virus, the more you begin to know that temperature taking is not effective at all. You know, in terms of people coming across, even if you’re infected, we know that the likelihood of picking up someonewho’s symptomatic is sort of relatively inefficient, and so temperature screening alone is not gonna add to that. and if we had a significant number of asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic people that alsoeven reduces even the effectiveness even more. I think the most important aspects for the current responseis to ensure that incoming travellers undergo the mandatory14-day quarantine so that withinthose 14 days, if you had a temperature, if you had any of the symptoms, you can be safely managed and you reduce spread to the rest of the population. So that is really the fundamental aspect of our borderhealth response right now.
Thank you, doctor. Mr. Chase?
Reporter:
Hi, Steven chase, “the globe and mail”. My question is for the deputy Prime Minister. In 2017 your government famously said that you would welcome people from around the world, refugees, who were fleeing persecution and other dangers. As we reported today, 46 Hong Kong residents, Hong Kong residents who took part – many of whom took part in the massive demonstrations that began there last year, have now submitted claims for asylum in Canada. They are citing harassment by police and police brutality, and they are citing fears of unjust prosecution. Canada has a large and lengthy history of Cantonese immigration to Canada, and I wanted to ask you: is there a place for these protesters in Canada?
Well, thank you for your question, Steve. and on specific asylum claims, that’s an issue that needs to be adjudicated very carefully and very thoughtfully, certainly not via press conference. But let me say about the Hong kong-Canadians, that you’re quite right, that Canada has benefited hugely from the immigration of people from hong Kong to Canada. They contribute tremendously to our society, and I think all of us are very, very glad that so many people from hong Kong have chosen to make their home and their lives here.
Reporter:
Just a follow-up question. I think one of the issues that’sgoing to be debated more and more over the next few months and years, and I don’t think these 46 are certainly the end of this, is does hong kong’s political and legal system give rise to the possibility of – a serious possibility of persecution? what are your thoughts on that?
Look, when it comes to Hong Kong, Canada’s position is clear and very long-standing. We have supported consistently the one country two systems policy. I made a number of statements about that as foreign Minister, and franÇois philippe champagne, our foreign Minister, has continued to be clear about that. and because the large number of Canadians who live in hong Kong, Canada does have a particular interest in the situation there.
Thank you, deputy Prime Minister. Kevin?
Reporter:
Kevin Gallagher with CTV news. This is directed at the deputy Prime Minister, but feel free to answer because it does have some other implications for the health Minister, perhaps Dr. Tam. There was two more cellphone towers in Quebec that were burntdown. So there’s one on Friday. There’s concern that it links back to conspiracy theory, that the coronavirus is spread through 5g networks. The question, though, is how has misinformation that we have seen throughout this pandemic hindered or presented a challenge to get out effective public health information to people about this outbreak?
Well, I’ll start and then My colleagues may want to chip in as well. The incident to which you refer is, of course, regrettable. and there have been similar incidents in other countries too. Of course misinformation is especially dangerous at a time like this when all of us are concerned, quite rightly, and when all of us are being asked to radically change our behaviours and radically change the way our daily lives operate. So it’s a time of both heightened anxiety and tremendous change, and so disinformation can have a particularly pernicious effect. We, as a government, are working very hard to push back against that disinformation. I think that’s why all of us are here right now, and I would like to really also recognize the very important role the provinces and public health officials in the provinces are playing in that effort. and I do also want to say I think Canadians have been great. Canadians are really smart. Canadians are really well informed, and while inevitably there are going to be individual moments where people fall prey to disinformation, by and large I think as a country people are making really smart decisions, and those smart and well-informed decisions are saving lives. Do you want to add anything?
Quickly say that I think it’squite normal during a period of such uncertainty and anxiety to look for answers. I think people want to know – keep saying this. The question I hear in many different guises is when will all this be over? how did this happen and when will all this be over? and I think they are questions that, you know, are top of mind for Canadians as they are stuck at home, as their livelihoods have changed, as there are so many mothers that I know parenting and trying to work at the same time, fathers too. You know, the situation has changed tremendously for people, and that uncertainty drives I think a quest for knowledge or quest for understanding. You know, how did we get here and how do we get out? and that’s why we’ve tried so diligently, not just through press conferences, but things like making sure we have the Canada COVID-19 app that we disseminate information through the website, that we provide transparent information, that when we don’t know we say we don’t know and when we – you know, when we have new information, we present it quickly to the public. There is a whole field of communications called risk communications, certainly experts know that it’s really important that you are available, for example, that you tell the truth and that when you don’t know the answer you say you don’t know the answer. and so we certainly try to continue to follow those principles so that Canadians can have confidence in our government, but also have confidence in what we keep saying, which is that we will get through this together as a country.
Reporter:
Just to follow up, and with provinces opening up businesses or loosening restrictions, there are concerns that as people start to get back to what would be more of a regular routine, that some of the new habits that have been picked up, physical distancing, for example, may become eroded as time goes on. So what are the main points thatcanadians who are living in provinces that are starting to loosen restrictions need to keep in mind, to keep themselves safe and to ensure the spread of the virus is as low as possible?
Well, I think the first thingcanadians need to remember is it’s not over. It is a cautious reopening in certain provinces in certain sectors, but that the new normal will have to include new ways ofliving, new ways of working that will protect us in this unique and difficult time. If we – as we know, as we suspect, I would say, a large portion of Canadians haven’t been exposed to COVID-19, which means that we don’t have widespread immunity across the country and we’ve done a really good job as Canadians holding the line, flattening the curve, reducing that transmission rate. But the continuation of that depends on us being extremely careful, and with these new I guess permissions from public health that we can proceed to go back to work in certain settings, that we can proceed Togo back to school in certain settings, but that we will have to follow the advice and guidance of public health, nonetheless. and I think for governments what that means is we’ll need to repeat and provide that information in a variety of different ways. You’ll probably see a lot more government of Canada and provincial-territorial advertising about the importanceto continue to wash your hands and to stay 2 metres apart and to cover your coughs appropriately and cough into your sleeve, and to most essentially not go to work or go to school if you’re sick. and I think those messages you hear Dr. Tam repeat every day, they often are not I think what people want to hear. They want the magic solution, but the magic solution really isall of us continuing these practices that we’ve adopted andbecome somewhat used to over thelast several months. Dr. Tam, did you want to add anything?
Yeah, it is going to be difficult, but I think keep on sustaining our messages about continuing the new things that you’ve learned I think in the last few months about personal hygienic practices. Definitely staying home when you’re sick and the practising of physical distancing. But I think the public does have to be supported to do so as well. So for businesses, we know that we’re – that provinces and territories are asking for very specific plans in terms of how do you re-start say non-essential businesses safely so that the customers are also nudged into doing the right thing. Like, you know, how you pace thenumber of people in your store or how you set things up so thatpeople reduce the risk of transmission, hand hygiene stations, you know, in differentplaces, as you’ve seen, I think will continue and needs to continue. But I think a lot of the creativity and innovation that has actually occurred in the last several months I think really needs to be capitalized. Some of the teleworking, telemedicine and being able to access services in different ways will I hope continue. You need to build on the momentum of those innovations inorder to help people adjust to this living with the virus. So we will – you’ll hear us in a very boring way repeating those messages again and again. Employers, of course, need to be able to support, and governments, in helping people to stay home when they are sick. That is not an easy thing to do. That’s probably the most difficult habit to sever, but people have to be able to do it with the support of their workplace or their schools or their environments that they areworking on. and then, of course, we know about the issues that characterized this epidemic, which consists of supporting those most vulnerable and in high-risk settings and those must also continue as well. But I think Canadians have so far been great in that we – youknow, with more reinforcement, they will be able to continue and adapt. I think it’s adjusting and adapting in a slow and cautious way is how public health is envisaging things. The other thing is the balance of physical and mental health and all the other dimensions as well. There are some habits we may have had that are good for us and we have diminished them. I know I certainly have exercised less. Sort of reigniting some of thosepreventive measures I think is very important. [ no interpretation ]
[ voice of interpreter ].
Reporter:
Good afternoon. With respect to the production of a vaccine, a collection initiative was launched today. Now there will be a number of steps involved. Some will have access to it before others, even though we want everyone to have access to it, there will have to be a priority order. How will we determine who has first access to the vaccine?
Dr. Howard Njoo:
Well, I think that before I answer your question about access, I think it’s important to underscore the fact that with global cooperation, because research is being done everywhere and here in Canada, we will continue with research and in a spirit of sharing data with the view to developing a vaccine. Now there are a number of technical aspects. People are saying that it will take between 12 and 18 months todo so. For scientists I think it’s always based on the concept that the vaccine will be available for everyone worldwide. With respect to details on production and how it will be distributed, ET cetera, those are issues that I can’t answer now personally, but with good cooperation and collaboration across the world we will come up with solutions to ensure that everyone who needs a vaccine, once we’ve developed a vaccine, will have access to it. Thank you.
Follow-up question? [ end of interpretation ].
Reporter:
Yes, I will go in English because maybe Minister hajdu can answer about this. Once a vaccine will be found by a country or the other, or different countries together, there will be countries who will have means to produce a certain quantity of vaccines faster thanothers. So I know that we are not there yet, but how are you planning this? there will be countries that will have access to vaccines before others. How will that be determined?
You’re right. In some ways we are not there yet, but in other ways we are preparing to be there for when vaccine is created, and how we do that is as Dr. Njoo pointed out, we work together with countries so that the research is pooled and there’s a collective I suppose ownership, if you will, of the findings of the research and the discovery of potential vaccine candidates. Also we’re finding a number of Canadian companies doing research on a vaccine, which was part of the announcement today, but looking at others as well as candidates for people that will not only be able to find the vaccine but then produce the vaccine with their partners across the country. and all of that work is very important. It is almost like a race, but a race where you want everyone to be able to cross the finish line at once. and so we know here in Canada that as long as COVID-19 is raging out of control in another country, Canadians will not be safe, and that’s why the spirit of collaboration that Dr. Njoo spoke about is so important, because, yes of course every one wants to find a – every country wants to find a vaccine and vaccinate their citizens, but there be always be risk to every population if we don’t consider the world health and the global health, and that’s why I think it’s so exciting to be part of an international effort as well as the domestic support for companies and researchers that are working so hard here in Canada.
Thank you. Minister. Operator, next question, please.
Operator:
Thank you. The next question is from Jessica Murphy from BBC. Please go ahead.
Reporter:
Yes, hi. Thank you. I’m just wondering what you can tell me on a federal level, what’s being done in terms of emergency preparedness. Obviously we’re already in floodseason, as we saw with fort mac, but also, you know, we’re coming up on wildfire, hurricane season. So what’s being done amid this pandemic at the federal level for that preparedness?
That’s a great question, Jessica, and it is something we are very, very focused on. Every spring the Minister of plaiflt and emergencies puts together a plan working with the minister of defendant to respond to potential floods and forest fires. This year was no exception, and in fact this year those preparations have had the added element of a very deep appreciation that coronavirus would add a level of complexity to the response, for example, when it comes to being really thoughtful about places where people who may need to leave a place where there is flooding Ora place where there is a forest fire, having places where they can go, obviously this period of physical distancing means that we have to be particularly thoughtful about making provision for those kinds of things. But we are – you know, we are very aware that flood season and then forest fire season is upon us and have been working very hard in collaboration with the provinces to be ready.
Follow-up?
Reporter:
Yes, thank you. I do have a quick follow-up. I know in the United States, for example, fema is looking at the complexities, for example, of getting people out of hospitals during this time and getting people out of long-term care facilities and that kind of thing. I wonder if there’s anything specific that’s being looked at in Canada in a similar way, any of the challenges or any things being looked at at that level.
Sure, of course. I mean, the issue of what you do with housing people who may need to leave areas of flooding or forest fires is a really, really important one. and so of course is the issue of taking care of and moving people who are particularly vulnerable. So for sure that’s part of the planning.
Thank you, deputy Prime Minister. Operator, next question, please.
Operator:
Thank you. The next question is from Marie Bastille, Le devoir. [ voice of interpreter ]
Reporter:
My question is for ms. Freeland. I’d like to go back to the ban on assault weapons that the government announced on Friday. For months now the government has talked about those weapons not being used for hunting. So why is there an exemption for an amnesty period for two years for indigenous communities or people who are hunting? if you could comment on that.
Thank you for the question. I think that our announcement onfriday was an historic moment. With respect to the exemption for indigenous communities, it is an issue of constitutional rights for indigenous peoples. I think that all Canadians understand that we must pay particular attention to that, including their right to subsistence hunting, and that is the reason why the exception wasincluded. Thank you.
Follow-up question?
Reporter:
Another question for you, ms. Freeland. I’d like to know or to have an update on the negotiations with the provinces when it comes to bonuses for essential workers. For a month now we’ve been discussing the issue with the provinces. There was a call with the provincial leaders at the end of last week. Did you reach an agreement? and if yes, can you tell us when the pay bonus will be paid by Ottawa to the provinces for essential workers?
Another good question. Thank you. We have an agreement in principle between the federal government and the provinces. At the federal level, we understand that each province has specific measures. Some provinces have already provided a bonus to essential workers. We’re continuing to work out thedetails, but that doesn’t prevent the provinces from goingforward, and the federal government is here to help the provinces. We feel that it is very important for Canadians, for people doing such important work. Many of the people doing these jobs are not well paid and, therefore, it’s very important to provide the additional support.
Reporter:
So there isn’t an agreement, then, if I understand what you’re saying? – [ end of interpretation ].
Rosemary:
Okay, let’s pull away from the federal briefing here with cabinet ministers and federal public health officials giving us some more information about how they are responding to the pandemic. I will bring in My colleagues Vassy kapelos and David cochraneto talk a little bit more about what we heard. Because you’ve tweeted it, vase, I’m going to switch the numbers. We have a lot of numbers there from the president of the treasury board today.
Vassy:
Yeah, jean-yves ducloslaid out as we have been discussing the need for the financial aid packages that havebeen put forward by the federal government, and we should say also amended as the process wentalong by opposition parties, butso far let’s start with the CERB. That’s the program that you can get $2, 000 a month for up to four months, 7.3 million Canadians have so far received that. The wage subsidy, as of May 3, Minister Duclos said 96, 000 applications made. This is the first time I heard this number, but he calculated 1.7 million workers are being helped. So I imagine that’s for the applications that would have already been approved. My understanding is that money should start to flow to those employers this week. Those applications opened up exactly a week ago today. and then the canadian emergency business account, which is that $40, 000 interest free loan, $10, 000 of it is forgivable if you pay it back by the end of next year. 518, 000 businesses have applied and been approved. So those are huge numbers that quantify for us, I think, what anecdotally we have been hearingnon-stop since the beginning of this outbreak, about six or seven weeks ago, and that is that the need among Canadians, both individuals and businesses alike, is immense and continues to be. But back to our question that wehad been discussing, of course, what does that mean for either the continuation of these programs or the amendment of them, will they change to betterreflect that some provincial economies are reopening and needto hire people back? or will they be extended to alsoreflect the fact that some provinces are not at that stage right yet.
Rosemary:
That’s right, and the wage subsidy number, you’re quite right, it’s the first timewe’ve really seen a picture of uptake in the number, and the government would hope that that number would go up and that there would be fewer people using the emergency benefit. and David, I think you mentioned to me earlier this morning there’s going to be some labour numbers out at the end of this week too.
David:
Yeah, labour numbers coming out at the end of the week and consensus among some economists, could see 4 million job losses recorded in those numbers. Go back to the math of what Vassy just went through to provide a little bit more context on it, 7.3 million getting the CERB and a total of 9 million people that we know of on these aid programs. The Canadian worker force is 20 million people. This is 45% of the Canadian workforce that is now on some sort of federally created aid program that is just weeks old. So you can stack on top of that 45% all the public sector workers across the country and gigantic percentage of the Canadian economy is either completely or largely reliant Ina federal, provincial or municipal government for their income right now because of the effects that this pandemic has had on private sector economic activity. I mean, it’s just a – the world economy has gone into potentially a coma. So 45% of the workforce, it’s a staggering number, is now receiving either the CERB or the wage subsidy at this point in time.
Rosemary:
Yeah, it’s essentially being kept alive by government aid rather than private sector money because there isn’t a very large one. Thank you both for much for yourcoverage. Appreciate it. You can catch Vassy tonight on her program at 5 eastern “power & politics”. the other thing that public health officials were talking a little bit about today was how we moved forward as some of the economies start to reopen. One of the key messages they have there from the health Minister and Dr. Tam was it’s critically important to keep up the public health measures that have been in place and that if you are sick to stay home, that you shouldn’t go back to work ifyou’re sick. The new line, the new way of thinking about this from Dr. Tam, seems to be that we have to find a way to live with COVID-19 until there’s treat mentor a vaccine. I’m rosemary Barton. Our coverage continues after this short break with Andrew
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