Parses captions for PM Trudeau's daily speeches and presents them in a more human readable format
Rosemary:
and that is the Prime Minister of Canada with his daily briefing to the country today. Actually with some pretty shocking developments that we will hear more about, first at a technical briefing by the Ontario government at 12:30 and then a full release by the premier at 1:30 eastern. I’ll bring in My colleagues Vassy and David to talk more about reports that the Prime Minister said Canadian forces saw in Ontario long-term care centres that he called extremely disturbing. I know you’ve been working your sources to find out what might be in this report and how this unfolded. I’ll start with you, Vassy.
Vassy:
It sounds like from the Prime Minister – I should reiterate what he said, as you mentioned, he said he experienced anger, frustration and grief when reading the military report on what’s going on in some Ontario long-term care facilities. We know that the military is in five of those facilities most in the greater toronto area. Orchardville in pickering and one in scarborough, etobicoke, north york and brampton. What I’m told is that – and you heard the Prime Minister talk about it – he is in receipt of the report as of Friday. There was a question from global news that bill blair’s office, the Minister of public safety, might have had the report since may 14. and I’m working to fry and confirm that at this point. What I’ve heard from two separate sources in the military is that this report asks the province to investigate and take some sort of corrective action. They found evidence of few rules being followed, lack of staff training and lack of medical equipment, inadequate resource overall. People passing away and not adequately being taken care of. My source says there are specific examples provided in the report. and we are anticipating, according to the premier’s office, the full report to be released in a few hours’ time. There is a technical briefing about the contents of it about 12:30 eastern. Bottom line, though, the military witnessed some awful things in the short time they’ve been in these long-term care homes. We know as well that the provinces of both Ontario and Quebec have requested an extension of the presence of the canadian armed forces in long-term care homes in the province. He says he’s considering that extension right now. My guess that it will be granted given that the issues that persist in those homes. But essentially you have the military acting as whistleblower about what’s going on in these homes. We know from speaking with people who have relativeses, who have loved ones in them that there are major problems. We know from the spread of the virus, the sheer data that these homes have been hit, particularly hard, but it appears what the military has witnessed in the homes is so awful, so troubling as the Prime Minister put it, that they put it down in writing and that they are asking the province of Ontario to take croakive action. – corrective action, as a result.
Rosemary:
Ok. a couple of reminders about the state of Canada’s military in these long-term care centres, as you said, five of them in Ontario. We don’t know where these incidents occurred. But there are 250 members of the military working in those five centres in Ontario. There are 25 long-term care centres in Quebec that have the additional support of the military. 1350 soldiers working inside those care centres and we have heard, of course, very troubling stories as well. Even before the military arrived and the difference is that the military working there was concerned enough to flag this so that the province could take steps. We’ll see what those steps are. It certainly sounds like some negligence.
David:
You have a remarkable situation where the Canadian armed forces are acting as whistle blowers in terms of what they’ve seen in these five long-term care homes in Ontario. We’ve noticed from doug ford’s press secretary that they will be releasing the full report on the five long-term care homes that the military has been insisting at at 1:30 today. There is – hang on. Just getting a bit of information here. Ok. The may 14 date that came out was apparently a letter sent to bill blair or alert. I’m told by a senior government official that they did not get the full report from the military until Friday. So it’s come very quickly from when the formal report was compiled and sent to the Prime Minister’s office from when it was read, shared with the premier’s office and then made public. It is unclear to me, at least, what may have been known by Minister blair’s office on the 14th of may if that was someone from the military or media or report because there’s been various reports about deficiencies in Canada. They have been neglect. – neglectful in protecting the staff. That work there and preventing the spread and providing them with a living wage so they can reduce their exposure by working in multiple homes just to cobble together enough of an income to stay solvent in regular times, let alone during a pandemic. Now to have the military deployed to sort of still in the gaps, by staff in these long-term care homes getting sick and have the military walk into something so troubling and soldiers see some things, it was so troubling they felt to formally make a complaint and send a whistle blower and what has been a series of startling things over the last several monthings. This is – months. I think what we’ll hear from the premier in about an hour and a half is going to be pretty horrible.
Rosemary:
Yeah. I should point out that there is a technical briefing which is not – will not be made public so we can’t televise it. But our reporters will be calling in, of course, to get background information on that technical briefing. The premier, ford, will be with the attorney generalle. is that any indication of the seriousness of this matter when he speaks to the entire report which will be made public. I’m sure people will be re-assured to see the fullness of that report. The Minister of long-term care will also be at that press conference at 1:30. Of course, we’ll bring that to you live. I will just say that the Prime Minister did seem, you know a little – he obviously was frustrated and upset about it. He also said that he offered his support to Ontario as the country really has to move forward with a difficult conversation and clearly these soldiers were brought into these long-term care centres because they were some of the most as a result verbal and the centres that need – most vulnerable and the centres that needed the most help. But it’s upsetting enough for them to report it up to their superiors. We talked to a couple of them and didn’t get a sense of this. But we will get more information later in the afternoon.
David:
Rosey, I was asking about this letter and what I’m being told is that this letter didn’t have anything on the 14*9. There was a package delivered on Friday. and in that package, one of the documents dated may 14th. So it’s something that has been compiled over a period of time. So there may be documents that were dated this time and shared at certain levels. But what we’re being told from officials in the Prime Minister’s office is Blair did not have anything on the 14th of may. The package that arrived had documents dated on the 14th of may. That may contradict other reporting. This is what we’re told in our inquiries.
Rosemary:
We’ll let you work your source for a moments if you don’t mind as we wait for the federal briefing from federal cabinet ministers and health officials that start at noon. In the meantime, I’ll bring in a guest, Colin fewness is an assistant epidemiology professor at the university of Toronto. Hello.
Hello.
Rosemary:
All the epidemiologists in this country have become famous now and well-known faces to us and we appreciate you making time. I know it’s not your field of expertise, but maybe get you to weigh in on these revelations that we don’t know very much about at this stage, that soldiers have witnessed some troubling things inside long-term care centres. Certainly we knew that this was a situation that would have to be corrected going forward. Just your though on what you heard there from the Prime Minister.
We know how to keep people safe. We have this expertise. We do it in hospitals all the time. and I’m sure the Prime Minister was shocked to get that report. I’m sure we’re all shocked. On the other hand, I think we kind of know that marginalized populations and old folks are one, prisoners are another, homeless are another. We don’t spend the money that we need to spend in order to have them at the standard that we know we can do and that we do do in acute care hospitals.
Rosemary:
Ok. Let’s talk more particularly about the situation in Ontario. Which I know a lot of people are looking at it and not understanding why the trend line is not good right now. It is frankly troubling. What should we take from that?
Well, there’s two pieces, I think we need to sort out. The first is, is the regulatory framework that is applied to long-term care homes adequate? are the regulations adequate? that is number one. and number two, given those regulations, is the enforcement, is the compliant and the enforcement adequate? and athink that is going to – that may take an inquiry to actually sort out. Really try to differentiate those.
Rosemary:
In the broader term, though, in itemingers of how Ontario is doing, we’re still not doing great. Today it was the lowest number we’ve had in a month. 286 cases. You know, but over time, over I think 13, 14 days now we’re of having still a high number of cases. What are your concerns there?
Well, we can’t read too much into the daily ups and downs. There’s noise there. You notice if you look carefully we tend to have fewer case on weekends than weekdays sophomore there’s work flow issues there. We have to take a long view. In other words, you really need to look at a two, three, four-week pattern. I see in the model that I maintain that we are almost exactly perfectly treading water. We are making zero progress at this point. It is not actually really getting worse, but we are making zero progress. So, we are in the middle of a wave. We’re past the peak and it is just – it is continuing in a very fixed way.
Rosemary:
That doesn’t sound great at all. There is no urgency to the next stage of re-opening and we are still doing certain things. Do you think that is happening, given too quickly then?
Where there is community spread such as in Toronto, for example, there’s no question it’s too early. and our chief medical officer of health said so. His standard is he wanted to see fewer than 200 cases a day. I think that was too high. You’d want to see lower still and that was overruled and not only that, we opened everywhere at once. In Toronto and urban areas we shouldn’t be doing it.
Rosemary:
They don’t seem at all interested in that idea that the many times for instance My colleague has asked the premier, whether it be northern Ontario, which is in a very different situation, even in Ottawa, not the same situation as Toronto and peel. Why do you think there is such a reluctance to – just to make it a little bit different given that it’s a different picture across the province.
It feels like the need to control, central control. As soon as you have difference region, you need to devolve a certain amount of information to say this is the way of doing things. But Ontario is vast. It’s vast in population and vast in territory. It’s absurd to me that one set of rules should apply, given the variability that we have.
Rosemary:
What do you think about the increase in testing now, the attempt to really ramp up testing in this province, meaning that people who don’t have symptoms can now show up to a testing centre? how important is that and should that have been done sooner?
Well, it’s about two months later than it ought to have been and there’s ban lot of illness and death that was avoidable. We’re still not using the right strategy. So, we’re obsessed with increasing the number of tests afternoon we do need to do that. But we actually have to stop being reactive. Setting up assessment centres great but we need to go where the risk is. We need to recognize there is occupational risk and we need mobile units to go to workplaces like grocery stores, like taxi garages, where there are workers who have a lot of exposure to the public and we need to do that testing proactively. Not sit back and wait for people to find their way, but to go out and look for infections.
Rosemary:
It does seem as though there z seems to be a lot of mixed messaging from either the premier or the public health officials. It’s all very complicate. I wonder if people can even understand what they’re actually supposed to be doing because it is not always clear to me, frankly.
The discourse ought to be on testing strategy rather than just the number of tests. Obviously they’re related. But I think the right testing strategy would require something like 10 times the capacity we have right now. So, the strict you need to figure out your strategy first. It needs to be a proactive strategy and then you can start talk about capacity and the number of tests. I really feel like the discourse has been kind of backwards.
Rosemary:
Ok. Colin furness in Toronto. Thank you very much. Appreciate your time.
My pleasure.
Rosemary:
He is infection control epidemiologist. We’ll take a short break as we wait for federal briefing. Of course, awaiting more news from the province of Ontario and the troubling news that soldiers have spotted incidents of concern in some of the five long-term care centre where is they’re working. We’ll be right back after this. Inside long-term care homes, andin a surprising development, theprime Minister said the militaryhas compiled a report that he calls deeply disturbing about some of the conditions they found in some seniors’ residences in Ontario, observations that he says provoked feelings of anger, frustration and grief for the Prime Minister. The premier, doug ford, is expected to share details from that report at 1:30 eastern, at 12:30 eastern there will be a briefing for the media on some of the details inside that report. We know that there are 250 soldiers working in five long-term care centres in this country. Let me show you a little bit more of what the Prime Minister had to say just moments ago.
Prime Minister Trudeau:
We’vereceived new requests to extend this period of deployment in both Ontario and Quebec, and we will be following up. Members of the Canadian armed forces are doing an incredible job, just like always. They are serving with distinction for our grandparents, our parents, our elders. In Ontario they have made some extremely troubling observations about several long-term care facilities in which they have been serving, and we have sharedthis information with the provincial government. As I’ve said many times, we needto do a better job of caring forthe people who built this country. The greatest generations saw us through world war ii, and we need to be there to support themproperly through this global crisis.
Rosemary:
Okay, and as we await, of course, for that full report to be released, the premier’s office says it will be, and for the premier and others to take questions about what actions they will take now that these observations have been made by Canadian forces and this report delivered to the federal government and then to the province, I’ll bring in My colleagues Vassy kapelos and David Cochrane. Both of them have been on the phone or emailing to try and get more information from their sources about what we might hear that does appear to be extremely disturbing at the very least. I’m going to start with David this time and then over to Vassy.
David:
Credit where credit was due, this was first reported by global news by Mercedes Stephenson and Robert bell, verified the information with a government source who has seen the report that was sent to the military. What they found, soldiers in some of these homes, were cockroaches, flies and rotten food, residents left in soiled diapers, some residents had not been bathed in weeks. No separation between infected patients and uninfected residents in a room with just a curtain between them, which is violation of all of the health protocols that we have been told on how to isolate people and to stop them from getting sick. So you had essentially a failure not only of medical protocol, an alleged failure of it, but of basic sanitary issues of people not being bathed for weeks and sitting for days and hours in soiled diapers. We had seen similar reports like this in some of the more troubled homes in Quebec, for example, where the government was forced to go in and take control before Quebec became the first province to sort of signal the need for military intervention there, and the military is in 25 homes in Quebec, only five in Ontario. But the specifics of, you know, cockroaches and people in dirty diapers for hours and not being bathed for weeks, all of that witnessed by Canadian soldiers and deemed to be serious enough that they wrote it up in a report that was sent to the Prime Minister’s office on Friday and will be made public in a little over an hour by the premier of Ontario, Doug ford.
Rosemary:
Vassy, you too have learned details about what we might hear later.
Vassy:
There is a reason that the military put it in writing, that everything that David just described and I would add one other example I was provided with, the re-use of syringes on seniors. Essentially what they saw, and it didn’t take them long to observe it, was so troubling to them that they wanted to make sure that it was in writing, that it was presented in a report because they are – you know, their primary concern, at least as is being relayed to me, is something is done about it and quickly. I think this does increase the pressure that had already been mounting on the ford government to look more closely at what is happening to conduct what the opposition had been asking for was a full public inquiry. They had announced I think it was last week that they would set up a commission, but there was still criticism from the opposition that that didn’t go far enough. I think that the – this report and based on what david is reporting and the information that I have, instances of neglect, no rules, a lack of staff training, lack of medical equipment as well as people – members witnessing people dying, and they were not being taken care of adequately, I think whenthat is all laid out before the province, you know, that pressure to conduct some sort ofpublic inquiry, something with an accountability mechanism built in, is going to increase. There’s no doubt about it. I’m already hearing from people who have family members, some inthese five specific long-term care homes, but outside of them as well, who are, you know, disturbed just to hear how disturbed the Prime Minister wasreading this report. They are very worried of course because of the conditions aroundcovid-19 many of them can’t go – most of them can’t go in to visit their loved ones, and as a result this is sort of heightening their concern aroundthe conditions in which their loved ones are living. Again, though, I think the primary thing that’s being conveyed to me is there is a reason this is in writing. The military, and My understanding is it’s in all of the homes. Like, there’s at least some reports of this to varying degrees, but that in all five homes something was witnessed. The reason they put it in writing is because of how troubled they are and that they want something done about it. So there’s a lot of emphasis being put on that to me.
Rosemary:
That would also indicate some liability issues too, quite frankly, to protect the military and if this gets TA point where there is legal measures that need to be taken, then that would potentially shore that up. Go ahead, David.
David:
I AM being told according to someone who has seen the report, the whistle-blower report is what I’m going to call it from the military to the government, is that seniors with COVID-19 were allowed to roam throughout the facility in some cases. We know it’s a challenge to stopcovid from getting into the facility and then contain it, but allowing infected seniors toroam is a problem, and workers going from infected to non-infected rooms wearing the same gowns and gloves that they had just been using to treat someone who had maybe been infected. That then becomes a vector for transmission inside the long-term care home where the population is extremely vulnerable and where the overwhelming majority of the deaths in this country have been. There have also been issues withfungal infections in some patients due to lack of hygiene. I’m not going to give you the specifics on that because it’s daytime television, and expired drugs being found inside the facilities. All of these are allegations andfindings by the military contained in this report that will be made public today later by the premier of Ontario.
Rosemary:
Certainly they are allegations, but they are observations by Canadian forces members which gives them a certain amount of weight, undoubtedly, and will force the government to respond in a serious manner when the premier comes out at 1:30. I just remind people too that today the Quebec ombudsman, sort of the citizen ombudsman, said that she was going to launch an inquiry into the state of affairs at long-term care centres in Quebec. She said that she’s very concerned at how many people there have been treated. Of course the situation much bigger in Quebec. There are 25 long-term care centres where more than 1300 soldiers have been sent. There have not been these kinds of observations that we know of made by soldiers in these long-term care centres by canadian forces members, but we do know some of the things that both of you are detailing here, we first saw back at the heron residence long-term care centre in montreal where many of the patients – residents, I should say, because this is where people live, were being mistreated and workers at that centre basically abandoned theirposts for fear of getting COVID-19, concerns about their own safety and because they weren’t being paid adequately. So many of those people were just left, and it sounds like many of the same kinds of conditions. As we wait for this federal briefing, which will give us an update on the ottawa response, obviously I think the concern here now shifts to, you know, the Prime Minister has talked many times about the conversation that needs to happen moving forward and the federal government will be part of it. I know we’ve talked before abouteven the possibility that long-term care centres somehow get folded into federal jurisdiction under the Canada health act, but I wonder now if the urgency for an actual inquiry that could even be directed by the federal government isn’t more real and more urgent, because if we’re moving into a different phase ofthis, anticipating a second wave, I don’t know that we can sit around and wait to figure out how to make some pretty massive changes to long-term care centres across the country, because of course it has been primarily in Quebec, some in Ontario, but there’s nothing to say that this couldn’t happen inother places. Vassy?
Vassy:
Yeah, I think that’s an excellent point, and I actually think that is the gist of the point that was made to the provincial government in Ontario last week. Can you really wait around for acommission? and the premier’s response was, well, a commission might be faster than an inquiry. I know it sounds like semantics right now, but the bottom line is you can’t wait until the pandemic is over two years from now to investigate and make changes. It’s apparent just from the details that have emerged based on what the Canadian armed forces is alleging, based on what they are saying they observed. This is something that needs to change immediately, and so I think that will be the gist of the questions to the premier. You pointed out earlier, and I think it’s important to, that the Prime Minister indicated and every time he mentioned it that the federal government will be there for Ontario. There are no specifics there. I mean, the federal government has not, for example, at this point said it will conduct an inquiry or it will conduct a commission. It has said it’s open to one. There are questions you rightly point out about changing the jurisdictions. So far premiers have widely resisted those. They want to keep themselves, they want to stay in charge of long-term care. They say that they know the system best and what people or rather those homes need best. They are open, of course, to looking into what went wrong, but they certainly don’t want the federal government to take over jurisdiction. I think that the question, though, of what role does the federal government play now is less of a question for months from now or years from now. I think it’s a question for today based on what the premier might say, you know. Like, if the premier does need more resources in order to make these changes, and previous health ministers have indicated if you want a long-term care home to run like a hospital, it’s going to cost a lot more money. If that is the case, does that money need to come from the federal government? I would imagine so, given how the sort of financial challengesthat provinces are facing right now. and to what end. We had talked earlier about the prospect of the federal government providing additional envelopes of money for long-termcare and attaching strings to them, aka a set of standards that had to be met. Clearly in this case the caf is laying out how standards are notbeing met, right, and how troubling it is and the sort of evidence of that. I think all of that becomes partof the discussion, but to your point, rosie, it’s not a discussion to be had in the future now. It feels very imminent and it feels very important to be making those decisions right nowso that the situation can be rectified, and of course My sources are telling me that the military’s package, the letter today, the file today will specifically ask for action to be taken.
Rosemary:
Yes, okay. David, you have more informationtoo. and then we’ll bring up the briefing.
David:
Just quickly on that, from speaking with senior officials what they say is they believe the military compiled this so carefully and comprehensively as they did because of the possibility that some of this could be criminal liability issues. We’ll need to hear more from the premier there. Important piece of context. We talk about what the federal government can do. It’s important to talk about what the provincial government has done or hasn’t done. I want to point people to reporting on the 15th of April looking at resident quality infections of Ontario, 626 long-term care homes. 2015, 16, 17, most of them got an in-person inspection. 2018, only a little more than half got an inspection. In 2019, last year, the year before the pandemic, only nine of 626 long-term care homes received a resident quality inspection. I’ve tweeted that story out. It’s important context for today. Great work done by david common and his team in toronto. Others have been leading our coverage on the long-term care issue throughout.
Rosemary:
It shows you there will be tough questions for provincial governments as well about choices they made around funding and long-term care centres and how they were addressing those. You can say that there wasn’t enough money and that may well be the case, but decisions were made, obviously, and these were choices made that the provincialgovernments will have to defend. I would point out two other things before we go to the briefing that the province has put two hospitals already in charge of long-term care centres, two long-term care centres in Ontario that weren’t able to live up to what the measures were supposed to be, and although as Vassy said earlier, there is now the promise of an independent commission into all of this, there was not the promise of an inquiry, which is something thatmike crawley wrote about extensively about as well, because there have been inquiries into many other cases that are deeply disturbing in this province and perhaps this will now put some pressure on the government to move to a moreformal inquiry which would result in consequences. But again, not something that –that’s something that would takesome time. Obviously we will expect some more immediate response from thegovernment at 1:30. Let’s go now, though, to the federal public health briefing. The government’s response to COVID-19, and we have Dr. Theresa tam, chief public health officer speaking now.
– during the pandemic and beyond. I encourage all Canadians with an interest in improving the lives of people living with painto share your ideas and experiences with the canadian pain task force. Thank you. Merci.
Okay, thank you, Dr. Tam. [voice of interpreter]now Dr. Howard Njoo, you have the floor.
Dr. Howard Njoo:
Thank you. Good afternoon. As usual, I will start with the latest numbers on COVID-19 in Canada. There are now 85, 998 cases, including 6, 566 deaths and 44, 911 people are now recovered. Labs across Canada have tested over 1, 500, 000 tests and about 5% of these tested positive overall. Over the past week, we have been testing an average of 22, 300 people daily – activities we have started thinking about the cases of Canadians dealing with chronic illnesses and the unique challenges they face during this unusual times. It will be more difficult for these people to find new ways of living with COVID-19. For some, their medical conditions or their medications they take may place them at higher risk for severe illness due to COVID-19. That’s individuals and those who care for them will need to consider carefully how best to manage their illness while navigating the direct risk of COVID-19. Others may be struggling to access the health and social services they need to cope with the day-to-day realities of their illness. People may be anxious about accessing these services, even as they become more available inthe coming weeks. Delaying care can lead to worse health outcomes, so I encourage Canadians to contact your care providers to learn about the in-person and virtual options available to meet your needs safely. Today I also want to talk about children and adults who live with chronic pain, which affectsone in five Canadians, and is often invisible to others. We know that unmanaged pain can lead to decreased mobility, mental illness, problematic substance use, and even suicide. This is why it is so important to ensure access to pain care services and supports, even during times of crisis. If you or someone you love needshelp managing pain, please know that you are not alone. There are resources out there. The canadian pain task force andadvisory body started by health Canada has compiled a list of resources on the task force website for Canadians living with pain during COVID-19. Until the end of this week, the task force is consulting Canadians through the let’s talkhelp. Ca portal to help the government of Canada better understand and address the needsof people who live with pain during the pandemic and beyond. I encourage all Canadians with an interest in improving the lives of people living with painto share your ideas and experiences with the canadian pain task force. Thank you.
Thank you, Dr. Njoo. [ end of interpretation ]now we’ll hear from our ministerof public services and procurement.
Thank you. Before I begin, I would like to thank the doctors, nurses and caregivers and all of those on the front lines for their tireless efforts in the battle against COVID-19. I would also like to thank our essential workers who have continued to keep our country functioning during this challenging period. [voice of interpreter]I’m thinking about members of our security forces [indiscernible] in the food sector as well as all those who are transporting people and goods throughout the country. Thank you. [ end of interpretation ]turning to supplies for COVID-19testing, as we enter a new phasein the pandemic and restrictionsare slowly lifted, we know that testing will play an increasingly important role so that we are able to identify newcases across the country and track the efficacy of our efforts to protect public health. [voice of interpreter]I can assure you that our government is determined to support provinces and territories on this front, particularly by providing them with all that they need for testing, like reagents and swabs. As I stated before, because thisis very important, a contract has been signed with the corporation le min ultra in Lew Brunswick to produce reagents inquantities that could enable us to carry out 500, 000 tests a week up until March 2021. [ end of interpretation ]– backdrop we have also placed large orders of reagent with four premier suppliers that workclosely with provincial laboratories. These contracts will allow provinces and territories to access reagent and other lab products required for testing while we remain in negotiation with others. I AM also pleased to report thatlast week six letters of interest were sent to five companies and post-secondary institutions to procure chemicalagents for the domestic production of reagent. When it comes to swabs, we have ordered close to 12 million and have received over 3. Million so far. The specific types of swabs necessary for COVID-19 testing remain in very short supply globally, so we are working withdomestic suppliers with capacityfor 3-d printing of swabs and with techniques for swab sterilization. In this process, we are collaborating closely with Minister hajdu and health canadain the area of rapid testing andserological testing to build a base supply as tests become approved and more widely available. Turning now to domestic suppliesof P.P.E., in terms of overall domestic supply of P.P.E. Here at home, capacity is on the rise, and we are seeing tremendous ingenuity on the partof Canadians as they ramp up, re-tool production lines. I continue to work closely with Minister Bains on this front, and our efforts to date have resulted in 24 contracts with canadian companies to help Canada in the fight against COVID-19. Today, as the Prime Minister mentioned, we are also proud to announce a contract with gm Canada. Under this contract, 10 million surgical masks and face coverings for Canadians will be produced here at home in oshawa, Ontario over the coming year. Gm joins a growing list of companies right across the country who are using their manufacturing capabilities and skilled workforce to help shore up the supplies that Canada needs. Turning now to international procurement, while domestic production of all types of P.P.E. Ramps up, we must still continue to procure from abroad to meet our immediate needs. International supply chains are stretched across the board with global demand for vital suppliescontinuing to accelerate. [voice of interpreter]– are now arriving the country regularly. Just last week seven cargo flights supplied more cargo to Canada representing in total 42 cargo flights from china over the last ten weeks. We now intend to resort to maritime transportation considering the significant volume of P.P.E. That could be shipped. [ end of interpretation ]in the past week alone, major shipments have arrived from our own chartered flights and from our suppliers. Two of the biggest models of planes in the world delivered hundreds of thousands of medical gowns to Canada bringing our weekly total of gowns received to more than half a million as part of 1.9 million overall. In addition, large sea containers of hand sanitize are also en route, complementing the5.2 million litres of hand sanitize that we have received to date, the majority of which was produced right here at home by fluid energy out west and Irving oil in Atlantic Canada. On n-95s, we received hundreds of thousands of n-95 respiratorsthat this week passed testing and are now being distributed to the provinces. We have also received 7.6 million more surgical masks thisweek, bringing our aggregate total to more than 87 million surgical masks. Finally in the past week alone, the number of gloves received has more than doubled, bringing our total to 31 million pairs, which we now know are in need insome of our provinces. In conclusion, with every order and every delivery, challenges remain to be overcome. At this point we anticipate demand to continue to acceleratein Canada and around the world. It is for this reason that I must stress that while the numbers of deliveries are encouraging and we are definitely moving in the right direction, My message to My teamis to be vigilant. We must keep going. That is precisely what our government intends to do. I want Canadians to know that we will remain steadfast in our efforts to send safe and effective supplies to our front-line health care workers as quickly as possible. Thank you so much.
Okay, thank you Anita. and now we will hear from our Minister of innovation, science and industry, by video, navdeep Bains. Navy, please. [voice of interpreter]
Thank you for giving me this opportunity to present an update on the mobilization of the industrial sector to fight COVID-19. [ end of interpretation ]throughout this period of crisis, we have seen and continue to see canadian companies across the country making tremendous contributions to our health care system. [voice of interpreter]to face the crisis, many people and getting together and adopting new tools and objectives to innovate like never before. Canadians can be very proud of this. [ end of interpretation ]the speed at which companies are stepping up to the plate and the ingenuity and creativity they are bringing with them is incredible. Since we issued the call to action, over 6, 300 companies have contacted us to offer their expertise and capacity, and of those, more than 700 have re-tooled to supply personal protective equipment. [voice of interpreter]we acted quickly to launch a call for action, analyzed letters of intent and issued purchase orders. [ end of interpretation ]workingwithoneofcanada’snobelprizewinningresearchersdr. Artmcdonaldwehavebeenabletofinalizeaorder of 10, 000 ventilators. The doctor has led a seam from around the world to produce an easy to use ventilator off the shelf, easily accessible parts, and we were able to partner withhim in markham, Ontario to bringthis vision to reality. I’d also like to announce that we have signed six new letters of intent to strengthen Canada’sdomestic testing capacity, a critical tool necessary to getting our economy back to normal. Oakville-based gl cam teck, bio-basic Canada in markham, andedmonton-based ron pharmaceutical will be producingkey chemical inputs for testing. – sciences from montreal, as well as a partnership between mcgill university centre for structural biology and the national research council of Canada are working on producing key inputs and enzymes. Quebec-based plastic more is re-tooling to manufacture critical plastic components necessary for COVID-19 testing. We are also finding through the nrc industrial research assistance program six new earlystage tests, some of which will expand Canada’s existing capacity to diagnose COVID-19 infection, and others which willbe able to detect antibodies in a patient’s blood. R tron bio research in burnaby, custom biologics in toronto, andbio litical labs in richmond aredeveloping point-of-care testingkits. As mentioned, a company in fredericton is producing lab-based test kits and reagent. Two companies, london’s diagnostic bio cam Canada and response biomedical in vancouverare developing serological teststo detect COVID-19 antibodies. and a few weeks ago, as part of our innovative solutions Canada challenge, the nrc asked small- and medium-sized businesses to come up with alternative materials that could be used in large quantities to manufacture n-95 respirators and surgical masks for health care workers. Three companies were selected from that process. Steadfast from granby, roswell technologies based in calgary, and performance bio filaments invancouver. These companies will work on solutions to this challenge using materials sourced and manufactured right here in Canada. In over the past few weeks we’vealso leveraged our innovation super-clusters by tapping into their national network of over 2, 400 members. The – super-cluster has been supported COVID-19-related projects including one led by ellipse automation in cambridge which is retrofitting traditional n-95 machines to be able to produce new canadian mask designs with canadian intellectual property. and the digital super cluster has approved a number of projects focused on expanding our ability to detect COVID-19 cases, providing virtual care and accelerating the developmentof vaccines and treatments usingartificial intelligence. As we work together with the canadian business community, I have every confidence that we will continue to deliver on breakthrough solutions, re-tool where we can, and scale up to meet our needs during the crisis in the near future. Thank you very much. Merci.beaucoup.
Thank you, Navy. [voice of interpreter]now the president of the treasury board.
Thank you, Chrystia. Good day, everyone. The Prime Minister and My colleagues made some important announcements this morning that first had to do with Canada’s role on the international scene to fight against unemployment and poverty that is created by COVID-19. The second announcement has been made by ministers bairn and anandconcerning the significant progress that has been made regarding supplies and distribution of medical equipment and personal protection equipment. and we also have some good news, funding of 700 posts for young people in the agri-food sector, and also the federal government having received a request for anextension of the deployment of armed forces in long-term care facilities in Ontario and Quebec.
Thank you. Now we are ready to take your questions. [ end of interpretation ]
As usual we will start on the phone with three questions and three questions from the room and so on. One question and one follow up. Operator, over to you.
Operator:
Thank you, Merci. If you have a question, please press star one on your telephone key pad. [voice of interpreter]question from devoir.
Reporter:
Good day. Today Mr. Trudeau said that the federal government is open to regularizing the situation of farm – who work in the long-term care facilities. It’s not clear to me, are we only talking about regularizing asylum seekers who arrived illegally through rocksham or other means, or are we talking about all refugees who [indiscernible] could you pleaseclarify that situation?
I will try. As the Prime Minister said, we always – we have always understood the importance of immigration for our country. Government is open to immigration. Today we understand that the people of Canada and of Quebec are extremely appreciative of the work that these asylum seekers are doing, and people want to thank those people for the work. We do understand. At the same time we believe that we need to do things properly. We need to look into how we can do that. Yesterday I spoke with Minister of immigration, and as the Prime Minister said, Marco is looking into that issue in close collaboration with Quebec to find out what we can do.
Reporter:
Follow-up question. Could you please clarify what you are talking about, keep the irregular asylum seekers who came in through roxham or are wetalking about all refugees? and could you tell us what you discussed with premier legault about that?
Could you please repeat the answer in English? I’ll come back to that. [ end of interpretation ]
The Prime Minister said todaycanada is the country built on immigration and our government is very open towards and welcoming of immigrants. We understand that there is the very specific situation right now where many people in Canada and in Quebec are particularly grateful to the refugee claimants who are doing such important work taking care of our elders. People are grateful. People want to express that gratitude, and we really understand that. We know also that it’s very important in all issues, very much including immigration, to do things properly and carefully. Our Minister of immigration is looking into this issue very carefully and closely as the Prime Minister said today. [voice of interpreter]concerning your other question, the specific issue we believe concerns asylum seekers who are doing absolutely extraordinary and essential work now. That being said, you were right. That’s a big question. The Minister of immigration, just as the Prime Minister said, is looking into the issue. As I said before, we must await and will – in close collaboration with Quebec.
Thank you, madam vice Prime Minister. Operator, next question? [ end of interpretation ]
Operator:
Thank you. The next question is from kelseyjohnson from Reuters. Please go ahead. The line is now open.
Reporter:
Hi, there. Thank you for taking My question. My question is for Dr. Tam. Dr. Tam, we are in the middle of heat wave, and many of the traditional places that vulnerable populations would go to cool off, like swimming pools, splash pads, malls, movie theatres are all closed to slow the spread of the pandemic. I’m wondering what your advice is to municipalities and other officials who are going to have to find a way to ensure residents can cool down in the next three days while ensuring the COVID-19 outbreak doesn’t spread.
Yes, so addressing multiple health issues is obviously going to be a challenge. I think from a public health perspective we know that it’s the – you know, trying to do this while respecting actual distancing or providing other measures is the key. I think whatever maunlt – municipalities come up with as individual solutions, like other spaces that could help to be opened up, for example, must still respect the public health measures. and they need a plan in terms of ensuring sick people still stay sort of – you know, at their residence as much as people can assist with that. and then all the other measures include the hi genie measures that should be in place. Plan very quickly with the local public health authorities on how do you maintain physical distancing, potential need for mask use if you can’t, handwashing, all of those measures will still apply, unfortunately, so that would be one aspect of this that people have to respect.
Kelsey, follow-up?
Reporter:
Yeah, just as a follow-up, is there any situation where facilities like a splash pad or a beach or that could be opened up without the risk of scenes like we saw in toronto with just too many people in one space?
I think with the public health officers that there are ways, particularly outdoors, in minimizing the risk while reducing other negative health impacts. So if you are on a beach, then respecting those physical distancing measures can still bedone. More of a challenge I think is when people have to use communal sort of environments like washrooms and those things, that those kind of services, while you’re at those outdoor spaces, is I think where the medical officers are looking at that in particular. So the numbers of people that can be accommodated may not be necessarily, you know, due to the restrictions of that open space but due to sort of access to these common services. So they will have their specific plans to deal with that. That’s actually very detailed planning that – so listen to your local public health for sure.
Thank you, doctor. Operator, next question, please.
Operator:
Thank you. Merci. [voice of interpreter]question from la presse canadian.
Reporter:
Hello. To continue the same vein, My question is for Dr. Njoo or Dr. Tam. There’s a heat wave now. Yesterday we could not get any answer to the fact that the [indiscernible] long-term care facilities had to take care of seniors. There was no clear indication. For example, the public health authorities in Quebec. This is My question. What are you recommending that these long-term care facilities do? how can they deal with the current heat wave?
Thank you for your question. This is Dr. Njoo here. As Dr. Tam already said, yes, we know that’s a challenge. According to the public health strategies, we have to make sure they are enforced, physical distancing as much as possible two metres, and good hygiene practices like constantly washing our hands, all those measures remain in force. Given the situation of the heat wave, we know it’s more difficult. There are two measures that can be taken, for example, using fans to help circulate. Maybe separating people already contaminated in a long-term carefacility, separating them from those who are not ill. If it’s possible. It’s difficult because each situation in the long-term care facility is unique. We know that it’s always better to be outside because the evidence shows the risk may be higher inside. With the good weather, if possible people may go into the yard, maybe the residents may goout in turn while maintaining physical distancing of two metres, just to get some fresh air outside. Maybe there should be a timetable to make sure that everybody has spent some time outside. I don’t know what is possible tomake sure that everyone stays well hydrated. Does everyone have enough water to drink? these are principles that are still in force. We know that challenges remain on the ground. Look at how health authority andalso the officials of the various institutions would have to plan and make sure that they implement the current public health measures according to thecontext.
Follow-up question?
Reporter:
To clarify, Dr. Njoo, would you be issuing national recommendations or is it really up to the local authorities to decide? local authorities do not have any recommendations to give. They are relying on the institutions. Would you be issuing country-wide recommendations or will you be leaving it up to theinstitutions?
It’s very concerning. We did not really discuss it in detail with our counterparts of the special advisory group. That may be something we need to discuss in further detail. For as long as we agree on principles, ultimately it’s on the ground that things have to be done at the local level. We know that even before COVID-19 someone like me, I worked at a local level with the heat wave, it’s the same principles. People should stay well hydrated, all those measures still apply. The challenge now is how to implement measures for heat wave considering the reality of COVID-19. So yes, that’s something we could discuss with our counterparts. We don’t know what the results of those discussions will be, but ultimately I think it will be more realistic for local authorities because they are the ones who know better what is happening on the field than those of us here at the nationallevel. [ end of interpretation ]
We will now turn to the room.
Reporter:
Tom Perry with CBC. It’s a question for Minister hajdu. In regarding this report by the Canadian forces about the long-term care facilities, I’m just wondering what specificallycan the federal government do right now in conjunction with the Ontario government to improve the situation in these homes, and moving ahead, making sure that this doesn’t happen again?
Thank you very much for the question. As you know, since the outbreak of COVID-19 we have been well aware of some of the fragilities in long-term care and the long-term care sector, and as the Prime Minister said and I have also read the report, it isextremely disturbing, and we will be there for Ontario. and you know, this, as you know, is a provincial jurisdiction in that they have the direct line of sight into facilities, but that we can be there to support them in making sure that seniorshave dignified life. and as I said earlier, in many remarks, this is not something that I think any canadian wants to see to continue. So I know that the work will be difficult, but we are committed to being there for provinces, including Ontario.
Reporter:
Can I ask, specifically, though, you say support. is that money? is it – what else can you do to try to fix this now?
So thanks for the comment. I think the things that the provinces have indicated they needed help with we’ve been there with that help, and that has included, as you know, financial resources, but also people, also expertise in the form of bringing in highly trained military personnel for whom, by the way, we are extremely grateful for their service and their ability to do so so quickly. I think that that is a conversation that we will be having with provinces and territories in terms of what support practically will make a difference. and I think Canadians expect us to be there for our elders, and we will work very closely with the provinces and territories to understand how best to do that.
and I would just like to add one thing, tom, just following on what patty has said about thecanadian armed forces. I think we are all so grateful to them for their literally life-saving work, and I AM really grateful to the people doing this work who had the courage to step forward and write this report. It’s really, really important, and it’s important to recognize that they did that. [voice of interpreter]
Reporter:
Radio-Canada on personal protective equipment. So anyone can answer in french or in english. When we look at the equipment that was ordered and what we – [ end of interpretation ]
Rosemary:
We’re going to pull away from this federal briefing now. You can continue watching it on our website, but I’ll bring backvassy kapelos and David cochranewho both have been doing an excellent job getting information for all of us as we await the official release of this report, written by the Canadian armed forces, about the situation in long-term care centres in Ontario. It does touch on, as you mentioned there, Vassy, all fiveplaces where the canadian forceshave been located for the past couple of weeks, 250 of them, Vassy.
Vassy:
Yes, it does, and the Prime Minister remarked and you just heard health Minister hajduas well as deputy prime ministerchrystia Freeland say the results of that or the content of that report is very disturbing. a couple of other things that jumped out to me, first of all just pick up on what we just heard our colleague tom Perry was asking the federal government specifically what they mean when they say we will be there for Ontario. That’s what health Minister patty hajdu said and also what the Prime Minister said not too long ago. Does that mean extra money? does that mean additional resources? does it mean a change in jurisdiction? anything like that? the health Minister indicated that, of course, the provinces have jurisdiction over this. She reiterated that some extra money has already been delivered, as well as resources. I imagine she means there the Canadian armed forces. The deputy Prime Minister called them courageous for coming forward and reporting what they did in the contents of this report, but there was no specific answer on does this mean, for example, an inquiry, will it mean extra money. I know that the way it works is that the province asks for the extra help and then the federal government has to decide whether to do that. We know there has been an ask from both Ontario and Quebec to extend the time the Canadian armed forces is spending in these homes and that that request is currently under consideration. But I did find that line of questioning very interesting, and I think it will be of increased importance when the public sees the contents of thisreport, when we hear from the premier. Maybe the premier will have something specific that he needs from the federal government to address that, but based on what I’ve heard so far, there is an ask in this report by the military that the provincial government do something, investigate and do something about this, and to that end, I know David has more information on this, My sources in the military have told me that there is a forthcoming report on the situation in long-term care in Quebec as well. This one of course is focused onontario, the five homes that themilitary is helping out in in Ontario. But My understanding is there issomething coming on Quebec as well, and I know david has more on that.
Rosemary:
Yeah, David, why don’t you pick up there.
David:
Yeah, it’s not much in the way of specifics, but Rosie, I can tell you that when the Ontario report was delivered to the Prime Minister’s office, senior officials were told that there was another one coming and this one would be on Quebec. a little bit of context there, the military is helping in 25 long-term care homes in Quebec, only five in Ontario. Obviously if things were runninggreat in Quebec you wouldn’t have the military in 25 of thesehomes. But in terms of the question of degree, apparently what was witnessed in Ontario was of a more severe nature is the understanding that the senior government officials we’re speaking with have of the situation. But there is another finding from the military of some sort expected to be delivered to the government as to what is happening in Quebec. and this does raise a lot of these questions of how do you fix this going forward, right? because this – these issues arein Quebec’s jurisdiction. They are in Ontario’s jurisdiction, but, rosie, this is a national shame. and there will be a call for national action on this, even before the dust settles, becauseas we hear every day from publichealth officials, we are bracingfor the possibility of a second wave in the fall, and you cannotgo into the traditional influenza season compounded by the risks of the COVID-19 pandemic without addressing these systemic failures that exist in the long-term care system in the country. So this report that the premier will release in about 30, 35 minutes is going to be quite shocking and explosive for people to see based on the information that we have been provided, and perhaps a less-disturbing sequel to come on the findings of what has happened in Quebec as well.
Rosemary:
Just a reminder for people who live in long-term care centres, it’s more than 70 – I think we are verging on 80% of the deaths in Canada due to COVID-19. Quebec accounts for more than half of those cases, almost 60% of the deaths. So a couple other points, in Quebec, I mentioned the case of the heron long-term care centre. I should also mention now that police and the coroner are investigating what happened at that facility. So we do know that there are police investigations that have begun in Quebec. In that case there were more than 31 deaths in a month. Not all of them due to COVID-19, according to initial reports, anyway. and we also know that when Ontario announced that independent commission last week, they pointed out that 1400people had died, including five staff at long-term care centres. The difference, I guess, betweenan independent commission and aninquiry would be a legal one, undoubtedly, in terms of the consequences of it. But it does sound, from what you’ve both said about what the canadian forces have seen and what they are reporting back, and the way the report seems to be written, that this may require more immediate action rather than a commission or an inquiry. It may actually have to involve some legal authorities to try and get a handle on things. and I should say, we know from past reporting that, you know, this isn’t an issue necessarily to blame. It could be lots of things, right, in terms of the workers not being well equipped, fearfulof losing their jobs, not being well trained. It could be many things at play here, and that report certainly will give us a better sense of that. I’ll just get a couple more comments from both of you, Vassy.
Vassy:
I was just going to say as you listed that out, I was reminded of the Elizabeth wet lay offer inquiry, right, which looked at some issues that are very similar to what we have been discussing and what is being laid out by the Canadian armed forces. In fact, many of the conclusions reached already by the people who work in the system, such as inadequate staffing, staff who are paid too little, shift problems, you know, people working in more than one home, all of those issues which have been identified in this pandemic were actually identified in that inquiry as well, and in fact, the provincial government was due to respond to the recommendations of that inquiry in July. So it brings to mind kind of I think there is an accountability aspect of all of this, and I wonder if it informs the response today insofar as there are all these calls for inquiries, and certainly they have to happen, but there have been a lot of investigations into the issues that plagued thelong-term care system across thecountry, but specifically in Ontario in this case, and there are already recommendations and conclusions that have been reached. So there probably are things theprovince could do today that would make an impact. and I know some things have already been done, some changes have already been undertaken, but there is already a body of research, a body of work that has been completed that they could act on immediately, and I would imagine those questions will be put to the premier.
Rosemary:
Yeah, some of those recommendations came even out of the SARS pandemic too. David, 30 seconds to you.
David:
Yeah, the expectation at the federal government level is that this report will be referred to the coroner in Ontario by Ontario premier Doug ford. Global news is already reporting that that will be the case. So that will lead to some sort of formal inquiry. There will be a lot of conversations about jurisdiction and responsibility, but the findings essentially as we know them is that seniors were allowed to sit in their filth, surrounded by flies and cockroaches and rotting food. I’m not sure Canadians will tolerate a debate over jurisdiction. They will want to hear about solutions.
Rosemary:
Thank you both for much for your excellent reporting throughout this. I appreciate it. Vassy kapelos and the cbc’s David Cochrane. We will leave our coverage there, but obviously we will track this important story throughout the afternoon with Andrew Nichols. I’ll see you back here tomorrow. Thank you for watching CBC newsnetwork.” I’m rosemary Barton.