Parses captions for PM Trudeau's daily speeches and presents them in a more human readable format
Rosemary:
That is the Prime Minister of Canada on this Monday morning giving us a couple of updates on his government’s response to COVID-19. I guess probably the headline for many people would be that CERB, the emergency response benefit, will be extended in some way. We’ll have more details later this week. That’s all he was willing to say about that for now. Vassy, I’ll turn to you on whether there was anything there that I missed. I seemed that applications will be open for this and that, but I’m not sure there was actually anything that changed in a particular way in terms of theseprograms.
Vassy:
Yeah, I think where the application for Cebu is concerned, that’s the only new bit of information that I got out of it. As we will preview on the Prime Minister’s remarks will be important for people to apply for that emergency loan. It’s $40, 000. But those that didn’t meet the qualifications, which was a payroll of $20, 000 to $1.5 million, that’s because they’re sole proprietors or contractors or pay themselves through dividends. They will be able to apply for that on Friday. I also asked Minister ng’s office if there was a new category of people for this. That is a new business and those who don’t have a business account. My information is this does not cover them yet. They’re still working on those solutions is what I was told. Just to be clear, this is for sole proprietors or those who didn’t meet the payroll requirements. That will happen on Friday. The CERB, you’re right, that is something that many Canadians are interested in. It’s predicating what comes before parliament on Wednesday. Not a lot of answers from the Prime Minister, other than a clear signal that the program will be expanded, but by how much, for whom, to what extent, all of those questions remain unanswered at this point. My understanding is there are some negotiations happening behind the scenes and obviously considerations with the bureaucracy about what this looks like. I’m also interested to see from the NDP and I’ve sent some text messages to try and find out. When he says they need a commitment from the government to extend CERB, are there specifics attached to that too. is that to the end of the summer. Mr. Singh had been talking about extending it to the end of the year or an additional four months. Are there specifics attached to the conditional support the NDP Says it will offer if this program is extended. None of those details are available, but those conversations are happening. The last bit I want to touch on is something new we heard from the Prime Minister. I had not heard from ministers in charge of this file. That is the rental program. The government had allotted $3 billion for that program. This is what landlords use to offer a break on rent for their tenants. Only about $39 million had been used. Very low uptake. The Prime Minister says he’s calling on provinces to issue commercial rent evictions. I know Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and British Columbia have done that. I’ve not heard the Prime Minister be so explicit about that yet. There are questions for the provinces and the federal government to a degree why that hadn’t been encouraged prior, especially considering the hardest time for so many of these businesses prior to opening over the last three months. That will be interesting to follow up which provinces decide to do so, to what extent, how do they get this program to be more useful to the people who really need it. What are the consequences if it doesn’t end up being useful. There are a lot of small business owners who will have trouble paying their rent even if they do access this.
Rosemary:
I think you’re quite right about the CERB. Probably because more details weren’t given is they are negotiating behind the scenes for the political details. It will be interesting if the NDP Make a requirement that the government not go after those who faulted the system. I don’t know if they would throw that into the negotiations around that. Obviously talks continue and the nature of those talks may very well inform what happens around CERB. David, there was some talk on wage subsidy there too. I’ll just remind people, as of June 8, it was 2.6 million workers. That’s obviously a good number, but it’s nowhere near what the government wants or continues to hope for.
David:
He said please sign up. This is that pleading tone that we talked about before the break. But the rental program, like the wage subsidy, it speaks to – it’s a federal program with federal backstopping. But it is dependant on federal decisions of being effective. They can clean up applications and criteria and all those things. If the economy isn’t reopening and if there isn’t pressure on wage subsidy and landlords on the rental thing, you can’t kick people out and hunt for someone new, sign up. Without that stick, it looks less enticing. The big thing to watch over the next 48 hours or so will be the negotiations on the CERB extension. Through regulation, the government can roll it over and extend it. They don’t need to go back to the legislature if they want to extend it for 16 weeks. That’s My understanding of the initial legislation that created the CERB. If they want to broaden the criteria for seasonal workers or do things for penalties or change the nature for it, that you don’t need a two-week benefit, that is going to require parliamentary approval. This is the challenge right now. Last week we sort of saw the collapse of the co-operative consensus that’s been there withreally strident positions on thetable by the other parties. The bloc is focused on Quebec, the conservatives focused on theprocess and the NDP S wanting an outcome. They need the provinces to act for the landlords to take up theinitiative. They need to negotiate with the opposition parties. The minority parliament is rearing its head these days. They’ve been accused for acting like a majority. Up to this point they’ve been able to do it because of the energy nature of this. Now that we’ve reached a treading water phase, politics will come into this and force them to act like the minority government.
Rosemary:
Many things including no economic updates on the horizon, not sitting enough. The government has given in in some places, but in other places has not. Some of that is coming home to roost with the government. You can’t get consensus if you don’t give on issues like that.
David:
There was one other thing the Prime Minister said, there will be urgent actions on addressing systemic racism coming this week, that they’ve had a series of reports and recommendations. There is no need to do another study on this, the government has a file of them and they’re going through the recommendations to decide what they’re going to do. Given the global environment on this issue, there is a need for a country like Canada to show urgent action, especially with things happening inside this country. We don’t know the details of that, but that is a specific promise of something coming in the next days.
Rosemary:
This was the first time the Prime Minister addressed the killing of Rodney Levi in miramichi on the weekend. That happened at the hands of the RCMP and that community and his family want answers. People killed or assaulted by police in the recent weeks, that they need clear answers. I’ll leave it there for a moment as we await the noon briefing with cabinet ministers and health officials. I wanted to talk about this issue that the Prime Minister has talked about and Dr. Theresa tam has talked about and some of you are feeling. The closure of the economy has had a large impact on people’s mental health, even though things are reopening and your life is returning to a bit of a normal. We are speaking to the director of the kids help phone.
Interview:
Nice to be here.
Rosemary:
There are some sense of normalcy. You’re allowed to see more people and go to more places and imagine that’s helping a lot. But give me a sense of what you’re hearing broad from I guess the kids who are calling.
Interview:
We have seen a significant increase of young people coming to our services, over 100% increase over this time last year. They’ve been coming on serious challenges. Isolation has been a big one over the last two months, anxiety and distress, but we’ve had people reach out around bodyissues, around feeling alone anddisconnected, grieving, missing things like graduation and missing their friends. and recently in the last few weeks conversations directly related to racism.
Rosemary:
Really, I hadn’t thought of that. is this surprising to you? I get the isolation calls, you’re disconnected from your friends, but everything else, is it compounded because of the pandemic? do you think people are feeling things more intensely?
Interview:
I think for all of us – this is a whole new world and even though we’ve been in it for a few months, we’re adjusting to what this means. What can we do and what can’t we. For summer for kids, are camps going to be on. How many of their friends can they see. and taking in the reality of what’s happening around us. Kids are hearing things on the news and reacting to things their parents are going through. None of this is really surprising. We know that this is not only impacting kids right you, but will impact them in the coming weeks and months.
Rosemary:
I got a lovely e-mail from a student asking about the volunteer program thatthe government announced they would give students for. But this young woman is volunteering for your organization. I wonder if you’ve had so many volunteers because there’s been such an uptake. How has that worked for you?
Interview:
We have been lucky and I feel proud as Canadians. We put out a call at the beginning of the pandemic and we had over 9, 000 Canadians apply. We are on track to train more people than we have trained in the last two years. We have had to tell some volunteers that we are full and we are looking for other ways for them to make an impact. It is an incredible opportunity. We have had zero down time and have been able to handle the surge in demands while keeping wait times down.
Rosemary:
Dr. Theresa tam ha stalked about mental health and stats can shows that 10% of people that responded showed symptoms consistent with moderate or severe anxiety. How different is that – I guess you did it because there was a need?
Interview:
Kids help phone has been around for 31 years as the main go-to place for young people. But increasingly we were gettingtexts from adults saying, I’m sorry, I’m not a kid, but I needhelp. We thought, we’ve got the capacity, let’s open up for adults. We have a texting service for kids and they can text 686868 and adults can text “wellness.” we want people to be able to move to the next step. We’re there 24/7 to support people.
Rosemary:
I was talking with friends yesterday about long-lasting effects of this that we haven’t contemplated yet. When kids do have to go back to school, separation anxiety, all these things, are you also concerned about that? you’re here in the immediate as it started, but now we don’t really know what the next part of this will look like as far ashow people are affected. How concerned are you about that?
Interview:
I’m always concerned what’s going to happen to young people in the near future. For a lot of kids, they miss going to school. For others, they have been able to spend all summer at home with their parents, which is amazing. That’s going to be a big hill for them. There are also kids who will be concerned about their safety. We don’t know what it will look like. Are they going to go back full time with their friends. We are at a time of uncertainty and as parents and caregivers, we need to recognize that people are feeling uncertain about a lot and we need to encourage them to talk about that and come up with coping mechanisms when we’re all faced with the uncertainty.
Rosemary:
Remind us of the numbers.
Interview:
Any young person can text “talk” to 686868 or they can call to one of our professional counsellors that is1-800-668-6868. Adults can text “wellness” to 741741.
Rosemary:
Don’t res at a time to – hesitate to reach out if you feel you need help. Kids help phone bringing in services for adults. Those of you feeling overwhelmed by the changes and job losses and financial stresses, they are available for adults or kids or anyone else who needs to talk tosomeone. We are standing by to hear from cabinet stishls for the regular noon briefing. That will be starting shortly. I’ll bring in the host of “power& politics,” Vassy kapelos, and David Cochrane in our parliamentary bureau. I want to pick up where I left off with Dr. Bogoch. Vassy, I know you spoke with him about this. The problem in the southern states in the United States the Prime Minister was asked about that and concerns around the border because if you have states that are not so far south, like in new York where governor Como is saying, be careful otherwise we will need to lock down again, this is a big concern to this country knowing that many cases came from the United States ultimately.
Vassy:
It’s a huge concern. At the time there were 14 States think that were seeing spikes. By today there were 22. You’re right that many of them are of course along that southern perimeter, but there are outliers such as Michigan, which has seen a spike in cases as they reopened. You were right to point out in your interview with Dr. Bogoch, this isn’t increased testing. This is community transmission. They are roaching the capacity that they have at their hospitals, in their intensive care units, and coming close to breaching it actually. So a huge concern in those states, but also in Michigan which of course is a border state to Canada, that border between Detroit and Windsor and one of the most normally porous. The lifestyle there, the mayor has told me often, often you’ll cross just to go for dinner. So there is a ton of concern about the spike – especially among epidemiologists about the spike we’re seeing south of the border increasingly. You’re right that the Prime Minister was asked about it. He reiterated what he said in the past which is right now there is no desire in this stag eat this juncture to ease those restrictions. We’ve heard that from the premiers. We’ve heard john Horgan, Doug ford, Blair Higgs at the forefront of that conversation saying we are adamant with the Prime Minister that we do not want those borders relaxed. There will be I think more questions as time goes on. You’re hearing from the tourism industry which is crippled by the inability to access those tourists from the United States. They’re concerned what that looks like going forward. Some of the territories. I spoke to premier sandy silver asking is this conversation evenpossible. I think all of that is to come at some point. If you look at what’s happening south of the border, Dr. Bog och said it to you and me, there is a real case for keeping the restrictions in place. The Prime Minister didn’t seem like he was leaning towards a change.
Rosemary:
This uptick in cases happened around the memorial day weekend, which we also saw an increase around mother’s day weekend. It’s people becoming a little too comfortable because there’s few cases, but it’s still out there. You have to be careful how you approach things. The Prime Minister was asked about a couple of loopholes, that there were Americans crossing the border through Alaska or flying in. The former Prime Minister said they were looking into that to make sure that rules are consistent in order to keep Canadians safe. David, I’m not sure what you wanted to jump in on there, if you wanted to talk about the border. Katie reported last week that it will be extended until July, bu ti agree with Vassy, no one is thinking of any reopening in any substantive way moving forward.
David:
Canada’s transmission rate is below one. Still some trouble spots, but Canada has flattened and started to bend it down. This is where you want to go. You had the memorial day weekend and the economic reopening. You’ve had daily large-scale protests in 250-plus cities. While these are important demonstrations of anger at racial injustice and police brutality, they are fertile breeding grounds for COVID-19. The virus doesn’t care why people are in close proximity, but takes advantage of it. This is another health factor that needs to be considered. While we can keep the border closed and that can protect Canadians from the spread that may be happening in the United States, as it moves through the United States economy, this could have interruption effects on critical supply, on food supply, it can increase the costof things. If anyone has gone to the grocery store and has tried to buy beef, you can see the effecton the supply and cost of these things. In the United States, the economy is an absolute urgent priority for many governors and the presidentand pushing people in a lot of red states to reopen. That is a fundamental challenge for this government to confront. I mean, so far the border deal keeps rolling over and then you have some loopholes and the family reunification. But those numbers coming out of 25 states now are terrifying. It’s not like the second wave. It’s like a continuation of the first wave and what we thought was getting under control in some places has roared back witha vengeance.
Rosemary:
One of the problems if you’re looking at the large-scale rallies is contact tracing becomes impossible. You’re not looking at your friends and co-workers, but massamounts of people.
David:
Or won’t report and tear gas makes you cough.
Rosemary:
It will be two or three weeks before we see if those protests has affected the numbers. I’ll leave you there. Thanks for your help. Let’s go back to Ottawa where government officials are giving an update.
It has devastating consequences and can affect future relationships and future generations. Today, June 15, marks world elder abuse awareness day. In 2018 more than 12, 000 adults 65 or old reported violence to the authorities. In about a third of the cases, the abuse was committed by a family member. There are concerns about an increase in family and gender-based violence in the time of COVID-19. Some jurisdictions have observedincreases and reports of domestic violence. Calls for support rises and demands for emergency shelter. While child welfare organizations have observed a concerning decrease in the reporting of child abuse and neglect. Public health measures necessaryto slow the spread of COVID-19 are leaving some Canadians isolated with violent partners or family members. During the pandemic, typical community supports have not always been available to supportthose at risk, including seniors. Asking for help can be hard, buti want Canadians to know there are services available to help. Sheltersafe. Ca can connect you with a safe place in your area. Kids can call kids help phone. If you are in immediate danger, call 911 or your local police. If you are a health provider, you may be one of the first points of contact to recognize violence. It is important that you are equipped to recognize signs of violence and to respond quickly and safely. There is evidence-based guidanceand online resources to help yourecognize and respond to child maltreatment, intimate partner violence and children’s approachto intimate partner violence. These resources are free and online. These are available in a bilingual format. These are serious public health issues that affect children, youth, families, women, and communities. Remember that while many of us are at home due to COVID-19, notevery home is safe. If you’re experiencing family violence, know that help is available any time day or not. You are not alone in this. Thank you.
[voice of interpreter] thank you. Hello. I will start with the latest numbers on COVID-19 in Canada. There are now 98, 787 cases, including 8, 146 deaths and 60, 272, or 61% have recovered. Labs across Canada have tested over 2, 152, 000 people for COVID-19 to date. Over the past week we have been testing an average of 33, 000 people daily with 2% positive. These numbers change greatly an dare updated regularly on Canada. Ca/coronavirus. Today we also want to remind Canadians that COVID-19 is stillpresent and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. We are increasingly going out into public spaces and it is important to maintain good hygienic measures and physical distancing. Wash your hands frequently and cough into your elbow. In regions where COVID-19 is still active, please wear a cloth mask when it is impossibleto maintain physical distancing. Throughout Canada people have worked hard to slow the spread of COVID-19 by staying home. However, home is not a safe place for many people experiencing family violence. Family and gender-based violenceinclude child maltreatment, intimate partner violence, and elder abuse and neglect. It has devastating consequences for children, women, families, and communities. It has long-lasting impacts on physical and mental health and can affect future relationships and future generations. Today, June 15, marks world elder abuse awareness day. In 2018, more than 12, 000 adultsaged 65 or older in Canada reported violence to the authorities. In about one-third of those cases, the abuse was committed by a family member. There are concerns about an increase in family and gender-based violence in the time of COVID-19. Some jurisdictions have observedincreases in reports of domesticviolence, calls to crisis support lines, and demand for emergency shelters, while child welfare organizations have observed a concerning decrease in the reporting of child abuse and neglect. Public health measures necessaryto slow the spread of COVID-19 are leaving some Canadians isolated with violent partners or family members. During the pandemic, typical community supports have not always been available to identify and support those at risk, including seniors. Asking for help can be hard, butwe want Canadians to know that there are services available to help. If you are a woman experiencing violence, sheltersafe. Ca can connect you with a shelter in your area. If you are a young person at risk or experiencing violence, you can call kids help phone forconfidential help and support. If you are in immediate danger, call 911 or your local police. If you are a health care or social services provider, you may be the first contact for people experiencing violence. It is important that you are equipped to recognize signs of family violence and to respond safely and effectively. The public health agency of Canada has supported the development of evidence-based guidance and online education resources to help you recognize and safely respond to child maltreatment, intimate partner violence, and children’s exposure to intimate partner violence. The vega family violence education resources are free andavailable on the mcmaster website. Family violence and gender-basedviolence are serious issues thataffect children, youth, women, and families. Remember, while many of us are at home due to COVID-19, not every home is safe. If you’re experiencing family violence, know that help is available any time day or night. You are not alone in this it happen. Thank you. [end of translation].
Thank you, Dr. Njoo. Before we turn to questions, I would like to briefly summarize some of the announcements made by the Prime Minister this morning. First on the Canada emergency business account, the latest number indicates a total of 670, 000 small businesses have received a small business loan in the last few weeks. The Prime Minister announced today that on Friday an application website will be provided to extend the eligibility for those small business loans. They will, in particular, allow small businesses that pay dividends to sole owners or that work with contractors or that operate in a manner which made them initially ineligible to theceba, those small businesses can apply starting Friday. [voice of interpreter] second brief announcement on artificial intelligence, the creation of an international partnership on artificial intelligence, a partnership with 14 other countries, and we’ll be working as well with the oecd, focusing on artificial intelligence because we know that it can bring us further for sustainabledevelopment, economic development, and increasing productivity. But it also can allow us to protect health and the environment. We know what protecting health means in this pandemic. So we are going to continue to develop this and support this partnership this centre of expertise. It will allow us to do more in the context of COVID-19 and in the context of future pandemics. [end of translation] I have an important announcement on the $50 million food surplus rescue program. Today is the starting date for the application to that program. That program is designed to support food producers and food transformers, as well as to support vulnerable Canadians as well as to reduce food waste. Again, the application for that important program is being launched today. [voice of interpreter] we’ll now be more than happy to answer your questions.
We’ll have questions on the phone and then turn to the room.
Operator:
Our first question is from Le devoir.”
Question:
[voice of interpreter] hello. My question is for Minister Duclos regarding the extension of the CERB. The Prime Minister stated this would be happening, but what is taking so long if all that is needed is to extend the date? is this because the parameters of the program will change?
Answer:
What changed is the economic circumstances over the past few weeks. The CERB was created, as we know, to help freeze the economy so people could protect their own health and the health of their loved ones, but the situation has changed over the past few weeks. As you said, we had important discussions and there will be an announcement shortly which focuses on the new parameters. You’ll see it in the next few days. So how the CERB will be able to adapt to the current context.
Question:
Follow-up question. In the past for this program there needed to be a bill passed. Will you need to go through the house of commons in order to modify the CERB? and if parliament doesn’t sit orstops sitting this week, will you be able to do this quickly enough that people don’t have toworry about a time where they won’t be receiving their benefits?
Answer:
We’ll have to be patient because the announcement has not yet been made. So the legislative details will have to be given later.
Thank you, Minister. Next question. [end of translation].
Operator:
The next question is from Sharon Kirk from the “national post.” please go ahead.
Question:
Dr. Tam, Prime Minister Boris Johnson over the weekend talked about a commission on the two-metre distancing and Quebec said they are reducing the physical distancing requirements for children 16 and urn and it’s going to reduce it to 1.5 metres in places that people don’t typically talk to each other like in movie theatres. Canada is the only one that recommends two metres at the federal level. Can you tell me what that is based on and whether that can berelaxed somewhat.
Answer:
I think, as everyone knows, we’re still learning about this virus and we absolutely should be reviewing evidence as we go along and adjusting guidance accordingly. What we do know is the virus is primarily spread by people who are close to each other, coughing, sneezing, shouting, talking. The larger respiratory droplets will fall closer and quicker to the ground. We know that if you maintain a distance of one metre, you can avoid some of these droplets, perhaps the majority of them, but two metres in distance means you can avoid more of these perhaps landing on you. I think as a matter of a gradation of risk as well. At the same time, of course, we’ve advocated for other measures that can be layered on top of the physical distancing measures, including, for example, the wearing of masks if people can’t keep the two-metre distance. Because it is a multi-facetted approach, people need to evaluate the environment and thecontext, who is in that environment and do a proper riskassessment. One metre can help avoid those droplets. Two metres would be better. Some of it is maybe about feasibility in certain settings. So I think it’s a matter of a risk assessment approach which we’ve been advocating. We will continue to learn and see what actually happens shouldpeople reduce these measures, but absolutely maintain all the other measures as well. We’ve got to do that. I look forward to ongoing sharing of best practices as well as evidence with the other chief medical officers.
Follow up.
Question:
Thanks. My other. and you talked, Dr. Tam, about those other measures like wearing a mask. The federal and provincial government is urging mask wearing. Why haven’t you mandated mask wearing in indoor places like grocery stores?
Answer:
In discussion with other chief medical officers, they emphasize people have to listen to public health and see what virus is in the community. Some haven’t experienced community transmissions and others clearly have and continue to experience virus transmission, even as cases comedown. So they would like to exercise that flexibility, according to evidence and data in their particular community. At the national level we agreed to recommend the use of non-medical masks in the contextof communities where the virus is still circulating or recentlycirculating in areas you can’t keep that physical distance, indoor enclosed spaces, grocery stores, public transit. That is a matter that is being determined at the local level.
Thank you, Dr. Tam. Operator, we’ll take one last question on the phone before turning to the room.
Operator:
Please go ahead. Question from tvo.
Question:
[voice of interpreter] Mr. Duclos, we understand that announcements will be made this week on the CERB. Why can’t you just reassure people that it will be extended one way or another for those who still need it?
Answer:
Thank you, Michelle. We know that there are a lot of questions and anxiety regarding the CERB. The CERB had a significant impact economically and socially. Without the CERB, the economic situation would be dire and we would be facing a significant social crisis. So we know that there are a lot of questions and a lot of anxiety. This morning Mr. Trudeau reminded everyone that we will always be here to help those who need it, those who are the most vulnerable, and there will be shortly an announcement on that.
Follow-up question, michelle.
Question:
Mr. Duclos, you can’t even tell us today that you’re going to extend the CERB? everyone is waiting for this announcement. It’s supposed to come this week. Can’t you just tell us that it will be extended, even if you don’t have a specific time frame to confirm today?
Answer:
I think that you can read between the lines. When Mr. Trudeau said that we’regoing to be there for Canadians, it means that something is going to be announced, but we want to do things properly. So it’s not only a matter of extending or changing or adjusting the CERB, people want to know what exactly is to come. That’s why we still need a few more hours, perhaps a few more days, so we can make sure that Canadians understand what Mr. Trudeau said this morning when he said we’re going to be there to take care of everyone, including people facing economicchallenges. [end of translation].
Question:
a couple of questions to Dr. Tam. We’re about to hit 100, 000 cases. Canada is 12th on the list in the world of number of cases and17th for number of deaths. First question, if you had to give a report card to all the efforts done in this country to tackle this, what would your report card be?
Answer:
So I think as we comedown the side of this first wave, it is a good time to take stock of lessons learned and howwe’ve done. I think Canadians have done an amazing job in all of the efforts to practice physical distancing, staying at home when they were asked to do so, and trying to learn all of these new hygienic measures and keep up with it. We need to have a sustained path forward so these become actual everyday practices so that can be sustained. We’ve learned more about how this virus is spread. I think in Canada, of course one of the biggest lessons learned is about who is most severely affected in the vulnerable populations. In particular our first wave of epidemic really impacted senior sand those who live in seniors’ residences or long-term care facilities. That has to be the biggest concern, but more needs to be done to make sure that doesn’t occur and that best practice is in place, infection control, butalso the conditions of living and congregate living and how wetreat our seniors in general in society. That is a responsibility for governments, but also for all those who manage long-term care homes and also society at large. The other aspect of I think where spread has occurred more rapidly and accelerated and in other vulnerable settings. We’ve got to work on those settings, congregate spaces and crowded work spaces for workers. Workers who are not paid well enough and have to transfer between facilities. All of these things have driven the bigger clusters and outbreaks in Canada. We need to have learned from them. As we move forwards, we want thesurges not to happen again because we’ve learned all of those things, which some of the other countries have learned as well. Some of the european countries who have different setups in terms of their elder care, but also these workplace phenomena. I think what we’ve done with everybody’s help is flatten the curve that we did not overwhelm our care system, but we did not do well in the long-term care seniors’ settings.
Question:
Secondly looking at the challenges ahead, you mentioned concern that young people are complacent about mask wearing and the long-term care homes and horrifying spikes in the United States. What are the challenges for you and your colleagues as you try to handle this. How do you quantify the seriousness? are these hiccups, or is there apotential for one of these challenges to knock you off course?
Answer:
We continue to learn about this virus and I think the fact that we’ve learned about how this virus could spread in hidden way people with very mild symptoms or sometimes no symptoms at all, which could be the case in younger populations. People forget and the number of cases come down, which is great, but it’s the sustainability of our response going forward that will be tough. We need to keep reminding people. Maybe use behavioural science and visual cues how you keep that physical distancing. You’ve seen in parks circles being drawn or lines on the ground to remind people to do physical distancing because it’snot easy to sustain that kind of approach in people’s minds, but it’s really, really important because the virus hasn’t disappeared. We have probability low immunity in the population. We’re going to be doing the serological testing. I got a question last week, has the virus changed, is it less severe or less transmissible? no. The virus has not changed, but we have put the right measures in place. I think together with the chief medical officers we’re trying to think what are the sustainable measures we can keep going while at the same time the key is to build up enough health care capacity to clamp down – detect and clamp down on any cases and contacts. Some of our collective readiness measures to reduce resurgence is in increasing laboratory testingcapacity, increasing contact tracing abilities, and making sure people have a safe and appropriate place to quarantine and isolate. So you will see those measures continually built up. We are certainly one of the scenarios we’re preparing for ISS potential surge in cases come the fall and the winter season and plan that ahead and also plan for a scenario where influenza might be circulating at the same time. We’re asking Canadians to remind themselves this is not normal times. We’re not going back to before January 2020 and everyone, including young persons, must follow public health advice.
Question:
Minister Duclos, question for you, a couple of them about our access to information system. This morning I filed a request for a briefing 10 or 20 pages long identified by the department tracking number. Here is the response I got. We are considering your response to be placed on hold. What would you say?
Answer:
I would say three things. I understand what you say and I can also feel how frustrating it must be for you and for many other journalists to get that type of answers because you have very important role to be played and you need the input. The second thing is we understand also for the public service the times are challenging. Many of them are living in an environment where it’s more difficult, given current technology, to have access to support your work. That’s in large part because of the technology, the technology that is still being used in the government of Canada is technology that makes it difficult, even in normal circumstances, to respond appropriately and quickly to the type of request that you make. The third I would say that we will be answering very soon into review process around the access to information law and the associated changes that need to be put in place, I’ve discussed with the information commissioner that she has on hermind. We will be looking forward to work with her and to improve the quality of the services you receive.
Question:
Thank you. Noting how common the phrasing is and the response is across all government departments handling these access-to-information requests and given that every department looks to treasury board for guidelines on processing, it seems impossible not to concludethat there was a memo from you to atip releasing them of their duty to fulfil these obligationsand what would you say to that?
Answer:
There are two things in your line of questioning. The first one was a memo. There was a guideline sent by treasury and myself to public servants just a few weeks ago reminding them of the information to do the important job that they need to do to support your work, that despite the emergency circumstances, that job must continue. The second line of questioning is around the fact – the view that we are not taking this as seriously as we should. I think this – although I understand again the frustration that you would feel, I can assure you that treasury board has made clear and public servants have understood they need to continue that important job. Despite the possible lens of thepandemic, it will become easier to get that information. There was a longer-term agenda to improve the technology and, to be frank, the attitudes of governments in that particular area.
Thank you, Minister.
Question:
Good afternoon. My questions are for Minister Duclos. I understand your government says today it’s looking at ways to extend CERB, but I’m looking at details how you’re working Ina plan to transition millions of people off this program. How exactly will your government decide when CERB can end?
Answer:
Transitioning is a key and the right word. Initially transition was not in our minds. It was important that I said in french earlier to make sure people had the ability to stay home and to put food on the table. There comes a time and that has arrived where we think about sectors of our economy. The CERB, like other social support programs, must be there to support both workers and job creation. So the overall environment I would say is a changing one, a rapidly changing one, where we must indeed take into account the social impact of CERB, very significant. There would be a significant social crisis now if CERB had not existed. The economic crisis which CERB is helping to reduce. and taking into account the technological challenges. You know that had we relied on the e. I., the employment insurance, system in April, it would have taken almost two years for the 8 million Canadians to be given support. So that obviously wasn’t possible at that time. So while we envisioned transitioning and we’ll be, as isaid, announcing important things around that in the next few days, the Prime Minister said that this morning, there will be connected announcements on how we make sure the technology supports that transition.
Question:
is your government considering any specific options that would remove powers and defend police?
Answer:
Well, this is of course part of a very broad and important discussion that we must all have including the police force. I think again the prime minister has made quite clear his views on that just this week. What he’s said and what I could remind everyone of, there are other ways, in addition to making sure that police forces have both the right signals, the right expectations, the right obligations, and the right tools to work with and on, there are also many important measures that the federal government can use. I would signal that one of them is through the public service. The public service has diversified over the years, but I’ve looked at the recent numbers and we need to and can do a lot better. With the clerk and My colleagues around cabinet, we’ll be looking carefully both at the numbers and what we want the situation to be in the relatively short term.
Rosemary:
If you want to continue watching this press conference or the COVID-19 committee which is taking place right now, though the Prime Minister is not in attendance, you can go to our CBC. Ca. Let me bring in My colleagues Vassy kapelos and David Cochrane. I don’t think I’ve ever heard that comment that it would take two years to use the e. I. system instead of CERB. You can understand the complication of now trying to move people off CERB onto e. I. and to get all of that working together is what we will hear more about this week.
Vassy:
I hadn’t heard that either, but they anecdotally talked about that when they introduced the CERB in the firstplace. That is the primary question that the government is tackling right now. How do you move people who are hitting that four-month eligibility wall off the CERB onto e. I. if they don’t have a place to work. It’s hard to gauge how many of those people will still not haveemployment in a month or two. The rate of reopenings has picked up, especially in certainprovinces that are the most populace, like Ontario and Quebec. Other provinces opened a few weeks ago. As that happens, lots of businesses are rehiring and moving on to the wage subsidy program. There is nothing conclusive. Figuring out how to get people onto e. I. the technical capacity for the e. I. system is difficult at the best of times. We’ve heard of people who go on mat leave who have trouble accessing and sitting on wait lines. a lot of questions for the government about what they’re going to do. Minister Duclos along with the Prime Minister would not say specifically, here is how long we’re extending the CERB or whatwill be ready for people. We do know there are political negotiations going on in the background. Minister Duclos was pressed hardby our colleagues, that you can’t say 100% this will be extended. The Prime Minister hinted and was pretty explicit that the CERB will be there for people who need it, but obviously thereare a lot of qualifying points to that and questions that arisefrom that statement, for how long, to what extent, will it bethe same amount, will the qualifications will the same, can you earn $1, 000 while receiving the CERB. Will the attestation remain the same. I found that interesting. It does underscore why the CERB was so necessary. I don’t know for sure if it is still now. I know for those 2 million people it is. Given the technical difficultieswith the e. I., if all those 8 million Canadians had to go through the e. I. system, the fact that it would have taken them two years to get them what they needed, that underscores why the decision was made to usethe CERB.
Rosemary:
It will be interesting to note too whether you will have to prove that you don’t have a job to go back to or if you’re looking for work. I’ll give people some notes around manufacturing sales. The other thing the Prime Minister suggested is some jobs won’t be there. Manufacturing sales fell by 28.5%. 85% of establishments in the manufacturing sector reported their activities were impacted by COVID-19. Think about the people doing that work, maybe they’ll go back, but it will be different and slower and impacted for all sorts of reasons because people aren’t buying. David, I don’t know if you want to touch on that.
David:
I’m trying to get a sense on where the CERB extension will be. I think it’s safe to conclude there will be an extension. They’ve signalled it loudly and clearly. The question is what will they get support from the opposition to do. It seems like the fallback position is a roll over. At worst the thing the government can do is extend the CERB for a set number of weeks under the existing terms. The challenge of that is they’vebeen trying to change the parameters to bring in seasonal workers. This was in the legislation thatdidn’t get consent last week. and they need to make changes there. The negotiations happening are on changes to come up with a length of time, maybe they can get the NDP To support them to cover more people. As a nod to the business community and the conservatives, they’re trying to find ways to help with the transition and incentivize people to go back towork. There was a lot of struggle building this thing in the firstplace. First there was two programs and then one. Pulling these programs down or taking them become will be difficult because of the uneven nature of the pandemic and the economic situation across the country. You don’t want to make significant permanent structural changes to these too quickly because what if the cases spike again and you have to go into a serious lockdown. This is the dance that the government is trying to do, but without question we’re going to see an extension of CERB, even if it is the existing program under new terms for a new period of time while they work out a way to get political support for the legislative changes.
Rosemary:
If you are worried about your CERB coming to an end, stay tuned this week. We will have some details from the government that they won’t leave you high and Dr.. Thank you both for your help, Vassy kapelos, host of “power & politics,” and David Cochrane. While the pandemic has been devastating, it’s also been inspiring. There is a crowd-sourcing website that map M.P. COVID-19 ho spots. He is 18.
Interview:
Thank you.
Rosemary:
You wanted to help so you created a crowd-sourcing website to give us a sense of where the virus is and where it’s going.
Interview:
Yeah, so we started off in Canada and trying to understand how can we leverage pre-symptom data, co-morbidities and other data that might say why some regions are more hit. We early on partnered with the city of montreal to be the official assessment tool for that city as well.
Rosemary:
It’s flatten. Ca if you want to check it out. Did you know anything about public health or epidemiology or any of that stuff?
Interview:
Not particularly. Don’t have an extensive medical background. I’m an engineering student. Definitely always trying to learn more and try to work with our team using every day as a learning opportunity to learn more about this space. Don’t have a particular EPA determine – epidemiology background.
Rosemary:
Now you are helping in the city of Mogadishu. Tell us what you’re doing there.
Interview:
In Canada we realized early on the nucleic acid testing and serological testing is increasing. When we look at these lower-income cities, there is a lack of data. We’ve been working with a humanitarian organization on theground in mogadishu. They have 400 volunteers on the ground using the flatten platform to collect data around health, socio-economic, demographic data to understand the population, not just for COVID-19, but for the other crises that they’re facing and leveraging this data to use in the future.
Rosemary:
To let policy makers and the government prepare for the pandemic and other viruses, as you point out.
Interview:
Exactly.
Rosemary:
What do you think is – where else can this data be helpful, now that you’ve got this platform and you’re using it in Somalia, you’re using it here. How else could it be helpful?
Interview:
The open sign aspect of it, with the support of the organizations we’re working with in Somalia, to make this research available for the world so that other African countries could benefit. We know data is a common denominator in a lot of the efforts we’re seeing. Let’s try and empower these local authorities internationally to do something similar to what the government in Mogadishu is doing as well.
Rosemary:
You’re not just 18?
Interview:
I’m turning 19 in a month.
Rosemary:
I hope you feel proud of yourself. It’s amazing that you’ve put your intelligence and your knowledge to work in this way. Do you feel like you’re making adifference?
Interview:
Yeah, it’s important to highlight it’s not just me. We have a team of so many different students dedicating their entire life to flatten and not just myself. There is a group of students, fellow colleagues at the university of Toronto, as well as opening up the opportunity for anyone else who wants to support this effort. We’re looking to open source. If anyone wants to join, do contact. We’re looking to open source.
Rosemary:
It’s flatten. Ca those are the kinds of things you can see on the website term how the virus is tracking from data that’s been uploaded. Shrey, what a heart-warming story. It’s great. You should be very proud of yourself.
Interview:
Thank you very much. Thank you for having me.
Rosemary:
Thanks for coming on and thanks to all the team. That’s shrew Jain and his team doing flatten. Ca. I want to highlight something Dr. Theresa tam said, they are thinking about the extent of theresponse. How can everyone keep up these measures they are supposed to do. That remains one of the big priorities. I’m rosemary Barton. Coverage continues here on CBC news network now. [♪♪