Parses captions for PM Trudeau's daily speeches and presents them in a more human readable format
You can apply. We are also expecting him to talk about the volunteer work that counts, what types of organizations, how many hours you have to work to qualify for the money, all trying to support students at a time when it is much more difficult to find any kind of employment for students included. Let’s bring in My colleagues, the host of power and politics Vassy kapelos. Let’s talk about the kinds of questions he would get, while some might be rot to do this, we would expect other topics to come up as well particularly around the letter your show reported on last night from 19 former parliamentarians and well-known Canadians calling forthe government to do more to help michael kovrig and michael spavor be released from a chinese prison.
This conversation has really evolved this week on the heels, of course, of Michael kovrig andmichael savor getting charged last Friday, nearly a week ago in china, with essentially spying. a producer on our show was able to obtain that letter, 19 very prominent political figures, everyone Alan rock to ed broadbent, former Canadian ambassador to the United States and obviously worked if the Brian Mulroney government for a long time as well. Wide range of people you wouldn’tdy I think the reason this letter has sort of really hit a nerve is because you wouldn’t expect necessarily all those names on the letter and the gist of the letter is essentially consider this opinion, this legal opinion, that was sent by Michael kovrig’s family to the government on may 22nd which says you have the option as justice Minister to intervene in the extradition case against Meg Lanzhou toned to end it, essentially, before it concludes. There is a role for the justice Minister to either sign off on the extradition or not and they have a very specific set of reasons why they can do that. What this legal opinion has said, one the family appears to support as it’s sent over to the prime Minister, is, no, you actually don’t have to give a reason and you can intervene before then. Obviously the argument against that is this essentially could be perceived as giving in to hostage diplomacy and set a very dangerous precedent for the relationship between Canada and the United States but the gist of what all these political figures are saying is you should be considering this. You shouldn’t be dismissing it out of hand, which is how they perceive the government has, I guess, address the issue so far. They all admit that the discussion around should you intervene is perhaps a more complicated one, but the letter argues that, yes, he should intervene. Not only can you, but should you. The Prime Minister so far has very much said that is not on option. He was specific the last time he gave a press conference – I think it was Monday – he was asked about a position actually originally john Manley had put forth months ago and now it appears john Manley certainly isn’t alone, tons of other political people, not just former liberals, which is how it had been characterized before. I think there will be a number of pointed questions, not only because of who signed the letter but the family sent that legal opinion to the Prime Minister. They haven’t received a responseyet. My understanding is there is frustration there. I do expect a number of questions to the Prime Minister on this. I would be shocked if his position changes, because he has been very consistent in refute fating the – refuting the idea that will there be any political intervention other than at the end of all court proceedings.
Rosemary:
Catherine, it is interesting, and I agree, I don’t think the Prime Minister’sposition will change. The position has been we have a justice system that is inland from the political system, we will let things unfold, as they are supposed to, and we don’t plan to Boer intervene at any point. The critics’ review of this letter is once you show your hand to china that you are willing to bend, what leverage does it give china going forward.
and not just china.
Rosemary:
and not just china, but also – and then also what happens if they don’t release the michaels. If you release Meg Lanzhou and move away from that and china doesn’t reciprocate. It’s a terrible situation regardless, but it puts them in a awkward position and that casetoo.
It’s interesting to consider what this debate and attention in the last week which was ratcheted up last Friday when china announced it was charging Michael kovrig and Michael savor with spying, but what all this additional attention has orhasn’t done for the case of the two men. There’s certainly the tone has ratcheted up once again between both the Prime Minister and officials we’re hearing on the Chinese side who have called the prime Minister, for instance, irresponsible. We did hear had the other day from officials in china that there is perhaps a bit of good news for the michaels, they are looking at returning consular access to them, certain we know Michael kovrig’s family was encouraged to hear that. They Capt had consular access since I believe it was January and the Chinese officials cited COVID-19 as the reason for that are, but we know they’re living in very difficult conditions right now and that it’s certainly something most families and Canadian officials have canned to see, but also just this discussion, and we Can think absolutely understand why people who are concerned for the well being of these two men are bringing up this option. She see this situation as something of a political stalemate, they see a way out, and on the other hand they see situation that could go on for years as Meg wanzhou’s extradition hearing plays out. But at the same time, it does send a message to china – and we’re seeing this in the words of foreign ministry spokesperson – that this is possible, that this is a route that Canada can pursue, so cheenhas responded by saying, listen, this is being raised, just do it. It becomes a bit complex, because on the one hand china has largely denied it is linking the cases, but at the same time I think it is widely understood that those things do seem to be linked and there are particular instances where Chinese officials seem to be linking them. The tension has ratcheted up, there is no clear way to exit this. I know on Vassy’s show on Friday, the head of the international crisis group which includes Michael savor says this whole crisis is political, the only situation, the only way these men will be freed, that will have to be a political solution as well. What that solution will be remains to be seen, and as vassysaid, it would be a surprise certainly if the Prime Minister’s tone changed today.
Rosemary:
But he will get questions nonetheless. I will come back to you shortly, if you don’t mind, because the other part of the story we are watching today is the COVID-19-related part of the story, is the fact that global infections are surging. The total is now rapidly closingin on 10 million with almost half a million deaths. It took three months for the world to get to 1 million cases, so the most recent 1 million increase took 6 days. Doctor, good to see you, appreciate you being here.
My pleasure.
Rosemary:
Obviously, this is very trouble, Ing, even as we seem to have got a hold on the number of cases in Canada. It’s particularly troubling when we look south of the border to see what almost looks like another wave in the United States, although it also just seems to be the virus moving into places where it hadn’t been contained. So maybe we can start there, give me your read on what you think is happening in the United States
So I do think that’s what is going on is we’re having infections in places that haven’t seen very many before. We’re also doing a little better job of testing for them, so I think that’s a big part of us seeing a million cases in a few short days is that supplies are out there, testing capabilities are out there and we’re doing a better job of getting out and looking at those. But we’re seeing a surge of places where they haven’t been seen before, and it is trouble. We’ll have to start keeping an eye on – we’re going to have to continue to – and this is unfortunate for the people in the travel industry – with you we’re going to have to keep restrictions on travel.
Rosemary:
The border, the Canada-United States border remains closed to nonessential travel to the end of July. When I look at the numbers todayin the United States, to me I wonder when the border will everopen at this point. is that fair to say, gaven that that huge spike in cases, even if they’re not border states? exactly. We’ll have to keep an eye on that. If we’re going to keep our numbers down, the best way of doing that is to make sure we’renot importing any cases from elsewhere.
Rosemary:
The W.H.O. is also raising the alarm on europe caselevels. Of course many of our original cases came from europe, people returning from vacation in europe. What are your concerns around the rise in cases in europe?
It’s the same thing. I think that we’re starting to loosen our restrictions, and we need to loosen them a certain amount because people are tired of being stuck inside and not being able to do things, but we have to be careful about how quickly we do that and people have to continue to have safe practices even though the restrictions are lifted somewhat. We have to follow what public health is telling us in order to keep the number of cases down. There are case cases out there, will be transmitted among people, this is a very easily-transmitted virus, so we have to be vigilant, but we can’t be stuck indoors forever, so we need to think about how we can mitigate infections in the community when we’re out and about.
Rosemary:
What does it – what is the lesson for Canada? I mean, you see, for instance, in Florida where it seemed around memorial day, they were sort of easing back on the restrictions for all sorts of reasons, some of which you were talking about there. and people were gathering, there were a lot of people on the beach, what are the lessons for here as we reopen and our different phases of that across the country.
He do have to pay attention to what public health officials are telling us. It’s a lot safer to be outside, and if people need to gather, being outside is a god idea. However. When we are outside and with each other, we need to keep the physical distancing ideas in your heads. We can go ahead and talk with people but stay 6 feet away. Make sure that you wash your hands every time you turn around to make sure you’re not infecting yourself, right? and do those sorts of things. So those are the sort of things. and I think public health is doing a very good Job of telling us how to make sure we’re keeping ourselves safe. What they’re telling us is good. It’s just we have to stick with it.
Rosemary:
We have to keep doing it. That’s the part that maybe is getting harder to do.
It is.
Rosemary:
Thank you so much for reminding us about all that and weighing in on what we’re seeing around the world right now. Appreciate it very much.
Take care.
Rosemary:
Dr. Brenda Coleman, infectious disease epidemiologist in Toronto. As we wait for the Prime Minister to emerge from his home, been a couple days now that he hasn’t given a press conference, and that maybe is what we should expect heading into the summer months, of course, but today we are expecting him to give some pretty important information to many students who have been waiting for this. Some 9 weeks ago, the federal government announced this grant program for students who were going to volunteer, and somehow be rewarded financially for that by the federal government so the prime Minister will outline a little bit how that will work today. and I’ll bring back Vassy and Catherine as we wait for him. Students, young people, have obviously been really hard-hit in the employment numbers because of the pandemic, lots ofpeople try to pick up, you know, in the summer months they would try to pick up part-time work orrestaurants and then none of that work exists now, so they dohave a student benefit, an nj relief benefit they can use, although many students are also using the CERB if they qualify for it, but this volunteer program was intended to give them another place where they could go and help the fight against COVID-19 and get some moneyin return, Vassy.
You’re absolutely right. You mention off the top Rosie earlier that a number of students have contacted you, same here, lots of students are really interested in this program, and they have been for a couple of months, trying to figure out after the initial announcement if their volunteer work that, for example, they already do would qualify, if they have to look to a differentorganization. I would give you one example, I think the day that it was announced, Minister qualtrough had another example. She said yes, at the time. That’s one concrete thing. Todayure absolutely right, there’s a whole bunch of details students are looking for, over what period, how many hours do have to contribute, how do they figure out if I get 1, 000 or 5, 000 or what it is in between, does the organization qualify, does the nonprofit I work for even thousand qualify. There are a whole host of questions I know a lot of people are anxiously awaiting, and I think those details, the plan is, at least from what I’m told, we will get all those details today. On the other two points you Maldive made about the need for financial help from students, that’s a really interesting question too and our colleague Janice mcgregor looked – mined through some of the data so far. Looks like 580, 000 students in and around there have qualified for the student version of CERB, which was $1, 250 a month for up to four months and then if you have a disability or a dependent, you can get basically the equivalent of CERB. So $2, 000 a month. There you’re looking at 580, 000. and even more interesting I thought she found was the number of people who have qualified forcerb itself, so not – basically meaning they earned more than $5, 000 last year, a fifth of the applicants are between 15 and 24years old. So a huge portion of the people who are accessing that benefit right now are students, and it also gives us an idea of what the need will be like through the extension of the program that the Prime Minister announced, I think it was last week. Sop for many people, that runs out in a couple of weeks, or a week, I guess, now, now that the program has extended, if this many people are young, people who have accessed it, they might not have job prospects, obviously it’s a moving target, but essentially that need will be there for a little longer. I found it really interesting. The total value of the package the government announced was $9 billion. Clearly there’s a need for help among students, I think they’re eagerly anticipating these details, find out how their volunteer efforts might be compensated.
Rosemary:
and they did. There were all sorts of aspects to that student package, including the suspending repayment and student loans, including doubling student grants, Catherine, at we wait for the Prime Minister who might come out any time, you did do some work on that, students actually not using the student benefit and use the other benefit instead.
Reporter:
I was speaking to few students groups earlier this month and one of the concerns they were raising was the level of uptake of this particular student benefit. If you look at, for instance, the work done by the parliamentary budget officer, they suggested – that office suggested that 1.1 million students would be latching on to this benefit, and as Vassy just said, the latest figures show it’s below the 600, 000 mark, but students do have to decide whether they’re eligible for CERB or whether they want to apply for the student benefit. We have to choose one or the other. That says student groups say they are hearing from their members, there is a lot of anxiety about what happened to the fall, their return to school, being able to pay their bills if they have indeed accessed the student benefit and that money is no longer available to them, it’s a four-month process, at the aim sometime you see the government today announcing the roll-out ofthe summer jobs plan, certainly a very multifaceted issue, it’s clear there are real anxieties out there from students about how they’re going to pay their bills or tuition, much of that focused on this summer, althoughthe money – the money from the student service grant will be used for its post secondary education in the fall. All that to say certainly all that anxiety from some students, we’ll sew how far the student announcement goes between quelling that and answering questions.
Rosemary:
I wonder too, we’llfind out soon enough, the canadaemergency student benefit as you talked about is from may to August, where there will be any thought to extending that. Lots of students would still not be able to get part-time work, would not be able to, for instance, even get campus work, presumably many of them would beon campus. I wonder if there’s any thought to extending that to a couple ofextra months as well.
Reporter:
Another aspect to all of this is international students who were not eligible, they make up a sizable portion of Canadian students, some of them have found themselves in very difficult situations, so that’s another aspect of this that they would like to see covered. It really just points, rosemary, to a complex and intricate process the government has set up as they try to cover off the different groups of Canadians inneed, and as Canadians ask themselves where do I fit in, what sort of benefits AM I eligible for, and the other things we have to think about this all of this is we talk about what could happen in the fall, second wave, we hate to say it so many experts say it isinevitable, how would that play into employment prospects, for instance, you know, that may already be dwindling over the summer, or not, the government has to look at an extension there, it contemplates how long the extension will be on the emergency response benefit and how to move khabibs off that, a lot of moving parts here, certainly a conundrum for the government and Canadians who are in many cases depending on thesebenefits.
We’re standing by for the Prime Minister who will come out pretty soon.
Rosemary:
That’s My wink wink to come out pretty soon. Yesterday he was working from home, and doing meetings, he did venture out in the afternoon with his son Adrienne, who is six now, Adrienne will send me anote, they went out for ice cream to celebrate their national holiday in Quebec. We did have one public event, but he didn’t take any question sand didn’t have a media availability, per SE. So this is the first time we’ve seen him since Monday.
I will say, there is another story out today that perhaps the Prime Minister will get asked about, that is, you know, perhaps also not surprising, and that is that there’s a study by – looking atlong-term care within oecd countries, and finding that the proportion of deaths in long-term care in Canada is double the average of other nations. 81%, as we’ve talked about many times, have all reported deaths in this country happened in long-term care homes. You compare it to other countries within the oecd, and the average there is about half of that, about 42%. it comes at a time when we know the military no longer in Ontario long-term care centres, but Quebec and the government still figuring out what’s going to happen next for the province as the military members are alsodue to pull out. But in a broader context, Vassy, a conversation that we know willhave to take place around how weare helping people, older Canadians, moving forward, clearly there is something not working in this country, and is much worse than it is in other countries.
That study is heart-breaking to read, obviously confirming what we have seen anecdotally and to a certain degree statistically, when you highlight that number, 81% of the deaths have occurred in long-term care homes. a couple of things jumped out atme. We know a number of provinces, Quebec and Ontario to name very specifically, have embarked on astudy, a review of inquiry, a whole debate about what we’re doing in that respect, looking at what the actual problem is, but as far as addressing the solution in the short-term or long-term, in the Ontario the province had to take over a number of these homes, the military is operating in both provinces, and there looks to besome discussion in a plan to replace the military in those homes for members of the red cross. We don’t have the details yet. Sites still very much an acute problem. Certainly the numbers have not – increase the way that they were, a few weeks or monthsago, it’s still a pretty acute problem. Then you get to the more long-term solution, and that’s why I think the discussions between the provinces and the federal government are going to be of great interest, and I should note that the call happens, that weekly call between the premiers and tonight, there’s $14 billion on the table for stuff that’s happening, basically in the nextsix months, in the health care costs in the next six months, that could include long-term care, child care issues, municipalities, there are 7 topics that the federal government wants this money to go towards, and they’re very specific about at the. The money that was announced a little while ago, three weeks toa month ago, it has not been delivered. My understanding is those conversations have not been all together the most pleasant, while a number of premiers have said publicly everyone’s saying we appreciate the money, we justreally – and I’m going to paraphrase – we don’t want to be told what to do with it. The word they keep using over and over again is flexibility. The federal government, the Prime Minister, seems pretty set, we want this money to go tothese certain areas. Those discussions have not been resolved yet, and I bring it up in the context of long-term carebecause part of what the premiers are really concerned about is more long-term funding for health care. They were already prior to this pandemic saying the portion of health care that the federal government pays through its transfers has decreased over theyears, it should be a lot higher. They use this, at least every premier I’ve spoken to on the subject, they view this as central to addressing issues more permanent and long-lasting issues with long-term care in the future. Essentially, fixing the problem over the long term, and they arealmost predicating a lot of these discussions on some sort of assurance, wanting some sort of assurance from the federal government, which at this point wants to concentrate very much on the six months, at least where this money is concerned, and then get into discussions about long-term transfers. These premiers are digging theirheels in, if I could say right noul, around wanting to have more concrete commitments from the federal government about health care funding in the long-term so that they can use agood portion of the money to address the crisis in long-term care homes, and as we wait for some sort of resolve there, we really don’t have a concrete setof solutions to fix what’s happening in these homes? we have interim measures in place that are above – there are extraordinary, the military, in he’s homes, the military in these homes, in order for them to be able to care for the family inside them, and that isn’t a permanent solution. Never mind.
Rosemary:
I got to the cut you off.
Reporter:
I’ll be quiet.
Rosemary:
Here’s the Prime Minister of Canada. [ speaking french ]
Voice of interpreter:… holiday yesterday. For many quebecers and francophones, st. Jean batiste marks the beginning of summer. But this year it’s a little different because of COVID-19. The reality is there aren’t as many jobs available for students as last year. and without a job, it’s very difficult to pay tuition on your daily expenses. So in April we announced a plan, a $9 billion plan to support students and new graduates. That includes the Canada student benefit that gives them $1, 500 month until August. We also committed to creating 16, 000 jobs for students in sectors where they need help at this time. and to introduce a program that would provide grants to people that get involved in their communities. and today we are following on those commitments. We are launching the Canada student service grant that will allow students to acquire skill sand experience while contributing to their community. If you’re a student in the university levels or if you have decided to do some volunteering this summer, you can receive a grant of between 1, 000 and 5,$000. The exact amount will be determined based on the number of hours that you have worked between June 18th and September 15th. To find out more about this program and to look for opportunities in your region, go to the government site. Today we are launching the “I want to help” platform for that very reason. As part of our plan to support students, our government will also be investing $40 million to create 5, 000 positions for students at the post secondary level. My tax is an organization that fosters collaboration between the private sector and students. It helps to form and to train new students. and normally the me tax programs are for people at the masters orph. D. level involved in research, but the funding we’re providing today will allow them to extend the scope of their programs in order to include people at the undergraduate level or people studying law or medicine. For example, one of their new programs will allow NBA students to allow contacts with small businesses facing specific challenges because of COVID-19. Me tax will also be able to create new partnerships with organizations such as hospitals, foundations, and municipal governments to create even more options for young people. This is good news, not only for students, who will be able to use their knowledge, but also for business owners and the future of our country. Innovation is more and more important within the global economy in order to ensure the vigor and resilience of the Canadian economy, we must invest in research and particularly in young people. We have to ensure young people have the tools they need to work, innovate, and succeed in tomorrow’s economy. That is why our government will be investing in the summer jobs program to add 10, 000 places for students aged between 15 and 30. We will also be supporting the creation of 20, 000 other placements for cjep and university-level students in sectors in strong demand, including practice sessions for students. and to ensure that young people were well-prepared for jobs for the future and are also investing in digital skills and computers for schools. [ end of interpretation ]