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Month: July 2021

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‘It felt like I was trying to fit into someone else’s skin’: Barrie dancers perform better in shoes that match their skin tone

Jul 28, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Elize Harrylal feels much more like herself when she performs a dance number now.

That’s because the 13-year-old Barrie Dance Conservatory student can don attire that matches her skin tone.

It all started while watching a video playback of herself doing a lyrical dance two years ago, as she had to wear light-coloured shoes.

Harrylal noticed her feet were sticking out like a sore thumb.

“When you listen to a song in dance, you kind of connect with it. But the uniform I was wearing didn’t really make me feel like it was mine,” she said. “It felt like I was trying to fit into someone else’s skin.

“For a while, I didn’t really pay attention to it, because I’ve been dancing in pink stockings and shoes for so long. As I started to grow, I realized it.”

So she went to a dance store to inquire if there were other options, and learned there are several shades of skin-toned shoes and stockings to match her colouring.

Harrylal then approached her dance instructor, to see if she could veer away from the traditional pink uniform.

“A lot of people were surprised I had the confidence to ask,” Harrylal said.

“I opened up the book and saw they did come in different shades,” Barrie Dance Conservatory owner Jolenne Bradley said. “I had never thought of offering that.”

Now others are following in Harrylal’s footsteps.

“When I wore pink, I never really felt like myself, I never felt included,” 11-year-old Mya Hall said. “When I’m on stage, you see black arms and black face, a black body suit and white (tights) and white shoes. It was weird how I’m Black, but I’m trying to fit into white.”

She was so excited when she found shoes and tights to match her skin colour.

Both of the girls’ mothers agree their stage presence and confidence level has changed.

Bradley said conversations are also happening about hairstyles and makeup to suit every dancers.

“My hope is for our country to be more open and inclusive of all races, just a little bit more, so girls won’t be afraid to be themselves,” Harrylal said.

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‘Absolutely wonderful’: First year of New Tecumseth ATV bylaw proves to be smooth ride

Jul 28, 2021 , , , , by shlf

There have been few bumps in the road when it comes to the bylaw passed one year ago allowing ATV riders to use local roads to access trails or do shopping in town.

New Tecumseth recently conducted a review of the bylaw it passed in November 2019.

In his one-year report, municipal law enforcement supervisor Chris Glanville said no charges were laid throughout the year by either police or the town — but that’s not to say things were perfect.

The OPP did receive 32 complaints and issue 13 warnings. Three accidents were also reported, but none resulted in a death.

The town’s bylaw department, meanwhile, fielded three complaints, but didn’t issue any warnings.

The cost for police to investigate the complaints was a little more than $3,300, while the town spent about $478. But the town did spend an additional $3,775 to place new signs around town.

There were also no issues to report from the Ontario ATV Clubs.

At the Nov. 2 committee-of-the-whole meeting, Glanville said he also spoke to the OPP detachment and was told the past year was “pretty much status quo” compared to others.

Glanville will be bringing additional information to the Nov. 30 council meeting, comparing this past year with other recent years. He will also report back on complaints as it relates to dirt bikes being used illegally on roads, which is an issue about which some members of council receive regular complaints.

ATV user and Tottenham resident Patrick Pyke created a petition in 2018 that helped convince council to pass the bylaw.

He said he is pleased with how the first year has gone.

“It’s been absolutely wonderful,” he said. “I can go into town and not have to take my truck if I need to go to the store or Timmies. It’s a lot easier to get to the trails, too.”

ATV users are permitted to use all municipal roads except for Industrial Parkway — the busy bypass used by dump trucks and transport vehicles — between Highway 89 and Young Street.

ATVs are also not allowed to use county roads, like Tottenham Road, or provincial highways like Highway 89.

Pyke encourages other municipalities that haven’t put rules in place to look at these results.

“Give it a shot,” he said. “It will bring a lot more tourism in to the area. It’s a big plus all around for the town and for us as ATVers.”

Prior to New Tecumseth passing the bylaw, Adjala-Tosorontio was the only local municipality with a bylaw allowing ATVs on municipal roads.

Essa Township has been studying the issue, and council is expected to consider putting a trial bylaw in place in the spring.

Other municipalities in Simcoe County that allow ATVs on roads or select roads include Innisfil, Wasaga Beach, Clearview, Springwater, Severn and Tiny. The specific rules vary in each municipality.

STORY BEHIND THE STORY: Simcoe.com wanted to revisit the ATV bylaw that council passed one year ago to see how things went for the municipality and local riders.

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Time for a stop sign? Wasaga committee considers traffic-calming options for Golf Course Road

Jul 28, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Traffic-calming measures on two Wasaga Beach streets have noticeably reduced speeds, according to data collected by the public works department.

In a report to council’s co-ordinated committee, public works director Kevin Lalonde noted speed humps installed on Dunkerron Avenue had reduced speeds from 58 km/h to 27 km/h.

Permanent speed tables on Golf Course Road also had an appreciable effect on speed, according to the data, reducing the speeds of drivers in the 85th percentile for speed from 74 km/h to 55 km/h.

Residents living along Golf Course Road, notably near the intersection at Marlwood Avenue, say the speed tables have done little to slow drivers. In an email to councillors, and shared with Simcoe.com, resident Frank Steele said the tables have merely increased noise as vehicles travel over them.

That has some councillors suggesting a stop sign might be in order. Coun. George Watson said his neighbourhood on Old Mosley Street was faced with the same issue until the town put in a stop sign at 16th Street 20 years ago.

Prior to that, he said, there was frequent speeding — and some vehicles that would leave the road and ending up in front yards or taking out fences and decks.

“(The signs) really did the job,” he said, adding the collisions that had been taking place were “almost eradicated” and the signs have had a calming effect on speed.

“We need to listen to the people who experience the traffic issues on a 24-7 basis, and arrive at a solution that is satisfactory to all,” he said. “You can’t put a price on public safety … I don’t think you need to rip up the speed tables; you just have to add an enhancement to make it work for these people.”

Manager of engineering services Mike Pincivero said the department had intended to conduct a traffic count on all three legs of the intersection during peak times of use of the Marlwood course, such as during a tournament, with the idea of collecting enough data to justify a sign.

With no tournaments taking place in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the department has pushed that to 2021.

However, Pincivero pointed out, “The intent of stop signs is to control the pace and function of an intersection. It’s not intended to mitigate speeding.”

He said council could give that direction if it desired, though it might not conform to guidelines set out by the Ministry of Transportation.

Watson noted that “sometimes you have to throw the book out and make a decision.”

“If the stop sign rectifies it,” added Coun. Joe Belanger, “maybe it should be a consideration.”

However, the committee stopped short of directing staff to take further measures to control traffic on Golf Course Road. For the time being, it merely accepted the director’s report for information.

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Front-line and low-income workers would benefit most from paid sick days, advocates say

Jul 28, 2021 , , , , by shlf

When Toronto Mayor John Tory asked the province Wednesday to increase restrictions in Canada’s largest city to help curb the spread of COVID-19, among the recommendations was support for workers, so they can take time off to isolate and get tested for COVID-19 without fear of losing their incomes or jobs.

Labour advocates say this sounds like yet another call for paid sick days — something they’ve been asking for since the onset of the pandemic.

Deena Ladd, executive director of the Workers’ Action Centre, has been calling for the province to implement job-protected paid sick days for months. The people who don’t have paid sick days are often the most vulnerable — meaning they may choose work over health and safety because they can’t afford otherwise, she said.

“The provincial government has absolutely ignored this issue,” Ladd said.

Kate Hayman, an emergency physician, assistant professor at the University of Toronto and member of the steering committee for the Decent Work and Health Network, has also been calling for universal paid sick leave.

It’s our most precarious workers who are most likely to not have paid sick days — low-income workers, essential workers, people who can’t work from home, marginalized workers and many health-care workers, she said.

And with contact tracing weakening under the growing weight of cases in Ontario — multiple regions have had to on contact tracing because of the sheer volume — it’s time for a sick leave policy that covers everyone, Hayman said, so that workers don’t go to work sick and cause further outbreaks that can’t be properly traced.

During the pandemic, the province is guaranteeing unlimited unpaid, job-protected sick days related to COVID-19. In 2018, Premier Doug Ford cut the two paid days the province once offered. Ontario was one of just three provinces that guaranteed a small number of paid sick days. Now only Quebec and Prince Edward Island require employers to provide paid sick leave, two days and one day respectively. (Federally regulated employees are entitled to three days paid sick leave.)

Patty Coates, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour, said though Doug Ford was praised earlier on in the pandemic, his popularity is now waning among labour advocates, who have been asking for paid sick days since the beginning of the pandemic.

“This government has done the bare minimum,” Coates said.

The organizations Ladd, Coates and Hayman represent all want the same thing: for the province to mandate seven permanent days of sick leave for all workers, plus 14 extra days during the pandemic.

The seven days should be provided by the employer, Ladd said, adding that the province should look at subsidizing the other 14 for those businesses struggling to get by right now.

Though the federal government is offering a yearlong emergency benefit for people isolating due to COVID-19, Ladd said the time it takes to access the benefit is prohibitive to many low-income workers.

Coates added that the benefit offers no job protection, meaning employees may feel intimidated or risk losing their jobs if they take it.

Jim Stanford, director of the Centre for Future Work, thinks offering provincially mandated paid sick leave is a “no-brainer,” especially during the pandemic, and says the government should carry at least some of the cost.

Less than half of Canadian workers have access to paid sick leave through their employer, he said, and among low-wage workers it’s closer to 11 per cent.

“The overlap between COVID-19 and precarious work is frightening,” Stanford said. It’s “undermining the public health battle” as low-income workers are more likely to get COVID-19.

Ladd said the workers most likely to not have paid sick leave, and therefore to go to work sick, are those in the hardest-hit zones, such as Peel, “an area where temp agency work is rampant.”

Another sector where precarious low-paid work is common — again, without sick days — is long-term care, where Canada has seen a number of deadly outbreaks, she added.

Advocates say a provincial paid sick leave policy would prevent workers from going to work sick and be a key part of an economic recovery.

For Kim Bradley, who supervises a daycare facility in Curtis, Ont., the pandemic has highlighted issues she and her colleagues have always faced: if they get sick and have to stay home, they won’t be paid.

So far, her staff has been lucky, as they aren’t in a COVID hot spot. But if she were working in Peel or Brampton, Bradley said she would be “terrified.”

Many people in this occupation live paycheque to paycheque, Bradley said. They can’t afford to take time off work, nor wait for the federal emergency benefit to arrive.

Having paid sick days would alleviate a lot of anxiety in her workplace, she said, and would remove the health risk many workers face.

“People could die because of this,” she said.

Nita Chhinzer, an associate professor of human resources at the University of Guelph, said more organizations have increased paid sick leave since the pandemic began, according to a survey by the Conference Board of Canada. But many employees who have paid sick days aren’t the ones being exposed to the pandemic on a daily basis, she said.

Chhinzer acknowledges that not all companies can afford to pay for sick days, but says the provinces can. She points to the $19 billion of federal funding announced in July for the provinces to subsidize pandemic emergency measures, including paid sick days, as proof.

One industry that does not often provide paid sick leave is food service. Restaurant industry leaders say that right now, their industry doesn’t have the funds to pay workers for sick days, and that the government would need to fund sick leave if they mandated it.

James Rilett, vice-president for Central Canada of Restaurants Canada, said the organization would consider supporting such a measure, depending on what it looks like.

“Anything that makes it easier for employees and employers to meet … the restrictions in the guidelines, would be something we could support,” Rilett said.

“In our industry employers just can’t afford to take on additional costs.”

Larry Isaacs, president of the Firkin Group of Pubs, said his restaurants are not allowing staff to work sick, but if the government required paid sick days, he would want government funding to help ease the burden.

“There isn’t any money in our industry right now,” he said.

Correction – Nov. 20, 2020: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly said that during the pandemic, the Ontario government is guaranteeing 10 unpaid, job-portected sick days related to COVID-19. In fact, the province is guaranteeing unlimited, unpaid sick days.

Rosa Saba is a Calgary-based business reporter for the Star. Follow her on Twitter:

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How hackers, fraudsters and other criminals are prospering in the pandemic

Jul 28, 2021 , , , , by shlf

While crime rates around the world fell during the beginning of the pandemic, authorities have warned criminals look to take advantage of these uncertain times.

From small cyber attacks like phishing and fraud to large scale hacks and alleged embezzlement, it is evident the underworld has been at work. Interpol warned organized crime would target the vaccine, and just this past Wednesday, it was reported hackers to documents related to the Pfizer and Biontech vaccine in a cyber attack on the European Medicines Agency.

Closer to home, Ontario investigators are looking into allegations $11 million from a pandemic relief fund aim at helping families with children with special needs.

To talk about this investigation and authorities warnings about how organized crime is targeting, “This Matters” features the Star’s , the Queen’s Park Bureau Chief and , a reporter on the Crimes, Court and Justice team.

Listen to this episode and more at “” or subscribe at , , or wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts.

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Where is Canada in the fight against COVID-19? Use this dashboard for the latest numbers from each province

Jul 28, 2021 , , , , by shlf

The numbers below are compiled by the government of Canada and represent a snapshot of how is spreading across the country.

The data is updated every evening. Because of reporting times and methodolgy it may not match exactly with data from other sources and, since all counts have their limitations, it is likely that many pepople with COVID-19 are not reflected in the numbers. Testing may also be uneven between jurisdictions and vary across times within a jurisdiction. If one jurisdiction has tested more people, that place is likely to have a more accurate picture of spread.

The Star has several COVID-19 data dashboards that look at the numbers from a variety of angles. In each case, we’ve picked what we believe to be the most accurate and updated data source.

You can check our to see how Canada compares to other countries and check our to see what’s happening closer to home, including your health unit.

For suggestions or questions about Star data, please email: .

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You can tell Barrie police what you think with online survey

Jul 27, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Here’s your chance to tell Barrie police what you think.

The service has released its 2020 , which is completely confidential and available online.

The survey asks you a variety of questions to gauge how you feel about safety within your community.

You can share your feedback on the top issues facing your neighbourhood, how safe you feel in various locations during the day, and at night, as well as your level of satisfaction with the Barrie Police Service. 

The results are reported in the Barrie Police Service’s Annual Report and Strategic Plans next year.

The survey closes Dec. 11. Visit to get started.

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Susan Delacourt: Is COVID-19 the antidote to Trump-style populism in Canada?

Jul 27, 2021 , , , , by shlf

In the aftermath of unexpected election victory in 2016, and his Liberals went out looking for a vaccine against populism.

Four years later, an antidote has been found, in the unlikely form of a global pandemic.

With Trump facing his reckoning with the ballot box next week in the U.S., evidence continues to mount that has seriously weakened the spread of Trump-style populism into this country.

The latest comes in a report out this week from the Samara organization, charting a “profound change in the hearts and minds of Canadians” when it comes to trust in government and institutions. Even as the virus has been rippling through the country, Canadians are feeling much more positive in 2020 about how they’re governed, , and a lot less nostalgic for bygone times.

This isn’t the year to launch a “Make Canada Great Again” campaign, in other words, unless you’re talking about turning the clock back eight or so months.

Samara’s report is based on research carried out by the Consortium on Electoral Democracy, also known as C-Dem — a partnership of academic researchers and civil society groups doing extensive polling on the democratic health of the country.

Satisfaction with how Canadian democracy is functioning is up seven percentage points from last year, according to this polling. Confidence in the federal government was up a whopping 21 percentage points, while provincial governments saw an even larger, 24 per cent increase on the same question.

“Barely half of Canadians think governments ‘used to be better at getting things done,’ compared to two-thirds just a year ago,” the Samara report goes on to say. “This is a remarkable shift to observe in a year when life became almost universally more difficult.”

Granted, the C-Dem survey was carried out in May, before Justin Trudeau’s government weathered the WE Charity controversy and while Canada was still in the early months of the COVID crisis.

But other polls have been tracking the same trend away from populism, notably a large Canada-U.S. survey carried out by Innovative Research several weeks ago, and over the Thanksgiving weekend.

The C-Dem/Samara survey, based on 8,170 responses gathered online earlier this year also found — as the Innovative Research study did — that people are more inclined to trust experts in 2020 and less confident in the wisdom of “ordinary people.”

Many Canadian politics-watchers, including this writer, were saying when Trump was first elected that it would be more difficult for MAGA-style populism to catch on here, simply because we’re a less polarized country.

But still, federal Liberals fretted. Trudeau launched a series of cross-country town hall meetings in January 2017 and delivered a major speech in Hamburg, Germany in February sounding an alarm about the politics of “us-versus-them” and economic anxiety turning into anti-government anger.

A year later, Doug Ford was supposed to be the next Trump when he ascended to power, but the Ontario premier has gone right off the U.S. president, as evidenced by the gagging gesture he displayed in earlier this month.

People’s Party Leader Maxime Bernier gave Trump-style populism a run too, but he fared dismally in last year’s election campaign and couldn’t manage to get more than 3.6 per cent of the vote in this week’s byelection in York Centre.

You don’t need a doctorate in political science to understand why populism’s charm has faded through the pandemic — at least the populism that is defined by mistrust of governments and experts.

Governments are helping people hold their lives together and experts, specifically public-health officials, are helping save lives. All Canadians need to do is glance south to see what happens when politicians drop the ball or ignore the medical advice they’re getting.

Canada didn’t shut its border with the U.S. when Trump got elected, but it’s shut now to most traffic, and it seems clear that we’re happy to keep it closed — not just to keep out the virus, but to shield us from the populist sentiments that Trump is still trying to whip up in his bid for re-election next week.

The Samara report warns that this pandemic-inspired turn against populism might be more momentary than enduring, and that Canadians are still feeling powerless to change the course of government too. But who isn’t feeling powerless in 2020 — besides Trump, of course, who has been telling Americans that the virus can be dismissed with sufficient will.

Four years after Trump was elected, and on the eve of his date with re-election destiny, his brand of populism is no longer the most-feared virus in Canada.

Susan Delacourt is an Ottawa-based columnist covering national politics for the Star. Reach her via email: or follow her on Twitter: @susandelacourt

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Today’s coronavirus news: Revera Main Street Terrace in Toronto has highest number of infections in long-term care with 56; Ontario reporting 896 cases, nine deaths

Jul 27, 2021 , , , , by shlf

The latest news from Canada and around the world Friday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.

7:22 p.m. The B.C. government says it will increase surveillance this weekend as an order limiting the number of people who can visit a home is in effect because of COVID-19.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced this week that gatherings are now limited to people in an immediate household, plus their so-called “safe six”‘ guests.

In a joint statement, Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix are reminding people to make the Halloween weekend safe for everyone by maintaining safe physical distances from one another.

They say this is also not the time for large gatherings in homes as the number of cases of COVID-19 spikes.

The province reported another 272 cases of COVID-19 on Friday and one additional death, bringing the total number of people who have died to 263.

There are 2,390 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, and 6,003 people are under public health monitoring after being exposed to a known case.

4:07 p.m. Yukon has after an outbreak in the small community of Watson Lake, according to The Canadian Press.

Chief medical health officer, Dr. Brendan Hanley, says the person who died was “older” and had underlying health conditions, CP reports.

The person died at home on Thursday after showing signs of recovery about two weeks after being infected.

Hanley says the death is a reminder of how serious and infectious COVID-19 can be.

The person who died lived in Watson Lake, where an outbreak of the virus infected five people.

Hanley says 53 people have been tested in Watson Lake, a large proportion of the community of about 800.

Twenty-three people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Yukon since the pandemic began in March.

3:40 p.m. Ten classes at a Toronto Catholic elementary school in North York are in self-isolation after three staff members and one student were infected with COVID-19.

St. Andre has the highest number of active cases, with four, in the Toronto Catholic District School Board, but remains open.

A board spokesperson told the Star that the school has completed a thorough cleaning and disinfection of the school, including high-touch areas such as desks and door knobs.

Ward 3 trustee, Ida Li Preti, said the school, near , has followed all the precautions recommended by Health Canada.

“Outbreaks have been relatively small. We are taking extreme measures to keep students safe,” she said Friday. “I’m trying to build confidence in the parent community. Student and staff well-being is our primary concern.

“It has been so rigid, but the rigidity is working. The transmission is very low.”

Classes will remain in self-isolation until Thursday.

2:40 p.m. There have been 231,027 confirmed cases of COVID-19 cases in Canada, including 10,104 deaths, and 193,306 cases that have been resolved, according to The Canadian Press.

This breaks down as follows (NOTE: The Star does its own count for Ontario; see elsewhere this file.):

  • Quebec: 104,952 confirmed (including 6,231 deaths, 89,592 resolved)
  • Ontario: 74,715 confirmed (including 3,127 deaths, 63,919 resolved)
  • Alberta: 27,042 confirmed (including 318 deaths, 21,803 resolved)
  • British Columbia: 14,109 confirmed (including 262 deaths, 11,449 resolved)
  • Manitoba: 5,374 confirmed (including 65 deaths, 2,572 resolved)
  • Saskatchewan: 2,990 confirmed (including 25 deaths, 2,258 resolved)
  • Nova Scotia: 1,104 confirmed (including 65 deaths, 1,033 resolved)
  • New Brunswick: 342 confirmed (including six deaths, 297 resolved)
  • Newfoundland and Labrador: 291 confirmed (including four deaths, 282 resolved)
  • Prince Edward Island: 64 confirmed (including 63 resolved)
  • Yukon: 22 confirmed (including one death, 17 resolved)
  • Repatriated Canadians: 13 confirmed, all of which have been resolved
  • Northwest Territories report no confirmed cases, (including eight resolved)
  • Nunavut reports no confirmed cases.

2:37 p.m.: Premier Doug Ford says a plan is coming next week to ease COVID-19 restrictions in the province’s hot spots.

Ford says he has asked his health advisors to put together a strategy to allow shuttered businesses in the regions to safely re-open.

Restrictions that banned indoor dining in restaurants and bars, and closed gyms were put in place in Toronto, Ottawa, and Peel Region on Oct. 10.

The measures were intended to be in place for 28 days and are set to expire next week.

Ford could not provide any details of the plan or say how it would impact restaurants and gyms.

The premier says the government will also introduce legislation soon to extend a ban on commercial evictions across the province.

1:30 p.m.: Ontario’s hospitals are because of the pandemic, the head of the association representing them said Friday, asking the government to speed up funding promised to address COVID-19 costs.

Anthony Dale, president of the Ontario Hospital Association, said many hospitals are using lines of credit or funding previously earmarked for capital projects to pay for pandemic-response measures.

Hospital resources are stretched thin, and many facilities remain at or above capacity, Dale said.

“For the hospital sector, we are spending a king’s ransom to fight this pandemic,” Dale said. “The hospital sector is facing unprecedented, truly unprecedented, financial pressures.”

In August, the province set aside billions in new funding to address COVID-19 costs in the health-care system.

1:18 p.m.: A group from Ontario’s restaurant industry is its decision to impose tighter COVID-19 restrictions on the sector.

A coalition that includes the industry association Restaurants Canada and a number of food service businesses has issued an open letter to Premier Doug Ford, asking to see what data the province relied on in setting its health measures.

The letter says no data have been provided so far that would suggest restaurants are a major point of transmission for the virus.

It notes restaurants have had to make significant investments in safety procedures and training, personal protective equipment and other measures, yet those in some regions are nonetheless being forced to stop serving customers indoors.

A document released yesterday by the province showed that in four COVID-19 hot spots — where indoor dining is currently banned — the proportion of outbreaks linked to restaurants and bars between Aug. 1 and Oct. 24 ranged between 3.2 and 27.14 per cent.

1:05 p.m.: In the midst of a second wave of COVID-19, Canada isn’t just maintaining its immigration strategy, but taking it up a notch, increasing the number of people it will bring into the country in a bid to stimulate the post-pandemic economic recovery.

On Friday, Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino said Canada will welcome more than 1.2 million new immigrants over the next three years, with an annual intake that could reach 401,000 in 2021; 411,000 in 2022; and 421,000 in 2023 — equivalent to one per cent of the population.

The previous plan, unveiled right before the onset of the pandemic lockdown in March, set targets of 351,000 in 2021 and 361,000 in 2022.

12:45 p.m.: A long-term care home in Toronto has the highest reported cases of all long-term care homes in the province at this moment.

As of Friday, Revera Main Street Terrace on 77 Main St. (between Gerrard Street East and Kingston Road) is reporting 56 active cases of COVID-19, among 150 residents.

It also reports an additional five cases among staff members, one who has since recovered, with the remaining four at their homes in self-isolation.

A resident with a family member at the home confirmed to the Beach Metro News that there are 56 cases, and the latest provincial data shows that Main Street Terrace presently has more active infections than any other long-term care home in Ontario.

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March and April, the home had zero reported cases. The province has reported under five deaths in the home since the beginning of the pandemic.

A week ago, the number of active cases at Main Street Terraces was less than half at 27.

12:25 p.m.: Public health officials say new modelling suggests each person who contracts COVID-19 is spreading it to more than one person.

Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, says more regions have reported higher rates of infection over the past two weeks.

Tam says 26 Indigenous communities have reported two or more active COVID-19 cases.

She says there’s also been a troubling rise in infection rates among Canadians under the age of 40, and 2,100 schools have reported at least one confirmed COVID-19 case.

12:25 p.m.: Surging coronavirus cases across Europe and North America are filling intensive-care beds, straining hospitals and prompting some to warn of critical shortages, as the global pandemic takes a worrying turn.

Hospitalizations skyrocketed in more than a dozen countries in Europe, with admissions soaring beyond the peak reached last spring in a swathe from Austria to Portugal. In the U.S., where new cases topped 89,000 Thursday — a daily record — weekly hospitalization rates have climbed since Sept. 26, with COVID-19 cases accounting for more than 15 per cent of patients in North and South Dakota, government data show.

France and Germany will clamp down on movement for at least a month, approaching the stringent lockdowns in the spring as Europe seeks to regain control of the crisis. France reported 47,637 new cases Thursday, more than six times the level a month ago.

12:05 p.m.: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the COVID Alert app can now provide more precise information to people who are exposed to the virus.

Trudeau says users who test positive for COVID-19 can enter the time their symptoms started, or the date they were tested.

This information is important to figure out when they were most infectious to others, and those who are exposed can better estimate the time period they were at risk.

The new features are optional.

11:45 a.m.: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government is to fight COVID-19 in Indigenous communities.

More than half of that is going to pre-schools and day-care centres, to improve training and staffing and enhance cleaning.

About $60 million is going to First Nations to make community buildings safer with renovations, better cleaning and upgraded ventilation.

And $26 million is for Indigenous post-secondary institutions, for physical improvements and to make it easier to offer services and courses online.

11:40 a.m.: Canadian immunologists say they’re in patients’ blood that help predict the severity of COVID-19 and could lead to more targeted treatments.

David Kelvin,a Dalhousie University professor of immunology, is co-author of a studythat draws links between severity of the illness and the presence of large amounts of the virus’s genetic material — ribonucleic acid, or RNA — in blood samples.

He and Spanish scientist Jesus Bermejo-Martin of the Institute of Biomedical Investigationof Salamanca led a group of 36 medical researchers tracking patients coming into Spanish hospital wards and ERs, and looking for about 30 so-called “biomarkers” in their blood plasma.

The work occurred during the first wave of the pandemic in the spring.

11:40 a.m.: A popular branch of the Pickle Barrel restaurant in the Atrium near Eaton Centre is now permanently closed, according to the restaurant’s official .

Currently, all of Pickle Barrel’s branches are open for take-out and patio services.

Indoor dining is prohibited in Toronto as part of the province’s measures to curb the spread of COVID-19.

11:33 a.m.: New Brunswick is reporting one new case of COVID-19.

Health officials say the case involves someone in their 40s in the Fredericton region who travelled internationally.

New Brunswick has 39 active cases of COVID-19.

Four people are in hospital with the disease, though none are in intensive care.

11:30 a.m.: The number of new COVID-19 cases in public schools across Ontario jumped by 61 from the previous day, to a total of 889 in the last two weeks and 2,159 overall since school began.

, the province reported 40 more students were infected for a total of 481 in the last two weeks; since school began there have been an overall total of 1,197.

The data shows there are four more staff members infected for a total of 91 in the last two weeks — and an overall total of 287.

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11:20 a.m.: Quebec is reporting 952 new cases of COVID-19 and 18 more deaths linked to the novel coronavirus.

The province’s Health Department says four of the newly attributed COVID-19 deaths occurred in the past 24 hours.

One death previously linked to the virus is now considered unrelated.

The province has reported a total of 104,952 infections and 6,231 deaths linked to the virus — both national highs.

10:21 a.m.: Ontario is reporting 896 cases, and nine deaths on 41,008 completed tests Friday.

Locally, there are 314 new cases in Toronto, 173 in Peel, 115 in York Region and 92 in Ottawa. There are 796 more resolved cases.

10:12 a.m.: An outbreak of COVID-19 among staff has forced the closure of Premier Doug Ford’s constituency office in Etobicoke North, the Star has learned.

Three workers at the office on Albion Rd. have tested postive for the highly contagious virus, sources said.

“Toronto Public Health has confirmed cases of COVID-19 among staff members,” Ford spokeswoman Ivana Yelich confirmed.

“The premier has not visited the office in the past two weeks and has had no exposure,” she added.

9:53 a.m.: The seven-day rolling average for daily new coronavirus cases in the U.S. rose over the past two weeks from 52,350 to more than 74,180.

That’s according to data through Wednesday from Johns Hopkins University, marking a return to levels not seen since the summer surge. The rolling average for daily new deaths rose over the past two weeks from 724 to 787.

Positive test rates have been rising in 45 states, according to the COVID Tracking Project. Fifteen states have positive test rates of 10% or higher, considered an indicator of widespread transmission.

Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary Adm. Brett Giroir said earlier his week the proof of the uptick is the rising numbers of hospitalizations and deaths.

The U.S. leads the world with 8.9 million confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 228,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic

9:06 a.m.: The global travel and tourism industry is on course to lose 174 million jobs this year if current restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus remain in place, a leading industry group warned Friday.

While alarming, the projection from the World Travel & Tourism Council was lower than previously expected, largely because of a strong recovery in domestic travel in China and rebounds in other countries. In June, the council warned that there could be 197 million job losses worldwide in a sector that many nations are hugely reliant on economically.

Restrictions on travel imposed when the pandemic erupted this year effectively banned flights from abroad and closed down the hospitality sectors in many countries.

9:00 a.m.: Wages and benefits for U.S. workers grew slowly this summer for the second straight quarter, as employers sought to hold the line on pay gains in the midst of the pandemic.

U.S. workers’ total compensation rose 0.5% in the July-September quarter, the Labor Department said Friday, the same as in the April-June quarter. That’s down from 0.8% in the first three months of the year.

For the year ending in September, wages and benefits increased 2.4%, the slowest pace in three years. The data comes from the Labor Department’s Employment Cost Index, which measures pay changes for workers that keep their jobs. The data isn’t affected by the mass layoffs in the spring.

8:54 a.m.: Statistics Canada says the pace of economic growth slowed in August as real gross domestic product grew 1.2 per cent, compared with a 3.1 per cent rise in July.

The agency says overall economic activity was still about five per cent below the pre-pandemic level in February.

8:40 a.m.: Electricity rates are set to rise this weekend in Ontario, with the average customer seeing a nearly two per cent increase to their hydro bill compared to before the pandemic.

Earlier this month, the Ontario Energy Board announced new prices for households and small businesses that take effect on Sunday, Nov. 1.

That’s also the day the provincial government’s COVID-19 rate relief plan, which has been in place since late March, comes to an end.

The relief plan had meant about five million customers subject to so-called “time-of-use” pricing, which varies depending on the day, had instead been paying a flat rate.

That rate was initially 10.1 cents per kilowatt hour, increasing to 12.8 cents in June — well below peak-hour pricing before the pandemic.

On Sunday, those customers will return to time-of-use billing unless they opt out, with prices varying from 10.5 cents per kilowatt hour during off-peak hours up to 21.7 cents during on-peak times.

8:37 a.m.: Like battle-hardened veterans, New York City hospitals and nursing homes are bracing for a potential resurgence of coronavirus patients, drawing on lessons learned in the spring when the outbreak brought the nation’s largest city to its knees.

The new playbook derives from the apocalyptic days of March and April, when testing and resources were scarce, emergency rooms overflowed, and funeral homes stacked corpses in refrigerated trailers.

Those insights, however hard won, make it far less likely that the city’s hospitals would collapse under a second wave of COVID-19, health care leaders said.

Even without a vaccine, doctors are touting increasingly effective coronavirus treatments, three-month supplies of personal protective equipment and contingency staffing plans.

Similar preparations are underway at New York’s hard hit nursing homes, which accounted for a staggering percentage of the state’s coronavirus deaths.

7:55 a.m.: Japan’s coronavirus cases have topped 100,000, nine months after the first case was found in mid-January, the health ministry said Friday.

The country confirmed 808 new cases on Thursday, bringing the cumulative COVID-19 cases to 100,334, including 712 people who were on a cruise ship that was docked off a Japanese port earlier this year.

About one-third of the cases come from Tokyo, where 221 cases were confirmed Thursday, bringing the prefectural total to 30,677, including 453 deaths. Nationwide, Japan has more than 1,700 deaths.

Experts say Japan has so far managed to avoid “explosive” infections as in Europe and the U.S. without enforcing lockdowns, most likely thanks to the common use of face masks and disinfectant, as well as other common preventive measures including social distancing.

7:31 a.m.: German authorities have added almost all Austria and Italy to the list of high-risk areas for COVID-19.

Travellers returning to Germany from countries or regions on the list, which is updated weekly, have to go into 14-day quarantine and take a test for the coronavirus.

Those with negative test results can end their quarantines.

Critics have pointed out that the threshold of 50 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants per week, which is the main criteria for determining which countries appear on the list, has now been passed in much of Germany itself.

Germany’s disease control agency reported Friday that the country saw another new daily record number of confirmed cases, with 18,681. The new cases take the country’s total in the pandemic to almost half a million.

6:45 a.m. The European economy grew by an unexpectedly large 12.7 per cent in the third quarter as companies reopened after severe coronavirus lockdowns, but the rebound is being overshadowed by worries that growing numbers of infections will cause a new downturn in the final months of the year.

The upturn in the July-September quarter — and the worries about what’s ahead — echoed the situation in the United States, where re-openings led to strong third-quarter recovery but didn’t dispel fears for the winter months.

The European rebound, reflected in figures released Friday, was the largest increase since statistics started being kept in 1995. It followed an 11.8 per cent contraction in the second quarter in the 19 European Union member countries that use the euro currency. The April-June period was when restrictions on activities and gatherings were most severe during the first wave of the pandemic. Many economists had expected a rebound of around 10 per cent.

6:35 a.m. Customs agents in the southern Chinese city of Hong Kong have seized 100,000 counterfeit face masks and arrested one person in what the government called the largest operation of its kind on record.

The masks were set to be shipped overseas and had a market value of almost $400,000, the government’s Information Services Department reported Friday.

The masks were seized at a storehouse in Hong Kong on Wednesday after agents received a tip-off, the department said, leading to a further raid on a trading company where a 71-year-old manager was arrested

“Initial investigations revealed that unscrupulous merchants intended to transship the batch of masks overseas for sale and profit. Customs is looking into the source of the face masks involved in the case. Samples have also been sent to a laboratory for safety testing,” the department said in a news release.

6:30 a.m. Fans living in Japan who bought tickets for the postponed Tokyo Olympics have been guaranteed refunds, the local organizing committee said Friday.

This does not apply to fans who have purchased tickets outside Japan through so-called Authorized Ticket Resellers appointed by national Olympic committees. Many have already set terms for refunds, which vary by nation or territory.

Fans in Japan who already know they cannot use their tickets next year can get their money back by applying online for refunds during the period Nov. 10-30. The Paralympic period is Dec. 1-21.

Organizers also said that refunds would be made if limited seating were available at venues because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

6:16 a.m. A multi-state coronavirus surge in the countdown to Election Day has exposed a clear split between President Donald Trump’s bullish embrace of a return to normalcy and urgent public warnings from the government’s top health officials.

It’s the opposite of what usually happens in a public health crisis, because political leaders tend to repeat and amplify the recommendations of their health experts, not short-circuit them. “It’s extremely unusual for there to be simultaneous contrary messaging,” said John Auerbach, who heads the nonpartisan Trust for America’s Health.

The Republican president and the health officials appear to be moving farther apart since White House chief of staff Mark Meadows declared last Sunday “we’re not going to control the pandemic.”

Since then, Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary Adm. Brett Giroir has done a round of interviews warning that the country’s situation is “tenuous” but that Americans can indeed control the virus by practicing what he calls the “3W’s” — watching your distance from others, wearing a mask and frequently washing your hands.

6 a.m. As COVID-19 case numbers continue to creep up in much of the country, some parents are feeling spooked about letting their children trick-or-treat on Halloween.

Should they carry on with the door-to-door tradition, or find a different way to celebrate the eerie annual holiday?

While some infectious disease pediatricians say now is not the time for trick-or-treating, especially in COVID hot spots, others contend that the outdoor nature of the activity makes it fairly low-risk.

Dr. Anna Banerji, an associate professor at the University of Toronto’s School of Public Health, says trick-or-treating should “probably be cancelled this year.’’

“We’ve … shut down gyms and restaurants (in parts of Ontario and Quebec) to try to control COVID,’’ she said. “So I just don’t think it’s a good idea.’’

Areas with few COVID cases will be safer for trick-or-treaters, Banerji says, but having contact with multiple people, regardless of how brief those interactions are, can carry higher risk in cities with larger concentrations of the virus.

Banerji says it will be tough to keep kids — excited to see their dressed-up counterparts — from congregating on driveways and sidewalks, which will make it harder for parents accompanying them to maintain a safe distance as well.

5:51 a.m. The head of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro, which led months of protests against the small Balkan state’s pro-Western government that was voted out of power at elections in August, has died in hospital after contracting the coronavirus, the church said Friday.

The condition of Bishop Amfilohije deteriorated on Thursday after he developed heavy breathing and chest pains, doctors said. He had been taken to a hospital in the capital, Podgorica, earlier in October after testing positive for the virus.

The church said the 82-year-old died Friday from pneumonia caused by COVID-19.

Ahead of a parliamentary election in August, followers of the Serbian Church led by Amfilohije staged months of protests against a property law adopted by the parliament in December.

The pro-Russian church argued that the law allows the Montenegrin state to confiscate its property as a prelude to setting up a separate Montenegrin church. The government denied that claim.

The protests, some held in defiance of a ban on public gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic, managed to galvanize the opposition, which narrowly won the vote.

5:30 a.m. Canada’s failure to meet its targets due to the pandemic is offering some relief in terms of rent affordability. But it won’t negatively impact the Canadian detached housing market — at least in the near term, say real estate experts and economists.

As Ottawa prepares to announce its new immigration targets in the coming days, real estate company Royal LePage released a statement on Thursday urging the government to continue pro-immigration policies

“Sustained and robust immigration levels are vital for the Canadian economy and the long-term health of the real estate market,” it said.

5:27 a.m. Premier Doug Ford says he’s looking at a more “surgical” approach to COVID-19 restrictions with the latest computer models predicting Ontario will have between 800 and 1,200 new infections daily for the next four weeks.

“We are seeing continued growth,” Dr. Dirk Huyer, the provincial chief of outbreak response, told a briefing on the modelling Thursday as the province saw an overnight jump of 100 cases to 934 — the fourth-highest of the pandemic after a was set Sunday.

“There is some slowing of that growth…it speaks to the efforts everybody is making,” Huyer added.

5:26 a.m. As spooky season reaches its climax in a particularly frightening year, some historians argue the COVID-19 pandemic offers an opportunity to explore a different side of Halloween.

The holiday has no fixed meaning and has been celebrated differently over the centuries, so there’s a deep well of traditions to draw from — including some that honour the dead, said Nick Rogers, a professor at York University who wrote the book on the history of Halloween.

The holiday is linked to Mexico’s Day of the Dead, which has some of Halloween’s celebratory spirit but is also a day to remember loved ones who have died.

“Halloween is about everything you want to avoid in a pandemic. It’s about scaring us. It’s about risk-taking. It’s about inversion,” he said. “…In a way, Day of the Dead is a much better holiday for addressing these things.”

Officials across the country have said that those who want to celebrate Halloween will need to make sacrifices — of varying degrees, depending on location — in order to keep their loved ones safe.

Those in some COVID-19 hot spots have been urged to forego trick-or-treating altogether, while others in regions with few cases are being told to keep their parties small.

For instance, in Quebec — Canada’s COVID-19 epicentre — children will be permitted to trick-or-treat with members of their own household, but adults can’t celebrate in groups.

“This year, Halloween is only for kids,” Quebec Premier Francois Legault said earlier in the month.

British Columbia’s top doctor has also ruled out massive Halloween bashes, saying families need to keep gatherings to their immediate households and their “safe six,” though trick-or-treating is still a go.

Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador have given trick-or-treating the green light as well, so long as people keep a physical distance from those not in their household.

Meanwhile, Ontario and New Brunswick are taking a regional approach to holiday regulations, barring trick-or-treating in hot spots.

5:24 a.m. Canada’s tradition of welcoming newcomers with open arms is being challenged in an era of closed borders.

How great that challenge is will become apparent today as the federal Liberals release a status update on immigration to Canada so far this year and a plan for how many they intend to admit next year.

The plan for 2020 had been to settle around 341,000 new permanent residents, a goal in keeping with ongoing increases to immigration levels for the last several years.

This year’s number, however, was released literally on the eve of Canada beginning to cut itself entirely off from the outside world to control the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The day after, Parliament would close its doors, the week after the border with the U.S. slammed shut to all but essential workers and travel restrictions reduced air travel to Canada so sharply that airports became ghost towns.

5:23 a.m. More federal financial support is on its way to help Indigenous people and communities cope with the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to announce today additional funding, targeted specifically at child care, education and infrastructure.

The new money is on top of more than $2.2 billion the federal government has already allocated to help Indigenous and northern communities get through the health crisis.

Among other things, the government has committed $685 million for the Indigenous Communities Support Fund, which includes funding to address food insecurity, education and other support for children.

It is spending another $650 million to help Indigenous communities respond to the pandemic and for income support.

And it has devoted $122 million to help ensure a safe return to schools on reserves.

5:20 a.m. As the global pandemic carries on with its deadly toll, most economic and business forecasts assume there will be an effective , likely by the middle of next year.

But what if there isn’t?

If those forecasts are wrong, everything from economic growth to stock and bond prices could be affected, economists and market strategists say. Industries which are already struggling could be put into a permanent tailspin. Stock prices, especially in the U.S., would be set for a tumble. Local government tax revenues could also take a hit, as vacancies rise and the value of commercial real estate falls.

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Ottawa offers ‘expensive’ loans to pandemic-battered airlines

Jul 27, 2021 , , , , by shlf

With the national airlines council and unions calling for a bailout, Deputy Prime Minister said Tuesday that struggling air carriers can always apply to the government’s loan program for large employers.

In the wake of WestJet slashing most of its flights to Atlantic Canada last week, questions are again being raised as to whether the federal government will step in with a bailout for the beleaguered industry that would likely run into the billions of dollars.

Freeland’s mention of the large employer loan program will likely do little to soothe the airlines’ concerns over liquidity. The council that represents them and the unions that represent their workers say the loan program is unworkable for a sector that needs low-interest, multi-year assistance.

Meanwhile, the opposition and have said reimbursing passengers for flights cancelled due to the pandemic should be a key condition of any potential bailout.

Last weekend, Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc told CTV’s “Question Period” that the government was exploring a range of options, including taking a stake in the airlines.

When asked Tuesday about financial assistance — and specifically whether the government’s Large Employer Emergency Financing Facility (LEEFF) program would be used — Freeland said she has been having discussions with airline and union officials.

“The LEEFF program … is a form of significant liquidity support that is available for all Canadian companies to apply for,” she said.

Announced in May, the program would provide a loan of at least $60 million to the country’s biggest employers — those with annual revenues of more than $300 million and whose financial needs during the COVID-19 pandemic are not being met through conventional financing.

Freeland also pointed out that the airlines have “taken significant advantage” of the government’s wage subsidy to cover a portion of workers’ salaries since the spring, receiving more than $1 billion.

On Tuesday, about 250 airline workers demonstrated on Parliament Hill, carrying signs reading “Save Canadian aviation,” and demanding federal aid for the sector.

Lisa Kampis, a CUPE union representative with Sunwing in Montreal, said airlines cannot continue to survive “without some form of financial sustainability package,” but rejected suggestions that Ottawa should take an ownership stake.

“You’re asking Canadian airlines to wait it out, and still pay their bills,” she said. “How can you pay millions upon millions in bills every day, be socially responsible, assume more costs, do the wage subsidy program and not get anything to help them ride it out?”

LEEFF loans start with an interest rate of five per cent, rising to eight per cent the following year, which critics say makes them unpalatable to many companies including airlines.

“It’s expensive money,” said John Gradek, a former Air Canada executive who is now a faculty lecturer and program co-ordinator in aviation leadership at McGill University.

“That’s been (airlines’) major concern with applying for LEEFF — the cost of the program is much more than what the market would normally charge for those types of loans.”

The president of one of the unions representing Canada’s pilots said LEEFF has been raised in government-airline discussions.

“Certainly over the last number of months that has been reiterated as a program that’s available,” said Tim Perry, Canadian president of Airline Pilots Association International, which represents pilots from airlines including WestJet and Air Transat.

“However, it’s not a program, upon consideration, that seems to be really workable for this sector, and that has been sort of evidenced by a distinct lack of participation.”

It’s unclear just how many airlines have applied to LEEFF. Porter Airlines confirmed it did apply to better understand the terms of the loan, but “we are currently assessing our ongoing capital requirements and whether pursuing a LEEFF loan is appropriate for Porter,” the company told the Star on Tuesday.

Representatives of Air Canada and WestJet did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.

The National Airlines Council of Canada has urged Freeland to move beyond the program to ensure the survival of an industry whose business is down 90 per cent or more.

“LEEFF was not designed in the context of a specific industry remaining at Stage Zero for an indeterminate time period, while other aspects of the economy are allowed to methodically reopen across the country,” council president and CEO Mike McNaney wrote to Freeland in August.

“Aviation is remaining at Stage Zero because of sector-specific policies. We therefore require a sector-specific liquidity response.”

The council called for measures that included loans or direct assistance, with an approach that recognizes “recovery is going to be a multi-year process and ensures government financial terms reflect the potential lengthy downturn in industry revenue.”

LEEFF would also allow the government to take a stake in public companies. Gradek said while airlines may not be interested in the LEEFF program itself, they could be open to government taking a stake as part of a bailout package — a reversal from their stance in the spring.

“I think the industry is saying, ‘Wait a second this is now four months later … We’re ready to talk about what it is the government is prepared to offer us in terms of dollars and the conditions attached to those dollars,’” Gradek said.

Perry, whose union has been pushing for low-interest loans, agreed that there appears to be an openness now to the idea of the government getting more involved.

“I think that earlier on in the pandemic … most airlines were reluctant to entertain that at all,” he said.

“Now the situation has grown in severity and I think the willingness to participate in a program such as that would really come down to the details.”

With files from Tonda MacCharles

Jacques Gallant is a Toronto-based reporter covering legal affairs for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: