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Month: August 2021

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‘I was stunned to find out how expensive you are’: Planning consultant lays out options for Collingwood official plan

Aug 30, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Collingwood’s next official plan should focus residential and commercial development to its existing retail corridors.

That includes, notably, Collingwood’s historic downtown, which should receive further protections and recognition of its importance to the community, recommends the town’s planning consultant, Ron Palmer of The Planning Partnership.

Palmer presented councillors with recommendations to consider as part of the town’s updated official plan, including that it reflect a planning horizon into the mid-2040s so that it is consistent with provincial and county planning policies.

The next steps in the official plan will be a series of public workshops in the next week, followed by a presentation of the draft plan to council in early 2021.

Palmer said the official plan should focus around a series of values for Collingwood, including walkability, inclusivity, healthy lifestyles, sustainability, and quality urban design.

It should also focus intensification efforts to community centres and corridors to reduce the need to intensify in existing neighbourhoods.

The approach to protecting the downtown in the past — such as restricting certain commercial uses, including banks, to the core — has worked, he said, but he also wanted to see broader permissions for commercial uses throughout the community.

That includes allowing for residential within the commercial corridors, “and talk about new development in the terms of compatible development.”

There are also recommendations on how to encourage — and measure the success of — sustainable development such as ‘green’ building technologies, with the potential of the town offering some kind of incentives.

One of the key elements of the plan will be to find ways to ensure Collingwood is affordable for a broad demographic. Palmer said the issue of housing was one he heard the most about during the public input process.

“I was stunned to find out how expensive you are relative to other municipalities in southern Ontario,” Palmer said, referring to his research into local real estate prices. “You have a significant dependence on low-intensity, single-attached and very expensive housing.”

Palmer told councillors that tools could be put in the official plan compelling developers to build a range and mix of housing as part of their projects — including affordable housing. However, he added, that still relied on the province to approve the mechanics of how that’s implemented, and whether Collingwood would be permitted to use that tool.

Other elements the council can consider in the official plan would be to “up the bar” when it comes to urban design, and how the architectural control process can be expanded through the town’s comprehensive zoning bylaw.

A heritage conservation section could also be added to the urban design manual, and new development could be integrated into the heritage character of areas such as the downtown.

“That doesn’t necessarily mean it has to mimic historic built forms, but it means it has to be compatible, and understand what makes Collingwood historically important,” he said.

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COVID-19 outbreak declared in unit at Beeton’s Simcoe Manor

Aug 30, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Another COVID-19 outbreak has been declared at Simcoe Manor in Beeton.

The County of Simcoe-run facility had just ended its — the largest such cluster of cases at an institutional facility in the Simcoe-Muskoka region during the pandemic — on Nov. 26.

Now, the Essa unit at the home has been placed under outbreak protocols, after one staff member tested positive during routine swabbing on Nov. 25.

“The staff member was asymptomatic and is believed to have contracted the virus in the community,” a statement on the county website says. “This employee tested negative for COVID-19 the week prior through our mandatory testing. This is disappointing news after declaring the outbreak over last week; however, we are pleased that this case was detected early.”

Between tests, the employee was cohorted to the unit, passed daily screening and was adhering to infection control and personal-protective equipment protocols within the home. The employee was retested on Nov. 28 and results are pending.

While staff have implemented enhanced monitoring, all other care units remain out of quarantine.

The previous outbreak had affected 75 residents and employees at the facility. Ten residents died after testing positive for the virus.

Meanwhile, there are another 38 COVID-19 cases in the Simcoe-Muskoka region today.

The Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit reported the number on its website Dec. 1. That brings the total tally of incidents since the start of the pandemic to 2,150, including 267 known active ones.

Of today’s cases, Barrie and Bradford each reported eight. New Tecumseth (six), Orillia (four), Essa (three), Innisfil (two) and Gravenhurst, Oro-Medonte, Ramara, Severn and Wasaga Beach (one each) are also included. Details are pending in two incidents.

Three people 17 years of age or under — one each in Barrie, Bradford and Innisfil — made today’s list. Everyone else is between 18 and 79 years old.

An 18- to 34-year-old Orillia woman is connected to a congregate site outbreak; a 35- to 44-year-old Ramara woman contracted the virus during an institutional outbreak outside the health unit’s jurisdiction. Sources of infection otherwise range from “close contact” and “community-acquired” to “under investigation.”

So far during the pandemic, 1,819 people have successfully recovered. But there are 13 currently in hospital.

And 52 have died, including 34 in long-term-care and retirement facilities.

Simcoe Manor is the only long-term-care or retirement facility in the region with an outbreak right now.

Schools operating under outbreak protocols are Angus’s Nottawasaga Pines Secondary and Barrie’s St. Joan of Arc Catholic High, Willow Landing Elementary and Warnica Public.

This week, there have been 131 new cases recorded. There were 185 during all of last week and a record-setting 200 the week prior.

For more on the local effect of COVID-19, visit

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DID YOU KNOW Barrie’s first mayor was brewer Robert Simpson?

Aug 27, 2021 , , , , by shlf

The Queens Hotel has been a gathering place since it opened in 1850 at

Barrie town crier Steve Travers said the upper floor was used as a council chamber when Barrie was a town.

Simcoe Steam Brewery founder and brewer Robert Simpson was the Town of Barrie’s first mayor, serving from 1871 to 1876.

Travers said the fact that Simpson was a brewer was instrumental to his getting elected. Elections in those days were unlike today, he said.

“Was it a secret ballot? Hell no. Were women allowed to vote? Hell no. So how did you vote for the mayor? You stood on the main street and you stood next to the person you wanted to vote for and they did a head count.

“If you are a logger, a railroad man, a farmer, who are you going to vote for? I vote for the brewer. Because after the vote, he’d looked round to see who voted for him and you got to drink free beer all night in the Queens Hotel,” Travers said with a hearty laugh.

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Millions of Canadians will qualify for a tax refund this year because they were working from home — here’s how to apply

Aug 27, 2021 , , , , by shlf

It’s safe to say that the 2021 tax season will be one for the books.

Millions of Canadians have been working from home for the first time ever due to the pandemic and will be eligible to claim new expenses to reduce their taxes. In particular, many former office workers will be able to claim expenses related to their home office to reduce the amount payable — if they meet the criteria.

Interested in seeing whether you qualify? Read on.

Watch out for changes

Janet Gray, an Ottawa-based certified financial planner with national firm Money Coaches Canada, said this tax season comes with many unknowns.

“We know what the rules have been,” she said. “We don’t know how they’re going to be applied against the current situation, or if there’s going to be new rules coming out.”

Evelyn Jacks, author and president of the Knowledge Bureau, agreed. The CRA has been unclear on how it’ll assess these claims, she said, but so far the rules haven’t changed.

Gray expects a lot of people to appeal their tax bills, especially if the rules around how to claim home office expenses aren’t adjusted to make it easier to claim. She recommends turning to a tax professional if you have any doubts about your situation.

What you can claim, and how

If you’re employed but working from home for the first time, your employer will be filing a second tax form — alongside the usual T4, there’s a form called a T2200 that will help guide what you can and cannot claim.

If you’re working from home as an employee, you can claim a portion of your utilities, rent or condominium fees, and a few other minor expenses such as renewable supplies like paper or pens, said Jacks. The proportion is determined by how much space your office takes up — for example, if your home office is 20 per cent of your home, you can claim 20 per cent of your applicable bills. But, you have to meet the CRA’s conditions for a home office.

According to the federal government’s , your home office must meet one of these two conditions: either it’s where you primarily work (more than 50 per cent of the time), or you use it only to earn employment income, and use it on a continuous basis for meetings such as with clients or customers.

However, Jacks said some of these criteria could pose an issue for people who are new to working from home. First, if they haven’t been working at home for long enough, it may be difficult to meet that 50 per cent mark, she said. And your office space needs to be partitioned in some way, so that you can measure it in square feet, she said — another problem for those who are making do at the kitchen counter or in the living room. And of course, Jacks is wondering whether the CRA will count Zoom meetings as part of that second condition.

Jacks hopes the CRA will change the rules to make it easier for people to claim these expenses. After all, for those using a makeshift office in a small home, whether you can claim the space as an office or not is “a grey area.” She recommends partitioning off a small area for work the best you can.

“It challenges our tax system to modernize,” she said.

Brian Quinlan, partner at Campbell Lawless LLP, suggests arguing that the room you’re using is your home office as its “principal” use — even if it’s used for other purposes when you’re not working.

“Those are the arguments I would make,” he said.

Quinlan said you should be communicating with your employer, especially if working from home is becoming a long-term solution for your company. It’s always better if they reimburse you for home office expenses, he said, instead of having to claim them and hope for a return.

Tracey Bissett, a financial coach with Bissett Financial Fitness Inc., agreed. She said it’s possible there are reimbursements available that your employer hasn’t communicated to you.

If you are claiming your home office expenses for the first time, don’t expect a huge return, she said. In fact, it may not be worth the effort and potential audit for some, she said. (Gray expects more auditing this year to check that people are claiming the correct expenses.)

“I think it really depends on your situation,” Bissett said.

If two people in the home are working in the same office, Quinlan said they can either split the cost 50/50 on the their claims, or have the person with the more advantageous tax rate claim the whole office. If they’ve got two separate offices or workspaces, each would claim their own, he said.

Be reasonable

Remember that you’re not the only person facing a confusing tax season during an unprecedented and stressful time. Gray recommends just doing the best you can, and hiring a tax professional if there’s any confusion.

The bottom line, Jacks said, is to be reasonable with the expenses you claim, and hope the CRA will be too.

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

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TDSB virtual French immersion students may be caught in a bind amid severe teacher shortage

Aug 27, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Families who enrolled their children in the TDSB’s virtual French immersion stream have been told their kids may not be able to remain — and might not get back into the face-to-face program at their homeschool if it’s full.

On Tuesday, the Toronto District School Board sent a letter to families saying “approximately 80 French teachers are still required,” and that it was looking for “options” for the thousands of families that have yet to be assigned a teacher.

“We continue to explore options to meet the need for FI/EF (extended French) classrooms. However, as has been noted in prior updates, there is an ongoing shortage of French teachers across Ontario,” said the release. “This is a concerning situation for all and we acknowledge that some students have yet to be assigned a teacher. We are looking at options and will continue to keep families updated.

“For those students applying to switch from Virtual School to In-School Learning, the ability to accommodate this request will depend on the availability of French teachers in the student’s FI/EF school.”

The same letter told parents that Wednesday was the first deadline for parent to switch from online to virtual school or vice versa, even though thousands of children have yet to be with a teacher.

On Tuesday, the ministry issued a statement saying it was taking action to recruit and retain more French teachers.

Lisa Curran-Lehman, a mother of three, says she is furious at the way the board informed parents about the problems with French immersion.

“When we signed up for virtual, we were told our kids could stay in French immersion, and they could switch back in at certain dates,” she said. “And instead it’s October tomorrow, and my kids don’t have teachers because they are short 80 French immersion teachers for the foreseeable future … and there is no end in sight.

“It has a lot of us concerned about will our kids be able to stay in the program, because you can’t leave French immersion and then come back,” she said. “But we aren’t voluntarily leaving, so there is a lot of concern about what will this mean for our kids’ … who have invested years into this program.”

Curran-Lehman said she opted to switch her kids from virtual school to in-person before Wednesday’s 4 p.m. deadline “out of fear of them losing their spot in FI.”

She said she filed a complaint against the TDSB with the provincial ombudsman Wednesday over its handling of the program. “I’m really frustrated with the TDSB for offering us choices, and then changing the rules as they go.”

Melissa Fuhr said her daughter in SK hasn’t been attached to a teacher yet, and she doesn’t know if she will get one.

“If she isn’t placed with an immersion teacher virtually this year, there is a danger that she won’t be accepted into the French immersion program whenever school resumes,” she said.

“I feel strongly about keeping them home, even if I have to sacrifice a year, but my main problem is not knowing potentially if she will get back into in-person immersion when that time comes,” she said. “That would be unacceptable to me.”

The TDSB didn’t respond to questions about the long-term implications of not getting connected to a French immersion class this year.

But on her Facebook page, Ward 14 Trustee Trixie May Doyle tried to reassure parents. “After Covid, not knowing how long that will be, we will need to assess and review French enrolments, program placements, French staffing, and ministry requirements for each French program,” she said. “In consultation with the Ministry, we will endeavour to honour all current TDSB programs.

“This does not apply to students who leave the system or those who choose to switch to the English program.”

In a Facebook posted Tuesday, Doyle also elaborated on the shortage: “Most of the French vacancies are in SK and grades 4-8; most of the primary are filled,” she said. “We are considering creative solutions for FI/EF to meet needs. For example, increase class sizes in primary (however that could be disruptive to families, as most classes are filled there).”

Karen Brackley said she is still waiting for her Grade 5 son to be connected to a French immersion teachers, and has been struggling to help her son with independent work he has been assigned that is all in French.

“A lot of parents are being forced to make a decision between what’s healthy for our children, or do we stay with French,” she said. “The TDSB has really put us in a bad position.”

The province says it has provided boards with COVID-19 funding to hire teachers needed to help create smaller classes or to cover the demand for virtual classes, though boards have warned that during the they might not be able to offer all optional programs.

A spokesperson for Education Minister Stephen Lecce said the province has spent $36 million “to support ‘Zoom-style’ synchronous learning (that will) deliver a better educational experience for students.”

Caitlin Clark said individual boards “have developed plans that best suit their local needs. We encourage and support French-language education and will continue delivering historic investments for the benefit and safety of all students.”

A memo from the ministry to the Ontario Teachers’ Federation, obtained by the Star, said “school boards will be experiencing increased absenteeism by teachers and administrative staff. Hence, the demand for supply teachers and principals is expected to be higher this year, against a backdrop of smaller occasional teacher pools.”

The province is asking the federation to support a temporary suspension of the 50-working-day maximum for retired teachers and administrators to help boost staffing levels.

“We also understand that the (Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan) has received inquiries from pensioners asking about whether the 50-day re-employment limit will be reconsidered for the 2020-21 school year. This is indicative of the interest from pensioners to have the flexibility to work a longer duration without having their pensions impacted,” says the memo from deputy education minister Nancy Naylor.

“We believe suspending the limit would work to incentivize recently retired teachers and principals to return on an occasional basis to assist schools with staffing shortages.”

Noor Javed is a Toronto-based reporter covering current affairs in the York region for the Star. Follow her on Twitter:

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Wasaga father of three is $150,000 richer after lottery win

Aug 27, 2021 , , , , by shlf

A Wasaga Beach father of three is $150,000 richer after he scratched a winning ticket.

Scott Patterson won the prize on The Bigger Spin instant game.

“I scratched my ticket and saw that I won an in-store spin,” he said. “My heart was pounding when I took the ticket to the store. I was watching the spin and when it landed on $150,000, I couldn’t believe it. I kept thinking, please don’t have a heart attack.”

The construction worker told his wife when he picked her up from work, but she didn’t believe him. “I’m a bit of a prankster. She’s waiting in the truck for me today and still doesn’t believe me,” he said. 

Patterson said he plans to pay some bills and to talk to a financial advisor about his next steps.

“This win is a huge opportunity for my kids, I want to make the most of it for them,” he said.

“It’s reassuring to know my kids can use this win to start their lives off right.”

The winning ticket was purchased at the Great Canadian Superstore in Wasaga Beach. 

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Collingwood YMCA asks town for help with COVID reopening costs

Aug 27, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Collingwood’s YMCA is ready to open its doors.

First, though, it needs a little financial help.

The YMCA of Simcoe-Muskoka has asked the Town of Collingwood for $25,000 to assist with restarting costs for the local facility, following what will be a nearly eight-month closure as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The money would be used to purchase protective barriers, air purifiers, hand-sanitizing stations, and cleaning and PPE supplies.

The request also includes $5,300 for the Y’s financial assistance program for members who are unable to pay full membership fees.

The Y has been closed since mid-March, and is scheduled to reopen on Nov. 13. It has not been collecting membership fees during that time.

Anyone headed into the building, regardless of whether it’s to take part in a program, or just work out, will be required to book in advance.

Local manager Nilusha Premasinghe told councillors the members have been given 30 days advance notice of the Y reopening, and have been given the option to put membership fees on hold, or to cancel, if they’re not comfortable in returning to the facility at this time.

The Y had more than 4,800 members prior to the onset of the pandemic, with about 875 members receiving some form of financial support.

Rob Armstrong, the CEO of the YMCA of Simcoe-Muskoka, said the financial losses for the local facility from being closed for more than six months is expected to be about $1 million.

While the Y was closed to members since mid-March, there have still been ongoing costs of about $25,000 a month to maintain the building, he said.

Most of the facility’s 57 staff have been on lay-off.

A survey of the facility’s members indicated 45 per cent would be willing to return to the Y within three weeks of opening. Armstrong said the return rate at other reopened Ys across the country has been around 20 per cent.

“We recognize we’re not in a unique situation from the perspective of a reduced income, however, as a charitable organization with a limited fiscal risk threshold, we are working hard to minimize the impacts of reopening will have on our organization,” Armstrong said.

In September, the Y made a similar request of Wasaga Beach council for funding to assist with reopening costs, as well as up to $900,000 to assist with operating costs over the next two years. That council has not yet made a decision on the request.

The Y has also announced the permanent closure of the facilities in Barrie, Orillia, and Parry Sound due to the pandemic.

The request was referred to municipal staff to review and consider how the request fits with the $2.5-million emergency fund established earlier in the year to address pandemic issues. CAO Sonya Skinner said as the provincial emergency order has expired, so has the recovery fund; she said council may need to consider re-establishing the fund if it intends to access it to assist the Y.


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Heather Mallick: The great unmasked: you know who you are and so do I

Aug 27, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Much of my pandemic life consists of spying on people on the streets, on transit, in shops and offices, in grocery stores and banks, in the lit-up windows of their homes when I wander past on my nightly walk.

Spying is a genre of its own. It’s random. It’s rambling. It’s hardly Dickens walking nighttime London streets to see how the poor live and spill it all out into his doorstopper novels. I am, like everyone, an unofficial secret agent.

It’s more like Harriet the Spy, from Louise Fitzhugh’s classic children’s novel, who scribbles furiously in her notebook (a handwritten column) about people she sees on her spying rounds after school. It is obsessive surveillance.

Harriet was on the subway. “What are you writing?” her friend Sport asked.

“I’m taking notes on all those people who are sitting over there.”

“Why?”

“Aw, Sport” — Harriet was exasperated — “because I’ve seen them and I want to remember them.”

These days I am Harriet the Spying on people in semi-lockdown, in this case the unmasked people of the Toronto subway, because everything is interesting and I’ve seen them and I want to remember them.

There are types.

The Men Who Don’t Mask, a.k.a. Fight Club. They are white guys, mostly thin but sometimes swollen from a diet of beef jerky and cigarettes, in worn leatherette jackets and occasionally cowboy boots, angry men you’d edge away from on the TTC even before all this. They lived hard and rotting into their 30s and 40s. Their faces are hot with rage as they look around the platform, daring someone to pipe up, “Hey, you should wear a mask.”

At which point they will do their “Taxi Driver” thing: “You talking to me? You talking to me?”

Every TTC passenger has to wear a mask, but there is no enforcement and they know it. So they are enforcing their own no-masking by making “I’m violent” faces at other people, who hush up because they aren’t stupid. It must be odd when two Men Who Don’t Mask meet on a streetcar. Everyone’s thinking, Oh get a room, you two.

The Wanderers. They are gentle, elderly, may not speak the language well, and should not have left the house alone that day (that’s me as a tourist) but their long-suffering children had to go to work so policing the relatives went out the window.

Wheee! The Wanderers will go shopping, sans mask. Before the pandemic, it was safe to put Grandma on a flight to see the grandkids and then send her back alone, knowing the other passengers would see her wandering about unable to fathom a gate change, and adopt her. Awww, we’ve all done it.

But you can’t tell a Wanderer to mask. They won’t understand. Worse, they won’t understand that you can’t accompany them unmasked all the way to Finch Station and they will think you heartless. You will think this too and bitterly regret not carrying a stash of masks for errant Wanderers.

The Proud Girl. She is an arrogant middle-class woman walking unmasked through the grocery store like royalty, far above the masked plebs. I dare you, her look says, but not like The Men Who Don’t Mask in that, come on, she won’t punch you in the face.

So you assume she was gagged during a terrible crime and cannot mask because of claustrophobia and night terrors. As the line of carts inches along, you dream up a whole Netflix series of what this woman has endured. Why, it’s amazing she had to courage to even go to Loblaws.

The Women of Mystery have masks around necks, but not on their faces. I cannot fathom this. Possibly they’re evangelicals told by their weird breakaway church out by the airport that accepting COVID-19 brings them closer to god. But that means dead, surely.

The Fumblers wear their masks beneath their noses in a My Nose is My Superpower manner. When I ask them to pull the mask up, they fumble with it unhygienically, and then it falls down again as they tell me about foggy glasses, asthma and their relentless need to sneeze.

The Fumblers haven’t thought this through. The Fumblers mean well. The Fumblers are the worst.

Heather Mallick is a Toronto-based columnist covering current affairs for the Star. Follow her on Twitter:

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Today’s coronavirus news: Trump chief of staff Meadows diagnosed with COVID-19; Ontario reporting 1,003 cases, 85 new cases in schools

Aug 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.

11:23 p.m. President Donald Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows has been diagnosed with the coronavirus as the nation sets daily records for confirmed cases for the pandemic.

Two senior administration officials confirmed Friday that Meadows had tested positive for the virus, which has killed more than 236,000 Americans so far this year.

Meadows travelled with Trump in the run-up to Election Day and last appeared in public early Wednesday morning without a mask as Trump falsely declared victory in the vote count. He had been one of the close aides around Trump when the president came down with the virus more than a month ago, but was tested daily and maintained his regular work schedule.

7:21 p.m.: The Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) says agents are now permitted to hold open houses in regions that have been designated “green-prevent,” “yellow-protect” and “orange-restrict” under the new Provincial COVID-19 framework.

That means agents in York Region and Ottawa can resume that practice on Saturday and in Toronto, on Nov. 14

Under the new system, announced by the Province this week, open houses are not permitted in the “red-control” and lockdown categories.

The Province announced on Friday that Peel Region will be designated “red” on Saturday due to high rates of infection.

The association and the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board are continuing to advise realtors to avoid open houses and use virtual selling tools whenever possible. In-person showings are allowed by appointment for qualified clients as long as public health guidelines are followed.

3:53 p.m: There have been 253,805 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Canada, including 10,425 deaths, and 210,145 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: 112,189 confirmed (including 6,403 deaths, 95,956 resolved)
  • Ontario: 81,693 confirmed (including 3,209 deaths, 70,086 resolved)
  • Alberta: 30,447 confirmed (including 343 deaths, 23,874 resolved)
  • British Columbia: 16,560 confirmed (including 273 deaths, 12,806 resolved)
  • Manitoba: 7,419 confirmed (including 96 deaths, 3,037 resolved)
  • Saskatchewan: 3,623 confirmed (including 25 deaths, 2,634 resolved)
  • Nova Scotia: 1,121 confirmed (including 65 deaths, 1,040 resolved)
  • New Brunswick: 350 confirmed (including six deaths, 320 resolved)
  • Newfoundland and Labrador: 292 confirmed (including four deaths, 285 resolved)
  • Prince Edward Island: 64 confirmed, all of which have been resolved
  • Yukon: 23 confirmed (including one death, 20 resolved)
  • Repatriated Canadians account for 13 confirmed cases, all of which have been resolved
  • Northwest Territories: 10 confirmed, all of which have been resolved
  • Nunavut reports one confirmed case.

3 p.m. Nova Scotia is reporting two new cases of COVID-19.

There are now 16 active cases of novel coronavirus in the province.

Health officials say the new cases are in the central health zone, with one a close contact of a case reported Thursday and the other under investigation.

There has been a total of 1,121 positive cases, with 1,040 cases now resolved, and there have been 65 deaths.

2:30 p.m. When a vaccine is available, who should get it first?

It’s a question bioethicists, epidemiologists and public health experts are wrestling with now, even as a safe and effective vaccine remains an uncertain goal.

Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, she is “cautiously optimistic” a safe and effective vaccine will be available in the “first quarter of 2021.”

Whenever it arrives, there is a presumption that demand for the vaccine will initially outstrip supply, so governments will have to develop a clear plan for who should be prioritized.

On Tuesday, Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization , identifying four key groups for prioritization: 1) those at high risk of severe illness or death, including older people and people with high-risk conditions; 2) people most likely to transmit the virus to those who are high risk, including front-line health-care workers; 3) essential workers who can’t do their jobs from home; and 4) others whose living and working conditions put them at elevated risk of infection and where infection could have “disproportionate” consequences.

The guidelines, which are non-binding and meant to advise regional public health officials, are necessarily vague given the uncertainty around a potential vaccine and how scarce initial doses might be.

Read the full story from the Star’s Brendan Kennedy:

2:16 p.m. The Manitoba government is increasing restrictions in the southern health region as COVID-19 numbers continue to climb.

The region is being moved to the red, or critical, code on the province’s pandemic response scale, which means restaurants and bars must close except for takeout and delivery.

Capacity limits for religious services and other gatherings are being lowered as well.

Similar restrictions were ordered in the greater Winnipeg region recently in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Health officials are reporting 242 new cases across the province and five additional deaths.

Chief public health officer, Dr. Brent Roussin, says people should stay home as much as possible, and should not be socializing with anyone outside their households.

2:07 p.m Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says some COVID-19 vaccine candidates expected in the new year will pose significant logistical and distribution challenges.

Trudeau says he hopes a viable vaccine will be available to Canadians in the spring but notes some of theinitial doseswill require “extremely high degrees of logistical support” such as freezers that can keep the vaccines at -80 degrees C.

He says those conditions don’t make it easy for mass distribution to pharmacies across the country, but that other vaccines expected to arrive later may be easier to handle.

Trudeau says Canada will require “a very sophisticated plan” to be able to roll out vaccines in “the right way” and “to the right people.”

Earlier this week the National Advisory Committee on Immunization outlined four key groups that should be prioritized for the COVID-19 vaccine.

Trudeau says those include populations with “a high degree of vulnerability,” such as Indigenous peoples and frontline health workers.

(UPDATED) 1:40 p.m. High numbers of COVID-19 in Peel Region — particularly in Brampton — are keeping it in Ontario’s red or “control” zone of restrictions, but some indoor dining can resume and gyms reopen while movie theatres must remain closed under Ontario’s new framework.

Peel had been slated for a larger easing of public health measures along with York Region and Ottawa on Saturday until a sudden increase in pandemic indicators started “going through the roof,” Premier Doug Ford said Friday.

Despite that spike, restaurants in Peel “can still have customers come in” to a maximum of 10 indoors at any one time with no more than four diners per table, Ford told his daily news conference. Strip clubs must remain

Peel, York, Ottawa and Toronto have been in the previous system of modified Stage 2 restrictions with a ban on indoor dining and closures of gyms and theatres since mid-October.

Read the full story from the Star’s Rob Ferguson:

1:25 p.m. Saskatchewan’s Opposition leader says Premier Scott Moe is pandering to those in the province resistant to additional measures to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Ryan Meili suggests Moe saw the trend of rising cases during the provincial election campaign but decided to wait until after the Oct. 26 vote to take action.

Starting today, masks must be worn in indoor public spaces in Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert ——cities where a majority of the new spread is happening.

The maximum limit for people allowed to gather inside a home has dropped to 10 from 15.

The province set a new record Thursday for cases in a single day with 129 new infections.

1:20 p.m. Nunavut’s chief public health officer has confirmed the .

Michael Patterson says in a news release that the confirmed case is in the Hudson Bay community of Sanikiluaq, where about 850 people live

Patterson says his department has started contact tracing and a rapid response team has been sent to the community.

Patterson says to contain a potential spread, all Sanikiluaq residents should remain at home and limit contact with others, including family members not living in the same household.

The release says the individual is in isolation along with family and all are doing well.

All travel to and from Sanikiluaq is restricted, with the exception of cargo shipments and emergency travel.

Grocery stores will operate at reduced hours and shoppers are required to wear masks.

12:20 p.m. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the strain of surging COVID-19 case numbers should make us think of loved ones and relatives we all must protect.

Trudeau says he’s thinking of his godfather and uncle Tom Walker, who has been in and out of hospital and had to be readmitted last night.

He says “this situation is serious” and now is not the time to let our guard down.

He notes increasing evidence that aerosol spread is a vector of transmission and that winter weather will soon force many Canadians indoors into less well-ventilated areas.

He says we must do everything we can now to reduce outbreaks.

12:15 p.m. Public health officials in New Brunswick have reported one new case of COVID-19 today.

The case was found in the Campbellton region in north New Brunswick and the person is currently self-isolating.

The newest case brings the province’s total number of active cases to 24.

The Campbellton region moved back into the yellow stage of recovery today after a downward trend in the number of cases and infection risk, according to public health authorities.

11:45 a.m. The federal government is promising another $155 million in aid for high-tech and research-oriented companies that generally don’t qualify for the federal pandemic wage subsidy.

The wage-subsidy program requires companies looking for support to show that their revenues have shrunk in the COVID-19 pandemic, so it leaves out firms that don’t have revenue because they’re still working on bringing products to market.

The new money is being offered through what’s called the Innovation Assistance Program, which was boosted with $250 million in April once the government recognized the gap in the wage-subsidy program.

11:58 a.m. A Quebec public health institute in says it doesn’t expect the number of new COVID-19 cases in the province to exceed the capacity of the province’s hospital over the next four weeks.

The National Institute of Excellence in Health and Social Services says it is worried, however, that the situation outside of the Montreal area could change.

Meanwhile, two people are dead and 39 people are in hospital due to an outbreak of COVID-19 at a private seniors residence in the Gaspe region, northeast of Quebec City.

11:30 a.m. Quebec is reporting 1,133 new cases of COVID-19 today and 25 additional deaths associated with the novel coronavirus.

Provincial health authorities say 539 people are currently in hospital, an increase of one from the previous day, and of those 77 are in intensive care, a decline of five from the previous day.

The Health Department says 28,807 tests were done on Nov. 4, the most recent date for which data is available, the highest number of tests done in a single day in the province in more than a week.

There have now been a total of 112,189 confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported in Quebec and 6,403 deaths associated with the novel coronavirus.

11:25 a.m. The federal Indigenous Services Department says there were 254 new cases of COVID-19 in Indigenous communities in the last week of October.

At last count, there were 542 active cases on First Nations.

The department says the increase is mostly attributable to large gatherings in both public and private places, where participants didn’t wear masks or stay a safe distance apart.

One large group event in Saskatchewan led to 11 separate outbreaks in the province.

The government says it’s working particularly closely with First Nations and the provincial government in Manitoba to try to get outbreaks there under control.

11 a.m. Ontario is reporting an additional 85 new cases in public schools across the province, bringing the total in the last two weeks to 914 and 2,628 overall since school began.

, the province reported 49 more students were infected for a total of 525 in the last two weeks; since school began there have been an overall total of 1,484.

The data shows there are eight more staff members infected for a total of 81 in the last two weeks — and an overall total of 328. The latest report also shows 28 more infected individuals who weren’t identified for a total of 308 in that category in the last two weeks — and an overall total of 816.

There are 582 schools with a reported case, which the province notes is 12 per cent of the 4,828 public schools in Ontario.

One school is closed because of an outbreak.

Elder’s Mills Public School, a French-immersion elementary school in Woodbridge, of COVID-19. The school is set to reopen on Nov. 11.

There is a lag between the daily provincial data at 10:30 a.m. and news reports about infections in schools. The provincial data on Thursday is current as of 2 p.m. Wednesday. It also doesn’t indicate where the place of transmission occurred.

The Toronto District School Board updates its information on current COVID-19 cases throughout the day . As of 11 a.m. Friday, there were 192 TDSB schools with at least one active case — 275 students and 68 staff.

The Toronto Catholic District School Board also updates its information . As of Friday at 9:30 a.m., there were 112 schools with at least one confirmed case — 91 students and 18 staff.

Epidemiologists have that the rising numbers in the schools aren’t a surprise, and that the cases will be proportionate to the amount of COVID that is in the community.

10:50 a.m. The Houston Texans returned to their facility on Friday, a day after it was closed following a positive COVID-19 test by a player.

Interim coach Romeo Crennel said the team had no more positive tests and it would resume practice Friday for Sunday’s game at Jacksonville.

Linebacker Jacob Martin’s positive test on Wednesday night forced the closure of the facility Thursday. Linebackers Whitney Mercilus and Dylan Cole will also miss Sunday’s game after the NFL determined they had been in close contact with Martin.

10:18 a.m. (will be updated) Ontario is reporting 1,003 cases of COVID-19. Locally, there are 300 new cases in Toronto, 280 in Peel and 125 in York Region. 41,300 tests were completed.

10:04 a.m. Russia for the first time reported more than 20,000 COVID-19 cases in the last day as a surge in some regions is overwhelming local hospitals’ ability to care for patients.

There were 20,582 new coronavirus infections in the last day, with two-thirds of them outside of Moscow, the government’s virus response center said Friday. Russia has reported 1,733,440 total cases, the fourth-most globally.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin Thursday said infection rates and hospitalizations in the capital resumed their uptrend early this week and extended an order to keep older schoolchildren at home for another two weeks.

The disease’s spread in regions beyond Moscow and St. Petersburg has highlighted the problems plaguing Russia’s underfunded health-care system, with many areas struggling to handle the influx of sick people. The surge comes as federal authorities resist wider lockdowns, even as European countries from the U.K. to Greece have tightened restrictions this week.

More than 45,000 people have died with COVID-19 since April, according to government data, which cover only the period April-August.

9:50 a.m. Air pollution in parts of New Delhi have climbed to levels around nine times what the World Health Organization considers safe, turning grey winter skies into a putrid yellow and shrouding national monuments. Levels of the most dangerous particles, called PM 2.5, climbed to around 250 micrograms per cubic meter, which is considered hazardous to breathe, according to the state-run System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research.

The throat-burning smoke regularly turns the city of 20 million people into the world’s most polluted at this time of the year.

This year’s haze, however, comes as New Delhi battles a new surge in coronavirus infections, and health experts fear that if the air quality continues to worsen, then people with chronic medical conditions could become more vulnerable.

“We are already registering more infections after the air quality started to deteriorate. I fear things will only get worse from here on,” said Arvind Kumar, a chest surgeon in New Delhi.

India has reported the second most coronavirus infections in the world after the United States, with more than 8.4 million confirmed cases and nearly 125,000 deaths. The number of new daily infections reported across the country has slowed since mid-September, but New Delhi has recently seen a new surge.

9 a.m. Virus pressure is mounting at nursing homes in France, where more than 400 people with COVID-19 have died in the past week and some residents are again being confined to their rooms and cut off from their families.

“I cry every day,” said Patricia Deliry, 81, whose daughter usually provides daily assistance at her Paris care home but has been kept away for the past two weeks as part of the home’s virus protection efforts. Deliry hasn’t been able to see fellow residents either. “We’re confined, closed in from morning to night.”

French Health Minister Olivier Veran said Friday that the government is sending 1.6 million rapid virus tests to care homes across the country to allow them to test personnel. It’s part of efforts to avoid mass new confinement of nursing home residents after the anguish caused during a nationwide lockdown in the spring. Germany launched a similar program this week.

8:35 a.m. Statistics Canada says the pace of job growth slowed in October as the economy added 84,000 jobs in the month compared with 378,000 in September.

The unemployment rate was 8.9 per cent compared with 9.0 per cent in September.

The average economist estimate was for a gain of 100,000 jobs in October and an unemployment rate of 8.8 per cent, according to financial data firm Refinitiv.

8:04 a.m. Overseas travellers should be quarantined in hotels guarded by police, an inquiry into an Australian city’s bungled quarantine program reported on Friday.

The Victoria state government’s decision to use private security firms instead of police and the military to enforce quarantines in Melbourne hotels has been widely blamed for lax infection controls that led to Australia’s worst virus resurgence in its second-largest city.

An inquiry into that quarantine program recommended in an interim report “a 24/7 police presence on-site at each quarantine facility.”

The government closed Melbourne Airport to international arrivals in July before commissioning retired judge Jennifer Coate to investigate what went wrong in hotel quarantine, which has been blamed for virtually all COVID-19 community transmission in Victoria.

Coate will deliver her final report and findings, including who made the decisions to hire private security and rebuff the military’s offer of help, by Dec. 21.

8:02 a.m. The top two divisions in Czech soccer will be allowed to restart after a month break caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Sports competitions were stopped in the Czech Republic on Oct. 12 amid a record surge in virus infections.

The government has agreed to allow exceptions under strict conditions. Soccer will be the first to resume. The games will be played in empty stadiums.

The top division says all players and staff will have to undergo virus tests between games. The league will restart with a match between Jablonec and Brno on Friday.

Czech clubs Sparta Prague, Slavia Prague and Liberec were allowed to play in the Europa League despite the ban on games in the country. They all currently have several players who have tested positive for the coronavirus.

7:16 a.m. The University of Maryland’s College Park campus will transition to mostly online courses after the school’s Thanksgiving break due to concerns about rising COVID-19 cases.

The school’s President, Darryll Pines, said Thursday in a letter to the university community that students who plan to travel from campus for the holiday should plan to remain away until the end of the semester. Students who choose to remain in residence halls for Thanksgiving may stay until the end of the semester.

“Like many of you, I wish for a return to normalcy for our university, including the full resumption of in-person classes and extracurricular activities. Yet this virus continues to demand vigilance, patience and perseverance,” Pines said. “I believe the actions outlined above are prudent, data-driven, and in the best interests of our university community.”

The school will also be providing campus-wide COVID-19 testing the week prior to Thanksgiving break.

6:20 a.m.: Slovenian police say they have detained 10 people following violent protests in the capital Ljubljana against lockdown measures designed to curb the spread of the new coronavirus.

Several hundred angry protesters on Thursday threw bottles, flares and rocks at the police who used tear gas and water cannon to disperse them in a rare riot in what in the usually calm Alpine nation.

The gather was organized in violation of a ban on gatherings that is in place in Slovenia as part of anti-virus rules. Public broadcaster RTV Slovenia says some of the protesters attacked media crews, hitting a photojournalist on the head.

5:55 a.m.: Australia’s highest court on Friday upheld the closure of a state’s border and dismissed billionaire businessman Clive Palmer’s argument that the pandemic measure was unconstitutional.

The seven High Court judges ruled that Western Australia’s state border closure to non-essential travel applied during “a hazard in the nature of a plague or epidemic” complied with the constitution.

The state shut its border to the rest of Australia on April 5 and has not recorded any cases of COVID-19 community transmission since April 11.

In other developments in the Asia-Pacific region:

— China has temporarily banned the entry of foreigners from at least eight countries as COVID-19 cases rise in Europe and elsewhere. Non-Chinese can no longer enter from Russia, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Philippines, India and Bangladesh, even if they hold a valid visa or residence permit for China.

— India has recorded 47,638 new cases of the coronavirus, taking its total to 8.4 million. Deaths rose by 670 in the last 24 hours, driving total fatalities to 124,985 on Friday, health ministry data showed. India has the world’s second-highest caseload behind the United States.

5 a.m.: Mary Moore never felt the typical symptoms of COVID-19.

The 80-year-old resident of Toronto’s shelter system never came down with a fever, never felt her chest tighten or a cough tickle her throat. Despite sharing a room at an Etobicoke women’s shelter with three others, and despite the risk of her age, she hadn’t been scared of contracting the virus.

But then, last month, she got sick — and fast. At first, it was hard to pinpoint precisely what was wrong.

“You know when you feel there’s something just not right?” Moore said. She asked staff to help her get to a nearby hospital. Then things started to deteriorate.

A test confirmed that she’d contracted COVID-19. But for the next few weeks, as she battled the virus in hospital, her primary symptom still wasn’t one that she recognized from warnings. She was hallucinating — imagining small animals in her hospital room, or that she’d been discharged, and was sitting down to a meal in Toronto’s Chinatown neighbourhood.

5 a.m.: in a northern region of the country where a mutated variation of the coronavirus has infected minks being farmed for their fur, leading to an order to kill millions of the animals.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the move was contain the virus, and it came two days after the government ordered the cull of all 15 million minks bred at Denmark’s 1,139 mink farms.

In seven northern Denmark municipalities with some 280,000 residents sport and cultural activities have been suspended, public transportation has been stopped and regional borders have been closed. Only people with so-called “critical functions” such as police and health officials and different authorities are being permitted to cross municipal boundaries.

People in the region have been urged to to be tested. As of Saturday, restaurants must close, and school students from fifth grade and up will switch to remote learning Monday.

“We must knock down completely this virus variant,” Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said Thursday, adding that the mutated virus had been found in 12 people — 11 in northern Denmark and one in western Denmark.

Last month, Denmark started culling millions of minks in the north of the country after COVID-19 infections were reported among the stock there. Nationwide, at least 216 out of the 1,139 fur farms in Denmark have now been infected.

4:15 a.m.: Statistics Canada will say this morning how the country’s job market fared in October, with experts expecting the pace of gains to slow from September.

Job growth in Canada accelerated rather than slowed down in September, as the economy added 378,000 jobs coming out of the summer.

That brought overall employment to within 720,000 of pre-pandemic levels, or about three-quarters of the three million jobs lost at the outset of the pandemic in Canada.

The gains also dropped the unemployment rate to nine per cent.

The country is expected to get a little closer to recouping the losses with the figures for October.

Financial data firm Refinitiv says the average economist estimate is for a gain of 100,000 jobs in October and an unemployment rate of 8.8 per cent.

4 a.m.: The latest numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 4 a.m. EST on Nov. 6, 2020:

There are 251,334 confirmed cases in Canada.

_ Quebec: 111,056 confirmed (including 6,378 deaths, 94,884 resolved)

_ Ontario: 80,690 confirmed (including 3,195 deaths, 69,137 resolved)

_ Alberta: 30,447 confirmed (including 343 deaths, 23,874 resolved)

_ British Columbia: 16,560 confirmed (including 273 deaths, 12,806 resolved)

_ Manitoba: 7,177 confirmed (including 91 deaths, 2,920 resolved)

_ Saskatchewan: 3,536 confirmed (including 25 deaths, 2,634 resolved)

_ Nova Scotia: 1,119 confirmed (including 65 deaths, 1,036 resolved)

_ New Brunswick: 347 confirmed (including 6 deaths, 313 resolved)

_ Newfoundland and Labrador: 292 confirmed (including 4 deaths, 285 resolved)

_ Prince Edward Island: 64 confirmed (including 64 resolved)

_ Yukon: 23 confirmed (including 1 death, 20 resolved)

_ Repatriated Canadians: 13 confirmed (including 13 resolved)

_ Northwest Territories: 10 confirmed (including 10 resolved)

_ Nunavut: No confirmed cases

_ Total: 251,334 (0 presumptive, 251,334 confirmed including 10,381 deaths, 207,996 resolved)

3 a.m.: The National Basketball Players Association the notion of starting this coming season on Dec. 22, the date that the league has been targeting in its talks about how and when to get teams back on the floor for a planned 72-game season.

The vote is expected to be part of a lengthy process. Among the primary matters still to be determined: how much escrow will be taken from player salaries because of the shorter-than-usual season, and how the league and the players will navigate testing and other health and safety issues amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

12 a.m.: The Old Nick on Danforth Ave. closed its doors because of in March but it was not until last month it quietly became reality that it will never reopen.

Countless businesses across Toronto have had to do the same. But where the closure of the Old Nick hits hard is the impact to local artists, particularly musicians, who say the owner’s commitment to paying performers a fair wage and dedication to inclusivity made it a very special, rare kind place.

Owner Kristine Lukanchoff says she from months of no income. It is impossible to climb out of a “hole that was getting deeper and deeper” while operating at a reduced capacity, per the changing government standards for restaurants.