COVID-19 Ottawa:
Ottawa Public Health is reporting 29 new, confirmed COVID-19 cases, and another death from the virus Monday.
8,487 total cases have been confirmed in the Capital, with 7,768 resolved, and 344 active. 375 people in the city have now died after contracting the Novel Coronavirus.
COVID-19 Ontario:
Across Ontario, 1,746 new cases, and seven more deaths are being reported.
The province has recorded a total of 116,492 cases, with 3,656 deaths, and 98,639 resolved.
Advocates Push for More Gun Control:
Gun control advocates held a virtual news conference Monday to push the Trudeau government to start delivering on promised reforms that include steps to control handguns.
Heidi Rathjen says there is no sign of progress on legislation several months after Public Safety Minister Bill Blair promised action. The government outlawed a wide range of firearms in May, but Blair has yet to deliver on a promised buyback of the weapons.
One Hospitalized After Carp Barn Fire:
Fire crews battled a barn fire in Carp Monday.
The fire broke out around 8:30 am on Diamondview Road. One structure collapsed as Ottawa Fire arrived on the scene. They then worked to contain the spread. One man was taken to hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation as a result of the blaze.
Investigation Into Racist Hospital Practice:
A former judge says she found widespread systemic racism in British Columbia’s health-care system, but she could not confirm allegations of an organized game to guess the blood-alcohol level of Indigenous patients in emergency departments.
Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond says she found evidence of activities that resembled the game, but none could be described as prevalent, widespread or targeting only Indigenous patients. The former Saskatchewan provincial court judge and one-time children’s advocate in B.C. was appointed in June to investigate the allegations.
Fiscal Update:
The federal Liberals are proposing $25-billion in new spending to help Canadian businesses and workers make it through a COVID-19 winter and vowing tens of billions more to help the country recover from the pandemic.
The government’s fall economic update proposes to send extra child-benefit payments to families next year as well as cash for skills training and to create new jobs.
For businesses, the government wants to bring the wage subsidy back to 75 per cent of business payroll costs and extend the business rent subsidy to mid-March. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s update makes clear the measures will be removed once the economy improves, although the timing is tied to the path of the pandemic.
The cost to date has the federal deficit reaching $381.6 billion this year, but the government’s math says it could close in on $400 billion if widespread lockdowns return in the coming weeks.
Freeland’s update tees up work already underway to craft a spring budget focused on an economic recovery. She says federal support for that will include a three-year stimulus plan worth up to $100-billion.
The fiscal update included some funding for Indigenous communities. That includes a $380-million top up for the Indigenous Community Support Fund, bringing the total to over $1-billion.
There is also an additional $631.6-million to keep battling the coronavirus over the next two years.