Canada

OTTAWA, April 11 (Xinhua) -- The Canadian Parliament passed on Saturday what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the country's most significant economic program since the World War II.

OTTAWA, April 11. /TASS/: The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Canada has grown by nearly 1,400 in the past day and reached 22,133, the country's health ministry said on Friday.

So far, around 391,300 people in Canada have been tested for novel coronavirus COVID-19. Most coroanvirus cases were reported in the provinces of Quebes (11,677), Ontario (6,237) and Alberta (1,500).

OTTAWA, Apr 11 (NNN-XINHUA) – Canada could see 22,580 to 31,850 COVID-19 cases and 500 to 700 deaths by Apr 16, the Public Health Agency of Canada said.

Even with the strongest control measures in place, COVID-19 could kill between 11,000 and 22,000 Canadians, over the course of the pandemic, the agency said, in its forecast “COVID-19 in Canada: Using Data and Modelling to Inform Public Health Action.”

OTTAWA, April 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Canadian government said that it had renegotiated the terms of a $14 billion light armored vehicles contract with Saudi Arabia, paving the way for exports to recommence.

Vehicle sales had been on hold since 2018 due to tensions between Ottawa and Riyadh over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashogi and Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the war in Yemen.

The move marks a shift for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who had indicated in December 2018 that he was looking to end the controversial agreement.

OTTAWA, April 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Canada’s coronavirus death toll is set to soar from the current 435 to as high as 22,000 by the end of the pandemic, health officials said, while the economy lost a record 1 million jobs last month.

Officials outlined the two most likely scenarios, showing that between 11,000 and 22,000 people would die. The total number of positive diagnoses of COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus, ranged from 934,000 to 1.9 million.

Montreal, Mar 31 (AFP/PTI) Air Canada announced Monday it would temporarily lay off nearly half of its employees and reduce activity by up to 90 percent in the second quarter due to the coronavirus.

The measures would affect 15,200 employees and about 1,300 managers from April 3, the airline said in a press release.

OTTAWA, March 30 (Xinhua) -- As the first quarter ends, the battering that Canada's economy has taken as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic could worsen if social distancing, currently in place across the country, continues until the end of August, according to the Conference Board of Canada.

Should that happen, the Ottawa-based research organization predicts that Canada's real GDP would fall by 1.1 percent in 2020, a sharp reversal from 2019, when the country's economy grew by 1.6 percent.

TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s wife said Saturday that she has recovered from being ill from COVID-19 disease caused by the new coronavirus.

“I am feeling so much better,” Sophie Gregoire Trudeau said in a statement on social media. She said she received the clearance from her doctor and Ottawa Public Health.

Trudeau’s office announced on March 12 that she had tested positive for the coronavirus after she fell ill upon returning from a trip to London.

TORONTO (AP) — Canada said Thursday it told the Trump administration that a proposal to put troops at the U.S.-Canada border amid the coronavirus pandemic was entirely unnecessary and would damage relations between the two longtime allies.

The Wall Street Journal, citing an unidentified U.S. official, later reported that the Trump administration had dropped its consideration of the plan.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government had been in discussions with the White House seeking to persuade the U.S. not to do it.

OTTAWA, March 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Billions in economic aid announced last week by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to help Canadians deal with the coronavirus pandemic hit a snag when opposition parties rejected giving his minority government unprecedented spending powers.

Thirty-two members of Parliament, proportionally representing each party instead of the full 338, gathered in Ottawa for a vote on the emergency measures.