Friday May 22, 2020 ~ NATIONAL
Mary Brooke, Editor ~ West Shore Voice News
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland held their tenth First Ministers’ call with Canada’s premiers about the COVID-19 pandemic, on Thursday evening May 21.
The leaders spoke about coordinated actions being taken by federal, provincial, and territorial partners to protect the health and safety of all Canadians and to support workers and businesses, it was stated in a news release from the Prime Minister’s office.
First Ministers also offered their condolences to the family of Captain Jennifer Casey and their hopes for a full recovery for Captain Richard MacDougall, both of whom were involved in the Snowbirds aircraft accident in Kamloops, British Columbia, on May 17.
This week BC Premier John Horgan also spoke of the Snowbirds tragedy during this media availability on May 20, saying Operation Inspiration was to have been about lifting people’s spirits.
First Ministers also offered their condolences to the family of Captain Jennifer Casey and their hopes for a full recovery for Captain Richard MacDougall, both of whom were involved in the Snowbirds aircraft accident in Kamloops, British Columbia, on May 17. This week BC Premier John Horgan also spoke of the Snowbirds tragedy during this media availability on May 20, saying Operation Inspiration was to have been about lifting people’s spirits.
Working collaboratively during COVID-19:
First Ministers reiterated the importance of working collaboratively to keep Canadians safe while gradually restarting their economies. They discussed an approach based on increased testing capacity, timely and complete contact tracing, and data and information sharing.
“This approach will help ensure that all regions of the country are testing at a sufficient level, and reinforce testing with effective contact tracing and data sharing in order to contain future outbreaks,” it was stated in the release.
COVID-19 is expected to come in a second wave during the fall-winter season of 2020-2021.
As part of the meeting, the Prime Minister thanked premiers for their continued cooperation in these areas. First Ministers also looked at ways to ensure all jurisdictions have the necessary resources, including personal protective equipment, testing material, human resources, and technology, to contain the spread of the virus as public health restrictions are eased.
Support for border restriction extension:
The Prime Minister provided an update on the extension of the border restrictions with the United States until June 21.
First Ministers reportedly welcomed this decision, which will help keep people on both sides of the border safe.
Case counts of COVID-19 in the United States are significantly higher than in Canada. In the USA as of May 21, there have been over 1.5 million test-positive cases and over 90,000 deaths. In Canada the struggle is still significant — there have been 79,502 cases of COVID-19 with 5,955 deaths as of May 21.
The bulk of Canada’s cases have occurred in the two largest provinces — Ontario and Quebec.
First Ministers underscored the ongoing need for strong public health measures at the border, given that essential and business travel continues in order to preserve vital supply chains between Canada and the United States.
A continued team effort:
All First Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to addressing COVID-19 through a Team Canada effort. The Government of Canada continues to take a whole-of-government, comprehensive, and coordinated approach to responding to COVID-19.
==== LINKS:
- Prime Minister announces temporary border agreement with the United States
- First Ministers’ statement on shared public health approach to support restarting the economy
- Prime Minister announces opening of program to protect jobs and help businesses
- Prime Minister announces new support for COVID-19 medical research and vaccine development