Canada column for Sunday, Dec.20 /20
THE CANADIAN REPORT
By Jim Fox
The Canadian government is under pressure to push companies to accelerate shipments of COVID-19 vaccine.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada is running ahead of schedule in its vaccine rollout.
It will ramp up in January with deliveries of 125,000 Pfizer-BioNTech doses a week, for a total of 500,000 that month.
As well, 168,000 doses of Moderna’s vaccine will be shipped by the end of the year pending Health Canada approval.
At the same time, health professionals across the country are calling for a lock down of more parts of the country for the holidays.
The government is investing $9 million through the National Research Council to develop more treatments for COVID-19 and other viral infections, Trudeau said.
The money is going to four Canadian companies working on therapies, including two each in Montreal and Vancouver.
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Canada’s population growth stalled over the past four months due to the pandemic.
Statistics Canada said population gained only 2,767 for the lowest quarterly growth since 1946.
The largest demographic impact was the loss of international migration and refugees.
Along with border and travel restrictions, there were visa office closings and delays.
Canada’s population is 37.6-million people with Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia the largest provinces.
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News in brief:
- Canada is working with the U.S. government to send a Canadian astronaut around the moon in 2023. The mission will be part of an effort to establish a new space station above the lunar surface. There is an American-led effort to build the station to be known as the Lunar Gateway.
- Canada is getting closer to allowing a return to the skies of Boeing’s 737 Max aircraft. Transport Minister Marc Garneau said Transport Canada has approved design changes to the plane including allowing pilots to disable a faulty warning system that was found to be central to two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019.
- A sailor from a Canadian navy ship remains missing after falling overboard in the Pacific Ocean 500 miles off San Francisco. Duane Earle, 47, accidentally fell overboard as the ship was returning to British Columbia after being deployed to the Asia-Pacific region. The Canadian Armed Forces is investigating what happened.
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Facts and figures:
Canada’s dollar is steady at 78.2 cents U.S. while the U.S. dollar returns $1.27 Canadian before exchange fees.
The Bank of Canada key interest rate is steady at 0.25 percent while the prime lending rate is 2.45 percent.
Canadian stock markets are mixed, with the Toronto index down at 17,534 points and the TSX Venture index up at 816 points.
The average price for gas in Canada is higher at $1.03 a liter (Canadian) or $3.91 for a U.S. gallon.
Lotto Max: (Dec. 15) 1, 4, 20, 33, 44, 45 and 49; bonus 47. (Dec. 11) 9, 21, 30, 33, 38, 39 and 46; bonus 48. Lotto 6/49: (Dec. 16) 10, 12, 20, 25, 31 and 34; bonus 42. (Dec. 12) 27, 28, 29, 36, 46 and 48; bonus 49.
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Regional briefs:
- The search continues in Nova Scotia for five fishermen whose scallop dragger sank in the Bay of Fundy. The body of one fisherman was found but the boat and other crew members including captain Charles Roberts remain missing. The boat’s home port is Digby.
- The Mounties have given out fines amounting to $18,400 to clergy at three places of worship in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley for violating public health orders. Police said the churches were hosting in-person gatherings against provincial orders intended to protect people from COVID-19. There were 624 new cases of the virus on Friday and 11 additional deaths, for a total of 724 fatalities in the province.
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Jim Fox can be reached at canadareport@hotmail.com
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