Leaders of Canada and the United States agree to get along on many issues during talk

    Canada column for Sunday, Feb. 28/21

    THE CANADIAN REPORT

   By Jim Fox

    An agreement to work together on bilateral issues and concerns signals the return to more neighborly relations between Canada and the United States.

   The first big step took place when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met virtually with President Joe Biden and committed to “an ambitious roadmap” to revitalize and expand this historic relationship.

   They vowed to work together to “end” the global COVID-19 pandemic and to help ensure everyone has access to a vaccine.

   There was agreement to the “importance of avoiding measures that may constrain the critical trade and supply-chain security between the two countries.”

   Canada and the United States share the longest secure border in the world with $2.7 billion in goods and services crossing daily.

   Both leaders will work to rebuild hard-hit pandemic-affected businesses, create jobs, fight climate change and make effective changes to improve criminal justice and law enforcement.

   Attention will also be paid to the integrated energy infrastructure, including oil and gas, defense and security issues, cybersecurity threats and firearms.

    ---

    Canada’s pharmacies are on standby as the long-awaited bigger flow of COVID vaccines has started.

   Prime Minister Trudeau said Canada received 643,000 doses in the past week.

   The country’s drug stores are ready to start administering vaccines.

    Shoppers Drug Mart’s more than 1,300 locations and an additional 500 Loblaw pharmacies are ready for mass inoculations, said chain president Jeff Leger.

    ---

    News in brief:

   - An Ipsos poll shows most Canadians have no sympathy for Snowbirds who face expensive measures to return from their warm winter haunts mainly in Florida and Arizona. Eighty-three percent agreed with the new tougher travel rules including “pre-testing and testing upon arrival for COVID and a mandatory hotel quarantine for air travelers to await results.

    - Calgary-based WestJet Airlines is laying off 415pilots and 120 crew due to a slowdown in business. The airline had to cancel flights to many Canadian destinations as well as travel to Mexico and the Caribbean. The government said federal aid for airlines is contingent on passengers being given full refunds for canceled flights.

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    Facts and figures:

   Canada’s dollar is lower at 78.5 cents U.S. while the U.S. dollar returns $1.273 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 lower, with the Toronto index at 18,060 points and the TSX Venture index 1,018points.

   The average price for gas in Canada is higher at $1.21 a liter (Canadian) or $4.60 for a U.S. gallon.

   Lotto Max: (Feb. 23) 3, 13, 14, 20, 30, 45 and 49; bonus 35. (Feb. 19) 1, 5, 10, 18, 20, 40 and 42; bonus  47.

   Lotto 6/49:  (Feb. 24) 11, 36, 37, 38, 39 and 45; bonus 10. (Feb. 20) 2, 14, 15, 21, 29 and 46; bonus 7.

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    Regional briefs:

   - Someone in Ontario holds the winning ticket for Friday’s $70-million Lotto Max jackpot. It equals $55 million U.S., with winnings in Canadian lotteries and casinos paid in full and tax free. Nine Maxmillions prizes of $1 million each were also won. The jackpot drops to $24 million for the next draw on Tuesday.

   - A multi-billion-dollar British Columbia energy development on the Peace River will continue, Premier John Horgan said. Soaring costs and delays now put the cost at $16 billion or $10 billion if the project is canceled, he said.

   - With pandemic visiting and business openings easing across Canada, an outbreak in the popular Simcoe Muskoka district north of Toronto is causing a locking down again starting on Monday (along with Thunder Bay). The four-season Muskoka vacation area had just reopened last week. Chief Medical Officer Dr. Charles Gardner put on the “emergency brakes” due to rising pandemic cases.

 Jim Fox can be reached at canadareport@hotmail.com

Returning Canadians fly home and drive over the border to avoid quarantine

   Canada column for Sunday, Feb. 21/21

    THE CANADIAN REPORT

   By Jim Fox

    Snowbirds from abroad are taking advantage of a loophole returning to Canada and avoiding an expensive three-day stay at a COVID quarantine hotel.

   As of Feb. 22, the Canadian government said air travelers must land in one of four designated cities – Toronto, Montreal, Calgary or Vancouver.

   Before being allowed to go home, they have to show a negative COVID result from tests taken 72 hours before boarding a flight or if they arrive at a land border crossing.

   There is also a quarantine rule that only applies to those coming into the country by air, not by land, to await the result of a test that could take up to three days.

   During that time, they must stay at a government-approved airport strip hotel at their cost.

   Some Canadians are flying to airports close to the border and then crossing by land in order to avoid that rule.

   Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said imposing the same rule to land travelers would be difficult since there are 117 points of entry and many of them are in remote areas.

   ---

   Canada’s iconic Tim Hortons fast-food coffee and restaurant chain is pushing its popular annual “Roll up the Rim” promotion to all digital.

   No more spilled coffee or chipped teeth rolling up the rim as the digital contest makes every online roll a winner.

   The company is also doing away with the dreaded message “Please Play Again.”

   Added prizes besides coffee, donuts, electronic devices and streaming services are Tims’ Reward Points and coffee mugs.

   Grand prizes haven’t been announced yet for the game played through the company ap and website.

   ---

   News in brief:

   - Canada’s land border with the United States will remain closed to non-essential travel for at least another month. The Canadian government said the closing has been extended to March 21. Canadians can still return home and it has been one year since the border closed to curb the spread of the pandemic.

   - The government has announced an extension of several pandemic income benefits. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the Recovery, Sickness and Caregiving benefits and Employment Insurance will all see extensions in the number of weeks eligible recipients can receive them.

   ---

    Facts and figures:

   Canada’s dollar is higher at 79.28 cents U.S. while the U.S. dollar returns $1.26 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 18,384 points and the TSX Venture index up at 1,098 points.

   The average price for gas in Canada is higher at $1.19 a liter (Canadian) or $4.52 for a U.S. gallon.

   Lotto Max: (Feb. 16) 1, 6, 12, 21, 34, 37 and 47; bonus 20. (Feb. 12) 2, 5, 10, 11, 14, 23 and 33; bonus 47.

   Lotto 6/49:  (Feb. 17) 7, 16, 18, 43, 45 and 48; bonus 14. (Feb. 13) 16, 17, 27, 40, 41 and 45; bonus 38.

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    Regional briefs:

   - The Quebec government will compensate movie theater owners for lost concession stand revenue. Premier Francois Legault calls the issue “Popcorngate” and said theaters can reopen but not sell food. That’s in order to ensure people wear masks throughout the duration of films to limit spread of COVID-19. He wants theaters to stay open to give parents something to do during the March break week.

   - Atlantic Canada is getting some of the snow left over from dumping six inches and more in Toronto and up to a foot across southern Ontario. The same weather system that impacted the eastern U.S. is aiming at Canada’s east coast with up to six inches of snow across coastal Nova Scotia and parts of Newfoundland’s Avalon Peninsula. It is accompanied by frigid Arctic cold air.

 -30-

 Jim Fox can be reached at canadareport@hotmail.com

Snowbirds returning to Canada want fewer government condtrols on virus tests

    Canada column for Sunday, Feb. 14/21

    THE CANADIAN REPORT

   By Jim Fox

    Canadian snowbirds are fighting government rules that they must take virus tests before leaving and upon returning to Canada by air.

   They’re the folks who spend their winters or own vacation homes in warmer climates, primarily Florida and Arizona.

   Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also says those arriving in Canada by land will soon have to present recent negative COVID-19 test results or face fines of up to $3,000.

   Canadian Snowbird Association president Karen Huestis has complained to the government that the costs involved in the change of regulations “poses financial hardship for many travelers.”

   Those who test negative should be able to quarantine in their homes and not have to spend three days in an airport strip hotel awaiting results and paying about of $2,000 for a room and food, she said.

   Those returning by land aren’t required to quarantine in a hotel.

   These new airline testing and quarantine measures start Feb. 22 and planes can only land at Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal.

   Since there is no ban on travel, snowbirds don't think of themselves as vacationers with such short trips being discouraged to help prevent the spread of the virus.

    ---

    Ontario is gradually restarting the economy by opening schools and transitioning regions of the province out of lockdown.

   The first of 27 regions of the province with 15-million people will move to a color-coded reopening framework Tuesday.

   This will end the widespread stay-at-home order and allow a partial reopening of non-essential businesses.

   “We are cautiously and gradually transitioning some regions out of shutdown but it is not a return to normal,” said Health Minister Christine Elliott.

   The heavily populated regions of Toronto, York as well as North Bay and Parry Sound will keep the stay home order until at least Feb. 22.

    ---

    News in brief:

   - A Canadian postal worker, among more than 250 infected with COVID-19, has died. The 61-year-old man died within days of his positive test that affected workers at a Canada Post sorting plant in Mississauga, west of Toronto.

   - Work anywhere you want, suggests Spotify, a music streaming company based in Sweden with offices in Toronto. In a blog post, the company said employees can “work from anywhere” as the future of work and where continues to evolve. It noted that work is shifting to cloud-based systems and people turning to meetings online in a remote working lifestyle as vaccine inoculations could still take some time to complete.

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    Facts and figures:

   Canada’s dollar is higher at 78.7 cents U.S. while the U.S. dollar returns $1.269 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 higher, with the Toronto index at 18,460 points and the TSX Venture index 1,067 points.

   The average price for gas in Canada is higher at $1.15 a liter (Canadian) or $4.37 for a U.S. gallon.

   Lotto Max: (Feb.9) 4, 12, 16, 17, 33, 36and 44; bonus 2. (Feb. 5) 1, 2, 23, 32, 35, 36 and 45; bonus 28.

   Lotto 6/49: (Feb. 10) 4, 14, 22, 26, 45 and 48; bonus 20. (Feb. 6) 6,11,12, 26, 28 and 38; bonus 47.

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    Regional briefs:

   - Voting was postponed on Saturday for nearly half of the Newfoundland and Labrador election districts after a surge in COVID-19 cases. Community spread largely among teenagers in the St. John’s region resulted in voting poll workers refusing to work for fear of becoming ill. Voting is proceeding by mail and the balance of the voting will be rescheduled.

   - Feisty Hazel McCallion marks another milestone today as the former mayor of Mississauga, Ontario turns 100 years old. “Every part of my life has been a wonderful experience,” said the business woman-turned-politician. The outspoken politician eventually retired in 2014 at the age of 93 and after serving 36 years as mayor.

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 Jim Fox can be reached at canadareport@hotmail.com

Ontario to start re-opening

    Canada column for Sunday, Feb. 7/21

    THE CANADIAN REPORT

   By Jim Fox

    Government sources say the current stay-at-home order will gradually be lifted in Ontario, Canada’s most populous province.

    Premier Doug Ford is expected to announce on Monday that the state-of-emergency lockdown will end, as scheduled, this coming week.

   It will happen gradually as each region moves back into a color-coded system of reopening based on health unit COVID-19 case numbers and trends.

   The green zone will allow restaurants and non-essential businesses to reopen and will happen in first in regions where transmission of the virus is the lowest.

   Plans call for an emergency measure so the government can move a region back into lockdown if there is “rapid acceleration in transmission or if the health-care system becomes overwhelmed.”

   All remaining regions, except three hot spots in the Greater Toronto Area, will move to the open zone the week of Feb. 22.

   The provincial lockdown began in late December and was followed the stay-at-home order that took effect Jan. 14 as pandemic rates surged with the death toll now at 6,438.

    ---

    Air Canada, the country’s largest airline had to end flights to the Caribbean and Mexico on government orders, and now is cutting routes and jobs.

   Canada’s four major airlines were told to stop flying to those countries until April 30 to try to slow the spread of the pandemic.

   Air Canada has now reduced its flight capacity by 25 percent while about 1,700 employees were let go.

   Earlier, WestJet cut fight capacity and said it was laying off 1,000 workers.

    ---

    News in brief:

   - Mothers and young people were the hardest hit by the loss of 212,800 jobs in January. The big decline was blamed on widespread lockdowns and school closings that pushed the jobless rate up 0.6 percent to 9.4 per cent. The rate would have been 12 percent by including people who wanted to work but didn't search for a job, Statistics Canada reported.

   - Noted Canadian actor Christopher Plummer, who won an Oscar for Beginners and starred in the Sound of Music, has died at home in Connecticut at age 91. Called a “national treasure” with a 78-year career, Plummer was a favorite actor at the Stratford, Ontario Shakespearian Festival.

   Other deaths include first Indigenous hockey player George Armstrong at age 90. Nicknamed “the chief,” he played for 21 seasons with the National Hockey League’s Toronto Maple Leafs.

    ---

   Facts and figures:

   Canada’s dollar is higher at 78.4 cents U.S. while the U.S. dollar returns $1.275 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 higher, with the Toronto index at 18,135 points and the TSX Venture index 1,022 points.

   The average price for gas in Canada is higher at $1.14 a liter (Canadian) or $4.33 for a U.S. gallon.

   Lotto Max: ((Feb. 2) 17, 24, 27, 34, 38, 42 and 48; bonus 19. (Jan. 29) 9, 11, 20, 22, 33, 36 and 46; bonus 49.

   Lotto 6/49: (Feb. 3) 20, 21, 26, 30, 35and 41; bonus 47. (Jan. 30) 3, 23, 26, 35, 42 and 44; bonus 32.

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    Regional briefs:

   - British Columbia’s government has extended restrictions on gatherings to slow the spread of the variants of the COVID-19 virus. The action was taken as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was attempting to explain why Canada faces short-term delays in vaccine shipments.

   - Police in Regina, Saskatchewan said officers and health inspectors will be out on Super Bowl Sunday looking for rule breakers. Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam said football fans need to limit in-person contacts to the immediate household and connect virtually without being a “super-spreader.”

 -30-

 Jim Fox can be reached at canadareport@hotmail.com

Canadian airlines stop flights to the Caribbean, Mexico until April 30 over pandemic

    Canada column for Sunday, Jan. 31/21

    THE CANADIAN REPORT

   By Jim Fox

    Canada’s four major airlines are suspending service to all Caribbean destinations and Mexico as the government cracks down on non-essential travel to protect against virus spread.

   Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Air Canada, WestJet, Sunwing and Air Transat will no longer fly there from today (Sunday) to April 30.

   He called for Canadians to immediately cancel travel plans to all destinations including spring break trips.

   All international passenger flights must land at only four airports – Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary, and Montreal.

   Vacationers have to show proof of a negative test for COVID-19 to board a plane and have a test upon return.

   Awaiting results for several days at designated hotels could cost be about $2,000, he said.

   Those with positive tests will isolate in those facilities, while those with negative results can quarantine for two weeks at home.

   Non-essential travellers will also soon have to show a negative test at the closed land borders with the United States if they are returning home.

    ---

    Canada will be getting fewer doses of the Moderna vaccine than expected in its next shipment.

   Prime Minister Trudeau said he anticipates 180,000 doses next week that are only 78 percent of what was expected.

    Canada should then receive two-million doses by the end of March.

   This still means the goal of offering vaccines to all who want one by fall is still possible.

   Vaccine made by Pfizer-BioNTech is also delayed but Canada should receive its four-million doses by the end of March, Trudeau said.

    ---

    News in brief:

   - Hudson’s Bay Co., Canada’s iconic retailer founded in 1670 as a fur-trading business, is permanently laying off about 600 Canadian workers and closing locations due to pandemic lockdowns. About half of the company’s 250 department stores remain temporarily closed. It has 30,000 employees around the world and is now owned by a U.S. investment group along with Saks Fifth Avenue and Saks Off 5th.

   - Canada’s central bank kept its key interest rate on hold at 0.25 percent due to “near-term weakness and the protracted nature of the recovery.” Bank Governor Tiff Macklem said a first-quarter decline could be worse than expected if restrictions are tightened or extended. The longer restrictions remain in place, the more difficult it may be for workers to find new jobs as the path to a recovery rests on the rollout of vaccines, he said.

    ---

    Facts and figures:

   Canada’s dollar is lower at 78.2 cents U.S. while the U.S. dollar returns $1.277 Canadian before exchange fees.

   The Bank of Canada key interest rate remains at 0.25 percent while the prime lending rate is 2.45 percent.

   Canadian stock markets are lower, with the Toronto index at 17,337 points and the TSX Venture index 922 points.

   The average price for gas in Canada is higher at $1.124 a liter (Canadian) or $4.27 for a U.S. gallon.

   Lotto Max: (Jan. 26) 26, 37, 42, 44, 46, 49 and 50; bonus 24. (Jan. 22) 11, 21, 23, 25, 28, 41 and 43; bonus 10.

   Lotto 6/49: (Jan. 27) 12, 17, 23, 36, 44 and 49; bonus 32. (Jan. 23) 5, 17, 21, 29, 41 and 43; bonus 46.

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    Regional briefs:

   - General Motors will invest $1 billion in Canada to produce its Brightdrop electric delivery van at its CAMI manufacturing plant in Ingersoll, Ontario. It will support jobs and transform work at the plant over the next two years in switching from Chevrolet Equinox production. GM is also spending $1.3 billion to restart the Oshawa Assembly plant near Toronto among other major spending in Canada.

   - Another victim of the pandemic is the now-closed Guinness World Records Museum in Niagara Falls, Ontario. A popular attraction since 1978, the facility is auctioning off its interesting and unusual items on Feb. 12. There’s a giant Atari Hercules pinball machine and fake electric chair. Sports items include those of NHL’s Wayne Gretzky and NFL’s legend Dan Marino memorabilia and there’s also a Wurlitzer 1015 jukebox. ripleyauctions.com

 -30-

 Jim Fox can be reached at canadareport@hotmail.com