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.

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    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.

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    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.

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   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.”

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 Jim Fox can be reached at canadareport@hotmail.com