Canada column for Sunday, May 2/21
THE CANADIAN REPORT
By Jim Fox
As the United States has loaned Canada millions of vaccines as shipments are delayed, Manitoba teachers, school workers and 4,000 cross-border truck drivers are offered vaccinations in North Dakota.
Premier Brian Pallister said details are still being worked out to allow designated Canadians to cross the border and return without quarantine after they get their free shots.
“We want to make sure schools are safe and those making the trip must come back immediately and not go shopping in nearby Grand Forks,” he quipped.
The Manitoba government has been criticized for not including teachers on a priority list of those eligible to be vaccinated.
Education Minister Cliff Cullen said if the federal government had arranged for enough vaccine doses, the province wouldn't need to search for other partners.
North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum said they are happy to share their bounty with their good neighbors in Canada.
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U.S. health authorities say Canada’s much maligned politicians “aren’t doing anything wrong” in the battle of the pandemic’s third wave.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser, says despite rising caseloads across Canada, Canadian health officials “aren’t making any big mistakes at all.”
It is how “extraordinarily difficult this virus has been globally," Fauci told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. in an interview.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called in military help while nine doctors and nurse volunteers from Newfoundland are assisting in Toronto where hospitals are filling up and patients are being taken to other cities.
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News in brief:
Taxi, Uber and limousine services find business is booming as creative Canadians have found a way of returning to Canada and avoiding quarantines at the border.
They are arriving by air in U.S. cities and taking a ride over the border or even walking over to Canada and heading home.
They need a negative test for COVID-19 but unlike air travelers avoid the quarantine requirement in an approved hotel for three days or more at their expense.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling for the federal government to close the loophole.
He has heard about the many snowbirds returning by air or land from Florida to the border and crossing over by cab to avoid quarantines, with some having their cars shipped home.
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Facts and figures:
Canada’s dollar is higher at 81 cents U.S. while the U.S. dollar is worth $1.23 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 19,108 points and the TSX Venture index 955 points.
The average price for gas in Canada is higher at $1.29 a liter (Canadian) or $4.90 for a U.S. gallon.
Lotto Max: ((April 27) 7, 11, 14, 26, 27, 29 and 36; bonus 2. (April 23) 1, 3, 4, 11, 19, 24 and 42; bonus 27.
Lotto 6/49: (April 28) 6, 11, 20, 22, 34 and 49; bonus 42. (April 24) 14, 18, 27, 33, 34 and 39; bonus 49.
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Regional briefs:
- There’s a coalition government in the Yukon as Liberal Premier Sandy Silver and New Democrat Leader Kate White agreed to work together to govern. An election in the far northern territory left the Liberals and Yukon Party each with eight elected, two short of the 10 needed for a majority government. Silver said both leaders want a stable government and found “common threads” to govern.
- It’s being called Vancouver’s most-affordable property at $289,000 but also the tiniest with only nine feet of frontage and 60 feet deep. Realtor Christian Chiappetta said there is a lot of interest in the lot with a garage, some of out of “quirky curiosity,” where condos without property go for $600,000. Owners Madeline Paris and Doug Wood said they heard the original owner won the finger of land and garage in a poker game in the 1930s or ’40s.
Jim Fox can be reached at canadareport@hotmail.com
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