Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canadians can sign up for the government’s emergency relief benefit, starting Monday, if they have lost their job or paycheque because of COVID-19.
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The latest:
- Watch special coverage of the Queen’s message on CBCNews.ca at 3 p.m. ET .
- Virus-hit cruise ship with Canadians on board to disembark in Miami.
- Trudeau diplomatic, Ford disappointed as Trump orders ban on exports of key COVID-19 supplies.
- Bobcaygeon, Ont., nursing home reports another virus-related death.
- Canada’s death toll at least 274.
- Canada’s big banks cut credit card interest rates.
- Rush to secure supplies prompts intense squabbling between states and U.S. government.
- INTERACTIVE | See the latest data on COVID-19 cases in Canada.
Nearly 100 Canadians aboard the coronavirus-stricken Coral Princess cruise ship docked in Florida were set to disembark and begin the last leg of their journey home on Sunday.
Sue Lyon of Toronto, who is on the ship with her husband Gary, told CBC News they’ve learned that the U.K. passengers are going to leave at 5 p.m. ET on Sunday and head home on two chartered flights. As of Sunday morning, the couple had still not heard from the captain when the Canadians will be able to disembark.
The vessel departed San Antonio, Chile, on March 5 and was set to end its voyage March 19 in Buenos Aires, but it was discovered that a dozen people on board tested positive for COVID-19. The ship has been looking for a place to dock since March 13, but no country had allowed it until now.
The cruise ship docked in Miami on Saturday with 97 Canadian passengers and two Canadian crew members.
Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne said flights repatriating Canadians have lifted off from Algeria, Trinidad and Tobago, Peru and India. Champagne said flights are expected Sunday from Argentina, Cuba, El Salvador, India, Lebanon and Serbia.
- Trudeau updates Canadians about government’s COVID-19 benefits program
- How to apply for EI and COVID-19 emergency benefits
At his daily media briefing, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reminded Canadians who have lost their job or paycheque due to government policies to control the virus to apply for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit starting Monday.
Applications for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit open on Monday, but to make sure the system can handle all of the requests, we’re staggering the days you can apply based on your birth month. Find out when you can apply below: pic.twitter.com/AVBmB7ekL5
The government’s website says applicants can start receiving benefits within 10 days by mail or “more quickly” through direct deposit. Trudeau on Sunday said Canadians can receive a first payment in three to five days if they choose the latter.
Queen to urge self-discipline in broadcast
As cases of the respiratory illness continue to increase around the world, Queen Elizabeth will use a rare address to the nation later Sunday to acknowledge the suffering many families have experienced because of the pandemic and to appeal to people to exercise self-discipline in “an increasingly challenging time.”
“I hope in the years to come everyone will be able to take pride in how they responded to this challenge,” she said in pre-released remarks. “And those who come after us will say that the Britons of this generation were as strong as any, that the attributes of self-discipline, of quiet good-humoured resolve, and of fellow-feeling still characterize this country.”
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The Queen has delivered only a handful of such speeches in her 67-year reign outside her annual holiday messages — including after the Queen Mother’s death in 2002, before the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997 and at the time of the first Gulf War in 1991.
This address was recorded in the White Drawing Room at Windsor Castle. The location was chosen specifically because it allowed enough space between the monarch and the camera person, who wore personal protective equipment.
Canada not choosing retaliatory measures against U.S.
Faced with a White House-ordered ban on exports of key COVID-19 medical supplies to Canada and abroad, Trudeau has been trying a more diplomatic approach with U.S. President Donald Trump, hoping to convince him such a ban will harm Americans and Canadians alike.
Trudeau says he plans to speak with Trump in the coming days about his administration’s order preventing brokers, distributors and other intermediaries from diverting scarce personal protective equipment from the United States to other countries like Canada.
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The Trump administration is telling one of the world’s leading manufacturers of N95 masks that it should stop exporting masks to Canada and Latin America. 2:43
Trudeau says he is not considering counter-measures against this move by the U.S., but rather he believes the countries can come to a mutual understanding of the need to work together.
“We are not looking at retaliatory measures or measures that are punitive,” Trudeau said from outside his Rideau Cottage residence Saturday.
“We know it is in both of our interests to work collaboratively and co-operatively to keep our citizens safe, and that’s very much the tenor of our conversations, and I’m confident that we’re going to get there.”
He highlighted that thousands of medical workers who live in Canada work every day in the U.S., helping to treat COVID-19 patients in America. He also noted Canada supplies the U.S. with many key COVID-19 supplies, including pulp for surgical-grade N95 masks, test kits and gloves.
Trudeau plans to use these examples to ensure the U.S. president understands the inter-connectedness of supply chains and the importance of keeping all goods and services flowing freely between the two countries.
WATCH | Trudeau says Ottawa collecting data to make broader COVID-19 predictions:
Trudeau says that the federal government will continue to collect the necessary data to make broader COVID-19 predictions. 0:25
“We recognize that our countries are deeply interlinked in sometimes very complex ways. The necessary goods and services back-and-forth across our border keep us both safe and help us on both sides of the border,” Trudeau said.
“We are continuing to engage in constructive discussions with different levels within the administration to highlight that the U.S. will be hurting itself as much as Canada will be hurting if we see an interruption of essential goods and services flow back and forth across the border.”
Trump, in his opening remarks at his Saturday news conference, highlighted the need for masks to stay in the U.S.
“We need the masks. We don’t want other people getting them,” Trump said.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford was far less diplomatic than Trudeau in his reaction to the U.S. measure, blasting the Trump administration for trying to block essential medical equipment from coming to Canada.
“We’re the two largest trading partners anywhere in the world. It’s like one of your family members [says], ‘OK, you go starve, and we’ll go feast on the rest of the meal.’ I’m just so disappointed right now,” Ford said Saturday.
“We have a great relationship with the U.S., and they pull these shenanigans? Unacceptable.”
With hospitals and health-care workers across the country rationing masks and other protective equipment due to shortages, Trudeau said the government has been working around the clock to get Canada the resources it needs.
He says Canada will be receiving “millions” of masks in the next 48 hours by a chartered cargo flight, which includes items ordered by Quebec.
Canada has also leased a warehouse in China to ensure timely collection and distribution of these items, Trudeau said, adding that flights chartered by the federal government to transport these materials to Canada going forward will include Canadian companies Cargo Jet and Air Canada.
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For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. But for others, especially older adults and people with health problems, it can cause severe symptoms such as pneumonia.
More than 1.19 million people have been reported infected with the respiratory illness across the world, and 64,421 have died, according to a Reuters tally. Cases have been reported in more than 200 countries and territories since the first cases were ide