News

39 trapped miners now safe after rescue out of mine near Sudbury

THE CANADIAN PRESS | posted Wednesday, Sep 29th, 2021

Thirty-nine miners who had been trapped underground in northern Ontario have returned to the surface safe, the company that owns the mine said Wednesday.

Vale said the rescue operation at Totten Mine near Sudbury, Ont., is complete.

“I’d like to congratulate our rescue team,” said Vale CEO Eduardo Bartolomeo in a statement.

‘Bringing our 39 employees home safe and healthy was our top priority and we’re glad that our emergency plans and procedures worked to deliver that outcome. All the employees are safe now and deserve our deep respect for their perseverance and strong will.”

The workers became trapped in the mine on Sunday when a scoop bucket being sent underground detached and blocked the mine shaft.

Some of the miners were trapped as deep as 1,200 metres below the surface, the company said.

They had to scale a series of ladders to climb out of the mine and were helped along by a rescue crew.

The rescue operation began on Monday night.

A team of 58 responders from the company’s rescue team and the Ontario Mine Rescue agency helped the trapped workers through their long trek up the ladder system, the company said.

‘This is tremendous news flowing from very difficult circumstances,” Bartolomeo said from the mine.

“All of us at Vale were focused on and committed to the safe return of our employees underground.”

Bartolomeo said the company will launch an investigation into what happened “so that the company can learn from it and take steps to ensure it never happens again.”

Vale said the workers stayed in underground “refuge stations” and had access to food, water and medicine before climbing out.

The province’s Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development said an inspection team will investigate the incident.

Totten Mine opened in 2014 in Worthington, Ont., and produces copper, nickel and precious metals. It employs about 200 people.

NACI recommends COVID-19 vaccine booster for seniors in long-term care

LAURA OSMAN, THE CANADIAN PRESS | posted Wednesday, Sep 29th, 2021

Summary

The new guidance was released Tuesday after reviewing evidence about waning immunity from the vaccine

NACI recommends long-term care residents and people living in seniors’ homes receive another shot of an mRNA vaccine

NACI says there are signs that vaccine protection might not last as long for seniors in congregate settings like LTC

The new guidance was released Tuesday after the committee reviewed evidence about waning immunity from the vaccines, the latest safety data and the spread of COVID-19 across the country.

The committee recommends long-term care residents and people living in seniors’ homes receive another shot of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine — like Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna — as long as it has been six months since their last shot.

A booster dose of a viral vector vaccine like Oxford-AstraZeneca is only recommended when Pfizer or Moderna vaccines are unavailable or the person can’t have an mRNA vaccine for medical reasons.

“At this time, boosters are not necessary for most of the population, but we want to be sure to address early signs of waning among seniors residing in these settings where shared and close living spaces increase the risk of exposure,” chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam wrote in a statement.

NACI says there are signs that vaccine protection might not last as long for seniors in congregate settings like long-term care as it does for other populations in Canada.

Canadian studies have suggested that even though people in long-term care had a good initial antibody response to two doses of vaccine, the majority of residents did not have a detectable level of antibodies against the Delta variant six months later.

“While the vaccines initially worked very well to protect this group, we are starting to see signs of outbreaks again in long-term care settings and we are looking to prevent the level of severe outcomes this population experienced early in the pandemic,” NACI chair Dr. Shelley Deeks wrote in a statement.

Right now, 260 long-term care and retirement homes are battling active outbreaks of COVID-19 in Canada, according to a tracker developed by the National Institute on Aging.

That’s up from just 201 long-term care outbreaks last week.

Half of those outbreaks are happening in Alberta, which is dealing with a spiralling health crisis during the latest wave of the pandemic.

Long-term care has borne the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, where aging residents and congregate living proved to be a tragic combination.

About 69 per cent of Canada’s total pandemic-related deaths happened in long-term care homes as of February 2021, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

The new advice comes weeks after provinces like Ontario announced they would extend third-dose eligibility to long-term care residents.

Saskatchewan, Alberta, and most recently, Quebec are also offering boosters to residents in care homes, while Manitoba has extended third doses to long-term care residents in First Nations.

NACI has previously recommended boosters for people who are moderately to severely immunocompromised, as evidence shows some immunocompromised people have a lower immune response to COVID-19 vaccines compared to others.

Ontario’s COVID-19 situation stable for now, but will be ‘fragile’ heading into winter: Science table

BT Toronto | posted Wednesday, Sep 29th, 2021

Ontario seems to have a handle on COVID-19 for the time being, with no marked increases in cases, hospitalizations, and ICU occupancy, but the situation will be “fragile” as colder weather approaches, forcing more people indoors.

That’s the conclusion drawn by the province’s science advisory table in its latest round of projections released Tuesday.

The table released a wide range of possible scenarios with “high uncertainty” in estimates because it’s too early to see the full impact of the return to schools and workplaces and how spending more time indoors will contribute to the spread of the virus.

If there’s a 25 per cent increase in transmission, daily case counts would soar over 5,000 by November. If things remain the same, with no changes in policies or behaviour, daily cases would rise to slightly more than 1,500. A 25 per cent reduction in transmission would see cases drop well below current levels. (see chart above).

Ontario reported 466 new COVID-19 cases and 11 additional deaths on Tuesday. The rolling seven-day average of new cases has dropped to 606, down from 710 one week ago.

The science table confirms that test positivity rates are currently in a decline.

 

The science table says vaccination coverage is increasing slowly, and continued control over case growth will require high vaccination rates along with continued public health measures and decreases in mobility.

“Unvaccinated people have a seven-fold higher risk of symptomatic COVID-19 disease, a 25-fold higher risk of being in the hospital and 60-fold higher risk of being in the ICU compared to the fully vaccinated,” it found.

Ontario hospital and ICU occupancy rates have been stable for several weeks, but by the end of October estimates vary from under 200 beds to over 300 beds.

Patients in ICU are also expected to be younger in comparison to previous waves.

“The risk of contracting COVID-19, being hospitalized for COVID-19, and entering the ICU is several times higher for unvaccinated individuals,” the table states, adding that people will long-term lingering effects from COVID-19 will “substantially impact the health of thousands of Ontarians.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Minister of Health said that the new modelling numbers further reinforce that the province’s public health measures are working.

“Ontario continues to report one of the lowest rates of active cases in the country, well below the national average, as we have trended toward the best-case scenario projected in the last modelling,” said Alexandra Hilkene. “The implementation of vaccine certificates in higher-risk settings will help protect the province’s hard fought progress. We are seeing the impact of this policy, with thousands more rolling up their sleeves for first and second doses each and every day.”

“In the months ahead, we will maintain our cautious approach and continue to make decisions based on the best medical and scientific advice.”

Canadians not thrilled but not angry either about federal election outcome: Poll

JOAN BRYDEN, THE CANADIAN PRESS | posted Tuesday, Sep 28th, 2021

Summary

10% of respondents said they’re happy with the outcome, which produced another Liberal minority government

But another 24 per cent said they’re comfortable with the outcome

12 per cent said they’re angry about the outcome and six per cent said they’re uncomfortable with it

Canadians may not be thrilled with the outcome of last week’s federal election but a new poll suggests few are angry that it produced an almost identical result to the 2019 nation-wide vote.

Just 10 per cent of respondents to the Leger survey said they’re happy with the outcome, which produced another Liberal minority government led by Justin Trudeau and only minor changes to the seat counts of all the parties.

But another 24 per cent said they’re comfortable with the outcome, while nine per cent said they prefer a minority government in any event and 14 per cent said they’re indifferent.

On the flip side, 12 per cent said they’re angry about the outcome and six per cent said they’re uncomfortable with it. Another 24 per cent said they’re unhappy about it “but life goes on.”

Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole has lambasted Trudeau for calling an unnecessary, $610-million election that changed nothing, all in the midst of a deadly fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, the poll, conducted Sept. 24-26, suggests Canadians are more sanguine about the result, possibly because they’re lukewarm about O’Toole’s leadership.

The online survey of 1,537 Canadians cannot be assigned a margin of error because internet-based polls are not considered random samples.

It suggests that O’Toole was less of an asset for his party than either Trudeau or NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh.

Just 23 per cent of those who voted Conservative said they did so because of the leader. Forty-nine per cent said they voted for the party itself while 28 per cent said they voted for their local candidates.

Among Liberal voters, 34 per cent voted for the leader, 41 per cent for the party itself and 25 per cent for their local candidates.

Among New Democrats, 38 per cent voted for the leader, 38 per cent for the party and 24 per cent for their local candidates.

Both O’Toole and Singh have faced some calls from within their own ranks to step down after their respective parties’ disappointing finish. The Conservatives lost two seats, although they won slightly more of the popular vote than the Liberals, while the NDP gained one seat, remaining firmly stuck in fourth place.

Among Conservative respondents, 49 per cent said they want O’Toole to remain at the helm of the Conservative party. But a majority said either that they want him to go (22 per cent) or didn’t know (29 per cent) if he should stay or go.

By contrast, 82 per cent of NDP respondents said they want Jagmeet Singh to remain as leader of the New Democratic Party.

Among Liberals supporters, 25 per cent said the main reason they voted Liberal was to avoid a Conservative government. Twenty-three per cent said they thought Trudeau was the best leader to lead the country and another 23 per cent said they thought the party best represented their values.

Among Conservative supporters, 39 per cent said they voted primarily to get rid of the Liberal government, 21 per cent backed the party they thought best represented their values and just 14 per cent chose the Conservatives because they thought O’Toole was the best leader.

Among NDP respondents, 48 per cent said the voted primarily for the party that best represented their values, just 14 per cent because they thought Singh was the best leader for the country.

In Quebec, 35 per cent of Bloc Quebecois supporters said they voted for the party they thought was best positioned to defend Quebec’s interests. Another 14 per cent said they wanted a strong opposition party in a minority government while 11 per cent voted because of Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet.

Just seven per cent of Bloc supporters said they backed the party because of a question posed by the moderator of the English-language leaders’ debate, which Blanchet claimed suggested Quebecers are racist.

Still, the poll suggests the Bloc did get a bump from the English debate. Thirty per cent of Bloc supporters said they made up their minds how to vote in the days following the debates — compared to just 15 per or less for supporters of the other major parties.

Overall, 49 per cent of respondents said they made up their minds before the campaign even started, 18 per cent in the opening two weeks, nine per cent over the final weekend and eight per cent on election day.

Just six per cent said the debates changed their minds about who to vote for. Fifty-five per cent said they didn’t pay attention to them, while 39 per cent said the debates confirmed their previous choice.

Fully 83 per cent said they ultimately voted according to their original choice; 17 per cent said they switched parties over the course of the campaign.

In the end, 73 per cent said they voted primarily for the party they liked best. But 27 per cent said they mainly voted strategically to stop another party.

Among respondents who didn’t vote, 29 per cent said they were indifferent about the election, 24 per cent said they didn’t think their vote would change anything.

Other reasons given for not voting were physically or mentally incapable (13 per cent), the polling location was too far away (10 per cent), wait times were too long (nine per cent), afraid to show up because of the pandemic (nine per cent) and didn’t know where to go to vote (six per cent).

Voter turnout in federal election about average despite pandemic challenges

THE CANADIAN PRESS | posted Tuesday, Sep 28th, 2021

OTTAWA — Sixty-two per cent of eligible voters cast ballots in last week’s federal election — about average turnout for recent Canadian elections despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Elections Canada says almost 17 million Canadians voted, out of 27.4 million eligible electors. That does not include voters who registered on election day so the final number could tick up a bit, the agency says.

Turnout was down from 67 per cent in 2019 and 68.3 per cent in 2015 but it was still better than four of the previous seven federal elections held in Canada since the turn of the century.

The pandemic resulted in fewer polling locations, fewer poll workers and long lineups to vote last Monday in some places.

It also resulted in a record number of Canadians — some 850,000 — voting by mail.

Election officials completed counting the mail-in ballots on Saturday.

Elections Canada expected to finish validating the results in all ridings on Monday, after which candidates in close-fought ridings will have four days to request a judicial recount.

The Liberals served notice late Monday that they are seeking a judicial recount in the Quebec riding of Chateauguay-Lacolle, where the Bloc Quebecois’ Patrick O’Hara edged out Liberal incumbent Brenda Shanahan by just 286 votes.

Justin Trudeau’s Liberals emerged from the election with a second minority government, having won 159 seats, a gain of two over their 2019 result.

However, the winner in one of them — Kevin Vuong in Toronto’s Spadina-Fort York — will sit as an independent after failing to disclose to the party a past sexual assault charge, which was later dropped.

Erin O’Toole’s Conservatives finished with 119 seats, down two from 2019. The Bloc Quebecois finished with 33 seats (up one), the NDP with 25 (up one), and the Greens with two (down one).

The Conservatives won slightly more of the popular vote — 33.7 per cent to the Liberals’ 32.6 per cent — as they did in 2019. But because their vote was heavily concentrated in Alberta and Saskatchewan, they won fewer seats.

The NDP’s share of the vote was up almost two points over 2019, to 17.8 per cent. The Bloc’s share was down slightly to 32.1 per cent in Quebec.

The Greens won just 2.3 per cent of the vote, less than half their share in 2019 and behind the extremist fringe People’s Party of Canada, which took five per cent of the vote although it won no seats.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 27, 2021.

Ontario’s science table set to release new COVID-19 projections Tuesday

THE CANADIAN PRESS | posted Tuesday, Sep 28th, 2021

Ontario’s science advisory table is set to release new COVID-19 projections today.

The new modelling is set to be posted online about an hour before Ontario’s chief medical officer of health holds his weekly briefing.

Ontario’s daily case counts have so far remained under 1,000 during the fourth wave, and the graph of Ontario’s seven-day average roughly shows a plateau since the beginning of September.

That’s well under the worst-case scenario in Ontario’s previous modelling, which showed about 4,000 daily cases by now.

Reality is more in line with the best-case scenario, in which cases would have steadily fallen since Sept. 1.

On Monday, Ontario reported 613 new COVID-19 cases and no new deaths.

The two Michaels are home, but Canada still doesn’t have a foreign policy on China

THE BIG STORY | posted Tuesday, Sep 28th, 2021

In today’s Big Story podcast, it’s wonderful that two Canadians caught in the middle of geopolitics are home and safe after more than 1,000 days detained in China. It’s not great that the circumstances of their return seem to imply that hostage diplomacy works. How should Canada be dealing with China? Do we have any power in this situation? Was this a win, or a capitulation? And what’s to stop it from happening again the next time we make China angry?

GUEST: Stephanie Carvin, former National Security Analyst, author of Stand on Guard: Reassessing Threats To Canada’s National Security

You can subscribe to The Big Story podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google and Spotify

You can also find it at thebigstorypodcast.ca.

Two people arrested after violent anti-vaccine protest outside Eaton Centre

BT Toronto | posted Monday, Sep 27th, 2021

Two people have been arrested following an anti-vaccine, anti-mask protest outside the Eaton Centre on Saturday.

Police say a group of protesters attempted to enter the mall but were denied access by security guards.

A video posted to social media by lawyer Caryma Sa’d shows the mob trying to forcibly push its way into the mall, scuffling with security and police officers while shouting “freedom.”

At one point in the video, a protester is heard telling the group over a megaphone that “there’s multiple entrances” and that they should “back off from the police.”

Sa’d says while there may be genuine concerns over the rollout of the vaccine passport, she has seen an increase in violent rhetoric which is translating into more violent action of late.

“The lack of responsive enforcement is deeply concerning, I think that it is going to embolden this type of behaviour which is contrary to the public health advice we are getting,” she tells CityNews.

“It’s important to shed light on what is happening. My goal here is to create a record and hopefully curb this behaviour before it spreads and we find ourselves in a position where mob rule is the status quo.”

Police say one security guard was assaulted but that no injuries were reported by security staff or protesters.

Michael Leaf, 29, of Thornhill and Vanessa Carvalho, 23, of Brampton were both arrested and charged with assault.

Tensions high between vaccinated and unvaccinated in Canada, poll suggests

THE CANADIAN PRESS | posted Monday, Sep 27th, 2021

A new poll suggests tensions over COVID-19 vaccines in Canada are high as frictions grow between those who are vaccinated against the virus and those who are not.

The Leger survey, conducted for the Association of Canadian Studies, found that more than three in four respondents hold negative views of those who are not immunized.

Association president Jack Jedwab says the relationships between vaccinated and unvaccinated Canadians are also viewed negatively by two out of three survey participants.

The online poll surveyed 1,549 Canadians between September 10 and 12.

A margin of error cannot be assigned to online polls, as they are not considered truly random samples of the population.

The survey found vaccinated people consider the unvaccinated as irresponsible and selfish, a view contested by those who are not immunized.