Businesses struggling under yet another round of lockdowns and capacity restrictions will have an extra year to repay emergency interest-free loans issued by the federal government, but business groups say that might not be enough breathing room for the hardest hit.
Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos says Canada is in crisis when it comes to COVID-19 PCR testing capacity, as Ottawa struggles to make good on its promise to deliver 140 million rapid tests to provinces by the end of the month.
Advocates working with Black and Indigenous communities say a proposal to make unvaccinated adults pay a financial penalty risks further entrenching inequities in Canada's pandemic response, and adding another burden to those who are marginalized.
The expert spearheading new draft national standards for long-term care says they must strike a balance between residents' safety and their quality of life.
Health experts and government critics are calling on the prime minister and premiers to fix cracks in Canada's health system and improve surge capacity as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.
Federal officials are adding more COVID-19 rapid tests to Canada's arsenal as surging infections from the Omicron variant push some public sectors to the brink.
A rise in COVID-19 cases driven by the highly infectious Omicron variant of the virus has renewed concerns among experts about the capacity of Canada's hospitals and health-care workers to handle another wave of the pandemic.
This is the fourth time the government has postponed a 2019 promise to change the price cap on medicines in Canada in an effort to lower excessively expensive drug costs.
