Here are today’s new developments:
- A top official at The World Health Organization clarified what she called misunderstandings regarding a comment she’d made on asymptomatic transmission of COVID-19, stressing that research on asymptomatic spread remains very limited.
- The federal government is proposing legislation that would create tighter rules for Canadians put out of work by COVID-19 to receive the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), plus penalties for fraudulent claims. Opposition Federal Leader Jagmeet Singh said the government must not criminalize people who have had difficulty navigating the system and have collected the benefit in error, warning that such penalties would likely hurt the most vulnerable.
- Canada and the U.S. are expected to extend the border closure until late July.
- Premier Doug Ford announced that all child care centres in Ontario will be allowed to reopen as of Friday, with certain restrictions. - The Official Opposition’s Early Learning and Child Care critic Doly Begum said Ford is setting up child care centres for failure by failing to provide centres with much-needed financial support. Many centres are already struggling, and fewer kids enrolled plus higher costs for screening, PPE and enhanced cleaning may set centres up for fee hikes or possibly shutdowns.
Here are some concerns the Official Opposition is working on, and solutions we’re pushing for:
- Ontario Official Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath says Ford’s refusal to disclose who sits at his oft-cited command table is unfair to the public. “At his podium Mr. Ford has said Ontarians deserve to know what he knows, but on the ground we see an ongoing lack of transparency,” Horwath said in a statement.
- The Official Opposition continues to stress that paid sick days for all workers, including migrant workers, is needed to ensure a safe reopening of Ontario’s economy.
- Official Opposition MPPs in Niagara responded to the revelation that Niagara Public Health was not consulted by the Ford government before it announced Monday that the region will not be included in Stage two of the province’s economic reopening.“Doug Ford is making political decisions without consulting experts and without understanding the situation on the ground here in Niagara,” the MPP for Niagara Falls Wayne Gates said.