Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 22, 2020, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE B3 TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2020 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM B 3NEWS I CANADA LANGFORD, B.C. — Premier John Horgan called an early election Mon- day, saying British Columbia needs sta- bility during the COVID-19 pandemic as opposition leaders accused him of putting politics ahead of the province’s response to the virus. Horgan said he struggled over wheth- er it is the right time to call an elec- tion during the pandemic but there are significant health and economic chal- lenges facing the province with an un- stable minority government. B.C. has a fixed election date set for October 2021, but Horgan said to wait another year would be time wasted. “I believe the challenges we face are not for the next 12 months, but indeed for the next four years and beyond,” the NDP leader said at a news conference in his Victoria-area riding of Langford- Juan de Fuca. Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson and the Green party’s Sonia Furs- tenau questioned the need for the Oct. 24 election during the pandemic. Both said Horgan was dragging their parties and the people of B.C. into a political battle when the fight should be against COVID-19. Furstenau, who became the party’s leader a week ago, said Horgan decided to put his political future and that of his government ahead of the people of B.C. “This is not a time when we put the interests of a political party ahead of the British Columbians who need to know that we are here to serve them,” she said at a news conference. “I’m dis- appointed that this is what John Horgan has chosen to do and I fully intend to hold him accountable for this decision.” Wilkinson said the election isn’t want- ed by anyone in the province, except for the New Democrats. “To make this completely clear: think about why we’re having this election. It’s not necessary,” Wilkinson said. “The goal for the NDP is to secure their own employment. The picture here is we’ve got a government cynical enough to put us through a general election in the middle of a pandemic.” Wilkinson is an experienced polit- ician, holding a variety of cabinet jobs in the previous B.C. Liberal govern- ment. But this is his first campaign since becoming party leader in 2018. The province’s minority NDP gov- ernment took power in 2017 after sign- ing an agreement with the Greens, but Horgan said political stability is needed and that is what he is seeking now. Furstenau rejected Horgan’s com- ments that Green opposition to NDP legislation during the spring session of the legislature contributed to his deci- sion to seek a majority mandate, adding that the agreement the party signed “didn’t stipulate utter and total obedi- ence to the NDP.” Horgan said the issues of 2017 also aren’t the same as 2020, citing the global pandemic and the economic up- heaval it has caused as examples of what has changed. “I have never been more confident that this is the time to ask British Col- umbians where they want to go. Un- precedented times call for unpreced- ented actions.” Horgan said the campaign will be different than past elections where handshakes, door knocking and public rallies were normal political activities, but the parties will find ways to interact with voters. The NDP and B.C. Liberals were tied with 41 seats each when the legislature was dissolved by Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin. The Greens held two seats, there were two Independents and one seat was va- cant. Horgan said he’s been speaking with provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry about the pandemic, but didn’t consult with her about calling an elec- tion. “The final decision rests with me and I take full responsibility for it.” Horgan said Finance Minister Carole James will be administering the prov- ince until election day. She is one of seven NDP cabinet ministers not seek- ing re-election. — The Canadian Press B.C. Premier Horgan calls early election DIRK MEISSNER MONTREAL — COVID-19 appeared to be gaining steam in several regions of central Canada on Monday, prompting Quebec’s public health director to an- nounce the beginning of a second wave in that province. Quebec and Ontario reported more than 1,000 cases between them, includ- ing 586 cases in Quebec, a jump of more than 100 compared with Sunday. On- tario’s numbers increased to 425 from 365 a day before. The news prompted Dr. Horacio Ar- ruda, Quebec’s public health director, to declare a second wave of COVID-19 had started in the province. “I’m very, very, very worried by the situation, to the point where I consider that now we may be in a second wave, we’re in a second wave at its begin- ning,” he told a news conference in Que- bec City. Quebec announced tighter restric- tions on public and private indoor gath- erings on Sunday as it raised the alert level for several regions, including Montreal and Quebec City. But Arruda said the situation was serious all over the province and people need to respect limits on gatherings and other health guidelines in order to limit additional cases. “This second wave, we can transform it into a smaller wave than we experi- enced before, but if we don’t make the effort, it can be even bigger than the first,” he said. Genevieve Guilbault, the province’s deputy premier, said police over the weekend had visited more than 2,000 bars and restaurants and issued 1,500 warnings and 90 tickets to those not re- specting health rules. In Ontario, Premier Doug Ford said his government would release its plan to deal with a second wave on Tuesday. Health Minister Christine Elliott added the response to the second wave could be more complicated due to flu season and the need to address the province’s surgery backlog. “We have planned for the worst and are ready for it.” Many cases reported Monday ap- peared to be concentrated in large cit- ies, including Ottawa, Toronto and Win- nipeg. Manitoba health officials said 16 of 22 new cases across the province were in the capital, where the number of active cases has almost tripled since the start of September. “We note that many of these new cases have had large number of con- tacts, and that means we’re having additional people exposed to the virus, and contact tracing becomes more complex,” Dr. Brent Roussin told a news conference as he highlighted the importance of staying home for people who feel even slightly ill. In Montreal, which is Canada’s hardest-hit city, public health direc- tor Mylene Drouin said all COVID-19 indicators are worsening, suggesting the beginning of a second wave. The city reported more than 200 new cases Monday. While public health officials are warning of a second wave, it’s not yet clear what it will look like. In Quebec and in Ontario, the jump in new cases is being driven by people under the age of 40, who Drouin said are less likely to get seriously ill from COVID-19 but can still transmit the virus to others. The people becoming infected “are workers, those are the ones who bring the virus in the workplace, in elder homes, schools or kindergarten, so we have to be vigilant at this time,” she told a news conference. Health officials in Montreal and Win- nipeg both said the surge in cases had not yet led to the health-care system be- ing overburdened. Meanwhile, authorities continued to report COVID-19 outbreaks across the country Monday, including in schools, workplaces, a busy Calgary hospital and on an Edmonton university campus. The Foothills Medical Centre in Cal- gary was working to contain apparently unrelated outbreaks in its cardiac care and general medicine units. To date, 14 patients and four staff members have tested positive for the virus. One patient has died. Fifty-seven staff members are isolating. “There have been some reports of in- consistent masking use in visitors that are being investigated, as well as con- cerns about a staff member who may have worked while symptomatic,” said chief medical officer Dr. Deena Hin- shaw. An outbreak at a men’s residence at the University of Alberta forced the school to shut down all varsity athlet- ics for two weeks. Five residents of the building have tested positive for COVID-19 and 14 more are isolating. Alberta had 1,459 active COVID-19 cases as of Monday, with more than half in Edmonton. — The Canadian Press O TTAWA — The federal govern-ment has reluctantly given green lights to both Ontario and New Brunswick to use their own carbon- pricing systems for big industrial emit- ters, rather than have a federal pro- gram imposed on them. The decisions come on the eve of a Supreme Court of Canada hearing that will decide if Ottawa has the jurisdic- tion to set a national standard for car- bon pricing and apply federal programs in any provinces that don’t comply. Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson wrote to his counterparts in both New Brunswick and Ontario Sunday to acknowledge their proposals to tax greenhouse gas emissions from heavy industry meet the federal rules in theory. However, he made clear to them he was not happy with how they’re going about it. “Today we have recognized that tech- nically Ontario and New Brunswick’s systems have met the benchmark but they produce significantly less in the way of emissions reductions than the federal backstop that is currently in place,” Wilkinson said. “That is an issue.” The carbon price system for big emit- ters sets two specific requirements: the price, and the source of emissions the price must impact. It does not, how- ever, lay out that any equivalent system must show equivalent emissions reduc- tions to the federal backstop. In fact, it doesn’t require it to reduce emissions at all. The federal government set thresh- olds for emissions by industry, so one limit for steel, one for cement, one for automakers, and so on. Each company pays the carbon price only on emis- sions over that threshold for its specific industry, and that threshold gets more strict over time. Ontario and New Brunswick have designed systems that set that thresh- old by facility, not by industry, which means in many cases that threshold is higher than it would have been under the federal system. As well, the portion of emissions on which the price is ap- plied is smaller. Ontario Environment Minister Jeff Yurek said in a written statement that Ontario’s plan is better for the prov- ince, and will curb emissions without hurting the economy. “Ontario’s regulation covers the very same polluters as the federal system -- there are no free passes, and no one is off the hook,” said Yurek. Wilkinson admits the federal gov- ernment left room for provinces to do this by not being more specific with its requirements in the legislation that created the carbon price. He said these loopholes will be closed when the legis- lation is reviewed in 2022. Canada’s carbon tax has two compon- ents: a carbon levy on fuel purchases and a carbon price on emissions from big industry. The first is paid by indi- viduals and businesses on fuels they purchase to drive cars, heat buildings or run their barbecues. All but four provinces have their own systems Ot- tawa has approved, so the federal car- bon levy affects only Alberta, Saskatch- ewan, Manitoba and Ontario. The big emitters program applies to industrial facilities that produce more than 50,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas a year, so they pay the price on some of what they emit, rather than on the fuels they purchase to operate. It is this sys- tem affected by this week’s decisions. In Ontario, there are 322 facilities that hit that benchmark, and there are 18 in New Brunswick. They include things like steel plants, cement pro- ducers, oil refineries and natural gas- fired power plants. The federal system for big emitters will now apply in full only in Manitoba and Prince Edward Island. It will apply to natural gas pipelines and electricity generators in Saskatchewan, which were exempted from that province’s program for big industry. In December, Ottawa approved Al- berta’s system for big emitters. Wilkin- son said Monday that unlike Ontario and New Brunswick, Alberta’s system does get comparable reductions in emissions. The carbon price is currently $30 a tonne and goes up $10 in each of the next two years until it hits $50 in 2022. The Supreme Court begins two days of hearings Tuesday to decide whether Ottawa had the jurisdiction under the Constitution, to impose a national car- bon price the way it did. — The Canadian Press MIA RABSON Carbon-pricing systems greenlit Ottawa allows Ontario, N.B. to implement own tax plans Premier John Horgan says British Columbians will head to the polls on Oct. 24. MORGAN LOWRIE COVID-19 gains steam in parts of Canada EDMONTON — A new piece of medical equip- ment created at the University of Alberta may give doctors a quicker and safer way to resuscitate patients who go into cardiac arrest due to COVID-19. The novel coronavirus can create complica- tions in the lungs and many patients are placed on their bellies to improve ventilation. “The lungs get so bad, we put them into these prone positions,” Matthew Douma, a registered nurse and an assistant adjunct professor of critical care medicine at the university, said Monday. Many patients with severe COVID-19 go into cardiac arrest, Douma said, and doctors have to turn them onto their backs to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR. That makes it risky for doctors, who are exposing themselves to COVID-19 as the patient faces them. Douma said the concerns kick-started research at the Edmonton university in July into the best way to perform CPR while a patient is in a prone position. The result was a new CPR board that can be placed between a mattress and patients on their stomachs. A protruding piece of the board, near the breastbone, adds pressure to the chest area while medical staff do com- pressions on the backs of prone patients. Douma said lab tests on the board showed a 40 per cent increase in the number of ef- fective chest compressions on mannequins in that position. Edmonton and Calgary hospitals haven’t had enough severe cases for doctors to yet use the board, but about 10,000 people have already downloaded its design, Douma added. — The Canadian Press CPR board allows for faster COVID response GRAHAM HUGHES / THE CANADIAN PRESS People wear face masks as they wait to cross a street in Montreal, Monday. Quebec’s public health director has announced the beginning of a second COVID-19 wave in the province. B_03_Sep-22-20_FP_01.indd B3 2020-09-21 10:53 PM ;