Canada's arts and culture organizations are getting a clearer picture of how the federal government plans to divide 500 million dollars of COVID-19 support. Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault says the temporary relief plan aims to keep Canada's arts, culture and sports infrastructure intact through the pandemic. He says nearly 327-million dollars will be handed out in the initial stages, while the remainder will be ``assessed based on needs.'' The television and film industry will receive 116-million-dollars, through the Canada Media Fund and Telefilm Canada.

A year-long police investigation has resulted in 13 criminal charges against a former correctional officer whose alleged assaults of inmates at a federal prison for women in Nova Scotia are also the subject of a civil lawsuit. Truro police say Brian Wilson faces six sexual assault charges, six charges of breach of trust and one charge of communication for the purpose of obtaining sexual services.Police say they received a complaint in March 2019 alleging inappropriate relationships between Wilson and several female inmates at the Nova Institution for Women in Truro, N.S.They say Wilson has bee

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government's emergency wage-subsidy program will be extended beyond its early-June endpoint.The program covers 75 percent of worker pay up to $847 a week to try to help employers keep employees on the job in the face of steep declines in revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic.In an announcement in Ottawa, Trudeau says more details on the extension will come next week.The Canadian economy lost almost two million jobs in April, a record high, as the closure of non-essential services to slow the spread of COVID-19 forced businesses to shutter temporari

The Canadian economy lost almost two million jobs in April, a record high, as the closure of non-essential services to slow the spread of COVID-19 forced businesses to shutter temporarily. The loss of 1,993,800 comes on top of more than one million jobs lost in March, and millions more having their hours and incomes slashed.Statistics Canada says the unemployment rate soared to 13.0 per cent as the full force of the pandemic hit compared with 7.8 per cent in March. It was the second highest unemployment rate on record as job losses spread beyond the service sector to include construction and

There are 64,922 confirmed and presumptive cases in Canada. Quebec: 35,238 confirmed (including 2,631 deaths, 8,673 resolved) Ontario: 19,121 confirmed (including 1,477 deaths, 13,569 resolved) Alberta: 6,017 confirmed (including 114 deaths, 3,809 resolved) British Columbia: 2,288 confirmed (including 126 deaths, 1,512 resolved) Nova Scotia: 1,007 confirmed (including 44 deaths, 708 resolved) Saskatchewan: 531 confirmed (including 6 deaths, 329 resolved) Manitoba: 272 confirmed (including 7 deaths, 243 resolved), 11 presumptive Newfoundland and Labrador: 261 confirmed (including 3 deaths, 244

Greyhound Canada is temporarily slamming the brakes on all of its busing routes and services as ridership plummets amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The transportation company says starting May 13 it will halt all routes until passenger demand recovers. Greyhound Canada says it made the decision after its ridership dropped by 95 per cent. The bus operator says it has already cut costs across its business and "made significant outreach efforts" to provincial and federal governments seeking financial support. It says 400 employees will be affected by the decision. Greyhound Canada has pulled back on

Governor General Julie Payette says the lessons being learned from the COVID-19 pandemic will be useful for potential upcoming crises. Payette points out that natural disasters, like volcanic eruptions or asteroids, could cause major disruptions to life in Canada. She suggests science could help foresee those catastrophes and the country would have time to plan and react. Payette, a former astronaut, says one of the things she learned from her past job is to spend a lot of time planning when things are quiet so everyone is ready to work together when ``all hell breaks loose.''

Dr. Theresa Tam says it's a bad idea to go to a cottage or a second home if you risk straining local health resources. Rules and advice on how to apply that will vary from province to province and situation to situation, though. In Ontario, for instance, Premier Doug Ford has called on people who own cottages not to leave city homes for them over the upcoming Victoria Day weekend, after previously saying he thought it might be OK. Tam says part of the concern is about spreading the virus that causes COVID-19, and part is about simply having too many people heading to places that don't have the

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government, provinces and territories will spend $4 billion to increase the wages of essential workers in the COVID-19 pandemic.He says the details are still to be finalized with some provinces.But Trudeau says all the country's first ministers agree that front-line workers who are risking their health and make minimum wage deserve a raise.It will be up to each province to decide which workers count as ``essential'' and will get a top-up.Trudeau says Canadians are relying on these workers now, more than ever, and all provinces and territories work