Commercial vessels and passenger ferries face more restrictions in a government effort to clamp down on the spread of the novel coronavirus. Transport Canada has ordered a stop on all non-essential vessels with a capacity of 12 or more passengers, such as recreation and tourism vessels. BC Ferries and other essential vessel operators have been told to immediately cut in half the maximum number of passengers carried on their ships. Over the weekend, BC ferries chopped its service after it said ridership was down by about 80 per cent.

The steps the Ontario government has taken so far to limit the spread of COVID-19 have likely saved tens of thousands of lives, public health officials said Friday, but even with further action the death toll could reach as high as 15,000. Projections released by the province showed 100,000 Ontario residents could likely have died over the full course of the pandemic if the province hadn't implemented measures such as widespread closures of businesses and schools in order to promote physical distancing. As it is, the figures estimate thousands of people could still die without more aggressive

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the Canadian Forces are being sent to northern Quebec to help communities there prepare to respond to COVID-19. He says the federal government is answering a call from the Quebec government. In a daily appearance outside his Ottawa residence today, Trudeau also says the federal government has an agreement with Amazon to use its distribution network to send medical supplies to meet provincial needs. Trudeau also announced that the government would donate $100 million to meet urgent food needs across the country, including in northern and Indigenous communitie

The City of Surrey has laid off 1,900 part-time and auxiliary staff and 140 regular employees following the closure of recreation centres, libraries, pools, and other civic facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Other municipalities are making similar cuts. The City of Vancouver has laid off about 1,500 workers, mostly from community centres, libraries, and theatres. In Delta, 500 auxiliary and part-time workers – 90 per cent tied to community centres – are also off the job. Residents say the closures have left families struggling without access to community spaces. Baljit Kaur, a mother

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he will soon be able to give Canadians a better sense of the impact COVID-19 is going to have on this country but he isn't able to do it yet.As countries like New Zealand and the United States project the numbers of people in their countries who might die from COVID-19, Canada has thus far refused to release any of the modelling done with the data here.Trudeau says he knows Canadians want to be able to plan and see what is working and what is not and promises that information will be ready soon.Trudeau says he is chairing a first-ministers meeting with premie

Two cruise ships experiencing a COVID-19 outbreak are waiting to learn when they'll be allowed to dock at a Florida port.About 250 Canadians are on board the M-S Zaandam and M-S Rotterdam.Holland America says it has received approval from a health system in Fort Lauderdale to treat fewer than 10 people ``who need immediate critical care.''It says guests have been self-isolating in their rooms since March 22nd.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau says wage subsidies for large and small businesses will cost about $71 billion. The program is expected to offset the cost of emergency benefits for workers, and reduce spending on those benefits to $24 billion. The wage subsidy will be available to large and small businesses who have lost significant revenue due to COVID-19. Morneau has encouraged businesses to rehire employees they may have laid off in the wake of COVID-19, and says the wage subsidy will be available in six weeks.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer says confusion over who is eligible for the government's promised wage subsidy must be cleared up. Scheer says the legislation as written and hastily passed by Parliament last week doesn't jibe with the Liberals' pledge. The government has said that all companies will get 75 per cent of salaries covered, if they've lost 30 percent of their revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That's a departure from the original plan to cover just 10 per cent of salaries for small businesses. Scheer says his party is ready to return to Parliament to amend the law if needed bu

U.S. officials are warning COVID-19 could kill between 100,000 and 240,000 Americans, even with social distancing measures. Experts made the prediction at a media briefing yesterday with President Donald Trump, who warned that the country is heading for ``a very tough two weeks.'' Trump has extended social distancing guidelines through April 30th. New York is the deadliest hot spot in the U.S. with more than 15,000 deaths state wide, most of them in New York City.