Canada's top public health doctor now recommends Canadians avoid travelling on all cruise ships to protect against the spread of the novel coronavirus.Dr. Theresa Tam previously advised Canadians to think twice about cruises but toughened her warning in a Monday morning news conference.Tam says the ships may voyage to areas with confirmed or undiagnosed cases of the coronavirus and its associated respiratory disease, COVID-19.There are six cases of the virus in Canada linked to a previous voyage of the Grand Princess cruise ship out of San Francisco.Other Canadians, stuck on the ship's curren

Ottawa says it has chartered a plane to bring home Canadians stranded on the Grand Princess cruise ship off the coast of California. Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne says Canada made the decision after the U.S. government asked for help. The ship is carrying 3,500 people, including 237 Canadians, and it's expected to dock in Oakland, Calif., tomorrow. U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence announced Friday that at least 21 people aboard the ship, including 19 crew members, have tested positive for the virus. The chartered plane will bring passengers from San Francisco to Canadian F

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix informed in a press conference that as of this morning there are 27 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the province. Of the six new patients, two had travelled to Iran, two are from the Grand Princess cruise ship which was quarantined off the coast of San Francisco, and the other two are from a long term care centre in a North Vancouver. Dr. Henry informed that Lynn Valley Care Centre is under outbreak protocol now.

British Columbia is activating its provincial pandemic plan to deal with the novel coronavirus.Health Minister Adrian Dix says the province is ready to use emergency powers to protect the population, health workers, and the health system's capacity to help patients with other problems.Dix says the B.C. government is also preparing for how it will function if large numbers of public employees get sick.The plan is to be ready to operate under an outbreak that lasts up to four months.Premier John Horgan says a committee of deputy ministers will oversee B.C.'s COVID-19 response, and the province n

The federal government is increasing funding for COVID-19 research from the initial $7 million level to $27 million. Health Minister Patty Hajdu says applications for the initial amount were overwhelming. 47 research teams will now receive money to work on everything from treating the new coronavirus to getting useful information out on it. The latest patient in Ontario recently travelled to Las Vegas and used public transit in Toronto for several days before he was tested, but officials say transit riders without symptoms do not need to seek medical help. Canada's first apparent case of comm

The Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project has cleared another legal hurdle.The Supreme Court of Canada has decided not to hear five challenges from environment and Indigenous groups from British Columbia. Some had wanted the top court to consider whether the Liberal cabinet violated the Species at Risk Act when it decided to approve the pipeline expansion a second time in June 2019, arguing the project would harm the highly endangered southern resident killer whales.The Federal Court of Appeal had overturned cabinet's first approval in 2018, citing insufficient consultation with Indigenous

An Amber Alert has been issued for a 14 year old boy who Toronto police say was abducted in the northwestern part of the city.Police said in a tweet Wednesday night that they are "extremely concerned" for the safety of Shammah Jolayemi.The teen was last seen Wednesday at 8:25 a.m. in the area of Jane Street and Driftwood Avenue, they said. Const. Michelle Flannery, a spokesperson for Toronto police, said investigators do not know who abducted Shammah.Investigators said a black Jeep Wrangler with oversize front tires and a front push bar with round fog lights was seen in the area where the boy

Quebec public health officials are reporting the province's second presumptive case of the new coronavirus. The province’s Health Department announced this morning that the patient had returned from a trip, but it did not say from where. Tests performed by the province's public health lab came back positive for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, but the result needs to be confirmed by the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg. If confirmed, it would be the second case in the province and the 35th in Canada, with the others all in Ontario and British Columbia. Officials say they are seeki

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has created a new cabinet committee to deal with the novel coronavirus outbreak, which began in China but now has spread around the world.The COVID-19 cabinet committee will complement the work being done by the government's incident response group.Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland will chair the group, while Treasury Board President Jean-Yves Duclos will be vice-chair.The other members will include Industry Minister Navdeep Bains, Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, Health Minister Patty Hajdu, Economic Development Minister Melanie Joly, Finance Minister Bi