Air Canada's CEO is using the word cataclysmic to describe the damage the COVID-19 pandemic has done to the airline industry. The company lost more than one-billion-dollars in the first quarter. Calin Rovinescu is predicting it will take Air Canada at least three years to return to the flight capacity and earnings heights of last year, calling this the darkest period ever in the history of commercial aviation.

The Abbotsford International Airshow has been cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Airshow society president Jim Reith says they had hoped the spread of virus would be minimized in time for the event in August. He says the primary goal of the airshow society is to put on an event that is safe for all spectators and participants, and the decision to cancel was necessary for health and safety reasons. The event attracts thousands of people to watch flight demonstrations from Canadian, American and international participants.

Ontario is reporting 370 new cases of COVID-19 today, and 84 more deaths. That brings the provincial total to nearly 18,000 cases, including 1,300 deaths and more than 12,500 resolved cases. The new provincial total is 2.1 per cent higher than the previous day, which is part of a downward trend.

Quebec is pushing back the reopening of retail stores in the greater Montreal area by one week, to May 18. Premier Francois Legault said today there are too many COVID-19 patients in Montreal's hospitals to safely open retail stores by the originally scheduled date. Legault says the construction and manufacturing sectors across Quebec will reopen, as scheduled, on May 11. Meanwhile, Quebec recorded another 75 COVID-19 deaths, for a total of 2,280, and the province announced 32,623 confirmed cases of the virus, an increase of 758 over the previous day.

World leaders are pledging billions of dollars for research into a vaccine against the new coronavirus.During a video conference of leaders this morning, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged $850 million to bolster international efforts to develop a COVID-19 vaccine and treatment, as well as to aid developing countries.UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres says the funding target of $11.5 billion to help find a vaccine, new treatments and better tests for the disease would be merely a downpayment on the tools that will be needed to fight the virus.

A much anticipated new phase in the COVID-19 pandemic starts today with several provinces beginning the process of slowly loosening some of their lockdown restrictions.Quebec, which accounts for more than half of Canada's coronavirus cases, including deaths from the illness, is reopening retail stores outside Montreal while those in the greater Montreal area are to reopen on May 11.Ontario, the other epicentre for the virus, is allowing a small list of mostly seasonal businesses to reopen, including garden centres with curbside pick-ups, lawn care and landscaping companies, and automatic car w

The RCMP say the bodies of two children have been recovered after an accident in a rural part of Chilliwack, B.C.Sgt. Krista Vrolyk said police were called Sunday afternoon after a side-by-side vehicle went off Foley Creek Forest Service Road, east of downtown.She said five people, all believed to be related, were in the vehicle when it became submerged in water about 4.5 metres deep.Two adults and a child escaped from the vehicle, but two youths went missing, and a dive team was sent in to search for them.In a statement issued late Sunday night, Sgt. Vrolyk said ``It is with deep sorrow, tha

The federal government is investing millions to boost online access to health services and to support a Vancouver biological company's research into treatment and prevention of COVID-19. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the new funding during his daily news conference in Ottawa this morning as provinces across the country prepare to start re-opening on Monday. The government is spending $240 million to boost access to online health services, including mental-health support and virtual access to doctors for primary care. Ottawa is also providing $175 million to AbCellera Biologics Inc.,

There are 55,061 confirmed and presumptive cases in Canada. Quebec: 28,648 confirmed (including 2,022 deaths, 6,700 resolved) Ontario: 16,608 confirmed (including 1,121 deaths, 10,825 resolved) Alberta: 5,573 confirmed (including 92 deaths, 2,359 resolved) British Columbia: 2,145 confirmed (including 112 deaths, 1,357 resolved) Nova Scotia: 959 confirmed (including 29 deaths, 592 resolved) Saskatchewan: 415 confirmed (including 6 deaths, 297 resolved) Manitoba: 268 confirmed (including 6 deaths, 235 resolved), 11 presumptive Newfoundland and Labrador: 259 confirmed (including 3 deaths, 230 re