The House of Commons meets today as the Liberals seek to pass a bill to extend their wage-subsidy program, send a special payment to people with disabilities and extend some legal deadlines for court cases. Finance Minister Bill Morneau says the wage-subsidy program needs to be extended to December and have its criteria loosened a little, so business can re-open and employ workers even if trade is slow at first as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. The payments of up to $600 for people with disabilities and the court extensions were elements of a bill the Liberals couldn't get through the House

Canadian investigators are in Paris today to take part in the long-awaited downloading of data from the flight recorders of the Ukrainian passenger jet shot down by Iran in January.Canada's Transportation Safety Board confirmed today that after Tehran's nearly four-month delay, the so-called black boxes have arrived in Paris.The TSB sent a team to Paris to witness the download of the data, after an Iranian news agency report that they had been shipped on Saturday.Today marks a crucial step for grieving families seeking answers to why Iran's military fired two missiles at the passenger jet on J

There are 109,669 confirmed cases in Canada. Quebec: 57,142 confirmed (including 5,647 deaths, 49,939 resolved) Ontario: 37,274 confirmed (including 2,746 deaths, 33,162 resolved) Alberta: 9,219 confirmed (including 167 deaths, 8,193 resolved) British Columbia: 3,198 confirmed (including 189 deaths, 2,802 resolved) Nova Scotia: 1,067 confirmed (including 63 deaths, 1,002 resolved) Saskatchewan: 936 confirmed (including 15 deaths, 793 resolved) Manitoba: 325 confirmed (including 7 deaths, 318 resolved), 11 presumptive Newfoundland and Labrador: 262 confirmed (including 3 deaths, 259 resolved)

BC's top doctor is urging residents not to let COVID-19 steal their summer as she reported more outbreaks and cases around the province. Doctor Bonnie Henry says she feels for those people who want to get out and have fun, but it needs to be done in a way that minimizes the risk of community transmission. She says there are now 35 cases connected to COVID-19 exposures in the Kelowna area that Health Minister Adrian Dix had said were connected to private parties around Canada Day. That's in addition to a new outbreak reported at the neo-natal intensive care unit at St. Paul's Hospital in Vanco

British Columbia's premier is apologizing for comments he made Thursday comparing the COVID-19 pandemic to the province's ongoing opioid crisis. B.C. set a new record of 175 overdose deaths in June, surpassing the record just set in May and about 5,000 people have died since the province declared a public health emergency in 2016. Advocates have questioned whether the opioid crisis has been overshadowed by the pandemic, despite occurring for longer and with a higher death toll. Horgan told reporters Friday that he ``mischaracterized'' the challenges of addiction. He says he knows addictions c

There's more evidence that COVID-19 is a stubborn bug to beat. Two new outbreaks have been flagged in British Columbia. One is at a neo-natal intensive care unit in Vancouver, and there's another case detected at a massive hydroelectric project. Vancouver Coastal Health has issued a notice about the outbreak at the neo-natal unit at St. Paul's hospital in Vancouver's downtown. Several patients and their families have been traced as potential contacts and are in isolation. BC Hydro says a worker who arrived from Alberta on Monday to the Site C work camp in Fort St. John has tested positive and

Canada's deputy public health officer Dr. Howard Njoo says singing and dancing in close quarters is not the way to party this summer. Njoo is urging younger people to stop cramming bars and dance floors to stop the spread of COVID-19. Njoo says indoor activities carry a higher risk to spread COVID-19 and that can have serious health consequences, even for young people. However, Quebec Premier Francois Legault says the recent resurgence of COVID-19 cases in the province is due to private gatherings rather than bar visits. Njoo says younger Canadians have a duty to act responsibly to keep COVID

With the highest single-day spike of 34,956 cases, India's COVID-19 count crossed 10 lakh on Friday.The death toll has gone up to 25,602 with 687 deaths in the last 24 hours.The Health Ministry said that the total count of cases stands at 10,03,832 including 3,42,473 active case and 6,35,757 cured/discharged/migrated patients.The recovery rate stands at 63.33 per cent.Maharashtra reported 8,308 new COVID-19 cases and 258 deaths on Friday. The total number of positive cases has risen to 2,92,589 including 1,60,357 recovered cases, 1,20,480 active cases and 11,452 deaths.Tamil Nadu reported 4,53

Finance Minister Bill Morneau says the Liberals are easing eligibility rules for the government's emergency wage subsidy and changing the amounts businesses can receive. The government had been under pressure to make the subsidy more accessible, specifically by loosening the requirement of a 30 per cent drop in revenues, so more companies under that cut-off can qualify. Speaking in Toronto, Morneau says the rules will be changed so amounts paid out will be proportional to revenue declines due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The program is the heart of the Liberals' promise to help Canadians get bac