Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is unveiling a $9 billion emergency program aimed at students. It includes a Canada Emergency Student Benefit worth at least $1250 a month from May to August. The benefit can be accessed by those in post-secondary school now, headed to post secondary school in September or anyone who graduated after December 2019.The government is also creating 76,000 job placements for young people in sectors currently dealing with labour shortages.

There are 38,422 confirmed and presumptive cases in Canada. Quebec: 20,126 confirmed (including 1,041 deaths, 4,048 resolved) Ontario: 11,735 confirmed (including 622 deaths, 5,806 resolved) Alberta: 3,095 confirmed (including 61 deaths, 1,273 resolved) British Columbia: 1,724 confirmed (including 87 deaths, 1,041 resolved) Nova Scotia: 737 confirmed (including 10 deaths, 286 resolved) Saskatchewan: 320 confirmed (including 4 deaths, 252 resolved) Newfoundland and Labrador: 257 confirmed (including 3 deaths, 194 resolved) Manitoba: 246 confirmed (including 6 deaths, 150 resolved), 9 presumpti

A Halifax area man impersonating an RCMP officer killed 22 people, including a 17 year old, with bodies found in five Nova Scotia communities. RCMP confirm the murders began in Portapique. They say when police arrived they discovered several casualties inside and outside of a home. Police say they are working at 16 specific locations to gather evidence and learn more about what happened. The violence began Saturday night and ended at around noon on Sunday when police shot and killed 51-year-old Gabriel Wortman.

A chicken processing plant in Vancouver has been closed due to an out break of COVID-19. Vancouver Coastal Health says 28 employees at the United Poultry Company plant have tested positive for the virus. It says the plant was shut down yesterday and all employees have been told to self-isolate for 14 days. BC health officials say there is no evidence that COVID-19 can be spread by meat or the packaging.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry is reporting 25 new cases of COVID-19 in BC. She says that increases total cases to 17-hundred and 24. Henry says another resident at a long-term care home in Vancouver Coastal Health has died, raising the death toll in the province to 87. 109 people are in hospital, including 51 in intensive care.

The federal government says it hopes to process 90 per cent of applications for wage subsidies from employers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic by May 5. Jean-Yves Duclos, the vice-chair of the cabinet committee on COVID-19, offered the timeline after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced this morning that applications for wage support will be open next Monday. However, neither Trudeau nor Duclos could say when money would actually start to flow to employers. Employers whose bottom lines have been hit by the pandemic will be able to apply for the federal government to cover up to 75 per cen

Canada's chief medical officer Dr. Theresa Tam says she and her provincial counterparts are considering ways to ease restrictions around COVID-19. But she says the fight against the pandemic remains a ``marathon'' and there are lots of unknowns at play. Tam is urging individual sectors to start thinking about innovative ways of reopening while preventing the illness from spreading, as immunity against COVID-19 across the country is ``not high.''

A survey of nearly 1,300 British Columbia businesses reveals just over half of those already closed to due COVID-19 restrictions expect to reopen. The BC Chamber of Commerce and several partners took part in the Mustel survey, which shows a further 38 per cent of businesses are unsure about reopening and eight per cent already know they won't be back. Of the small businesses still operating, the survey shows 43 per cent estimate they can only survive for a maximum of three more months under current restrictions. More than half report revenues have plunged 75 per cent or more and almost eight

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says two airplanes that were supposed to pick up protective equipment for frontline medical workers in China were forced to leave that country empty because of delays on the ground. Trudeau says the equipment was supposed to deliver equipment ordered by the federal government and one province, which he declined to identify. Trudeau says planes are only allowed to remain in China for short periods of time while checkpoints and other challenges make movement on the ground difficult.