Small and medium-sized businesses in Montreal will receive $50 million in support from the provincial and federal governments as they emerge from the COVID-19 crisis. The aid was confirmed Monday by federal Economic Development Minister Melanie Joly, provincial Economy and Innovation Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon and Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante. The money, which is mainly aimed at downtown businesses, will be distributed in the form of low-interest loans of up to $40,000 as well as grants. Some $30 million of the money will come from the federal government through its COVID-19 regional relief

There are 94,335 confirmed and presumptive cases in Canada. Quebec: 52,398 confirmed (including 4,935 deaths, 17,098 resolved) Ontario: 29,747 confirmed (including 2,372 deaths, 23,583 resolved) Alberta: 7,098 confirmed (including 146 deaths, 6,624 resolved) British Columbia: 2,632 confirmed (including 167 deaths, 2,272 resolved) Nova Scotia: 1,058 confirmed (including 61 deaths, 997 resolved) Saskatchewan: 649 confirmed (including 11 deaths, 611 resolved) Manitoba: 289 confirmed (including 7 deaths, 284 resolved), 11 presumptive Newfoundland and Labrador: 261 confirmed (including 3 deaths, 2

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has attended an anti-racism rally and took a public knee in solidarity with demonstrators. Trudeau arrived on Parliament Hill in Ottawa with security guards Friday, wearing a black cloth mask. After a few protesters asked him to kneel, he did. The Ottawa protest is one of multiple events in Canada on Friday following days of demonstrations against racism and police brutality in numerous American cities.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government is offering $14 billion to the provincial and territorial governments for measures to keep COVID-19 at bay.He says it's part of the federal government's support for restoring economic activity across the country amid the pandemic. He says having the right plan and the resources to back it up will be critical to progress through the summer, fall and winter.How the money is distributed will depend on reaching what Trudeau calls a ``safe-restart agreement'' between the federal government and each province or territory. The money would hel

Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller says he is outraged at police violence against Indigenous people in Canada. Miller says Canada needs a reckoning because there is a pattern of police violence against First Nations, Metis and Inuit people that continues to repeat itself. Miller says he ``watched in disgust'' a graphic video of an RCMP officer in Nunavut ramming the door of his car into an Inuk man walking along the road in Kinngait Monday evening. And Miller says he does not understand how police sent to check on the well-being of 26-year-old Chantel Moore in Edmundston, N.B., Thursday

Statistics Canada reports a record high unemployment rate as the economy added 289,600 jobs in May, with businesses reopening amid easing public health restrictions. The unemployment rate rose to 13.7 per cent, topping the previous high of 13.1 per cent set in December 1982 in more than four decades of comparable data. The increase in the unemployment rate came as more people started looking for work. The average economist estimate was for a loss of 500,000 jobs in May and for the unemployment rate to rise to 15.0 per cent, according to financial markets data firm Refinitiv. The increase in t

There are 93,726 confirmed and presumptive cases in Canada. Quebec: 52,143 confirmed (including 4,885 deaths, 17,098 resolved) Ontario: 29,403 confirmed (including 2,357 deaths, 23,208 resolved) Alberta: 7,091 confirmed (including 146 deaths, 6,611 resolved) British Columbia: 2,632 confirmed (including 166 deaths, 2,265 resolved) Nova Scotia: 1,058 confirmed (including 61 deaths, 995 resolved) Saskatchewan: 648 confirmed (including 11 deaths, 608 resolved) Manitoba: 287 confirmed (including 7 deaths, 284 resolved), 11 presumptive Newfoundland and Labrador: 261 confirmed (including 3 deaths, 2

A 26 year old woman from British Columbia has been shot and killed by police in northwestern New Brunswick. The Edmundston Police Force says it received a request to check on a woman's well-being at an apartment building early Thursday morning. The force says the officer who responded to the call encountered a ``woman holding a knife who made threats.'' It says the officer fired a weapon and attempted to resuscitate the woman, who was from Port Alberni, B.C., but she was pronounced dead at the scene. The force says it's asking for an independent review of the incident, and New Brunswick RCMP

Dr. Theresa Tam is warning that relaxing public health restrictions too quickly or too soon could lead to a rampant resurgence of COVID-19. The chief public health officer delivered a new report today that shows most of the country has seen the spread of the disease diminish substantially. But Tam is pointing out hot spots of community transmission in Toronto and Montreal that she says are concerning. New short-term projections say as many as 1,857 more Canadians could die of COVID-19 in the next 11 days. Chief Public Health Officer says by mid-month there could be as many as 107,500 cases of