Ottawa is going to spend $1.7 billion to help clean up orphaned wells.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says dealing with abandoned oil and gas wells is good for the environment, landowners and for the thousands of workers needed to do the job.He's also announced the government is creating a $700 fund to cut methane emissions.In addition, $962 million in funding is in the works for regional development agencies to help more businesses.

Transat A.T. Inc. plans to use the federal emergency wage subsidy to rehire 4,000 employees it had temporarily laid off after halting all flights due to the COVID-19 pandemic.Transat says the employees, the vast majority of whom are flight attendants, will not be required to work as part of their recall.The returning staff will receive 75 percent of their baseline pay up to a maximum of $847 per week, as defined in federal legislation passed last week.Transat CEO Jean-Marc Eustache says laying of 80 per cent of his employees was a ``necessary but heartbreaking decision,'' adding that he hopes

There are 30,106 confirmed and presumptive cases in Canada. Quebec: 15,857 confirmed (including 630 deaths, 2,841 resolved) Ontario: 8,961 confirmed (including 423 deaths, 4,194 resolved) Alberta: 2,158 confirmed (including 50 deaths, 914 resolved) British Columbia: 1,575 confirmed (including 77 deaths, 983 resolved) Nova Scotia: 579 confirmed (including 3 deaths, 176 resolved) Saskatchewan: 305 confirmed (including 4 deaths, 219 resolved) Newfoundland and Labrador: 252 confirmed (including 3 deaths, 170 resolved) Manitoba: 239 confirmed (including 5 deaths, 121 resolved), 11 presumptive New

Alberta has 162 new cases of COVID-19, the highest single day report to date, and two more residents in long term care homes have died. Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the province's chief medical officer of health, says one of the victims was a resident in the Manoir du Lac retirement home in northern Alberta and the other was in a care centre in High River. 50 people in Alberta have died so far from the novel coronavirus, and the total number of cases has reached 2,158. The deaths include 32 residents in care centres, and officials have been tracking outbreaks in 22 of these facilities. Officials are al

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke this morning to other G7 leaders to discuss the ongoing global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Trudeau says they are committed to working together to find a vaccine, develop new treatments and expand testing, as well as helping developing nations respond better to the crisis.

The Toronto Transit Commission says 38 of its bus drivers refused work on Wednesday over safety concerns related to COVID-19. TTC spokesperson Stuart Green said five of the drivers initiated work refusals on Wednesday morning, followed by another 33 in the evening. The Ministry of Labour said the report by the five workers did not meet the requirements of a work refusal, and the inspector is still ruling on the second round of claims. Green said the Ministry of Labour cited the TTC's practices of rear-door boarding on busses, blocking of seats nearest to the driver and availability of hand sa

Dr. Theresa Tam, the chief public health officer of Canada, says models are now predicting between 1,200 and 1,620 deaths from COVID-19 by April 21. Last week the projections expected between 500 and 700 deaths this week, and Canada today has confirmed 1,048 deaths. Tam says the overall curve is ``bending'' when it comes to the number of new infections being confirmed in Canada but the death rate is higher than expected because such a high proportion of outbreaks are in long term care centres. Tam says more than 90 per cent of the patients confirmed to have died from COVID-19 are over the age

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland says Canada is talking with the United States about the agreement keeping the border closed to non-essential crossings. Freeland says Canada's position is that the agreement should be extended. She says regardless of what U.S. President Donald Trump says about wanting to re-open the border, decisions about opening Canada's side will be made by Canadians only. Freeland says there are also discussions between premiers about interprovincial travel restrictions.

Ontario is reporting 514 new COVID-19 cases today, and 38 more deaths. That brings the province to a total of 8,961 cases, including 423 deaths and nearly 4,200 cases that have been resolved. The province completed 9,001 tests in the previous day, surpassing a target the health minister set last week after the premier expressed frustration that Ontario had been testing well below its capacity.