Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he's asked the government house leader to reach out to opposition parties about bringing back parliament. He says the entire government needs to be involved in the largest economic program in Canada's history. Canada's parliament was suspended on March 13 to limit the spread of the virus and allow the cabinet to focus on the COVID-19 response. It briefly reconvened last week to pass the government's emergency COVID-19 response bill.

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland has appealed to the nation's landlords to not evict tenants who cannot pay their rent today. The government is planning to provide benefits to people who have lost their income due to COVID-19 but that money has not started to flow yet, leaving many people unable to pay their rent. Freeland says it would be heartless for landlords to evict tenants during this crisis. She says for those landlords who need rent money to pay their mortgage, the federal government has worked with banks to try to give homeowners some breathing room.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau says wage subsidies for large and small businesses will cost about $71 billion. The program is expected to offset the cost of emergency benefits for workers, and reduce spending on those benefits to $24 billion. The wage subsidy will be available to large and small businesses who have lost significant revenue due to COVID-19. Morneau has encouraged businesses to rehire employees they may have laid off in the wake of COVID-19, and says the wage subsidy will be available in six weeks.

Quebec Premier Francois Legault says the number of COVID-19 cases in the province is now 4,611, an increase of 449 over yesterday. There were also two new deaths, bringing the provincial total to 33. Legault says there are 519 seniors' residences with at least one case, which he described as a source of concern for the province.

Six planes carrying Canadians stranded in Africa and Europe are to touch down today in the government's effort to repatriate travellers stranded by COVID-19. Global Affairs Canada says the planes will arrive from Algeria, Ecuador, Senegal, Democratic Republic of Congo, Hungary and Spain. The department says the government is planning more flights from Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Peru, Algeria, Poland and Pakistan in the coming days. Plans are also being made for several fights from India, starting on April 4 and continuing for the next four days until April 7. The government is rei

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer says confusion over who is eligible for the government's promised wage subsidy must be cleared up. Scheer says the legislation as written and hastily passed by Parliament last week doesn't jibe with the Liberals' pledge. The government has said that all companies will get 75 per cent of salaries covered, if they've lost 30 percent of their revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That's a departure from the original plan to cover just 10 per cent of salaries for small businesses. Scheer says his party is ready to return to Parliament to amend the law if needed bu

Alberta is reporting 64 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the province's total to 754. The province's chief medical health officer, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, says another resident has also died at Calgary's McKenzie Towne Continuing Care Centre. She says up to 75 of the total number of cases appear to have been caused by community transmission, and that is concerning.

Canada's chief public health officer says there have now been 236,000 tests in Canada for COVID-19. Dr. Theresa Tam says 3.5 per cent are confirmed positive, and more than 93 per cent confirmed negative. She says adults under 40 represent about 10 per cent of hospitalizations. Tam says the greatest concern at the moment is the introduction and spread of the virus in places where high-risk populations reside, including long-term care homes, remote First Nations and prisons.

The federal government has purchased 157 million surgical masks and more than 60 million N95 masks, used by health-care professional to stop the spread of COVID-19. There are also 1,570 ventilators on order, with officials looking to secure 4,000 more. Public Services and Procurement Minister Anita Anand laid out the state of the government's bulk buy efforts today.