Federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu says it's clear that COVID-19 is spreading around the world and Canadians have to be prepared for that. Currently there are 11 confirmed or presumptive cases of the virus reported in Canada, but most people have recovered and the rest are not seriously ill. She says her message to Canadians is to take the disease seriously and to be prepared for possible disruptions in their communities. Hajdu says health officials do have a plan in place for a pandemic.

Transport Minister Marc Garneau says the CN and CP railways have been co-operating to move freight between Toronto and Montreal despite the blockade of a key CN track. That blockade has been taken down but rail service has yet to resume. Garneau is commending the railways' co-operation in getting some essential goods to Canadians. Meantime in the Commons today, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer continued to accuse Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of weak leadership that has led to the escalating blockade crisis. Public Safety Minister Bill Blair replied that the government is letting police do t

Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller says communication has been challenging, but he thinks government ministers are closer to getting a meeting with Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs in British Columbia. That's as more rail blockades are springing up in Quebec and Ontario. Miller says the government is still working to find an agreement on the chiefs' demands that the RCMP leave their territory. On their way in and out of a cabinet meeting today, Miller and several other cabinet ministers maintained the position that rail blockades must come to an end.

Canada's top health official has released the final 195 Canadians and their families who were brought home from Wuhan, China after two weeks of observation for the novel coronavirus.All the Wuhan evacuees were quarantined at Canadian Forces Base Trenton for 14 days the presumed incubation period of the virus to be isolated and observed for signs of the disease now called COVID-19.A group of 219 evacuees were allowed to leave the base last week after passing a final round of health screening.Chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam says none of the evacuees from Wuhan showed any signs of the

Thousands of commuters couldn't board their usual trains into Toronto this morning because of a blockade near Hamilton.GO Train service has been stopped since last evening by more than a dozen people from a group called Wet'suwet'en Strong: Hamilton in Solidarity.The group posted a message on Facebook reading -- ``It's a new day, and we started it by burning the injunction delivered by CN rail!''Yesterday morning, police moved in on a blockade on a rail line on Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory near Belleville, Ontario that was also in support of hereditary chiefs from BC's Wet'suwet'en First Nation

Federal cabinet ministers are defending the removal of protesters from a rail blockade near Belleville, Ontario. Transport Minister Marc Garneau says the police action will not affect the Trudeau government's commitment to reconciliation with First Nations people. Ontario Provincial Police moved in this morning to remove Indigenous protesters blocking the main rail line between Toronto and Montreal.

The federal carbon tax has been struck down as unconstitutional by Alberta's Appeal Court, which says legislation that brought in the tax erodes provincial jurisdiction. The Alberta government challenged the tax, arguing climate change isn't a national issue requiring overriding federal intervention. The federal government countered by saying climate change is a national and global concern that can't be left to each of the provinces alone. Today's 4-1 decision is the first to side with a province against the federal government after courts in Saskatchewan and Ontario upheld the federal levy l

Ontario Provincial Police have moved to clear an indigenous rail blockade in Ontario that has crippled freight and passenger rail traffic in most of eastern Canada for nearly three weeks. Ontario Provincial Police on Monday arrested some protesters on Tyendinaga Mohawk territory near Belleville, Ontario, east of Toronto. Demonstrators have set up blockades in British Columbia, Ontario, Alberta and Quebec in solidarity with opponents of the Coastal GasLink pipeline project that crosses the traditional territory of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation in northwestern British Columbia. Hereditary chief

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says it's been two weeks and now it's time for the barricades on rail lines and other major transportation routes to come down. He says in a democracy, people have a right to have their say but the situation is "unacceptable and untenable." The blockades, particularly one on a critical east-west rail line in Ontario, are responses by Indigenous people and supporters of the hereditary chiefs of the Wet'suwet'en Nation who oppose a major natural-gas pipeline project.