Air Canada, which has cut roughly half its Canadian workforce, says it will apply for Ottawa's emergency wage subsidy program and retain or return affected employees to its payroll for the program term. The airline announced last month it would cut about 16,500 jobs as part of a cost reduction program due to the COVID-19 pandemic and imposition of global travel restrictions. Air Canada says that depending on wage levels, many employees will receive more under the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy program than they would from employment insurance plus they will maintain their health insurance and

Ontario is reporting 550 new COVID-19 cases today, the biggest single-day increase so far, including 21 new deaths. The new provincial total of 5,276 includes 174 deaths and 2,074 resolved. The number of people in hospital dropped since Tuesday, from 614 to 605, but more people are now in intensive care and on ventilators. A backlog of pending tests that had nearly been cleared has now grown, and is up to more than 1,100.

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland says Canada's ties with the US have always required constant upkeep, but are now getting what she calls ``constant gardening'' to keep supply lines open. She says Canadian diplomats are repeating the message that the U-S needs Canada as much as Canada needs the US. This morning, the US issued draft rules stating companies will be allowed to fill existing orders for foreign clients, provided 80 per cent of their domestic production was allocated to the US market over the previous 12 months.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he will continue to work at home but will begin leaving his residence to attend the occasional important meeting, including a cabinet session today. Trudeau says he will take ``all proper precautions'' when he does so. The prime minister has been working from home since his wife Sophie tested positive for COVID-19 in mid-March.

Quebec has surpassed 10,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and has added 25 more deaths, bringing the provincial death tally to 175. Premier Francois Legault says the silver lining is that hospitalizations are starting to stabilize, but cautions the province still has a way to go. Of the 10,031 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 632 people are hospitalized and 181 are in intensive care. Legault's message to Quebecers today is that keeping seniors safe is the top priority and extra staff and resources are being deployed to long-term care facilities and nursing homes.

The British Columbia government is closing all provincial parks to ensure compliance with recommendations to stay at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.A statement from the Environment and Climate Change Ministry says the closure applies to everyone, from B.C. and out-of-province, who may have been planning a trip to a provincial park.Minister George Heyman says efforts were made to provide spaces for exercise and fresh air in the parks but it ``has proven too challenging'' to maintain safe physical distancing of two metres between visitors.The timing of the decision is aimed at heading off Ea

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal wage-subsidy program for employers hit by COVID-19 will have looser standards than previously announced.Rather than having to show a 30 percent decline in revenues, he says they can show a 15 percent decline in March, and can compare their revenues to previous months rather than the previous year.Charities can also choose whether to include revenues from governments in their calculations when they apply.He says businesses need to survive and workers need to get paid if the economy is to ``come roaring back after this crisis.''

Canada's deputy minister of foreign affairs has tested positive for COVID-19. Marta Morgan has been the top official in the department for just under a year, after leading the Immigration Department, and is the first woman to hold the job. Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne shared the diagnosis on Twitter. He wished Morgan a full and speedy recovery and called her an invaluable part of the foreign-affairs team. Several ministers and MPs have isolated themselves out of concern that they have the respiratory illness but Morgan is the most senior Canadian government figure to test positive. Cha

British Columbia medical health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says she's heartened by a decrease in the number of people being diagnosed with COVID-19. There have been 29 new cases since Friday, and Henry says if the province had continued to see the previous acceleration of about 25 per cent she would have been very concerned. She says the curve in the number of cases in B.C. appears to be flattening, which could allow for health care for those who need help both for COVID-19 and other illnesses. The province has recorded three more deaths for a total of 38 deaths among the 1,203 people diagno