Transport Canada is halting all direct passenger air traffic from India and Pakistan for 30-days, starting at 11:30 tonight. Transport Minister Omar Alghabra says cargo flights will be allowed to ensure the continued supply of vaccines and PPE. Alghabra says passengers who depart from the two countries via an indirect route will need obtain a negative COVID-19 test at their last point of departure. The announcement comes just after MPs voted in favour of Canada suspending international flights from countries where COVID-19 outbreaks are raging.

The man in charge of Canada's COVID-19 vaccine rollout is warning there will be more delays in the delivery of the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot before June. Major-General Dany Fortin says escalating case numbers in India mean shipments of the vaccine from that country are temporarily on hold. India is reporting a global record daily tally of more than 314-thousand new infections. Deputy Chief Public Health Minister Dr. Howard Njoo says Canada will be making adjustments at the border for incoming flights ``very soon.'' Njoo says the prime minister and the government are looking at COVID-19 data an

The Journal de Montreal newspaper is being criticized for running a photo from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's 2018 trip to India on its front page today to accompany a COVID-19 story. Trudeau is wearing traditional Indian clothes and holding his hands together in prayer beside a caption that reads, ``The Indian variant has arrived.'' The cover refers to Quebec's first case of a novel coronavirus variant that emerged in India, and it asks ``Justin'' whether ties with India will be cut quickly. Benoit Charette, the provincial minister responsible for fighting racism, said today on Twitter he f

More than 10 million Canadians have now received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. The milestone was passed this morning. There are, however, still fewer than one million people who have received both required doses of vaccine. Second doses are being delayed up to four months so more people can get their first dose earlier. Canada is vaccinating people more than twice as fast as it was a month ago, but the number of doses given each day slowed this week due to supply issues. In total more than 10.8 million vaccines have been administered throughout Canada.

Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole says the federal government needs to immediately stop admitting flights from COVID-19 "hot spot" countries like India and Brazil. He says the move would buy time to figure out a better plan for stopping variants of concern from getting into Canada. O'Toole doesn't have specifics for what he thinks should happen to beef up border protections beyond not allowing flights to land from certain countries. Health Canada says about one per cent of arriving passengers are testing positive but can't say how many have tested positive after 10 days. Bloc Quebecois Leader

Canada's top public health doctor says the federal government is looking into flights arriving from India amid reports that a massive surge of COVID-19 cases is ravaging that country. Chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam says Ottawa has generally opted for measures that are not country-specific, such as a pre-boarding test for COVID-19, tests on arrival and government-mandated quarantine. But she says India could be a special case due to a "variant of interest" there that may be fuelling a massive outbreak of COVID-19. India recorded nearly 300,000 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday al

Statistics Canada says inflation rose 2.2 per cent in March compared to the same month last year, riding mostly on the back of 35.3 per cent year-over-year increase in gasoline prices. TD senior economist James Marple says headline inflation only hit a pandemic-era high because it was compared to very weak prices at the onset of the pandemic last year. He says the country may see stronger price growth later this year if high-contact services re-open and bring back displaced workers. Marple also says inflation may feel higher for many Canadians who have shifted spending towards larger homes, fo

A pair of proposed changes to the federal budget put forward by opposition parties will determine whether the minority Liberal government will fall, which could trigger an election.The government says it has informed opposition parties that two votes in the House of Commons — on a Bloc Québécois sub-amendment today and on a Conservative amendment Thursday — are considered confidence votes.A third opportunity to pass judgment on the massive budget comes Monday, when the House votes on the main motion to approve the government's budget policy.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal govern

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland both say they are seeking appointments at a pharmacy to get vaccinated with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for COVID-19. Both Trudeau, 49, and Freeland, 52, became eligible today when Ontario dropped the age to get that vaccine to 40 and above. Trudeau says he is still working out the details for getting his shot. Freeland says she has her children online trying to get her an appointment and is now on a waitlist. Extension of hotel quarantines in Canada Canada is extending the use of quarantine hotels for international