Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government will spend more than $1 billion to help develop, test and manufacture a COVID-19 vaccine, as well as to determine how widely the virus has spread through Canada. The cash announced today is on top of $275 million in research funding the Liberals announced in March at the outset of the pandemic. Most of the new money is aimed at funding vaccine development and clinical trials, including $600 million over two years through a federal innovation fund that the government says could help the country's biomanufacturing sector. Smaller amounts

Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion, Carla Qualtrough says that international students will not be eligible to apply under the newly announced Canada Emergency Students Benefit program. In an exclusive interview on Sver Wala Show on Connect FM this morning, Minister Qualtrough revealed that international students can now work up to 40 hours per week to make ends meet until the end of August. She said that the legislation is still being finalised and did not deny that international students may be included in the final draft that gets passed. About the timelin

There are 40,190 confirmed and presumptive cases in Canada. Quebec: 20,965 confirmed (including 1,134 deaths, 4,291 resolved) Ontario: 12,245 confirmed (including 659 deaths, 6,221 resolved) Alberta: 3,401 confirmed (including 66 deaths, 1,310 resolved) British Columbia: 1,795 confirmed (including 90 deaths, 1,079 resolved) Nova Scotia: 772 confirmed (including 12 deaths, 338 resolved) Saskatchewan: 326 confirmed (including 4 deaths, 261 resolved) Manitoba: 246 confirmed (including 6 deaths, 154 resolved), 11 presumptive Newfoundland and Labrador: 256 confirmed (including 3 deaths, 199 resolv

Nova Scotia RCMP says a key element of their investigation in the mass killing over the weekend is how did the gunman get an authentic Mountie uniform. Police have said the uniform along with a vehicle made to look like an RCMP cruiser allowed the shooter to escape detection. The RCMP say they have confirmed the gunman acted alone when he killed 22 people over a 12 hour period before being killed by police. But they are still looking into whether he had help leading up to the rampage.

Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam says over 576,000 people have now been tested for COVID-19 in Canada. She says 6.5 per cent of those tests were positive. Tam says as Canada continues to make progress in slowing the spread, there are bumps in the road that mean the country can't let down its guard. She says a focus must be placed on stopping outbreaks in places like seniors homes and other places where vulnerable populations live together in close quarters.

The country's medical officers of health are at work setting criteria that from a health perspective could provide guidance on when physical distancing restrictions can ease up. Several provinces are now considering loosening their lockdowns. Chief Public Health Officer Teresa Tam says criteria that might be included are the rate of hospitalizations, new cases being reported daily and how the virus appears to be reproducing. She says the special advisory committee on COVID-19 is actively at work on the details of that guidance now.

Ontario is reporting 510 new cases of COVID-19 today and 37 more deaths. That brings the total number of cases in the province to 12,245, a 4.3 per cent increase over Tuesday, which is the lowest growth rate in weeks. The total also includes 659 deaths and 6,221 cases that have been resolved, which puts the percentage of resolved cases over 50 per cent for the first time.

Nova Scotia is reporting two more deaths related to COVID-19, bringing the province's total to 12. The deaths occurred at the Northwood long-term care home in Halifax. The province is also reporting 35 new cases of the virus bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 772. It says 10 licensed long-term care homes and unlicensed seniors' facilities in Nova Scotia are dealing with cases of COVID-19, involving 148 residents and 65 staff.

Premier Francois Legault is asking the federal government for 1,000 Canadian Armed Forces members to help in the province's struggling long-term care homes. Despite extensive recruitment efforts, Legault says he was only able to fill half the 2,000 positions needed to overcome a staffing shortfall rendered critical by COVID-19. The Canadian Armed Forces have already committed about 130 medically-trained staff and personnel members to help in care homes, but Legault said the additional people he's requesting won't necessarily have medical qualifications but can help with general tasks. The pro