Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Health Canada is closely monitoring European reaction to a batch of Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines linked to possible side-effects. France is suspending the use of the drug until at least tomorrow afternoon, when the European Medicines Agency will issue its recommendation on it. Germany is also joining a growing list of European countries doing the same, following reports that some people developed blood clots after receiving the shot. Trudeau says none of the doses Canada received from AstraZeneca were from the same batch, and he's urging everyone to

The British Columbia government says age-based bookings for COVID-19 vaccinations are one week ahead of schedule and seniors aged 84 and older, plus Indigenous elders 65 and up, can make an appointment for a shot.The Health Ministry says those 83 and older can make an appointment Tuesday and the age eligibility drops daily until anyone 80 and older can make arrangements for a COVID-19 jab by the end of the week.Added staff at call centres across B.C. have helped speed up the process and the province says the centres are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.An estimated 100,000 people are included

Health officials are calling on British Columbians to balance the easing of some outdoor restrictions by keeping up safety measures when indoors. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix say an amended order allowing 10 people who know each other to gather outside does not apply to indoor locations. They say in a release that all safety plans should continue being followed in workplaces, schools and grocery stores, for example. B.C. has recorded 648 new cases of COVID-19, including 79 that are variants of concern, the vast majority involving the one first iden

Pfizer is guaranteeing delivery of at least one-million COVID-19 vaccine doses per week starting on the 22nd of this month and continuing through to May 10th. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says one-million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines every seven days will make a big difference. He says the government has updated the provinces and territories so they can make plans for mass vaccination sites. Trudeau says the government is focused on making sure no one misses out on the vaccine, and that includes Indigenous communities. This morning Trudeau says Pfizer has provided some new delivery sche

Statistics Canada says the economy added 259,000 jobs in February, almost wiping out losses sustained over the previous two months.The economy lost almost 213,000 jobs in January as lockdown measures erased months of gains, and marked the worst monthly declines since last April.February's reopenings reversed that drop with gains largely in Ontario and Quebec, and in sectors highly affected by tightened public health restrictions. The national unemployment rate fell to 8.2 per cent, the lowest level since March 2020 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.The figures whipped past expectations of

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry is easing restrictions on outdoor gatherings but keeping them in place for those indoors. Dr. Henry says up to 10 people will now be allowed to gather outdoors but people should stick to the same group and continue to follow public safety measures such as social distancing. She says other restrictions need to remain in place because COVID-19 is still circulating in communities, particularly in the Lower Mainland. Dr. Henry also announced bars and restaurants must stop selling liquor at 8 pm on St. Patrick's Day. B.C. reports 569 new cases of COVID-19

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rose in the House of Commons Thursday, one year after COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, and said March 11, 2020 will always be marked by a before and an after. Since the pandemic began, 2.5 million people around the world have died due to COVID-19, with more than 22,000 of them in Canada. ``For families and close ones, each death has a before and an after,'' Trudeau said.``Since the great wars of the 20th century, there is a sentence we often evoke, and it's a sentence that we can bring back for those that we lost this year during the pandemic: We will rem

BC is reporting 531 new cases of COVID-19 and one additional death. Health officials say there are 4,861active cases in the province. 244 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, including 66 in intensive care. There are 51 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 variants of concern, for a total of 627 cases. BC Health Minister Adrian Dix says vast improvements have been made in the province's vaccine roll out since a rough start on Monday, which means they can now accelerate the pace. Health authorities first started booking appointments for people 90 years and older as well as for Indigenous people

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his office knew there was an allegation of sexual misconduct against then-defence chief Gen. Jonathan Vance in 2018. But Trudeau says he and others in government did not know the specifics of the allegation until a Global News report last month. The prime minister made the comments this afternoon in the House of Commons, confirming that then-military ombudsman Gary Walbourne spoke to Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan about an allegation against Vance in March 2018. Trudeau says his office knew that Sajjan had directed Walbourne to take the allegation to "indepe