COVID-19 in Quebec: What you need to know Friday
CBC
Note: Quebec's Health Ministry does not publish the number of vaccines administered on weekends and public holidays.
Premier François Legault says most of Quebec's public health measures could be lifted once the majority of kids aged five to 11 are vaccinated against COVID-19.
CBC News has learned Health Canada will announce the approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children in this age group on Friday.
On Thursday, Legault said being able to vaccinate kids will completely change the COVID-19 situation in the province. He says Quebec has been ready for weeks and is just waiting for the green light from Ottawa.
Legault added that vaccinating elementary school-aged children will pave the way for Quebec to eliminate a majority of mitigation measures in the province.
"Once we have vaccinated say 80 per cent of five to 11 year olds, it opens up good prospects for most of the public health measures to disappear," he said.
"It's coming; early 2022."
Fully vaccinated Canadians taking short trips abroad will soon no longer need proof of a negative COVID-19 molecular test to return home, say sources.
The sources — who spoke on the condition they not be named because they aren't authorized to speak on the record — said the government is only dropping the testing requirement for Canadians and permanent residents for trips lasting less than 72 hours.
The federal government has been facing mounting pressure to drop the rule requiring travellers entering Canada to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of their departing flight or planned arrival at the land border.
The change is expected to come into effect at the end of the month as cross-border shopping picks up before the holidays.
Quebec's Ministry of Health and Social Services destroyed 12,678 expired doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, according to data from Oct. 31.
Daniel Paré, the head of Quebec's vaccination campaign, said the unused doses couldn't be returned to the federal government because shipping them would have altered their quality.
"We administered them every day, but not at the level of our inventories," he said.
A congregation in Carman, Man., is coming to grips with the loss of their Anglican Lutheran church, a fixture in the community that was ravaged by a fire on Thursday.
Kayla DeMong fought tears as she described the dire conditions on the front lines, pleading for more help from the province as staff at the harm reduction site she leads try to keep up with the recent spike in overdoses.
A B.C. woman who has been detained by U.S. immigration officials for 11 days, after trying to enter the country, will be released on Friday, according to her father.
Toronto is doubling the number of automated speed cameras on city streets.
Health Minister Adriana LaGrange is alleging the former CEO of Alberta Health Services was unwilling and unable to implement the government's plan to break up the health authority, became "infatuated" with her internal investigation into private surgical contracts and made "incendiary and inaccurate allegations about political intrigue and impropriety" before she was fired in January.
Hudson's Bay Company filed for creditor protection last week, saying it's struggling to pay landlords, vendors and employees — and it's a process that could lead to the sale or closure of Canada's oldest company.
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RCMP say a man died while in police custody on Wednesday in downtown Yellowknife, and Alberta RCMP are investigating the incident.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford and federal officials left an hours-long meeting with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick saying they feel more positive about the Canada-U.S. trading relationship after weeks of bad blood and heated rhetoric.
The Alberta government wants to cut more than $400 million in the fees it pays to doctors, according to a confidential memo obtained by The Canadian Press.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says Canada's incoming prime minister needs to immediately and urgently negotiate a way to avoid China's planned tariffs on Canadian canola — even before an election call.
A judge has sentenced a 48-year-old man to life in prison for brutally stabbing his ex-wife and daughter to death in North York in 2022.
Ontario is seeing a massive surge in measles cases as an ongoing outbreak spreads in the province among mostly unvaccinated people.