Leadership lacking in Manitoba as COVID-19 cases surge, Omicron spreads, say bewildered experts
CBC
Andrea Carlson was preparing to host a small Christmas Day gathering with members of her extended family.
She abruptly cancelled those plans after Manitoba's top doctor implored everyone to curtail their holiday gathering plans Friday.
Manitoba reported a pandemic-high 742 cases of COVID-19 on Friday, with Chief Provincial Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin pointing to the rapid transmission of the Omicron variant fuelling the high case counts.
Instead of gathering with loved ones, Carlson will celebrate with her immediate family of three, connect with extended family via Zoom and drive around to deliver the 15 pounds of turkey she is cooking.
"I'm really sad. I'm tired, but it's the right thing to do," Carlson said.
Dee Pearson isn't changing her family's Christmas plans.
"I get the whole COVID thing but you just don't know when the last time is you're going to be with your family, so that's why we are going to continue to go on," Pearson said.
Larry Tornborough isn't changing his Christmas plans either.
He will be watching football and eating turkey with his friend, but believes the province shouldn't have opened things up as quickly as it did.
"They should have left it as it was … all they've got is people going haywire," Tornborough said.
"One day it's on. One day it's off. You don't know what to do."
What's missing is "authentic leadership" from Premier Heather Stefanson, says Dr. Eric Jacobsohn, an intensive care physician at St. Boniface Hospital and Health Sciences Centre.
Stefanson wasn't part of Friday's press conference — virtually or in person.
Health Minister Audrey Gordon defended the premier's absence.
Winnipeg’s Granite Curling Club has asked a judge to decide whether the City of Winnipeg can ignore a provincial decision about residential housing slated to rise next to the club.
A Saskatoon woman says she watched her neighbour's police standoff play out in real time on social media.
One person is dead from carbon monoxide poisoning, following an incident Friday at a building in Regina.
A wind storm that caused the cancellation of all daytime ferries between Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland stranded passengers on both sides of the Salish Sea, adding challenges for travelers in an already hectic holiday travel week.
Maritime Electric has officially filed plans with the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission for the rotating power outages it says may be necessary this winter to prevent a provincewide blackout.
A Toronto hotel has organized a Christmas Eve buffet lunch for some Thorncliffe Park residents forced out of their condo units by a complex fire.
Residents in Fort Liard, N.W.T., are being advised to use filtered or bottled water and take other measures to protect themselves from high levels of disinfection byproducts called trihalomethanes in the tap water.
Alberta's election agency announced Monday it has approved a proposed referendum question on the province separating from Canada.
One person has been shot by police after allegedly stabbing two people in Toronto's northwest on Monday, police say.
Prince Edward Island's housing market is becoming more balanced, according to new data.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government is presenting a new plan worth more than $35.5 billion to keep First Nations children connected to their communities, culture and families.
The RCMP arrested two men who allegedly used a classified ads website to recruit women to smuggle cannabis out of Canada to Nigeria via the country’s biggest airport.
One person is in a critical condition after an incident in Inukjuak, Que., which led to a shoot-out with police.