Montreal transforms streets; effects on Ontario labour force
Cityscape changes prompted by COVID-19
With summer approaching, Montreal said Friday it would transform 200 kilometres of city streets into bicycle and pedestrian corridors. The aim is to allow residents to go outside and obey COVID-19 public-health rules.
Mayor Valerie Plante said the fight against the epidemic had transformed travel in Montreal.
“It will be a very different summer for all of us,” said Plante, whose city has been the epicentre of the pandemic in Canada.
With previously announced bike routes, temporary corridors and the city's existing 900 kilometres of bike paths, cyclists and pedestrians will have access to more than 1,200 kilometres of routes to get around.
Plante said it is not an easy time for Montrealers but with summer weather coming, a plan was needed to allow citizens to have enough space to get around safely.
Toronto has also begun creating more pedestrian space to allow for physical-distancing.
One in three workers in Ontario have been affected by the economic shutdown during the cornavirus outbreak, the province’s fiscal watchdog reported Friday.
The Financial Accountability Office said an estimated 1.1 million workers had lost their jobs and just as many had their hours sharply reduced because of the pandemic.
Overall, Canada has had more than 74,500 confirmed COVID-19 cases and at least 5,550 deaths due to the coronavirus disease.
Quebec, the province hardest hit by COVID, said on Friday its total caseload had climbed reasonably slowly — to 41,420, an increase of 696. However, 50 more people had died, pushing the provincial total to 3,401.
Ontario reported 27 more coronavirus deaths on Friday, bringing its total to 1,825 amid another modest 1.6 per cent increase in overall cases. Nova Scotia said another four people had succumbed in the hard-hit Northwood nursing home in Halifax. The province has had 55 deaths and more than 1,000 cases.
Federal prisons saw 13 more reported infections. Correctional Service Canada said 356 inmates had now tested positive, two of whom had died. Almost all infected inmates are at the Federal Training Centre in Laval, Que., Joliette Institution, also in Quebec, and the Mission Medium Institution. At least 88 guards have had COVID-19.
While several provinces reported no new cases, one of them, Newfoundland and Labrador, became the latest to say its schools will stay closed for the rest of the academic year.
Education Minister Brian Warr encouraged students to continue their studies online and said the province was developing plans for when schools reopen in September.
Provinces looking to reopen their economies must boost testing for coronavirus and contact tracing for those infected to contain outbreaks, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. He announced financial support for thousands of medical researchers whose work is unrelated to the COVID-19 crisis and who face layoffs. The 15,000 researchers at hospital-based institutes didn’t qualify for the wage subsidy.