EDMONTON – The Covid situation in Alberta remains of total emergency. Also on Friday, the last day on which the data were disclosed, the province recorded over 1,200 new infections: 1,256 to be precise (and 16 deaths) against the 1,254 (and 10 deaths) of Thursday and the 1,263 (and 26 deaths) of Wednesday. Most of the people who died on Friday were between 70 and 80, two in their fifties, one in their sixties, another in their nineties. In total, 2,830 Alberta residents have died of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic. →
TORONTO – Five days before the vote, conservatives and liberals are in substantial statistical parity. The latest polls confirm that the distance between the two parties is below the 2 percent threshold, which represents the margin of error and therefore certifies how the balance of power, expressed in the voting intentions of the Canadian electorate, has crystallized into a generalized parity. To try to understand what are the dynamics that are characterizing this new balance between the political forces in the race, it is necessary to analyze the situation on a regional basis. →
TORONTO – Ontario remains above 800 new daily cases of Covid-19 and the seven-day moving average continues to rise: 757 compared to the 688 average daily infections a week ago. On Sunday (latest data available for Ontario), 811 new cases and 3 deaths were recorded in the province. On Saturday there were 944 infections, on Friday 805. The provincial laboratories processed 22,410 test samples, generating a positive rate of at least 2.9%. →
OTTAWA – Hundreds of Canadian citizens, permanent residents and family members remain in Afghanistan: Foreign Minister Marc Garneau (in the pic) revealed today, while the federal government announced its intention to resettle 5,000 Afghans already brought out of the country by the United States. “The main thing we needed to figure out was how many Canadian citizens or permanent residents and family members were able to board some of our allies’ flights,” Garneau said at a press conference today. “We estimate that there are currently around 1,250 Canadian citizens or permanent residents or family members who are in Afghanistan”. →
TORONTO – Liberals and Conservatives separated by a handful of votes, NDP sharply detached, Bloc growing in Quebec and Greens and People’s Party in trouble. In the second week of this summer election campaign, all the polls confirm that the balance of power between the parties in the running has now stabilized, with Erin O’Toole’s Tories patiently continuing to erode the support for the Liberals of outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and with the certainty, now established, that regardless of the results of September 20, also in the next legislature the country will be led by a minority government. The numbers, on the other hand, leave very little hope for those who have the ambition to win the absolute majority of the seats at stake in this election: no one, in fact, seems able to reach 170, the minimum number of deputies necessary to have an absolute majority in the House of Commons. →