NewsThe Canadian PressRetaliation after Meng ruling and Trump on Twitter; In The News for May 28
In The News is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to kickstart your day. Here is what's on the radar of our editors for the morning of May 28 ...\---COVID-19 in Canada ...The Team Canada spirit that has prevailed among first ministers during the COVID-19 crisis will be put to the test today as Justin Trudeau broaches with premiers two topics that fall squarely within provincial jurisdiction: the operation of long-term care homes and paid sick leave for workers.The prime minister has promised federal support in both areas but his offer has met with a mixed reaction from provincial and territorial leaders.He has also promised to raise the issues tonight, when he conducts his eleventh first ministers' conference call.So far, those calls have been notable for their collegial, collaborative spirit as prime minister and premiers all work as one to cushion the impact of the deadly pandemic on Canadians' health and the country's economy.But there are signs that team spirit may be starting to give way to the usual regional tensions and jurisdictional spats that have historically bedevilled federal-provincial relations in Canada.Quebec Premier Francois Legault, whose province has always jealously guarded its jurisdiction against perceived federal intrusions, is lukewarm about Trudeau's promise to ensure 10 days of paid sick leave for workers who fall ill with COVID-19 or are required to go into quarantine after exposure.\---Fallout from Meng Wanzhou case...The two Canadians imprisoned in China could face retaliation because Wednesday's court ruling in the Meng Wanzhou case didn't go the way the People's Republic would have liked, experts are warning.The Chinese embassy in Ottawa angrily denounced the decision by Justice Heather Holmes in the extradition case of the Huawei executive, who is wanted on fraud charges in the United States, as it once more called for her immediate release.Canada held firm, with Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne calling for the release of the two "arbitrarily detained" Canadian men.Michael Kovrig, an ex-diplomat working for the International Crisis Group, and Michael Spavor, an entrepreneur who did business in North Korea, have been in Chinese prisons with no access to lawyers or their families since they were arrested nine days after Meng's arrest by the RCMP in December 2018.They are accused of violating China's national security interests, and they have been denied even the regular monthly visits by Canadian diplomats since January because of COVID-19 restrictions on Chinese prisons.But some analysts say their treatment could get a lot worse, especially based on recent Chinese government statements leading up to the ruling.\---COVID-19 in sports...Alberta Premier Jason Kenney wants the federal government to help clear the way for NHL players to come to Edmonton.His counterpart in British Columbia, John Horgan, says his province isn't interested in making any concessions.The two premiers had markedly different responses to the NHL's plan to resume the 2019-20 season, in which teams would play at two hub cities, one for each conference.Edmonton and Vancouver, as well as Toronto, are three of the 10 cities still in the running to be host cities, should the plan come to fruition. But the NHL said Tuesday the Canadian government's mandatory 14-day quarantine for anyone entering the country would make markets north of the 49th parallel a non-starter during the COVID-19 pandemic.Kenney responded by sending a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in which he encouraged the federal government to deem professional athletes and team staff as essential workers — similar to what U.S. officials announced late last week.Horgan, however, said the government won't be making any concessions in a jurisdiction that has done well to minimize infections. \---Trump on Twitter...President Donald Trump, the historically prolific tweeter of political barbs and blasts, threatened social media companies with new regulation or even shuttering on Wednesday after Twitter added fact checks to two of his tweets. He turned to his Twitter account — where else? — to tweet his threats.The president can't unilaterally regulate or close the companies, and any effort would likely require action by Congress. His administration has shelved a proposed executive order empowering the Federal Communications Commission to regulate technology companies, citing concerns it wouldn't pass legal muster. But that didn't stop Trump from angrily issuing strong warnings.Tech giants "silence conservative voices," he claimed on Twitter early Wednesday. "We will strongly regulate, or close them down, before we can ever allow this to happen." Later, also on Twitter, he threatened, "Big Action to follow."Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters that Trump would sign an executive order relating to social media companies but provided no further details. White House strategic communications director Alyssa Farah said Trump would sign it Thursday.In his tweet, he repeated his unsubstantiated claim — which sparked his latest showdown with Silicon Valley — that expanding mail-in voting "would be a free for all on cheating, forgery and the theft of Ballots."\---Helicopter remains, wreckage found...The Canadian Armed Forces has located the remains of some of the military members who died last month when the helicopter they were in crashed in the Mediterranean.A Canadian search and recovery team working with the United States Navy discovered the remains early Wednesday morning, not far from where they also located a large piece of the helicopter's fuselage, the military said in a written statement."This is encouraging news," said Lt.-Gen. Mike Rouleau, the commander of Canadian Joint Operations Command."We do not leave our fallen behind, and recovering Stalker 22's crew is of the utmost importance to all of us in the Canadian Armed Forces and the Department of National Defence."The CH-148 Cyclone helicopter, known as Stalker 22, crashed in the Ionian Sea April 29, killing four members of the air force and two from the navy. The helicopter was returning to HMCS Fredericton after a training flight and crashed within full view of the ship, which was in the Mediterranean participating in a NATO mission.This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 28, 2020The Canadian Press
HealthCBCThis Halifax man's family all got COVID-19. Here's what he wants people to know
Shawn Selfridge doesn't want to keep the fact that his family contracted COVID-19 a secret. "I want people to know and see that you can get it and survive and that's not to diminish the fact that people have suffered greatly from the virus, but I wanted to also destigmatize perhaps in some way having had it," the Halifax osteopath and father of two told CBC's Information Morning.Selfridge, his wife and their kids were infected while visiting family in Maine in mid-March. They've all since recovered, but Selfridge said it's not a "get out of jail free card," and he still has questions about his family's safety. "There seems to be conflicting evidence whether or not recovered COVID patients have immunity and then we also don't know about different strains or mutations that could result in the future," he said.Medical researchers who study the virus are still trying to determine whether people are protected from getting it again, and for how long that immunity might last.To date, 1,053 people in Nova Scotia have tested positive for COVID-19 — 975 people have recovered and 59 people have died. How they got the virusSelfridge and his family travelled to Sandy River, Maine, in March for a family reunion like they do most years. But what they didn't know was that a relative who was there had recently been to New York.The relative, who's in his 80s, had a cough but not a fever, so at first Selfridge didn't think it could be COVID-19."I was kind of reassured because at that time one of the main symptoms that was being reported was fever. So I said, 'Well OK, he has no fever, so he seems OK,'" Selfridge said. But just 36 hours after the family arrived in Maine, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was telling Canadians to return home, so the Selfridges quickly left and drove back to Halifax through New Brunswick."We tried to have minimal contact, you know, and exercised all the other recommendations, which were handwashing, avoiding contact, those sorts of things," he said. When the family got back home, Selfridge said they self-isolated and soon got word that their relative had tested positive for COVID-19.So he immediately contacted public health so they could get tested too.A total of nine family members contracted the virus from the relative in Maine, Selfridge said.Kids were 'completely asymptomatic'Selfridge's symptoms lasted about two days. He'd wake up in the morning with "very routine body aches and cold chills. I had no fever, no cough."On the third morning, he woke up with a splitting headache that lasted all day, but after that felt fine. For him, having COVID-19 didn't feel much different from having the flu, although he's quick to point out that everyone experiences the virus differently. The only symptom his wife developed was a reduced sense of smell, which can be one of the symptoms of COVID-19."My kids were completely asymptomatic, so you wouldn't even have known that they had COVID," Selfridge said. "My daughter, I think, is still the only child under 10 who tested positive in Nova Scotia."Selfridge checked their temperatures and watched for symptoms every day, while also trying to put them at ease. "I asked them about it. They weren't concerned about it. They weren't afraid and I didn't want them to be afraid because I knew that they're going to be OK based on what I could observe in their normal behaviour," Selfridge said.Even though they've all had COVID-19, Selfridge said he and family are still following the same rules as everybody else. They wash their hands often, practise physical distancing and spend a lot of time at home. To pass the time, Selfridge built a halfpipe in his backyard for his son who is learning to skateboard.MORE TOP STORIES
BusinessCBCAfter her toaster oven caught fire, Ontario woman was told by Whirlpool to take it up with a company in China
When Valerie Hammond's countertop oven burst into flames, causing hundreds of dollars in damage to her kitchen, she figured the cost would be covered since the KitchenAid appliance was from a big company she trusted.Whirlpool, which owns KitchenAid, replaced the oven, as required by the warranty.But things got complicated when she asked for $600 to cover the smoke and fire damage. Whirlpool refused, telling Hammond she'd have to go after a third-party company she'd never heard of — located in China — that owns the factory that manufactured the appliance."I was absolutely shocked. I said, 'I don't understand … it doesn't say Elec-Tech [International] on it, it said KitchenAid … You're telling me you can wash your hands of it?'" the Kitchener, Ont., woman told Go Public.Hammond's problems started in October 2018 when her compact oven went up in flames while she was cooking a small roast."I went upstairs to the linen cupboard to get a couple of tea towels and smelled what wasn't meat. It smelled like metal," she said."Seconds later, the smoke alarms went off and I came running downstairs. The kitchen was full of thick, dense smoke and there were flames shooting out of the control panel of the oven."The 68-year-old called and emailed Whirlpool dozens of times over more than six months but got nowhere on her claim for the damage.Her oven was "not a Whirlpool product," a company representative told her via email, so Whirlpool wasn't liable for the damage. She was referred to Elec-Tech International. Hammond says she tried contacting the company in China using the phone number Whirlpool provided. Her calls would ring through but no one would ever pick up. Her emails also went unanswered."I was so frustrated with Whirlpool and didn't know what else to do … This was a David-and-Goliath fight because they weren't going to listen to me," she said. She says she won't use the replacement after the company wouldn't tell her what caused the fire."Basically it's a paperweight," she said.No recalls have been issued for that oven's make and model.After hearing from Go Public, Whirlpool apologized, calling Hammond's experience "unacceptable" and saying it would be "appropriately addressed." It eventually paid Hammond $5,000 for the damage and her trouble. Nowhere to turn But consumer advocates say that a lot of Canadians are having similar problems — left on their own to deal with sometimes unco-operative companies when something goes wrong after finding government agencies set up to protect consumers are often difficult to access or ineffective.Hammond is one of many frustrated Canadians who don't know where to turn for help or have little faith in the federal, provincial or private agencies set up to protect consumers when companies refuse to take responsibility for damage caused by goods, says Ken Whitehurst, executive director of the Consumers Council of Canada, a non-profit organization that advocates for consumer rights."It really pays to really consider who you're buying from. Don't just be dazzled by brand names," he said.There is provincial consumer protection legislation that is intended to protect consumers like Hammond, but most consumer protection agencies don't offer help enforcing those laws in cases where damage was done by appliances, leaving consumers to take on big companies in court on their own if they want compensation, Whitehurst says. "There are some retailers and some manufacturers who are prepared to play a game with it, to see what they can get away with."In Hammond's case, the Ontario Ministry of Government and Consumer Services told Go Public, the "legal responsibility when a product causes damage to property is not one that the ministry can address. It is suggested that the consumer consider seeking legal advice about this matter."Many provinces say the same thing. For example, consumer protection agencies under the governments in B.C. and Alberta say they don't deal with compensation for damage done by appliances, and that those kinds of disputes often end up in court.But Robert Hawkes, a lawyer specializing in commercial litigation, says those who do go to court need to know they are protected beyond what's in the warranties that come with appliances. He says while consumer laws differ slightly across the country, they all include an implied warranty that goes beyond the one that's issued by the manufacturer or retailer. "So there is the warranty from the company but then there is how that interacts with the consumer protection acts … She's [Hammond] not just limited to getting the new toaster oven. If there was damage to her house that was caused when the toaster oven exploded, then she can claim that against KitchenAid."No faith in the systemA recent survey found about 68 per cent of the 2,000 respondents said it was difficult to find the appropriate government or self-regulatory agency to file complaints about goods and services they felt were misrepresented, unhealthy or unsafe.The survey — conducted by Environics Research for the Consumers Council of Canada — also found that consumers see government complaint handlers as, "only marginally effective" and have low confidence they can effectively deal with complaints. What's needed, Whitehurst says, is a better way to protect consumers: a single, national organization that goes to bat for people fighting big companies, and would track recurring problems so they can be identified and addressed — like the "super-complaints" system established in the U.K. in 2002.Public funding for that organization, he says, would also mean consumers could get support in resolving complaints.In their most recent campaign platform, the Liberals admitted the current consumer protection systems are "confusing" and have "disjointed rules, making it difficult to resolve" problems.The party promised to put a consumer advocate in place: an independent, single point of contact for consumers with complaints related to banking, telecom or transportation — but not appliances.Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada is the department in charge of making that happen. In a statement, the department said it's working with the federal departments for those three areas to figure out the "mandate and scope of responsibilities" for the advocate.Asked if the advocate's scope will be expanded to cover other areas, the department said it recognizes the "opportunity exists."'Do the right thing' Hammond says she contacted Go Public out of frustration — with the appliance company and with the government agencies set up to protect consumers.After hearing from Go Public, Whirlpool Canada negotiated compensation with Hammond. In the end, it paid her $5,000, more than eight times what she asked before going public.She says she played hardball with them, because she wanted to make a point that the company would have had to pay less if it had taken her concerns seriously in the first place."If they had been nicer, it would only have been $600." The company says it paid that amount because it wanted to "do the right thing" after not meeting Hammond's expectations.In its statement to Go Public, the company said customer safety is a top priority and its "appliances, like this countertop oven, are designed and tested to leading industry standards."The company wouldn't say what caused the fire but says, after an initial investigation, it believes it was an isolated event, and has reported the incident to Health Canada as required by law.Hammond says she's happy with the company's response and the compensation it offered, adding that she donated $1,000 of Whirlpool's money to the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.
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Legendary Mexican beach resort Acapulco upended by coronavirus
Intensive care units in the Mexican beach resort of Acapulco are close to capacity as the coronavirus threatens to overwhelm hospitals and leaves local authorities scrambling to dig more graves. Best known for its beaches, sunshine, and cliff divers, Acapulco is fast becoming a hotspot for Mexico's escalating COVID-19 outbreak. Public hospital beds equipped to care for critically ill COVID-19 patients are nearly full, according to local authorities.
