Trudeau: New Rules and Restrictions Could Last Months

The new rules and restrictions for Canadians could go on for months, and July 1 is "real scenario," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Wednesday.

Speaking at his usual morning chat outside Rideau Cottage in Ottawa, Trudeau was pressed on the issue of social-distancing and travel restrictions.

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The Prime Minister said it could be "a number of weeks, perhaps more months."

In response to a later question, Trudeau said July 1 "is a real scenario. But there also are some shorter scenarios and some longer ones."

The city of Toronto has halted all city-led public events in Canada's largest municipality through the end of June.

It's hardly a surprise, but a report from the Canadian Border Services Agency says traffic over the Canadian-US border has been reduced to the tiniest of numbers, except for cargo.

The report said there's been a 96% drop in arrivals on flights from the U.S. and 82% drop in border crossings by land. Cargo traffic is down 24%.

The figures were collected for the week of March23-29 and compare to the prior week, officials said.

Things are just as grim south of the border. The U.S. Travel Association on Wednesday said the economic fallout for the country will be seven times that of 9-11 and could reach $910 billion U.S.

Trudeau on Wednesday also outlined more details for Canadian wage subsidies, saying that applications can be made at www.canada.ca beginning April 6. But businesses hoping to apply for Canada’s 75% wage will have to wait several weeks to get that money, according to Finance Minister Bill Morneau.

The wage subsidy will provide 75% of each employee’s salary for business – of any size – that has lost at least 30 per cent of its gross revenue since this time last year due to COVID-19, according to a report from Black Press.

Meanwhile, Ottawa announced that six planes carrying Canadians stranded in Africa and Europe were to touch down Wednesday in the effort to repatriate travellers stranded by COVID-19. Global Affairs Canada says the planes will arrive from Algeria, Ecuador, Senegal, Democratic Republic of Congo, Hungary and Spain, the Toronto Star reported.

The department says the government is planning more flights from Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Peru, Algeria, Poland and Pakistan in the coming days.