J.P. Tasker
@JPTasker
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Senior reporter in the @CBCPolitics parliamentary bureau. Secretary of the Parliamentary Press Gallery. Proud 🇨🇦. Email: [email protected]
Joined October 2010
A major development on the vaccine front — PMJT and @AnitaOakville have just announced that Pfizer is moving up 5 million doses from Q3 to Q2. That means 17.8 million Pfizer shots alone will be delivered between April-June.
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"As the situation evolves we are adjusting our efforts to help you better," Trudeau says. $2,000 a month for the next four months for workers who are not getting a paycheque. "If you've lost your job, were on a contract or self-employed this benefit will be there for you.".
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I've done a bit of number crunching. Based on current delivery estimates — and those could change! — there should be enough Pfizer and Moderna shots coming in May to vaccinate every Ontarian over the age of 30 with at least one shot by the first week of June.
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NEW: Trudeau announces the Canada-U.S. border closure will be extended until June 21 — travel limited to essential workers. "This is an important decision that will keep people in both our countries safe," he says.
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"With the challenges we currently face with COVID-19, both here at home and abroad, we all agree that now is just not the time to be flying," Trudeau says.
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"I've never seen language like this," former PM Brian Mulroney tells @RosieBarton on Trump's Canada talk. "Least of all from subordinates of the president directed at the prime minister of their greatest friend and ally. This I've never seen before nor has anybody else." #cdnpoli
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Trudeau says "We need a sustainable stable supply" of PPE. "That means making them at home." PM says he has good news to share: Thornhill Medical, CAE, Ventilators for Canadians, Starfish Medical will produce 30,000 ventilators.
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Just off the phone with a Conservative caucus member who spoke very frankly about Monday's election. They're not happy with O'Toole. Biggest issue? Campaigning as a "true blue" in the leadership and then abandoning many promises in the general. Carbon tax. Guns. Fiscal prudence.
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So, we've gone from "Don't wear masks" to "Masks are OK" to "You must wear a mask when flying or else" in less than a month.
Starting Monday, Transport Canada is requiring all travellers to wear masks or face coverings on flights due to COVID-19. If you don't have one, you won't be allowed to board the plane. #cdnpoli.
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.@JustinTrudeau had an audience with her Majesty Queen Elizabeth at Holyrood Palace in Scotland. @RoyalFamily #cdnpoli #hw
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Erin O'Toole is announcing today a Conservative government would allow foreign telecommunications companies to offer cell phone service to Canadians to drive down prices, "provided that the same treatment is reciprocated for Canadian companies in that company's country."
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"What we're saying — and what we've been saying all along — is that mRNA vaccines are the preferred vaccines," says Dr. Shelley Deeks, the vice-chair of NACI.
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"We need to stand up to Conservatives like Jason Kenney and Doug Ford and the oil barons that are supporting them," Justin Trudeau says on the environment question.
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For some of the more delicate questions - about O'Toole's balanced budget claim, Islamophobia and his plan to scrap the Liberal $10-a-day child care program - the callers were cut off, which the moderator, John Baird, blamed on "technical issues.".
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Just off the phone with a Conservative caucus member who's hopping mad about Denise Batters getting the boot.
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Erin O'Toole is hosting a virtual town hall tonight with voters in Ontario. The party-supplied numbers suggest as many as 36,000 people are tuned in online and on the phone to ask questions and hear O'Toole's pitch.
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U.S. President Joe Biden has just suggested he may send more shots to Canada. "We have talked to our neighbours. As a matter of fact, a fellow who is working really hard to take care of his country and deal with this, I was on the phone with him for half an hour today," he says.
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Calgary police have launched a formal investigation into an incident involving Liberal MP-elect George Chahal. Chahal, who won in the riding of Calgary Skyview, was captured on a doorbell camera the day before the election removing one of his opponent's campaign brochures.
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PM is up. "This is only the beginning," Trudeau says of the aid package that passed the Commons this morning.
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@ElizabethMay .@theJagmeetSingh says Scheer's speech on the blockades this morning was "reprehensible. What he said was divisive. It was purposely designed to pit some groups against another - and to me it needs to be denounced. What he is suggesting is not a way forward." #cdnpoli
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BREAKING | Trudeau announces ban on 1,500 'assault-style' firearms — effectively immediately.
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BREAKING | Canada, along with the European Union, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the World Bank, today announced an investment of close to $3.8 billion in education for women and girls in crisis and conflict situations. #G7Charlevoix.
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Good morning! I’ll be joining Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on his six-day European tour — we’ll stop first in the Netherlands for an official visit before heading to the G20 summit in Rome (the PM’s 7th!) and COP26 in Glasgow. The focus at all of these stops? Climate. #cdnpoli
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Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer was seen at a departure gate at Toronto's Pearson Airport today without a mask on — an apparent contravention of the rules that apply to all travellers passing through the terminal.
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I want to clear something up: the 450 temporary layoffs announced by CN this week are entirely blockade related. They are separate from the 2019 downsizing. There's been some suggestion here that they're related. They're not. Source: @TeamstersCanada #cdnpoli.
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New — Trudeau announces Air Canada, WestJet, Sunwing, and Air Transat are cancelling air service to all Caribbean destinations and Mexico starting this Sunday until April 30th.
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Trudeau, Boris, Macron and Princess Anne had a confab about Trump’s impromptu press conferences at today.
.@JustinTrudeau, @EmmanuelMacron, @BorisJohnson and other VIPs shared a few words at a Buckingham Palace reception Tuesday. No one mentions @realDonaldTrump by name, but they seem to be discussing his lengthy impromptu press conferences from earlier in the day. (Video: Host Pool)
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Some personal news: I’m thrilled to say I’ve been promoted to “senior reporter” in the CBC’s parliamentary bureau. I’ll be bringing more of my original stories to our flagship broadcast platforms @CBCTheNational and @CBCWorldatSix. Thanks to my amazing colleagues 💪💪.
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Some important vaccine updates — Maj. Gen. Dany Fortin says the 590,000 Moderna doses that were delayed last week (slow quality assurance process) are leaving Europe today, and will land in Canada tomorrow morning. Provinces will have them by Saturday, the general says.
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The image below shows some of the firearms banned by the Liberal government in its May 2020 order in council. O'Toole has promised to repeal the ban on these "assault-style" firearms, if elected.
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@AnitaOakville Combined with the 12.3 million more Moderna doses expected in this Q2 period — we will have 30.1 million mRNA vaccines delivered over the next three months. (7 million mRNA will be delivered by the end of this week, for a total of 37.1 million in Jan.-June period.).
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Good morning from Vancouver. Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole is announcing support for grieving parents. If elected, a Conservative government will extend EI parental leave for at least eight weeks following the death of a child.
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BREAKING | CBC News is now projecting a Liberal *minority* government.
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.@ElizabethMay says Scheer was excluded from the Trudeau-led meeting of opposition leaders because "the speech that Mr. Scheer gave following the PM's statement was viewed as disqualifying him from participation in a discussion on how to find solutions." #cdnpoli
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NEW: CBC News has learned that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will inform the provinces he will invoke the Emergencies Act to give the federal government extra powers to deal with the protests across the country.
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"From coast to coast to coast, vaccination is underway," Trudeau says. (Five weeks in to this inoculation campaign — just 37,000 people have been fully vaccinated.).
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Maj.-Gen. Fortin confirms *no new doses* of the Serum Institute-produced AstraZeneca shots will arrive this month. One million doses had been expected by month's end — that's not happening now.
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The airport's website stipulates that "all passengers and airport employees" must wear a mask or a face covering "at all times." The mandatory mask rule has been in place since June 1 to stop the spread of COVID-19 among the travelling public.
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Trudeau makes another plea for Canadians to stay home. "It's not hard to do what we're asking you to do - just stay home. If you must go keep a 2 m distance between you and others," PM says.
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Another new piece of information from @AnitaOakville today — she says deliveries of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson will begin "by the end of April." (That product isn't included in any of the delivery numbers I mentioned above.).
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If the current seat count holds, this Liberal minority government is stronger than what Harper achieved in 2006. 156/338 seats for Trudeau = 46% of the seats. 124/308 for Harper = 40% of the seats.
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Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin says Pfizer will deliver 444,000 doses each week for the first two weeks of March. I really don't know how we will meet the prime minister's 6 million doses delivered by the end of March promise at this point.
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BREAKING: Conservative MPs vote to remove Erin O'Toole as leader.
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"If he had campaigned in the leadership on these ideas he never would have won," the caucus member said. They were also perturbed by O'Toole's idea of mandating workers on corporate boards. "What are we, a communist country? This is incredible coming from a Conservative leader.".
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“The Americans are finding the negotiations tough because Canadians are tough negotiators,” PM Trudeau said this morning after Trump’s negativity on NAFTA yesterday. #cdnpoli.
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"He campaigned as a Liberal. He wasn't even Liberal lite — he campaigned as a Liberal in this campaign with no input from caucus or the party or anybody else," the caucus member said.
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Virtually every MP has voted in favour of the Uighur genocide motion — with the notable exception of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet ministers who abstained. Foreign Affairs Marc Garneau said he was abstaining "on behalf of the government of Canada." #cdnpoli.
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The callers with questions about Liberal scandals — "I've always got time to talk Liberal scandals!" O'Toole said — and the "rumour" that the Liberals will tax capital gains on primary residences have had no such "technical issues.".
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New — Source close to CPC Fund tells me they did not know Scheer was receiving party funds to pay for his kids’ private schooling. They were looking into it when Scheer resigned. They do not view his decision to resign as concidental & would not have approved expenses if asked.
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.@KellieLeitch's Collingwood office was vandalized overnight and a tarp with names of #QuebecShooting victims is hanging there #cdnpoli #hw
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"O'Toole was willing to give the gun lobby whatever they wanted" during the leadership, the caucus member said, and then he flip-flopped on the assault-style firearms ban during the campaign. "I was stunned," the person said.
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Breaking — Julie Payette has resigned as governor general, sources confirm to @AshleyBurkeCBC #cdnpoli.
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The Prime Minister's Office has confirmed to CBC that Scheer was not invited.
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Michael Kovrig got his shot 💪.
Today I had the honor of providing this man with his first dose at #LawlorPharmasave #pharmacy . "I want everyone to know this, vaccines are the best way to combat this disease". - #MichaelKovrig . *Shared with permission*
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And what's the city gonna do about this? "Understanding it is 4:15 p.m., we may only be able to get back to you tomorrow," an @ottawacity comms person tells my @CBCOttawa colleagues. The @NCC_CCN says they're "aware of this situation.".
500 M from Parliament Hill in Confederation Park, the #TruckersConvoy2022 protestors are building wooden structures #cdnpoli #ottnews
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NEW: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announces Monday will be a federal holiday to mourn the late Queen. Trudeau says the feds are still working out the details with the provinces to see if they'll follow suit in their respective jurisdictions.
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Trudeau says our health care system is "a major asset" during this pandemic - a system where health is a "right not a privilege.".
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NEW — Jane Goodall backs new bill to ban ape, elephant captivity in Canada. #cdnpoli @JaneGoodallInst @SenSincmurr.
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Trudeau made virtually the same promise during the 2019 campaign — $6 billion to hire more doctors — but the Canadian Medical Association recently said they "have yet to see any real commitment to this ongoing issue.".
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Canada has ordered 10 million doses from Johnson & Johnson with options for up to 28 million more, if necessary.
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.@AndrewScheer is announcing he will scrap the mortgage stress test and increase mortgage amortization rates to 30 years for first-time home buyers to make it easier to purchase pricey properties.
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