TORONTO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th April, 2020) Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday that the Federal government will deploy the military in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec to assist with efforts to combat the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic there.
"Members of the Canadian armed forces will be deployed after the Minster of Public Safety [Bill Blair] received and approved two formal requests from Ontario and Quebec," Trudeau said during his daily pandemic briefing on Friday. "
Details concerning the scope of the assistance and the logistics are being discussed by federal officials and the provinces, the prime minister said.
Trudeau added that military assistance is a temporary solution and that a comprehensive plan to address issues in long-term care facilities, including higher wages for care workers, is in the works.
The dire situation in long-term health care facilities across Canada has captured the national spotlight. On Wednesday, Trudeau said the situation in long-term care homes is unacceptable and the country is failing its elderly population.
The military has already honored three requests from Quebec, including two deployments of the Canadian Rangers to two northern communities in the province.
The alarming trend in long-term care facilities prompted officials to revise their mortality projections last week, although data released this week revealed that the death toll exceeded those projections as well.
As of Thursday, Canada has registered a total of 42,750 COVID-19 cases since the onset of the pandemic of which almost 2,200 have proven to be fatal.
Quebec accounts for more than half of all confirmed cases - 21,838 - and 1,243 deaths, according to the latest figures from the country's public health agency.
