Canada丨COVID-19 Global Outbreak Highlights（5.2~5.8）

1. Property transaction in Toronto fell by 67% while price down by 2.5% in April

Recently, the Toronto Real Estate Chamber of Commerce said that affected by the COVID-19 crisis, the volume of property transactions in the Greater Toronto Area in April was 2,975, descending by  66.96% from 9,005 in the same period last year; the average transaction price fell by 2.5% to 881,424 yuan compared with 904,199 yuan in the same period last year.

John DiMichele, chief executive of the Toronto Real Estate Chamber of Commerce, said that this is an unprecedented period. Whether the real estate market recovers or not depends on when economic activity resumes, job market performance, and consumers' confidence.

2. At least 6 taxi drivers from Toronto Pearson International Airport  died of infection

Recently, Rajinder Aujla, President of Toronto Pearson International Airport  Limousine Association put out that since the outbreak of the disease, ten taxi drivers have died, six of them were tested positive for the COVID-19, and the cause of death of the other four remained unknown.

3. The federal government sent 1,350 Canadian troops to 25 long-term nursing homes in Quebec to help fight the pandemic

At present, there is a shortage of 11,500 medical and nursing personnel in Quebec. Therefore, the provincial government proposed to offer new rewards to medical staff in the province, including a 1,000 yuan allowance to those who work at least 36.25 hours a week.

4. Canada's Green Party and Quebec Party group call for the oil industry to run its own course

The worldwide outbreak of COVID-19 not only caused the oil price to plummet to an unprecedented low but also led to a serious outbreak of virus in the oil and sand mining base in Alberta, Canada.

Both the Green Party and the Quebec party intended to get out of the Canadian oil industry. It represented that the radical environmentalism decoupling from the ideas and interests of the general Canadian people.

5. Canada's unemployment rate soared to 13% in April

On May 8, Statistics Canada released data showing that due to the COVID-19 crisis, Canada reduced nearly 2 million jobs in April, a record high, causing the unemployment rate to soar to 13%, compared with 7.8% in March.

6. Aldo Group applied for bankruptcy protection

The Aldo Group, based in Montreal, Canada, announced that it has filed for bankruptcy protection in Canada, the United States, and European Union countries. This is another victim of the COVID-19 in the retail industry.

7. A large number of refugees applied for work as nurses for the care homes in Quebec

Homes for the elderly across Quebec are the worst hit in the province. A considerable proportion of nursing staff is refugee applicants. It is reported that at least 1,200 Haitian refugee applicants worked as support workers in "Haitian Home" in Montreal alone. If you add applicants from other countries, the number is definitely larger.

8.Trudeau: emergency wage subsidy extended beyond June

Prime Minister Trudeau said the federal government decided to extend Canada's emergency wage subsidy program beyond June to help resume the economy and increase employment opportunities. More details will be released next week. As of May 4, 96,000 employers had applied for the emergency wage subsidy program, covering 1.7 million employers, he said. The federal government's emergency wage subsidy program was originally scheduled to end in early June.