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Four Canadians Are on That Hantavirus Ship, and Canada's Debt Bill Is $1,400 Per Canadian - and Going Up.
News for residents of the “11th province”: Canadians abroad.
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Four Canadians Are Still on That Hantavirus Ship
Three people are dead and a ship carrying four Canadians is still anchored off the Canary Islands after an outbreak of the Andes strain of hantavirus ( that’s the only known version that spreads between humans) infected more than a dozen passengers aboard the MV Hondius polar expedition vessel.
The WHO said there were eight cases including the three deaths on Thursday - a Dutch couple and a German national. The four Canadians still aboard are reportedly asymptomatic, and the ship is expected to pull in to port at Tenerife on Sunday. Three other Canadians who disembarked from the ship earlier (two in Ontario, one in Quebec) are currently self-isolating in their homes.
At least a dozen countries are currently tracking passengers who dispersed before the outbreak came to light. A flight attendant on a KLM flight carrying an infected passenger has been admitted to hospital in Amsterdam. A British patient in South Africa has stabilized.
The WHO says that this is a "low" public health risk - hantavirus doesn't spread easily, and the cluster traces back to rodent exposure likely during shore excursions in Argentine Patagonia. The Andes strain can occasionally spread between close contacts, which is what makes this outbreak unusual and why the world is paying attention. Surely not a repeat of the covid drama, right?
Read more: CBC News / Global News
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Canada's Debt Bill Is $1,400 Per Canadian - and Going Up
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation this week put a number on Ottawa's borrowing habit and It's $1,400 per Canadian, per year, in interest payments only. The figure comes from the Parliamentary Budget Officer's latest assessment, which found that public debt charges will cost the federal government $58.7 billion this year - more than federal health transfers to the provinces, and more than the GST adds to the coffers each year.
The PBO also tried to show where this is heading. Each Canadian's share of debt-service costs will rise from $1,409 this year to $1,901 by 2030-31. Total federal debt per capita will go up from $33,592 to $38,295 over the same period. The debt-to-GDP ratio that PM Mark Carney promised to stabilize is on what the PBO called a "concerning upward track."
The CTF wants Carney to cut spending, saying his government is already $6 billion over budget six months after tabling the last one.
For Canadians abroad, the numbers may be received differently than for those paying rent in Vancouver - the expats are funding a government apparatus that most of them rarely interacts with, and the tab is going up regardless of where they call home.
Read more: National Post