Work stoppage possible as WestJet issues lockout notice to maintenance engineers' union
A lockout notice issued by WestJet to a union representing aircraft maintenance engineers could result in a work stoppage next week.
A new report estimates that 1,437 Canadians lost vision due to delayed eye examinations and treatments caused by lockdowns in 2020.
The report, compiled by the Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB), estimates the impact of COVID-19 on vision loss across Canada. Nearly all optometrists’ offices were closed during the first few months of the initial pandemic lockdown, from March to June 2020. Furthermore, most offices continued to restrict capacity throughout 2020.
As a result, there were nearly three million fewer optometry visits in 2020, compared to 2019, the report said. There were also 335,000 fewer eye surgeries performed across Canada between March and June of 2020, representing a 47 per cent decrease from the previous year.
“All Canadians living with eye diseases were impacted by COVID-19,” the CCB said in a statement.
“Some had their diagnosis delayed, potentially missing or delaying an opportunity to receive treatment to stabilize the disease. Others were delayed in receiving counseling and support to assist in dealing with the mental, physical and social effects of vision loss.”
PUTTING A COST ON VISION LOSS
Even as optometry offices reopened across Canada, the report estimates it will take two years to clear the additional backlog of cataract surgeries caused by the pandemic. The cost to clear this backlog is estimated at $129 million per year.
The report also estimates that the increase in surgery wait times will result in a $1.3-billion increase in the cost of vision health over the next two and a half years. Roughly $1.1 billion of this cost stems from a loss of well-being, the report said.
These latest findings were added to a report conducted by the CCB and accounting firm Deloitte in 2020.
The new report comes amid stalled negotiations between Ontario optometrists and the provincial government over the payments for OHIP-covered eye exams. As a result of the job action, millions of Ontarians have been unable to book eye exams since early September.
A lockout notice issued by WestJet to a union representing aircraft maintenance engineers could result in a work stoppage next week.
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Three bodies recovered in an area of Baja California are likely to be those of the two Australians and an American who went missing last weekend during a camping and surfing trip, the state prosecutor’s office said Saturday.
Almost a week after all London Drugs stores across Western Canada abruptly closed amid a cyberattack, they began a "gradual reopening" on Saturday.
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
Auston Matthews was back on the ice with his teammates Saturday.
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
According to an X post by the Transportation Security Administration, officers at the Miami International Airport found the small bag of snakes hidden in a passenger's trousers on April 26 at a checkpoint.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.