LIVE Evacuation order issued for some Fort McMurray neighbourhoods as wildfire nears
Four Fort McMurray neighbourhoods were ordered to evacuate as a wildfire gets closer to the city.
A new poll suggests about two-thirds of Canadians believe that governments should not lift all restrictions related to COVID-19.
Sixty-nine per cent of respondents to an online survey by Leger and the Association for Canadian Studies say restrictions should stay in place as people continue to get vaccinated against the novel coronavirus.
Leger executive vice-president Christian Bourque said Canadians are still fairly prudent and careful regarding lifting the restrictions.
“I believe they're waiting until the end of the vaccination campaign, or at least until governments say that they've reached all of their targets, potentially to sort of relax a little bit,” he said in an interview.
“We'll see this number change once governments have said that they've reached their vaccination targets. So, a few more weeks at least.”
The online poll of 1,542 adult Canadians was carried out June 18 to 20, and it cannot be assigned a margin of error because internet-based surveys are not considered random samples.
Bourque said the pandemic has impacted the wellness of many Canadians as they have been exercising less, gaining weight, drinking more alcohol and smoking more cannabis.
The survey found that 63 per cent of respondents say their mental health has been bad since the start of the COVID-19 crisis.
Thirty-six per cent of respondents said their level of exercise has decreased, 39 per cent say they have gained more weight, 16 per cent say they have drunk more booze and nine per cent say they have smoked more pot since the beginning of the pandemic.
Those who gained weight say they have gained 16 pounds on average.
Respondents who drank more alcohol since the pandemic started say they have drunk 6.3 more servings per week, and those who smoked more cannabis says they smoked on average 5.6 times more per week.
The poll also suggested that six per cent of Canadians have been spending more money on online gambling including gambling on sports and casino games.
Those who spent more on gambling say they spent on average an additional $74.8 on gambling per week.
“It's not that there's many more that gamble compared to before, but those who gamble more actually have increased their spending quite significantly,” Bourque said.
At the same time, the survey found 59 per cent of respondents say they feel optimistic about the next year in Canada.
“Optimism tends to be higher among younger Canadians, and among those who live in larger urban areas, so probably a bit more affluent youth are looking forward to getting out there, being more social again,” Bourque said.
“Canadians, anyway, seem to be opting for a more gradual, careful, prudent approach to getting out there and enjoying some of the things that they used to enjoy prior to the pandemic period.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 21, 2021.
This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.
Four Fort McMurray neighbourhoods were ordered to evacuate as a wildfire gets closer to the city.
Canadian LifeLabs customers who filed an application for a class-action settlement began receiving their payments this week, though at a much lower amount than initially expected.
Nobel laureate Alice Munro, the Canadian literary giant who became one of the world's most esteemed contemporary authors and one of history's most honoured short story writers, has died at age 92.
The doctor who led Toronto through the COVID-19 pandemic as the city’s top public health official is stepping down.
Wildfires have led Environment Canada to issue air quality advisories for parts of B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories, as forecasters warn the smoke could drift farther east.
Saskatchewan RCMP have revealed that a historic sexual assault investigation has led to the discovery of alleged crimes against children dating back to 2005.
An American accused of sexually assaulting a Pennsylvania college student in 2013 and later sending her a Facebook message that said, 'So I raped you,' has been detained in France after a three-year search.
The annual list of Canada's top restaurants in the country was just released and here are the places that made the 2024 cut.
Ontario Provincial Police are responding to a fatal collision involving two vehicles on Highway 417 in Ottawa's west end on Tuesday morning.
A team is ready to help an entangled North Atlantic right whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
A $200 reward is being offered by a North Vancouver family for the safe return of their beloved chicken, Snowflake.
Two daughters and a mother were reunited online 40 years later thanks to a DNA kit and a Zoom connection despite living on three separate continents and speaking different languages.
Mother's Day can be a difficult occasion for those who have lost or are estranged from their mom.
YES Theatre Young Company opened its acclaimed kids’ show, One Small Step, at Sudbury Theatre Centre on Saturday.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.