While the economy remains stalled by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Canadian government gave a boost on Friday to the energy sector battered by low oil prices and oversupply.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced up to 1.2 billion U.S. dollars in federal funding to clean up orphan and inactive oil and gas wells in Canada's three western provinces: Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.
Most of the orphan, or abandoned, wells -- 4,700 out of 5,650 -- are in oil-rich Alberta, which also is home to 91,000 inactive wells that are no longer productive. There are also 48,000 non-productive wells in the other two provinces.
Alberta will receive 714 million dollars of the federal funding for the clean-up operation, which is considered an essential service under the Canadian government's pandemic guidelines. Alberta's Premier Jason Kenney tweeted that the measure will get "thousands of people in the energy sector back to work immediately."
Trudeau said his government will also establish a 536-million-dollar emission reduction fund -- in the form of a repayable loan program -- to help oil and gas companies reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, with a focus on methane, which accounts for 43 percent of emissions.
"Many energy firms are experiencing a cash crunch, so they don't have the funds to invest in technologies to reduce emissions or fix methane leaks," Trudeau said at his Friday's news conference outside his residence.
To help deal with the COVID-19 crisis, 125 members of the Canadian Armed Forces with health care training will go to the French-speaking province of Quebec on Saturday.
As of Friday night, the province had 16,798 of the total 31,872 COVID-19 cases in Canada. It has also reported 688 deaths, more than half of the Canadian total at 1,310.
About half of Quebec's fatalities occurred at nursing homes or long-term care facilities for seniors, of which about three quarters have experienced COVID-19 outbreaks.
At the request of the Quebec government, the Canadian military team will assist doctors and nurses at the long-term care centers.
On Friday, Canadian Transport Minister Marc Garneau also announced a new measure due to take effect on Monday, which will require all airline passengers to cover their mouths and noses with either a non-medical mask or other face covering at airport screening checkpoints.
"Aviation passengers on all flights departing or arriving at Canadian airports will also be required to demonstrate they have the necessary non-medical mask or face covering during the boarding process, otherwise they will not be allowed to continue on their journey," said a news release of the ministry on Friday.
Editor:Cherie
