FILE PHOTO: Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a sitting of the special committee on the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak at the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada June 18, 2020.
OTTAWA: Canada handled the coronavirus outbreak better than many of its allies, including the United States, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Wednesday (Jul 8) in a rare public comment on the faltering US effort.
Canada – with a population a tenth of the size of the United States – has so far recorded 8,711 deaths and 106,167 cases and Trudeau said the situation was stabilising, although some hot spots remained.
In contrast, the United States has recorded more than 3 million cases and 131,000 deaths. Authorities have reported alarming upswings of daily case loads in roughly two dozen states over the past two weeks.
“We were able to control the virus better than many of our allies, particularly including our neighbour,” Trudeau told a briefing, saying this would help efforts to restart the economy.
Canada and the United States have blocked nonessential travel between the two nations since March and are discussing whether to extend the ban when it expires on Jul 21.
Although Trudeau’s relations with US President Donald Trump have been good over the last 18 months, he skipped a Washington meeting on Wednesday to herald the start of a new continental trade agreement with the United States and Mexico.
Trudeau, who would have had to enter a 14-day quarantine period on his return, repeated concerns about the possible imposition of US tariffs on Canadian exports of aluminum.
