Global National: Jan. 21, 2021 | Canadian Governor General out after “scathing” review

In our top story: Canadian Gov. Gen. Julie Payette has resigned. The scientist and former astronaut has been accused of creating a toxic work environment for her staff at Rideau Hall. The allegations were so serious it prompted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office to hire an independent consulting firm to review them. The report has not been made public, but it is said to be “scathing.” The Governor General is the Queen’s representative in Canada and presides over the swearing-in of the prime minister, the Chief Justice of Canada and government ministers. Late Thursday, the prime minister released a statement saying “every employee in the Government of Canada has the right to work in a safe and healthy environment and we will always take this very seriously.” Mercedes Stephenson has more on the story.

Now to vaccines and the COVID-19 pandemic: The major-general in charge of the vaccine rollout, Dany Fortin, confirmed today that no doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will be delivered next week. Pfizer has said the delay is necessary as it’s retooling its manufacturing facility in Belgium so it can expand production. On top of that, vaccine delay concerns are growing about how fast highly-contagious variants of COVID-19 are spreading in Canada. As Eric Sorensen reports, the variants are so much more transmissible and detecting them is more complex than a simple COVID-19 test.

The new U.S. president, Joe Biden, went straight to work on his first full day in office. He says the death toll from COVID-19 is on track to hit half a million by next month. The virus is spreading faster than ever in the U.S. The country has lacked a national strategy and Biden said Thursday, he intends to fix that. Jackson Proskow reports.

The company building the Keystone XL pipeline confirmed it is laying off 1,000 people. Yesterday, President Biden made good on his campaign promise and rescinded the permit for the project. Trudeau is expected to appeal the decision to Biden himself during a teleconference Friday. David Akin reports on whether there’s anything the prime minister could say to change Biden’s mind.

In his inaugural address yesterday, Biden said he intends to rebuild alliances with the rest of the world and restore America’s reputation as a beacon of hope. On Thursday, he thanked the World Health Organization for leading the global response to the pandemic and vowed to remain a member state. It came just hours after the country rejoined the Paris climate agreement. As Mike Armstrong explains, Biden is busy undoing what former president Donald Trump did.

Transport Canada cleared the Boeing 737 MAX for takeoff in Canada. The first flight took off Thursday after an extensive safety review announcing mandatory upgrades for new software, and advanced pilot trainings to fix the issues that caused the two fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia. The big question though is whether enough people are willing to get back on board. Redmond Shannon reports.

Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 600,000 Canadians have become infected and recovered. It is assumed they are immune from getting infected again, but it is not clear for how long. Researchers in Toronto have been trying to answer that critical question, and as Jeff Semple reports, their findings so far are providing much needed good news.

For more info, please go to https://globalnews.ca/news/7590462/julie-payette-rideau-hall-toxic-workplace-probe/
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