It’s a big week for Canadian students with the bulk of them going back to school. This year’s list of back-to-school supplies now includes a mask, and the final touches are being put on classrooms to make them as safe as possible during a pandemic. But there is growing anxiety on how it will all unfold. Nobody knows if a return to the classrooms will be a return to the normal or if they’ll promote the spread of COVID-19. Ross Lord reports.
There are now more than 27 million COVID-19 cases worldwide. On Monday India overtook Brazil as the country with the second most infections as more than 4 million people have become sick with the virus. Signs of a second wave are appearing in several European countries. In the U.K. the government is squarely placing the blame on younger people who aren’t following the rules. And as Redmond Shannon reports, a scandal involving England’s national soccer team may prove that politicians have a point.
There’s a dire warning tonight from the Parliamentary Budget Officer of Canada. Yves Giroux says the federal government’s deficit spending is unsustainable unless it’s reigned in. But there are signs the purse strings aren’t being tightened. The Liberal government has been hinting at an ambitious plan to be revealed during the Throne Speech at the end of the month. Mike Le Couteur has the details.
Parts of California are under a state of emergency as wildfires rage across the state. More than 14,000 firefighters are battling 23 major fires. The flames have burned more than 600,000 hectares of land. More than 3,000 structures have been destroyed and eight people have been killed. Jackson Proskow has more.
