Canadian parliament shuts down over Coronavirus spread fears

All parties in the parliament agreed Friday to suspend activity for over a month until April 20th, with no MPs voting against the suspension, Canadian broadcaster CBC reports.

The Canadian annual budget, which was expected to be released at the end of the month, is likely to be delayed as well.

Parliament managed to pass the C-4 bill on the subject of the new trade agreement between Canada, the United States, and Mexico but that bill will require royal assent from the Governor-General before coming into force.

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland announced a stimulus package on Thursday to help ease the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak after speaking with Alberta Premier Jason Kenney who said that at least $20 billion would be needed.

While Canada has not imposed strict travel restrictions, PM Trudeau said Friday that his government was considering restricting some international travel.

Canadian airline Air Canada, however, suspended all flights to Italy, one of the countries with a major outbreak of the coronavirus, earlier in the week.

Meanwhile, on a provincial level, both British Columbia and Quebec have warned residents about international travel and Ontario has closed all schools in the province for the next three weeks.

“As you’ve seen, there are recommendations not to travel outside of Canada. We’re in the midst of coordinating with the Americans, obviously, on our borders, on our actions. We’ll continue to evaluate what we can do and how we can keep Canadians in security and we won’t close the door on any idea,” Trudeau said in an interview with Radio-Canada.