Words to remember: Canadian newsmakers have their say on COVID-19

A look at some of the top quotes from Tuesday on COVID-19 in Canada:

“The entire world was unprepared.” — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the shortage of medical supplies.

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“What the story is about is our freedom, and this year we don’t feel so free.” — Ottawa’s Michelle Devorah Kahn on the upcoming Jewish holiday of Passover.

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“I fully expect unemployment in Alberta to be at least 25 per cent — at least half a million unemployed Albertans — and it could be significantly higher than that. This will be the most challenging period in our economy in relative terms since the Great Depression. There is simply no doubt about it.” — Alberta Premier Jason Kenney.

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“Join the fight today, because we need every person in Ontario in this fight. We need an army of 14.5 million people. Whether it’s staying home, working in our hospitals or long-term care homes, or putting food and medicine on our shelves, we’re all part of this and with your help we will win this battle and our province and our economy will come back stronger than ever before.” — Ontario Premier Doug Ford, whose government has opened an online portal through which people with medical training can be matched with jobs.

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“We know the only way this virus moves is when people move, and people are on the move this weekend traditionally. If you want your fish and chips, cook it at home and join in Facebook or Facetime or Skype.” — Newfoundland and Labrador Health Minister John Haggie on Easter weekend.

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“This is one country. We’re all playing for Team Canada right now. Making the announcement as we did today was just part of getting Canada back on its feet and healthy again.” — CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie after the league postponed the start of its regular season, which was slated to open in June.

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“We went from our best year ever to a nuclear winter forecast. Our new sign-ups have completely stopped, we went from 100 to zero on that, and now we’re just battening down the hatches and going to ride out the storm.” — Hongwei Liu, the founder of Waterloo, Ont.-based technology startup MappedIn.

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“We were caught flat-footed. I don’t think we were adequately prepared or we wouldn’t have found ourselves in this situation.” — Dr. Sandy Buchman, president of the Canadian Medical Association, who feels Canada entered the COVID-19 crisis without enough personal protective equipment, ventilators or workers — and a health-care system that routinely operates over capacity.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 7, 2020.

The Canadian Press