Vaccination campaign, scarcity of labor, heat record: “Le Devoir” offers you a review of the eventful year which is coming to an end. By Sandrine Vieira.
Deployment of the vaccination campaign
Before the start of 2021, less than 30,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine had been administered in Quebec, the campaign having only been launched in December 2020. The last year thus proved to be that of the real shipment. vaccination in the province.
A lot of ground has been covered: in nearly a year, more than 13 million doses have been administered, allowing more than 91% of Quebecers over 12 years of age to be vaccinated with at least one dose at the approach from mid-December, when they were only 0.4% at the beginning of January.
Towards the end of November, it was the turn of children aged 5 to 11 to be able to make an appointment, several months after the vaccination of the oldest. Health Canada did not give the green light to Pfizer’s vaccine for children until November 19.
Spread of new variants
Since the start of the pandemic, health authorities have feared possible mutations leading to a new strain of the virus, such as influenza. At the end of December 2020, scientists revealed that a B.1.1.7 variant, which would later be known as the Alpha variant, had been active since September in the United Kingdom.
This strain will quickly circulate all over the world. In April, it becomes dominant in Quebec, before giving way to another variant even more contagious, the Delta variant. This strain, first discovered in India, became dominant around the world during the summer.
After a lull of a few months, a new variant was detected in November, in South Africa. The latter is quickly classified as “worrying” by the World Health Organization, and baptized “Omicron”.
Historic labor scarcity
Reduced opening hours, closed shops, investments to attract students to “targeted professions”: the scarcity of labor has reached significant proportions this year. The job vacancy rate in Canada reached 4.6% in the second quarter of 2021, and 5.3% in Quebec. With the aging of the population, Quebec is preparing to experience a “historic low” of available workers in 2030, said the Minister of Labor, Jean Boulet. To remedy this, the Legault government intends to spend 3.9 billion over five years, including 2.9 billion for new spending.
The costliest federal election
The federal election this fall cost a record $ 612 million, according to Elections Canada, more than $ 100 million more than the last election two years ago. What explains the swelling of the bill? The COVID-19 pandemic has obviously imposed its share of health measures for the safe holding of the poll.
Historic parity in municipal elections
The municipal elections, which took place on November 7, gave way to women and youth this year. Quebec has notably elected new mayors in several large cities: Valérie Plante re-elected in Montreal, Catherine Fournier in Longueuil, France Bélisle in Gatineau and Évelyne Beaudin in Sherbrooke.
Beyond these key elections, which were applauded the same evening, women were more present than ever before. In the 2017 elections, 207 women were elected to a post of mayor and 2,360 to a post of councilor. This year, they were 257 (50 more than four years ago) and 2,628 (268 more) respectively.
Graves at the sites of former residential schools
More than 1,300 anonymous graves of Indigenous children have been unearthed at the sites of former residential schools this year. On May 28, 215 unmarked graves were revealed in British Columbia at the site of the former Kamloops residential school. Since then, three other indigenous communities across the country have announced that they have found such graves.
The Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA) recognized a total of 139 residential schools in Canada. This summer, Prime Minister François Legault said he was “open” to “participate in possible excavations” to find the bodies of former residents on the territory. Twelve Federal Residential Schools and Homes have been in operation for almost 60 years in the province.
Inflation continues to rise
The increase in the cost of living has increased markedly this year. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) jumped 4.7% in October compared to the same period the previous year, a peak since February 2003. Inflation is particularly felt in the sectors energy (+ 25.5%) and the price of gasoline. Housing (+ 4.8%), food (+ 3.8%) and transportation (+ 10.1%) also saw significant increases.
Gradual recovery of tourism
After a radical halt in international travel in 2020, the tourism industry has quietly restarted this year. Although demand has not yet returned to the pre-pandemic level, Canadians are finding the desire to travel again: in September, more than 800,000 had returned from a stay abroad, 460,000 more than in September. a year ago. Easing travel restrictions and increasing vaccination rates helped demand improve, so airlines added more flights and capacity late in the year.
Record medals at summer Games for Canada
After being postponed for a year due to the pandemic, the Tokyo Olympics were finally held without spectators. Canada won a total of 24 medals, including 7 gold medals, a record harvest at an unboycotted Summer Olympics. The female athletes are the main culprits with 18 of the 24 medals.
The Canadian team therefore finished the Games on the 11e ranking by country, with two more medals than the previous record reached in Atlanta in 1996 and Rio in 2016.
Extreme heat wave in the west
Millions of people around the world faced extreme temperatures during the summer, when July 2021 was the hottest on Earth. In Lytton, a village northeast of Vancouver, the mercury soared to 49.5 degrees Celsius on June 29, setting a new national record. The highest temperature recorded in the country before this heat wave was 45 degrees in 1937.