It’s just gotten easier to spot the Canadians in an American airport — look for masks.
Air travel rules within North America took on a striking contrast on Tuesday after a Florida judge struck down the mask requirements for U.S. airlines and the Biden administration delayed a decision on whether to appeal.
Meanwhile Canada is keeping its pandemic precautions.
All of which made for divergent scenes at Reagan National Airport near downtown Washington.
In most of that airport, as in most of the United States, mask-wearing is now decidedly optional. There were faces covered here and there on Tuesday.
It was nothing like the cluster of concealed mugs surrounding baggage carousel 4A in Terminal A — the airport’s unofficial Little Canada. Virtually everyone there remained masked.
Sunnie Peck, who was headed home to Winnipeg on Tuesday, calls the U.S. move nonsensical given the lingering pandemic. (CBC)
‘I’m not taking off my mask’
When asked about the U.S. policy change, Sunnie Peck of Winnipeg mock-slapped herself in the forehead to express her bafflement.
“I’m not taking off my mask,” said Peck, who had been visiting her grandkids in Washington, and was preparing to board a return flight through Toronto.
“There’s science. Whether you believe in it or not.”
Peck says she’s happy Canada hasn’t followed in ditching mask requirements amid a pandemic that has killed many millions worldwide, and for which hospitalization rates are still quite high in Canada and in some other countries.
Some travelers agreed, like one woman who, asked about the policy change, pointed at her chin and said: “That’s why I put two masks on.”
The pandemic does appear to be in a relative lull, however, in the U.S. And several said now’s the time to move on to voluntary mask-wearing.
WATCH | Confusion over masks at U.S. airports:
Confusion after U.S. judge strikes down mask mandate for travel
8 hours ago
Duration 2:03
The U.S. will no longer enforce masking onboard planes and other forms of public transportation after a federal judge in Florida struck down the mandate, causing confusion for some travellers because companies can still enforce their own mask rules. 2:03
Lainie Weinstein of Toronto had just spent a few days with her U.S.-born husband visiting family in Washington and they were in no hurry to mask up.
She said she’s “all for” the U.S. move.
“If you want to wear a mask, you can wear a mask. If you don’t want to wear a mask, you don’t have to. So it’s up to each individual person.”
Asked whether she feels most Canadians share that view, she said: “Absolutely not.”
Her husband Scott Weinstein concurred that there’s an obvious cultural contrast between his native U.S. and new home: “It’s definitely a lot stricter in Canada,” he said.
But he said he was fine sliding on that covering for the trip to Toronto.
“It’s an hour flight, so we’ll survive,” he said.
Celebrations on some flights
The rules aren’t just inconsistent across the continent. There’s anecdotal evidence of different practices on different planes.
While some passengers from Canada said there was universal mask-wearing on their flights, people on one Canada-U.S. flight were said to have enjoyed looser requirements.
One passenger on a Delta flight from Calgary to Minneapolis said some people cheered when the crew announced masks were now optional.
Andrea van Vugt, a trade expert and adviser to former prime minister Stephen Harper, was on the flight and said about half the passengers wore masks, and half didn’t.
Delta pilot announces end of the mask mandate just before takeoff, passengers cheer. <a href=”https://t.co/MUkRIHAtO4″>pic.twitter.com/MUkRIHAtO4</a>
In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle of Florida said the Biden administration had not only exceeded its legal rights with the mask mandate, but also skipped the required procedural steps that should have allowed for public comment.
Mizelle was appointed to the court in the final weeks of the Trump administration, for which her husband, Chad Mizelle, worked as legal counsel in the White House and in the Department of Homeland Security.
The American Bar Association had called Mizelle unqualified to be a judge; it described her as smart, hard-working and “delightful” but lacking the necessary legal experience.
So, should Americans still wear masks on planes?
“[It’s] up to them,” U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters Tuesday.
Inevitable concerns
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the administration was reviewing the case and said the policy should be guided by public-health experts, not the courts.
Logan International Airport in Boston on Tuesday. The U.S. Centers For Disease Control recently extended the mandate to May 3, pending its review. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)
Among the inevitable concerns for policy-makers and travelers is whether vulnerable people can protect themselves in the absence of widespread masking.
Some public-health experts have expressed confidence that a high-quality mask can deliver significant protection against virus transmission.
But masking policy is also a political decision, and American politics is unsettled on the issue — offering no obvious option for Biden, with midterm elections months away.
Politics at play
There’s some evidence Americans want mask mandates to continue on planes: 60 per cent do, according to a new Harris poll.
Yet the percentage of Americans wearing masks on a regular basis is declining, even in a city like Washington which until recently had its own mask mandate.
Fewer than half of Americans, 44 per cent, now wear masks around other people, according to a recent Associated Press poll which showed a steep drop from last year.
Independent voters are even less likely to wear masks than the national average, says a recent Economist-YouGov poll.
So Biden and his staff will sort through the virus data, their legal prospects and the politics as they weigh their response to a Florida judge.
In the meantime, two years into a deadly pandemic, it’s a moment of transition in the North American neighbourhood, and you can see it on the face of air travelers.
Or in the case of one pocket of that neighbourhood, around baggage carousel 4A, around half their face.
Lainie Weinstein of Toronto, who travelled to Washington with her husband to visit his family, supports the shift to voluntary masking. (CBC)
The Northern Super League has fleshed out its front office with four appointments.
Jose Maria Celestino da Costa was named vice-president and head of soccer operations while Marianne Brooks was appointed vice-president of partnerships, Kelly Shouldice as vice-president of brand and content and Joyce Sou as vice-president of finance and business operations.
The new six-team women’s pro league is set to kick off in April.
“Their unique expertise and leadership are crucial as we lay the foundation for not just a successful league in Canada, but one that stands among the top sports leagues in the world,” NSL president Christina Litz said in a statement. “By investing in top-tier talent and infrastructure, the Northern Super League is committed to creating a league that will elevate the game and set new standards for women’s professional soccer globally.”
Da Costa will oversee all on-field matters, including officiating. His resume includes stints with Estoril Praia, a men’s first-division team in Portugal, and the Portuguese Soccer Federation, where he helped develop the Portuguese women’s league.
Brooks spent a decade with Canucks Sports & Entertainment, working in “partnership sales and retention efforts” for the Vancouver Canucks, Vancouver Warriors, and Rogers Arena. Most recently, she served as senior director of account management at StellarAlgo, a software company that helps pro sports teams connect with their fans
Shouldice has worked for Corus Entertainment, the Canadian Football League, and most recently as vice-president of Content and Communications at True North Sports & Entertainment, where she managed original content as well as business and hockey communications.
Sou, who was involved in the league’s initial launch, will oversee financial planning, analysis and the league’s expansion strategy in her new role.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
MAYERTHORPE, Alta. – An emergency alert has been issued in an area west of Edmonton for two armed men.
RCMP say the men are on foot after a robbery.
They say people in the area of Mayerthorpe should not open their doors to strangers or pick up hitchhikers.
They say the suspects are dangerous and should not be approached.
One man is described as white, about 30 years-old, five feet 11 inches tall, 205 pounds with dark hair and dark eyes, who was last seen wearing a cowboy hat and black sweater.
The other man is six feet tall, about 220 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes, wearing a black flat brim hat with red letters.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
“Communication is one of the most important skills you require for a successful life.” — Catherine Pulsifer, author.
I’m one hundred percent in agreement with Pulsifer, which is why my evaluation of candidates begins with their writing skills. If a candidate’s writing skills and verbal communication skills, which I’ll assess when interviewing, aren’t well above average, I’ll pass on them regardless of their skills and experience.
Why?
Because business is fundamentally about getting other people to do things—getting employees to be productive, getting customers to buy your products or services, and getting vendors to agree to a counteroffer price. In business, as in life in general, you can’t make anything happen without effective communication; this is especially true when job searching when your writing is often an employer’s first impression of you.
Think of all the writing you engage in during a job search (resumes, cover letters, emails, texts) and all your other writing (LinkedIn profile, as well as posts and comments, blogs, articles, tweets, etc.) employers will read when they Google you to determine if you’re interview-worthy.
With so much of our communication today taking place via writing (email, text, collaboration platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, ClickUp, WhatsApp and Rocket.Chat), the importance of proficient writing skills can’t be overstated.
When assessing a candidate’s writing skills, you probably think I’m looking for grammar and spelling errors. Although error-free writing is important—it shows professionalism and attention to detail—it’s not the primary reason I look at a candidate’s writing skills.
The way someone writes reveals how they think.
Clear writing = Clear thinking
Structured paragraphs = Structured mind
Impactful sentences = Impactful ideas
Effective writing isn’t about using sophisticated vocabulary. Hemingway demonstrated that deceptively simple, stripped-down prose can captivate readers. Effective writing takes intricate thoughts and presents them in a way that makes the reader think, “Damn! Why didn’t I see it that way?” A good writer is a dead giveaway for a good thinker. More than ever, the business world needs “good thinkers.”
Therefore, when I come across a candidate who’s a good writer, hence a good thinker, I know they’re likely to be able to write:
Emails that don’t get deleted immediately and are responded to
Simple, concise, and unambiguous instructions
Pitches that are likely to get read
Social media content that stops thumbs
Human-sounding website copy
Persuasively, while attuned to the reader’s possible sensitivities
Now, let’s talk about the elephant in the room: AI, which job seekers are using en masse. Earlier this year, I wrote that AI’s ability to hyper-increase an employee’s productivity—AI is still in its infancy; we’ve seen nothing yet—in certain professions, such as writing, sales and marketing, computer programming, office and admin, and customer service, makes it a “fewer employees needed” tool, which understandably greatly appeals to employers. In my opinion, the recent layoffs aren’t related to the economy; they’re due to employers adopting AI. Additionally, companies are trying to balance investing in AI with cost-cutting measures. CEOs who’ve previously said, “Our people are everything,” have arguably created today’s job market by obsessively focusing on AI to gain competitive advantages and reduce their largest expense, their payroll.
It wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that most AI usage involves generating written content, content that’s obvious to me, and likely to you as well, to have been written by AI. However, here’s the twist: I don’t particularly care.
Why?
Because the fundamental skill I’m looking for is the ability to organize thoughts and communicate effectively. What I care about is whether the candidate can take AI-generated content and transform it into something uniquely valuable. If they can, they’re demonstrating the skills of being a good thinker and communicator. It’s like being a great DJ; anyone can push play, but it takes skill to read a room and mix music that gets people pumped.
Using AI requires prompting effectively, which requires good writing skills to write clear and precise instructions that guide the AI to produce desired outcomes. Prompting AI effectively requires understanding structure, flow and impact. You need to know how to shape raw information, such as milestones throughout your career when you achieved quantitative results, into a compelling narrative.
So, what’s the best way to gain and enhance your writing skills? As with any skill, you’ve got to work at it.
Two rules guide my writing:
Use strong verbs and nouns instead of relying on adverbs, such as “She dashed to the store.” instead of “She ran quickly to the store.” or “He whispered to the child.” instead of “He spoke softly to the child.”
Avoid using long words when a shorter one will do, such as “use” instead of “utilize” or “ask” instead of “inquire.” As attention spans get shorter, I aim for clarity, simplicity and, most importantly, brevity in my writing.
Don’t just string words together; learn to organize your thoughts, think critically, and communicate clearly. Solid writing skills will significantly set you apart from your competition, giving you an advantage in your job search and career.
Nick Kossovan, a well-seasoned veteran of the corporate landscape, offers “unsweetened” job search advice. You can send Nick your questions to artoffindingwork@gmail.com.
