Convoy organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber to go on trial in September 2023

Labour talks between Air Canada and its pilots are approaching a midnight deadline, when either side could trigger the start of a shutdown for Canada’s largest airline.

After more than 14 months of negotiations, starting Sunday the two sides will be in a position to provide 72-hour notice of a strike or lockout that could disrupt travel for the more than 100,000 passengers who fly the airline daily.

In the days leading up to the deadline, the two sides have said they remain far apart on the central question of pay.

The Air Line Pilots Association union, representing more than 5,200 pilots, has said it is corporate greed that’s holding up talks, as Air Canada continues to post record profits while expecting pilots to accept below-market compensation.

The airline has said the union is being inflexible with “unreasonable wage demands,” prompting it to call for the government to be ready to intervene.

ALPA Canada president Capt. Tim Perry issued a statement on Friday, asking the federal government to respect workers’ collective bargaining rights and refrain from intervening in the bargaining process. He says the government intervention violates the constitutional rights and freedoms of Canadians.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau however has emphasized that it’s up to the two sides to figure out a deal.

Speaking Friday, Trudeau said the government isn’t just going to step in and fix the issue, something it did promptly after both of Canada’s major railways saw lockouts in August and during a strike by WestJet mechanics on the Canada Day long weekend.

He said the government respects the right to strike and will only intervene if it becomes clear no negotiated agreement is possible.

Numerous business groups have called on the government to intervene to protect the business and travellers.

Air Canada has said it will have to start gradually shutting down operations once 72-hour notice is given as it will take time to properly position its 252 aircraft and its crews that fly to 47 countries.

It says if operations are shut down, it will take up to 10 days to resume normal operations.

The airline is offering travellers scheduled to fly between Sunday and Sept. 23 to change their flight for free, which is a potential for extending that, and said it will notify all travellers of any impact in advance of their flight.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2024.

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WINNIPEG – Climbing up trees, wrangling with ropes and navigating twisted odd-angled limbs may not be everyone’s idea of a great day.

But it is to Jordyn Dyck, who has turned her job as an arborist into a passion leading to international tree-climbing competitions.

“(In my) mid-20s, I had tried a bunch of different jobs — mostly labour-intensive ones — and just nothing was really fulfilling my soul in the way that I kind of needed. And then somebody told me you could climb a tree (for work), and that felt like a good path to follow,” she said while trimming a large oak towering over a two-storey home in west Winnipeg.

“I think my favourite part is that it’s so hard. It’s impossible to kind of perfect it. You have to be mentally strong, physically strong. You’ve got to have a good understanding of biology and physics and angles and forces … every day is a new puzzle to solve.”

Dyck was urged several years ago by her boss at Trilogy Tree Services to enter competitions. Now in her 30s, she has racked up an impressive number of wins, most recently at the annual Prairie Chapter Tree Climbing Championship last month in Calgary.

That secured her a spot in an international championship next year in New Zealand. Later this year, she’s headed to another international event in the United States.

Tree climbing is hard work, she said.

It was evident as she demonstrated throwing a line over a large limb, climbing more than 10 meters up and walking along limbs without getting snarled by leaves and sharp branches.

“It’s definitely the most difficult thing I’ve ever done physically, for sure. It just challenges every single muscle in your body every day.”

Competitions can test every facet of an arborist’s skill set. It’s not just about speed — competitors earn points in a series of events that focus on accuracy, safety and other factors.

Climbers can be required to toss throwlines at targets set up in a tree. They may also have to simulate work duties, such as using a handsaw or pole pruner while high in the air. There is also a simulated aerial rescue, where competitors have to safely get another person down from a tree.

Points can be deducted for anything from an unsafe manoeuvre to breaking a tree limb.

Dyck figures the tallest tree she has climbed competitively was about 23 metres in Tennessee. Tackling the giant Redwoods along the Pacific Coast is on her “bucket list.”

Her passion prompted her to get a tattoo on her back of the tree used in her employer’s logo.

“I tell everybody that this job has made me the best version of myself. I’ve been pushed every day to find a new best that I can.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

OTTAWA – On Monday Parliamentarians will return to the familiar stone walls of West Block in Ottawa to find the political landscape has shifted significantly.

When they last gathered in the capital the Liberals knew their prospects were poor after languishing in the polls for more than a year, but they were secure in the knowledge the New Democrats would prevent them from toppling before they table the next budget, at least.

But the summer saw several seismic shifts that mean the government will now operate as a true minority that could fall to an election at any time.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh pulled out of a political pact with government just weeks ago, and already faces a challenge from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre to vote non-confidence in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his governing party.

The stakes are high for the NDP, whose electoral promise doesn’t appear to have improved drastically as a result of some of the legislation and programs they managed to extract from the Liberals as part of the deal, including a national dental-care plan and a pharmacare bill that’s currently making its way through the Senate.

The new dynamics open up new opportunities for the Bloc Québécois, whose leader Yves-François Blanchet has already signalled he’s willing to do business with the Liberals in exchange for his own list of demands that benefit Quebec.

The Bloc’s stipulations include the Liberals green lighting the party’s private member’s Bill C-319, which would bring pensions for seniors aged 65 to 74 to the same level as that paid to those aged 75 and over.

The Bloc need a royal recommendation from a government minister to OK the financial implications and get the bill through the House.

The Liberals meanwhile have said they eschew the political machinations opposition parties are hatching, and are focused instead on “delivering for Canadians.”

While the Liberals would no doubt prefer to work their key pieces of legislation through the House, including their pharmacare bill and controversial Online Harms Act, the other parties could make that progress difficult.

Singh has started to offer much harsher critiques of the prime minister and his government since breaking faith with the Liberals, but party insiders have suggested he isn’t any more keen for an election than Trudeau at the moment.

All parties will be tested Monday after MPs leave for the evening, when they’ll anxiously await the results of two crucial byelections.

The NDP and the Liberals are both trying to maintain strongholds as the political odds appear stacked against them. The results will set the tone in Parliament for the rest of the season.

The NDP are trying to fend off Poilievre’s Conservatives in the Winnipeg riding of Elmwood — Transcona and the Liberals are running a three-way race against the NDP and the Bloc in Montreal’s LaSalle—Émard—Verdun.

“I can’t wait for the conversations we’re having in (LaSalle — Émard — Verdun) this weekend, but also can’t wait to welcome Laura Palestini to Ottawa as of Monday,” Trudeau said, projecting positivity about the prospects of his Liberal candidate in the Montreal riding Friday.

Trudeau faced calls from Liberal party faithful to step aside as leader after his last byelection loss in Toronto — St. Paul’s in June. Those calls seemed to simmer down over the summer.

Though Liberal MPs were quick to deny that the race in Montreal is a referendum on his leadership when they retreated to Nanaimo last week to talk strategy, that is largely how the vote is being viewed elsewhere in Ottawa.

Singh could face similar scrutiny if he loses the long-held NDP seat in Winnipeg and fails to take the Montreal riding from the Liberals.

The Conservatives are expected to meet in Ottawa this weekend to discuss their plan for the fall sitting, and how they can wedge their opponents into calling that sitting short.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2024.

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