OTTAWA —
With the initial phase of reopening in some provinces underway, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is urging Canadians not to go out “unless you absolutely have to.” This comes as Canada’s top public health official is emphasizing that even though some aspects of life are rolling again, the habits and practices Canadians have adapted to during the last few months cannot be rolled back.
“I know the weather is getting nicer, but we still need to be extremely careful, and not just for our seniors, but for everyone around us. So don’t go out unless you absolutely have to. And if you do, keep two metres apart from each other,” Trudeau said Monday during his address to Canadians on the federal government’s latest COVID-19 efforts.
The prime minister continues to encourage Canadians to stay home and do their part to protect health-care and other front-line workers from further spread, while still reaching out and helping the vulnerable people in their lives, such as delivering groceries to an elderly neighbour
“With your actions, you are helping your community,” Trudeau said, adding that it is “extremely important” that physical distancing and other public health measures like frequent handwashing need to be kept up or the country could face a second wave of the virus that has shut down most of regular life in Canada for the last two months.
The prime minister said that the billions of dollars in federal aid already spent and earmarked to roll out in the coming days to help businesses and workers could still be extended or adjusted in the coming months if needed as more economic sectors get back up and running or have to stay closed, but “we’re not there yet.”
“We are on a positive trajectory, we are not out of the woods, however, and it requires us to continue to remain attentive and vigilant and following the instructions set out by our public health officials,” Trudeau said.
Staying home and isolating the moment you show any COVID-19 symptoms is among those public health instructions. Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam said Monday such directives have been integral in getting the spread under control by buying the country time to build health-care capacity.
“No matter where we live, living with COVID-19 is something we all need to reconcile with,” Tam said.
“And although we’ll be getting out of our homes, more and more, it will be vitally important that at the slightest sign of symptoms, we stay home to save lives. Working while sick can no longer be a thing,” she said, adding that it will be a difficult habit to sever, but one that governments and employers need to support.
SOME BUSINESSESS, PUBLIC SPACES OPEN
Among the provinces taking gradual reopening steps into what’s being considered the country’s “new normal” are Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. In all of these provinces certain businesses can reopen on Monday, though they are still required to use personal protective equipment and maintain physical distancing.
New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Alberta have taken initial steps towards loosening public health measures like physical distancing and allowing certain public outdoor spaces to reopen.
Among what all provinces and territories have agreed need to be in place: a stabilized number of cases; a health system that can handle new cases and track potential outbreaks; sufficient protective gear for businesses to keep their staff and patrons safe; and an agreement on co-ordinated travel guidance.
During a press conference on Parliament Hill, outgoing Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer credited the “decisive action” from provinces in seeing their caseloads get under control and called on Trudeau to do more to ensure there are enough tests and personal protective supplies to help facilitate the reopening plans.
Scheer also questioned whether the current federal assistance is acting as a disincentive for Canadians to go back to work when the time comes.
“As provinces reopen, Canadians will have a difficult decision to make. On the one hand, they will have an option, perhaps, to return to work, while hoping that there isn’t a second wave, even though that will jeopardize their emergency response benefits or on the other hand, they could wait. Stay on the benefit and wait until the uncertainty passes. It’s not difficult to understand the choice that many will be forced to make,” Scheer said.
“At a time when our economy needs stimulus, Justin Trudeau has given it a tranquilizer and risked creating labour shortages across the country. This failure must be reversed before it is too late. Canada’s economic recovery depends on it,” he said.
As of 2 p.m. EDT there were 60,616 COVID-19 cases in Canada, and 3,842 people have died.
Last week’s national modelling projected that while public health measures have been effective and the curve is flattening, Canada was on track to see between 53,196 cases and 66,835 cases and between 3,277 and 3,883 deaths by May 5.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
