B.C. business groups urge end to port lockout as labour dispute halts shipping

MONTREAL – Canadians from coast to coast gathered Tuesday with a mixture of excitement and anxiety to watch one of the biggest political shows on Earth: the U.S. election results.

Community centres, theatres, bars, restaurants and homes across Canada turned televisions to U.S. networks Tuesday as vote counts rolled in.

All eyes were glued to an onstage television at Lithuanian House community centre in Toronto, where more than 100 people gathered for an event organized by Democrats Abroad. With final opinion polls suggesting a close race between Vice-President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump, attendees said they came to cheer on Harris even as some considered the chances of the race being called that night to be slim.

John Roberts, an American who has been living in Canada for nearly two decades, said he was feeling “nauseously optimistic” about a Democrat victory.

“What brought me here tonight is really an opportunity to show my support for Kamala Harris tonight and the rest of the Democratic ticket,” said Roberts, who cast his vote in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.

“It is a pivotal election for us, for the future, and I am just glad to be part of it.”

Kate Cohen, a Michigan voter who has lived in Canada for 26 years, said she was hoping to “celebrate or commiserate” with like-minded people.

Cohen said she has voted in every election since moving to Canada.

“It is a right, and it is a privilege, and I don’t think anybody should throw it away or treat it lightly,” she said.

At a pub on Saint Mary’s University campus in Halifax, the lineup for drinks grew longer as the evening progressed and results started to roll in. A cheer erupted from one booth as Trump was declared the winner in Kentucky, and more cheers followed from other tables as Bernie Sanders was declared re-elected in his Senate race as an independent in Vermont.

At McLean’s Public House in downtown Montreal, televisions switched back and forth between sports channels and CNN as hockey fans in Habs jerseys mixed with politics watchers. A staffer at a microphone, warming up the crowd for trivia, drew a loud cheer when he asked how many were rooting for Harris. The same question, about Trump, drew silence and scattered laughs.

Bar customer Ian Campbell said he was feeling “extremely worried” about the prospect of a Trump victory.

“Trump can do some serious damage, not only to the United States, but serious damage to the world,” he said, evoking the possibility of Trump pulling back from NATO and withdrawing support to Ukraine.

He said he is disappointed with both presidential candidates on some issues, including what he sees as a failure to help Palestinians in Gaza.

“I think that Harris is just a safer option and I dearly hope that she wins,” he said.

In Ottawa, U.S. Ambassador David Cohen joined join politicos and diplomats at the Metropolitain Brasserie, just steps from Parliament Hill, where he delivered brief remarks.

The Canadian International Council is holding parties for its members in Ottawa and Victoria, with the B.C. event including a trivia contest about the U.S. election.

In Windsor, Ont., people gathered at the Bourbon Tap and Grill on Ottawa Street — many of whom were involved in a door-knocking campaign to get Americans living in the city to vote.

About 600,000 people who are eligible to vote in the U.S. election live in Canada, the largest number outside the United States, according to the Federal Voting Assistance Program.

One of those is Beth Boyd, who attended a Democrats Abroad watch party at The Pleasant in Vancouver. Boyd, who has lived in Canada for about 15 years, said she mailed in her vote “about two months ago.”

“I’m from Michigan, so it’s very important, I feel,” she said of voting. “Either way it’s important but especially in Michigan because it’s a swing state — or it was last time.”

Boyd said she is hoping for a Democrat win, adding that she hasn’t been to a Democrats Abroad watch party since Donald Trump won in 2016.

“I want a do-over to make it right this time,” she said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.

— with files from Sharif Hassan in Toronto, Cassidy McMackon in Halifax and Brieanna Charlebois in Vancouver

CALGARY – MEG Energy says it earned $167 million in its third quarter, down from $249 million during the same quarter last year.

The company says revenues for the quarter were $1.27 billion, down from $1.44 billion during the third quarter of 2023.

Diluted earnings per share were 62 cents, down from 86 cents a year earlier.

MEG Energy says it successfully completed its debt reduction strategy, reducing its net debt to US$478 million by the end of September, down from US$634 million during the prior quarter.

President and CEO Darlene Gates said moving forward all the company’s free cash flow will be returned to shareholders through expanded share buybacks and a quarterly base dividend.

The company says its capital expenditures for the quarter increased to $141 million from $83 million a year earlier, mainly due to higher planned field development activity, as well as moderate capacity growth projects.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:MEG)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Premier David Eby is proposing an all-party committee investigate mistakes made during the British Columbia election vote tally, including an uncounted ballot box and unreported votes in three-quarters of the province’s 93 ridings.

The proposal comes after B.C.’s chief electoral officer blamed extreme weather, long working hours and a new voting system for human errors behind the mistakes in last month’s count, though none were large enough to change the initial results.

Anton Boegman says the agency is already investigating the mistakes to “identify key lessons learned” to improve training, change processes or make recommendations for legislative change.

He says the uncounted ballot box containing about 861 votes in Prince George-Mackenzie was never lost, and was always securely in the custody of election officials.

Boegman says a failure in five districts to properly report a small number of out-of-district votes, meanwhile, rippled through to the counts in 69 ridings.

Eby says the NDP will propose that a committee examine the systems used and steps taken by Elections BC, then recommend improvements in future elections.

“I look forward to working with all MLAs to uphold our shared commitment to free and fair elections, the foundation of our democracy,” he said in a statement Tuesday, after a news conference by Boegman.

Boegman said if an independent review does occur, “Elections BC will, of course, fully participate in that process.”

He said the mistakes came to light when a “discrepancy” of 14 votes was noticed in the riding of Surrey-Guildford, spurring a review that increased the number of unreported votes there to 28.

Surrey-Guildford was the closest race in the election and the NDP victory there gave Eby a one-seat majority. The discovery reduced the NDP’s victory margin from 27 to 21, pending the outcome of a judicial review that was previously triggered because the race was so close.

The mistakes in Surrey-Guildford resulted in a provincewide audit that found the other errors, Boegman said.

“These mistakes were a result of human error. Our elections rely on the work of over 17,000 election officials from communities across the province,” he said.

“Election officials were working 14 hours or more on voting days and on final voting day in particular faced extremely challenging weather conditions in many parts of the province.

“These conditions likely contributed to these mistakes,” he said.

B.C.’s “vote anywhere” model also played a role in the errors, said Boegman, who said he had issued an order to correct the results in the affected ridings.

Boegman said the uncounted Prince George-Mackenzie ballot box was used on the first day of advance voting. Election officials later discovered a vote hadn’t been tabulated, so they retabulated the ballots but mistakenly omitted the box of first-day votes, only including ballots from the second day.

Boegman said the issues discovered in the provincewide audit will be “fully documented” in his report to the legislature on the provincial election, the first held using electronic tabulators.

He said he was confident election officials found all “anomalies.”

B.C. Conservative Party Leader John Rustad had said on Monday that the errors were “an unprecedented failure by the very institution responsible for ensuring the fairness and accuracy of our elections.”

Rustad said he was not disputing the outcomes as judicial recounts continue, but said “it’s clear that mistakes like these severely undermine public trust in our electoral process.”

Rustad called for an “independent review” to make sure the errors never happen again.

Boegman, who said the election required fewer than half the number of workers under the old paper-based system, said results for the election would be returned in 90 of the province’s 93 ridings on Tuesday.

Full judicial recounts will be held in Surrey-Guildford and Kelowna-Centre, while a partial recount of the uncounted box will take place in Prince George-Mackenzie.

Boegman said out-of-district voting had been a part of B.C.’s elections for many decades, and explained how thousands of voters utilized the province’s vote-by-phone system, calling it a “very secure model” for people with disabilities.

“I think this is a unique and very important part of our elections, providing accessibility to British Columbians,” he said. “They have unparalleled access to the ballot box that is not found in other jurisdictions in Canada.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.