BoC considered lowering rate by quarter point, but felt economy warranted a jumbo cut

Business groups say the work stoppage at B.C. ports is the latest in a run of supply chain disruptions affecting Canadian companies and the country’s economy.

Employers at most of the province’s ports locked out their workers Monday in a dispute involving roughly 700 unionized foremen. The workers represented by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 have been without a contract since March 2023.

The disruption comes less than a year and a half after a 13-day strike by different workers at most B.C. port terminals and just a few months after a countrywide work stoppage at Canada’s two biggest railways.

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce said Monday that significant labour disruptions are becoming too common and tarnish Canada’s reputation as a reliable trading partner.

“Not long ago, shutting down our West Coast ports two years in a row would have seemed unthinkable,” said the Chamber’s senior director of transportation, infrastructure and construction Pascal Chan in a statement.

“The resulting damage to trade and our economy is another blow to Canadian workers and businesses.”

Greater Vancouver Board of Trade president Bridgitte Anderson said the shutdown will disrupt $800 million in goods every day, warning it could put upward pressure on inflation.

“The Port of Vancouver is far and away the most significant port that we have in Canada,” said Fraser Johnson, a professor of operations management at the Ivey Business School at the University of Western Ontario.

He said the port handles about 45 per cent of the total volume of Canada’s ports, with the next largest being Montreal at about 10 per cent.

“I think a lot of people tend to focus on what’s coming into the country in terms of consumer goods, automobiles, electronics, especially this time of the year, when we’re coming up to the holiday season,” said Johnson.

“But there’s a lot of stuff that gets exported out of Canada. So lumber, commodities like coal, for example, iron ore, all get shipped out of Canada via our West Coast ports.”

Johnson said the longer the port stoppage goes on, the harder businesses’ bottom lines and the economy will be hit.

If it goes on for several weeks, consumers could start to see more of an impact as well, he said.

The 2023 B.C. port strike cost manufacturers an average of $207,000 per day, Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters president and CEO Dennis Darby said in a statement Friday.

The Chamber’s Chan urged the government to “use every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute.”

The federal government was relatively hands-off in last year’s port dispute, said Johnson — unlike the rail stoppage, which saw the government ask the Canada Industrial Relations Board to order a return to work and binding arbitration, which it did.

Despite the importance of Canada’s ports, Johnson said the rail disruption posed a more imminent threat.

“Railroads touch most of the products that people consume at some point in the supply chain, so they’re really the lifeblood of the Canadian economy,” he said.

“Shutting down a port for a couple of weeks probably isn’t going to be something that people are going to notice, but … a rail disruption would have much more significant economic impact and significant impact on consumers directly.”

On Friday, Fertilizer Canada also raised the alarm about the impending labour disruption, saying the ports are vital for exporting potash overseas and a shutdown would cost the industry $9.7 million per day in lost sales revenue.

The organization said the 2023 dispute cost the fertilizer industry more than $126 million, and had knock-on effects beyond the 13 days workers were off the job: in the months after the stoppage, Canada lost significant market share to Russia in key markets, it said.

“We are once again on the brink of losing access to a critical trade corridor, and potash fertilizer will be one of the hardest-hit commodities,” said president and CEO Karen Proud in a statement.

The organization called on the federal government to amend the Canada Labour Code to “ensure the continuous movement of fertilizer products at ports during labour disputes.”

Nutrien, the world’s largest potash producer, said that its marketing and delivery subsidiary Canpotex is exploring alternatives to mitigate the stoppage’s effect on customers.

However, a prolonged disruption could negatively affect farmers and food security globally, said media relations manager Shawn Churchill in an emailed statement.

On the other side of the country, the Port of Montreal is also in the midst of a dispute, with two terminals closed until further notice as about 1,200 longshore workers began striking at the end of October.

— With files from Chuck Chiang in Vancouver

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

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said the 2023 strike was at the same port.

OTTAWA – The Canadian government is in a better position to manage trade negotiations with the next American president than it was the last time it signed a deal with the U.S. and Mexico, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said as Americans headed to the polls Tuesday.

U.S. voters are choosing between starkly different visions of their country’s future with either former president Donald Trump or Vice-President Kamala Harris. Whoever wins the White House this year will be in charge when the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade agreement is reviewed in 2026.

The “Team Canada” approach the Liberal government launched when negotiating with the first Trump administration is already back in play, and Joly said the government is ready to work with premiers, mayors, the business sector and unions to look out for Canadian interests.

Joly also said she’s been speaking with other foreign ministers and world leaders about how to work with the next president.

“So we have an approach that is very broad and we are very unique in the world. We have the strongest and, I think, most important relationship as a country with the U.S.,” Joly said.

While they’ll be watching the election results closely, several cabinet ministers who are expected to be involved in upcoming trade talks say they’ve been laying the groundwork for months.

Trump and Harris have both campaigned on protectionist policies, which could pose a major threat to Canada’s economy.

Trump’s pledge to bring in a 10 per cent across-the-board tariff — something the Canadian Chamber of Commerce believes could cost the Canadian economy around $30 billion per year.

Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne said the goal over the last several months has been to define Canada as a critical and strategic partner, particularly on economic security, as opposed to just a friendly neighbour to the north.

“The focus of our friends in the United States is national security. National security and economic security are one. I think there is a better understanding today that the strategic relationship that we have is serving North America’s national security,” Champagne said.

The two presidential candidates differ significantly on their approach to security, in particular when it comes to the NATO alliance.

Trump has been highly critical of NATO allies — particularly those, like Canada, that are not meeting the agreed-upon spending target — accusing them of failing to pull their weight and calling the alliance “obsolete.”

Canada does not plan to reach the target of spending two per cent of GDP on defence until at least 2032.

Meanwhile, Harris has said her administration would uphold mutual defence pacts and continue steadfast support for Ukraine.

Defence Minister Bill Blair said he believes either administration will recognize the work Canada is doing to boost defence spending.

“It takes time to build new battleships, it takes time to build the new submarines we’re going to require, and deliver the airplanes we need,” Blair said on his way into Tuesday’s cabinet meeting.

“I have great confidence in the institutions of the United States, including our relationship with the State Department and their military.”

Joly said Trudeau’s government now has a well of experience to draw on after dealing with three different U.S. administrations over the last decade.

The government has also built relationships with both Republicans and Democrats in preparation for whoever takes over the White House.

Irregular border crossing may once again become an issue for Canada with Trump promising to launch the biggest deportation effort in American history, pledging to send upwards of 10 million migrants back to their home countries.

Policies in the first Trump administration contributed to more than 113,000 migrants entering Quebec from the U.S. at Roxham Road. That unofficial crossing was closed last year.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller said he wishes both candidates luck, and noted that a secure, stable border is in both country’s interest.

“We’ve always been able to manage the border with the U.S., and particularly during COVID. Particularly with attempts to put the military on the border, close it, do all sorts of things that didn’t make sense,” Miller said.

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

HALIFAX – Nova Scotia’s Progressive Conservatives promised on Tuesday to introduce a universal shingles vaccine program for people 65 and older if re-elected Nov. 26, the latest in a series of targeted health announcements.

Party leader Tim Houston said the program would cost $27 million the first year before dropping below $3 million by the third year as the focus shifts to people reaching the age of 65. Houston said the shingles vaccine should be free because statistics show one in three people will develop the painful skin rash, the risk of which increases as people age.

“We have the tools to fight shingles with a vaccine that can reduce or eliminate the symptoms of this disease, but too many of our seniors don’t get the vaccine because of the cost,” he said, which he estimated at about $100.

“I hear from seniors all the time … saying it (vaccine costs) puts them under pressure in other parts of their finances,” he said.

The announcement followed earlier health-care promises by the Tories, such as introducing a travel nurse team to address staffing shortages in the network, including in emergency departments, and creating a centre of excellence to treat the symptoms of menopause.

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill, meanwhile, promised on Tuesday to build a new six-lane bridge across Halifax harbour to help relieve traffic congestion in Atlantic Canada’s largest city. He said his plan would replace the MacKay Bridge with a larger span that would have dedicated bike and bus lanes.

He was also critical of a Tory promise to remove the tolls on the city’s two harbour bridges.

“That’s the opposite of what we need right now,” he said. “Experts are saying this move will actually increase traffic congestion by 10 to 20 per cent. Those tolls generate revenue that we can’t afford to lose right now.”

Churchill repeated his party’s promise, announced in September, to make public transit free across the province and expand municipal transit services. He said a Liberal government would also promote flexible work arrangements to reduce the number of vehicles on the road.

The Liberal leader was joined by Thomas Trappenberg, the former Nova Scotia Green Party leader, who is now running for Churchill’s party in the Halifax-area riding of Sackville-Uniacke. Trappenberg, who served as the Green leader from 2016 to 2021, said it was Churchill’s free public transit promise that initially attracted him to the party.

“This really resonated with me because I actually campaigned on this many years ago,” he said. “I still have Green values, but I think the Liberal party is much more organized and is able to implement things.”

Housing remained the focus of the NDP on Tuesday, as leader Claudia Chender promised to create a compliance and enforcement unit for resolving tenant-landlord disputes.

“Right now the vacancy rate in Nova Scotia is at one per cent,” Chender said in a statement. “If a landlord isn’t maintaining their property, renters don’t feel like they have any options. The disparity in power is often huge; the current system isn’t balanced or fair.”

Chender said the unit is needed because the province doesn’t have the necessary resources to manage disputes.

After the release of a $300,000 report in September, the Progressive Conservative government decided against an enforcement unit, saying it would result in more red tape and longer resolution times for both landlords and tenants.

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

— With files by Michael Tutton in Halifax

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