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Canada's highest court won't hear Victoria's appeal over plastic bag ban – CBC.ca

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The country’s top court has decided not to hear the City of Victoria’s appeal in its fight to ban single-use plastic bags, in the latest blow to the municipality in a years-long battle over which governments have the power to regulate sustainability issues.

The Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear Victoria’s case in a decision Thursday morning. As is customary, the court did not give reasons for the ruling.

“While we are disappointed that the Supreme Court of Canada will not hear the case, there are other avenues for us to achieve our goals of eliminating plastic checkout bags and reducing waste in our community,” Mayor Lisa Helps wrote in a statement released after the court’s decision was posted.

The city’s ban comes in the form of a bylaw forbidding grocery stores from offering or selling plastic bags to shoppers. Stores could still offer paper bags or reusable bags for a cost, if customers asked. Councillors first approved the bylaw in December 2017.

The Canadian Plastic Bag Association filed a challenge in B.C. Supreme Court within a year, claiming the city went beyond its authority to enact the rule. The association said the city was required to have the bylaw approved at a provincial level before rolling it out.

The court rejected the association’s argument, but the B.C. Appeal Court overturned the decision on July 11, 2019. In handing the association its first victory, the appeal court found the city’s ban was based on environmental concerns — which fall under the jurisdiction of the province and the Ministry of Environment.

Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps, pictured in August 2019. Helps says her city isn’t giving up its fight to enact a ban on plastic bags in the wake of Thursday’s decision by the Supreme Court of Canada. (Jill English/CBC)

Bylaw set aside

The bylaw hasn’t been in effect since the summer ruling, but the city said “most” local businesses in the provincial capital have been operating as though the ban is still active anyway — “a testament to the wide community support of the bylaw,” Helps said Thursday.

The statement said the community’s efforts have taken more than 17 million plastic bags out of landfills.

The mayor said the city hoped to appeal the “very restrictive” appeal court ruling with the Supreme Court of Canada in order to “clarify a municipal government’s power to regulate unsustainable business practices that negatively impact the community.”

A shopper puts peas into a cloth bag while grocery shopping on April 6, 2018. The City of Victoria said many local businesses have honoured a ban on plastic bags in the city, even though the bylaw was set aside in July 2019. (Vincent West/REUTERS)

Appeals to the top court are not automatic. The court only agrees to hear cases involving significant legal issues of national importance.

The city argued the precedent set by B.C.’s appeals court could potentially affect other municipal bylaws well beyond Victoria, across B.C. and in other provinces with similar municipal legislation.

The Canadian Plastic Bag Association is now known as the Canadian Plastics Industry Association. It has said the arguments for banning plastic bags don’t take into account that plastic bags are often reused and use less energy and water to make than an alternative like a cotton bag.

Craig Foster, a sustainability consultant speaking for the association, said Thursday’s ruling was welcome news after months spent in court.

“I’m glad it’s over,” Foster said. “It really is a decision that says the province is the one who should be making these kinds of decisions.”

The statement from the city did not specify its next steps. The mayor is expected to speak to reporters later Thursday.

At least 20 other B.C. municipalities moving to implement bans on plastic bags will have been following the capital’s example closely, using it as a case study while they draft their own legislation.

Many municipal governments are also looking to the province for leadership on the issue.

The provincial government is currently reviewing single-use plastics to come up with a potential provincewide ban. Ottawa has committed to banning such items across the country as early as 2021.

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Canada’s Denis Shapovalov wins Belgrade Open for his second ATP Tour title

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BELGRADE, Serbia – Canada’s Denis Shapovalov is back in the winner’s circle.

The 25-year-old Shapovalov beat Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic 6-4, 6-4 in the Belgrade Open final on Saturday.

It’s Shapovalov’s second ATP Tour title after winning the Stockholm Open in 2019. He is the first Canadian to win an ATP Tour-level title this season.

His last appearance in a tournament final was in Vienna in 2022.

Shapovalov missed the second half of last season due to injury and spent most of this year regaining his best level of play.

He came through qualifying in Belgrade and dropped just one set on his way to winning the trophy.

Shapovalov’s best results this season were at ATP 500 events in Washington and Basel, where he reached the quarterfinals.

Medjedovic was playing in his first-ever ATP Tour final.

The 21-year-old, who won the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF title last year, ends 2024 holding a 9-8 tour-level record on the season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Talks to resume in B.C. port dispute in bid to end multi-day lockout

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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 Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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The Royal Canadian Legion turns to Amazon for annual poppy campaign boost

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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.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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