TORONTO —
The Canadian business community appears to be largely supportive of the Quebec government’s move to impose the country’s first vaccine passport system.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce says vaccine passports or digital vaccination certificates would help to prevent future waves of the pandemic from forcing a resurgence of financially disastrous lockdowns by enabling those with low risk to participate in events, move freely and go about their daily lives.
“Absent that, what you have is people being held hostage,” chamber president Perrin Beatty said in an interview before the province announced the new system to curb the spread of COVID-19.
He noted that 80 per cent of Canadians over the age of 12 have already demonstrated their willingness to get vaccinated, but that’s too low to achieve herd immunity.
“The private sector, like Canadians as a whole, is diverse — but one thing in which the private sector is very much united is that we can’t afford to go into more across-the-board lockdowns.”
Quebec announced last week that it would require Quebecers as of September to show proof of vaccination in order to access non-essential services in parts of the province where COVID-19 transmission is high.
Premier Francois Legault said the province appears to be entering a fourth wave of rising infections and that he doesn’t plan to return to lockdowns.
Not all provinces agree: Ontario Premier Doug Ford reiterated Thursday that the province isn’t planning to introduce a “vaccine passport” system allowing access to certain activities, and Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has also rejected the concept.
Increasing the rate of vaccination would be ideal, Beatty said, but certificates could also help to protect people’s health without inflicting major social and economic damage on the country from the Delta variant and other potential variants.
Beatty said the chamber’s goal is to prevent mass lockdowns by controlling the risks posed by the Delta and other potential variants.
He said digital certificates would also be critical for international travel to provide proof of status for other countries that want to ensure visitors meet their vaccination requirements. Paper documents could easily be forged so machine-readable documents are needed that meet globally accepted standard, Beatty noted.
“I’m fully vaccinated. But if I were attending a concert, I would feel an awful lot more comfortable knowing the people I was jammed in with have themselves been vaccinated.”
The Toronto Region Board of Trade last month called on the Ontario government to introduce a vaccine passport system for non-essential business activity.
CEO Jan De Silva said it’s a personal decision to get vaccinated, but accessing major events and indoor dining requires moral responsibility. Small businesses cannot afford another lockdown, she said.
Digital certification would also help to assure employees and customers that it’s safe to return to work or visit places of business said Beatty, with rapid testing as a supplement.
He said vaccine passports aren’t dissimilar to the Nexus Pass, a voluntary system that allows Canadian and American travellers to cross the border more rapidly.
A recent Leger survey found that 58 per cent of Canadians and 37 per cent of Americans support imposing a vaccine passport for all essential and non-essential activities.
And nearly 78 per cent of business members surveyed by the Montreal Board of Trade support the use of a vaccine passport, says the group’s president.
“It’s a clear signal from the private sector that they see the vaccine passport as a tool that should be used. And of course, in their view, it’s because you do not want to have to close down the economy again,” said board president Michel Leblanc.
The group has been studying the issue for months but Leblanc said the benefits of the passports crystallized during the Stanley Cup finals, when Montreal Canadiens fans were limited in number during home games while the Tampa Bay Lightning arena was full.
The passports could help to ensure that people attending sporting events, movie theatres, bars or places that attract large crowds are fully vaccinated, he said.
The board of trade was among those pressing the Quebec government to put a passport system in place.
France is adopting a vaccine-passport system and New York City plans to require people to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination before they can dine indoors at restaurants, see shows or go to gyms. The system will be phased in over several weeks in August and September.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he supports Quebec’s move to introduce a passport system, though he has said each province must decide for itself.
The federal government is reportedly working on secure vaccination certification for international travellers.
While Canada’s large business lobbies are pushing for change, many industry groups are at the early stages of studying the issue.
“We’re very much in the position of gathering intelligence at this point,” said Denise Allen, head of the Food Processors of Canada.
“We’re careful to observe that the rise in Delta variants clearly necessitates us to stay vigilant on promoting vaccine acceptance.”
Allen added that there are deep concerns about how civil liberties could be curtailed by passport vaccine requirements and how the passport system would work, whether it would be accepted throughout the world and how it would be managed.
The use of vaccine passports might be helpful in some circumstances but not in the retail setting which is far less discretionary and scheduled and attracts families with children under the age of 12 who cannot currently be vaccinated, says the Retail Council of Canada.
The group’s concern about vaccine passports is very similar to masking rules.
“It would be very difficult for business to be the vaccine police, just as it was at the time very difficult for them to be the masking police,” said spokeswoman Michelle Wasylyshen.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 8, 2021.
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.
