The news that Canada will soon repatriate the 237 Canadians aboard a cruise ship that has confirmed cases of coronavirus on board was music to the ears of a Surrey, B.C., man and his wife.
Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne said Sunday that the passengers on the Grand Princess will be quarantined for 14 days upon arrival at Canadian Forces Base Trenton in eastern Ontario.
Robert Grubb first heard about the plans from Global News, and he could barely contain his excitement.
“It feels bloody wonderful, is how it feels,” he said with a laugh.
Grubb and his wife, both in their 80s, have been calling on the Canadian government to help them and their fellow citizens since last week, when the ship was denied permission to dock in San Francisco, Calif., over COVID-19 concerns.
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1:51 Coronavirus outbreak: U.S. officials provide COVID-19 response, quarantined cruise ship passengers updates
Coronavirus outbreak: U.S. officials provide COVID-19 response, quarantined cruise ship passengers updates
Passengers on a previous sailing of the Grand Princess — including several Canadians — were later diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, leading to the decision to keep the ship anchored off shore. The two voyages shared some passengers and crew.
Wider testing took place after 21 cases were confirmed on the vessel on Friday. Nineteen of those infected are crew members.
Grubb and his wife were not tested, but they and the rest of the passengers were confined to their rooms. On Sunday, he said the ship had cut off its free internet service.
After that experience, he said a two-week quarantine at a military base in Ontario doesn’t faze him.
“I would rather be on Canadian soil under Canadian medical care if that’s necessary than here in the United States,” Grubb said.
“In the United States, it seems to be so disorganized, just the comments that Trump is making leads everyone to a state of confusion. So I am exhilarated by that news. And Trenton is fine, it’s Canadian soil.”
0:51 COVID-19: Pence says everyone on Grand Princess cruise to be tested after 21 confirmed to have virus
COVID-19: Pence says everyone on Grand Princess cruise to be tested after 21 confirmed to have virus
Before Sunday’s announcement, Grubb and other members of his family repeatedly reached out to both Global Affairs Canada and their MP, Cloverdale-Langley City representative Tamara Jansen, asking to be repatriated.
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The ministry told them and Global News that they were in contact with Canadians on board and were making themselves available to provide assistance, but would not commit to charting a plane until Sunday.
According to Grubb and his daughter Melissa Fitzgerald, Jansen promised the family she would do what she could to get the government to act.
Global News has reached out to Jansen’s office for comment.
Champagne said the move to fly the Canadians home came at the request of the U.S. government.
The passengers will not be allowed to board the flight if they exhibit symptoms. Instead, they will receive further assessment to determine next steps, Champagne said.
Grubb says he and his wife are still feeling healthy and are confident they’ll be allowed onto the plane.
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.
