Famous Winston Churchill portrait returns to Ottawa after international art caper

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed…

Canada Post workers go on strike Friday

Canada Post workers are on strike after failing to reach a negotiated agreement with their employer.

Canadian Union of Postal Workers says approximately 55-thousand workers are striking, claiming little progress has been made in the bargaining process.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers issued a 72-hour strike notice earlier in the week, saying it’s been asking for fair wages, safer working conditions and other improvements over nearly a year of bargaining.

The Crown corporation released a statement early Friday morning confirming that customers will experience delays as a result of the strike.

The statement says mail and parcels will not be delivered for the duration of the strike, and some post offices will be closed.

Canada Post says shutting down facilities will affect its national network, with processing and delivery of mail possibly needing time to return to normal once the strike is over.

Here’s what else we’re watching…

Trudeau in Peru as APEC meeting gets underway

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in Peru, kicking off five days of meetings with leaders from around the globe, as the world braces for the looming return of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump.

Trudeau is in Lima for a summit held by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group, which aims to resolve trade barriers and grow economies across the Pacific Rim.

But Trump has threatened to upend global trade and pull the U.S. out of some of the multilateral bodies that Canada champions.

Asia Pacific Foundation vice-president Vina Nadjibulla says the APEC summit is crucial for Canada as it tries to navigating a shifting world.

She says countries might form united policies to counteract some of the impact from some of Trump’s promised tariffs and protectionist measures.

Trudeau will be at the summit until Sunday, when he will fly to Brazil for the G-20 summit, and both summits will feature the leaders of the U.S., China and India.

Fans shell out to see Taylor Swift in Toronto

American sisters Lina and My Jae weren’t worried about the thousands of dollars they dropped to see Taylor Swift in Toronto.

The duo from Upstate New York spent about $3,000 apiece all told, from their $1,800 floor tickets to the $350 bodysuit Lina Jae bought and the $55 entry fee to Taylgate, the unofficial Swift party next door to the concert.

The sisters are among the many fans willing to spend big bucks in hopes of seeing Swift, the flip side of the $152 million in direct spending Destination Toronto has estimated will result from Swift’s swing through the city.

Destination Toronto, a tourism organization, said the $152 million in direct spending it was projecting doesn’t include concert tickets or airfare, because that money doesn’t stay in the local economy.

CEO Andrew Weir said the organization anticipates the spending will grow into a $282-million economic impact as the money continues to circulate.

Manitobans pumped over Bombers, high-flying Jets

Oh, to be a Manitoba sports fan these days, with the Blue Bombers back yet again in the CFL Grey Cup — and now the NHL’s high-flying Jets are stomping all comers and breaking records.

Just ask Chuck Duboff, who has been posting pictures of both teams’ victories on social media this week.

“Everybody’s just smiling more. It’s just been electric in the city,” Duboff, a high school teacher, said in an interview.

“It’s beyond anything any of us could have ever imagined.”

The Blue Bombers play the Toronto Argonauts in Sunday’s CFL championship. It’s the fifth consecutive year the Bombers are in the big game.

The Jets, meanwhile, a traditional heartbreaking team that has never made it to the NHL’s Stanley Cup final, are turning heads this year coming out of the gate on fire, becoming the fastest team in league history to reach 15 wins.

Stolen Churchill portrait returns home today

A stolen portrait of Winston Churchill that was swapped with a dodgy forgery during the pandemic returns to its rightful place today, after two Ottawa police detectives travelled to Rome to retrieve it.

The original artwork will be returned to its spot on the reading-room wall in the posh Fairmont Château Laurier hotel at a homecoming ceremony this morning.

The most famous depiction of Churchill, known as “The Roaring Lion,” appears on the U.K.’s five-pound note and shows a glowering wartime prime minister staring into the camera.

Ottawa police launched an investigation after the heist was reported in 2022, and eventually tracked down the painting overseas in Genoa, Italy.

Police charged a man from the town of Powassan, Ont., just outside North Bay, with forgery, theft and trafficking and his case is before the courts.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 15, 2024

Canada Post workers are on strike after failing to reach a negotiated agreement with their employer.

Canadian Union of Postal Workers says approximately 55,000 workers are striking, claiming little progress has been made in the bargaining process.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers issued a 72-hour strike notice earlier in the week, saying it’s been asking for fair wages, safer working conditions and other improvements over nearly a year of bargaining.

“We still believe we can achieve negotiated collective agreements, but Canada Post must be willing to resolve our new and outstanding issues,” the union said in a statement.

Canada Post served the union with the lockout notice not long after but had said it didn’t intend to lock workers out.

The Crown corporation released a statement early Friday morning confirming that customers will experience delays as a result of the strike.

The statement says mail and parcels will not be delivered for the duration of the strike, and some post offices will be closed.

Canada Post said shutting down facilities will affect its national network, with processing and delivery of mail possibly needing time to return to normal once the strike is over.

Ahead of the strike deadline, federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon said he formally appointed the director general of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services as a special mediator to help in the talks.

“Our top federal mediators have been working with the parties tirelessly, and we are now sending additional resources to the bargaining table,” MacKinnon said in a post on X.

“We are making sure that these two groups have everything they need to reach a deal.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 15, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador’s return on investment for sponsoring a professional English soccer team was not quite as rosy as previously claimed.

In September, Liberal Immigration Minister Sarah Stoodley told The Canadian Press that a government website whose address was emblazoned on the jerseys of Barrow AFC saw a boost in traffic after the English side played a match against top-tier titans Chelsea FC.

She said the HomeAwaits.ca site, which offers information about moving to Newfoundland and Labrador, typically received between 50,000 and 55,0000 visitors per day and that jumped by about 1,200 after Barrow hit the pitch against Chelsea on Sept. 24.

However, after recent questioning from the Shoreline News, a community newspaper, the province has corrected the figures.

The department said this week that the figure of roughly 50,000 actually represented the total number of visitors to the site between June 22 and Sept. 28, and although the site did see a bump of 1,200 users in the day after the Chelsea game, that still didn’t match peak traffic of 9,303 more than a week before the Chelsea game.

A spokesperson said the department learned about the error a bit more than a week ago, when a reporter for the Shoreline News asked for comment about an access-to-information request detailing the correct figures.

The department said the incorrect figures cited by the minister came from an email sent from an “external vendor,” a marketing firm based in St. John’s. “Thank you for your inquiry and the opportunity to correct this information,” department spokesperson Allison King said this week after questions from The Canadian Press.

Newfoundland and Labrador announced in June that it had spent $171,000 to sponsor Barrow AFC, based in northern England. As part of the deal, the team’s yellow-and-black jerseys this year feature a large red Maple Leaf over the province’s name, as well as the HomeAwaits.ca address.

The team from Barrow-in-Furness had a banner year, which earned them a match against Chelsea in September, in the race for the English Football League cup.

Stoodley said the sponsorship was aimed at attracting more skilled workers to the province, such as doctors, nurses and social workers.

Final figures obtained by Shoreline News and shared with The Canadian Press show that of more than 58,000 people who visited the site during the period in question, about 2,254 — roughly four per cent — were from the United Kingdom.

“Home Awaits is where we direct traffic from all our international recruitment activities. That includes activities in Latin America, India, Nigeria, Philippines, U.K., Europe and other key markets,” King said in an email.

The province’s Opposition Progressive Conservative Party has called the sponsorship deal a “shockingly irresponsible waste” of taxpayer dollars.

“Even if viewers notice the tiny website address on a jersey crowded with other wording and symbols, how does advertising on a soccer jersey get people to move to Newfoundland and Labrador?” Party leader Tony Wakeham asked in a press release earlier this year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 15, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.