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Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan steps down from cabinet, successor to be named Friday

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OTTAWA – Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan is stepping down from cabinet and will not be seeking re-election in the next federal contest, he announced on Thursday.

A replacement for O’Regan will be sworn in at Rideau Hall on Friday, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.

“The prime minister extends his sincere thanks to Minister O’Regan for his exceptional leadership and dedication to making life better for Canadians, including for unions, workers and organized labour,” the office said.

O’Regan said he would remain the MP representing the Newfoundland riding of St. John’s South-Mount Pearl until the next election, which is set to take place by fall 2025.

A source with knowledge of the matter, who would only speak under condition of anonymity, said a broader cabinet shuffle is not expected to take place.

In a statement on Thursday, O’Regan said his family comes first and he needs to be a better husband, son, uncle and friend.

“My friend Seamus has been a pragmatic voice and a relentless advocate around the cabinet table. But to do that work well, you have to sacrifice a lot, and ask so much of your family. I respect his decision whole-heartedly,” Trudeau said in a social-media post.

O’Regan had alluded to the need to spend more time with family in a speech last month in Toronto.

His father died during the COVID-19 pandemic, and he is a caregiver for his mother, who lives in St. John’s.

O’Regan told the Canadian Club Toronto crowd that he always has his phone volume turned up in case it rings and it’s his mom on the line.

“If, God forbid, something happens to mom right now in St. John’s, I’m the first one to get the call. I’m number one on her lifeline,” he said in his address.

O’Regan, 53, was elected as a member of Parliament in 2015 and has served as a minister since 2017, overseeing several portfolios including for seniors.

He took on his current portfolio in 2021 and was the federal point person on labour issues as several major strikes unfolded.

That included a national walk-out involving thousands of federal public servants last year, as well as a strike at Canada’s busiest port in Vancouver, where the movement of billions of dollars in trade stalled during an extended impasse.

As a cabinet minister, O’Regan introduced multiple government bills. Most recently, he shepherded legislation to ban replacement workers during strikes and lockouts, a New Democrat priority and the fulfilment of a decades-long push from unions.

While serving in the Indigenous services portfolio, he oversaw a bill that sought to give Indigenous groups and communities jurisdiction over child and family services.

“So much of my work in politics has been about dignity,” O’Regan said in a speech to the Canadian Club Toronto last month.

“Dignity for veterans, dignity for Indigenous Peoples, dignity for workers.”

When O’Regan was veterans affairs minister, Trudeau apologized on behalf of Canada for decades of discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community — an occasion for the minister to open up about his own identity as a gay man.

O’Regan shared that it wasn’t until after he became an MP and went through rehabilitation for alcohol addiction in late 2015 that he realized his sexuality was connected to his substance abuse.

“There’s the battle that is fought on, ‘This is my identity, this is who I am,”‘ O’Regan told The Canadian Press in 2017.

“There is also the battle of, ‘Who the hell is the government to tell me who to love? Who the hell is the government to tell me who I can’t love?'”

O’Regan was previously known to many Canadians as a journalist and for his 10 years as co-host of CTV’s Canada AM.

Before entering politics, he was already a longtime friend of Trudeau’s, having been a member of the prime minister’s wedding party when he got married in 2005.

O’Regan and his husband Stelios Doussis also travelled with Trudeau on a family vacation to the Bahamas in 2016.

On Thursday, O’Regan said he will miss working with the prime minister, who he believes “will be regarded as one of the most consequential and important leaders in our country’s history.”

Reflecting on his nine years in office, O’Regan said it’s been “hectic times,” but worthwhile.

“This is a time to unite not divide, create not destroy and build rather than break this great country of Canada,” O’Regan said. “It is a treasure. It’s worth fighting for.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 18, 2024.

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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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