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MONTREAL – Travellers, business groups and politicians expressed fervent relief on Sunday after Air Canada and the union representing thousands of its pilots negotiated a new labour deal and averted a disruptive, countrywide shutdown.

Canada’s largest air carrier announced shortly after midnight Sunday that it had reached a tentative, four-year collective agreement with the Air Line Pilots Association.

The deal, reached after more than a year of contract negotiations, ended the possibility that the 5,200 Air Canada pilots represented by the union could be locked out or walk off the job. Any such move would have forced the airline to suspend nearly all operations, a prospect that raised concerns among business groups, passengers and even the prime minister.

At Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, travellers preparing for Sunday departures were breathing a sigh of relief.

“I wasn’t looking forward to an Air Canada strike, because I booked this ticket like a month and a half back, so a last-minute change would have been pretty bad,” said Arjun Pandit, who was heading to New York City for work. “It would have halted the entire trip.”

Donna Holloway, who had booked a connecting flight to Chicago, said she hadn’t made any back-up plans and would have tried to change her flight at the airport if a work stoppage had been announced. She received an email Sunday morning saying her flight was still scheduled. “I was really confident that they would settle the dispute and so far I’ve been happy,” she said.

Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon issued a statement shortly after the deal was announced praising both sides for avoiding a work stoppage.

“Thanks to the hard work of the parties and federal mediators, disruptions have been prevented for Canadians,” MacKinnon said on social media. “I wish to salute the efforts of Air Canada and its pilots, who approached the discussions with seriousness and a resolve to get a deal.”

The tentative agreement averts a strike or lockout that could have begun as early as Wednesday for Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge, with flight cancellations expected before then.

“The new agreement recognizes the contributions and professionalism of Air Canada’s pilot group, while providing a framework for the future growth of the airline,” the carrier said in a statement.

It said Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge will continue to operate as normal while union members vote on the tentative four-year contract.

Air Canada said the terms of the new deal will remain confidential pending a ratification vote by the membership, expected to be completed over the next month, and approval by the airline’s board of directors.

The union issued a statement after midnight Sunday, saying if ratified, the tentative agreement will generate an approximate additional $1.9 billion of value for Air Canada pilots over the course of the agreement.

“The consistent engagement and unified determination of our pilots have been the catalyst for achieving this contract,” said First Officer Charlene Hudy, chair of the Air Canada ALPA MEC.

The deal also represents progress on several key issues including compensation, retirement and work rules, she added.

Air Canada said customers who changed flights originally scheduled between Sunday and Sept. 23 under its labour disruption plan can change their booking back to their original flight in the same cabin at no cost, provided there is space available.

A full-scale shutdown seemed likely in the days leading up to Sunday’s announcement. The two sides had said they remained far apart on the issue of pay, a central sticking point in the negotiations that had stretched for more than a year.

The pilots’ union argued Air Canada continued to post record profits while expecting pilots to accept below-market compensation. It had also said about a quarter of pilots report taking on second jobs, with about 80 per cent of those doing so out of necessity.

The airline said it had offered salary increases of more than 30 per cent over four years, plus improvements to benefits, and said the union was being inflexible with “unreasonable wage demands.”

Air Canada and numerous business groups had called on the government to intervene in the matter, including the Canadian Federation of Independent Business and the Canadian and U.S. Chambers of Commerce.

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce joined the chorus of those voicing relief on Sunday.

“We hope to see (the tentative agreement) ratified by membership in the coming month, putting an end to the uncertainty of Canadian travellers, as well as businesses and communities who depend on Air Canada’s cargo network every day,” CEO Candace Laing said in a statement.

The union vehemently opposed government intervention, with ALPA President Capt. Tim Perry issuing a Friday statement asking Ottawa to respect workers’ collective rights and refrain from getting involved in the bargaining process. He said government intervention violates the constitutional rights and freedoms of Canadians.

For his part, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it was up to the two sides to hash out a deal.

Trudeau said Friday the government wasn’t just going to step in and fix the issue, something it did promptly after both of Canada’s major railways saw lockouts in August and during a strike by WestJet mechanics on the Canada Day long weekend.

He said the government respects the right to strike and would only intervene if it became clear no negotiated agreement was possible.

Air Canada had already begun preparing for a possible shutdown, saying its cargo service had stopped accepting items such as perishables and indicating a wind-down plan for passenger flights would take effect if a notice of a strike or lockout was issued.

The tentative deal averts travel disruptions for the 670 daily flights on average operated by Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge, and the travel of more than 110,000 passengers.

This report from The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2024.

— With files from Ritika Dubey in Toronto

Companies in this story: (TSX:AC)

TORONTO – “The Life of Chuck,” an offbeat drama from writer-director Mike Flanagan, is the People’s Choice Award winner at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.

The top TIFF award, which is voted on by audiences, was handed out Sunday as the 11-day festival rolled into its final hours. Other prizes were bestowed on Matthew Rankin’s “Universal Language,” Sophie Deraspe’s “Shepherds” and a Tragically Hip docuseries.

Flanagan is best known for his Netflix horror fare, including “The Haunting of Hill House” and “Midnight Mass.” His latest, which is adapted from a Stephen King story, strays from that genre with a quirky portrait of a divorced man, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, who can’t escape a looming presence that’s infiltrated every corner of his life.

In announcing the award, TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey read a thank-you note from Flanagan who said he was “absolutely overwhelmed” and never expected to win the prize, which is considered a bellwether for Oscar attention.

Last year’s People’s Choice winner “American Fiction” went on to nab five Academy Award nominations and won best adapted screenplay, while other past People’s Choice picks include best picture winners “Green Book,” “12 Years a Slave” and “The King’s Speech.”

Runners-up for this year’s People’s Choice award were Jacques Audiard’s Spanish-language musical crime thriller “Emilia Pérez” and Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or winner “Anora.”

Coralie Fargeat’s twisted body-horror feature “The Substance,” starring Demi Moore as a washed-up Hollywood star who goes to extremes to keep her youth, won the audience award for best Midnight Madness film.

The People’s Choice for best documentary went to “The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal,” a four-hour docuseries directed by Mike Downie about his late brother Gord’s influential Canadian rock band.

The Hip doc, which debuts Friday on Prime Video, helped launch TIFF a little more than a week ago when a congregation of the band’s fans gathered for a singalong to “Bobcaygeon” and several of their other hits on a street near the TIFF Lightbox.

“It’s been a great ride,” Downie said as he reflected on the experience while clutching his award.

“(The Hip was) beloved in this country…. People believed in this band, and the band never did anything to jeopardize that trust. So yeah, the People’s Choice award seems very appropriate.”

“The Life of Chuck” is in an unusual position for a TIFF People’s Choice honouree.

Unlike many past winners, its producers came to the festival still seeking a distributor, which means it has no release date and may not be out in time for awards season.

However, like many past winners, TIFF’s CEO said “The Life of Chuck” has certain qualities that give audiences “big feels” that stick with them long after the film ends.

“With ‘The Life of Chuck,’ people reflect on their own lives and the lives of people they’re close to,” Bailey said.

“When you come out of a movie having that kind of emotional reaction, that’s what often prompts a vote.”

The Best Canadian Discovery Award, worth $10,000, went to Rankin’s second feature “Universal Language,” set in a Canada where Farsi and French are the two official languages and the two cultures coexist in a dreamlike alternate universe.

“This is a movie which we really did by our heart,” said Ila Firouzabadi, co-writer of the film.

“The message is really about solidarity and friendship. It’s something between a Tehran, Winnipeg (and) Montreal intersection and I hope from that intersection we are passing our compassion.”

The Best Canadian Feature Award, also worth $10,000, went to Sophie Deraspe’s “Shepherds,” about a young Montrealer frustrated with the emptiness of his marketing job who flees to the French Alps for a new life.

The juried FIPRESCI Award, from the International Federation of Film Critics, went to Somalia’s “Mother Mother,” directed by Somali-Canadian recording artist K’naan Warsame.

The $20,000 Platform Award, selected by an in-person international jury, went to “They Will Be Dust,” a co-production between Spain, Italy and Switzerland directed by Carlos Marques-Marcet.

The filmmaker has been caught in a whirlwind experience over the past week. He premiered his film at TIFF on its opening weekend and then returned to Madrid, only to get a call from TIFF organizers urging him to make his way back to Toronto for a big announcement.

“I was so tired, but I was so excited — and I wanted to meet Atom Egoyan,” he said of the Canadian director sitting on the three-person jury that unanimously selected his film.

Marques-Marcet’s “They Will Be Dust” is inspired by a real couple’s wish to embark on assisted death together. The film is also part contemporary-dance musical.

He recognizes those elements might make it a tough sell for some audiences, yet he’s hopeful the TIFF recognition will give his unconventional film a chance at greater exposure.

“Movies are not sports. It’s not about, ‘Who is the winner?'” he said.

“But obviously these things help a lot to try to push the barriers.”

Several awards introduced in recent years to elevate projects made by Black and Indigenous creators were not awarded at this year’s festival.

TIFF’s Amplify Voices awards, which honoured both the Best BIPOC Canadian Feature as well as the Best BIPOC Canadian First Feature, were removed from this year’s event.

Also missing was the Changemaker Award, which celebrated a festival film that tackled issues of social change.

Representatives for the festival declined to outline their decision to remove the awards.

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

HALIFAX – Nova Scotia’s premier is repeating his government’s calls for Ottawa to foot the full bill to protect a vital strip of land that connects the province to the rest of the country ahead of a new parliamentary session.

Tim Houston sent a letter Sunday to the seven Liberal members of Parliament in Nova Scotia urging Ottawa to fully fund the expensive work needed to protect the Chignecto Isthmus against rising sea levels.

The letter says the isthmus is vulnerable to the effects of climate change and one severe weather event could disconnect the province from the rest of Canada, stopping ground or rail transport of goods and services.

Both the Nova Scotia and New Brunswick governments want Ottawa to pay for the estimated $650-million infrastructure project to strengthen a dike system and rail lines, but the federal government has said it will only cover half the cost.

The squabble ramped up after the Nova Scotia government began legal proceedings in July 2023 to determine whether the federal government has exclusive responsibility to maintain structures along the corridor.

The letter sent a day before Parliament returns Monday says the Chignecto Isthmus sees about $100 million worth of trade pass through it each day, making it “remarkable” that Ottawa “continues to deny its responsibility” in protecting the corridor.

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

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