New Brunswick’s premier sends out minister mandate letters, outlines expectations

Teamsters Canada says if Canada Post workers go on strike or are locked out, its members at Purolator won’t handle any packages postmarked or identified as originating from the carrier.

Spokesman Christopher Monette said in an email that the Canadian Union of Postal Workers has the Teamsters’ full support, and that they believe good union jobs are essential pillars of Canadian society.

Workers at Canada Post could be on strike in the early hours Friday.

Meanwhile, Canada Post could lock out workers as early as 8 a.m. Eastern Friday but has said it doesn’t intend to do so.

Canada Post says its operations will continue if there are rotating strikes, but delays may occur.

The postal workers’ union has said that after almost a year of bargaining, the parties still remain far apart on many issues.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

VANCOUVER – RCMP say officers interrupted a theft at a North Vancouver grocery store that involved thousands of dollars worth of cheese.

They say it happened at the Whole Foods Market in the early morning hours on Sept. 29, but they still haven’t been able to identify a suspect.

Officers on patrol that morning say they came across a cart full of cheese in a laneway, and when they started looking around, a man appeared from a stairwell connected to the store and took off when he saw police.

They gave chase, assuming he was the cheese thief, but the man escaped, and police are now looking for a Caucasian male caught on video in the back of the store who was wearing a black Oakland Athletics baseball cap, white T-shirt and a brown jacket.

Police say the man had broken into the Whole Foods and was in the process of stealing the cheese — valued at $12,800 according to store staff — when officers happened upon the theft.

Unfortunately, police say, the cheese could no longer be sold after it left the refrigerator.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

OTTAWA – The federal government has tapped a panel of five experts to craft the path toward a universal pharmacare program.

Dr. Nav Persaud, the Canada Research Chair in health justice, will chair a committee that includes a variety of health-care professionals who are tasked with advising the government on the next steps of the program.

The Liberals and NDP negotiated the substance of a pharmacare bill as part of their now-defunct supply-and-confidence agreement.

The bill became law on Oct. 10, and allows the federal government to sign agreements with the provinces and territories to begin providing free access to contraceptives and diabetes medication.

Separately, the expert committee will come up with recommendations for creating a universal, single-payer pharmacare program.

The committee will submit a report to the health minister by Oct. 10, 2025, and that report will go to Parliament.

The experts include Linda Silas, president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions; Amy Lamb, executive director of the Indigenous Pharmacy Professionals of Canada; Dr. Stéphane Ahern, an associate clinical professor at the Université de Montréal ; and Dr. Steve Morgan, an expert on pharmacare systems at the University of British Columbia.

The committee will engage with provinces and territories, Indigenous groups and experts as it prepares the report.

In a statement, the NDP says it welcomes the appointment of the committee.

The federal Conservatives have said they would reject a single-payer drug plan if they form government.

Conservative governments in Alberta and Ontario have also expressed skepticism about signing onto the initial deals with the Liberal government.

Health Minister Mark Holland has said he hopes to have deals signed with all provinces and territories by next spring to begin coverage of birth-control and diabetes medications.

British Columbia has already signed a memorandum of understanding to provide coverage. Manitoba’s NDP government began covering prescription birth control on Oct. 1 and has indicated interest in making a deal with Ottawa.

That initial program is a universal, first-dollar, single-payer model, according to Holland, meaning that patients will not pay for the medications. People with a private health plan that covers the medicines can choose whether to use their health coverage or the federal plan.

But when asked about the national program’s structure last month, Holland refused to speculate on whether it will be a mixed-payer system or a single-payer system.

Instead, he said the expert panel will be tasked with sorting out what type of system will work best.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2024.

— With files from Laura Osman

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.