It was two days before Christmas 2018 when New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs, in a live interview with me, spoke of the need to determine if Canada is a nation or a notion.
More than one year, one Alberta and one federal election later, the question not only lingers, but has increased in scope and significance.
At the time of my interview with Premier Higgs, he had just attended his first national premiers meeting. The Energy East pipeline project was still of sufficient national interest at that time that its need and possible feasibility entered the conversation.
So did the equalization formula and Quebec’s growing entitlement to receiving increasing billions of annual equalization dollars while simultaneously that province, through its Premier Francois Legault, bluntly shuttered all talk of any new Quebec-crossing pipeline construction linking the Alberta oilsands with refineries in New Brunswick.
Next week, as the nation’s premiers meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney will raise the need for change to the current equalization formula and demand the federal government support, instead of impede, development of the energy sector in his province.
Trudeau dragged his heels on delivering federal support for the $20-billion-plus Teck Frontier oilsands mine in Alberta, causing the company to walk away after spending more than $1 billion to meet environmental assessment and regulatory requirements, as well as garnering support from all First Nations directly to be affected.
Trudeau’s distaste for the oilsands is clear and was spoken to directly by the prime minister in a town hall meeting televised nationally.
LISTEN BELOW: The Roy Green show from March 2
Yet China, the world’s greatest emitter climate-impacting pollution, forges onward building massive new coal-powered energy plants.
How does the Trudeau government respond? By challenging Beijing vigorously? Not so much. Instead, Ottawa greenlighted China National Offshore Oil Corp’s (CNOOC) exploration in the waters off the Newfoundland and Labrador coast.
The government of Newfoundland and Labrador is welcoming the development and why wouldn’t it? The provincial natural resources minister said, “this means jobs created for the people of our province and growth in our oil and gas industry.”
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Alberta’s oilsands, though, retain Ottawa’s pariah designation as jobs and billions upon billions of dollars are lost not only to Alberta’s treasury but also to all of Canada and our complex and expensive social infrastructure.
Energy to be produced by state of the art Canadian technology, then shipped to nations without the infrastructure or tech to match, means natural resources will remain in the ground.
Last weekend, I spoke on air with Laura Lau of Brompton Corp. in Toronto. Lau manages some $2 billion in assets and spoke of the withdrawal of the Teck Frontier mine initiative as the perhaps last nail in the coffin of investor oilsands development interest.
That’s not all, of course.
Most recently, rail line blockades and interruption of vital national commerce have been allowed to proceed at great cost to Canada by Trudeau’s “timid” response to law-breaking — “timid” was the assessment of University of Saskatchewan professor and Indigenous issues expert Ken Coates on air. Not just once, but twice and on successive weeks.
There will be much to challenge the premiers and prime minister at their meeting. Trudeau will be lobbied to remove his government’s imposed carbon tax until the Supreme Court of Canada decides whether Ottawa has the constitutional power to so decide. Kenney will have the Alberta Court of Appeal on his side, as the court just days ago decided the federal government overstepped with its carbon tax imposition.
Add to the above that for decades, provincial trade barriers impeded national economic cooperation and growth.
Is Canada a nation or a notion?
LISTEN BELOW: Blaine Higgs on Roy Green’s show in December 2018
Roy Green is the host of the Roy Green Show on the Global News Radio network.
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.
