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OTTAWA – On Monday Parliamentarians will return to the familiar stone walls of West Block in Ottawa to find the political landscape has shifted significantly.

When they last gathered in the capital the Liberals knew their prospects were poor after languishing in the polls for more than a year, but they were secure in the knowledge the New Democrats would prevent them from toppling before they table the next budget, at least.

But the summer saw several seismic shifts that mean the government will now operate as a true minority that could fall to an election at any time.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh pulled out of a political pact with government just weeks ago, and already faces a challenge from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre to vote non-confidence in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his governing party.

The stakes are high for the NDP, whose electoral promise doesn’t appear to have improved drastically as a result of some of the legislation and programs they managed to extract from the Liberals as part of the deal, including a national dental-care plan and a pharmacare bill that’s currently making its way through the Senate.

The new dynamics open up new opportunities for the Bloc Québécois, whose leader Yves-François Blanchet has already signalled he’s willing to do business with the Liberals in exchange for his own list of demands that benefit Quebec.

The Bloc’s stipulations include the Liberals green lighting the party’s private member’s Bill C-319, which would bring pensions for seniors aged 65 to 74 to the same level as that paid to those aged 75 and over.

The Bloc need a royal recommendation from a government minister to OK the financial implications and get the bill through the House.

The Liberals meanwhile have said they eschew the political machinations opposition parties are hatching, and are focused instead on “delivering for Canadians.”

While the Liberals would no doubt prefer to work their key pieces of legislation through the House, including their pharmacare bill and controversial Online Harms Act, the other parties could make that progress difficult.

Singh has started to offer much harsher critiques of the prime minister and his government since breaking faith with the Liberals, but party insiders have suggested he isn’t any more keen for an election than Trudeau at the moment.

All parties will be tested Monday after MPs leave for the evening, when they’ll anxiously await the results of two crucial byelections.

The NDP and the Liberals are both trying to maintain strongholds as the political odds appear stacked against them. The results will set the tone in Parliament for the rest of the season.

The NDP are trying to fend off Poilievre’s Conservatives in the Winnipeg riding of Elmwood — Transcona and the Liberals are running a three-way race against the NDP and the Bloc in Montreal’s LaSalle—Émard—Verdun.

“I can’t wait for the conversations we’re having in (LaSalle — Émard — Verdun) this weekend, but also can’t wait to welcome Laura Palestini to Ottawa as of Monday,” Trudeau said, projecting positivity about the prospects of his Liberal candidate in the Montreal riding Friday.

Trudeau faced calls from Liberal party faithful to step aside as leader after his last byelection loss in Toronto — St. Paul’s in June. Those calls seemed to simmer down over the summer.

Though Liberal MPs were quick to deny that the race in Montreal is a referendum on his leadership when they retreated to Nanaimo last week to talk strategy, that is largely how the vote is being viewed elsewhere in Ottawa.

Singh could face similar scrutiny if he loses the long-held NDP seat in Winnipeg and fails to take the Montreal riding from the Liberals.

The Conservatives are expected to meet in Ottawa this weekend to discuss their plan for the fall sitting, and how they can wedge their opponents into calling that sitting short.

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

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

HALIFAX – A strike that has shuttered libraries in the Halifax region for the past three-and-a-half weeks could come to an end on Thursday now that the employer and union representing hundreds of workers have reached a tentative labour deal.

The Nova Scotia Union of Public and Private Employees Local 14 and Halifax Public Libraries issued a joint statement on Friday announcing the agreement, though they did not share details on its terms.

It said both library workers and the library board will vote on the deal as soon as possible, and branches will re-open for business on Sept. 19 if it’s approved.

Chad Murphy, spokesperson and vice president of NSUPE Local 14, said voting for library workers opened Saturday morning and will close at 12 p.m. Sunday. He declined to share details of the deal but said the membership met to “review the offer in its entirety” on Friday night.

About 340 workers at libraries across the region have been on strike since Aug. 26 as they fought for improvements to wages they said were “miles behind” other libraries in Canada. Negotiations broke down after the employer offered the workers 3.5-per-cent raises in the first year of a new contract, and then three per cent in each of the next three years.

Library service adviser Dominique Nielsen told The Canadian Press in the first week on the picket line that those increases would not bring wages up to a livable wage for many workers, adding that some library workers sometimes have to choose between paying rent and paying for groceries.

When the strike began, employees were working under a collective agreement that expired in April 2023. Librarians make between $59,705 and $68,224 a year under that agreement, while service support workers — who are the lowest paid employees at Halifax Public Libraries — make between $35,512 and $40,460 annually.

By contrast, the lowest paid library workers at the London Public Library in London, Ont.— a city with a comparable population and cost of living to Halifax — make at least $37,756, according to their collective agreement.

Library workers also cited a changing workplace as another reason why they rejected Halifax Public Libraries’ first offer. Libraries have become gathering spaces for people with increasingly complex needs, and it is more common for library workers to take on more social responsibilities in addition to lending books.

“We need to ensure that members are able to care for themselves first before they are able to care for our communities,” an NSUPE strike FAQ page reads.

Other issues at play during the strike have included better parental leave top-up pay for adoptive parents and eliminating a provision of the collective agreement that calls for dismissals for employees who are absent from work for two days or more without approved leave.

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

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

EDMONTON – RCMP say a second suspect has been arrested in the killing of an Alberta county worker.

Mounties say 28-year-old Elijah Strawberry was taken into custody Friday at a house on O’Chiese First Nation.

Colin Hough, a worker with Rocky View County, was shot and killed while on the job on a rural road east of Calgary on Aug. 6.

Another man who worked for Fortis Alberta was shot and wounded, and RCMP said the suspects fled in a Rocky View County work truck.

Police later arrested Arthur Wayne Penner, 35, and charged him with first-degree murder and attempted murder, and a warrant was issued for Strawberry’s arrest.

RCMP also said there was a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Strawberry, describing him as armed and dangerous.

Chief Supt. Roberta McKale, told a news conference in Edmonton that officers had received tips and information over the last few weeks.

“I don’t know of many members that when were stopped, fuelling up our vehicles, we weren’t keeping an eye out, looking for him,” she said.

But officers had been investigating other cases when they found Strawberry.

“Our investigators were in O’Chiese First Nation at a residence on another matter and the major crimes unit was there working another file and ended up locating him hiding in the residence,” McKale said.

While an investigation is still underway, RCMP say they’re confident both suspects in the case are in police custody.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.