‘They just don’t listen’: Demonstrators say they want voices heard through Ontario rail disruption - Global News | Canada News Media
Connect with us

Business

‘They just don’t listen’: Demonstrators say they want voices heard through Ontario rail disruption – Global News

Published

 on


A blockade set up at a rail crossing near Belleville, Ont., has once again stopped rail service on the Montreal-Toronto and Toronto-Ottawa routes, which are among the country’s busiest rail corridors, in both directions.

Wednesday marks the seventh day in a row that both passenger and commercial trains have been unable to travel those routes due to a group of protesters camped out at a rail crossing in Tyendinaga Township, just metres away from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory.


READ MORE:
Via Rail service between Toronto, Montreal cancelled until Thursday due to pipeline protest

A protester, who simply identified himself to Global News as George, said he had been out protesting at the level rail crossing in Tyendinaga since Thursday.

“I believe what we’re doing is right,” the 76-year-old said in an interview Wednesday. “I don’t care if I’m 89, I’ll be here if we have to stand up again.”

Story continues below advertisement

Jaylee Thompson, who says he is not an active protester but a Mohawk supporter, was at the rail line Wednesday morning. He said Indigenous communities have been forced into disrupting rail service through the blockade in order to be heard.


Signs sit by the rail line near Belleville, Ont., where a blockade protesting a pipeline in northern British Columbia has stopped rail traffic for seven days in a row.


Morganna Campbell / Global News

“So for us here in the community, that’s really the only option that we have. We don’t have a voice,” Thompson said.

The blockades have popped up around Canada in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en Nation hereditary chiefs, who are protesting the Coastal GasLink pipeline project in northern British Columbia.

RCMP received an injunction to enter a blockade on unceded Wet’suwet’en land last Thursday, and since then several arrests have been made.

The blockade in Tyendinaga Township at a rail crossing at Wyman Road started intermittently on Thursday evening but has been in full force since Friday morning.

Story continues below advertisement

“When we talk and we speak and we try to make ourselves heard to corporate Canada, the Canadian government, however you want to put it, they just don’t listen,” Thompson continued.

Another smaller demonstration has set up down the road from the rail protest, on a overpass near Highway 49 and Highway 2 on Tyendinaga Mohawk Terrirtory. People at the second protest say they are Akwesasne and are not currently blocking rail or road traffic.


Indigenous flags are being flown down the road from a blockade set up near Belleville that has stopped rail traffic for the last seven days.


Morganne Campbell / Global News

Via Rail announced late Tuesday night it would be cancelling all trips along those lines until the end of Thursday.

“Bearing in mind the heavy rail congestion that has been building since last Friday east and west of the blockade near Belleville, Via Rail is working with the infrastructure owner (CN) on the specifics of the resumption of service, which is estimated to take at least 36 hours from the time the line is cleared.”

Story continues below advertisement

Neither Via Rail nor CN Rail has indicated a time when either CN Rail police, who have jurisdiction over the line, or Ontario Provincial Police, who have jurisdiction over Tyendinaga Township where the blockade is set up, will be making any arrests.

“We can’t speculate on the potential for any arrests,” OPP East Region spokesperson Bill Dickson said in an emailed statement on Wednesday.

“The OPP hopes to continue talking to the group in order to reach a safe and peaceful resolution.”

Dickson said OPP liaison officers were in touch with the group at least twice Tuesday but have yet to speak to them Wednesday by noon.

Over the weekend, OPP served the small group of protesters stationed at the rail line an injunction ordering them to leave, but a video on social media appears to show protesters in Tyendinaga burning the injunction. OPP told Global News they were aware of the video but could not comment on whether any charges were being laid.

Thompson, a 21-year-old supporter of the protest, confirmed the group did, indeed, burn injunction papers served to them.

“So they brought it (the injunction) and they told us that we can’t be on our own land, sitting there doing a peaceful protest within the laws of Canada. So we did reasonably the only thing that that paper was good for — kept us warm for a couple minutes.”

Story continues below advertisement

Thompson said at this point, there has been no indication that OPP are going to move in and forcibly remove demonstrators, but if they did, they would be impeding with a peaceful protest.

“That’s going to start a whole new issue. It won’t be over the pipelines anymore. It’ll be: ‘What are you doing? Is this is still genocide? Why are you not letting us have our day, have our voice, have our freedom?’”


Tents and campers have been set up on one side of the rail blockade near Belleville, Ont., to house those protesting RCMP involvement on Wet’suwet’en land.


Morganne Campbell / Global News

Via Rail officials say they “remain hopeful a resolution will be reached” but that they have cancelled trips so far in advance due to the “current uncertainty” of the situation.

The rail company says it is giving full refunds to those affected, but processing those refunds may take up to 10 days due to the volume.

Story continues below advertisement

As of Tuesday morning, Via Rail says 157 trains have been cancelled since the beginning of the blockade, and 24,500 customers have been affected.


READ MORE:
Still no service on Exo’s Candiac line as Wet’suwet’en solidarity protests reach 3rd day

Another blockade set up near New Hazelton, B.C., has also halted train service between Prince Rupert and Prince George in both directions since Saturday evening, while commuter rails in Montreal are cancelled for the third day in a row.

CN Rail sent out a notice on Tuesday saying if the blockades continued, it would be forced to close “significant” parts of its railway lines unless the blockades were removed.

The national rail company said the blockades in Ontario and British Columbia are “impacting all Canadians’ ability to move goods and enable trade.”

“Hundreds of trains have been cancelled since the blockades began five days ago. The impact is being felt beyond Canada’s borders and is harming the country’s reputation as a stable and viable supply chain partner,” CN Rail said.






1:03
Trudeau says pipeline protests across Canada ‘an issue that is of concern’


Trudeau says pipeline protests across Canada ‘an issue that is of concern’

Federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau called the blockades “illegal,” saying they infringe on the Railway Safety Act.

“We are concerned because this has an effect on the transportation of goods by train across the country, and those trains, in some cases, are not being able to operate as they normally do because of the blockades,” he said Tuesday afternoon.

Story continues below advertisement

“Having said that, when injunctions are obtained by the train companies, it is up to the provinces. They are the ones who have the jurisdiction to act.”






0:42
Dashcam captures heated moment at pipeline protest


Dashcam captures heated moment at pipeline protest

If CN Rail halts service in key corridors, it says it could impact shipments of food and consumer items, grain, construction materials, propane and other commodities.

“We are currently parking trains across our network, but due to limited available space for such, CN will have no choice but to temporarily discontinue service in key corridors unless the blockades come to an end,” CN Rail’s president JJ Ruest said in a statement.

— With files from Global News’ Morganne Campbell

© 2020 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)



Source link

Business

Telus prioritizing ‘most important customers,’ avoiding ‘unprofitable’ offers: CFO

Published

 on

 

Telus Corp. says it is avoiding offering “unprofitable” discounts as fierce competition in the Canadian telecommunications sector shows no sign of slowing down.

The company said Friday it had fewer net new customers during its third quarter compared with the same time last year, as it copes with increasingly “aggressive marketing and promotional pricing” that is prompting more customers to switch providers.

Telus said it added 347,000 net new customers, down around 14.5 per cent compared with last year. The figure includes 130,000 mobile phone subscribers and 34,000 internet customers, down 30,000 and 3,000, respectively, year-over-year.

The company reported its mobile phone churn rate — a metric measuring subscribers who cancelled their services — was 1.09 per cent in the third quarter, up from 1.03 per cent in the third quarter of 2023. That included a postpaid mobile phone churn rate of 0.90 per cent in its latest quarter.

Telus said its focus is on customer retention through its “industry-leading service and network quality, along with successful promotions and bundled offerings.”

“The customers we have are the most important customers we can get,” said chief financial officer Doug French in an interview.

“We’ve, again, just continued to focus on what matters most to our customers, from a product and customer service perspective, while not loading unprofitable customers.”

Meanwhile, Telus reported its net income attributable to common shares more than doubled during its third quarter.

The telecommunications company said it earned $280 million, up 105.9 per cent from the same three-month period in 2023. Earnings per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 was 19 cents compared with nine cents a year earlier.

It reported adjusted net income was $413 million, up 10.7 per cent year-over-year from $373 million in the same quarter last year. Operating revenue and other income for the quarter was $5.1 billion, up 1.8 per cent from the previous year.

Mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.85 in the third quarter, a decrease of $2.09 or 3.4 per cent from a year ago. Telus said the drop was attributable to customers signing up for base rate plans with lower prices, along with a decline in overage and roaming revenues.

It said customers are increasingly adopting unlimited data and Canada-U.S. plans which provide higher and more stable ARPU on a monthly basis.

“In a tough operating environment and relative to peers, we view Q3 results that were in line to slightly better than forecast as the best of the bunch,” said RBC analyst Drew McReynolds in a note.

Scotiabank analyst Maher Yaghi added that “the telecom industry in Canada remains very challenging for all players, however, Telus has been able to face these pressures” and still deliver growth.

The Big 3 telecom providers — which also include Rogers Communications Inc. and BCE Inc. — have frequently stressed that the market has grown more competitive in recent years, especially after the closing of Quebecor Inc.’s purchase of Freedom Mobile in April 2023.

Hailed as a fourth national carrier, Quebecor has invested in enhancements to Freedom’s network while offering more affordable plans as part of a set of commitments it was mandated by Ottawa to agree to.

The cost of telephone services in September was down eight per cent compared with a year earlier, according to Statistics Canada’s most recent inflation report last month.

“I think competition has been and continues to be, I’d say, quite intense in Canada, and we’ve obviously had to just manage our business the way we see fit,” said French.

Asked how long that environment could last, he said that’s out of Telus’ hands.

“What I can control, though, is how we go to market and how we lead with our products,” he said.

“I think the conditions within the market will have to adjust accordingly over time. We’ve continued to focus on digitization, continued to bring our cost structure down to compete, irrespective of the price and the current market conditions.”

Still, Canada’s telecom regulator continues to warn providers about customers facing more charges on their cellphone and internet bills.

On Tuesday, CRTC vice-president of consumer, analytics and strategy Scott Hutton called on providers to ensure they clearly inform their customers of charges such as early cancellation fees.

That followed statements from the regulator in recent weeks cautioning against rising international roaming fees and “surprise” price increases being found on their bills.

Hutton said the CRTC plans to launch public consultations in the coming weeks that will focus “on ensuring that information is clear and consistent, making it easier to compare offers and switch services or providers.”

“The CRTC is concerned with recent trends, which suggest that Canadians may not be benefiting from the full protections of our codes,” he said.

“We will continue to monitor developments and will take further action if our codes are not being followed.”

French said any initiative to boost transparency is a step in the right direction.

“I can’t say we are perfect across the board, but what I can say is we are absolutely taking it under consideration and trying to be the best at communicating with our customers,” he said.

“I think everyone looking in the mirror would say there’s room for improvement.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:T)

Source link

Continue Reading

Business

TC Energy cuts cost estimate for Southeast Gateway pipeline project in Mexico

Published

 on

 

CALGARY – TC Energy Corp. has lowered the estimated cost of its Southeast Gateway pipeline project in Mexico.

It says it now expects the project to cost between US$3.9 billion and US$4.1 billion compared with its original estimate of US$4.5 billion.

The change came as the company reported a third-quarter profit attributable to common shareholders of C$1.46 billion or $1.40 per share compared with a loss of C$197 million or 19 cents per share in the same quarter last year.

Revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 totalled C$4.08 billion, up from C$3.94 billion in the third quarter of 2023.

TC Energy says its comparable earnings for its latest quarter amounted to C$1.03 per share compared with C$1.00 per share a year earlier.

The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 95 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:TRP)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Business

BCE reports Q3 loss on asset impairment charge, cuts revenue guidance

Published

 on

 

BCE Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter as it recorded $2.11 billion in asset impairment charges, mainly related to Bell Media’s TV and radio properties.

The company says its net loss attributable to common shareholders amounted to $1.24 billion or $1.36 per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a profit of $640 million or 70 cents per share a year earlier.

On an adjusted basis, BCE says it earned 75 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 81 cents per share in the same quarter last year.

“Bell’s results for the third quarter demonstrate that we are disciplined in our pursuit of profitable growth in an intensely competitive environment,” BCE chief executive Mirko Bibic said in a statement.

“Our focus this quarter, and throughout 2024, has been to attract higher-margin subscribers and reduce costs to help offset short-term revenue impacts from sustained competitive pricing pressures, slow economic growth and a media advertising market that is in transition.”

Operating revenue for the quarter totalled $5.97 billion, down from $6.08 billion in its third quarter of 2023.

BCE also said it now expects its revenue for 2024 to fall about 1.5 per cent compared with earlier guidance for an increase of zero to four per cent.

The company says the change comes as it faces lower-than-anticipated wireless product revenue and sustained pressure on wireless prices.

BCE added 33,111 net postpaid mobile phone subscribers, down 76.8 per cent from the same period last year, which was the company’s second-best performance on the metric since 2010.

It says the drop was driven by higher customer churn — a measure of subscribers who cancelled their service — amid greater competitive activity and promotional offer intensity. BCE’s monthly churn rate for the category was 1.28 per cent, up from 1.1 per cent during its previous third quarter.

The company also saw 11.6 per cent fewer gross subscriber activations “due to more targeted promotional offers and mobile device discounting compared to last year.”

Bell’s wireless mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.26, down 3.4 per cent from $60.28 in the third quarter of the prior year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:BCE)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Trending

Exit mobile version