The head of Canada’s busiest airport sought to rally staff on Thursday, amid its continued disruptions and delays, but warned they might encounter more angry customers if the problems continue at Pearson International Airport.
Deborah Flint, chief executive of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA), urged hundreds of airport and airline staff to “please stay heartened” as they “continue to work through the challenges.”
“For every single passenger that many of you see that may vent their frustration in front of you, or maybe they do it in social media, there’s another group of more passengers that have nothing but gratitude for each and every thing you and your colleagues do,” Flint said, to applause, at the staff event.
Her speech, which was audible from a public area of the airport, followed two months of troubles at the Toronto airport, where many passengers have faced flight delays, cancellations and hours-long bottlenecks at security.
The GTAA, which operates the airport, and airlines blame a lack of security screening staff, ongoing federal COVID-19 restrictions and limitations on aircraft movements.
A man walks past a screen showing flight information at Pearson on Thursday. (Esteban Eduardo Cuevas Gonzalez/CBC)
“There’s an expectation that we can just turn the wheel on and make things back to the way they used to be before the pandemic,” Flint said.
But “travel today is just not the way it was before.”
Her remarks came three days after former NHL player Ryan Whitney crystallized the frustrations of many travellers, taking aim on Twitter at both Pearson (“the worst place on earth”) and Air Canada after his flight to Boston was cancelled.
I live at Toronto Pearson International airport. The worst place on earth. I smell so bad. <a href=”https://t.co/PfdnHcO7Ad”>pic.twitter.com/PfdnHcO7Ad</a>
GTAA chief operating officer Craig Bradbrook told CBC News it was “heartbreaking” to read travellers’ posts about missed flights to their vacations and family reunions.
“This is not how we want to operate an airport; it’s not the level of service we aspire as an airport to provide to the traveling public,” he said.
“A lot of effort has been put in over the recent weeks, and we are seeing improvements, and the wait times are reducing … There’s still a lot of work that still needs to be done, obviously, but we’re moving in the right direction.”
‘Quick’ and ‘calm’
International travellers arriving at Pearson on Thursday told CBC News it took just a matter of minutes to pass through customs and collect their luggage.
Meenu Salvan, who travelled from New York City for a wedding, described her arrival as “very calm.”
“I’ve visited worse airports, so you’re good on that part,” she said.
But others who followed airport officials’ advice to arrive extra early for their flights ran into other problems.
A woman checks her phone after arriving at Pearson on Thursday. The Canadian Border Services Agency has urged travellers to complete their ArriveCAN form before flying to Canada, to avoid adding to delays. (Esteban Eduardo Cuevas Gonzalez/CBC)
Nathan Sterback got to the airport late Thursday morning, four hours before his flight to Edmonton. “They recommended three, but my work was around the corner, and I thought I might as well just wait here,” he said.
He then discovered the luggage check-in wouldn’t open for another 40 minutes —so he had to wait a bit longer to head through security.
A man gets a COVID-19 test at the airport on Feb. 1, 2021. About 2,000 travellers are randomly selected for mandatory tests at Pearson each day. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)
Dina Sowers was randomly selected for a mandatory COVID test after flying in from Miami with her husband and father-in-law, to visit Niagara Falls.
The process was “very smooth,” but added an unwanted delay to their trip, Sowers said. “I just want to get to the car and go … but I understand the safety behind it.”
“It continues to be very challenging,” said Bradbrook, adding that after months of discussions with the federal government, “arrangements are being made” for the testing to be moved off airport grounds in order to reduce congestion.
“We’re senior citizens, so we’re not techies … It’s a little overwhelming,” said Craig Metcalfe, who was travelling with his wife from Williamsburg, Va.
People check in at Pearson on May 12. The Greater Toronto Airport Authority has repeatedly appealed to the federal government to boost airport security staffing and scrap pandemic travel measures, which it says are causing the delays. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)
Airlines are also calling for the federal government to lift further pandemic restrictions, including scrapping vaccine mandates for aviation employees — a move they say would help boost the aviation labour force in order to speed up airport processing.
“We remain extremely concerned with the state of services provided by government agencies at our air borders and security screening points,” WestJet said in a statement, calling the problems at Pearson “unacceptable.”
The federal government last month announced it was fast-tracking training for 400 new security screening officers who would begin working at airports by the end of June, as well as adding more border services kiosks at Pearson.
In a statement on Thursday, a spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency said airport processing times were exacerbated by multiple flights arriving at the same time, and by travellers who hadn’t completed their ArriveCAN forms before reaching the arrivals hall.
“The CBSA will not compromise the health and safety of Canadians for the sake of border wait times.”
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.
