Railways halt more shipments ahead of potential lockout as bargaining tensions rise

The country’s two main freight railways are ramping up the amount of cargo being turned away ahead of a potential lockout that could snarl supply chains and disrupt industries.

Canadian National Railway Co. schedules show that, starting today, it is barring container imports that originate at ports ranging from New York City to Mexico.

The two railways have warned that 9,300 engineers, conductors and yard workers will be locked out on Thursday unless they can reach new collective agreements, while the union has also said it is poised for a strike.

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Quebec to authorize early requests for MAID, won't wait for Ottawa to change law

Quebec says that starting this fall it will authorize early requests for medical assistance in dying from certain patients before their condition renders them incapable of giving consent.

The province has been calling on the federal government to modify the Criminal Code to allow people to make such requests, but Quebec says it won't wait any longer.

#Quebec #MAID
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📉Inflation expected to drop in July, giving Bank of Canada more ammo to cut at its next meeting

The Bank of Canada is expected to cut its policy rate at its next meeting in September.

Inflation decelerated in June to 2.7 per cent annually, with the drop attributed to a slowdown in gasoline prices. Despite an uptick to 2.9 per cent in May, inflation has followed a cooling trend and has remained within the target range of one to three per cent since the beginning of this year.

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Canada to pause approval of temporary foreign workers for low-wage jobs in Montreal

Canada will freeze the approval of new temporary foreign workers in low-wage jobs in the Montreal area starting in September.

A senior government source said the processing of Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) applications will be suspended for six months, starting on Sept. 3, for job offers with wages below $27.47 per hour — currently Quebec's median hourly wage.

#Quebec
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💉Ontario to close supervised consumption sites near schools

The Ontario government is moving to close supervised consumption sites for drug users near schools and prohibit any new ones from being built near schools as well.

The changes will mean that any site within 200 metres of a school will no longer be permitted.

201 meters okay then?

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🚫Potential strike looms as Air Canada pilots negotiate new contract

The union representing Air Canada pilots says job action could happen next month if a new collective agreement isn’t reached.

According to the Air Line Pilots Association, the previous contract is a decade old. The union wants the airline to address retirement and scheduling concerns, as well as compensation.

This past June, the union filed a notice of dispute under the Canada Labour Code and is entering the final stages of conciliation with Air Canada. The pilots are now voting on whether to give their union a strike mandate. The ballots are set to close Thursday.

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🇺🇦Canada pledges $5.7M in humanitarian aid for Ukraine, with focus on children

International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen says Canada will provide $5.7 million for Ukrainians to meet their basic needs.

Another chunk of money that won't be accounted for.

#Ukraine
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Doug Ford calls supervised consumption sites ‘worst things’ to happen to communities

Premier Doug Ford defended his move to close more than half of the provincially funded supervised drug-consumption sites in Ontario and replace them with a network of new treatment centres, calling the sites the worst thing to happen to communities.

Mr. Ford’s government announced new restrictions this week that would ban supervised consumption services within 200 metres of schools or daycare centres as of next March, which will result in the closing of 10 sites. The government also intends to prevent such sites from relocating and to block new ones from opening.

We haven’t seen it get better. This was supposed to be the greatest thing since sliced bread. It’s the worst thing that could ever happen to a community, to have one of these safe-injection sites in their neighbourhood.

Ford.

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9,300 employees locked out: Latest updates on shutdown of Canada's 2 largest railways

Contract talks resumed Thursday after Canada's two largest railways locked out their employees overnight in what is an unprecedented shutdown of freight traffic across the country.

Following months of increasingly bitter negotiations, shipments at Canadian National Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. ground to a halt.

On Thursday morning, the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference posted pictures to social media of workers from Halifax to Vancouver setting up picket lines, while sign-toting employees demonstrated outside CN's headquarters in downtown Montreal.

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We will have more to say shortly on what we're doing to make sure that the right solution is found quickly for the economy.

PM Trudeau tells reporters in Sherbrooke, Que., as he comments on the labour dispute that has shut down Canada's two main railways.

Master of word salad.

#Trudeau
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Trains could start rolling 'within days,' labour minister says after sending dispute to binding arbitration

Freight traffic on Canada's two largest rail networks could resume "within days," Labour Minister Steve MacKinnon said Thursday after sending two labour disputes to binding arbitration.

Canadian National Railway Co. (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. (CPKC) locked out 9,300 engineers, conductors and yard workers just after midnight Thursday, capping months of increasingly tense and bitter labour negotiations.

Less than 17 hours after the lockout began, MacKinnon announced he's using his powers as labour minister to step in.

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🍽 Restaurant closures surge

Food inflation and higher wages and rents have all contributed to increasing costs for restaurants is outpacing revenue growth post-COVID leaving many operators with no choice but to close their doors.

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Liberals say they will rein in temporary foreign worker program after historic influx

Housing Minister Sean Fraser said Sunday that the federal government will curb the number of temporary foreign workers (TFWs) coming into the country after a post-COVID surge.

Unemployment rates among immigrants and young people have crept up to concerning levels in recent months, according to federal data.

The landscape has changed. We don't see that acute labour shortage that existed even two years ago. As the economic landscape changes, so too must the policy landscape.

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Temporary foreign workers protest… having to leave Canada? What part of 'temporary' wasn’t clear to them?

Or are they just used to the idea that a temporary worker visa is their ticket to life in Canada? They shouldn’t be so sure of that.

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Brampton man charged in alleged sex assault of 3-year-old in hospital

A 31-year-old Brampton man is facing sex assault charges and police believe there may be other victims who have yet to come forward.

Police in Peel Region say a man was in Brampton Civic Hospital on August 18 when he approached a three-year-old child who was in a stroller and allegedly touched them.

The man then went to another area of the hospital and allegedly committed an indecent act that other people within the facility witnessed.

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📊🏠'Next generation' in Ontario feel homeownership unachievable: survey

According to a new survey, 75 per cent of young Ontarian respondents who don't currently own a home say purchasing one is a priority.

But only 47 per cent of them believe that home ownership is attainable — the lowest score among all regions in Canada. Twenty-seven per cent don't believe it's achievable at all and 26 per cent are unsure, the survey found.

The average price of a residential home in Ontario in July was $837,685, according to the most recent MLS Home Price Index. In Toronto, that number is $1,082,500. The average price of a single-family detached home in Toronto is $1,689,500, while an apartment is $707,800, according to the index.

#Ontario #housing
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How is he not tired of promising the same thing and ultimately not solving the problem?

#Trudeau #housing
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🇨🇳🚙🌱Canada to impose 100% tariff on Chinese EVs, including Teslas

Canada, following the lead of the US and EU, said on Monday it would impose a 100% tariff on imports of Chinese electric vehicles and announced a 25% tariff on imported steel and aluminum from China.

The duties apply to all EVs shipped from China, which would include those made by Tesla, a Canadian government official said.

Canadian imports of automobiles from China to its largest port, Vancouver, jumped 460% year over year to 44,356 in 2023, when Tesla started shipping Shanghai-made EVs to Canada.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Ottawa was acting to counter what he called China's intentional, state-directed policy of over-capacity.

#China
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🇺🇸🪖U.S. wants Canada to hit military spending target 'as rapidly as humanly possible'

Canada and other countries that are laggards when it comes to military spending should hit the NATO-imposed target of spending two per cent of GDP "as rapidly as humanly possible," National Security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on the sidelines of the Liberal cabinet retreat in Halifax on Sunday.

While Sullivan welcomed what he called Canada's "historic" commitment to bulk up military spending, he reiterated that the United States would "like to see that two per cent target hit" quickly.

#US
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