The Weekly Roundup - August 23, 2024
Rail shipments in Canada ground to a halt yesterday as Canada’s two largest rail companies, Canadian National Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. locked out their workers, after months of negotiations with Teamsters Canada Rail Conference failed to produce new collective agreements.
Less than 24 hours after the work stoppage began, federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon has asked the Canadian Industrial Relations Board to impose final binding arbitration on the parties. He also directed the board to extend the term of the current collective agreements so that operations on both railways can resume.
According to Minister MacKinnon, it was the fact that the impact of the work stoppage was being borne by all Canadians that forced the federal government to act. Industry groups and provincial governments have been warning about the impact of a rail stoppage on Canada’s economy, and have been urging the federal government to ensure rail shipments didn’t stop.
Despite Minister MacKinnon’s efforts to get railway operations back underway, it’s unclear when service will resume, given the Teamsters union served CN with a 72-hour strike notice Friday morning and the work stoppage at CPKC remains ongoing.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is calling Prime Minister Trudeau’s actions “cowardly”. We'll have to wait to see if he backs up those comments with any significant actions when the House of Commons resumes sitting mid-September (recall that the NDP continue to support the minority Liberal government through a supply and confidence agreement). Meanwhile, Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives have been conspicuously quiet on the issue. When all options on the table come with considerable political blowback, Poilievre’s team is likely quite happy to sit this one out.
Here are the other stories we’re following this week:
New West In the News: “Conservatives want to see climate change addressed. We want to see it done in a way that creates tens of thousands of jobs,” New West Public Affairs Partner Michael Solberg weighed in on CBC’s The Current on how conservatives across the country are determining green policies to fit with their governments, platforms and voters. Find the whole discussion here.
Top Federal Stories
1. Federal Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault announced that the federal government has accepted Quebec’s request to impose a six-month pause on new applicants to the low-wage stream of the temporary foreign worker program in Montreal. Quebec Premier François Legault has warned that the influx of temporary workers exceeds the province’s integration capacity and has said he has a responsibility to act to protect the French language.
2. Liberal Cabinet Ministers are heading to Halifax this weekend for a cabinet retreat. The PMO is billing the August 25-27 retreat as an opportunity for Cabinet to act on the “top-of-mind” priorities for Canadians, which according to the Prime Minister include building more homes, creating more jobs, investing in health care, and growing the economy.
Top Alberta Stories
1. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is intent on delivering her promised personal income tax cut, and to do so has created a productivity review cabinet committee that is reviewing spending across every government program. At two party events over the weekend, Smith said she will sit on the committee along with Finance Minister Nate Horner, Technology and Innovation Minister Nate Glubish, three treasury board members, and three private members, and will “looking at every single program in every single department to see if there are ways that we can remove wasteful spending, move spending from low-priority areas to high-priority areas.”
Smith, who faces a leadership review at the UCP general meeting in Red Deer in early November, will be keen to deliver on promises to shore up support amongst party faithful. In addition to promised tax cuts, Smith’s government appears poised to introduce legislation requiring parental consent before children under 16 can change their names or pronouns in schools.
2. It hasn’t been called yet, but the race to replace long-time MLA and former Minister Shannon Phillips in Lethbridge-West is heating up. The byelection will be Naheed Nenshi’s first major test as the NDP’s new party leader. The NDP leader, who was in Lethbridge participating in Whoop-Up Days festivities says support for the NDP is growing. Lethbridge New Democrats will choose between former Lethbridge East NDP candidate Rob Miyashiro and two-term city councillor mayoral candidate Bridget Mearns when they select their candidate on September 7.
Top Ontario Stories
1. CUPE leader Fred Hahn is defiant following a demand from CUPE’s national executive board for his resignation. The union says it has lost confidence in Hahn after he posted a video widely characterized as antisemitic. Hahn’s refusal to step down sets up a showdown between the embattled Ontario labour leader and the union’s executive board. In a statement Hahn says he respects the delegates who elected him to his position, while CUPE national president Mike Hancock says if Hahn doesn’t resign voluntarily, it will be “new ground” for the union.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford applauded his labour minister David Piccini following an exchange between the cabinet minister and Hahn at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario this week where Minister Piccini confronted the labour leader, telling him to stop being anti-Semitic and to represent all workers in the union.
2. Premier Ford called the byelection in Bay of Quinte to fill the seat vacated following the resignation of his former education minister Todd Smith. The PCs were first out of the gate, announcing Belleville councillor Tyler Allsopp as their candidate. The Ontario NDP quick to follow, announcing school board trustee Amanda Robertson to be their candidate.
The September 19 byelection so-happens to fall on the day before Ontario Liberals will gather in London, Ontario for their AGM. This week, the Liberals revealed former BC Premier Christy Clark, as a well as former federal health minister Jane Philpott would be speaking at their event. Notably, both former liberals have been critical of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s leadership.
Upcoming Events Calendar
September 16, 2024: House of Commons resumes sitting
September 16, 2024: Federal byelections in LaSalle—Émard—Verdun and lmwood—Transcona
September 19, 2024: Ontario byelection in Bay of Quinte
September 20-22: OLP AGM takes place in London, ON
October 21, 2024: Queen’s Park resumes sitting
October 28, 2024: Alberta Legislature resumes sitting
November 1-2, 2024: UCP AGM takes place in Red Deer, AB, including leadership review vote