Roundup: Waiting on the Industrial Relations Board’s decision

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As the Industrial Relations Board began its deliberations of the rail situation and the request of the minister, one of the two railways, CN Rail, opted to end their lockout and start the trains running again. But because the minister’s order included extending the previous collective agreement to now, it somehow reset things for the union, and they issued a seventy-two-hour strike notice, so…the trains may not run again? The whole while, the other rail company, CPKC, just stayed the course with their lockout in order to wait for what the Board had to say.

As for the Board, it needs to determine if binding arbitration is the only way to resolve the impasse in the labour dispute, and whether it can justify that the economic situation has a sufficient impact on the general public that arbitration is, again, the only way to resolve this, and the parties need to present evidence to this effect because this is a quasi-judicial body. The way this whole situation with the Board has been described by most media outlets has been outright wrong, and coupled with the fact that the business lobbies don’t seem to understand the limits of the minister’s powers, and it has led to nothing but confusion as to what is really going on.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives are keeping conspicuously silent about the whole thing, no doubt in a cynical attempt to continue to court the blue collar union vote (as though their history of attempted union-busting will just magically disappear). It is impressive, however, just how much message discipline they have had over this, with nary a stray tweet being sent out (probably because they know Jenni Byrne will scream at them if they do).

Ukraine Dispatch

Russia has suspended ferry service to occupied Crimea after the Ukrainian navy blew up one of those ferries that was hauling fuel and munitions to the occupied region. The Ukrainian forces say that they have used high-precision US-made glide bombs in parts of Kursk, and that they have also re-taken some land in Kharkiv.

Good reads:

  • The Canadian government is ending subsidies for Afghans waiting in Pakistan to be able to head to Canada, saying those who remain are being processed now.
  • Munitions manufactured in Canada but sold to the US may wind up in Israel, which critics call a loophole in Canada’s pledge not to send weapons.
  • For Canadian residents who need a visa to enter the US, they now face the longest wait times in the world, which the US embassy blames on “high volumes.”
  • The National Security Transparency Advisory Group want security and intelligence agencies to publish their current and intended use of “AI” and software applications.
  • A commercial lobster fishing group in Nova Scotia want the courts to declare the local Indigenous fishery to be declared illegal. (Good luck with that).
  • In remarks made a few weeks ago, the Chief Justice talked about how unhappy the staff at Rideau Hall were by the time Julie Payette resigned in disgrace.
  • Nova Scotia is moving ahead with a school lunch programme by October, this far without the promised additional federal funding.
  • My weekend column warns those MPs who think that nobody can have nice things because there are Canadians using food banks should probably look in the mirror.

Odds and ends:

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