In the news today: Lockout to begin at B.C. ports in labour dispute

By The Canadian Press on November 4, 2024.

Coal is loaded onto the bulk carrier vessel Fosep at the Westshore coal export terminal at Roberts Bank as container ships are seen docked beneath gantry cranes at Deltaport, in Tsawwassen, B.C., on Monday, September 9, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed…

Lockout to begin at B.C. ports in labour dispute

The provincewide lockout against a union of more than 700 foremen at all British Columbia ports is expected to begin at 8 a.m.

The BC Maritime Employers Association has said the lockout is meant to “facilitate a safe and orderly wind-down of operations” in light of “escalating and unpredictable strike action.”

Last week, it said the move was being done “defensively” after International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 had issued a 72-hour strike notice for job action, which also starts at 8 a.m.

The union has accused the association as “acting recklessly” by threatening the industry-wide lockout, saying it was an an “attempt to force the federal government to intervene in the dispute.”

The employers association said in a statement Sunday that the final offer – which was issued to the union’s president on Wednesday – remained open and that if it were accepted by the union, it would avoid “unnecessary strike action.”

Here’s what else we’re watching…

Gulf between Tories, opponents on N.S. info law

The leader of Nova Scotia’s Progressive Conservatives made clear last week that if he’s re-elected, a key change that he once supported to increase the power of the province’s information commissioner is on the back burner, if not dead.

Tim Houston told reporters that after promising during the 2021 campaign that brought his party to power to give commissioner Tricia Ralph more clout, he changed his mind because several of Ralph’s reports called for a wider release of information than he agreed with.

In other provinces, including British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, Alberta and Ontario, a version of an “order-making” power for information commissioners puts the onus to appeal on the province if it disagrees with a review’s findings. In Newfoundland and Labrador, there is a “reverse-onus” system where the province must argue in court to reverse the findings of the commissioner.

But in Nova Scotia, the person seeking the information needs to go to court if they want to overturn a government refusal to follow the commissioner’s recommendations.

Both the NDP and Liberals in Nova Scotia – who have accused the Tory government of lacking accountability – are promising to grant the province’s information commissioner order-making power if elected on Nov. 26.

Housing announcements on N.S. campaign trail

Housing seems set to be the top issue among major parties on the Nova Scotia campaign trail today.

Progressive Conservative leader Tim Houston has an announcement scheduled for this morning on the topic at the party’s Halifax headquarters.

The NDP, led by Claudia Chender, is also going to be holding an event on housing affordability in the provincial capital.

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill is holding a morning news conference in the city as well, though it’s not clear what the topic will be.

At dissolution, the Progressive Conservatives held 34 seats in the 55-seat legislature, the Liberals held 14 seats, the N-D-P had six and there was one Independent.

Nova Scotia election day is Nov. 26.

B.C. legislature greets record number of new faces

A record number of first-time provincial politicians are about to descend on British Columbia’s legislature, looking to make positive contributions for the province and trying to find the washrooms in the 127-year-old building.

Fifty-seven new members from three parties, New Democrats, B.C. Conservatives and Greens, were elected to serve first terms in the 93-seat legislature in B.C. last month.

The number of new faces could be 56 if New Democrat Jodie Wickens isn’t counted. She was elected in a 2016 byelection but subsequently defeated in the 2017 provincial election.

Voters in British Columbia elected 49 women, the first majority female legislature in provincial history.

The legislature’s hallways exuded a first-day-of-school atmosphere last week as Premier David Eby’s New Democrats, including his cast of newly elected MLAs, gathered for their first caucus meeting just hours after final counts from Elections BC confirmed a one-seat majority government for the NDP, pending two judicial recounts.

Alberta city transitioning away from RCMP

On the second floor of a building where most offices are without doors, the ceilings hang low and the carpets don’t match, the chief of Grande Prairie’s new police force Dwayne Lakusta gets down to work.

The 51-year-old was picked over a year ago to head up a new municipal police service in this city of 60,000 in Alberta’s northwest, replacing the RCMP. It’s to be the first new force in Alberta in more than 60 years.

With three decades of experience, Lakusta has overseen the deployment of a small group of officers working with local RCMP.

The Mounties remain in charge until the local force is fully in place by 2028.

Lakusta said it will take a new approach based on surveys and research done in other jurisdictions calling for police to be more responsive, particularly to youth.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.