Close X
Saturday, November 30, 2024
ADVT 
National

Canada Post not subject to provincial inspections

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 22 Feb, 2021 07:22 PM
  • Canada Post not subject to provincial inspections

Ontario labour inspectors are homing in on warehouses and distribution centres, but the site of a major workplace COVID-19 outbreak isn’t included in the ongoing inspections: Canada Post.

More than 300 employees at the postal service’s Gateway facility in Mississauga, Ont., have tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the year and one employee has died. Canada Post advised customers across the country to expect delivery delays as the outbreak impacted operations at the central mail delivery hub.

But because Canada Post is a federally regulated Crown corporation, its inspection falls outside provincial jurisdiction.

The president of the national union representing postal workers said consistent standards should be applied to all workplaces, noting that the outbreak has had an "enormous impact on all postal workers."

“The virus doesn’t distinguish between provincial and federal workplaces and neither should inspections,” Jan Simpson, president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, said in a statement. “Workplaces and workers in the Peel Region have been hit hard by COVID-19. It’s in everyone’s best interest that all workplaces be inspected to ensure the health and safety of workers.”

Ontario Labour Minister Monte McNaughton said earlier this month that the ministry chose to focus on warehouses and distribution centres in Peel Region - the hard-hit region of the Greater Toronto Area - noting that such workplaces employ a high number of temporary and precarious workers.

“Every employer, I don't care … who they're owned by, knows the rules that they need to follow,” McNaughton said in an interview when the warehouse and distribution blitz was announced on Feb. 10. “There's no excuses anymore.”

In the first week of the inspection "blitz" in Peel Region, inspectors visited 59 warehouses and issued issued 10 tickets and one order. They found compliance was just over 64 per cent, according to the ministry.

However, McNaughton said the federal government has responsibility for the Canada Post workplace. He said all levels of government need to work together to make sure safety measures are in place.

“It’s all hands on deck, every level of government has to pull their weight," he said. "I'm certainly ensuring that our ministry is doing everything possible to protect the health and safety of workers."

Employment and Social Development Canada confirmed in a statement that the federal labour program "engaged" with the Gateway Canada Post facility "several" times between March 1, 2020 and Feb.12, including "to investigate refusals to work, to conduct an inspection into the (preventive) measures implemented, as well as to investigate the death of the employee."

But it's unclear what, if any, enforcement took place on those visits, or how many of them occurred and when. The department said information on specific findings including tickets issued couldn’t be shared publicly unless through an Access to Information request.

The department statement said it works with employers to help them fulfil legal obligations, but added that employers are "best positioned to determine the health and safety measures for their work environment in order to meet legislated requirements."

 

Peel Public Health, which also supported Canada Post in managing the outbreak by ordering asymptomatic testing of all workers among other measures, also declined to share specific findings.

“As this is an ongoing, active investigation we are not in a position to disclose any further details,” Dr. Lawrence Loh, the region’s medical officer of health, said in a Feb. 17 statement. “Canada Post continues to co-operate with our investigation, and our joint priority remains protecting the health and safety of impacted employees and our broader community at this time.”

Tim Sly, an emeritus professor of epidemiology at Ryerson University, said the "tangle of power struggle" between levels of government is a recurring characteristic of public health crisis management in Canada that can erode the public's trust.

"It confuses everybody," he said. "The city says one thing, the province says something else, the feds say something else, and the public is going around in circles saying that nobody knows what they're doing."

MORE National ARTICLES

Police cite large cheeseburger delivery in warrant

Police cite large cheeseburger delivery in warrant
The application to provincial court says complaints about repeated parties allegedly with dozens of people attending on some nights began on Jan. 2, but Vancouver police did not respond that day due to a large volume of calls.

Police cite large cheeseburger delivery in warrant

Cruise ship ban to Canada extended to 2022

Cruise ship ban to Canada extended to 2022
The ban until Feb. 28, 2022 applies to cruise ships carrying more than 100 people as well as pleasure crafts operating in the Arctic, except for those used by residents in the region.

Cruise ship ban to Canada extended to 2022

Vaccinating Mounties should be a priority: union

Vaccinating Mounties should be a priority: union
The National Police Federation says inoculating its members will ensure the safety of both officers and the communities they serve.

Vaccinating Mounties should be a priority: union

Woman dead, man hurt in shooting in Surrey, B.C

Woman dead, man hurt in shooting in Surrey, B.C
Officers found a woman in grave condition and a man suffering non-life-threatening injuries inside the home.

Woman dead, man hurt in shooting in Surrey, B.C

B.C. expands mask requirements in schools

B.C. expands mask requirements in schools
Previously, students and staff were only required to wear masks in areas where interactions are not controlled, such as in hallways, libraries and on school buses.

B.C. expands mask requirements in schools

Canada sees 30-per-cent drop in COVID cases

Canada sees 30-per-cent drop in COVID cases
Even with this decline, Tam said the current caseload continues to burden local health-care resources, particularly in regions with high infection rates.

Canada sees 30-per-cent drop in COVID cases