'Do the work': Ottawa urges both sides in B.C. port dispute to restart talks
Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 12 Nov, 2024 11:23 AM
Ottawa has urged both sides in the labour dispute at B-C ports to return to the table after the latest mediated talks collapsed over the weekend.
A statement from federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon says both the employers and the union representing more than 700 longshore supervisors "must understand the urgency of the situation" as a lockout enters its second week.
My statement on the collective bargaining negotiations at the Ports of British Columbia and Quebec: pic.twitter.com/4pb9nXrh99
MacKinnon says Canadians are counting on both side to "do the work necessary to reach an agreement."
The labour strife in B-C is happening while another dispute is disrupting the Port of Montreal, where employers locked out nearly 12-hundred workers Sunday night after what they described as a "final" offer was not accepted.
Police in Surrey say they're investigating a series of residential robberies believed to be linked to similar break-and-enter incidents in other areas of the Lower Mainland. Surrey RCMP say the suspects work in a team of three, targeting large, single-family homes that are unoccupied at the time, often between 5 and 9 p-m.
Ports in British Columbia are waking up to the possibility of another provincewide labour disruption as employers say they will lock out members of the union representing more than 700 foremen after it served a strike notice. The BC Maritime Employers Association says in a statement that it has issued a formal notice that it will "defensively" lock out members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 starting Monday at 8 a.m.
Mounties on Vancouver Island say a man has been arrested in Ontario and another is believed to have fled to India after shots were fired at a home in Greater Victoria last month. Property records show the home is owned by Punjabi music star A-P Dhillon, who posted on Instagram after the shooting that he was safe.
The City of Vancouver says the remaining seven residents of an encampment at a Downtown Eastside park have a week to pack up their belongings and leave, or they must remove their tents each day as the area returns to regular daytime use. A statement from the city says people may continue sheltering at CRAB Park overnight, but structures must be taken down by 8 a.m. each day starting Nov. 7.
Police in Metro Vancouver say they're investigating two reports of suspicious interactions involving a man driving a white van approaching young girls.
New Westminster police say they received the second report after issuing a public statement about the first interaction involving two 12-year-old girls on October 26th.
Ridge Meadows Mounties say a female pedestrian died last week after being struck by a vehicle in one of three crashes involving cyclists or pedestrians in the area in the last seven days. Police say the fatal crash happened on Lougheed Highway on October 25th, when the 49-year-old victim from Pitt Meadows died at the scene despite live-saving efforts from emergency workers.
