TRUMP PROMOTES PSEUDOSCIENCE (AGAIN)
A megachurch in Arizona that hosted Trump this week falsely claimed that its air filtration system could kill '99% of COVID in 10 minutes'

Kelly McLaughlin

Young people listen to President Donald Trump as he delivers an "Address to Young Americans" at the Dream City Church in Phoenix, Arizona, June 23, 2020. Carlos Barria/Reuters

Dream City Church in Phoenix, Arizona, posted a video over the weekend claiming an air filtration system they had could eliminate COVID-19.

The video, which has since been deleted, was posted just days before President Donald Trump attended a Students for Trump rally at the church.

The church has since backtracked its claim that the filtration could kill "99% of COVID within 10 minutes," saying that it mistakenly used "COVID" and "coronavirus" interchangeably.

The filtration system the church installed, called CleanAir EXP, has eliminated other strands of coronavirus in lab testing, including strands of the common cold.
The company said in a statement: "We do not, however, eliminate COVID-19 at this time."

A megachurch in Arizona that hosted President Donald Trump on Tuesday had falsely claimed days earlier that its air filtration system could kill "99% of COVID within 10 minutes."

Dream City Church in Phoenix, Arizona, posted a video over the weekend featuring senior pastor Luke Barnett and chief operations officer Brendan Zastro, in which they said the church had installed an air filtration system from the Phoenix-based Clean Air EXP to help stop the spread of COVID-19.

"When you come into our auditorium, 99% of COVID is gone, killed, if it was even there in the first place," Barnett says in the video. "Thank God for good technology."
—Vaughn Hillyard (@VaughnHillyard) June 22, 2020

The video has since been deleted from the church's Facebook page, and the church issued a clarification in which it said the filtration does not eliminate the virus.


"We have heard Coronavirus and COVID used interchangeably," the church said. "Our statement regarding the CleanAir EXP units used the word COVID when we should have said Coronavirus or COVID surrogates. We hope to alleviate any confusion we may have caused."


Still, the video was picked up by others and circulated on social media through the weekend and into Monday and Tuesday in the lead up to Trump's visit, in which he spoke at a Students for Trump event alongside his son, Donald Trump, Jr.

According to Clean Air EXP, its air filtration system can eliminate test surrogates from some coronavirus strands, but not COVID-19.

The company's website says that lab analysis for the system was performed on active coronavirus 229E test surrogate — one of the viruses responsible for the common cold.

After news of Dream City's video spread on the internet, Clean Air EXP issued a statement clarifying what the church had said.

"We do not, however, eliminate COVID-19 at this time," the statement said. "Our coronavirus surrogate testing results are significant for the future of clean air. We welcome the opportunity to collaborate with the CDC for additional laboratory testing and support the CDC's guidelines on hygiene habits to prevent the spread of COVID-19."

Jeffrey Siegel, a professor in the department of civil and mineral engineering at the University of Toronto, told CBS News that lab reports don't reflect how a system would actually work in a building, like Dream Church's auditorium.

"My problem with those results – from what I can tell, because it's not well described in the test report – they did it in an entirely sealed chamber, and that's just not a fair test," Siegel told CBS News. "You can't just go from laboratory test results and go, 'This is going to work in a building,' because the building is fundamentally different."


Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego voiced concerns over the Students for Trump event at Dream City Church on Monday, saying she was didn't believe such a large gathering could "be held safety."

Dream City said ahead of the event that it was handing out masks and taking temperatures when people checked in, according to the Phoenix New Times. Photos from the event showed many people not wearing masks and sitting in close proximity to one another.

COVID-19 cases are surging in Arizona, and many cities have issued mask requirements in the last week.

THIS IS THE SECOND TIME IN THE PAST TWO WEEKS TRUMP HAS HELD AN EVENT IN AN EVANGELICAL PROTESTANT MEGACHURCH IN VIOLATION OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT THE SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE.

BUT TRUMP DOESN'T CARE FOR ANY AMENDMENT EXCEPT THE SECOND

 HE DOES NOT APPROVE OF FLAG BURNING EITHER 

A RIGHT GUARANTEED UNDER THE FIRST AMENDMENT ACCORDING TO SCOTUS

ZELINSKY'S IN TRUMP'S LIFE

THE PRESIDENT OF THE UKRAINE
 IS NAMED ZELENSKY

THE WHISTLE  BLOWER AGAINST BILL BARR
 IS NAMED ZELINSKY

THEY ARE PRONOUNCED AND SOUND THE SAME

Volodymyr Zelensky - latest news, breaking stories and ...

https://www.independent.co.uk › topic › volodymyr-zelensky

All the latest breaking news on Volodymyr Zelensky. Browse The Independent's ... Donald Trump Jr appears to admit officials fired for testifying · US politics.

Aaron Zelinsky testimony: Ex-Stone prosecutor says Roger ...

https://www.cnn.com › 2020/06/23 › politics › aaron-zelinsky-roger-stone

13 hours ago - Zelinsky, currently a prosecutor in the Maryland US Attorney's Office, is testifying before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday at a ...

AND OF COURSE THEN ONE OF THOSE RANDOM RANDOM SYNCHRONICITIES OCCURS

THAT THE SURREALISTS SO LOVED AS DID ROBERT ANTON WILSON RAW

The Zelinsky Model of Migration Transition,^[1] also known as the Migration Transition Model or Zelinsky's Migration Transition Model, claims that the type of migration that occurs within a country depends on how developed it is or what type of society it is. A connection is drawn from migration to the stages of within the Demographic Transition Model (DTM). It was developed by Wilbur Zelinsky, longtime professor of geography at the Pennsylvania State University.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zelinsky_Model

'Hanging by a thread': Leaked emails tell the story of a design flaw discovered in 2012 in Tesla's Model S battery that could lead to breakdowns and firesLinette Lopez

Flickr/ Maurizio Pesce


Leaked emails from 2012 reveal that Tesla knew its Model S battery had a design flaw that could lead to break downs and fires, but it sold the cars anyway. It's unclear when the design flaw was fixed.

This revelation comes as Tesla is dealing with customer complaints of manufacturing defects in its new Model Y crossover vehicles, including loose seatbelts and back seats.

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration also just initiated a probe into faulty Tesla Model S touch screens made from 2012-2015. The investigation covers 63,000 vehicles.

Tesla did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

As Tesla's first car, the Model S, was rolling out of the company's Fremont, California factory, e-mails reveal that the company was still grappling with a design flaw that could lead to leaks inside the battery.

Those leaks could then cause the car's battery to short, or leave behind a flammable residue inside the battery, according to experts BI spoke to for this investigation.

The problem was a poorly designed cooling mechanism — internally referred to as a cooling coil or bandolier — which wraps around the battery pushing coolant around it to regulate temperature. According to internal emails and three people familiar with the matter, the end fitting of the cooling coil was made from weak aluminum and tiny pinholes sometimes formed where the male and female parts of the end fitting were supposed to braze together.

The part was tested by third party companies twice. First, a few cooling coils were sent to a test lab called IMR Test Labs in upstate New York in July of 2012. According to the IMR report, which was reviewed by Business Insider, the end fittings on the cooling coils did not meet chemical requirements for a regulation strength aluminum alloy. A source close to the matter said the results were shared with Tesla, but the Model S cars kept rolling out of the factory. According to Tesla's 2012 third-quarter earnings report, the company delivered more than 250 Model S sedans.


Jason Schug, a Vice President at Ricardo Strategic Consulting, has done teardowns of Tesla's Model S and X vehicles, which share the same battery. He told Business Insider that if coolant leaked into a battery module it could render the battery useless.

"When we disassembled the Tesla Model X, a technician accidentally spilled coolant in the battery pack and it sat there for a long time," Schug told Business Insider. "There was no immediate danger, but when we removed the battery modules quite a while later we found a lot of corrosion on the battery cells and it was bad enough that some of the cells were leaking electrolyte. If this were to happen in the field and go unnoticed, it could result in bricking the battery."

"Bricking the battery" means that the battery would go dead.

If you work at Tesla and want to share your experience, or own a Tesla and want to talk about it email me at llopez@businessinsider.com.

Find the problem now, fix it later

In August 2012, the part was tested again. Tesla sent the part to Exponent, an engineering and scientific consulting firm. According to internal emails reviewed by Business Insider, Tesla was concerned because the end fittings on the cooling coils were just not staying together and as such were a source of leakage. One Tesla employee described them as "hanging by a thread" in August 2012, according to internal emails viewed by Business Insider.

The engineer who handled this at Exponent was a man named Scott Lieberman. He is now at LPI Inc. Lieberman declined to speak with Business Insider about this story. In internal emails between him and Tesla viewed by Business Insider, however, his opinion of the part was clear. He found defects — specifically, tiny pinholes which could cause leaks — on the tested materials after limited testing.

Tesla continued to find leaking coils in various stages of production through the end of 2012, according to documents reviewed by Business Insider. Some were found late enough on the production line to be described as a "critical quality issue," or were found to have leaked liquid into the battery pack, according to internal emails sent in October 2012, which were viewed by Business Insider. At this point the problem had been flagged for senior management, documents indicate.

In another email sent in late September 2012, employees said that workers on the production line sometimes had to use a hammer to get the end fittings to stay together. Tesla continued to find leaking coils on the production line through November 2012, according to emails, and eventually senior management was informed of the problem. It's unclear when the company changed the part's design, though. Tesla did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.


A former employee, who left the company in 2014, said that employees sometimes forced end fittings together as Tesla rushed to make production goals.

"We did find [leaks in] a few vehicles," the former employee said. "I don't know exactly how many, but again that is what I would consider normal for a company that decides to launch with a limited amount of R&D in the hopes of: 'We will launch with this, and we will put inspections in place that we catch it [leaks] at the plant.'"

Check out BI's full investigation into the Model S battery design issues.

If you work at Tesla and want to share your experience, or own a Tesla and want to talk about it email me at llopez@businessinsider.com.

Mark Matousek also contributed to the reporting of this story.

SEE ALSO: Life, death, and spontaneous combustion — here's why the debate about Tesla fires just got more fierce

PM should retaliate if Trump issues new tariffs: Dias


OTTAWA -- The largest private sector union is calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to “stand firm” against the prospect of the re-imposition of tariffs on Canadian aluminum from the U.S. administration and says retaliation should be considered if the Americans follow through.

As CTV News has reported, the United States is considering slapping tariffs on aluminum imports coming from Canada, under Section 232 of the U.S. Trade Expansion Act, unless Canada agrees to restrict its export volumes through quotas.

In a letter to the prime minister, Unifor National President Jerry Dias urges Trudeau to “reject any concessionary demands the U.S. requests of Canada on this matter,” calling the prospect of new tariffs “totally unwarranted.”

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Speaking on behalf of Unifor’s aluminum industry members, Dias goes on to say that the arguments that American steel producers are making to the Trump administration about the need for intervention — including that a surge in Canadian aluminum imports is causing aluminum prices to collapse — are “preposterous and utterly divorced from reality.”

He said that globally, due to COVID-19, demand for metal has “fallen off a cliff,” resulting in declining prices.

Newsletter sign-up: Get The COVID-19 Brief sent to your inbox

“We must not allow these bullying tactics to succeed. I urge you to stand strong in the face of this misinformation campaign and reject any quotas that would disrupt the Canadian aluminum industry once again and lead to unnecessary layoffs,” Dias said.

The United States hit Canada with steel and aluminum tariffs in May 2018, during negotiations for the new NAFTA deal. The tariffs remained in place for a year, during which time Canada reciprocated with dollar-for-dollar countermeasures on American steel, aluminum, as well as levelling a surtax on other goods.

A year later, Canada and the U.S. issued a joint statement announcing a decision to lift the tariffs, confirming that the two nations also agreed to terminate World Trade Organization litigation Canada launched after slamming the U.S. tariffs as "punitive" and "an affront" to Canada-U.S. relations.

While the U.S. tariffs were in place, Unifor launched a campaign against them, and now Dias is suggesting that “reciprocal measures may be warranted and must be considered” if the U.S. pushes forward with this new trade action against Canada’s aluminum sector.

The agreement to lift tariffs came amid indications that new NAFTA trade talks were moving in a positive direction. That trade agreement has since been ratified by all three countries — Canada, the U.S., and Mexico — and comes into effect on July 1.

With files from CTV News’ Rachel Gilmore

The Courts Say Sex Discrimination Laws Protect Trans People, But Trump May Use Religious Exemptions To Get Around Them

LGBTQ activists may have already won the battle over what sex discrimination laws mean, but now they expect the Trump administration to weaken the laws with religious freedom exemptions.

Paul McLeod BuzzFeed News Reporter
Posted on June 24, 2020

BuzzFeed News / Getty Images

The Supreme Court gave LGBTQ activists a historic victory this month in the employment case of Bostock v. Clayton County, but it also may have set up the next major legal battle between civil rights and religious freedom.

The court decision came just days after the Trump administration determined that doctors, hospitals, insurers, and other health providers could deny services to trans people. That move came when the Department of Health and Human Services defined the Affordable Care Act’s ban on discrimination on the basis of sex to not include gender identity, meaning trans people are not protected.

In Bostock, the Supreme Court ruled the exact opposite — that sex discrimination includes gender identity — in the most sweeping decision to protect LGBTQ people in the court’s history.

But it’s what is not included in the decision — the question of how broadly the Trump administration can extend religious exemptions to cut away at antidiscrimination laws — that lawyers expect to be the next major battlefield in LGBTQ rights.

The Trump administration could essentially say that even if refusing service to a trans person is sex discrimination, businesses or health providers could be protected if providing a service violates their religious beliefs.

“The real battleground here is going to be religious freedom attempts,” said Kristen Prata Browde, who sits on the board of the National Trans Bar Association. “People are going to be using religious exemptions as a way (to get around discrimination).”

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On Monday morning, a coalition of legal groups and health clinics sued the Trump administration in the US District Court for the District of Columbia to reverse the sex discrimination rule change.

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, known as RFRA, allows for exemptions to antidiscrimination laws. It prohibits the federal government from substantially burdening a person’s exercise of religion unless it furthers a compelling government interest and is the least restrictive way of doing so.

The Supreme Court nodded at this question but did not resolve it. The Bostock opinion, authored by Neil Gorsuch, said only that RFRA “might” be able to be used to carve out religious exemptions. “Because RFRA operates as a kind of super statute, displacing the normal operation of other federal laws, it might supersede Title VII’s commands in appropriate cases,” the opinion said.

Omar Gonzalez-Pagan of Lambda Legal said the Bostock decision will be a huge help to his group and others in legal cases to extend LGBTQ rights across the country because courts look to similar statutes when it comes to questions of interpretation. Lambda is one of the groups suing over the ACA rule change.

Gonzalez-Pagan described Trump’s healthcare rule change as “eviscerated” by the decision. He said he now expects the administration to react by pushing for sex descrimination exemptions on religious grounds.

“It’s certainly something that they will attempt,” he said. “They will now try to limit it, to carve it out as much as possible.”


Drew Angerer / Getty Images



LGBTQ activists and supporters rally in support of transgender people on the steps of New York City Hall, Oct. 24, 2018.

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The Supreme Court case and the Trump administration rule change are not directly linked. The rule change redefines the wording of the Affordable Care Act, while the Supreme Court case involved Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 pertaining to employment law.

But given the obvious similarities, advocates say they will be citing the Supreme Court ruling in fighting the rule change along with dozens, if not hundreds, of legal cases across the country.

“They might as well change it now because if they don’t, we’re coming for them,” said Prata Browde.

Defenders of the ACA rule change argue that the context is different and that it should not be affected by an unrelated Supreme Court decision.

“Unlike Title VII, which only covers employment, Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act and its implementing rule covers a large number of contexts,” said Gregory Baylor, senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom. “There will almost certainly be litigation over (the rule change), but it is less clear how those disputes will turn out.”

But it is not just progressives who say the Supreme Court ruling will have an impact. In his scathing dissent on Bostock, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito warned the “gravitational pull” of the ruling is “virtually certain to have far-reaching consequences.”

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He speculated the ruling will be cited in legal cases ranging from healthcare to professional sports. “Today’s decision may have effects that extend well beyond the domain of federal antidiscrimination statutes,” Alito wrote.

Alito included an appendix of well over 100 federal statutes that contain anti–sex descrimination provisions that could be called into question.

The upshot is that while the battle lines will likely change, the legal fights between the Trump administration and LGBTQ groups have no end in sight.



Paul McLeod is a politics reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in Washington, DC.

Contact Paul McLeod at paul.mcleod@buzzfeed.com.

Got a confidential tip? Submit it here.

University of Saskatchewan temporarily lays off more than 300 employees
Kyle Benning

© Brenden Purdy / Global News The Canadian Union of Public Employees represents about 2,000 employees at the university and said between 200 and 250 of the layoffs are its members.

The University of Saskatchewan (USask) has temporarily laid off 315 employees over a span of 12 weeks.

“Prior to any decisions about temporary layoffs, we considered the possibility of redeployment to other work that is essential and can be done remotely," read a statement emailed to Global News. "In most circumstances, employees who are temporarily laid off were able to use existing paid entitlements of vacation, banked overtime, or earned days off to maintain full pay levels for additional days or weeks.

“Through the normal course of the year, all university units also adjust their staffing levels based on seasonal requirements, changing amounts of work available, and their respective budget situations, particularly in light of the current economic uncertainty due to COVID-19.”

Read more: Petition calls for reduced University of Saskatchewan tuition with classes online this fall

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 1975 represents about 2,000 employees at the university and said its members account for between 200 and 250 of the layoffs.

The union’s acting president said the union is working closely with university administration to adjust to the pandemic and fewer people on campus.

“Through this process, we have strongly advocated for our members and the services we provide. While we have no guarantees that staffing levels will return to normal when in-person classes return, we will continue to work with the university to ensure proper staffing levels to meet the needs of students,” Bob Jones wrote in a statement.

Read more: Upgrades planned for Saskatchewan universities, Moose Jaw Polytechnic

The Administrative and Supervisory Personnel Association (ASPA) represents 1,300 employees at the university.

Its president added they’ve only seen around a dozen temporary layoffs, but have seen more than 30 permanent layoffs over the past two months.

“The workloads are going to be increasing if we have fewer members and they continue to provide the same services and programs,” Curtis Larson said.

Read more: Coronavirus: University of Saskatchewan sees increase in spring, summer course enrolments

USask said between federal government programs and university top-ups, temporarily laid-off employees are earning 85 per cent of their regular earnings.

The university’s units will continue to monitor budgets and staff levels, but large-scale layoffs aren’t expected.

WestJet to lay off 3,333 workers under restructuring plan

BANKRUPTCY LAW BUSTS UNION CONTRACTS

CUPE LOOSES MORE MEMBERS, WHEN WILL THEY 

CALL A GENERAL STRIKE IN ALBERTA
WESTJET TOOK FEDERAL FUNDS TO RETAIN WORKERS

 © Provided by The Canadian Press

WestJet Airlines Ltd. says it will permanently lay off 3,333 employees as part of a major restructuring amid the coronavirus pandemic that has devastated the travel industry.

The company plans to consolidate call centre activity in Alberta, restructure its office and management staff and contract out operations at all but four of the 38 Canadian airports where it operates, WestJet said in a release Wednesday.

"Throughout the course of the biggest crisis in the history of aviation, WestJet has made many difficult, but essential, decisions to future-proof our business," said CEO Ed Sims, calling the changes "unavoidable."

About 2,300 airport customer service agents and baggage handlers will lose their jobs, according to CUPE union official Chris Rauenbusch.

Some 600 office and management staff in Calgary will be cut within a month or so, he said. "The head office is already desolate."

Another 433 call centre representatives will be laid off in Moncton, Halifax and Vancouver, he said.

WestJet, which went private after Toronto-based Onex Corp. bought the company in December, had employed some 14,000 workers just before the pandemic struck. About 4,500 active employees will remain on the payroll after the layoffs.

The company said preferential hiring interviews for some of the 2,300 WestJet airport workers now facing layoffs will be a priority in selecting airport partners.
The pandemic saw the airline suspend most of its schedule — including all international trips — in late March, running at less than 10 per cent capacity.

Canadian airline revenue streams have shrunk to a fraction of 2019 levels, with fleets parked and border shutdowns ongoing even as domestic travel demand gradually starts to pick up.

Canada, unlike countries including France, Germany and the United States, has held off on sector-specific support for carriers. Instead Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has rolled out financial aid available across industries, including the federal wage subsidy and loans starting at $60 million for large companies.

In an memo to staff Wednesday afternoon, Sims said the dearth of government funds along with a "patchwork" of provincial and federal travel advisories and constraints on non-essential domestic and international travel are compounding a "weak demand environment."

Robert Kokonis, president of Toronto-based consulting firm AirTrav Inc., said the relative lack of financial support "may run the risk of incurring lasting damage on our aviation and travel sectors."

A healthy domestic airline sector is critical in a sprawling country with a handful of far-flung, high-density population centres, he said.

"And we need to have carriers to link Canada with the rest of the world. If we have a major carrier fail, you're not going to replace that lift overnight," Kokonis said. "This message from WestJet today has got to be the eye-opener."

The company is increasing reliant on flights to the U.S. following a partnership with Delta Air Lines, cemented in a joint venture announced in February.

Last week fewer than 7,500 passengers arrived at Canadian airports from the U.S., down more than 98 per cent from a year earlier, according to the Canada Border Services Agency.

International passenger numbers were down 95 per cent compared to a year earlier, the agency said Wednesday.

Chief executives from 27 Canadian companies in sectors ranging from aviation to banking and telecommunications have called for a "measured" reopening of the skies that would see travel resume across all provinces and between select countries.

An ailing travel sector also hurts local businesses, Kokonis said.

"It’s airports, it's ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft, it's taxis, it's hotels, it's tour operators. It’s your kayak and canoe outfitter at Lake Louise that has nobody to rent a boat to."

Manitoba and the Maritime provinces continue to restrict interprovincial travel, though the four Atlantic provinces announced plans Wednesday to create a "bubble" that allows residents to travel within region, removing a 14-day isolation period.

Travellers arriving in Canada from abroad must self-isolate for two weeks.

Last week, Trudeau extended a ban on non-essential travel between Canada and the U.S. until at least July 21.

The announcement came as European Union countries began to reopen their borders to EU and some non-EU members.

"It's not desperate yet, because the airlines can navigate through the next months," said Jacques Roy, a professor of transport management at HEC Montreal business school.

"But the restrictions will have to come to an end and have travel resume sometime."

WestJet earlier this week said it had halted its pursuit of a labour code exemption that would have facilitated permanent mass layoffs.

WestJet will have to provide unionized employees affected by the latest round of layoffs with payment in lieu of notice, Rauenbusch said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 24, 2020
Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press

Coronavirus: More than 100 Manitoba employees losing jobs, says WestJet
Shane Gibson

© Michael King / Global News WestJet Airlines Ltd. says it will lay off 3,333 employees including 116 in Manitoba as part of major restructuring amid a coronavirus pandemic that has devastated the travel industry.

A spokesperson for WestJet confirms there will be a number of permanent layoffs in Manitoba because of the COVID-19 crisis.

WestJet Airlines Ltd. said Wednesday it will permanently lay off 3,333 employees as part of a major restructuring amid the coronavirus pandemic that has devastated the travel industry.

Company spokesperson Morgan Bell tells Global News a total of 116 Manitoba employees are being permanently laid off, including 104 in Winnipeg and 12 in Brandon.

Read more: Latest WestJet layoffs affect 3,333 employees as COVID-19 cripples airline industry

A drastic drop in air travel is being blamed for the company's decision, Bell added.

WestJet, which went private after Toronto-based Onex Corp. bought the company in December, had employed some 14,000 workers just before the pandemic struck.

About 4,500 active employees will remain on the payroll after the layoffs.

The company plans to consolidate call centre activity in Alberta, restructure its office and management staff and contract out operations at all but four of the 38 Canadian airports where it operates, WestJet said in a release Wednesday.

"Throughout the course of the biggest crisis in the history of aviation, WestJet has made many difficult, but essential, decisions to future-proof our business," said CEO Ed Sims, calling the changes "unavoidable."

Read more: WestJet backs away from labour code exemption that would facilitate mass layoffs

About 2,300 airport customer service agents and baggage handlers will lose their jobs, according to CUPE union official Chris Rauenbusch.

Some 600 office and management staff in Calgary will be cut within a month or so, he said.

Another 433 call centre representatives will be laid off in Moncton, Halifax and Vancouver, he said.

A 'weak demand environment'

The company said preferential hiring interviews for some of the 2,300 WestJet airport workers now facing layoffs will be a priority in selecting airport partners.

The pandemic saw the airline suspend most of its schedule -- including all international trips -- in late March, running at less than 10 per cent capacity.

Canadian airline revenue streams have shrunk to a fraction of 2019 levels, with fleets parked and border shutdowns ongoing even as domestic travel demand gradually starts to pick up.

Canada, unlike countries including France, Germany and the United States, has held off on sector-specific support for carriers. Instead, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has rolled out financial aid available across industries, including the federal wage subsidy and loans starting at $60 million for large companies.

Read more: Coronavirus pandemic: WestJet suspending international travel

In a memo to staff Wednesday afternoon, Sims said the dearth of government funds along with a "patchwork" of provincial and federal travel advisories and constraints on non-essential domestic and international travel are compounding a "weak demand environment."

Last week fewer than 7,500 passengers arrived at Canadian airports from the U.S., down more than 98 per cent from a year earlier, according to the Canada Border Services Agency.

International passenger numbers were down 95 per cent compared to a year earlier, the agency said Wednesday.

Manitoba and the Maritime provinces continue to restrict interprovincial travel, though the four Atlantic provinces announced plans Wednesday to create a "bubble" that allows residents to travel within the region, removing a 14-day isolation period.

Read more: Coronavirus: WestJet to rehire nearly 6,400 workers through federal wage subsidy

Travellers arriving in Canada from abroad must self-isolate for two weeks, and last week, Trudeau extended a ban on non-essential travel between Canada and the U.S. until at least July 21.

WestJet earlier this week said it had halted its pursuit of a labour code exemption that would have facilitated permanent mass layoffs.

WestJet will have to provide unionized employees affected by the latest round of layoffs with payment in lieu of notice, Rauenbusch said.

--With files from Clay Young and The Canadian Press

Federal work on First Nations policing should have begun long ago: Bellegarde

© Provided by The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — Public Safety Minister Bill Blair says the Liberal government will work on a law to ensure First Nations have the policing services they need and deserve — but questions are being raised about why this work has seemingly just started.


Blair told the House of Commons public safety committee Tuesday night he has recently begun contacting Indigenous leaders across the country to figure out how to best transform policing in their communities.

The Liberals promised to take action on First Nations policing over six months ago, first in the mandate letter Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued to Blair in December and again in response to Indigenous protests against the Coastal GasLink project in northern B.C.

Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde said this work is long overdue.

"Of course it should have started a long time ago," he said Wednesday.

"But now we have this opportunity to start working with them to get this done soon."

He and Indigenous leaders hope to seize upon the widespread calls for police reform in the wake of a number of violent police incidents involving Indigenous people across Canada to ensure things finally get done.

In February, amid countrywide road and rail blockades over objections by some Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs to the pipeline project in B.C., some asked whether Ottawa should do more to expand policing services run by First Nations to stop violent clashes between Indigenous people and police during pipeline protests.

Blair warned then this idea would not be a quick fix to the immediate issue involving the protests, noting that it would require "complex" and long discussions.

Changes to the way policing is conducted require provincial and territorial involvement and approval, as operational policing matters fall within provincial jurisdiction.

The First Nations Policing Program, created in 1992 as a "practical way to improve the level and quality of policing services for First Nations communities through the establishment of policing agreements," has helped to see approximately 60 per cent of First Nation and Inuit communities in Canada served at least in part by an Indigenous-run police force.

But Bellegarde says this program has long been plagued by funding shortfalls. The Assembly of First Nations has been pushing for First Nations-led policing to be upgraded from a mere program and enshrined in legislation.

"There is no legislative base, their financial resources are inadequate and yet that's what our people are expected to use to put in place a police service. Not acceptable," Bellegarde said.

"We're going to take advantage of this opportunity now to get it done and get it done properly and then we can start to look at community-based policing services from a First Nations perspective, and that's what this opportunity is all about: First Nations police seen as an essential service with a legislative base."

The Assembly of First Nations is also calling for a review of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act that would include giving more power to the Mounties' civilian oversight body. It also wants a zero-tolerance policy for excessive use of force within the RCMP and for the Mounties to wear body cameras to increase transparency.

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs said he believes the long history of conflict between the RCMP and First Nations, Inuit and Metis has led to a point "beyond reconciliation." He said the only way forward is to enable and empower more Indigenous communities to be responsible their own policing.

Phillip also pointed to the role RCMP officers played in separating children from their families and taking them to residential schools, where many of them were abused, neglected and thousands died.

He echoed Bellegarde's calls for legislating Indigenous policing in Canada and said he believes the Liberals should have moved into action on this sooner.

"They've paid lip service with progressive notions on implementing the U.N. declarations as it pertains to Indigenous policing, but there's very little follow through, if any. And the consequences of that are Chantel Moore, for example, or other Indigenous Peoples that are either beaten or dying at the hands of police," Philip said Wednesday.

Moore was shot and killed by police earlier this month in New Brunswick after an officer with the Edmundston Police Force arrived at her home for a wellness check.

"This is a national emergency and it needs to be addressed. Enough talk, we need to prioritize this," Philip said.

In a statement Wednesday, Blair's spokeswoman Mary-Liz Power said the minister "has and will continue to speak with First Nations chiefs across the country about the disturbing incidents that have taken place over the last few weeks."

"It is a priority within Minister Blair's mandate to co-develop a legislative framework for First Nations policing, which recognizes First Nations policing as an essential service, and ensures that police services better reflect the communities they serve," Power said.

"Minister Blair will also work with interested communities to expand the number that are served by First Nations policing."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 24, 2020.

Teresa Wright, The Canadian Press

California wants judge to classify Uber, Lyft drivers as employees
By Tina Bellon 

© Reuters/Hannah McKay The Uber logo is displayed on a mobile phone in this picture illustration
By Tina Bellon

(Reuters) - California plans to ask a state court judge to force Uber Technologies Inc and Lyft Inc to classify their ride-hail drivers as employees rather than contractors, ratcheting up the tension over a new gig worker law.

Shares of both companies fell nearly 8%. A hearing for the matter was set for Aug. 6.

The fight is one of the biggest clashes over the future of the so-called "gig economy" of workers, typically for delivery and other app-based services. California is Uber's and Lyft's biggest U.S. market.

In January, California implemented a law making it tougher for companies to classify workers as contractors rather than employees. The contractor designation is essential to Uber and Lyft, who are exempted from paying drivers overtime, healthcare, unemployment and workers' compensation.

The court fight also comes as the coronavirus has shut down much of the ride-hailing companies' business and gig workers for the first time were able to receive taxpayer-sponsored unemployment benefits under a federal pandemic relief bill.

In a filing in the Superior Court of California in San Francisco on Wednesday, lawyers for California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said their office on Thursday will file a request for a preliminary injunction, which would force the change in status if approved by a judge.

Uber in a statement said most drivers preferred the independence afforded by working as contractors, that it had made changes because of the law, and that it calculated over 158,000 drivers in California would lose work if the reclassification happened.

Lyft in a statement said California should rather let voters decide on the issue during a November ballot initiative sponsored by Uber, Lyft and delivery company DoorDash Inc.

"If the courts were to grant the Attorney General’s request, it would have a devastating effect on millions of Californians at the worst possible time," Lyft said.

(Reporting by Tina Bellon; Editing by Sandra Maler, Peter Henderson and David Gregorio)

Congo police disperse parliament protesters with tear gas, water cannon

JUST LIKE TRUMP'S WHITE HOUSE

© Reuters/Olivia Acland FILE PHOTO:

 Democratic Republic of Congo's outgoing President Joseph Kabila sits next to his successor Felix Tshisekedi during an inauguration ceremony in Kinshasa

KINSHASA (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo police fired tear gas and water cannon on Wednesday to repel hundreds of protesters whose rally against a proposed new law threatened to spill into the parliament compound in the capital Kinshasa.

© Reuters/Henry Nicholls FILE PHOTO: Britain hosts Africa investment summit

Opponents say the reform, which would place prosecutors under the government's authority rather than the courts, undermines the independence of the judiciary.

On the second day of protests, crowds of mostly young men chanted and squared up to security forces on the streets around parliament, before being pushed back by armed officers in jeeps.

The proposal was put forward by a member of ex-president Joseph Kabila's PPRD party, but has faced opposition from the UDPS party of President Felix Tshisekedi.

"We will fight to the end to protect the independence of the judicial system," said protester and UDPS supporter Jean Kabamba, whose head was wrapped in a Congolese flag.

The tension and frustration felt by Tshisekedi's party long predates the current events, said Fred Bauma from the Congo Research Group at New York University. The proposed law "is just a trigger," he told Reuters.

Tshisekedi took power last year, but his presidency has been hampered by an awkward power-sharing deal with Kabila, whose allies control a majority of ministries and seats in parliament.

The recent trial of Tshisekedi's former chief of staff on embezzlement charges pointed to other cracks in the ruling elite. Vital Kamerhe backed Tshisekedi in his successful election campaign in return for his support in the 2023 race. On Saturday, he was sentenced to 20 years hard labour.

(Reporting by Benoit Nyemba and Hereward Holland; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Mark Heinrich)