MANITOBA
'Health officials, Pallister lied to us for weeks'


Business owner Jeremy Regan woke up angry and dejected Monday — yet another day when his barbershop had been forced to shutter again by the Manitoba government without any evidence about why it needed to happen, more than 14 months into the COVID-19 pandemic.

This time, Regan is frustrated for his storefront not even because it had to close. “But I’m just absolutely confused and irritated that public-health officials and Premier Brian Pallister lied to us for weeks leading up to this,” the Hunter & Gunn owner told the Free Press.

“We would’ve all been OK with these type of circuit-breaker closures, but it’s completely ruthless that they get a free pass on doing this, when all they did was tell us that the virus wasn’t coming from businesses and that we were doing a good job... When Pallister said the same things about us today, while telling us we still had to close, I just sighed so loudly. I literally wanted to yell.”

Regan is not the only such business owner expressing this kind of discontent.

In fact, stakeholders like the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce insist the provincial government has “completely flip-flopped” on its messaging leading up to new restrictions that came into effect Sunday, just before further measures were announced for schools and educators.

“We simply don’t have the rationale, data or any such evidence provided to us right now for why this happened,” said Chuck Davidson, president and chief executive officer for the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce.

“It seems businesses are bearing that brunt certainly, not because they’re the cause of the soaring cases, but because they’re lumped into helping turn down the dial on transmission overall at other places — mostly gatherings which the province isn’t enforcing to its full capacity,” said Loren Remillard of the Winnipeg Chamber.

On Monday, Premier Pallister announced new grants, after a weekend of outrage from the business community. Pallister failed to provide such supports earlier at a press conference announcing the restrictions, which he also did not attend.

The Manitoba Bridge Grant, which will dole out $5,000 a pop, is expected to be automatically provided to small- and medium-sized business owners who had qualified for its previous three iterations by the end of this week.

“We’re grateful for this grant because, yes, we’d been asking for this for weeks,” said Davidson. “Is it going to be enough? I don’t think $20,000 will ever be enough when you’ve been basically closed for well over a year.”

Pressed Monday, Pallister would not answer why the Tory government changed its tune about imposing new restrictions that required these grants in the first place. And Pallister also refused to say how this “tough decision” was made without any modelling or contact tracing data showing they were needed.



“I’m not going to apologize. We had to act. We chose to act,” Pallister told reporters at a news conference, about his “unapologetic” demeanour for imposing restrictions that he admitted were “done out of a sense of urgency without a lot of advance notice.”

The premier acknowledged restaurants, in particular, were “caught off guard” by the Mother’s Day measure. “So, this is a thank-you to them,” he said of a new top-up for eateries on top of the bridge grant for their plight.

“We continue to offer the most generous programs and supports in the country,” said Pallister inaccurately, when asked about assistance for workers, who will lose hours or be stuck without pay altogether due to the new provincial measures. He touted a new provincial pandemic sick leave program that provides workers $600 for up to five full days, but only if it’s related to COVID-19 and if they’re taking time off completely — not if they lose hours because of the new measures.

Last week, chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin announced more than a dozen new measures, as coronavirus infections reached a level not seen since the peak of the second wave in November. The new orders will last at least until May 30.

“I think it’s a valid question to ask why businesses are being closed when all we’ve heard is cases are coming from elsewhere,” said Jonathan Alward, Prairies director for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, on Monday. “That said, I know for a lot of people this grant extension will definitely be very helpful as they deal with that.”

The CFIB, Retail Council of Canada (Prairies), and the Winnipeg and Manitoba Chambers of Commerce all expect future closures and layoffs as a result of the new restrictions.

Temur Durrani, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Winnipeg Free Press

Alberta justice minister sorry for saying feds, others rooting for COVID disaster


EDMONTON — Alberta’s justice minister says he was wrong to accuse Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government, Alberta’s Opposition NDP, and the media of rooting for COVID-19 to buckle his province’s health system.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

"I would like to offer an apology for my recent comments on my personal Facebook account," Kaycee Madu wrote on Twitter Tuesday night.

"Alberta is facing an unprecedented public health crisis. My comments were wrong, as all Canadians want this global pandemic to end as soon as possible.

"I fully support the premier’s recent call to avoid the divisive political rhetoric during what we all hope is the final period of this pandemic and will continue the important work of government in protecting Albertans from this virus."

The apology came a day after Madu’s spokesman, Blaise Boehmer, told reporters in a statement that Madu was standing by his accusations, adding, "The minister won’t apologize for stating the obvious."

Earlier Tuesday, prior to Madu’s apology, Trudeau rejected the accusations.

"It’s a shame to see people pointing fingers and laying blame and suggesting that anyone in Canada wants anything else than to get through this pandemic as safely as possible everywhere," Trudeau said in Ottawa.

Premier Jason Kenney, also asked about Madu’s comments prior to the apology, said he hadn’t seen them but said, "COVID has caused us a lot of us at various times to say things we regret, and I just encourage everybody — whatever side of the political spectrum they’re on — to give each other a break right now."

Trudeau noted he reached out to Kenney and Alberta's big city mayors last week to offer further support if called upon. Kenney declined the offer.

"Every step of the way the federal government has been there to support Canadians, with $8 out of every $10 in pandemic support coming from the federal government," said Trudeau.

The issues of blame and responsibility have recently been at the centre of debate in Alberta. Kenney’s government has been criticized for waiting weeks to respond with tighter health restrictions to the current third wave that now threatens to overrun the health system if left unchecked.



Alberta has recently had COVID-19 case rates that are the highest in North America.

Kenney acted with renewed rules a week ago, closing schools and introducing sharper limits on businesses and worship services.

He also stressed now is not the time to lay blame. Prior to that, Kenney and his ministers had repeatedly accused Trudeau's government of hamstringing the relief effort with a slow vaccine rollout. As late as April 29, Kenney blamed Alberta's entire third wave on Ottawa.

Last Friday, Madu, in a Facebook post, wrote that the province couldn’t risk giving the COVID-19 virus a chance to "overwhelm our health-care system.

"That's what the NDP, the media and the federal Liberals were looking for and want," he wrote.

NDP Leader Rachel Notley said her caucus has done its job as the Official Opposition.

She said they’ve pushed Kenney’s government to enact rules to reduce the spread of the virus, while giving businesses financial aid to survive and workers support to allow them to isolate but still provide for their families.

Notley added, "You don’t tend to see that sort of incendiary, thoughtless messaging or tone from someone who takes on the role of justice minister."

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the chief medical officer of health, reported 24,998 active COVID-19 cases Tuesday. There are 705 people in hospital with the illness, 163 of them in intensive care — the highest since the pandemic began.

Hinshaw confirmed the province won't give out more first doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for the time being.

“Based on global supply challenges, we do not know when Canada, and in turn Alberta, will receive additional doses,” said Hinshaw.

There are 8,400 doses left, which will be used for second shots.

Hinshaw also said they will wait at least 12 weeks between AstraZeneca doses, given current research is showing that the interval delivers the best protection.

Alberta has administered more than 255,000 first doses of AstraZeneca.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 11, 2021.

Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press

Organizers of 'anti-lockdown' rodeo charged with breaking Alberta health act

CBC/Radio-Canada

© Justin Pennell/CBC Hundreds attended a rodeo near Bowden, Alta., on May 1 and 2 in defiance of public health restrictions and despite surging COVID-19 cases.

The organizers of a rodeo held earlier this month near Bowden, Alta., to protest provincial COVID-19 restrictions have been summoned to make a court appearance for putting on the event.

Ty Northcott posted on his Facebook page Tuesday that officials served him papers on Monday for his role in May 1-2 event, which he dubbed "No more lockdowns rodeo rally."

RCMP confirmed to CBC News that Mounties on behalf of Alberta Health Services served papers to Ty and Gail Northcott requiring them to appear in Red Deer provincial court on May 17.

They were charged with a violation under Section 73(1) of the Public Health Act.

In a statement to CBC News, AHS said its officials worked with the Bowden Agriculture Society, Red Deer County and the Olds RCMP to confirm the rodeo event was in violation of orders issued by Alberta's chief medical officer of health.

So far, no cases of COVID-19 have arisen from the event. AHS noted that symptoms may take up to 14 days to appear after exposure.

"In some cases, symptoms may be mild and individuals may not seek out COVID-19 testing. COVID-19 can also be spread asymptomatically, and an individual may not know they are spreading the virus," said AHS spokesperson Kerry Williamson in the statement.

The "anti-lockdown" event held on private land along Highway 2A about 30 kilometres south of Red Deer drew hundreds of spectators, most of whom were not wearing masks.
Rodeo draws harsh rebuke from premier

Attendees at the event told CBC News they believe the pandemic is a "scamdemic" and that COVID-19 is a "flu" that is not serious.

The rodeo drew a harsh rebuke from Premier Jason Kenney, who said he was angered by the participants' selfish behaviour.

"Rodeo celebrates Alberta's western heritage, a key part of which is our community spirit and looking out for others, especially the vulnerable," Kenney said.

"That's the opposite of what these folks are doing."

Robb Stuart, the mayor of Bowden, said those who flouted health restrictions at the rodeo outside his town should be held accountable.

No further charges stemming from the rodeo are being considered at this time, said RCMP media liaison Kelly Chantelle.

As of Monday, Alberta had25,438 active cases, giving it the highest active-case rate, per capita, of all provinces and territories. The province reported1,597 new COVID-19 cases on Monday and seven more deaths from the illness.

There were690 people in hospital with COVID-19, including 158 people in intensive care.

Alberta takes legal action against pastor, rodeo organizers for gatherings


CALGARY — A court date has been set for a Calgary pastor and two rodeo organizers have been ordered to appear in court after they were all accused of violating public health orders in place to reduce the spread of COVID-19

.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

RCMP say in a news release that a court summons has been served in relation to a pre-advertised, maskless "No More Lockdowns" protest rodeo held in early May.

Police allege Ty Northcott and Gail Northcott, who are both from Bowden, Alta., contravened the province's Public Health Act.

It comes a day after Calgary police released pastor Artur Pawlowski and his brother Dawid Pawlowski from custody.

The pair were arrested Saturday and charged with organizing an illegal in-person gathering and promoting and attending an illegal gathering.

Artur Pawlowski is to appear in court May 17.

The charges come after a court order was granted allowing Alberta Health Services and police to arrest and charge those who advertise illegal gatherings that breach COVID-19 health restrictions.

The health agency says there is an urgent need to minimize spread to protect all Albertans as COVID-19 cases surge in the province.

Rallies and protests against lockdowns, masks and other COVID-19 regulations have been occurring regularly in Alberta.

Police also ticketed protesters leaving another anti-restriction rally Saturday. It was held outside a central Alberta café, after the establishment was closed by health officials earlier in the week.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 11, 2021.

The Canadian Press

Criminal complaint filed after 2nd Nazi flag spotted in rural Alberta

Janice Johnston

CBC

© Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center Hitler Youth and Confederate flags fly on a property outside Breton in Brazeau County, Alta.

A woman living in central Alberta says she nearly crashed her vehicle when she saw a Nazi flag and Confederate flag flying side-by-side at a rural property.

For at least the past five years, a rural property owner who lives outside of Breton, southwest of Edmonton, has displayed a Confederate flag at the entrance. On May 1, he added a Hitler Youth Nazi flag on the other side of his driveway.

When a neighbour drove past his property on Mother's Day, she said she couldn't believe her eyes, so she took a photo.

CBC News has agreed to protect her identity.

"I nearly drove off the road," she said. "It shocked me because that's not the community. That's why I lost my biscuit and started contacting people."

She said she called the local RCMP detachment, Brazeau County and the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies(FSWC) in Toronto.

The FSWC contacted RCMP immediately and filed a criminal complaint.

RCMP said officers went to the property the same day and confirmed the existence of the flags. An RCMP spokesperson said they asked the landowner to take the flags down and he refused.

"Unfortunately, it doesn't surprise me," Jaime Kirzner-Roberts with FSWC said. "I think you can imagine that anybody that's motivated to put up a Confederate or a Nazi flag has some kind of agenda."

Const. Chantelle Kelly told CBC news that flying a flag is not in itself a criminal offence.

Investigators are now trying to determine if flying those particular flags is enough to be charged with wilfully promoting hatred or inciting the public.

She said RCMP would likely consult with the Crown to see if there's the necessary intent to file hate crime criminal charges. She was not able to provide a timeline on how long it would take to make a decision.

The FSWC is encouraging RCMP to lay criminal charges.

"These symbols are promoting hatred," Kirzner-Roberts said. "Here in Canada, the wilful promotion of hatred is illegal. It is a criminal act."
Politician calls for removal of flags

The reeve of Brazeau County said he doesn't know the homeowner, but hopes he'll decide to take down the flags he described as disturbing.

"There's no time for this type of symbol of hatred and racism to be displayed anywhere, let alone in Brazeau County," Bart Guyon said. "People are pretty stressed these days from all the different things going on and the last thing we need is one more thing to worry about."

Last week, a Hitler Youth flag was also spotted on a flagpole south of Boyle. That property owner agreed to take it down when asked to do so by RCMP.

The woman who blew the whistle on the flags flying outside Breton hopes the property owner will have a change of heart.

"I hope there's enough pressure that it makes it uncomfortable for him," she said.

The whole incident has made the Brazeau County Reeve very uncomfortable.

"The world is changing," Guyon said. "I hope this isn't the direction it's going."

'It is extremely disturbing': Nazi flag seen flying on second rural Alberta property in a week

Jonny Wakefield
EDMONTON JOURNAL

A Hitler Youth flag has been spotted flying over a second rural Alberta property in the span of a week.

The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies says it was alerted Sunday to a Nazi and a Confederate flag on a property near Breton, Alta.

On Tuesday, the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies (FSWC) said they contacted police after learning Nazi and Confederate flags were on display at a property near Breton.

A nearby resident spotted the flags Sunday and reported them to the Toronto-based centre, which monitors racism and antisemitism.

In a news release, the FSWC said the property owner refused to remove the flags after being approached by Breton RCMP. An RCMP spokesman confirmed they are investigating but declined to provide further details.

“It is extremely disturbing and quite disheartening to once again see a Hitler Youth flag, as well as the Confederate flag, on display,” said Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, the centre’s director of policy.

“These displays of hate go against the values that Canada stands for and are an attack on not only the Jewish and Black communities, but also on our veterans and fallen soldiers who made unspeakable sacrifices to defeat the Nazis and preserve our freedoms.”

The news comes less than a week after RCMP asked a property owner near the northern Alberta village of Boyle to remove a similar flag. The latest property is located on Township Road 484 in Brazeau County, southwest of Edmonton.

The FSWC filed criminal complaints in relation to both flags, arguing the property owners are wilfully promoting hatred and demanding police conduct a hate crimes investigation.

County Reeve Bart Guyon called the flags “disturbing” in a phone interview Tuesday.

In a followup statement, he added: “There is no place in Brazeau County for symbols of hatred and racism. These flags are disturbing, inappropriate, and do not represent the values of the people of Brazeau County. We call upon the landowner to remove them immediately.”

Breton’s chief administrative officer said the property is not within the boundaries of the village, which she noted was founded by Black settlers and features a museum with one of the few exhibits on Black settlement in Alberta .

Steve Shafir, president of the Jewish Federation of Edmonton, said the flags are proof that “antisemitism, unfortunately, is alive and well in Canada.”

“It’s disgusting,” he said. “It’s disconcerting, and it is downright scary.”

Shafir added the Jewish community has been “pleased with the outpouring of support from the general community when these things do come to light.”

“We know that the vast majority of Canadians are disgusted with the views that come with a symbol like that.”

Efforts to contact the property owner have been unsucc

ARYAN SUPREMACISTS EXPLOIT DALITS IN USA
Suit: Workers lured from India paid $1.20 per hour for years

FBI agents were at a large Hindu temple in New Jersey on Tuesday as a new lawsuit claimed it was built by workers from marginalized communities in India who were lured to the U.S. and forced to work long hours for just a few dollars per day.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The lawsuit accuses the leaders of the Hindu organization known as Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, or BAPS, of human trafficking and wage law violations.

An FBI spokesperson confirmed that agents were at the temple on “court-authorized law enforcement activity,” but wouldn't elaborate. One of the attorneys who filed the suit said some workers had been removed from the site Tuesday.

The lawsuit says more than 200 workers — many or all of whom don't speak English — were coerced into signing employment agreements in India. They traveled to New Jersey under R-1 visas, which are meant for “those who minister, or work in religious vocations or occupations,” according to the lawsuit.

When they arrived, the lawsuit says, their passports were taken away and they were forced to work at the temple from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. with few days off, for about $450 per month a rate that the suit said came out to around $1.20 per hour. Of that, the workers allegedly only received $50 in cash per month, with the rest deposited into their accounts in India.

According to the lawsuit, the exploited workers were Dalits — members of the lowest step of South Asia's caste hierarchy.

An attorney representing several of the workers, Daniel Werner, called it “shocking that this happens in our backyard.”

“It is even more disturbing that it has gone on for years in New Jersey behind the temple’s walls,” Werner, of Decatur, Georgia, said Tuesday outside the gates of the complex. He said some workers were on the site for a year, two years or even longer, and were not allowed to leave unless accompanied by somebody from BAPS.

BAPS CEO Kanu Patel, who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, told The New York Times, “I respectfully disagree with the wage claim.”

A spokesperson for the organization, Matthew Frankel, told The Associated Press that BAPS was first made aware of the accusations early Tuesday morning.

“We are taking them very seriously and thoroughly reviewing the issues raised,” he said.

The ornate temple, known as a mandir, is made of Italian and Indian marble, and sits on 162 acres (65 hectares) in Robbinsville, outside Trenton.

The lawsuit said workers lived in a fenced-in compound where their movements were monitored by cameras and guards. They were told that if they left, police would arrest them because they didn't have their passports, the suit said.

The lawsuit names Patel and several individuals described as having supervised the workers. It seeks unpaid wages and unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

D.B. Sagar, president of the Washington-based International Commission for Dalit Rights, told The Associated Press that Dalits are an easy target for exploitation because they’re the poorest people in India.

“They need something to survive, to protect their family,” Sagar — a Dalit himself — said, adding that if the allegations in the lawsuit are true, they amount to “modern-day slavery.”

BAPS is a global sect of Hinduism founded in the early 20th century and aims to “preserve Indian culture and the Hindu ideals of faith, unity, and selfless service,” according to its website. The organization says it has built more than 1,100 mandirs — often large complexes that essentially function as community centers.

BAPS is known for community service and philanthropy, taking an active role in the diaspora’s initiative to help India amid the current COVID-19 surge. But it also is linked to contentious issues in India, publicly supporting and funding the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, built on the site of a mosque demolished by Hindu nationalists.

India’s right-wing prime minister, Narendra Modi, has close ties to the organization and one of its transformative leaders, Pramukh Swami Maharaj, who died in 2016.

The ongoing construction on the mandir in Robbinsville began in 2010, and the site has caught the attention of state and federal authorities in recent years.

Last month, the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development issued a stop-work order against a Newark-based construction company whose projects included the BAPS temple in Robbinsville.

An investigation found the company, Cunha Construction, was paying workers in cash off the books and didn’t have workers’ compensation insurance, according to a release. A phone listed for the company rang unanswered Tuesday. It’s not named in the lawsuit.

In 2017, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigated after a Pennsylvania teenager was killed in a fall while volunteering at the site.

According to the website for the Robbinsville mandir, its construction “is the epitome of volunteerism.”

“Volunteers of all ages have devoted their time and resources from the beginning: assisting in the construction work, cleaning up around the site, preparing food for all the artisans on a daily basis and helping with other tasks,” the website says. “A total of 4.7 million man hours were required by craftsman and volunteers to complete the Mandir.”

___

Associated Press writer Mike Catalini contributed to this report.

David Porter And Mallika Sen, The Associated Press

SEE HINDUISM IS FASCISM

Mexico scraps tainted GM union vote, U.S. lawmakers warn of labor abuses

By Daina Beth Solomon and David Shepardson 

  

© Reuters/REBECCA COOK FILE PHOTO: Logo of GM atop the company headquarters

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexican authorities on Tuesday ordered the General Motors Co union in the city of Silao to repeat a worker vote following pressure from U.S. lawmakers for the automaker to address alleged abuses that could potentially violate a new trade deal.

Mexico's labor ministry said it found "serious irregularities" in last month's vote, which is required under a Mexican labor reform to ensure workers are not bound to contracts that are signed behind their backs and keep wages low.

Such votes are part of Mexico's broader effort to uphold worker rights as part of a new free trade pact that replaces NAFTA.

The concerns over GM come amid various complaints in recent days regarding Mexican workplace abuses, just as U.S. activists and politicians begin to flex new powers to enforce labor standards south of the border enshrined in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

The largest U.S. labor federation, the AFL-CIO, on Monday urged the U.S. government to file a complaint under USMCA against Tridonex, an auto-parts plant in the Mexican border city of Matamoros where it said workers have been blocked from electing an independent union.

In the GM case, some ballots were destroyed during the union-led vote, Mexico's labor ministry found. It also said the union, which is part of the powerful Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM), refused to give labor inspectors documentation of the vote tally.

U.S. representatives Dan Kildee, Bill Pascrell and Earl Blumenauer, all Democrats, called on GM to answer questions about potential abuses.

The largest U.S. automaker "has a responsibility to speak out against violations of labor and human rights abuses at the Silao GM plant," they said in a letter to GM Chief Executive Mary Barra.

The lawmakers also cited news reports indicating that GM officials had removed independent inspectors, among other intimidation tactics targeting workers.

GM has denied wrongdoing, and said government-approved inspectors were not prevented from entering the voting site. It also said it condemned labor rights violations and had hired a third-party firm to review the matter.

GM's union must hold a new vote within 30 days, the ministry said, after the initial vote "violated principles of safety and certainty."

Hugo Varela, head of the CTM in Guanajuato state, where the Silao plant is located, did not respond to a request for comment on the labor ministry's order.

He previously said that CTM was committed to complying with the law and keeping jobs in Mexico.

A spokesman for the U.S. Trade Representative's office declined to comment on GM.

The disputed vote at Silao, which employs some 6,000 people, came several days before GM said it would invest $1 billion in an electric vehicle manufacturing complex in Mexico, triggering criticism from the United Auto Workers.

UAW spokesman Brian Rothenberg told Reuters separately this week that it was "concerned and is having appropriate discussions" about the Mexico vote.

In addition, Geneva-based IndustriALL Global Unions and Toronto-based Unifor said in letters to GM President Mark Reuss last week that the incident appeared to violate the USMCA and urged GM to protect workers.

Unifor's president, Jerry Dias, expressed his "outrage" at the situation and said he would explore "all available avenues" to uphold worker rights in Mexico, including dispute resolution tools under the USMCA.

(Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon in Mexico CityAdditional reporting by Sharay Angulo and Anthony Esposito in Mexico City, Ben Klayman in Detroit and David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Grant McCool and Stephen Coates)

Gig-economy riders in Spain must become staff within 90 days under new rule

© Reuters/Albert Gea FILE PHOTO: Glovo deliver rider passes by a pedestrian area in Barcelona

MADRID (Reuters) -Food delivery companies based in Spain have three months to employ their couriers as staff under new rules approved on Tuesday by the government, one of the first laws in Europe regarding gig-economy workers' rights.

The decree aims to clarify the legal situation of thousands of riders after Spain's Supreme Court ruled last year that companies must hire them as employees.

"The regulation approved today ... places us at the forefront of a technological change that cannot leave labour rights behind," Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz said.

A debate on how to regulate workers' rights in the gig economy is unfolding globally. The European Commission has opened a public consultation period on potential EU-wide rules.

The new Spanish rules came into force immediately, with companies being given 90 days to comply. According to the labour ministry's calculations, nearly 17,000 riders without a contract have already been identified.

Uber criticised the new regulation

"This regulation will directly hurt thousands of couriers who use food delivery apps for much-needed flexible earnings opportunities and made it clear they do not want to be classified as employees," a spokesman said.

"The decree approved today by the cabinet is a hard blow for the future of the digital economy in Spain", according to Adigital, a business industry association that represent gig economy companies including Spanish start-up Glovo and Deliveroo.

Although the legislation makes it harder for companies to have freelance couriers, closing the door on a common practice, several riders' associations and labour experts have said it does not completely resolve their legal situation, anticipating further potential court battles.

In any case, most delivery companies have already started preparing for the change, looking for new business models that will allow them to be profitable.

Just-Eat, the Spanish branch of Take Away, has already hired some of its workers and covers peak demand with workers from transport companies.

Others, such as Glovo, have opted to hire some riders through temporary employment agencies, according to riders.

The government also approved new rules obliging companies to explain to their staff how their workload-sharing algorithms work.

This transparency requirement will affect all platforms, not just food delivery companies.

"Workers have the right to know what motivates business decisions," said Diaz. "Algorithms are going to be put at the service of the majority."

(Reporting by Belén Carreño and Joan FausWriting by Belén CarreñoEditing by Ingrid Melander and Estelle Shirbon)

Spain adopts landmark law to protect 'gig' delivery workers

MADRID (AP) — Spain approved a pioneering law Tuesday that gives delivery platforms a mid-August deadline to hire workers currently freelancing for them and that requires transparency of artificial intelligence used to manage workforces.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The royal decree passed by the center-left ruling coalition immediately affects some 30,000 couriers. It comes in the wake of a ruling by Spain’s top court last year and at a time when other countries in Europe and elsewhere are deciding on a labor model for the so-called gig economy, which is often blamed for precarious jobs and low salaries.

That's because, until now, gig and other contractor workers had to pay social security fees from their own pockets if they wanted to receive benefits including unemployment subsidies and a public pension.

App-based food delivery businesses say that the law threatens a 700-million-euro ($851 million) industry in Spain, and some of the couriers took to the streets on Tuesday in different cities because they say that remaining self-employed benefits them.

Francisco López, 37, said he was making 2,400 euros ($2,900) per month working an average of seven hours every seven days of the week, more than he could have made at his previous job at Barcelona.

“A lot of us have families and children. By working for more than one company we can adjust our schedule. The rates are currently not the best, but they do offer us an economic cushion,” said López, who has managed to send remittances to his relatives in Colombia during the pandemic.

But Labor Minister Yolanda Díaz said Spain was “at the vanguard” in taking legislation on the relationship between delivery platforms and their workforce.

“The world is looking at us,” Díaz told reporters following a weekly Cabinet meeting and adding that it reflected the “new winds” that, across the world, deliver welfare to citizens.

In the United States, Joe Biden’s government has rolled back on a rule from his predecessor’s administration that would have made it easier to classify workers as independent contractors, blocking a change supported by delivery and ride-hailing services. The executive branch of the European Union is also currently consulting with the public on potential rules that could be applied across the bloc.

The Spanish government’s decree doesn't need parliamentary approval and is the result of an agreement with the country’s main workers’ unions and industry associations, although smaller groups representing the interests of the food delivery platforms claim they have been sidelined in the negotiations.

APS, which groups on-demand service providers Deliveroo, Stuart, Glovo and Uber Eats, the main players in the food delivery market, condemned the government's move.

“While Spain claims to be a start-up nation, this is the first law in Europe that forces a technological company to disclose its algorithms,” said APS in a statement.

During negotiations, the government agreed to initially restrict the need for work contracts to delivery companies operating digital platforms. That leaves out the domestic care and cleaning services industries where the gig work model is also spreading.

The law makes mandatory for all businesses the ground-breaking requirement of having to hand over to the workers’ legal representatives information about how algorithms and artificial intelligence systems function in assigning jobs and assessing performance, among other aspects.

“Workers cannot lose their soul on the keyboard of our laptops or on electronic gadgets,” Díaz said.

Uber said that the regulation would hurt the couriers "who use food delivery apps for much-needed flexible earning opportunities” and also the restaurant industry in Spain which, amid the coronavirus pandemic, is increasingly relying on delivery to make ends meet.

“We want to be a long-term partner to Spain and are exploring different options to adapt our delivery business to the new regulation,” the company said in an e-mailed statement.

Some of the associations representing “independent couriers” wrote to the European Union’s Job Commissioner Nicolas Schmit calling for the Spanish law to be paused until the bloc has come up with a standardized framework.

Four of the associations said that a model that requires companies to give them contracts could lead to the loss of 23,000 of some 30,000 existing jobs.

But the general secretary of UGT, one of Spain’s main workers’ unions, said the riders protesting against the law were controlled by the platforms and that the law was meant to protect labor rights across the board.

With the law, Pepe Álvarez told public broadcaster TVE, “workers are going to win, the social security system is going to win and the country is going to win."

Díaz also dismissed the criticism: “Just as workers shouldn't fear advances in technology, companies shouldn't fear labor rights," the minister said when asked at a press briefing following the weekly Cabinet meeting.

Spain’s Supreme Court ruling last year said that there was a “presumed work relationship” between a delivery worker and Glovo. The ruling sent ripples across the industry, with the judges concluding that the platform couldn’t be deemed just as an intermediary.

Dani Gutiérrez, a 29-year-old member of the “Ridersxrights” association who has failed to receive work from food delivery platforms after striking and protesting against their labor conditions, welcomed the new law but said that it lacked ambition.

“It should have gone much further, beyond the riders, because the working class is being pushed to precarious conditions through this type of collaborative economy, with fake freelancers and so on," Gutiérrez said.

__

AP journalist Renata Brito reported from Barcelona, Spain.

Aritz Parra And Renata Brito, The Associated Press

TODAY IN WEATHER HISTORY
How improper farming methodology and drought caused the catastrophic Dust Bowl

Randi Mann 

On Friday, May 11, 1934, tons of topsoil blew from the Great Plains region of the United States all the way to New York, Boston, and Atlanta.

This was an event associated with the Dust Bowl.

© Provided by The Weather Network"A farmer and his two sons during a dust storm in Cimarron County, Oklahoma, April 1936. Iconic photo taken by Arthur Rothstein." Courtesy of Wikipedia

The Dust Bowl was a series of severe dust storms during the 1930s. It was caused by the combination of drought and inaccurate farming methodology. Farmers deeply plowed the virgin topsoil of the Great Plains, which displaced the native grass that usually traps soil and moisture during droughts and heavy winds.

Farmers were able to widely convert arid grassland to cropland with new technologies like gasoline-powered tractors.

© Provided by The Weather Network"A dust storm approaches Stratford, Texas, in 1935." Courtesy of Wikipedia

During the 1930s drought, the plowed soil turned to dust. Winds blew that dust that created large blackout clouds. The dust clouds were nicknamed "black blizzards" and "black rollers."

The black blizzards travelled as far east as New York City. The dust plumes reduced visibility to one meter.

Edward Stanley, an editor for the Associated Press, was rewriting another reporter's coverage of the storm and coined the term "Dust Bowl".

© Provided by The Weather Network"Buried machinery in a barn lot; Dallas, South Dakota, May 1936." Courtesy of Wikipedia

The impacts of the catastrophic conditions were exasperated by the Great Depression. In 1935, the drought caused families to leave their farms and move to other areas to seek work. Areas in Texas, Oklahoma and other areas in the region were deserted because of the Dust Bowl conditions.

The dust storms left more than 500,000 Americans homeless. Some residents in the Great Plains areas died from dust pneumonia or malnutrition.

The Dust Bowl has been featured in cultural work such as the novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939) by John Steinbeck.

Thumbnail: "A dust storm approaches Stratford, Texas, in 1935." Courtesy of NOAA

Listen to The Weather Network's This Day in Weather History podcast on this topic, here.

This Day In Weather History is a daily podcast by The Weather Network that features stories about people, communities, and events and how weather impacted them.

Opposition right to be wary of Liberals withholding details about fired Canadian scientists with Wuhan links: expert

OTTAWA — Opposition parties are right to be suspicious of the Liberal government’s efforts to withhold details around the firing of two scientists from a high-security infectious disease lab earlier this year, according to one expert on Parliamentary accountability.

© Provided by National Post The National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg where scientists Xiangguo Qiu and Keding Cheng worked until they were escorted out in July 2019, and finally fired in January 2021.

For months, the head of the Public Health Agency of Canada has resisted calls to provide information to a Parliamentary committee around why the two Canadian scientists, Xiangguo Qiu and Keding Cheng, were fired in January. The committee’s latest efforts on Monday to view documents related to the firings have also been resisted by the government, who says it would breach the Privacy Act and jeopardize national security.

Kathy Brock, professor at Queen’s University and an expert on issues of Parliamentary process and accountability, said the legal argument presented by the federal government could potentially be valid, but nonetheless appears to follow a trend of lacking transparency by the Trudeau government.

The Liberals, she said, have refused to release documents related to everything from the SNC-Lavalin scandal, to calls for a partial disclosure of contracts signed with COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers, citing cabinet confidences and the need to protect commercial sensitivity, respectively. Government has also redacted documents tied to the WE Charity scandal as well as recent calls for more details around the procurement practices of Shared Services Canada.

“Given the reluctance of the federal government to respond to a lot of fairly reasonable requests that have come up, and the way it’s controlled any communications and messaging on issues that are sensitive to the government, the opposition parties have a legitimate basis for being suspicious,” Brock said.

Her comments come as members of a special committee on Canada-China relations passed a motion on Monday evening that gives PHAC no more than 10 days to provide un-redacted documents around the firings, which would be passed along to the House of Commons law clerk. Members of the committee would review the documents privately to ensure against a leak of potentially sensitive information, the motion says.

The two scientists were escorted out of Canada’s only level-4 security lab in Winnipeg in July 2019, four months after the facility shipped Ebola and Henipah viruses to China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology. They were fired in January 2021, and were stripped of their security clearances by authorities.

Canadian officials have said the shipments are not related to the outbreak of COVID-19, which was first detected in Wuhan. The federal health agency said the shipments and Qiu’s firing are also not connected.

Opposition members and even some Liberals, have say PHAC should nonetheless provide documentation on the matter, saying it could be of extremely high public interest.

Still, at least part of the Liberal government’s aversion to provide documents might be a result of the increasingly partisan nature of discourse in the House of Commons, Brock said, which has intensified during the pandemic.

“Because of the ramped up partisan nature of discussions between the opposition parties and the government, and the fact that we’re approaching election, partisanship has emerged much more strongly,” she said. “That means that some of the compromises that you traditionally have are broken down.”

Opposition requests for documents, she said, have also been very broad in nature, and could weigh down the public service as it seeks to locate the relevant records. Several observers have said that requests made by the Canada-China committee are very similar to when Liberal opposition members called for documents in 2010 related to the abusive treatment of Afghan detainees by Canadian armed forces. The former Harper government had resisted efforts to have those documents provided to Parliament.

Members of the committee have been full throated in their calls for the release of documents, saying it is a matter of Parliamentary privilege.

Liberal MP Rob Oliphant, parliamentary secretary to the Foreign Affairs minister, had said the documents should be provided to the committee on a private basis. Oliphant Monday evening questioned the legal opinion provided by Christian Roy, senior legal counsel within the Justice Department, who said committees have never had the right to compel documents that could violate the Privacy Act.

“Lawyers are not always right and Justice lawyers are particularly, in my mind, not always right,” he said.

One former senior government official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, agreed with Oliphant, saying Parliamentary privilege often takes precedence over specific legal statutes.

Other observers sided with the Liberals. Michael Wernick, former Clerk of the Privy Council, said the committee’s latest demands for documents could set a “really dangerous” precedent, potentially allowing opposition parties to expose sensitive information.

“Imagine the scope for a partisan majority harassing political opponents and dissenting stakeholders, demanding journalist sources, medical records, psychiatrists’ records, tax filings, adoption records, sealed court records, cabinet papers of their predecessors,” Wernick wrote on LinkedIn on Tuesday.

Conservative members of Parliament have been particularly critical of the Liberal government’s proclivity to redact or withhold documents.

On Tuesday, the party released a statement criticizing a lack of transparency about $655 million in funding that it said was awarded by the Canada Infrastructure Bank to ITC Holdings, a subsidiary of Fortis. Conservative members on the House transport committee put forward a motion on Tuesday calling for more details to be provided around the deal, which it said Liberal members blocked.

“These stalling tactics and the blocking of important reports raise serious questions about what the Liberals are working so hard to keep hidden.”

THIS SAME LAB HAD AN EARLIER INCIDENT OF A CHINESE HONEY POT TRAP OF A CANADIAN SCIENTIST AND HIS CHINESE ASSISTANT AND HER THEFT OF ANTHRAX FROM THE LAB

Public health agency ordered to hand over documents on two scientists fired from microbiology lab

In mystery investigation of two Canadian scientists, a request for Ebola, henipavirus from the Wuhan lab

Bio-warfare experts question why Canada was sending lethal viruses to China

Canada's oceans on the crest of a transformative decade

Canada is in the enviable position of having the longest coastline in the world.

But our trio of oceans is being battered by a storm of negative impacts, be it overexploited fish stocks, plastics pollution, degrading marine food webs, increasingly fragile coastal ecosystems or biodiversity loss accelerated by ocean warming and acidification.

Yet, at the very crest of their vulnerability, Canada’s oceans may stand to benefit from a potentially transformative decade.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada is partnering in the UN’s Decade of Ocean Science spanning from 2021 to 2030.

Touted as a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity, the Ocean Decade’s goal is to lay a new foundation in the sustainable management and development of the globe’s oceans and coastlines for the benefit of humanity.

Yet, while three billion people depend on marine and coastal biodiversity to meet necessities, ocean science accounts for only between 0.04 and four per cent of the total research and development expenditures worldwide.

The maxim of the ambitious undertaking to rectify that deficit is “the science we need for the oceans we want.”

The problems facing the oceans are global, as are potential solutions, said federal Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan in a recent statement launching Canada’s participation in the international initiative.

“Working together we will improve our understanding of ocean conditions, better understand and predict consequences of ocean changes and better inform the ways we can lessen these impacts,” Jordan said.

“It will shine a spotlight on the importance of ocean science and sectors, and how our global ocean nations can work together to grow a stronger, more sustainable, global blue economy.”

The marine research community, as well as First Nations, citizen scientists, environmental and conservation organizations, and economic stakeholders are rolling up their sleeves this week to take a first crack at developing an initial blueprint of scientific priorities and contributions Canada’s ocean community could make towards the international initiative at an open, two-day workshop hosted by the Hakai Institute on Quadra Island starting Wednesday.

One of the engaging aspects about the Ocean Decade is key scientific goals and specific outcomes — whether at the federal, regional or local level — will be the result of grassroots input, said Eric Peterson, co-founder of the Hakai Institute, which specializes in research along B.C.’s remote Pacific coast.

“The Ocean Decade is going to be a collaborative exercise in which lots of people are involved, so it isn't all top-down coming from the UN,” Peterson said.

Beyond natural science, the Ocean Decade workshops will also factor in Indigenous knowledge, local and experiential learning, policy and technological expertise, the humanities and citizen science, he said.

“I'm very excited by it,” Peterson said.

“Anybody can contribute. What we’re trying to do via the workshop is to get everybody excited, too... and turn it into a significant movement where we can get quite a lot done in ocean science over the next decade.”

The West Coast, for example, has a burgeoning, committed citizen science community that can play a big role in the Ocean Decade, he added.

Already well-informed about coastal issues, citizen scientists would be an effective group to help define and achieve project goals, he said.

“If you put them on task to help you with monitoring, they understand what’s going on and take it very seriously,” Peterson said.

Some chief outcomes Canada has broadly outlined for the project are healthy, resilient, clean and productive oceans that inspire and engage citizens.

The goal of the immediate workshop is to try and reach general agreement on some defined priorities for the Ocean Decade at a federal level, he added. The next logical steps in the future will likely be to establish objectives regionally and locally.

For example, the issue of microplastics in the marine environment and how to clean them up and to reduce pollution sources is very likely to find its way onto the virtual whiteboard, Peterson said.

Other objectives might be data or scientific gaps that impact the sustainability of oceans nationally or globally, he added.

The goal isn’t to replicate but, rather, tap into the work and experience of individuals and groups already involved in the ocean community, Peterson said.

“The main principle that underlies the ocean decade, if you read the literature, is to collaborate, collaborate, collaborate,” he said.

“We’ll be recruiting projects and organizations that are already working hard in these areas.”

Peterson concedes that getting so many stakeholders to prioritize, mobilize and commit to the mobilization and solving the number of problems plaguing the world’s oceans is a big undertaking.

“I think it is going to be a very difficult decade,” he said.

“But we can be concerned without getting terrified, and we can worry without being immobilized.”

Oceans are worth preserving, and humans are capable of great progress when they engage in widespread, collaborative approaches to problem-solving, he added.

“It’s amazing to see how much could be done a hurry if it needs to,” Peterson said.

“Look how quickly we developed (COVID-19) vaccines, and that was seen as impossible.”

Rochelle Baker / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada's National Observer

Rochelle Baker, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, National Observer