Ring Cameras Are Being Used to Control and Surveil Overworked Delivery Workers

A Data & Society report interviewed doorbell camera users and delivery drivers to understand how surveillance is affecting both, for the worse.

By Edward Ongweso Jr
October 19, 2022

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Networked doorbell surveillance cameras like Amazon's Ring are everywhere, and have changed the nature of delivery work by letting customers take on the role of bosses to monitor, control, and discipline workers, according to a recent report by the Data & Society tech research institute.

"The growing popularity of Ring and other networked doorbell cameras has normalized home and neighborhood surveillance in the name of safety and security," Data & Society’s Labor Futures program director Aiha Nguyen and research analyst Eve Zelickson write. "But for delivery drivers, this has meant their work is increasingly surveilled by the doorbell cameras and supervised by customers. The result is a collision between the American ideas of private property and the business imperatives of doing a job."

Thanks to interviews with surveillance camera users and delivery drivers, the researchers are able to dive into a few major developments interacting here to bring this to a head. Obviously, the first one is the widespread adoption of doorbell surveillance cameras like Ring. Just as important as the adoption of these cameras, however, is the rise of delivery work and its transformation into gig labor.

The popularity of networked doorbell surveillance cameras was not an inevitable outcome, but a development that companies like Amazon have cultivated through a variety of well-documented methods. The company has spent years stoking suburban paranoia, then offering Ring surveillance cameras as a salve. It has partnered with police departments (at least 2,000 as of this summer) to offer Ring cameras for free or at a steep discount. Ring surveillance cameras are offered at a discount during Prime Day, the pagan holiday celebrating Amazon’s consumption cult. The company is even launching a Ring surveillance footage TV show. Each of these methods have also been part of the company’s monopoly speedrun which has shifted commerce away from physical brick-and-mortar stores to e-commerce and delivery workers.

As the report lays out, Ring cameras allow customers to surveil delivery workers and discipline their labor by, for example, sharing shaming footage online. This dovetails with the “gigification” of Amazon’s delivery workers in two ways: labor dynamics and customer behavior.

Consider Amazon's Prime program, which created with its promise of near-instantaneous delivery an immediate logistics problem for Amazon. In response, the company created an on-demand delivery driver workforce: Amazon Flex. Like other labor platforms (Uber, DoorDash, etc.), Flex drivers are classified as independent contractors and are denied overtime pay, paid sick leave, unemployment insurance, and standard labor rights or protections. In exchange, they were given the "freedom" to have variable pay, to cover their own vehicle maintenance, find their own health insurance, and risk their bodies.

"Gig workers, including Flex drivers, are sold on the promise of flexibility, independence and freedom. Amazon tells Flex drivers that they have complete control over their schedule, and can work on their terms and in their space," Nguyen and Zelickson write. "Through interviews with Flex drivers, it became apparent that these marketed perks have hidden costs: drivers often have to compete for shifts, spend hours trying to get reimbursed for lost wages, pay for wear and tear on their vehicle, and have no control over where they work."

That competition between workers manifests in other ways too, namely acquiescing to and complying with customer demands when delivering purchases to their homes. Even without cameras, customers have made onerous demands of Flex drivers even as the drivers are pressed to meet unrealistic and dangerous routes alongside unsafe and demanding productivity quotas. The introduction of surveillance cameras at the delivery destination, however, adds another level of surveillance to the gigification.

Amazon already surveils its Flex drivers by spying on closed Facebook groups, but sought to add surveillance cameras in delivery vehicles over “safety” concerns its labor conditions created. The move won’t change anything, but it will introduce tighter, more algorithmic control over workers who were recruited with promises of flexibility and independence—a promise familiar to anyone who has spent time looking at or working in the gig economy. Amazon’s introduction of surveillance cameras to doorsteps works along similar lines, allowing customers to do their best impersonation of a boss that expects workers to listen and obey, or suffer the consequences.

Nguyen and Zelickson identify this trend in customers as “boss behavior” or "a range of actions, often undertaken in the name of safety or package security, that also function as the direct management of delivery workers” as part of a way to monitor, instruct, and punish delivery workers.

Not only do customers get notification prompts to track or monitor, but also believe it "encourages virtuous behavior" as well as ensures "workers behave a certain way on their property.” When it comes to instruction, customers are "emboldened to correct and instruct delivery workers because the activity takes place on their property, and with the doorbell camera they can see it in real time from any location” even when such requests, interpreted as orders, are unreasonable ones or clash with a driver’s other responsibilities (e.g. making other deliveries on-time). Customers were also open about how the use of surveillance cameras encouraged them to penalize drivers more, whether by reporting them to Amazon, alerting law enforcement, or sharing footage online to shame them. All of these forms of customer behavior are for the most part indistinguishable from various forms of workplace management.

As Nguyen and Zelickson point out, it is ingenious how Amazon has "managed to transform what was once a labor cost (i.e., supervising work and asset protection) into a revenue stream through the sale of doorbell cameras and subscription services to residents who then perform the labor of securing their own doorstep."

The report's conclusion is clear: Amazon has deputized its customers and made them partners in a scheme that encourages antagonistic social relations, undermines labor rights, and provides cover for a march towards increasingly ambitious monopolistic exploits.

This article is part of State of Surveillance, made possible with the support of a grant from Columbia University’s Ira A. Lipman Center for Journalism and Civil and Human Rights in conjunction with Arnold Ventures. The series will explore the development, deployment, and effects of surveillance and its intersection with race and civil rights.

Doorbell cameras raise privacy questions and threaten gig workers, says report


Ben Lovejoy
- Oct. 20th 2022 


Doorbell cameras like Ring offer a number of benefits to consumers, but have also normalized home and neighborhood surveillance, says a new report. In particular, they are effectively turning customers of services like Amazon into pseudo managers of delivery workers …

Doorbell cameras offer owners a combination of security and convenience. Security, because the visible presence of cameras deters criminals, and they provide evidence when crimes do occur. Convenience because the ability to speak to visitors remotely helps in everything from asking delivery drivers to place packages in particular safe places, to seeing when a friend arrives in order to let them in using a smart lock.

But they have also turned CCTV surveillance of neighborhoods from an exception to the norm, says nonprofit social research organization Data & Society, raising privacy questions.

In particular, they have changed the relationship between e-shopping consumers and delivery drivers. People can now watch live or recorded footage of their deliveries from companies like Amazon, to see how their packages are handled, and how their property is respected.

While that might seem like a good thing, the report At the Digital Doorstep (via Vice) argues that this has effectively turned consumers into pseudo-managers of delivery workers.

The porch has become a contested space: it is at once private property and, for delivery workers, their workplace. The growing popularity of Ring and other networked doorbell cameras has normalized home and neighborhood surveillance in the name of safety and security. But for delivery drivers, this has meant their work is increasingly surveilled by doorbell cameras and supervised by customers. The result is a collision between the American ideals of private property and the business imperatives of doing a job […]

By analyzing interviews with both delivery drivers and users of doorbell cameras, this report argues that while doorbell cameras are heavily marketed and described as tools for safety and security in the home, they are also near-constant tools of workplace surveillance for delivery workers. We identify a pattern of “boss behavior,” where doorbell camera users take on actions typical of managers, using this technology to monitor, instruct, and punish delivery workers […]

We draw from ethnographic interviews with doorbell users to argue that doorbell cameras enable a new form of “boss behavior.” We show how doorbell cameras and their connected platforms facilitate the monitoring, instructing, and punishing of delivery workers. In conclusion, the doorbell camera affords customers a new form of control over a low-wage workforce, one that mirrors that of a traditional manager.

It says that video evidence of poor behavior by delivery drivers frequently results in them losing their “jobs” – or, more usually, freelance gigs. That seems perfectly reasonable in the case of workers who do things like throw packages or damage property, but the report argues that sometimes customers expect a level of service that is incompatible with the high-pressure time constraints placed on workers.

For example, while a customer might expect a delivery worker to take the time to look for a hidden place to leave a package, then put a note through the door telling them where it is, their algorithmically managed schedule may not allow them the time to take this level of care. But customers can rate drivers on the basis of such things, which can have significant implications for the future work they are offered – or not.

Additionally, some customers shame workers by posting video footage online, on social media or on video sharing sites like YouTube.

The report says the purpose of this research is to raise questions, rather than answer them. Are we all happy to live in a world in which we may be in view of dozens of doorbell cameras as we walk down our own street? Is it reasonably for delivery workers to find themselves under almost constant video surveillance and monitoring throughout their shift?

Oath  to the King: 'No Quebecer wants the Constitution reopened,' says Trudeau

After noting that elected officials in Quebec City are free, if they wish, to pass legislation to remove the oath of office from King Charles III, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he is closing the door on any constitutional change.

"I'm not going to speculate on what the National Assembly may or may not do. What I can tell you is that there is no Quebecer who wants the Constitution to be reopened," he said Wednesday before taking part in Question Period in the Commons.

In the morning, he had said that Quebec elected officials are willing to pass a bill on the swearing-in procedures that concern them.

"It must be understood that these oaths are governed by the Assembly and Parliament themselves. The National Assembly has the right to decide how they want to organize their swearing-in process," he argued.

"It takes a bill, but for that, it takes members who sit and vote on bills," he added.

Asked whether he believes Quebec has the power to change the 1867 Constitution by passing such a bill to abolish the oath to the British monarchy, Trudeau did not clearly answer.

Later Wednesday, he argued that debates about the monarchy are far down the list of people's priorities.

"Quebecers, like Canadians, want us to worry about the cost of living, the jobs of the future, climate change and that's what we're going to spend our time on," he said.

Trudeau said his team has 'no intention' of making any changes to the oaths of office that must be taken by members of the House of Commons.

"I'll keep my thoughts to myself," said Gérard Deltell, after recalling that he was once an elected member of the National Assembly.

The Conservatives' Quebec lieutenant, Pierre Paul-Hus, said his party was not keen on the idea of changing the oaths of office at the federal level.

"For the Conservative Party, we are not in a mode of wanting to shake things up. For the moment, we are satisfied with the status quo," he said.

Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet said his party intends to introduce a motion next week to force a parliamentary debate on the issue of a possible abolition of ties to the monarchy.

The issue of the oath of allegiance to the monarchy has recently resurfaced in the National Assembly in Quebec City, as the Parti Québécois and Québec solidaire refuse to go through the exercise to complete their swearing-in.

Québec solidaire spokesperson and re-elected MNA for Gouin, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, sent a letter on Tuesday to the leaders of the other parties represented in the National Assembly with the aim of convening a meeting as soon as possible to resolve the 'impasse.'

Only 'a transparent meeting' will allow to 'get out of the dead end', he insisted in an interview with The Canadian Press.


- With information from Michel Saba, in Ottawa, and Jocelyne Richer, in Quebec City

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Oct. 19, 2022.

ONTARIO

GO Transit bus drivers, station attendants set to strike Oct. 31: union

Posted Oct 19, 2022

GO Transit bus drivers, station attendants, safety officers and maintenance workers could walk off the job as of the end of the month.

The Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1587, which represents 2,200 GO workers, said if a deal is not reached its members will be on strike at 12:01 a.m. on October 

“We have had several meetings with the company … but at every single one of those meetings, Metrolinx’s bargaining team showed up empty-handed, without a single offer addressing our most important issue on the table, which is protection against contracting out,” ATU Local 1587 president Rob Cormier said in a release on Wednesday.

In a statement to CityNews, Metrolinx said a strike is “unnecessary and avoidable,” adding that negotiations are ongoing with the union.

“We will remain at the table to reach an agreement that includes the 67 improvements we have already agreed to,” the provincial regional transit agency said.

Metrolinx also said it has a plan in place to ensure services are not disrupted for GO riders and that a potential strike would not impact train service.

ATU president John Di Nino told CityNews a townhall meeting was held with members late Tuesday night, where a decision was made to set a strike date.

“We’ve been at the bargaining table since April of this year with absolutely no gains for our members. Not only are we capped at one per cent in wage increases and benefit increases under Bill 124, we are being threatened by the CEO at Metrolinx of contracting out of our work,” Di Nino said.

Cormier said contracting protections proposed by the union are standard in other transit agencies in Toronto, Hamilton and Ottawa, where their collective agreements either restrict it altogether or limit it to certain scenarios.

“In a previous bargaining session, Metrolinx’s negotiations team told us to our faces that they would not agree to end contracting out because they ‘needed to make more money,'” Cormier said.

Di Nino also said a potential strike could affect TTC and transit in Mississauga and Hamilton since members will not cross picket lines.

The ATU president said a bargaining date has been scheduled for Thursday morning, but he is not optimistic. The major sticking points for the union and its members are job security and wages.

“Our workers have been on the frontline every day through the pandemic,” Di Nino said.

“We do not expect a resolution at the table tomorrow unless Metrolinx is prepared to come to the table with firm and very strict contracting out language that we can agree to.”

Earlier this month, Cormier said said they met with Metrolinx officials on October 3 but no progress had been made. At the time, the union said it had begun planning for a strike amid stalled labour negotiations with Metrolinx.

As CityNews reported in mid-September, a “no-board” report was issued by the Ontario Ministry of Labour, clearing the way for either a legal strike by the union or a lockout by the Ontario government as of October 1.

During an August vote, ATU Local 1587 members voted 93 per cent in favour of going on strike if a deal couldn’t be reached.

The union said negotiations with Metrolinx began in April and that its members have been working without a contract since June 1.

---

With files from Nick Westoll of CityNews

Converting carbon dioxide to solid minerals underground for more stable storage

by Beth Mundy, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Mineralizing carbon dioxide underground is a potential carbon storage method. 

Credit: Cortland Johnson / Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

A new scientific review article in Nature Reviews Chemistry discusses how carbon dioxide (CO2) converts from a gas to a solid in ultrathin films of water on underground rock surfaces. These solid minerals, known as carbonates, are both stable and common.

"As global temperatures increase, so does the urgency to find ways to store carbon," said Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) Lab Fellow and co-author Kevin Rosso. "By taking a critical look at our current understanding of carbon mineralization processes, we can find the essential-to-solve gaps for the next decade of work."

Mineralization underground represents one way to keep CO2 locked away, unable to escape back into the air. But researchers first need to know how it happens before they can predict and control carbonate formation in realistic systems.

"Mitigating human emissions requires fundamentally understanding how to store carbon," said PNNL chemist Quin Miller, co-lead author of the scientific review featured on the journal cover. "There is a pressing need to integrate simulations, theory, and experiments to explore mineral carbonation problems."

Below the ground and in the water

Instead of emitting CO2 into the air, one option is to pump it into the ground. Putting CO2 deep underground theoretically sequesters the carbon away. However, gas leaks remain a concern. But if that CO2 gas can be pumped into rocks rich in metals like magnesium and iron, the CO2 can be transformed into stable and common carbonate minerals. PNNL's Basalt Pilot Project at Wallula is a field site dedicated to studying CO2 storage in carbonates.

Although these subsurface environments are generally dominated by water, the conversion of gaseous carbon dioxide to solid carbonate can also occur when injected CO2 displaces that water, creating extremely thin films of residual water in contact with rocks. But these highly confined systems behave differently than CO2 in contact with a pool of water.

In thin films, the ratio of water and CO2 controls the reaction. Small amounts of metal leach out from the rocks, reacting both in the film and on the rock surface. This leads to the creation of new carbonate materials.

Previous work led by Miller, summarized in the review, showed that magnesium behaves similarly to calcium in thin water films. The nature of the water film plays a central role in how the system reacts.

Understanding how and when these carbonates form requires a combination of laboratory experiments and theoretical modeling studies. Laboratory work allows researchers to tune the ratio of water to CO2 and watch carbonates form in real time. Teams can see which specific chemicals are present at different points in time, providing essential information about reaction pathways.

However, laboratory-based work has its limits. Researchers cannot observe individual molecules or see how they interact. Chemistry models can fill in that gap by predicting how molecules move in exquisite detail, giving conceptual backbone to experiments. They also allow researchers to study mineralization in hard to experimentally access conditions.

"There are important synergies between models and laboratory or field studies," said MJ Qomi, a professor at the University of California, Irvine and co-lead author of the article. "Experimental data grounds models in reality, while models provide a deeper level of insight into experiments." Qomi has collaborated with the PNNL team for three years, and plans to study carbonate mineralization in adsorbed water films.

From fundamental science to solutions

The team outlined key questions that need answering to make this form of carbon storage practical. Researchers must develop knowledge of how minerals react under different conditions, particularly in conditions that mimic real storage sites, including in ultrathin water films. This should all be done through an integrated combination of modeling and laboratory experiments.

Mineralization has the potential to keep carbon safely stored underground. Knowing how CO2 will react with different minerals can help make sure that what gets pumped underneath the surface stays there. The fundamental science insights from mineralization work can lead to practical CO2 storage systems. The Basalt Pilot Project represents an important study site that bridges small-scale basic science and large-scale research applications.

"This work combines a focus on fundamental geochemical insights with a goal of solving crucial problems," said Miller. "Without prioritizing decarbonization technologies, the world will continue warming to a degree humanity cannot afford."

Miller, Rosso, and Todd Schaef were the PNNL authors of this study. This work was performed in collaboration with MJ Qomi and Siavash Zare of the University of California, Irvine as well as John Kaszuba of the University of Wyoming.Reactions that store carbon underground can cause cracking, which is good news

More information: M. J. Abdolhosseini Qomi et al, Molecular-scale mechanisms of CO2 mineralization in nanoscale interfacial water films, Nature Reviews Chemistry (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41570-022-00418-1

Provided by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory 

Climeworks closes a chapter in early carbon removal tech

The company is pivoting from selling CO2 to make fizzy beverages to storing the greenhouse gas permanently underground


By JUSTINE CALMA / @justcalma
Oct 20, 2022, 1

At the base of an Icelandic volcano, Climeworks’ direct air capture plant sucks carbon dioxide from the air and turns it to rock, locking away the main culprit behind global warming. Photo by HALLDOR KOLBEINS/AFP via Getty Images

Swiss company Climeworks plans to phase out the first-generation technology that made it a pioneer in the business of carbon removal. The move is part of Climeworks’ pivot away from selling its captured carbon dioxide to companies like Coca-Cola. Instead, Climeworks says it will focus on efforts to store the CO2 underground permanently.

Climeworks became the first company to suck carbon dioxide out of the air and sell it as a product back in 2017. That’s when its direct air capture (DAC) plant called Capricorn opened in Hinwil, Switzerland. Beyond being foundational to Climeworks’ continued growth, Capricorn’s mere existence was a major milestone for the brand-new carbon removal industry. Five years later, Capricorn is essentially outdated climate tech.

Capricorn’s mere existence was a major milestone for the brand-new carbon removal industry

Climeworks announced today that it “completes the commercial operation phase of its DAC facility in Hinwil, leading to the phase-out of its first generation technology.” The company didn’t immediately respond to The Verge to answer questions about what that means for the future of the plant — whether it will shut down completely or stay online but quit selling CO2 to other companies.

But Climeworks made clear in its announcement that it now prioritizes “scaling its permanent carbon dioxide removal.” And Capricorn just wasn’t built to permanently remove the planet-heating gas from the atmosphere. It started off supplying CO2 to a greenhouse nearby that used it to help grow vegetables. Then Coca-Cola HBC Switzerland came along in 2019 and started buying the CO2 to carbonate mineral water. That was the first time that direct air capture technology was used in the beverage industry, according to Climeworks. Capricorn showed the world that the technology to capture CO2 directly from the air could work at a commercial scale.

The challenge is that popping bottles of seltzer will eventually release that CO2 back into the air. And Capricorn, which started off as a demonstration project, was not capturing very much CO2. To really make a dent in climate change, massive amounts of carbon dioxide need to be drawn down and permanently stored.

That’s what Climeworks’ newer efforts aim to do. In September 2021, it opened the largest direct air capture plant operating yet, called Orca, which is capable of removing 4,000 tons of CO2 from the air a year compared to the several hundred tons of C02 Capricorn captures annually. In June, Climeworks broke ground on Mammoth, which is expected to capture nine times more CO2 than Orca. Both Orca and Mammoth are strategically located in Hellisheiði, Iceland — where relatively young basaltic rock formations can provide ample storage for the captured CO2 near the facility where it’s captured.

Funnily enough, Climeworks’ Iceland operations are still making a kind of sparkling water with help from the company Carbfix that it partners with to store the CO2. After being filtered out of the air (using what look like shipping containers filled with giant fans), each ton of CO2 gets mixed with around 27 tons of water. That fizzy water then gets injected into the ground, where it will react with the basaltic rock to create carbonate minerals. The idea is that, once the fizzy water has transformed into solid rock, we won’t have to worry about the CO2 escaping and heating up our planet.

If this all sounds very cutting edge, that’s because it is. Before Capricorn, there wasn’t much work outside of labs to tackle climate change in this way. To be sure, there’s still a long way to go to prove that the technology, economics, and policy surrounding carbon removal can align enough to have a significant impact on the climate crisis. Capricorn’s initial success has been part of that journey. Now, as the facility takes a back seat to more permanent carbon removal endeavors, Capricorn is marking another turning point for the industry.

Ban on teaching anti-racism, diversity included in Alberta UCP policy resolutions

Lisa Johnson - Tuesday


In its first annual general meeting under the leadership of Premier Danielle Smith this weekend, Alberta’s United Conservative Party will debate 20 policy resolutions, including one that aims to push back against anti-racist education efforts.

The event is set to kick off Friday at River Cree Resort in Enoch, just west of Edmonton, with Smith to give a speech Saturday at 1 p.m. and members debating and voting on the resolutions in the afternoon.

One resolution drafted by the party’s Edmonton West-Henday riding association aims to ban the instruction of several related concepts, “whether it is advanced under the title of so called critical race theory, intersectionality, anti-racism, diversity and inclusion or some other name.”

It calls for a “halt” to what it calls differential treatment due to ethnic heritage, and “any student being taught that by reason of their ethnic heritage they are privileged, they are inherently racist or they bear historic guilt due to said ethnic heritage or that all of society is a racist system.”

Alberta provincial police question deserves a referendum, rural municipalities say

The resolution’s rationale points to an incident in 2021, when Edmonton’s public school division reported what it described as a “hate-filled” social media account to city police. The account used Strathcona High School’s name and images, and called for an end to “anti-white racism.”

At the time, Edmonton Public School Board (EPSB) chairwoman Trisha Estabrooks said it demonstrated the need for anti-racism education, but the resolution argues that public education shouldn’t be ideological or focused on promoting a political message to students.

Even if a policy resolution is passed through a membership vote Saturday, it’s not guaranteed to become government policy.

Bridget Stirling, a former EPSB trustee now completing a PhD in education policy at the University of Alberta, told Postmedia Tuesday the UCP proposal is still concerning, in part because if it becomes policy it would have a “chilling” effect on teachers, who might avoid discussions about racism out of fear they’ll say the wrong thing.

“Teachers will become afraid to talk about Martin Luther King, they’ll become afraid to talk about the Civil Rights Movement, the history of slavery … in Canada, you can see that leading to teachers who already are reluctant to speak about residential schools,” said Stirling, adding that critical race theory isn’t taught in K-12 classrooms, nor is she aware of students being taught that they are inherently racist.

“I think a lot of students are much more conscious of issues of racism and discrimination than students were 20 years ago. It doesn’t equate to students hating themselves. It means students are more aware of their social relations,” said Stirling.

The Edmonton West-Henday UCP constituency association did not immediately respond to a request from Postmedia for comment.

Mount Royal University political scientist Duane Bratt told Postmedia there is a big gap between an election platform and party resolutions, and an even bigger gap between a government’s policy changes and recommendations from a party.

“That being said, it is an insight into what the grassroots members of the UCP think.”

Another proposed policy from Airdrie East calls for the party to “uphold the rights of parents and caregivers so as not to require them to affirm or socially condition a child in a gender identity that is incongruent with the child’s birth sex,” arguing that barring evidence of criminal neglect or abuse, parents are best suited to guide their child’s development.

A resolution from Calgary-Klein argues the party should establish legal requirements for the government to consult with stakeholders and the public before enacting “significant” legislation, arguing the UCP government has shown a lack of communication.

“There have been noteworthy bill and policy mistakes and walk-backs,” the rationale reads, pointing to past controversies and policy reversals on insulin pumps , traffic court , the K-12 education curriculum , coal licensing , and provincial parks .

On Saturday, party members will also vote to fill nine board positions.

lijohnson@postmedia.com

twitter.com/reportrix

Alberta's Danielle Smith off to rocky start as Canadian oil province premier

By Nia Williams

Oct 20 (Reuters) - Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's tenure is off to a turbulent start in Canada's main oil-producing province after she was forced to apologize for controversial comments in her first two weeks, and polls show her United Conservative Party (UCP) sliding against the opposition ahead of 2023 elections.

Smith was sworn in as premier on Oct. 11 after party infighting forced her predecessor to resign.

Within days, she was engulfed in controversy over April social media comments calling for Ukrainian neutrality and saying unvaccinated were people "the most discriminated-against group that I've ever witnessed in my lifetime" during her first media appearance as premier.

A Navigator Ltd poll published on Wednesday showed only 38% of decided voters intend to vote for the UCP in the provincial election next May, versus 53% for the opposition New Democratic Party (NDP). A Leger poll last week had put the UCP and NDP at roughly equal support among decided voters, with 42% and 44% respectively.

"This is really not a good start. We don't even have a cabinet in place yet, and we have a premier who has twice had to stop and issue some sort of clarification or apology," said Tom McIntosh, a professor of politics at the University of Regina.

Smith, a former journalist and talk radio host, won the UCP leadership race in early October. She plans to appoint her cabinet later this month.

She campaigned on a right-wing populist platform appealing to grassroots conservatives, promising to stand up for Alberta against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government in Ottawa and to push back against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and other pandemic restrictions.

Smith last week released a statement clarifying her comments on unvaccinated people, saying she did not intend to trivialize the discrimination faced by minority communities.

On Tuesday, she apologized after April social media comments emerged in which she suggested Ukraine being neutral was the "only answer" to its invasion by Russia.

Nearly 8% of Albertans have Ukrainian heritage, according to the provincial government.

NDP leader Rachel Notley said on Twitter Smith's comments on Ukraine had damaged Alberta's international standing as a stable, secure energy provider, which in the long-term would mean less investment and fewer jobs in the province.

"An apology is one thing. Now, we need a plan to fix it," Notley said.

The Navigator poll was conducted before Smith's Ukraine comments came to light. Managing principal Jason Hatcher said Albertans were concerned by internal UCP divisions and Smith's proposed Alberta Sovereignty Act that would challenge federal laws.

The western province is traditionally a conservative stronghold and the UCP still has firm support in rural Alberta, meaning the election result is far from decided despite the NDP's strong poll showing, he added.

"Voter intention is not the same as seat projections," Hatcher said. "We see a road to victory for both parties."

Reporting by Nia Williams; Editing by Josie Kao

 Calgary·Analysis

Why Rachel Notley can't rely on Danielle Smith to stumble her way out of premier's chair

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Painted as radicals by UCP, Alberta NDP could offer

 something fresh: boring government

Jason Markusoff · CBC News · Posted: Oct 19, 2022 

Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley speaks during an election rally in Edmonton during 2019 election. She's about to contest her third straight election against yet another new conservative rival. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press)

Between Danielle Smith's astonishing comments about the unparalleled "discrimination" against the unvaccinated and her apology for espousing Putin-friendly positions on the Ukraine invasion months ago, it appears to be exactly the sort of first week the premier and her party would have dreamed of.

The ex-premier and her party, that is. 

Smith's damaging words, both live and recently pre-recorded, are a gift of sorts to Rachel Notley's NDP, who stand to gain simply by not being the ones who said such troublesome things. And early poll numbers seem to bear that out. 

These controversies didn't stem from the NDP's opposition research, though it did apply pressure to Smith's self-inflicted wounds by demanding apologies for both utterances.

Battle of the AGMs

A little over 31 weeks to go before Albertans get to decide between these two main parties in May's provincial election, and this weekend offers split-screen programming of what's to come. 

The UCP holds its annual convention at Enoch Cree Nation outside Edmonton, while Notley's crew convenes in Calgary, where both sides know the election will likely be won or lost.

At Smith's party gathering, political watchers and conservatives alike will gauge how unified the party is after a bruising year of turmoil that drummed Jason Kenney out of office, and a tighter-than-expected race to replace him, which only brought Smith victory after the maximum six ballots. Not to mention these initial road bumps ushering in the Premier Smith era. 

There are the perennially contentious policy resolutions and an activist group trying to stack the party board with its own insurgents.

The NDP's meeting stands to be a much tamer, more sanguine affair. The party is, by all appearances, happily united behind a leader set to contest a third straight election against an untested chief rival. The big development to emerge from that Calgary hotel ballroom? The formal unveiling of the party's new branding — a logo with blue sky over mountains and orange prairie, and the phrase "Team Rachel Notley" front and centre.

Brooks–Medicine Hat byelection candidate Gwendoline Dirk, left, holds up a lawn sign with the NDP's new logo and emphasis on their leader. (Twitter/Gwendoline Dirk)

It was soft-launched on signs in the Brooks–Medicine Hat byelection. It's unsurprising to emphasize a leader whom polls have long shown is more popular than her party; but the most socialist in the NDP ranks may be bothered by a not-so-subtle flash of Tory blue from a left-of-centre party seeking broad crossover appeal from disaffected conservatives. (Previous signage also had blue accents.)

It might be tempting for some New Democrats to hope further Smith stumbles and misjudgments help hand them victory — after all, it was her notoriously ill-advised crossing from Wildrose to Tories that helped sink both parties' fortunes and vault the NDP into office in 2015. Notley's caucus almost never misses a chance to snipe at the UCP, as one of Canada's few provincial oppositions that never relented throughout the pandemic.

• ANALYSIS
  Now the Danielle Smith Show reckons with a new audience: the Alberta public

But many insiders will consider how well the attack-first strategy went in 2019, when party strategists' heavy reliance on trashing Jason Kenney and UCP candidates' questionable comments resulted in a crash out of government, down to 24 seats from 54 the previous election.

And the math is tricky for the New Democrats.

In 2015, against both PCs and Wildrose, they could win seats in Calgary, Banff and smaller centres with 35 per cent of the vote or less. That same vote share in 2019 was good for hefty losses in those ridings, meaning that they must greatly outperform their government-winning results next time to have a shot at returning Notley to the premier's office.

Calgary à l'orange

NDP strategists recognize that to expand beyond the party's Edmonton base — only five of their 24 current seats are outside the capital — they must shore up their reputation as faring more poorly on economic issues, given memories of Notley's uneasy performance as premier during Alberta's bruising recession. Smith's party will continue to paint the NDP as economy-wreckers, and tie her to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the federal NDP's Jagmeet Singh.

Will Notley be able to create some distance from those progressive Ottawa leaders and offer a credible vision for a future that demands more economic diversification, but one that also doesn't spook the energy sector executive suites or workforce?

Her party has offered some advocacy on inflation-fighting (like extending the provincial gas tax holiday) and more support for Calgary's downtown, but the time for more policy will likely come closer to campaign season, when the public is more attentive. For now, much of Notley's efforts have centred around merely showing up in Calgary: her office says the Edmontonian spends an average of two days a week in Cowtown, so much so that aides briefly explored plans to rent her a place rather than stay in hotels. 

• External firm to examine staff and volunteer mistreatment by NDP, Notley says

• Independent MLA Thomas Dang says he won't run again, or seek to rejoin the NDP

Another key to building credibility that largely eluded the NDP in past elections is candidate selection. The 2015 win brought a lot of unexpected winners and perennial candidates from NDP-friendly unions into office, and most stuck around for another (often unsuccessful) shot in 2019.

Even a leader-centric campaign may be inclined to promote some of her potential deputies in 2023. Veteran energy analyst Samir Kayande is running in the vacant Calgary–Elbow; former Calgary Economic Development vice-president Court Ellingson won a contested nomination in Calgary–Foothills; and in Red Deer South, Barb Miller — a former Safeway cashier and labour organizer who won the seat in 2015 — lost her bid to return to Michelle Baer, Red Deer's former city solicitor.

The NDP had 58 of 87 candidates in place by mid-week, compared to 36 for Smith's party, according to nomination watcher Dave Cournoyer.

As the campaign approaches, more attention will focus on what Notley is offering. As much as the UCP depicts the party as radical socialists, the NDP could position itself as the party of incrementalism and caution.

Danielle Smith celebrates after being chosen as the new leader of the United Conservative Party. Focusing on attacking Jason Kenney in the 2019 election didn't bring success, so the Alberta NDP doesn't plan on being as reliant on trying to undercut Smith in next spring's campaign. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press)

Smith wants to boldly divorce Alberta from federal pension plan and create a provincial police force, and bring in the political smoke bomb that is the Sovereignty Act; Notley wants no such risky measures. Smith will blow up the Alberta Health Services board, while Notley is preaching modest changes that expand patient access. The NDP leader wants to return to the old days of no Kananaskis park fees, and return to the pre-Kenney process for education curriculum updates.

Terms like "competent" and "stable" show up often in NDP literature. 

On the latter score, this Tuesday marked the eighth anniversary of Rachel Notley becoming Alberta NDP leader. What a different world Alberta politics was at that point in 2014: Smith comfortably (it seemed) led the Wildrose opposition, Kenney was a cabinet minister in Stephen Harper's federal government, and Jim Prentice was getting his feet wet as Alberta's 16th premier.

Smith is now premier number 19, and Kenney puts Alberta in the unusual position of having not one, but two ex-premiers in the provincial legislature. The volatility Smith brings may give premier number 17 a better shot at returning, but voters will first have to be convinced that the veteran Notley and her party offer political safe harbour.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jason Markusoff

Opinion and Analysis Producer, CBC Calgary

Jason Markusoff analyzes what's happening — and what isn't happening, but probably should be — in Calgary and sometimes farther afield. He's written in Alberta for nearly two decades with Maclean's magazine, the Calgary Herald and Edmonton Journal. He appears regularly on Power and Politics' Power Panel and various other CBC current affairs shows. Reach him at jason.markusoff@cbc.ca

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Contract talks break down between Ontario education workers, government

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Negotiations to resume Nov. 1 — just 2 days before workers in legal strike position, CUPE says

The Canadian Press · Posted: Oct 19, 2022 

No progress has been made in labour talks between Ontario education workers on the cusp of a strike and the provincial government, the union representing the workers says. (Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press)

The union representing about 55,000 Ontario education workers says almost no progress was made over three days of contract talks with the government, and negotiations will resume just two days before they're in a legal strike position.

If those talks aren't fruitful, a full strike is "very possible," the president ofCUPE's Ontario School Boards Council of Unions said Wednesday.

CUPE, which represents workers such as educational assistants, custodians and early childhood educators, said the mediator who was assisting with bargaining this week has concluded the two sides are too far apart and talks should be adjourned.

The parties are set to return to the table Nov. 1 for an indeterminate amount of time.

The CUPE education workers are in a legal strike position as of Nov. 3 and Walton said what happens on that date depends on the talks leading up to that, but in previous bargaining, work-to-rule didn't provide enough pressure. In 2019, CUPE and the government reached a last-minute deal the day before workers had been set to go on a full strike.

"In the past, we tried work-to-rule with this government and it meant nothing to them," Walton said.

• Wondering why Ontario education workers could soon be on strike? Here's a rundown of the issues

"In fact, it was only when we went to a full withdrawal of services in 2019, when we were moving towards that, that we were actually able to get them to come and truly negotiate at the table. I really hope it's not going to take that amount of pressure. It should be enough pressure right now that the countdown is on."

Education minister says union won't compromise

In 2019, widespread school closures had been planned in the event of a CUPE support staff strike, Walton said.

"The work that we do is so integral to the running of schools, and especially to the safety of schools, and it's so disappointing that we have to remove services in order for folks to actually value the work that we do," she said.

Education Minister Stephen Lecce said CUPE is "trying to disrupt in-class learning by refusing to compromise" on what he calls unreasonable demands.

Education Minister Stephen Lecce said CUPE is "trying to disrupt in-class learning by refusing to compromise" on what he calls unreasonable demands. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press)

"Ontario's government has a reasonable offer that increases salaries for all workers, while protecting a very generous pension and benefit package," he wrote.

"Parents can rest assured this government will not waver in its resolve to keep all students in class, where they belong."

Education workers make proposals

CUPE is looking for annual salary increases of 11.7 per cent and the government in response has offered raises of two per cent a year for workers making less than $40,000 and 1.25 per cent for all others.

Education workers have made several other proposals, including overtime at two times the regular pay rate, 30 minutes of paid prep time per day for educational assistants and ECEs, an increase in benefits and professional development for all workers.

• Contract talks between Ontario education workers, government to involve mediator

Other than the proposal on wages, the government's offer seeks to keep all other areas the same as the previous deal except for a cut to sick leave pay.

The government also wants to institute what it's calling a five-day "waiting period" for short-term disability during which a worker would receive 25 per cent of their normal pay and 90 per cent for the rest of the 120 days.

Walton said during the past three days of talks, the only progress was that the parties agreed to a minimum amount of bereavement leave for all workers.

Alcoa posts surprise loss as aluminum woes deepen

Joe Deaux and Yvonne Yue Li, Bloomberg News

Alcoa Corp. confirmed investors’ biggest concern of the last couple months: demand for the world’s heavy industries is falling, a warning sign for the broader economy.

The largest U.S. aluminum producer posted a surprising quarterly loss, signaling a worsening environment for a company that just last month warned investors it was being squeezed by higher costs and falling prices for the lightweight metal. Alcoa’s numbers couldn’t even attain Wall Street’s meager profit forecast. Shares fell 1.1 per cent Thursday at 9:40 a.m. in New York.

The Pittsburgh-based company is a dependable barometer of U.S. economic health across industries including construction, automotive, aerospace and consumer packaging due to their intense aluminum consumption. Investors had little time to linger on Alcoa’s worrisome outlook as Nucor Corp. posted earnings results Thursday that missed estimates, with the largest U.S. steelmaker noting that economic uncertainty and inflation are putting pressure across “a myriad” of sectors in the U.S. Nucor’s shares fell 2 per cent.

These results come five weeks after three of the most iconic names in American heavy industry forewarned investors that shipments are waning across all sectors. Since then, inflation deepened to further eat into average Americans’ paychecks and the U.S. Federal Reserve continued to raise benchmark borrowing costs, crushing the housing market.

Nucor forecast “increasingly” challenging market conditions spawned by economic uncertainty heading into the end of the year. The Charlotte-based company told investors to expect “significantly” lower earnings from its steel mills due to lower volumes and metal prices.

“Economic uncertainty and inflation continue to put pressure across a myriad of sectors in the U.S.,” Nucor Chief Executive Officer Leon Topalian said in a rare downtrodden comment.

Alcoa is the first of the world’s aluminum giants to report third-quarter results in a challenging year that’s seen a torrent of issues undermining profitability. Prices for the metal are down more than 20 per cent this year as rising global inflation, surging energy costs and weakening economic outlook batter the metal used from toasters and skyscrapers to automobiles. Adding to the market uncertainty is a potential ban of the metal from Russia, the world’s second-largest producer, either by the London Metal Exchange or the U.S.

Alcoa said its loss was due to decline in alumina and aluminum prices, higher energy and raw material costs and restructuring charges, including US$626 million tied to pension settlements, while its executives during Wednesday’s earnings call provided analysts with further details. 

“When the CEO said 35 per cent of global capacity was loss-making in September it was an eye opener that this is a cruel operating environment,” Timna Tanners, an analyst at Wolfe Research, said in an email. The results “reflected market conditions that seem completely unsustainable.”