Canada braces for possible wave of business bankruptcies

Thu, February 1, 2024

The financial district of Toronto

By Promit Mukherjee

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Thousands of Canadian small businesses face the risk of bankruptcy after the government ended pandemic-era support last month with the economy slowing at a time of high interest rates.

Small firms that employ fewer than 100 people are critical to the Canadian economy as they give jobs to almost two-thirds of the country's 12 million private workers. A spike in bankruptcies, which jumped 38% in the first 11 months of 2023, would weigh on economic growth, lobby groups and economists warn.

Last month, small businesses faced a deadline to repay interest-free loans of C$60,000 ($44,676) made available to each of them during the pandemic. Of the 900,000 who had taken the government support, a fifth have not yet repaid their loans, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Monday. The Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses (CFIB), a small-business lobby group, estimates a quarter missed the deadline.

Katherine Cuplinskas, a spokesperson for the finance minister said in an emailed response to a Reuters question that the Department of Finance did not expect there will be a negative impact on the economy on account of repayment of the loans given as support during the pandemic. She said loan recipients have long had full information on timelines and have been able to plan accordingly.

There were about 1.2 million small businesses with employees in Canada in 2021 and contributing over a third to the country's gross domestic product, according to the latest official data.

"There are tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of businesses that remain viable, but will not be able to outrun their debt," Dan Kelly, CFIB president, told Reuters, adding many debts could only be repaid by borrowing at a higher interest rate from banks.

Of those who repaid, CFIB estimates that about 225,000 took out a bank loan to do so, at a time when interest rates in the country are at 22-year high.

Those who did not get a loan but missed the deadline must make regular payments for two years at 5% annual interest.

"We do anticipate... a rise in insolvencies over the next six months or so," Stephen Tapp, chief economist at the Chamber of Commerce, said in an interview.

The Conference Board of Canada (CBC), an independent think tank, forecasts that consumer spending in 2024 on a per capita basis is expected to slump further from what was already seen last year.

CBC estimates first quarter corporate profits to nearly half to C$104.5 billion from a year ago, and the rest of the year will also be weaker than 2023 with companies hit by higher costs and drop in sales.

"Warren Buffett says when the tide goes out you see who is swimming naked," CBC's chief economist Pedro Antunes said. With the government support receding, the small businesses will be the ones exposed, he added.

($1 = 1.3430 Canadian dollars)

(This story has been refiled to remove a duplicate quote from the spokesperson in paragraph 4)

(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee, editing by Steve Scherer and David Gregorio)

China has nudged Japan aside as No. 1 auto exporter, Japanese data show


The Canadian Press
Wed, January 31, 2024

TOKYO (AP) — Data from a Japanese auto industry association show that China overtook Japan as the world’s largest vehicle exporter last year.

The Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association reported Japan exported 4.42 million vehicles in 2023, up 16% from a year earlier, while domestic auto sales totaled nearly 4.78 million vehicles.

According to figures released earlier by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, China exported 4.91 million vehicles last year. That was nearly 58% more than the year before. Much of the increase was driven by shipments of electric and hybrid vehicles.

Japan’s car exports totaled 4.2 million in 2022. It had held the role as top exporter since 2017.

Overall, auto sales in Japan have been mostly on the decline since 2000.

Toyota and other Japanese makers, including those making trucks and buses grouped in JAMA, have been developing EVs, but they also invest in hybrids, fuel cells and other types of powertrains.

The Associated Press

Climate activist Greta Thunberg goes on trial in London for blocking oil and gas conference

The Canadian Press
Thu, February 1, 2024 



LONDON (AP) — Climate activist Greta Thunberg spoke defiantly about her mission outside court Thursday on the first day of her trial for refusing to leave a protest that blocked the entrance to a major oil and gas industry conference in London last year.

Thunberg, 21, was among more than two dozen protesters arrested on Oct. 17 after preventing access to a hotel during the Energy Intelligence Forum, attended by some of the industry’s top executives.

“Even though we are the ones standing here ... climate, environmental and human rights activists all over the world are being prosecuted, sometimes convicted, and given legal penalties for acting in line with science," she said. “We must remember who the real enemy is. What are we defending? Who are our laws meant to protect?”

The Swedish environmentalist, who inspired a global youth movement demanding stronger efforts to fight climate change, and four other protesters are in the middle of a two-day trial in Westminster Magistrates’ Court on a charge of breaching a section of the Public Order Act that allows police to impose limits on public assemblies. She and four Fossil Free London protesters have pleaded not guilty.

Thunberg and other climate protesters have accused fossil fuel companies of deliberately slowing the global energy transition to renewables in order to make more profit. They also oppose the U.K. government’s recent approval of drilling for oil in the North Sea, off the coast of Scotland.

Thunberg sat in court in a black T-shirt and black pants, taking notes as a police officer testified about efforts to disperse demonstrators who had blocked several exits and entrances for hours outside the luxury InterContinental Hotel in central London.

“It seemed like a very deliberate attempt ... to prevent access to the hotel for most delegates and the guests,” Superintendent Matthew Cox said. “People were really restricted from having access to the hotel.”

Cox said protesters were lighting colorful flares and drummers were creating a deafening din outside the hotel as some demonstrators sat on the ground and others rappelled from the roof of the hotel. When officers began arresting people, other protesters quickly took their places, leading to a “perpetual cycle” that found police running out of officers to make arrests.

The protest had gone on for about five hours when police issued an order for demonstrators to move to an adjacent street, Cox said.

Thunberg was outside the front entrance of the hotel when she was given a final warning she would be arrested if she didn't comply, prosecutor Luke Staton said. She said she intended to stay where she was.

If convicted, the protesters could receive fines of up to 2,500 pounds ($3,170).

Outside the courthouse before the trial began, protesters held signs saying “Make Polluters Pay,” and “Climate protest is not a crime.”

Thunberg rose to prominence after staging weekly protests outside the Swedish Parliament starting in 2018.

Last summer, she was fined by a Swedish court for disobeying police and blocking traffic during an environmental protest at an oil facility. She had already been fined for the same offense previously in Sweden.

___

Associated Press journalist Kwiyeon Ha contributed to this report.

Follow AP's coverage of climate and environmental issues: https://apnews.com/climate-and-environment

Brian Melley, The Associated Press

PRIVATIZED HEALTH CARE

New Brunswick's only private abortion provider announces it is closing its doors

"I think that Canada should be paying attention to what's happening in New Brunswick because I don't want us to follow what's happening in the States,"

The Canadian Press
Wed, January 31, 2024 



FREDERICTON — A private abortion clinic in Fredericton says it has finally shut its doors, citing a steep rent increase and a lack of funding from the provincial government.

A notice on Clinic 554's website says abortion care ended as of Wednesday. Its medical director, Dr. Adrian Edgar, said he could no longer afford the rent because the province does not fund abortions performed outside the hospital. The final straw was a doubling of the clinic's rent set to take effect Thursday, he said in an interview.

"We don't get any public funding. And without public funding, you can't operate health care, and especially you can't operate health care if the expenses are going up as they are," Edgar said.

Edgar has said several times before that the clinic was closing, and in 2019 the clinic's fate became an issue on the federal campaign trail. This time Edgar said the doors are closing for good and he has no intention of reopening elsewhere.

The clinic provided abortions to those who don't have a medicare card, such as migrant workers, homeless people and international students in the Maritime provinces, he said. It charged much less than the fees hospitals bill the uninsured, he said.

Surgical abortion services are now only available in New Brunswick in Moncton — at the Moncton Hospital and the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre — and in Bathurst, at the Chaleur Regional Hospital.

Edgar said the province has the strictest abortion laws in the country. "New Brunswick has been undermining, illegally, access to abortion in Canada since the '80s," he said.

After Fredericton’s Morgentaler clinic closed in 2014, citing a lack of provincial funding, the Liberal government of the day removed a regulation requiring women seeking hospital abortions to have two doctors certify the procedure as medically necessary. But the regulation limiting funding to abortions performed in hospitals remained.

Sean Hatchard, a spokesman for Health Minister Bruce Fitch, said New Brunswick is fully committed to the principles of the Canada Health Act. Abortions are publicly funded in New Brunswick by way of surgical abortion in hospitals or medical abortion with the pill Mifegymiso, he said by email.

"The introduction of Mifegymiso as an alternative means of abortion has reduced demand for surgical abortions in New Brunswick. It is now the predominant form of abortion in our province and accounts for two-thirds of all abortions in New Brunswick," he said.

Responding to questions about the Fredericton clinic's closing, Federal Health Minister Mark Holland told reporters in Ottawa it's essential that abortion services remain available. He called it a "fundamental right" for women everywhere in the country.

"So it's not acceptable, not at all, to close a clinic, or to have a situation like that. It threatens women's health," he said. Holland said he needs to "take a little time to evaluate the situation" and plans to talk to Fitch.

Edgar said the province needs to change its policy to ensure everyone who needs it has access to abortion.

It is not just those who fall through the cracks, such as homeless people, migrant workers and international students, who are affected but others too because of a shortage of doctors, he noted. The shortage of doctors means there are women who don't have immediate access to birth control pills, he said.

"I think that Canada should be paying attention to what's happening in New Brunswick because I don't want us to follow what's happening in the States," he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 31, 2024.

Hina Alam, The Canadian Press

Rogers Sugar refinery workers in Vancouver ratify new five-year contract

The Canadian Press
Thu, February 1, 2024


VANCOUVER — Rogers Sugar Inc. says unionized workers at its Vancouver refinery have ratified a new collective agreement.

The five-year deal brings an end a strike that began in September.

The company says the Vancouver refinery employs about 140 unionized workers.

According to the Public and Private Workers of Canada union, the labour dispute stemmed from issues such as wages, benefits, and the company's proposal to increase refinery operations to 24 hours a day, 365 days per year.

The refinery is one of three large sugar refining operations in Canada.

It processes raw imported cane sugar into a variety of products, including packaged white and brown sugar and remained operational throughout the strike, though at a reduced level.

"We are pleased that the workers at our Vancouver refinery have ratified this agreement, and we look forward to returning to full production in Vancouver to support our customers in Western Canada," Rogers Sugar chief executive Mike Walton said in a statement.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 1, 2024.

Workers at Alabama Hyundai plant announce union as UAW drives deeper into Southeast

Saul Elbein
Thu, February 1, 2024


Thirty percent of the workers at the sole Hyundai plant in the U.S., in Alabama, have joined the United Auto Workers (UAW).

The announcement marks the third such public union drive at an automaker in the Southeast.

And it marks another step in the UAW’s push to make inroads into the region, where big business and state governments have worked together for decades to keep unions out.

In statements to the press, Hyundai workers argued the job was breaking down their bodies and quality of life for inadequate pay.

One worker complained of being written up for taking a scheduled absence to see her son’s basketball game, while others recounted being repeatedly pushed to work with debilitating chronic injuries.

“I’m getting close to retirement and the company has literally broken me down,” said Drena Smith, who has spent nearly two decades in the paint department.

“We need compensation for that when we retire. Not just a cake and a car discount for a car we can’t afford to buy because we won’t have any income. We need a real retirement, we need to win our union.”

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) has portrayed the organizers as opportunistic “out-of-state special interest groups.”

“Alabama has become a national leader in automotive manufacturing, and all this was achieved without a unionized workforce. In other words, our success has been home grown — done the Alabama way,” Ivey wrote in a piece posted in early January on the state Department of Commerce site.

“Unfortunately, the Alabama model for economic success is under attack,” she added, referring to the upcoming union elections.

The Alabama announcement from UAW comes amid a broader campaign as the union seeks to build on its victory last year in a simultaneous strike against three major automakers — Ford, General Motors and Stellantis.

That campaign won wage increases and workplace reforms from the big players of America’s old automotive heartland — something Shawn Fain, UAW’s combative leader, has argued he can bring to the rest of the country.

Just a week after the deal, the union declared its intent to move into new territory: the 150,000 car workers at foreign-owned factories in the nonunion South.

In December, the UAW drive at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., hit 30 percent of the workforce — a threshold that took their fight to organize the plant public.

Then in January, workers at a Mercedes-Benz facility in Tuscaloosa, Ala., followed suit, complaining of stagnant wages and chronic injury at a company that was experiencing soaring profits.

In public statements put out by the UAW, workers at those plants foreshadowed the complaints given on Thursday by Hyundai workers: That they had been barred from taking time with their families, that their wages had not kept up with the cost of living and that their jobs had led to repeated injury.

The UAW claims that more than 10,000 workers at nonunion plants have signed union cards “in recent months” — which they contend has happened in the face of anti-union campaigns by management.

Workers at the Hyundai plant have complained to the National Labor Review Board that management has been “threatening, restraining and coercing employees from exercising their rights” to organize.

At Hyundai, the workers contended that their managers had banned them from distributing pro-union literature in break rooms, confiscating union pamphlets.

They also argued Hyundai had polled workers about their support for a union — which the NLRB bans in most circumstances.

Those complaints echo similar ones at a Tennessee Volkswagen plant and an Indiana Honda plant.

In January, more than 30 Democratic senators called on Southern carmakers to stay neutral amid the worker push to unionize.

One Hyundai worker told the press he was pushing for a union for the sake of the next generation.

“My oldest son works at the plant, over on General Assembly [GA],” said Dewayne Naylor, who works in quality control at the body shop.

“I went through 14 years in GA and I know what it’ll do to your body over there,” Naylor added.

“I don’t want the younger generation to go through what we did.”

TRUMP IS A SCAB 

After Teamsters meeting, Trump says of possible union endorsement, 'Stranger things have happened'

The Canadian Press
Wed, January 31, 2024 



WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump met with leaders of the Teamsters Union in Washington Wednesday as he tried to chip away at President Joe Biden's organized labor support heading into a likely general election rematch.

Trump participated in a roundtable with the union's executive board, its president and members as he works to win over the blue-collar workers who helped fuel his 2016 victory and who are expected to play a major role in November, particularly in critical Midwestern swing states like Wisconsin and Michigan.

Speaking to reporters after what he called “a very productive meeting," Trump acknowledged the union typically backs Democrats, but said of a possible endorsement, “Stranger things have happened."

“Usually a Republican wouldn’t get that endorsement,” he said. “But in my case it’s different because I’ve employed thousands of Teamsters and I thought we should come over and pay our respects."

“As you know, a big part of the voting bloc votes for me."

Union members tend to vote Democratic, with 56% of members and households backing Biden in 2020, according to AP VoteCast. And Biden has already received significant organized labor backing with early endorsements from the AFL-CIO and others. But Trump is hoping to cut into that support as he casts himself as pro-worker and tries to exacerbate divisions between union leaders and some rank-and-file members.

Days before the meeting, he called on members of the United Auto Workers to oust their president, Shawn Fain, after the group endorsed Biden.

“Shawn Fain doesn’t understand this or have a clue,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social network. “Get rid of this dope & vote for DJT. I will bring the Automobile Industry back to our Country.”

Trump aides, before Wednesday's meeting, said the fact that it was taking place was a win in and of itself. For the first time, the union has been holding a series of roundtable discussions with candidates from both parties as it weighs its decision, expected following the summer party conventions.

“Our members want to hear from all candidates of all parties about what they plan to do for working people as president,” Teamsters president Sean O’Brien had said in a statement. “Our union wants every candidate to know that there are 1.3 million Teamsters nationwide whose votes will not be taken for granted. Workers’ voices must be heard.”

O’Brien later described the conversation with Trump as “pleasant” and “direct,” but said the union was a long way from making a decision. He said it has additional questions for Trump and for Biden, who has yet to set a similar meeting. He said the Teamsters will poll members over the coming weeks.

He acknowledged that Trump has the support of many members.

“There's no doubt about (it)," he said, “there is union support for President Trump. And there's always union support for President Biden,” But even as he praised Biden's record he, added: “What you've done in the past doesn't guarantee your future with us. We want to know what you're going to do for our members moving forward.”

Biden has long billed himself as the most labor-friendly president in history, and went so far as to turn up on a picket line in the Detroit area during an autoworkers' strike last fall. Campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt said Biden “looks forward to meeting with the Teamsters and earning their endorsement,” but that the timing of a meeting remains to be announced.

On Thursday, Biden will travel to Michigan, where he plans to meet with United Auto Workers members, according to a campaign official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss details of a trip that had not been formally announced.

Earlier this month, the Teamsters' O’Brien met privately with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club, where the two discussed issues including right-to-work laws that allow those in unionized workplaces to opt out of paying dues and fees. They also posed for a side-by-side photo, both flashing thumbs-up signs, that Trump posted online.

In an interview with Fox Business after the meeting, O’Brien said, “We put our cards on the table. It was a very matter-of-fact meeting."

“He claimed he was, you know, 100% ... supportive of unions, but history obviously, you take a look back and there’s certain issues that we have with him,” the union president said.

During Trump's presidency, the National Labor Relations Board reversed several key rulings that had made it easier for small unions to organize, strengthened the bargaining rights of franchise workers and provided protection against anti-union measures for employees.

The Supreme Court's conservative majority — including three justices that Trump nominated — overturned a decades-old pro-union decision in 2018 involving fees paid by government workers. The justices in 2021 rejected a California regulation giving unions access to farm property so they could organize workers.

While the Teamsters endorsed Biden in 2020 and Hillary Clinton in 2016, O'Brien stressed the union has “a very diverse membership. And our members vote.”

Art Wheaton, director of labor studies at Cornell University, said that in the past unions almost automatically endorsed Democratic candidates. But this year, he said, unions like the Teamsters have required candidates to outline their positions and show how they will support rank-and-file workers.

The message to candidates: “If you don’t help labor and you don’t help my position, you’re not going to get my endorsement,” Wheaton said.

He estimates about 30% to 40% of Teamsters members voted for Trump in 2020, even though the union endorsed Biden.

“You need to do your due diligence and listen, and let them have the option and ability to say what they want,” said Wheaton.

This is not the first time Trump has tried to woo union members. In September, he traveled to Michigan while his Republican rivals separately held a debate and tried to win over autoworkers by lambasting Biden's electric vehicles push in the midst of a strike. During his speech, Trump urged the UAW to endorse him, directly appealing to Fain from the floor of a non-unionized auto parts plant.

Fain instead called Trump a “scab,” a derogatory term for workers who cross union picket lines and work during a strike, as he endorsed Biden.

“This November we can stand up and elect someone who stands with us and supports our cause, or we can elect someone who will divide us and fight us every step of the way,” Fain said.

Teamsters members include UPS drivers, film and television workers, freight operators, members of law enforcement and other government workers.

Biden already has the backing of the AFL-CIO, the American Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which rolled out their endorsements together last June.

While overall union membership rates nationwide fell to an all-time low in 2023, the country’s largest unions have nonetheless built sprawling get-out-the-vote efforts, which Biden is counting on to help turn out his supporters in pivotal swing states.

The campaign of former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Trump’s last remaining GOP rival, did not respond to a request for comment about whether she intends to meet with the Teamsters.

O'Brien said they hadn't received a response from her. Given what he called her past anti-union comments, he said, “It doesn't surprise at all.”

___

Krisher reported from Detroit. Associated Press writer Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.

Jill Colvin And Tom Krisher, The Associated Press

 Trump said he had a 'great' relationship with unions. This union executive says otherwise

CNN

Jan 31, 2024  

Donald Trump met with Teamsters union leaders and members in Washington as his campaign looks to peel off union voters from Biden. John Palmer, the group's international vice president, who refused to attend the meeting, joins CNN's Erin Burnett to discuss and share his thoughts.

Trump Reacts To Teamsters Union Exec Calling Him A 'Known Union-Buster, Scab, And Insurrectionist'

Forbes Breaking News
Feb 1, 2024

Speaking to reporters yesterday, former President Trump reacted to an attack from a Teamsters executive board member.

Biden meets with friendly autoworkers in Michigan, but avoids angry Gaza protesters

The Canadian Press
Thu, February 1, 2024 



WARREN, Michigan (AP) — President Joe Biden chatted with a friendly union crowd inside a United Auto Workers hall in Michigan on Thursday as pro-Palestinian demonstrators held back by police with riot shields voiced their anger nearby at the president's full-throated support for Israel in its war with Hamas.

The tension highlighted the challenges ahead for Biden in holding on to this critical battleground state in November over likely rival Donald Trump, and underscored the Democrats' concerns about flagging enthusiasm among voters who have been key to their coalition.

Biden's visit with autoworkers making phone bank calls for him ahead of the state's Democratic primary came just days after union President Shawn Fain announced their endorsement of him. Fain praised Biden’s ties to the working class, saying, "We know who’s been there for labor and who wasn’t," adding that the union's mission now is to “keep Joe Biden as our president.”

Biden, who joined striking workers on the picket line last year, replied, “Supporting you is the easiest thing I’ve ever done."

However, Biden's Michigan schedule did not include any meetings with Arab Americans, adding to increasing frustration over his support of Israel in its war with Hamas as the Palestinian death toll has mounted.

“Why not have a meaningful conversation for how you change course with a community that has first-hand accounts of what it’s like to live in the countries where your decision-making is unfolding?" said Abdullah Hammoud, the mayor of Dearborn, one of the largest Arab American communities in the nation.

Despite the White House offering no advance details about Biden's planned meeting, close to 200 pro-Palestinian demonstrators were waiting for Biden near the UAW Region 1 building in Warren ahead of his event there. The president's motorcade bypassed them using side streets.

Protesters chanted “Hey Biden, what do you say? We won’t vote on Election Day" as well as pro-Palestinian slogans, including, “Free, free Palestine."

Amir Naddaf, 34, traveled with friends from Ann Arbor to protest the president’s UAW event after having supported Biden in the 2020 election

“We came here to send a clear message to the administration that they’re not welcome in Michigan,” said Naddaf.

Dozens of riot gear-clad police officers and an armored vehicle kept the protesters from approaching the union hall.

More than 26,000 Palestinians, mostly women and minors, have been killed in Gaza since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. Hamas killed more than 1,200 people and kidnapped about 250 more, mostly civilians, in the attack.

Michigan has shifted increasingly Democratic in recent years, with the party controlling all levels of state government for the first time in four decades. Biden is looking to build on that power as he seeks reelection and the state’s critical 15 electoral votes.

The president faces no serious challenge in the primary, but his campaign is trying to build energy for the tougher fight to come in the fall. Michigan was part of the so-called blue wall of three states — with Wisconsin and Pennsylvania — that Biden returned to the Democratic column when he won the White House in 2020.

He kicked off his visit to Michigan by meeting with Black religious leaders at They Say restaurant in Harper Woods, outside of Detroit, before thanking autoworkers for their support.

Warren, where Biden met with union workers, is in Macomb County, an area that Democrats lost by a wide margin to Trump in the past two national elections. Biden’s outreach to workers there came amid concerns within the party over rising tension between Biden and Arab Americans in the state, many of them in Detroit’s Wayne County, which is the Democratic Party’s largest base.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Air Force One with Biden that senior administration officials will travel to Michigan later in February to hear from community leaders on the conflict in Israel and Gaza. She did not specify which officials or with whom they would meet.

The early endorsement by the UAW was a clear win for Biden, who came to Michigan to stand alongside striking autoworkers last year. His latest meeting with union members comes on the heels of Trump’s visit with another one of the U.S. most influential unions, the Teamsters, in Washington on Wednesday.

Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., a longtime Biden ally, said Democrats need to tend to a multitude of constituencies in Michigan to hold on to the state in 2024.

“Michigan is a purple state. I say that to everybody,” she said. "Clearly, the Arab American community matters. But young people have to turn out. They were very decisive two years ago in voter turnout. A lot of the union leadership has endorsed the president, but we've got to get into the union halls and do the contrast so people really understand what it’s about. And we've got to make sure women and independents turn out. You know, we’re a competitive state.”

Biden's campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, led a group of campaign advisers to the Dearborn area last week as part of her ongoing effort to meet with core supporter groups around the country. She spoke with some community leaders, but the trip ended abruptly when Arab American leaders declined to show up for a meeting with her.

Ahead of Biden's visit, demonstrators held a community rally in Dearborn on Wednesday night to protest administration policies backing Israel.

“The people in the Middle Eastern community are not confused. They are crystal clear on how Palestine has been handled versus Israel," said former Democratic state Rep. Sherry Gay-Dagnogo, who is from Detroit. “Just to come and visit them without changing your positions is not going to move them. African Americans are not confused either. And so you can’t just do visits. A visit is not enough.”

Biden and his aides have said they do not want to see any civilians die in Hamas-ruled Gaza, and the U.S. is working to negotiate another cease-fire to allow critical aid to reach the territory.

During an October visit to Tel Aviv, Biden warned the Israelis not to be “consumed by rage.” But the president and his aides have also said he believes Israel has the right to defend itself and he has asked Congress for billions to help Israel in its war effort.

On Thursday during a National Prayer Breakfast in Washington ahead of his trip, Biden spoke of the threat of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.

“Not only do we pray for peace, we are actively working for peace, security, dignity for the Israeli people and the Palestinian people," he said.

A December AP-NORC poll found that 59% percent of Democrats approve of Biden’s approach to the conflict, up from 50% in November. But Democratic voters in New Hampshire’s primary were roughly split on how Biden has handled the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to AP VoteCast.

___ AP Writer Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.

Joey Cappelletti And Colleen Long, The Associated Press

Michigan pro-Palestinian demonstrators voice anger at Biden's support for Israel

Feb 1, 2024  

President Joe Biden celebrated his recent endorsement by the United Auto Workers union by visiting Michigan on Thursday, but growing anger over U.S. support for Israel's war in Gaza in the critical battleground state with the nation’s highest density of Arab Americans meant for a shaky reception for the Democratic president.

‘Go Back To China’: Nancy Pelosi Goes Ballistic At Pro-Palestine Protesters Calling For Ceasefire

Jan 30, 2024  

Former U.S. House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, is facing backlash for scolding Pro-palestinian protesters outside her residence. She was caught on camera, shouting at protesters & telling them to "go back to China''. This happened when Pro-palestine protesters staged a stir outside Pelosi's residence, calling for a ceasefire amid the ongoing Israel-Palestine war. Watch this to know more.

Central Vancouver Island transit strike ends after 48 days


CBC
Thu, February 1, 2024 at 6:15 p.m. MST·

Transit workers on central Vancouver Island walked off the job on Dec. 15, calling for wage parity with transit workers in other parts of the province. (Claire Palmer/CBC - image credit)

Transit workers in the Comox Valley and Campbell River have voted to end their strike and return to work, 48 days after walking off the job.

A tentative agreement between the union and the employer, Pacific Western (PW) Transit, was reached last week.

The agreement was ratified in a vote on Thursday by 80 per cent of members, according to Gavin Davies, a national staff representative for Unifor.

Just over 70 workers employed by PW Transit on central Vancouver Island walked off the job on Dec. 15, calling for wage parity with transit workers in other parts of the province.

Unionized workers — including bus drivers, mechanics, cleaners and support staff — had their contract with PW Transit expire on March 31, and subsequently rejected multiple offers from the company.

PW Transit operates bus services in the region and is contracted by B.C. Transit, the provincial agency responsible for local transportation outside Metro Vancouver.

Last week, Davies told CBC News the tentative agreement addressed the concerns of its members "and then some

B.C. Transit workers on the picket line in Comox over a month into their strike on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024. The strike started on Dec. 15.

Transit workers stand on the picket line in Comox, B.C. last week. The strike, which started on Dec. 15., ended Thursday when an agreement was ratified in a vote by union members. (Claire Palmer/CBC)

Davies said there is no firm date for when services will resume in the region, but as part of an agreement with PW Transit, unionized mechanics would return to the job as early as Friday to ensure buses are in good working condition once service resumes.

More information on when transit services will return is expected to come in the next few days.

GREENWASHING

Waste-to-ethanol biofuels plant in Edmonton closes 11 years ahead of schedule

CBC
Thu, February 1, 2024 

The Enerkem waste to to biofuels facility was set back by delays and produced a fraction of the fuel it set out to do in 2010. (Enerkem - image credit)

A state-of-the-art biofuels plant in northeast Edmonton has shut down production, 14 years after the City of Edmonton and Enerkem Alberta Biofuels struck a deal to turn waste into ethanol.

Under the initial 25-year agreement signed in 2010, the city supplied garbage that couldn't be recycled or composted and Enerkem would use its proprietary technology to turn it into biofuels.

When it closed this week, the plant had produced five million litres of biofuels, far less than the 36 million litres a year Enerkem had projected it would generate.

On Thursday, Enerkem's executive vice president of technology and commercialization Michel Chornet said it was a bittersweet day.

"We felt we had reached our main objectives which was to demonstrate this technology at commercial scale," Chornet said in an interview with CBC News. "Now we are retiring this facility,"

The Edmonton plant was once touted as the world's first industrial-scale biofuels project to use municipal solid waste as feedstock.

The $80 million facility was projected to generate biofuels to supply over 400,000 cars per year running on a five per cent ethanol blend, the company's news release said.

Deal ends

The city says with the plant closing at the Edmonton Waste Management Centre, its agreement with Enerkem is also ending.

Enerkem's facility was built and operated at their expense and will be dismantled at their expense, said Denis Jubinville, branch manager of waste services at the City of Edmonton.

"While this innovative project did not fully achieve the desired waste diversion, we have gained important learnings that will inform future waste diversion strategies," Jubinville said in an email to CBC News this week.

The city invested about $45 million into its own refuse-derived fuel (RDF) facility that turns waste into a low-carbon fuel that can be used for energy production.

This facility is still operational and will continue to produce RDF, he added.

"The closure will not have significant impacts on the city's day-to-day waste management activities," he said.

The city doesn't plan to replace or expand the Enerkem plant but is establishing new partnerships to divert waste from landfill using waste-to-energy, Jubinville noted.

Dampened by delays

The operation encountered technical obstacles in producing ethanol and had adjusted equipment along the way.

"Each phase had some specific milestones," Chornet said. "Once they were achieved, we added more equipment on and on, so the phasing induced some delays that may have been perceived."

This week, former city councillor Ben Henderson said he was disappointed the plant didn't turn out to be a long-term solution to Edmonton's waste disposal.

"The hope was that it was going to take the majority of our non-organic non-recyclable waste and turn it into something useful."

He said if things had gone according to plan, the plant would have been running at full steam for quite a number of years already.

Edmonton impact 

"It was a difficult week," Chornet told CBC News. "We had 56 employees in Edmonton — great employees, dedicated, passionate and very professional. So my thoughts are with them."

Henderson said he is happy that the city walks away with some technological advantage.

"I would hate to see us stopping to try new things and to try new solutions," Henderson said. "If no one is prepared to do that, then we're not going to be able to make any kind of progress on what's a really significant problem with what to do with their solid waste."

Montreal-based Enerkem Inc., founded in 2000, develops and commercializes its gasification technology, transforming non-recyclable waste into biofuels, low-carbon fuels and circular chemicals for hard-to-abate sectors, including sustainable aviation and marine fuels.

The Alberta government contributed $4.5 million from its Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction Regulation program, set up to help industrial facilities find innovative ways to reduce carbon emissions.