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The United Food and Commercial Workers, one of Canada’s most prominent private-sector unions, worked closely with representatives from Uber Technologies Inc. to ensure that app-based drivers and delivery workers in Ontario would not be granted employee status – a change that would have expanded their pay and benefits.
UFCW Canada and Uber have been linked in the public eye since January, when the two organizations announced they had struck a deal. Under the formal agreement, Uber gave the union the right to represent its 100,000 Canadian drivers and delivery couriers in job-related disputes, reports The Globe and Mail’s Vanmala Subramaniam.
But hundreds of pages of e-mails and reports obtained by The Globe through freedom-of-information requests to Ontario’s Ministry of Labour show that the union’s partnership with Uber went far beyond what the two organizations disclosed publicly.
An Uber driver picks up a passenger at Union Station in Toronto on Aug. 24, 2022.Christopher Katsarov/The Globe and Mail
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Putin to increase military forces by 13 per cent in face of Ukraine losses
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Thursday to sharply increase the size of his country’s military forces in an apparent effort to replenish troops that have suffered heavy losses in six months of bloody warfare and prepare for a grinding fight ahead in Ukraine.
Putin made the move to increase the number of troops by 137,000, or 13 per cent, to 1.15 million by the end of the year amid chilling developments on the ground in Ukraine, including renewed fears of a nuclear catastrophe after the Zaporizhzhia power plant was briefly knocked out of commission by fire damage.
Putin’s order did not specify whether the expansion would be accomplished by widening the draft, recruiting more volunteers, or both.
Read more:
- Russian invasion of Ukraine forces Arctic defence back onto Canada’s agenda
- Russian ‘architect’ of Ukraine child abduction scheme hit with Canadian sanctions
- Explainer: Six months of war in Ukraine: five keys to understanding what has happened so far
International students at risk of missing school because of visa delays
Delays in processing student visa applications have put a large number of international students at risk of missing the start of the new school year, as the federal Immigration Department struggles to keep up with what it describes as a surge in applications.
The issue has sparked a complaint from the Indian High Commission in Ottawa, which said in a statement that it has received a number of petitions from Indian students frustrated with lengthy wait times for visa processing.
- Some universities across Canada requiring masks despite provincial health orders
- Ontario schools should evaluate ‘temporary’ COVID-19 measures based on community risk, science advisory table says
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Also on our radar
U.S. judge orders unsealing of redacted affidavit in Trump search: The Justice Department must make public by noon Friday a redacted version of the affidavit it relied on when federal agents searched former president Donald Trump’s Florida estate to look for classified documents.
Halifax police chief denies his force ‘did not try at all’ amid shooting rampage: Dan Kinsella says his offer to send reinforcements to help with RCMP’s response to the April, 2020, mass shooting was turned down, even after senior tactical officers at the city were pushing for the force to send help.
Madman thrill seeker or truth warrior? Remembering Tim Page: The late war photographer and his Vietnam War colleagues helped inspire Daniel Ellsberg to release the Pentagon Papers in 1971, which revealed that Lyndon Johnson had “consistently lied” to Congress and the American public about the true extent of the U.S. war in Vietnam and other parts of the former Indochina.
Open Text to spend US$6-billion for major British software firm: The Waterloo, Ont.-based company ramped up its long-time acquisition spree, saying it would buy Micro Focus International PLC for about US$2.1-billion, in a deal that will total nearly US$6-billion when the British company’s debt is included.
Morning markets
Markets await Powell remarks: World stocks were flat on Friday and the U.S. dollar edged up as traders and investors awaited a speech from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for clues on the gradient of the U.S. central bank’s rate-hike path. Around 5:30 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 edged up 0.01 per cent. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 slid 0.14 per cent and 0.20 per cent, respectively. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei finished up 0.57 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.01 per cent. New York futures were little changed. The Canadian dollar was trading at 77.29 US cents.
What everyone’s talking about
Lisa LaFlamme’s dismissal shows sexism is alive and well in broadcast news
“Consider first the message it sends to younger women starting their journalism careers. They already ask themselves whether it is prudent to challenge the decisions of a boss, or whether they should speak up in editorial meetings. Will they be called ‘difficult’ when their male colleagues might be considered ‘forceful’ for asking the same questions? To see a woman at the top of her field cut down might make them more reluctant, and that in turn affects the quality of the news that they’re producing. We all lose out, news producer and consumer alike.” – Carol Off and Mellissa Fung
Canada is about to undergo an extreme stress test, administered by the Prairies
“... It’s Alberta and Saskatchewan’s turn to demand special treatment, vowing to solidify powers and authority over their provinces in a way we haven’t seen before. This portends extremely difficult times for the country.” – Gary Mason
Today’s editorial cartoon
David ParkinsDavid Parkins/The Globe and Mail
Living better
How Canadians are coping with rising grocery bills
From shopping online to avoid impulse buys to stocking up on pantry staples when there’s a sale, here are a few ways Canadians are changing their food shopping habits to cope with the high grocery bills.
Moment in time: Aug. 26, 1961
Canada’s original Hockey Hall of Fame opens
Thousands of Canadian National Exhibition visitors heard Prime Minister John Diefenbaker promise a $5,000,000 annual grant to amateur athletics in Canada when he officially opened Canada's Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Aug. 26, 1961.
James T. Sutherland, former ice hockey administrator, coach and manager, is known as the founding father of the game in Canada. The pioneer spearheaded a hockey-dedicated hall of fame in the late 1930s. Sutherland, who lived in Kingston, and played hockey in the first officially recognized league, claimed the city was hockey’s birthplace. Although that’s currently disputed, the NHL agreed to establish a Hockey Hall of Fame there and began inducting members in 1945 without the construction of a building. Funding and bureaucracy delayed the project, and Sutherland died before seeing its fulfilment. By 1958, then-NHL president Clarence Campbell impatiently withdrew support of a building in Kingston, and Toronto became the Hall of Fame’s permanent home. Conn Smythe, founder of the Toronto Maple Leafs, acquired funding for a building on the Canadian National Exhibition grounds, and it opened on this day in 1961. It relocated to a larger venue on Yonge Street in 1993 and features the largest collections in the world dedicated to hockey. Popular exhibits include its goalie mask display, the replica of the Montreal Canadiens dressing room, the original Stanley Cup and all of the NHL trophies. Mahdis Habibinia
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