Once again they’ll carve out exemptions for the stuff they can’t get anywhere else. And for those things, we need to slap on an export tax.

That’s a very nice way of describing legal slavery.

It really feels like they’re trying to pull a Crimea. They’ve already been amplifying (if not outright fabricating) the voices of the very few sincere separationists to make it look like it’s a majority position. Now they’re setting up a referendum, which will likely be accused of being rigged if it fails or used as pretext if it passes, because it’s obviously not legally binding.

I mostly agree with that, except I think we’re missing a few steps in the middle too. I had a close family member struggle with mental health, to the point it severely affected their livelihood. In moments of crisis, every option essentially came down to “calm down and figure it out yourself, or call us back when you’re actually considering suicide”. Thankfully we were eventually able to find a counsellor, but even with decent insurance they’re very expensive. I’m sure a lot of people don’t have that option, especially if they don’t have a family support network to fall back on if they lose their job (and housing, and if they even had it, insurance).

I don’t mean to sound crass or dismissive, but making the choice to go out in such a public way is pretty selfish. I know a guy who used to be in the coast guard and he had to clean up a few people who missed. I’m sure it’s even worse for someone like a train operator. While you’re absolutely correct the prevention needs to be directed at the root cause, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t also try and prevent it where it’s happening.

Isn’t that why they’re making every non-american staying for over a month register and get fingerprinted?

Western-er Canada: “your tracks are in trainworthy condition?”

I’m not sure if it’s pixel only at the moment but they recently expanded the previously US only feature to screen calls like that automatically. You get a live transcript and if you missed the call you can listen back to the recording. But the biggest feature is actually hidden, if I go look at my call history I’d say a good 75% of it is confirmed spam that was detected and effectively blocked without bringing it to my attention at all.

To me a standard American accent sounds like they’re replacing the OU with AW, “abawt”. Or maybe “abowt” if they pronounced it like the bow of a ship (not like a fancy knot or the weapon).

Don’t forget the other >80 million who, at best, didn’t care enough to vote against it.

Well, I guess maybe novelty has something to do with it for both of us. I will say though without a doubt, Sonic is by far worse than Tim Hortons and any other fast food I’ve ever tried.

Man you must’ve visited the best Tim Hortons on a good day and also the worst In-N-Out and Chick-Fil-A if you think Tims is better. I might forgive you if you haven’t tried Tim’s in the past 20 years though, back when everything was made in store.

If 107 didn’t exist I bet this would’ve been solved closer to February.

I think it’s a combination of their consistent and obvious decline in quality, combined with the fact that most people in this country have been regular customers for at least some period of their life. Very few fast food chains are as widespread and common in small communities (McDonald’s and subway come to mind). I don’t remember any other fast food chains getting worse almost overnight, but I do remember Tim’s switching to much worse bread on their sandwiches, and their donuts going from fresh, to frozen but decorated, to whatever you call the attempted smearing of nearly solid “icing” on top. Are other chains any better? I can’t say for sure, but I can say Tim’s at any previous point in history was.

How come no one made a big deal about Marine Atlantic, an actual federal Crown Corporation, buying their latest ship from the exact same shipyard? The whole reason BC Ferries is technically a “private” company (wholly owned by the government) is to keep the money separate from the government budget. If the government wants to dictate exactly how the company runs, they should re-absorb it (provincially) or properly fund it like transportation in the east (federally).

And for the record, I have no love for the company, but as an Islander we need ferries yesterday and arguing isn’t going to get anything built any sooner.

Arbitration basically removes any incentive to (and actually punishes) good faith negotiation. At best, any wage increases are split down the middle, you can end up with half assed terms that don’t benefit anyone, and at worst theres nothing (other than “norms”) stopping the arbitrator from inserting clauses neither side asked for nor wanted.

I think that may have just been poorly communicated. The way I heard it explained, it wasn’t a cap, but more like a standard allowance. It really sounds like that time will be extended for delays. My contract has a similar provision if I’m expected to start or end my shift away from my usual workplace, I get compensated for a predetermined amount of travel time instead of the actual time, although if I prove a major delay that’s out of my control I also get paid for that time.

I did some quick, very rough math.

Transport Canada requires 1 FA:40 passengers (and the least efficient planes have a ratio of about 1:30)

From what I could find (please correct me if I’m wrong) the average flight attendant makes ~$30/hr, but only while the doors are closed.

I don’t imagine they’re asking for a 33% raise, but it makes the math easier.

$10/hr ÷ 40 people = 25¢ per person per flight hour

I have no idea how much unpaid work they do during a turnaround related to each flight, but I imagine it’s not less than an hour and not more than 2 hours. So at $40/hr total wage that would add $1-2 per person per flight.

So on the worst case scenario/longest flight (YVR-SIN, 16hrs, 298 passengers, 8+2 Flight attendants, 30:1 ratio) that would be ($0.25*16+$2)+33%= ~$8 extra per person.

I’ve thought a better idea would be to significantly fine the entire C-suite and board of directors personally for every day a back to work order is in effect. Or, if it’s a government entity, crown Corp, or similar, the executive level should be fired as a condition of the back to work order. As much as your idea would be good, it would be better if there wasn’t an incentive (real or perceived) for either side to negotiate in bad faith.

I voted Liberal to avoid a Conservative government

In my riding (historically strong NDP) that kind of thinking got a conservative MP elected. I’m sure similar situations played out across the country.