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Aug 17 2025

The Roundup: Union blast. Crowfoot countdown. Young Greens.

SUN AUG 17 2025
David Akin's Roundup
Union blast. Crowfoot countdown. Young Greens. 
Canada
Air Canada union blasts feds’ back-to-work order as violation of Charter rights
Hours after some flight attendants walked off the job, the Canadian government has stepped in to put an end to a strike that has created travel chaos at home and around the world. Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu says a night of failed negotiations led her to impose binding arbitration, which could lead to a back-to-work order within days. On Saturday, the union representing flight attendants blasted the government’s decision, saying it violates their Charter rights. Sean O’Shea reports. [Global National]
“The leadership of President Trump and the United States is creating the opportunity to end Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine. Robust and credible security guarantees are essential to any just and lasting peace,” Carney said. “I welcome the openness of the United States to providing security guarantees as part of Coalition of the Willing’s efforts. [Global]
Battle River-Crowfoot was handpicked by Poilievre for a by-election because it is one of the safest Conservative voting ridings in the country. Poilievre is going to win. The only real question is: by how much? [Daveberta.ca]
The country gave its citizens the right to die. Doctors are struggling to keep up with demand. Don't be put off by the clickbait-y headline. I found this to be one of the most thoroughly reported pieces on MAID I've yet read. Long read. [The Atlantic]
The Provinces
BC Greens leadership to take youthful turn, with contenders' average age of 30
The Greens' leadership contest, with a voting period from Sept. 13 to 23, features 24 year-old Emily Lowan, who is an organizer with Climate Action Network Canada, 23-year-old student Adam Bremner-Akins, and family doctor Jonathan Kerr, the elder of the group at 44. By comparison, the last two Green leaders, Sonia Furstenau and Andrew Weaver, were 54 and 59 respectively when they stood down. [CP]

L’enquête du commissaire Denis Gallant et de ses procureurs progresse de plus en plus vers le haut de l’organigramme de la Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ). Les témoignages de plusieurs acteurs clés du scandale devraient enfin permettre de mieux cerner la manière dont la transformation numérique de la SAAQ a pu déraper au point que son coût a presque doublé, pour atteindre 1,1 milliard. [La Presse]
Aurora
Elsewhere
Russia-Ukraine war: Trump runs into the difficulties of Putin diplomacy
President Donald Trump walked into a summit with Russia’s Vladimir Putin pressing for a ceasefire deal and threatening “severe consequences” and tough new sanctions if the Kremlin leader failed to agree to halt the fighting in Ukraine. Instead, Trump was the one who stood down, dropping his demand for a ceasefire in favor of pursuing a full peace accord — a position that aligns with Putin’s. It was a dramatic reversal that laid bare the challenges of dealing with Putin, a cunning adversary, as well as the complexities of a conflict that Trump had repeatedly boasted during his campaign that he could solve within 24 hours. [AP]
“I think that such a three-way meeting will take place,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said.  “The date and place are still to be worked out. We have proposed that a place could be found in Europe,” he said. [Euractiv]

Plans are in the works to send at least one of Trump’s favorite interlocutors, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, along with Zelenskyy when he comes to Washington Monday to meet with Trump, according to two European diplomats and a person familiar with the matter. The idea is that Stubb can help prevent any flare-ups between Trump and Zelenskyy and convince the U.S. president to include Europe in any further talks. [Politico]
Media
‘Will I make it back alive?’: Gaza journalists fear targeting by Israel
After Israel’s attack on a tent housing journalists in Gaza City, Palestinians say press vests now feel like a target. [Al Jazeera]

RFE/RL journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko has given the first detailed account of how he was tortured after being arrested in Russian-occupied Crimea in 2021. Speaking with RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, Radio Svaboda (Radio Liberty) in his first interview since being released from Russian custody in June, Yesypenko described how beatings and electrocution were used to force him to sign a confession that he later retracted in court. [Radio Free Europe]
Science and Technology
The platform largely revolves around clock faces and widgets, and it will have multi-user support, Gurman said. Users will primarily interact with it using Siri voice commands, but touch will also be an option, he said. Some of the preinstalled apps from Apple will apparently include Calendar, Camera, Music, Reminders, and Notes. [MacRumors ]
The Calendar
  • 1400 ET : Vancouver - Veterans Affairs Min Jill McKnight participates in a ceremony marking the end of the Second World War in the Pacific.
  • 1600 ET : Pender Island, BC - GPC MP Elizabeth May participates in a Pride parade.
Issued this day ...
… in 1984. Sc 1029. Roman Catholic Church. Design: Jean Morin and Robert Ethier. 
Issued to mark the 200th anniversary of the establishment of the Roman Catholic Church in Newfoundland and Labrador.  Here is what Canada Post had to say about this stamp at it’s time of issue: 
“In 1784 Father James O'Donel, a Franciscan, arrived in Newfoundland. This marked the formal establishment of the English-speaking Roman Catholic Church in Newfoundland and in North America. Roman Catholic priests have arrived in Newfoundland as early as 1627. From then until 1784 the Church experienced difficult times. Britain's anti-Roman Catholic laws applied in Newfoundland because it was a British colony. Moreover, a mixture of English Protestants and Irish Roman Catholics settled the area. The long-standing Anglo-Irish difficulties exacerbated religious tensions. Consequently, priests were subject to arrest and had to operate surreptitiously. The authorities could, and sometimes did, demolish buildings used for Mass, and might fine and deport anyone who allowed his property to be used for the ceremony. Conditions improved in the 1770's. The British passed the Roman Catholic Relief Act of 1778. In addition, the Newfoundland authorities may have hesitated to press anti-Roman Catholic measures for fear that people might follow example of the American Revolutionaries of that era. By 1783 it was possible for a group of merchants to ask an Irish bishop openly to send James O'Donel, a popular Franciscan, to Newfoundland and to give him authority over the island's other Roman Catholic priests. In May 1784, Pope Pius VI decreed Newfoundland a separate ecclesiastical territory, directly subject to Rome rather than to the Bishop of London, as was previously the case. Under Bishop O'Donel's care, the Roman Catholic Church flourished, and in 1795 the Vatican named him the first bishop of the new ecclesiastical territory. He retired in 1807, and left Newfoundland to die in Ireland in 1811. Jean Morin and Robert Ethier of Montreal are responsible for the design, which features the reproduction of an old wood engraving of the Basilica of St. John's, the visible culmination of Bishop O'Donel's work. The arms of the Archdiocese, centred below, bear the motto: "Vox clamantis in deserto" (A voice crying in the wilderness), referring to St. John the Baptist, patron of the church and the city.”

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