Closed ports in British Columbia and Montreal are crunching Canada’s economy, spurring calls for longer-term solutions to fix frequent labour disruptions. More on that below – including a postcard on how travel companies are tapping into the U.S. election – but first:
In the news
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers has given a 72-hour strike notice to Canada Post and says workers will be in a legal strike position as of Friday if negotiated settlements have not been reached.
Neo Financial Technologies Inc. has raised $360-million, backed by Shopify’s Tobi Lutke, Slack founder Stewart Butterfield and other big names in the tech world.
Canadian trade lawyers say clients are bracing for Donald Trump’s promised tariffs and the possibility of increased shareholder activism.
Will Taylor Swift lift Toronto’s sagging tourism industry? And can the city’s public transit handle 500,000 fans visiting over the next two weeks? Anything is possible!
Happening today
- A big day of domestic earnings includes Shopify Inc., Power Corp of Canada, Suncor Energy Inc.
- Statistics Canada reports building permits for September.
- Germany releases a spate of economic data as the country undergoes a wee bit of political uncertainty.
Montreal's ports are closed in at least two languages.Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press
In focus
Canada’s prolonged bout of port pain
First, the news: Labour disruptions at two major ports are weighing on the Canada’s economy in a year already beset by stoppages halting the country’s two largest railways.
In Montreal, more than 1,200 dockworkers have been locked out since Monday after overwhelmingly rejecting an offer from the Maritime Employers Association, Eric Atkins and Nicolas Van Praet write. Canada’s second-largest port moves nearly $400-million in goods every day.
In British Columbia: About 730 unionized supervisors who oversee about 7,400 workers at B.C. ports have been locked out since Nov. 4, disrupting an estimated $800-million a day in trade. A planned three-day meeting last week to break a deadlock ended after an hour, if you’re wondering how well the two sides are getting along.
On Bay Street: In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries across the spectrum, urged the federal government to do whatever it takes to end the B.C. stoppage.
On Monday, the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade urged a new federal commission to find “lasting and durable solutions” to reduce the frequency of labour disputes at British Columbia ports, Brent Jang reports.
Zooming out
Both lockouts are costing Canada’s economy hundreds of millions of loonies a day and threatening exports at an auspicious moment. Both lockouts are squeezing the country’s supply chains, shutting down shipments across rails and highways. And both underscore the fragile nature of Canada’s sprawling transportation and distribution network.
The work stoppages are also exposing how painfully reliable labour disruptions have become at the country’s major ports. The root causes of the new West Coast lockout, Jang writes, were foreshadowed in a report dating from 2010, which called for longer-term thinking on the way unions and employers negotiate. And that report echoed one from 1995.
Michael Gullo, vice-president of policy at the Business Council of Canada, told me the disruptions highlight an urgent need for a plan focused on boosting trade, a “rethink” of the way our collective bargaining process works, and more investment in innovation specifically aimed at supporting trade and transportation.
“In the absence of a national strategy where all levels of government are working together to improve Canada’s competitiveness and reputation as a trading nation through increased investments across the transportation supply chain, investment levels will inevitably slip,” he wrote in an e-mail.
- He pointed to a 2022 report by the Canada West Foundation, which rated Canada’s transportation infrastructure in the same company as Hungary and Azerbaijan.
Zooming even further out
The unions representing dockworkers at both ports are seeking pay raises. But employers’ plans to add automation to their ports is a growing point of contention, as union seek assurances jobs won’t be lost in the process.
- That issue was top of mind for the thousands of U.S. dockworkers along the East and Gulf coasts when they walked off the jobs last month.
- An interim deal was reached to carry the union and employer through to January, but the workers’ “non-negotiable” stance on automation was left unaddressed.
- That strike was estimated to cost the U.S. economy at least US$5-billion a day. The new year could see the issue returning to shock the global supply chain anew.
Zooming back in
Sorry for all this zooming! Please take a second to refocus your eyes. But I wanted to provide a little more context on the disputes:
What Montreal dockworkers want: Raises of 20 per cent over four years – deals that match those approved by their counterparts in Vancouver and Halifax.
- What they’re being offered: Cumulative increases of 20 per cent over six years.
What B.C. workers are seeking: The employers and union have been bargaining for nearly two years to renew a contract that expired in March, 2023. Union leader Frank Morena has said workers are “extremely angry” over the employers’ refusal to bargain over major issues, such the effects of increased automation on jobs.
- What they’re being offered: What the employer calls its “final offer.” It includes a 19.2-per-cent increase over a four-year deal, and an increase to retirement benefits.
Charted
Canada hasn’t been this dependent on the U.S. as a trading partner in years, Jason Kirby reports. Merchandise exports to the U.S. have climbed to around 77 per cent of total exports in recent months – a level not seen since 2006.
A room in the Villa Vie's Odyssey cruise ship. You could live here for four years!Photo: Villa Vie Residences/Supplied
Tourism
Voting with your passport
A Canadian airliner and a cruise ship company are tapping into the U.S. presidential election, which didn’t go the way some voters had hoped.
WestJet ran ads on Instagram offering “one-way flights to Canada” the day after Donald Trump was re-elected. And Villa Vie Residences announced a four-year “Skip forward” cruise package and a two-year “Midterm selection” option for those who would prefer to “live beyond borders – explore, connect and make the world your home.”
Beer and wine are comped and you get your “first medical consultation for free.” But with prices ranging up to US$255,999 per solo package, “free” is doing a little work here.
The outlook
On our radar and reading list
Online: It’s a US$250-billion per year industry, but how much do digital influencers actually make?
On the menu: The new chief executive of the bankrupt Red Lobster is ending endless shrimp.
On the road: How much can you trust hotel ranking guides?
Morning update
Global markets declined with investors hitting the pause button as U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s next cabinet comes into focus and ahead of economic data that could affect interest-rate policies. Wall Street futures and TSX futures edged lower.
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was down 1.04 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.99 per cent, Germany’s DAX gave back 0.94 per cent and France’s CAC 40 retreated 1.3 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed down 0.4 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng tumbled 2.84 per cent.
The Canadian dollar traded at 71.65 U.S. cents.