Western Standard - July 20, 2023


BC port union re-issues, then recalls 72-hour strike notice


Episode Stats


Length

4 minutes

Words per minute

162.55861

Word count

809

Sentence count

52

Harmful content

Misogyny

1

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Longshoremen on strike in Vancouver have a deal, but then go back to strike. Can the Liberals get the NDP on board? And will the Tories get behind the idea of back-to-work legislation?

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
00:00:00.000 We're going to turn it to the West Coast here. So the longshoremen working the BC ports on strike. Tremendous economic cost to this. They had, I guess, kind of union solidarity stuff where shipments diverted to the states. The longshoremen there would not unload it. So this was just blocking trade to and from the West Coast of Canada. Hugely disruptive.
00:00:24.700 They come to a deal. Strike is over. And yesterday evening, it's back on. Union rejects the deal and immediately goes back to strike. Federal Labor Minister Seamus O'Regan says it's an illegal strike because they didn't give enough notice. Now, they have given notice now, but they've already been out there doing it. Parliament's being recalled. I'm supposed to meet with an MP soon.
00:00:50.580 It can't really happen now because they're all heading back to Ottawa.
00:00:57.860 I guess we'll talk. It's obvious how disruptive it is. Maybe we'll talk more about the politics of it.
00:01:03.480 This is going to really put, I think, some strain on the Liberals quasi-coalition agreement with the NDP. Union dock workers in British Columbia. I mean, if the NDP can't get those guys on side, they're done.
00:01:23.040 You know, that's supposed to be bread and butter. Those kind of voters actually kind of go between Conservative and NDP, kind of skip the Liberal in the middle there.
00:01:29.320 But the NDP have been adamantly opposed to any back-to-work legislation.
00:01:34.360 This could take a few potential forms. But part of them is coming back. That probably means back-to-work legislation.
00:01:44.360 And the Union gave Ottawa, especially the Liberals, which, you know, are keenly aware of the politics around this, gave them the excuse by engaging in what they've described, characterized as an illegal strike, wildcat strike.
00:01:56.620 If we get back-to-work legislation, do you think, we'll start with you, Corey, are the Liberals going to be able to kind of square it in a way that they can get the NDP to support them?
00:02:07.520 Or is this going to be a one-time deal where they actually have to cut a deal with the Conservatives?
00:02:12.540 Well, I think in this case, the Conservatives would support back-to-work legislation so the NDP can vote on principle against it.
00:02:19.260 But it still weakens seeing every time he yaps on the sidelines saying, I'm going to hold Trudeau accountable to this and to this and to this, when he's been the linchpin of that government for quite some time now.
00:02:31.460 He can't keep rolling over for the Liberals. I mean, this would be actually a voting against circumstance, but it won't be a confidence thing and it'll pass.
00:02:39.900 But his own base of support's got to be getting tired of this.
00:02:43.760 I mean, at what point are you actually going to be the Democratic Socialists who claim you are and say, that's enough.
00:02:49.880 We have to start voting against this government. So it'll put a lot of pressure on us.
00:02:54.240 Nigel, if you're Justin Trudeau, how are you trying to sell this to the Conservatives?
00:03:01.600 Because they're the official opposition, they're leading in the polls, they're the threat to take your job as Prime Minister.
00:03:08.760 How are you packaging this in a way that can allow the Conservatives, but both force the Conservatives to support it and allow the Conservatives to claim a win in their own right?
00:03:21.840 Because they're always beaten up on Jade Mead Singh as being Tweedledum to Trudeau's Tweedledee. 1.00
00:03:28.780 Oh no, maybe the other way around. Yeah, he's Tweedledee to Trudeau's Tweedledum.
00:03:32.440 They don't like to be seen voting with the Liberals, and it's normal for an official opposition.
00:03:40.120 How would you sell this, if you're Trudeau, in a way that gets the Conservatives to feel comfortable voting for back-to-work legislation for the...
00:03:47.280 Well, first of all, they're never going to feel comfortable.
00:03:49.240 All that they can really do is say that they recognize the enormous economic importance of that port and the trade that goes through it to the Canadian economy,
00:04:02.780 and that they're above playing party politics with such a matter of national importance.
00:04:08.420 And although Mr. Trudeau is the architect of his own misfortune and deserves to no longer be Prime Minister,
00:04:15.600 in order to get the country moving again, I guess we can hold our nose and do this once.
00:04:21.920 Now, I can't imagine.
00:04:28.020 The thing is, it goes against the Conservative way of looking at life to let the unions win on this.
00:04:34.580 I mean, what would the Conservatives do if they were the ones in office right now?
00:04:41.420 Well, you'd bet they'd be fighting this tooth and nail, and they would take every action necessary to bring that port back into operation.
00:04:48.600 So, they really don't have much option.
00:04:51.540 And they would then reserve most of their contempt for the NDP, where it would be well-placed, I must say.