UPS executive grants special ministerial exemption from Canada’s COVID-19 blockade

The company said it had sought and received caesarean authorization for a conditional exemption from mandatory detention from Global Affairs Canada.

This is a decision that the union team representing UPS workers in Canada has found to be misleading.

“We do not understand why Mr Cesaron was allowed into Canada and why the government has waived his 14 – day detention requirement,” said Christopher Monet, Team’s Canada’s Director of Public Affairs.

“We believe the government needs to explain that. This is definitely crucial.”

Foreign Minister Franయిois-Philippe Champagne has granted 191 such detention exemptions on the grounds of “business mobility” since the outbreak – 138 of them in the last 13 weeks, a spokesman said. Permission to skip the self-isolation requirement will only be granted “under exceptional circumstances”, and applicants must “immediately justify their intention to travel to Canada,” the department said.

Global affairs, citing federal privacy law, have refused to discuss Cesaron’s exemption.

Cesarone declined the interview requests and did not respond to written questions about the exact reasons for his visit to UPS or why the meetings were not held remotely.

But in a statement to CBC News, he said UPS was an important service, responsible for providing essential supplies to Canadian businesses and consumers – including personal protective equipment and “promising vaccines soon”.

Cicero observed “every regulatory and safety protocol” and followed a detailed COVID-19 “risk reduction plan”, which included wearing a mask, physical distance and testing while in the country, the company said.

However, two employees who met with C సెzanne disputed the company’s characteristic of the tour and his health care, told CBC News that the meetings were “100 percent about labor” and that on at least one occasion the UPS executive removed his mask so he could be heard well in the crowded room. Employees were asked not to identify for fear of consequences.

Visit Transparency, Security: The Union raises issues

As in Toronto and Mississauga, TeamStars Canada said the Cesaron visit, which stopped at facilities on the camel, would raise transparency issues as well as concerns about office security from the federal government.

“What’s important to us is that everyone is playing by the same pandemic rules,” Monet said. “Safety of UPS drivers and UPS workers in general, with no respect for health – at the end of the day, essential front line workers.”

Voting on the new labor contract at UPS began on October 22, and the results will be released on November 2.

Officially, Canada’s border has been closed to unwanted travelers since March 21. But according to Canada’s Public Health Agency, more than 4.6 million people have entered the country in the past seven months. Some 1.1 million, mostly Canadian citizens returning from overseas, had to do 14 days of self-isolation. Another 3.5 million – essential workers such as truckers, technicians and health care providers – have been pardoned from the blockade.

Last month, CBC News found two instances where senior U.S. officials flew into the country on private jets, and former Canada Border Services Agency officials granted exemptions for unnecessary meetings and convenience trips – cases now known as Ottawa errors.

As the number of special cabinet exemptions increases, opposition politicians are wondering why Canada’s closed border looks so porous at a time when COVID-19 cases are on the rise around the world.

Opposition parties have stated they will not run in the by-elections

Conservative leader Erin O’Toole will raise the issue during question time in the House of Commons on Tuesday.

“Last month we learned that the Liberal government allowed two different American billionaires into Canada, and they waived the quarantine rules,” O’Toole said, “Do these government-affiliated friends have a set of rules and a rule for all? “

See | Federal party leaders crack down on COVID-19 blockade exemptions:

Opposition leader Erin O’Toole has questioned Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the detention exemptions for business executives, CBC News reported. 1:24

Jack Harris, an MP from St. John’s East and a public safety critic of the NDP, questioned why Cicero needed to go to Canada.

“You know, we run Parliament through Zoom. We zoom in though …. I don’t see the need to get such a special exemption,” Harris said.

“I can’t go to Ottawa and come back to St. John’s in Newfoundland [provincial] 14 days exemption. We have workers from Newfoundland doing the same thing, coming back to work and having to have 14 days detention here. “

Harris called on the Liberal government to share more details about what foreign visitors are exempt from quarantine and why.

“This idea of ​​back-door, non-transparent ministerial exceptions, you have to dig around to find out why this is happening, is not fair to Canadians,” he said. “And I don’t think Canadians accept it as fair and reasonable.”

The federal government has recently begun easing border restrictions and granting entries for compassionate reasons, allowing more foreign nationals and Canadians living abroad to reunite with sexual partners or visit sick or dying relatives.

As of Tuesday, Health Canada had received 2,250 such applications and 1,335 were exempt from all of the 14-day blockade. Another 630 were allowed into the country, but had to remain self-isolated for a full two weeks.