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Newsstand: May 1, 2015
Happy May Day, everyone. Today is also International Workers' Day and Basic Income Day, so celebrate whatever socially progressive proclivities you might have! In the news this morning: kids can keep their puffers with them in school, GM is dropping 1,000 jobs, and a rival for the Scarborough West seat throws his support behind Bill Blair.
In a move that seems like it shouldn’t even be necessary, Ontario has passed a law requiring schools to allow kids to have their inhalers on them throughout the day. It’s called “Ryan’s law” and is named for Ryan Gibbons, who died of an asthma attack in October 2012. Up until now, there’s been a very patchwork-esque approach to get things done. Some schools follow the same guidelines for other medical drugs, locking them away near the principal’s office, while some other schools have already been allowing students to take their inhalers with them.
General Motors has announced that after closing production on its Chevrolet Camaro on Nov. 20, it will cut 1,000 jobs from its Oshawa plant. The move isn’t entirely a surprise: the company announced plans to stop producing the car some time ago, and job cuts were expected with that announcement. Jerry Dias, president of Unifor (formerly the Canadian Auto Workers), said the union is working with GM to offer incentives to early retirement for those eligible. Still, while Dias wasn’t surprised by the announcement, he wasn’t happy. And he had strong words for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, whose government recently sold billions of dollars in GM shares as part of its budget-balancing calculations. “Shareholders have rights,” said Dias, “shareholders have power, and they just gave it away, which to me was completely foolish. Before they sold any of their shares, they should have solidified General Motors’ footprint in Canada.”
A former TV anchor and erstwhile campaign rival has decided that instead of running against former Toronto police chief Bill Blair for the Liberal candidacy of Scarborough West, he’s going to help him. That anchor is Tim Weber, once of CTV. He announced Thursday that rather than compete with Blair for the candidacy, he will be running Blair’s campaign. There are still five candidates competing against Blair.