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Newsstand: July 6, 2015
Both bad and good-ish news this Monday, so let's start with the bad: beer will be hitting grocery store shelves around Christmas, but wine won't follow until 2016; the Ministry of Labour is essentially useless in collecting unpaid wages; and a large group gathered in the city yesterday to call for action on climate and the economy. (That last is solutions-oriented, so it's good news, right?)
Some new developments in the process of getting beer and wine into grocery stores will have would-be shoppers disappointed: it’s highly unlikely wine will be available in (new) supermarkets any time in 2015. There are some kiosks selling wine in grocery stores, but those have “grandfathered licenses.” While beer is set to start appearing on shelves by Christmas this year, the trade intricacies of dealing with small vintners have stymied efforts to do the same with wine. “When you’re dealing with a lot of small French producers or California producers who are quite prepared to use the trade weapons so you have to be very careful,” said Ed Clark, former TD Bank chief and current “business guru” for Premier Kathleen Wynne. Clark has overseen the push for more widely available beer and wine, as well as a drive to sell off nearly two-thirds of the province’s Hydro One utility company for a cash injection of about $4 billion.
Years after spending more than a month working for a prestigious publisher without receiving pay, Chelsea Phelan-Tran has yet to collect the money owed her, and she probably never will. Phelan-Tran took the matter to the Ministry of Labour, which ruled that she was owed $3,500 from McArthur & Company; after efforts to collect the money went nowhere, the ministry sent the file to a collection agent, who also failed to get any money for Phelan-Tran. According to the Toronto Star, “[t]he ministry does not appear to have deployed any of the collection tools at its disposal, including filing a copy of the order to pay in court and seizing bank accounts and other assets. Its only action has been to add a $350 fine to the uncollected wages.”
Demonstrators gathered in Toronto yesterday to protest in favour of a solution to the ongoing economic and environmental crises facing the country and the world at large. The protest was attended by Naomi Klein, Jane Fonda, and David Suzuki, and many notable labour and environmental groups had delegates present as well. The group assembled at Queen’s Park before marching to Allan Gardens.