LIVE B.C. seeks ban on using drugs in 'all public spaces,' shifting approach to decriminalization
The B.C. government is moving to have drug use banned in 'all public spaces,' marking a major shift in the province's approach to decriminalization.
British energy firms are rationing supplies of gasoline and closing some petrol pumps -- the latest in a string of shortages that have seen McDonald's take milkshakes off the menu, KFC run short of chicken and gaps appear on supermarket shelves.
A big factor behind the problems is a lack of truck drivers. The U.K. is short tens of thousands of hauliers, as factors including Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic converge to create a supply-chain crunch.
Officials urged motorists not to panic-buy petrol after BP and Esso shut a handful of stations because there were not enough trucks to get gas to the pumps.
"The advice would be to carry on as normal," Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said Friday.
Despite the plea, lines of cars formed at some gas stations across the U.K. as drivers filled up just in case.
As concern over the disruption mounts, the haulage industry is pressing the government to loosen immigration rules and recruit more drivers from Europe to avert Christmas shortages of turkeys and toys.
The government is resisting that move, and scrambling to lure more British people into truck driving, long viewed as an underpaid and underappreciated job.
"Driving isn't seen as a 21st-century sexy vocation," said Laurence Bolton, managing director of the National Driving Centre, a family-owned school for truck drivers in the London suburb of Croydon.
But that is starting to change. Bolton's school has seen a 20% increase in applicants since the U.K.'s pandemic restrictions eased earlier this year, with bus drivers, laid-off hospitality workers and even former airline pilots seeking to retrain as truckers, a suddenly in-demand and increasingly well-paid occupation.
"It opens up the opportunities," said 31-year-old Stephen Thrower, who works as a van driver but is training on trucks. "It's more of a job for life."
As a trainee trucker practiced reversing a huge rig between orange cones at the school's asphalt lot, Bolton reeled off the ingredients that have made for a trucking crisis. Britain's departure from the European Union prompted some European workers to head home. The British government closed a loophole that many drivers used to keep tax payments down. COVID-19 lockdowns halted driver testing for months, stopping the flow of new truckers.
Countries including the United States and Germany are also facing a driver shortage. But the U.K.'s problem has been worsened by Brexit. Britain's full departure from the EU last year ended the right of the bloc's citizens to live and work in the U.K., making it harder for firms to employ the eastern European drivers that many had come to rely on.
The pandemic also disrupted labor markets around the world, throwing millions of people at least temporarily out of work. An estimated 1.4 million Europeans left Britain for their home countries during the pandemic, often to be closer to family. It's uncertain how many will return.
Britain's trucking industry is lobbying for truck drivers to be added to the "shortage occupation list," which would make it easier to recruit drivers from Europe. There are similar calls from Britain's farming and food processing industries, which are short of fruit-pickers and meat-packers.
The Conservative government has refused, saying British workers should be trained to fill the jobs.
"We've continually allowed our domestic market to underperform by essentially having wages undercut by people coming in prepared to do the job for less, and in pretty bad conditions sometimes," Shapps told lawmakers Wednesday. "And that's the wider picture that we're determined to resolve."
In an attempt to ease the shortage, the government has extended the number of hours drivers can work each week, increased trucker testing and "streamlined" the training process. One change means drivers no longer have to qualify on a rigid truck before moving up to huge tractor trailers.
Bolton generally welcomes the government moves, but has concerns about the safety of letting drivers move straight from cars to 18-wheelers.
"I don't care if you're the best car driver in the world -- it's 16 1/2 meters (54 feet) long," he said.
Shapps said the situation is improving "week by week" as more new drivers pass their tests. But businesses warn the solution won't be quick or easy.
Ian Wright, chief executive of industry group the Food and Drink Federation, said the driver drought is part of a huge shakeup of labor markets and supply chains around the world.
"It's going to get worse," Wright said at a recent seminar organized by the Institute for Government think-tank. "We should get used to the fact that occasionally empty shelves … is going to be the new normal."
For trainee truck drivers, that's good news. Wages are up, and some firms are offering free training, signing bonuses and other incentives. A driver for a big supermarket can make up to 50,000 pounds ($68,000) a year, more than many teachers, police officers or even lawyers.
"It's absolutely a drivers' market right now," Bolton said. "They know they're in demand. And it's sort of turned into a bit of a bidding auction for lorry drivers at the moment -- which is great because it's been a long time coming."
Cadhene Lubin-Hewitt, a London bus driver preparing to take his truck-driving test, started thinking about making the move when he got laid off last year because of the pandemic. News of the truck driver shortage convinced him he is doing the right thing.
The 32-year-old hopes to work for a big supermarket or delivery company, and says he doesn't worry about the loneliness, or the stress. He finds long-distance driving relaxing, "like going to a spa."
"I wouldn't find it boring at all," he said. "I'd just blast (the music) higher, and go down the road smiling and singing."
The B.C. government is moving to have drug use banned in 'all public spaces,' marking a major shift in the province's approach to decriminalization.
The Canadian Transportation Agency has hit a record high of more than 71,000 complaints in a backlog. The quasi-judicial regulator and tribunal tasked with settling disputes between customers and the airlines says the backlog is growing because the number of incoming complaints keeps increasing.
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
An American Airlines flight attendant was indicted Thursday after authorities said he tried to secretly record video of a 14-year-old girl using an airplane bathroom last September.
Philadelphia 76ers All-Star centre Joel Embiid has been diagnosed with Bell’s palsy, a form of facial paralysis he says has affected him since before the play-in tournament.
After the Assembly of First Nations' national chief complained to Air Canada about how staffers treated her and her ceremonial headdress on a flight this week, she says the airline responded by offering a 15 per cent discount on her next flight.
Donald Trump's defence team attacked the credibility Friday of the prosecution's first witness in his hush money case, seeking to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and a tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican's 2016 presidential campaign.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.