Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
Uber's Canadian ride-hailing and food-delivery business will shift from being based in the Netherlands to Canada -- a change that will affect its tax bill.
The San Francisco, Calif. tech giant said the shift in its Canadian operations will come into effect on July 1 and will require Uber to collect sales tax that will be remitted to the government.
The company said the shift will result in no new fees for most restaurants, drivers or couriers, but current fees will be subject to GST, PST and HST and those using its Eats Pass subscription program might also see a sales tax introduced.
The change will allow restaurants, drivers and couriers to claim tax credits and will require them and other users of Uber's apps to sign new agreements with Uber's new Canadian entities.
The company said it has been considering and working toward shifting its Canadian operations from the Netherlands since 2018, and has already made similar moves in the regions of Australia-New Zealand and Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Uber began considering the move after Ontario Uber Eats driver David Heller filed a class-action lawsuit against the company in 2017.
Heller was hoping to get Uber to recognize drivers as employees and provide them with a minimum wage, vacation pay and other protections under the Employment Standards Act.
Uber fought the case and obtained a stay because it had a contract clause requiring all disputes go through mediation in the Netherlands, where it was incorporated.
The case made its way to the Supreme Court of Canada, which sided with the drivers in 2020 and paved the way for the class action lawsuit to seek certification.
Uber eventually amended its dispute resolution protocols to allow arbitration to occur in the province or territory where a driver resides, but Samfiru Tumarkin LLP employment lawyer Samara Belitzky said Uber's new agreements still have some legal clauses that may trip up unsuspecting drivers.
Belitzky, who is part of the Samfiru Tumarkin LLP firm pursing the class action, said the new contract drivers are being sent asks them to agree not to pursue class or collective action against Uber -- a clause that was in their previous agreement too.
Uber wants drivers to agree to settle their issues through arbitration or on an individual basis instead, but offers instructions on how to opt out of that clause, Belitzky said.
"The opt out information is right at the end...and it's in a lot of legalese, so most Uber drivers, they don't even see it," said Belitzky.
"They don't realize that their rights are being impacted."
She recommends anyone being asked to sign the new agreement read it carefully.
The company, which began alerting its users to the changes on Wednesday, is also hosting support lines and tax resources for anyone with questions.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 24, 2021.
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
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.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.