B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
Despite experts calling on Canadians to upgrade their masks to curb the airborne spread of COVID-19, Canada Post employees who showed up to work wearing an N95 mask were being told to switch to company-issued masks or risk being sent home.
Now, the postal service says it would be seeking clarification from the federal government on mask guidance.
"Our approach has evolved over the last two years as their guidance has evolved. This includes our workplace mask requirements," Canada Post spokesperson Jon Hamilton told CTVNews.ca in an email statement on Thursday.
"We are now working with federal authorities to seek clarification and understand their recent guidance so that we can continue to ensure we are doing everything possible to keep our employees safe."
Postal workers had been required to wear a face covering provided by Canada Post -- either a reusable cloth face covering or a disposable medical mask. Employees were told they'd be sent home without pay if they came to work with their own mask, even if the mask was of higher quality than the ones provided by their employer.
Canada Post previously told CTVNews.ca that this was necessary under the rules set out by Employment and Social Development Canada. However, the office of the federal minister of labour told CTVNews.ca that there’s nothing in the Canada Labour Code or federal occupational health and safety regulations that prevents workers from wearing higher-quality face coverings.
The postal service's mask policy also prompted criticism from the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, which has asked Canada Post to provide N95 masks, or at the very least allow employees to wear their own.
Canada Post says that it has "strictly adhered" to the advice of health experts throughout the pandemic.
"We understood from the start that they were the experts, not us, and therefore following their lead was crucial to keeping our people safe," Canada Post said.
With files from CTVNews.ca's Ben Cousins and Sonja Puzic.
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
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.
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
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.
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
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.