Work stoppage possible as WestJet issues lockout notice to maintenance engineers' union
A lockout notice issued by WestJet to a union representing aircraft maintenance engineers could result in a work stoppage next week.
All fully vaccinated players and staff can stop wearing masks in dugouts, bullpens and clubhouses under the latest change to Major League Baseball's coronavirus protocols.
In addition, fully vaccinated players and staff may eat in restaurants without restrictions and attend sporting events as spectators at venues with government approved safety protocols, the commissioner's office and players' association said in a memo sent Wednesday night.
Kinexon electronic tracing devices and monitor testing are being eliminated, and compliance officers no longer have to accompany teams on trips.
Social distancing and mask requirements have been eliminated for team busses involving fully vaccinated players and staff, and players and staff can resume arriving at clubhouses more than five hours before game time.
Unvaccinated and partially vaccinated players and staff still must wear masks but it will not be considered a violation to remove or pull down the mask to briefly eat or drink, before entering or leaving a shower or at the direction of the medical or training staff.
Clubhouse social distancing was eliminated for all teams reaching 85% vaccination among tier 1 individuals such as players, managers, coaches and training staff. As of last Friday, 22 of the 30 teams had reached 85% among tier 1 individuals.
Restrictions on team individuals dining together also were eliminated, with the exception that non-vaccinated individuals must still wear masks when not eating or drinking.
Fully vaccinated players and staff also can resume commercial travel without PCR intake testing when they rejoin the team, unless they show COVID-19 symptoms or are known to have been exposed. Unvaccinated or partially vaccinated family may stay with fully vaccinated players and staff on the road, and players and staff can use hotel pools and fitness centers, with provisions that masks are required in fitness centers if they are open to the public and that physical distancing is required in pools.
The five-day quarantine was eliminated for free agents and players selected to a team's 40-man roster who were not in the COVID testing program previously.
The Seattle Mariners said Thursday they will return to 100% capacity at T-Mobile Park on July 2, the 29th of the 30 teams to return to full capacity.
Only Texas began this season at 100% after fans weren't permitted during the shortened 2020 regular season because of the coronavirus.
Others announcing the move to full capacity in-season have been Atlanta (May 7), Arizona (May 25), Boston (May 29), Kansas City (May 31), Baltimore (June 1), Cincinnati and Cleveland (June 2). Philadelphia (June 4), Detroit (June 8), the Chicago Cubs and Washington (June 11), Philadelphia (June 12), St. Louis (June 14), the Los Angeles Dodgers (June 16). the Los Angeles Angels and San Diego (June 17), the New York Yankees (June 18), the New York Mets (June 21), the Chicago White Sox, Houston, Milwaukee and San Francisco (June 25), Colorado (June 28), Oakland (June 29), Pittsburgh (July 1) and Minnesota and Tampa Bay (July 5).
Only Toronto will not be back to normal capacity. The Blue Jays have not played in Toronto since 2019 due to Canadian government coronavirus restrictions. They played last season at their Triple-A affiliate's ballpark in Buffalo, New York, going 17-9, then started their season 10-11 at their spring training stadium in Dunedin, Florida, through May 24 before switching back to Buffalo this month. They will play home games in Buffalo through at least July 21.
A lockout notice issued by WestJet to a union representing aircraft maintenance engineers could result in a work stoppage next week.
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
Auston Matthews was back on the ice with his teammates Saturday.
Three bodies recovered in an area of Baja California are likely to be those of the two Australians and an American who went missing last weekend during a camping and surfing trip, the state prosecutor’s office said Saturday.
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
According to an X post by the Transportation Security Administration, officers at the Miami International Airport found the small bag of snakes hidden in a passenger's trousers on April 26 at a checkpoint.
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.