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.
Deshaun Watson's shaky performance wasn't his biggest problem. Blame a two-year layoff for Watson being rusty.
His refusal to express remorse for alleged behaviour that led to an 11-game suspension is more difficult to explain.
Watson made it clear earlier in the week he had no interest in discussing accusations by more than two dozen women of sexual harassment and assault during massage sessions. He has settled 23 civil lawsuits brought by the women, while two others, including one filed in October, are pending.
After playing his first game in 700 days against his former team in the stadium where he became a three-time Pro Bowl quarterback, Watson still wasn't interested in talking about it.
"Like I said before, that's something that legal and clinical have answered before, and they don't want me to address anything like that," Watson said, sticking to his script.
He even attributed boos to being on the visiting team instead of his actions toward women that were labeled "egregious" and "predatory" by an independent arbiter who gave him a six-game ban that the NFL appealed and increased.
"They're supposed to boo. I'm a Cleveland Brown now, and we're on the road. So, they're supposed to do that," Watson said after the Browns beat the Houston Texans 27-14 on Sunday.
Watson had plenty of supporters among the small crowd. He signed autographs for fans wearing his old Texans jersey and his new Browns jersey. He took selfies with a few others. Even former teammate Laremy Tunsil got a signed jersey from Watson.
"That's my guy," said Tunsil, Houston's two-time Pro Bowl offensive lineman. "I came in here in 2019 with him. He helped me out a lot. He helped me out with my career. It was good to see a brother. That's how I look at him, as a brother. It's good to see him back in football because it's been two years."
Watson's new teammates are also thrilled to have him on the field.
"Ever since Deshaun got in the building, he's been a tremendous leader," linebacker Tony Fields said.
Watson finished 12-of-22 passing for 131 yards and one interception, posting the worst passer rating of his NFL career at 53.4.
"We're not going to hold him to a crazy standard and expect him to be superman out there," Browns star defensive end Myles Garrett said. "He hasn't played in two years. We know the kind of football player he's been in the past and what he's like. We've seen him on the practice field doing things athletically and through the air that few players can match.
"We're not going to hold him to that kind of standard. We're going to keep on playing complementary football. We're going to keep on playing as a team. He's going to eventually get his rhythm, get his feet underneath him and be able to play like he has in the past."
The 27-year-old Watson developed into one of the NFL's best QBs in his first four seasons in Houston. He led the league with 4,823 yards passing in 2020 and entered this season with a 104.5 career rating.
His talent is obvious. That's why the Browns and several teams pursued Watson after two grand juries in Texas declined to indict him over allegations of sexual harassment and assault. The Browns persuaded him to waive his no-trade clause with a fully guaranteed US$230 million contract, and then traded several draft picks to get him.
It may take a while for Watson to regain his old form, but there's little doubt he'll be a star player again.
It's uncertain whether he'll ever take accountability for his misconduct.
"I did everything that I was asked and was required to do," Watson said. "I did all that, and I was able to be able to play and be on the field today."
In his mind, it seems Watson has done enough.
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.
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.
Almost a week after all London Drugs stores across Western Canada abruptly closed amid a cyberattack, they began a "gradual reopening" on Saturday.
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.
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.
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.