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.
UEFA has declined the Munich city council's application to have its stadium illuminated in rainbow colours for Germany's final European Championship group game against Hungary on Wednesday.
The governing body said in a statement Tuesday that it understands the intention behind the proposal but "must decline this request" because of its political context -- "a message aiming at a decision taken by the Hungarian national parliament."
Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter's application on behalf of the council made clear it wanted to protest a law passed by Hungarian lawmakers last week that prohibits sharing with minors any content portraying homosexuality or sex reassignment. The law was denounced as anti-LGBT discrimination by human rights groups.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto blasted the German plan on Monday.
"In Hungary we have passed a law to protect Hungarian children, and now in Western Europe they are griping about it," Szijjarto said in Luxembourg. "They want to express this by including politics in a sporting event, which has nothing to do with the passing of national laws."
UEFA said it believes "that discrimination can only be fought in close collaboration with others" and it proposed that Munich illuminates the stadium with the rainbow colours on June 28 for Christopher Street Day or between July 3-9 for the Christopher Street Day week in the city.
The body said these dates "align better with existing events."
German soccer federation spokesman Jens Grittner had already suggested Monday that it might also be an option to display the colours in the days after Hungary's visit. Munich will host a quarterfinal match at Euro 2020 on July 2.
But the delayed action undermines the Munich's city's planned protest against what it calls "the homophobic and transphobic legislation of the Hungarian government."
Hungary's National Assembly approved the bill against sharing LGBT content with minors in a 157-1 vote last week, when one independent lawmaker voted against it and all other opposition parties boycotted the voting session in protest.
"This legislation represents a new mark in the invisibility and disenfranchisement of lesbians, gays, bisexual, transgender and intersex people (LGBTI) and adds to the systematic restriction of the rule of law and fundamental freedoms that have been practiced for years in Hungary," the Munich council said in its application, which had cross-party support.
UEFA said it understood the council's intention to send a message to promote diversity and inclusion but stressed that it was "a politically and religiously neutral organization."
Michael Roth, Germany's minister for Europe, said UEFA's decision was "bitter, but expected" and he called for fans attending the game to show their colours in the stadium.
"Set an example for diversity and solidarity with LGBTI people in Hungary and all over Europe! LGBTI rights are human rights!" Roth wrote on Twitter.
Bavarian governor Markus Soder also regretted UEFA's decision.
"It would have been a very good sign of tolerance and freedom. We have to stand up against exclusion and discrimination," Soder said in a post on Twitter.
There are plans for other stadiums, where the tournament is not being played, to be illuminated with rainbow colours during Wednesday's game instead.
"If Munich is not allowed on Wednesday, then the other stadiums in the country will have to show their colours. Come now, league colleagues!" Eintracht Frankfurt board spokesman Axel Hellmann said on Twitter.
Cologne confirmed Tuesday morning that its stadium will also show the rainbow colours for the game "on the initiative of various groups from Cologne's society." The Olympic Stadium in Berlin will also display the rainbow colours during the game.
The Berliner Zeitung newspaper reported that the city's senate was also considering illuminating the Brandenburg Gate with the colours.
Berlin Deputy Mayor Ramona Pop accused UEFA of hypocrisy.
"Always happy to be lauded for actions against homophobia and racism, but not allowing a rainbow stadium as a symbol of tolerance and diversity at Euro 2020. What a poor showing, UEFA!" Pop said.
On Sunday, UEFA gave the go-ahead for Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer to continue wearing a captain's armband with the rainbow colours at the tournament.
"What does the rainbow stand for?" German government spokesman Steffen Seibert asked on Monday. "It stands for how we want to live: With respect for each other, without the discrimination that has long excluded minorities. And surely the vast majority of people can relate to that."
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.