phmacao com AP Business SummaryBrief at 6:23 p.m. ESTCLEVELAND (AP) — Only the Cleveland Browns. Only a team beset by perpetual problems at quarterback for the better part of two decades can get a record-setting 497-yard, four-touchdown, jaw-dropping, where-did-that-come-from performance on Monday night from Jameis Winston — and still lose. History wrapped in misery. Only the Browns. Winston spoiled a high-level performance in Denver's thin air by throwing a pair of pick-sixes — the second with 1:48 remaining — as the Broncos rode big plays to a 41-32 win over the Browns (3-9), who have to wonder what their disappointing season might look like if Deshaun Watson had been benched before getting hurt. The loss ended any illusions the Browns had of making a late playoff push like they did a year ago. It also clinched the team's 22nd losing season since its expansion rebirth in 1999. In his fifth start this season, Winston provided further evidence that the Browns made a major mistake by not switching QBs long before Watson ruptured his Achilles tendon on Oct. 20 against Cincinnati. Cleveland's offense has come alive behind Winston, who has thrown for over 300 yards three times, something Watson didn't do in 19 starts over his three suspension-shortened, injury-riddled seasons with the Browns. While there were some positives, Winston's turnovers were too costly. "You’re not going to play perfect at the quarterback position. He knows that," coach Kevin Stefanski said Tuesday on a Zoom call. “I know that ultimately he wants to do anything in his power to help this team win and that’s going to be taking care of the ball. But he also had moments there where he was moving that offense and did a nice job.” Winston may not be the long-term answer for the Browns, but he's showing he can at least give them a viable option for 2025 while the club sorts through the tangled Watson situation, which continues to have a stranglehold on the franchise. In all likelihood, and assuming he's fully recovered, Watson will be back next season in some capacity with the Browns, who are still on the hook to pay him $92 million — of his fully guaranteed $230 million contract — over the next two seasons. Releasing Watson would have damaging salary-cap implications, and while that would be a bitter financial pill for owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam to swallow, it could the Browns' safest and easiest exit strategy. And if they needed any proof that such a strategy can work, the Browns only had to look across the field at the Broncos, who got out from under QB Russell Wilson's monster contract by cutting him, taking the financial hit and drafting Bo Nix. After some common early growing pains, Nix has settled in and the rookie has the Broncos in the mix for a postseason berth. It wasn't long ago that the Browns thought their quarterback concerns were behind them. Instead, they lie ahead. Stefanski's decision to hand over the play-calling duties to first-year coordinator Ken Dorsey has been a positive. While the move hasn't led directly to many wins, the Browns have moved the ball much more effectively and scored at least 20 points in three of five games since the switch after not scoring 20 in their first eight. An issue all season, Cleveland's defense was again gashed for long plays and TDs, including a 93-yard scoring pass in the third quarter. The Browns have allowed 48 plays of 20-plus yards and 12 of at least 40 yards. WR Jerry Jeudy. His return to Denver was a personal and professional triumph — except on the scoreboard. Vowing revenge on the Broncos, who traded him to the Browns in March, Jeudy had the best game of his career, catching nine passes for 235 yards and a TD. Since Winston took over as Cleveland's starter, Jeudy leads the league with 614 yards receiving. Jeudy just might be the No. 1 receiver the Browns have needed following Amari Cooper's trade. Jordan Hicks gets an honorable mention after recording 12 tackles. K Dustin Hopkins. He missed a 47-yard field goal to end Cleveland's first drive, setting the tone for a night of missed opportunities. After making 33 of 36 field goal tries in his first season with the Browns, Hopkins is just 16 of 23, with his inaccuracy raising questions why the team signed him to a three-year, $15.9 million contract in July. Stefanski had no updates from the game. ... LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah remains sidelined with a neck injury suffered on Nov. 2. Stefanski ruled him out again for Sunday's game at Pittsburgh. 552 — Yards of total offense for the Browns, just 10 shy of the single-game franchise record set in 1989. A short turnaround before visiting the Steelers (9-3), who will be looking to avenge their 24-19 loss in Cleveland on Nov. 21. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nflAtlético 5-0 Valladolid (Nov 30, 2024) Game Analysis - ESPN

Canada's Trudeau returns home after Trump meeting without assurances that tariffs are off the table

"Too many of our people worship a false ideal, and that ideal is called Zionism. It takes our biblical story and turns it into colonialism and genocide. From the start, Zionism has violated human freedom and killed Palestinian children," accuses Naomi Klein, the Canadian activist and author. "October 7 was an act of military resistance. It is neither terrorism nor antisemitism – it was an attack on Israelis," claims prominent American philosopher and gender theorist Judith Butler. Though long associated with feminist values, Butler questioned reports of sexual assaults and rapes during the October attack in Israel, stating: "We want to see proof that these events occurred. It’s not a crime to demand evidence of rape and assault." "The military operation in Gaza goes far beyond self-defense. It enters the realm of collective punishment," analyzes Dr. Norman Finkelstein, a political scientist and outspoken critic of Israel. Finkelstein, who has previously referred to Gaza as a "concentration camp," described the October 7 events as "heroic." What ties these harsh criticisms together is their source: They all come from Jews. These individuals, often labeled "self-hating Jews" or "antisemitic Jews," belong to a phenomenon that has accompanied the Jewish people for generations, reappearing at critical junctions in history. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, anti-Zionist Jews have not hesitated to attack it, questioning the concept of Jewish self-determination and even the legitimacy of Israel's founding. Roots of Anti-Zionist Jewish criticism How can one explain the phenomenon of Jews opposing the legitimacy of Israel? Professor Maoz Azaryahu of the University of Haifa, head of the Herzl Institute for the Study of Zionism, explains: "What we’re seeing now, after the October 7 attack, is the same narrative dominating the global radical left for years – anti-Zionism on steroids. It aligns perfectly with old Catholic ideology, which is why it resonates strongly in countries like Spain and Ireland. Today, anti-Zionism is a socially acceptable stance among educated circles and global academia. From their perspective, Zionism is a moral injustice that should be eradicated." ( Naomi Klein denounces 'false Zionism' ) Azaryahu continues: "When Jews openly and vehemently oppose Zionism, it’s a sign of an antisemitic climate. These are Jews who feel the need to say, ‘We are not them – they are the bad Jews; we are the good ones.’" Why has Zionism become such a global obsession? "I think their obsession with Israel stems from the country’s success," Azaryahu posits. "Israel is one of the last nation-states to emerge, and the radical left is inherently against the idea of the nation-state. According to their thesis, Israel was ‘born in sin.’ That’s their entire story: the sin is the Nakba, and what is born in sin must be erased. In their eyes, there was a Palestinian people here, and suddenly imperialist nations and Jewish-Zionist colonialism collaborated to dispossess the Palestinian Arab people, leading to the establishment of Israel. That’s their narrative." Even if historical events occurred as they claim, what do they expect to happen now, in 2024? What, in their view, could 'correct' this so-called sin? "They want a state of all its citizens, something akin to Syria or Lebanon. Then October 7 comes along, delivering a massive slap in the face, as they see the reality of their ‘dream.’ October 7 proves that their solution – a state where everyone coexists peacefully without a Jewish or Zionist identity – cannot materialize. Perhaps that’s their greatest fear because they’ve received a stark reflection of what would happen here without borders or an IDF. The anti-Zionists have built an 80-story tower of arguments against Israel, but the problem is their theories lack a ground floor. That’s why October 7 is so horrifying for them, and why they try to downplay or deny parts of the attack, shifting the focus to Israel’s response." Naomi Klein and the politics of memory One of the most prominent Jewish voices against Israel is Naomi Klein, a Canadian journalist and author well-known in radical leftist circles. In a recent article in The Guardian, Klein argued that Israel’s "commemoration industry" surrounding the events of October 7 is an attempt to weaponize trauma to justify its actions in Gaza. ( 'October 7 was uprising': Judith Butler ) "To understand her argument, you first need to understand where Klein is coming from," explains Azaryahu. "She belongs to a school of thought that divides the world into two categories: victims and aggressors. The intellectual battle is over who qualifies as the victim, as the victim is seen as the moral victor. In their worldview, Jews in Israel are not allowed to claim victimhood. When we assert that we were the target of a brutal attack, she accuses us of deception because, in her view, we are inherently the aggressors – ‘white colonialists.’ We’re playing a role that, according to her, doesn’t belong to us. Essentially, she’s ordering us: ‘Don’t touch my victims, the Gazans.’" Klein goes further, claiming that Israel’s memorial efforts – such as ceremonies, monuments, songs, tours of affected areas, and exhibitions like the Nova music festival memorial – are merely tactics to shock the public and legitimize Israel's military response. As a scholar of commemoration, Azaryahu sees this as Klein’s attempt to protect her constructed narrative of victimhood. "What she’s saying is that to preserve her victims' narrative, she must deny what happened on October 7. This borders on Holocaust denial. ‘Don’t recount what happened because it detracts attention from the real victims.’" A culture of commemoration Israelis engage in extensive and diverse forms of commemoration, according to Azaryahu. "Commemoration is part of Israel’s cultural DNA," the professor explains. "It’s a deeply ingrained sense of obligation to memory that transcends politics or the current conflict in Gaza. This commitment to remembrance dates back to 1945, immediately after the Holocaust, when Jewish communities sought to document the world that was destroyed and the crimes committed. 1 View gallery Norman Finkelstein ( Photo: A Katz / Shutterstock.com ) "It’s intrinsic to Israeli culture and has nothing to do with Klein’s political critiques. Who is Naomi Klein to dictate to families and communities how they should remember and mourn? Political arguments against the state are one thing, but she has no right to interfere with communal or familial remembrance." Technological advancements have also influenced modern commemoration practices. "In the past, during the Holocaust or the Yom Kippur War, there was no TikTok or WhatsApp. Today, we have tools that allow for one-to-one documentation, creating vivid memorials. These aren’t politically motivated but arise organically from people’s desire to remember and show exactly what happened." Get the Ynetnews app on your smartphone: Google Play : https://bit.ly/4eJ37pE | Apple App Store : https://bit.ly/3ZL7iNv Israel indeed leads the world in commemoration efforts, with more memorials per capita and per square kilometer than any other country. "It’s part of our cultural tradition, perhaps because we are an ancient people with a long memory. The detailed documentation of every incident from October 7 may also stem from a need to counter denial narratives, a lesson learned from Holocaust denial efforts." Jewish schism over Zionism In Israel and the broader Jewish world, many are grappling with the question of why some Jews so aggressively oppose the Jewish state. For Azaryahu, "Jews who publicly and vehemently oppose Zionism are often responding to antisemitic pressures. They feel the need to declare, ‘We aren’t like them – the bad Jews. We’re the good ones.’ Today, the barriers against antisemitism have collapsed, and some Jews feel compelled to align themselves with what they see as the ‘just side.’" Israeli response to such critics often points to a harsh reality: When antisemites come for the Jews, they won’t differentiate between "good" and "bad" Jews. Azaryahu recalls a debate he once had with a Jewish woman from England: "She was criticizing me over various things Israel does. I finally told her, ‘Don’t worry – if things get bad and they come for you in England, you’ll always have a place here under the Law of Return.’ You should’ve seen her face – it was priceless," he laughs. >

The Pendleton Round-Up Association announced its 2025 Round-Up Queen and Court on Nov. 30, 2024. Sydney Dodge, 20, of Pendleton, has been crowned the new queen. Alexis Bowen, 20, of Pendleton, in one of the princesses of the 2025 Pendleton Round-Up Court. Rowdy Israel, 18, of Canyon City, joins the 2025 Pendleton Round-Up Court as a princess. Myranda Spicknall, 19, of Pendleton, is one of the four princesses on the 2025 Pendleton Round-Up Court. Lexi Thompson, 19, of Adams, is a princess of the 2025 Pendleton Round-Up Court. The Pendleton Round-Up Association announced its 2025 Round-Up Queen and Court on Nov. 30, 2024. Sydney Dodge, 20, of Pendleton, has been crowned the new queen. Alexis Bowen, 20, of Pendleton, in one of the princesses of the 2025 Pendleton Round-Up Court. Rowdy Israel, 18, of Canyon City, joins the 2025 Pendleton Round-Up Court as a princess. Myranda Spicknall, 19, of Pendleton, is one of the four princesses on the 2025 Pendleton Round-Up Court. Lexi Thompson, 19, of Adams, is a princess of the 2025 Pendleton Round-Up Court. PENDLETON — Sydney Dodge, of Pendleton, leads the 2025 Pendleton Round-Up Court. The Pendleton Round-Up Association on Saturday, Nov. 30, announced Dodge, 20, is the new queen, and four more young women are the new princesses of the court: Alexis Bowen, 20; Rowdy Israel, 18; Myranda Spicknall, 19; and Lexi Thompson, 19. All five hail from Northeastern Oregon and have been involved in the Round-Up throughout for years, according to the announcement. They will represent the Round-Up during the next 10 months before the event occurs Sept. 10-13, 2025. Meet the queen Dodge grew up in Pendleton and is a Pendleton High School graduate of the Class of 2022, earning highest honors. She received her associate’s degree from Blue Mountain Community College in Pendleton and now attends Eastern Oregon University in La Grande where she is working toward a bachelor's of science degree in agriculture entrepreneurship. While a full-time student, Dodge works at GT Land and Cattle in the embryo facility and assists with weekly pregnancy checks. Dodge was active in Future Farmers of America as a high schooler, holding two Blue Mountain District officer positions while competing in several categorizes, including public speaking, parliamentary procedure and beef production proficiency. She earned greenhand, chapter and state FFA degrees. She also was inducted into the National Honors Society, where she participated in community volunteerism and meetings. The incoming Round-Up queen started riding horses when she was 4 years old. She was a part of the Oregon High School Equestrian Team, where she qualified for state in several disciplines and won rookie of the year as a freshman. She was an active 4-H member for nine years, showing beef cattle and quarter horses, holding champion titles while competing at Oregon Reined Cow Horse Association shows. She also has spent a lot of time showing, breeding and raising cattle from her and her mother’s registered Angus cow herd. She has shown at National Junior Angus shows, the National Western Stock Show and other breed and jackpot shows. According to the announcement, Dodge said the experiences taught her dedication and grit. Dodge also assisted with her family’s farming, cattle and logging operations. She attended her first Round-Up at 17 months old and hasn’t missed a performance since. She has volunteered for the Pendleton Round-Up and Happy Canyon Night Show since she was 8 as a pennant bearer. As a volunteer she helped in a number of other areas, including working livestock, cleaning up grounds and acting as a prairie girl in the Happy Canyon Night Show. Her family has donated trucking and shavings to the Pendleton Round-Up and Happy Canyon for years. According to the announcement, she believes her involvement in as many activities as possible developed her leadership abilities and created valuable connections. Dodge also expressed gratitude to be chosen to represent the 115th Pendleton Round-Up and can’t wait to share the joy and excitement of this historic rodeo. She wholeheartedly believes in the community, directors, court members and volunteers who all put in the time and hard work to make the Pendleton Round-Up happen and is excited to give back to the community that has done so much for her. According to the press release, as previous courts have inspired Dodge, she hopes to inspire little girls to dream big and give 110% in all that they do. Princess Alexis Bowen Bowen, 20, was born and raised in Pendleton, graduating from PHS in 2022. She is the daughter of Nicki and Howard Bowen. Bowen in high school was on the varsity swim team, National Honors Society and the FFA chapter. She earned her greenhand, chapter, state and American degrees along with being a Pendleton FFA officer for two years. During FFA she engaged in competitions along with showing sheep, something that she had done since she was 5 years old. Bowen is attending Walla Walla Community College to obtain her bachelor’s degree in animal science and hopes to move on to Eastern Oregon University to finish her goal of becoming a FFA advisor. She has spent hundreds of hours as a volunteer in the Pendleton community. As a youngster she began volunteering at the Round-Up, selling programs or helping Altrusa. In eighth grade she began volunteering in the souvenir booth with her FFA chapter then continued beyond high school as an alum. Her love for horses goes back to when her uncle would take her to the Round-Up and let her pet every horse she saw. As she got older, she would riding whenever offered and made it her goal to be one of the Pendleton Round-Up Court princesses. After attending the Round-Up every year since she was 2 months old, she realized her dreams could become reality once she began riding every day. Her favorite part of the rodeo is watching the wild cow milking, the event she believes is the most underrated. Princess Rowdy Israel Israel, of Canyon City, is the 18-year-old daughter of Nicole Israel and Ronnie Taynton and 2024 graduate of Acellus Academy through Unity High School. While attending high school, Israel was active in volleyball, basketball and student council. She was highly active in FFA, becoming the chapter vice-president and then president, along with earning her chapter and greenhand degrees. Israel competed in breakaway roping in the Oregon High School Rodeo Association. She also was the Oregon High School rodeo queen for two consecutive years, competing at the National High School Rodeo Finals in 2023, finishing top 20 in the Queen Contest. She has been representing rodeo and the Western way of life since she was 5 years old. Her first title was Lil Miss Grant County Fair & Rodeo Queen, then in 2017 she was a Little Miss Northwest Professional Rodeo Association Queen. In 2019 she represented the state of Oregon as Junior Miss Rodeo Oregon. Israel went on to become the 75th Elgin Stampede Rodeo Queen, the 2024 Spray Rodeo Queen and now living her biggest dream, to be a princess on the Pendleton Round-Up Court. Israel is studying business administration online at Linn Benton Community College. She is the owner/operator of Rowdy’s Teeth Whitening Services. She also plans to attend cosmetology school. Her love for the Pendleton Round-Up started after attending the rodeo at an early age with her mom. In 2017 after participating in her first of many Westward Ho! parades and royalty luncheons, Israel knew her goal was to be able to jump the rail and represent the greatest show on grass, the Pendleton Round-Up. Princess Myranda Spicknall Spicknall, 19, grew up in Pendleton, where she graduated from Pendleton High School in 2024. She is the daughter of Tom and Rachelle Spicknall. She began riding horses at the age of 2 years old and began competing in rodeo at the age of 8. She competed in rodeo for four years in high school, where she competed in barrel racing, pole bending and breakaway roping in 2021 and 2024 in the Silver State International Rodeo. Spicknall also competed in the Cayuse Junior Rodeo, Western States Junior Rodeo, Milton-Freewater Pioneer Posse, Mustangers and local barrel racing events. She also has given riding lessons to children. Her involvement with the Pendleton Round-Up began at the age of 8 as an usher, eventually transitioning as a volunteer to the Pendleton Round-Up retail store. She has participated in the Pendleton Round-Up Westward Ho! Parade and the Dress-Up Parade as a pennant bearer. Spicknall is attending her first year at Blue Mountain Community College, where she is studying for a career in the field of diagnostic imaging. Princess Lexi Thompson Thompson, 19, of Adams, graduated in 2023 from Weston-McEwen High School. She is the daughter of Vic and Heidi Thompson. Thompson participated in high school rodeo, FFA, earning her greenhand, chapter and state degrees, along with competing in rodeos and barrels races. Ever since she can remember, she has been on the back of a horse working on her family's ranch and helping her aunt, Katie Thompson, with her cows when needed. Thompson is working as a dental assistant for Dr. Durk Irwin. Next year, she plans to go on to Carrington College in Boise to pursue her degree in dental hygiene. Generations of Thompson's family has volunteered for the Round-Up, and she looks forward to taking on the legacy of helping the rodeo go on. She has volunteered during the rodeo, helping run the stripping chute, run stock out of the arena and usher in the queen and court for the Grand Entry. She also has participated in the Happy Canyon quadrille.

The world stands at the dawn of a “third nuclear age” in which Britain is threatened by multiple dilemmas, the head of the armed forces has warned. But alongside his stark warning of the threats facing Britain and its allies, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said there would be only a “remote chance” Russia would directly attack or invade the UK if the two countries were at war. The Chief of the Defence Staff laid out the landscape of British defence in a wide-ranging speech, after a minister warned the Army would be wiped out in as little as six months if forced to fight a war on the scale of the Ukraine conflict. The admiral cast doubt on the possibility as he gave a speech at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) defence think tank in London. He told the audience Britain needed to be “clear-eyed in our assessment” of the threats it faces, adding: “That includes recognising that there is only a remote chance of a significant direct attack or invasion by Russia on the United Kingdom, and that’s the same for the whole of Nato.” Moscow “knows the response will be overwhelming”, he added, but warned the nuclear deterrent needed to be “kept strong and strengthened”. Sir Tony added: “We are at the dawn of a third nuclear age, which is altogether more complex. It is defined by multiple and concurrent dilemmas, proliferating nuclear and disruptive technologies and the almost total absence of the security architectures that went before.” He listed the “wild threats of tactical nuclear use” by Russia, China building up its weapon stocks, Iran’s failure to co-operate with a nuclear deal, and North Korea’s “erratic behaviour” among the threats faced by the West. But Sir Tony said the UK’s nuclear arsenal is “the one part of our inventory of which Russia is most aware and has more impact on (President Vladimir) Putin than anything else”. Successive British governments had invested “substantial sums of money” in renewing nuclear submarines and warheads because of this, he added. The admiral described the deployment of thousands of North Korean soldiers on Ukraine’s border alongside Russian forces as the year’s “most extraordinary development”. He also signalled further deployments were possible, speaking of “tens of thousands more to follow as part of a new security pact with Russia”. Defence minister Alistair Carns earlier said a rate of casualties similar to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would lead to the army being “expended” within six to 12 months. He said it illustrated the need to “generate depth and mass rapidly in the event of a crisis”. In comments reported by Sky News, Mr Carns, a former Royal Marines colonel, said Russia was suffering losses of around 1,500 soldiers killed or injured a day. “In a war of scale – not a limited intervention, but one similar to Ukraine – our Army for example, on the current casualty rates, would be expended – as part of a broader multinational coalition – in six months to a year,” Mr Carns said in a speech at Rusi. He added: “That doesn’t mean we need a bigger Army, but it does mean you need to generate depth and mass rapidly in the event of a crisis.” Official figures show the Army had 109,245 personnel on October 1, including 25,814 volunteer reservists. Mr Carns, the minister for veterans and people, said the UK needed to “catch up with Nato allies” to place greater emphasis on the reserves. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said Defence Secretary John Healey had previously spoken about “the state of the armed forces that were inherited from the previous government”. The spokesman said: “It’s why the Budget invested billions of pounds into defence, it’s why we’re undertaking a strategic defence review to ensure that we have the capabilities and the investment needed to defend this country.”Adewale 0-2 0-0 0, Klaczek 0-5 4-4 4, Briggs 4-9 6-6 17, Marshall 3-7 9-10 17, Strand 1-4 2-2 5, Neely 6-14 0-0 12, Matulu 1-1 0-0 2, Lindsey 4-5 0-0 8, Taylor 1-4 0-0 3, Adnan 0-2 0-0 0, Reddish 0-1 0-0 0, Topuz 0-2 0-0 0, Giralt 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 20-56 21-24 68. Fielder 3-6 3-3 10, Sorber 6-9 1-1 14, Epps 4-7 0-0 8, Mack 6-8 1-1 16, Peavy 9-14 3-3 24, Burks 5-6 0-0 11, Mulready 1-3 0-0 2, Ca.Williams 4-6 1-1 9, Cu.Williams 2-3 0-0 4, McKenna 1-1 0-0 2, Montgomery 0-1 0-0 0, Asadallah 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 41-65 9-9 100. Halftime_Georgetown 49-35. 3-Point Goals_Albany (NY) 7-22 (Briggs 3-5, Marshall 2-3, Strand 1-3, Taylor 1-3, Adnan 0-1, Reddish 0-1, Topuz 0-1, Klaczek 0-2, Neely 0-3), Georgetown 9-22 (Mack 3-4, Peavy 3-6, Burks 1-2, Fielder 1-2, Sorber 1-2, Montgomery 0-1, Cu.Williams 0-1, Epps 0-2, Mulready 0-2). Rebounds_Albany (NY) 21 (Neely 5), Georgetown 33 (Sorber 13). Assists_Albany (NY) 6 (Marshall, Neely 2), Georgetown 26 (Peavy 8). Total Fouls_Albany (NY) 14, Georgetown 17.

Bharti Airtel signs multi-year, multi-billion deal with..... for 4G, 5G network expansionAs a strike by 55,000 Canada Post workers stretches closer to its third week Wednesday, federal labour minister Steven MacKinnon blasted both union and management for showing disrespect to Canadians who count on the postal service. Speaking to reporters on Parliament Hill, MacKinnon said the two sides are still “very far apart.” “That is in my view ... highly disrespectful of Canadians who are suffering from this work stoppage,” said MacKinnon, pointing to small businesses and people living in remote, rural communities as those most affected. “These parties have to knuckle down and get the work done. As I’ve explained before, these are negotiations that have to be concluded between the parties. They rest on fundamental issues that separate these two parties.” In a written statement, Canada Post said it was still hoping to reach a negotiated settlement with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, who have been walking the picket line since Nov. 15. “We hope to return to the table soon so we can reignite the discussions and, together with the support of mediators, work toward final agreements,” Canada Post said. “We understand the impact CUPW’s national strike is having on our employees and so many Canadians. Canada Post remains committed to negotiating new collective agreements that will provide our employees and customers with the certainty they are looking for. While MacKinnon urged the two sides to get back to the negotiating table, labour experts say that the longer the dispute goes on, the more likely it becomes that the federal government will intervene. That could come in the form of either back-to-work legislation or by invoking Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code and asking the Canada Industrial Relations Board to order binding arbitration. “The closer we get to the holiday season, the greater the likelihood they’ll intervene,” said Larry Savage, a labour studies professor at Brock University. MacKinnon’s decision to invoke Section 107 to end a lockout of rail workers earlier this year means his pleas for a negotiated settlement of the Canada Post strike should be taken with a grain of salt, Savage said. “I think the minister’s been laying the groundwork to use section 107, while the whole time, saying he isn’t,” said Savage. “Why would anyone believe him?” The government is treading a fine political line between alienating organized labour or upsetting businesses and consumers heading into the holiday season as it deals with the strike, said Savage. “The government’s caught between a rock and a hard place,” said Savage. “If they intervene, they’ll be accused of interfering with workers’ charter rights. If they wait much longer, their popularity will sink even lower, which is the last thing they need heading into an election year.” That raw political calculus is even more vital than it otherwise would be because the minority federal Liberals are being propped up by the NDP, Savage said. While MacKinnon is publicly urging the two sides to work out a deal at the negotiating table, he’s also laying the groundwork for either back-to-work legislation or invoking Section 107, said Stephanie Ross, a labour studies professor at McMaster University. “I get the sense that the minister is trying to do what he can to get a deal at the table, but also thinking about the case they’d have to make to the court,” said Ross. The length of time the strike has gone on — as well as calling the two sides into a closed-door meeting earlier this week — both provide legal ammunition in the event the government intervenes, said Ross. “They really have to show enough time has passed that they’ve made every effort ... that there’s a true impasse,” Ross said. If there’s no deal within the next week or so, said Ross, the government will likely intervene, even if it doesn’t really want to. “I think the pressure is mounting in terms of the Christmas holidays,” said Ross. “It wouldn’t be surprised if we saw the minister invoke section 107 within the next week and a half.”RAINN Named Winner of 2024-2025 Amazon Web Services IMAGINE Grant for Nonprofits