Lots of disruptions for New Brunswickers amid CUPE strike
Saint John's only COVID-19 assessment centre is closed indefinitely due to the ongoing labour dispute, according to the Horizon Health Network.
The facility, located on Ropewalk Road in the city's north end, will be shut down "for the duration of the strike" spokesperson Kris McDavid told CTV News in an email, as cancellations continue throughout the health-care system.
Horizon Health says that all elective and day surgeries have been cancelled, as have therapeutic services, ambulatory care clinics, laboratory services, and diagnostic or medical-imaging exams.
"Many of these patients have waited a long time for this intervention or diagnostic test or surgery – and now they're being told you're going to wait again," says New Brunswick Medical Society president Dr. Mark MacMillan.
"There is that risk of morbidity and worsening of their physical well-being and, of course, their mental health as well."
All visitation is restricted at Horizon Health facilities, and designated support persons are only allowed in "exceptional circumstances" on a case-by-case basis.
Unless you have been notified directly and told otherwise, the health authority says to presume that your appointment has been cancelled.
As well, starting Monday, schools have moved to online learning which will continue until the end of the strike. It's a situation that's causing frustration and difficulties for some parents in New Brunswick.
"My wife works full time, I work full time, I have an eight-year-old and a 13-year-old," says parent Justin Chatterton. "It's pretty difficult to find a babysitter on short notice and to try and facilitate the learning."
For parent Justin Tinker, who has one child in elementary school and another who is three-years-old, he's now had to stay home from work.
"Because of the premier's selfish decision not to sit down and go back to the table with CUPE, I'm forced to take time off," says Tinker, "we're still paying for daycare for our other child but unable to reap the benefits of it."
Meanwhile, the New Brunswick Medical Society is urging both the provincial government and CUPE to return to the negotiating table and work to find a resolution.
CUPE NB PRESIDENT SAYS UNION FEELS PUBLIC SUPPORT
In an interview with CTV Atlantic on Monday evening, CUPE New Brunswick president Stephen Drost said the workers didn't take the decision to go strike lightly, citing a few aggravating factors.
"There's been a lot of trickery or maybe misleading information. Our workers are among the lowest paid or the lowest paid in Canada," Drost said.
It goes beyond wages for the CUPE employees New Brunswick, though.
"They have been without a contract for four or five years," Drost said. "They said they were tired and fed up. The bargaining team had been invited back to the table and then, once the government had walked away for the second or third time in the middle of negotiations, they just said 'you know what we're done.'"
Drost said that in May, CUPE told the province they wanted the contracts to be settled by Labour Day and, if they weren't, they'd be forced to take job action.
He told CTV Atlantic that the workers are confident in their decision.
"First and foremost, the public support has been phenomenal," Drost said. "We've never seen it so high. I received a message today and Facebook's blowing up with the support all of the members that are out on the picket line, it's unbelievable the level of support.The public has our back on this one."
Drost also disputed something New Brunswick Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Dominic Cardy said Monday about the union not providing the government with accurate or up to date and specific information about its strike plans.
"He doesn't have that quite correct," Drost said. "In fact, we had given proper notice and the notice was given the night before that the workers the CUPE workers that are in the school said that they are going to be taking drawbacks."
MARCH TO LEGISLATURE PLANNED FOR TUESDAY
Late Monday night, CUPE issued a release saying striking and locked-out members will march to the legislative assembly of New Brunswick on Tuesday as MLAs return to the legislature.
The marches start at noon from two locations -- and converge at the House of Assembly at 1 p.m.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Loblaw leaders call criticism 'misguided,' say they aren't to blame for high food prices
Loblaw chairman Galen Weston and the company's new CEO are pushing back against critics who blame the grocery giant for soaring food prices, as a month-long boycott of the retailer gets underway.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
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.
'Giant-killer' Kazushi Kimura to race in Kentucky Derby this weekend: 'I'm representing Canada and Japan'
Six years ago, at age 18, Kazushi Kimura left his home and family behind in Hokkaido, Japan to chase a dream. This weekend, he'll ride in the Kentucky Derby.
Quebec premier asks police to dismantle camp at McGill University
Quebec Premier Francois Legault has called on the police to dismantle the pro-Palestinian protest encampment on the lower field of McGill University's downtown campus in Montreal.
Orangutan observed treating wound using medicinal plant in world first
Scientists working in Indonesia have observed an orangutan intentionally treating a wound on their face with a medicinal plant, the first time this behavior has been documented.
TD Bank hit with $9.2M penalty after failing to report suspicious transactions
Canada’s financial-crime watchdog has levied a $9.2-million penalty against The Toronto-Dominion Bank for non-compliance with money laundering and terrorist financing measures as the bank also faces compliance investigations in the U.S.
Doctors concerned about potential spread of bird flu in Canada
H5N1 or avian flu has been detected at dozens of U.S. dairy farms and Canadian experts are urging surveillance on our side of the border too.