5 Atlantic Canadians land spots in Mark Carney's cabinet
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National Post
12 minutes ago
- National Post
For Sale: Used U.S.-Canada border crossing going on auction block
The U.S. government is selling a former border crossing facility in Madawaska, Maine, across the Saint John River from Edmunston, N.B. Article content An online auction for the property starts on Wednesday, Aug. 20. The asking price is US$25,000. Article content Bidding for the old Port of Entry (POE) will increase in $1,000 increments, says the U.S. General Services Administration in a press release about the sale. (The GSA is the U.S. government's shared services arm, managing a real estate portfolio of over 360 million rentable square feet.) Article content While the commercial space listing has primarily been used as an office, the real estate ad suggests other potential purposes: manufacturing, warehouse, storage facility, garage/shop. Article content 'GSA is transforming an underutilized border facility into an opportunity for community and economic development,' said Public Buildings Service Regional Commissioner Glenn C. Rotondo in the release. Article content Article content The first floor of the building is 2,900 square feet. There is also a 2,900 square foot finished basement. Article content The southern portion of the property is flat, paved and has a one-storey brick building with two canopies, a guard shack and shed for a generator. Article content The northern half of the property is on a floodplain and can't be built upon. Instead, it consists of a steep, wooded slope leading from a retaining wall down approximately 50 feet to the water line of the Saint John River. The river surrounds the northern edge of the property. A paper mill with a rail line is situated on the other perimeters. Article content Article content The 1959 facility was closed last year when U.S. Customs and Border Protection ceased operations there and relocated to the new Madawaska POE and International Bridge. The new facility will include room for increases in traffic. The new facility, worth roughly $73 million, is also aiming to be include administrative offices and training space. Article content Parts of the old bridge were saved by the town, according to Maine newspaper The County. A local artist pitched a plan to create a 20-foot sculpture of an Acadian star out of materials from the bridge to celebrate the Francophone cultural connection shared by the two countries, across the old bridge created. Article content Acadians are descendants of French settlers who originally settled in Canada's Maritime Provinces in the 17th and 18th centuries. Aroostook County later became a hub of Acadian culture, with a large population still maintaining their heritage.
National Post
12 minutes ago
- National Post
Toronto teacher fired for wearing blackface to school should get his job back, arbitrator rules
An arbitrator has ordered that a white Toronto teacher who was terminated after he showed up at school in blackface for Halloween and told people he was dressed as a zombie should be reinstated and compensated for all wages and benefits lost in the last 20 months. Article content Gorian Surlan showed remorse for his actions, according to an arbitrator, who substituted a nearly two-year suspension for the high school teacher's penalty. Surlan, who had been teaching for 19 years, came to work at Parkdale Collegiate Institute in black face makeup and black clothing on Oct. 29, 2021. Article content Article content He wore the costume to an assembly that morning dubbed 'Where Everybody Belongs' that was attended by about 250 Grade 9 students and their mentors. Three students approached their vice-principal about Surlan's costume, saying he was in blackface. One student showed her a photo of his costume. Two of them were visibly upset and one was crying, Norm Jesin, the arbitrator, wrote in a decision dated Aug. 14. Article content 'He was asked if he was aware of the controversy over Justin Trudeau appearing as Aladdin in blackface. He said he was but that he was not trying to depict any person. Rather he was attempting to portray a zombie.' Article content Article content Article content Surlan, now 63, grieved his termination, arguing he 'was unjustly discharged from his employment on November 15, 2021, contrary to the collective agreement between' the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation and the Toronto District School Board. Article content Article content Born in Serbia, he witnessed many atrocities while working for the International Red Cross during the Bosnian war. Article content Those 'left a deep impact on him,' said the arbitrator. Article content 'He became a member of the Ontario College of Teachers and obtained qualifications in a number of disciplines including business studies, special education, librarianship, cooperative education and English as a second language,' Jesin said. Article content He took sabbaticals every five years, teaching in Nigeria and Vietnam, and had no previous discipline record before the blackface incident, said the arbitrator.
CTV News
12 minutes ago
- CTV News
$13M decision in B.C. pre-sale condo case overturned on appeal
A rendering of the PRIMA development in Richmond, B.C., is shown in this image. (Credit: A decision ordering a developer to pay pre-sale condo buyers more than $13 million in damages for breach of contract has been overturned on appeal, with the high court dismissing the case entirely. More than 30 people who made deposits on condos at what was then called the ALFA development in 2015 and 2016 sued Anderson Square Holdings Ltd., alleging breach of contract. The pre-sale purchasers had their contracts terminated by the developer in July of 2019, with the developer citing a legal dispute with contractors and an inability to secure financing. But the units would ultimately be sold – at higher prices – roughly two years later, albeit under the name 'PRIMA,' according to a B.C. Supreme Court decision handed down last year. The buyers' claim was, essentially, that the developer had no right to terminate the contract when it did. The $13,093,900 in damages awarded represented the difference between what the pre-sale buyers paid for their units and what the condos were valued at when the buyers 'repudiated' their contracts by accepting the return of their deposits in August of 2021, according to the 2024 decision. Anderson Square Holdings Ltd. appealed the decision, claiming the lower court judge 'erred' in interpreting crucial clauses in the contract. The developer argued it was 'entitled to terminate the contract' when it became clear construction would not be completed by Sept. 30, 2019, and the three-judge appeal court panel unanimously agreed. Although the appeal court found the clause in question was 'inherently unclear and ambiguous' and 'poorly worded,' the judges determined it gave the developers the right to terminate the agreement without the written consent of the pre-sale buyers in the event the project could not be completed by the specified date, if the circumstances were beyond its 'reasonable control.' The court rejected the pre-sale buyers' argument that the contract remained in effect even without their written consent, saying the result of that interpretation would have 'commercially absurd' results. 'That interpretation would mean that if there were blameless delay, the contract would remain on foot for the duration of the delay, unless the parties agreed otherwise,' the decision said. 'The parties would be automatically locked in for the full extent of the period of blameless delay in construction. Such delay could be indefinite, leaving the purchasers' investments trapped in the project as the vendor works to complete construction.' Finding the lower court judge erred in interpreting the contract, the appeal was allowed and the case dismissed.
