Latest news with #Brochu
Global News
2 days ago
- Business
- Global News
ArcelorMittal Long Products Canada closing wire drawing mill in Hamilton
ArcelorMittal Long Products Canada is closing its wire drawing mill in Hamilton, putting 153 employees out of work. The company said Wednesday all of the work will now be done at its Montreal location. Company chief executive Stéphane Brochu said the change is necessary to sustain its wire drawing business. 'It will allow us to improve our operational efficiency and secure our long-term competitiveness in the demanding wire drawing market,' Brochu said in a press release. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Mike Hnatjuk, president of United Steelworkers Local 5328, which represents workers at the mill, said the U.S. tariffs were 'a nail in the coffin' for the mill that was already facing challenges. U.S. President Donald Trump recently raised steel tariffs on Canada to 50 per cent. Story continues below advertisement Hnatjuk, who expects to begin talks with the company regarding a closure agreement next week, said he's been told the company plans to stop operations by the end of the month. 'We have stuff in our collective agreement that we hope that they're going to follow and they're going to offer and are we most definitely going to try to get what's best for all this,' he said. ArcelorMittal Long Products Canada has more than 2,000 employees with operations at multiple sites in Quebec. The company produces more than two million tonnes of steel that is used in such things as rebar for the construction industry and for leaf springs in light and heavy-duty trucks.
Montreal Gazette
16-05-2025
- Montreal Gazette
Osheaga drowning death was accidental, coroner finds
By The 2024 drowning death of an Osheaga festivalgoer was not suspicious, a coroner's report signed May 5 has found, but occurred 'in a context of 'magic' mushroom and cannabis consumption.' Logan Christopher Brideau, a 20-year-old man from Listowel, Ont. — a community about 50 kilometres from Kitchener-Waterloo — died Aug. 4, 2024, after attending Montreal's Osheaga music festival. His body was recovered from the Olympic Basin in Jean-Drapeau Park hours after he had drowned, the report, written by coroner Jean Brochu, said. The report didn't offer any recommendations. It was not the first time an Osheaga festivalgoer had drowned. In 2018, an 18-year-old Ottawa resident drowned in the St. Lawrence River after being separated from his friends during a performance. The coroner's report investigating Collins Obiagboso's death found it to have been 'of traumatic nature,' but said the circumstances surrounding his death 'were not able to be determined.' This latest coroner's report was more conclusive, reporting no traumatic or suspicious lesions were found on Brideau's body and classifying the death as accidental. The 20-year-old came to Montreal with friends, Brochu said in the report. The day of his death, the coroner said Brideau had consumed 'magic' mushrooms — which can cause hallucinations — after arriving at the festival around 4:20 p.m. An Aug. 5 autopsy detected psilocin, a component of 'magic' mushrooms, as well as THC, low levels of alcohol and a prescription medication. Shortly after 7 p.m., the report says Brideau told a friend he wasn't feeling well and lay down on the ground, later texting friends he wanted to return to the apartment. Brideau then threw up, before heading toward the Olympic Basin, which is typically used for kayaking and rowing competitions. When friends went to find him, Brochu wrote they were met by police officers. A friend reported to police Brideau had been lightly hallucinating and was under the impression security staff intended to remove him from the festival. She also said Brideau had been very stimulated and wanted to get away from the crowd, the report said. It took police hours to recover Brideau's body, finally removing it from the water at 11:06 p.m. By then, the report said first responders had no hope of resuscitating Brideau — his body was in rigour mortis, meaning he had died hours earlier. The report ruled out suicide as a cause of death, noting friends reported no suicidal intentions and police hadn't found anything pointing to that possibility on Brideau's phone. It also noted Brideau knew how to swim. Though conclusive in its finding of an accidental death, Brochu wrote a lack of witnesses means some details remain unknown. 'Without new witnesses, there will always be elements surrounding the circumstances of his death that will remain unanswered,' the report said.
CBC
31-01-2025
- Business
- CBC
Families reeling after Alberta ends child-care subsidy
Some Alberta parents were caught off guard by changes announced Thursday that will raise their daycare bills by hundreds of dollars a month starting April 1. "It's shocking," said Robyn Sloboda, a Grande Prairie resident with two children in daycare. "We're really hoping we can make ends meet." Jobs, Economy, and Trade Minister Matt Jones announced Thursday that every Alberta parent with a child in full-time daycare will pay a flat rate of $326.25 a month. The amount works out to about $15 a day, regardless of where a family lives in the province. Child-care providers will see an increase in the subsidies they get from the government. While Jones touted the flat fee as a measure to ensure affordability and predictability, he put less emphasis on the end of the Child Care Subsidy Program on March 31 for infants to children of kindergarten age. The ministry's annual report for the 2023-24 fiscal year said 68,900 children in that age range received some level of subsidy. Later Thursday, Jones told child-care providers during an online town hall he believed everyone should pay their fair share. "We believe everybody should be contributing to the cost of childcare, keeping in mind that the average Albertan will be receiving a valuable service that is at 80 per cent discount to out-of-pocket fees," Jones said during the town hall. "I think there will be more predictable and transparent parent fees coming in to providers on a monthly basis." Jones said he is concerned that child-care fees can vary wildly even within the same geographic area, and he wanted that to change. Financial sacrifices The news came as a shock to many parents — particularly for those with more than one child in daycare — who are now facing a large blow to their monthly budgets in two months. Renee Brochu and her husband have two children, ages two and one, in daycare. She said the child-care subsidy for both kids brought their daycare bill to $176 a month. Brochu said the change has caused a lot of fear and uncertainty for the Edmonton couple. She just returned to work after maternity leave last month. "Now we have to find an extra almost $500 a month come April in order to send our kids to daycare full-time," Brochu said. "It'll be difficult. It'll be tight making a whole bunch of changes and sacrifices ... just to afford child care now." Brochu said she will try to pick up some extra shifts to make ends meet. Robyn Sloboda's two boys are 20 months and four years old. The family pays $48 a month for both children to attend a registered daycare, and another $75 monthly fee for lunches and snacks. Sloboda learned about the funding change via an email from the director of her children's daycare. She said her family could have prepared better for the increased costs if there had been more notice that the subsidy would be ending. She said she already tries to cut costs by buying second-hand clothes for the family and choosing less expensive food at the grocery store. She worries her family may not be able to easily absorb unexpected costs — this month brought a $550 veterinary bill — or pay down debt as fast as they hoped. "We need to work. We need to provide for our families," Sloboda told CBC. "This extra cost is shocking. And we're really hoping we can make ends meet." Alberta needs to create up to 68,700 new childcare spaces, with 42,500 allocated to public or non-profit facilities, under the $3.8 billion Canada-Alberta Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care agreement. The agreement is intended to bring child care fees to $10 a day by 2026. Jones said Alberta is increasing its annual contribution from $250 million to $720 million.
