In the news today: Canada Post union moving to rotating strikes

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed…

Canada Post union switching from countrywide to rotating strikes

The union representing Canada Post employees says it will switch from a countrywide strike to rotating strikes starting Saturday morning, in a decision that will get mail and parcels moving again. Rotating strikes will begin at 6 a.m. local time, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers said Thursday evening. The announcement came a day after the union met with the federal minister responsible for Canada Post. The union said it met with Joël Lightbound on Wednesday evening, voicing concerns about recently announced changes to the postal service’s mandate to overhaul its operations. There will be a followup meeting with the minister’s office next week, it said.

Statistics Canada to release September jobs data

Statistics Canada is set to release jobs data for September this morning. A Reuters poll of economists heading into the labour force update expects Canadian employers added 5,000 jobs last month, rebounding somewhat from a loss of roughly 66,000 positions in August. TD senior economist Andrew Hencic says he sees potential for a loss of 35,000 jobs in September but cautions not to read too much into headline employment numbers. The Bank of Canada cut its policy rate by a quarter point to 2.5 per cent last month and today’s release will be the central bank’s last look at the job market before its next rate decision set for Oct. 29.

Here’s what else we’re watching…

Carney told ministers to map out ‘key objectives’

Prime Minister Mark Carney has asked each of his cabinet ministers and secretaries of state to identify three to five “key objectives” that will help the Liberal government achieve its core missions. In a July 8th letter, Carney gave ministers and secretaries less than three weeks to identify these priorities for action over the next year, preferably using existing resources and authorities. The Canadian Press used the Access to Information Act to obtain a copy of the three-page letter. In May, Carney sent an omnibus mandate letter with seven priorities for his cabinet, including creating a new economic and security relationship with the U.S., building a single Canadian economy and lowering costs for Canadians.

Alberta curriculum tool kit ‘incoherent’: expert

An education expert says online lessons the Alberta government has curated for students during a provincewide teachers’ strike are “incoherent.” Maren Aukerman, an education professor at the University of Calgary, says the nearly 200-page tool kit also barely aligns with the provincial curriculum. The government has said parents can use the online lessons to teach their children at home while the province’s 51,000 teachers remain on strike. Teachers went off the job Monday in the largest walkout in provincial history. Aukerman says the government lessons jump from one topic to another each day.

N.L. uprooting rural homeless people: advocates

Front-line housing workers in central Newfoundland say the province is transporting local homeless people out of their communities to other towns with more services. Sherri Chippett with the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing and Homelessness Network in Grand Falls-Windsor says people needing housing in her area used to be able to stay in their home communities. But now, Chippett says the province will typically offer them a bed an hour away in Gander, or they’ll be sent to St. John’s. The problem has arisen as the province tries to curb its use of hotels and privately run shelters for its growing homeless populations.

Harry Potter author mocks Vancouver park board

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling says being disavowed by the Vancouver Board of Parks wasn’t “much of a blow” after its commissioners unanimously voted to apologize for a Harry Potter event opening in Stanley Park next month. Rowling posted a screenshot on social media of board commissioner Tom Digby’s statement about how it had disavowed the author for her views on transgender issues. The British author says she was unaware that the board had “avowed” her and posted that she would accept a “certificate of avowal” that she would frame hang over her computer and take a selfie with it.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 10, 2025.