Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 23, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba Read the Winter issue at: winnipegfreepress.com/fp-features Available in your Free Press (subscribers) on March 29 and at Manitoba Liquor Marts - while supplies last! SPRING 2025 ISSUE OF DON’T MISS THE COMING SOON! WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM ● B7 BUSINESS THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2025 U of Guelph to lead agri-food innovation chain THE University of Guelph is leading the creation of a network meant to spur investment in Canadian agri-food innovation, including developing new technologies to address pressing issues like climate change. The Ontario university received an almost $16.3 million government grant over five years to support the platform, called Sustainable Food Systems for Canada, or SF4C. The platform is de- signed to help agri-food entrepreneurs grow their businesses. Canada’s agriculture industry is fa- cing several major challenges, in par- ticular climate change, said Rene Van Acker, interim president and vice-chan- cellor at the University of Guelph. He says technology can help farmers face that challenge. “Agriculture has always been an adapter of technology, whether that was mechanical or gen- etic or chemical, and now data.” He said anything that can accelerate that adaptation will help improve pro- ductivity in the sector while also mak- ing it more resilient to climate change. Van Acker said the network aims to support agri-food startups working on technological solutions to some of the sector’s most pressing challenges. The initiative brings together 13 post-secondary institutions from across the country, as well as a number of or- ganizations including the Canadian Food Innovation Network, the Can- adian Alliance for Net-Zero Agri-food and the National Circle for Indigenous Agriculture. The initiative will be made up of three programs: a training platform; a mentorship service; and activities, events and workshops. The network is intended to connect the universities and colleges but also other organizations in the agriculture and food sector, Van Acker said. “They don’t necessarily talk to each other, they don’t necessarily synergize, they don’t necessarily share or work together. So the network idea was an opportunity to have some funding to build connective tissue between these various actors.” The platform will be co-chaired by Evan Fraser of the University of Guelph and Lenore Newman of the Uni- versity of the Fraser Valley in B.C. — The Canadian Press Amazon Canada to shutter all 7 of its warehouses in Quebec, cut 1,950 jobs A MAZON Canada says it will close all seven of its Quebec ware- houses and lay off staff over the next two months. The e-commerce giant positioned the move scuttling 1,700 permanent jobs and 250 temporary ones as a way to pro- vide “even more savings to our custom- ers over the long run” and dismissed concerns that it was linked to a recent unionization push in the province. “This is about offering the best ser- vice we can to customers in a way that’s efficient and cost effective,” Amazon spokesperson Barbara Agrait said in email on Wednesday, when asked to comment on whether the closures were an attempt at union busting. The closure of the Quebec facilities will mean Amazon will revert to a business model it used in the province up until 2020, which employed local, third-party companies for package de- liveries. About 240 Amazon workers at the company’s DXT4 warehouse in Laval, Que., a Montreal suburb, managed to unionize in May, becoming the first of the tech company’s Canadian ware- houses to unionize. The process was hard fought, with Amazon challenging the workers’ ac- creditation with the Confederation of National Trade Unions, which accused the company of “flooding the work- place with scaremongering messages.” Amazon has previously responded to accusations it’s anti-union by saying it doesn’t think unions are the best option for its employees but that they have the right to join one. The company lost its challenge at the province’s labour tribunal in October. Caroline Senneville, president of the union involved with the organizing in Laval, said she has “no doubt” Wednes- day’s closures, which she called “a slap in the face for all Quebec workers,” are part of an anti-union campaign. “As a worker in Quebec or in Canada, you should never be afraid to stand up for your rights, to exercise your rights given by our Charter of Rights. That’s why what Amazon is doing is unaccept- able,” she said in an interview. The union’s legal team is considering bringing the case before the provincial labour board, Senneville said. She also disputed the number of em- ployees facing layoffs, saying the fig- ure sits well above 2,000. The company has also faced an- ti-union allegations at a warehouse in the Montreal borough of Lachine, when the province’s labour tribunal ordered Amazon last year to cease interfer- ing in union affairs and pay the union $30,000. The tribunal ruled Amazon communicated anti-union messages to workers, though it rejected a claim that the company had threatened and intimidated employees. Agrait previously said Amazon strongly disagrees with “the limited finding that our factual communica- tions with employees about the process were somehow improper,” and said the company is challenging that part of the decision. The closure news on Wednesday fol- lowed “a recent review of our Quebec operations,” Agrait said. “This decision wasn’t made lightly,” she added. The closing sites span Lachine, Lon- gueuil, Coteau-du-Lac and Laval, and include one fulfilment centre, two sort- ing centres, three delivery stations and a facility Amazon dubs AMXL because it aids in the shipment of large goods like TVs or furniture. Laid off staff will receive a package with up to 14 weeks’ pay after the facili- ties close and transitional benefits such as job placement resources. Quebec Premier François Legault said he was saddened by Amazon’s move. “I can understand that it must be tough for the 1,700 families involved with these decisions,” he told reporters Wednesday in St-Sauveur, Que. But he would not speculate on what motivated the decision, and he stopped short of criticizing it. “Why do they do that, how do they do that, the questions must be asked to Amazon,” he said. “I’m not managing Amazon. It’s a private decision by a pri- vate company.” The closure of the Quebec facilities puts attention on an Amazon ware- house in Delta, B.C. Unifor applied to certify the warehouse for unionization last year, but the results of that vote are sealed due to an unfair labour practices complaint the union filed, which alleges Amazon ramped up hiring to try to di- lute union support. Amazon has denied the allegations. Amazon’s latest Canadian investment report says the company has 34 deliv- ery stations, 23 fulfilment centres, six sorting centres and six AMXL facili- ties, along with three corporate offices and two tech hubs, in the country. — The Canadian Press TARA DESCHAMPS CHRISTINNE MUSCHI / THE CANADIAN PRESS Amazon delivery trucks leave the company’s DXT4 warehouse Wednesday in Laval, Que. ;