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Conservative Party News

19 Jul 2023

Canada's Pacific Dock Workers Ordered by Labor Watchdog to End Strike

© Volodymyr Kyrylyuk / Adobe Stock

The Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB), a federal watchdog, ruled on Wednesday that the Pacific coast dock workers' strike must end because their union did not provide the required 72-hour notice before the walkout."This strike is illegal," Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan said on Twitter after the ruling.

18 Jul 2023

Canada Port Strike Resumes

© Sinidex / Adobe Stock

Dock workers at ports along Canada's Pacific coast rejected a tentative four-year wage deal agreed with their employers last week and returned to the picket line, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) said on Tuesday.The ILWU represents some 7,500 dock workers, who walked off the job on July 1 after failing to reach a new work contract with the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA), which represents the companies involved.In a statement released Tuesday afternoon…

05 Apr 2023

Britain Charters Barge to House 500 Asylum Seekers

Britain said on Wednesday it had leased a barge to house 500 migrants on its southern coast as part of efforts to reduce the use of costly hotels as temporary accommodation while asylum claims are being processed.Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made cracking down on illegal migration one of his top priorities ahead of an election expected next year and has set out plans to bar the entry of asylum seekers arriving in small boats across the Channel.The vessel, the Bibby Stockholm, will be berthed in Portland Port in Dorset and will accommodate 500 single adult males, Britain's interior ministry said.Migrants will be moved aboard "in the coming months" and it will be operational for at least 18 months…

02 Oct 2022

Britain to Acquire Two Specialist Ships to Protect Underwater Infrastructure

European countries say the Nord Stream pipelines were damaged by "sabotage" but have stopped short of blaming Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin has blamed Western countries. (Photo: Danish Ministry of Defense)

Britain will acquire two specialist ships to protect underwater infrastructure such as cables and pipelines, defence minister Ben Wallace said on Sunday, following leaks in the Nord Stream gas pipelines from Russia to Europe.European countries say the Nord Stream pipelines were damaged by "sabotage" but have stopped short of blaming Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin has blamed Western countries.Speaking at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, central England…

13 Oct 2021

Choked Port Won't Cancel Christmas, Britain Says

© Andy Sears / Adobe Stock

Britain said on Wednesday that people should buy normally for Christmas and there would be no shortage of gifts after shipping containers carrying toys and electrical goods were diverted from the country’s biggest port because it was full.Maersk, the world’s largest container shipping company, has diverted some vessels from Felixstowe port in eastern England because a lack of truck drivers means there is nowhere left to stack containers at the port.“I’m confident that people will be able to get their toys for Christmas,” Conservative Party co-Chairman Oliver Dowden told Sky.

09 Sep 2021

UK to Turn Migrant Boats Back to France

Illustration only - Credit:  giannis/AdobeStock

Britain has approved plans to turn away boats illegally carrying migrants to its shores, deepening a rift with France over how to deal with a surge of people risking their lives by trying to cross the Channel in small dinghies.Hundreds of small boats have attempted the journey from France to England this year, across one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.Border officials will be trained to force boats away from British waters but will deploy the new tactic only when they deem it safe…

22 May 2019

Canada Plans $11.7 Bln Coast Guard Overhaul

(File photo: Heath Moffat Photography, Seaspan Vancouver Shipyards)

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday said Canada would spend an estimated C$15.7 billion ($11.7 billion) to renew its coast guard fleet and that it would partner with a new shipyard to complete the project.Two Arctic icebreakers will be among a total of 18 new ships ordered, Trudeau told reporters in Vancouver. They will be built by Irving Shipbuilding in Halifax on the east coast, while 16 multi-purpose vessels will be built by Vancouver Shipyards on the west coast."Our…

15 Mar 2018

Hardy Takes Over as Vitol CEO

Ian Taylor, who helped build Vitol into the world's biggest oil trader, will step down as chief executive and continue as chairman, the company said on Friday, naming a long-time ally and insider, Russell Hardy, as the new group CEO. Taylor said two years ago he was battling cancer although he continued to travel the world, chasing deals from Africa to the United States and Australia while also working as chairman of the board of trustees for London's Royal Opera House. Hardy, who started his career at BP and traded fuel oil, was long seen as one of two front-runners to succeed Taylor alongside another Vitol veteran Chris Bake. Vitol said in a statement that Hardy joined the firm in 1993 and held a number of trading and management roles in Singapore and London.

24 Oct 2017

Abandon Requirement of Shipping in EU's Emissions Trading System

The European Parliament and the EU Member States still have not reached an agreement regarding the EU's Emissions Trading System, EU ETS. European shipping is therefore still at risk of being subject to unilateral EU regulation rather than supporting the global process. It should stop now, says Member of Parliament Bendt Bendtsen (The Danish Conservative Party), who calls on the European Parliament to abandon its special requirements to the detriment of European shipping companies and to support the work of IMO instead. As expected, it was not possible to reach political consensus on an agreement for the EU's Emissions Trading System (ETS) for the period 2021-2030 despite lengthy negotiations.

11 Oct 2016

Post-Brexit, Lawmakers Call for Royal Yacht's Return

(Photo: The Royal Yacht Britannia Trust)

As Britain sets sail in uncharted waters on the lookout for post-Brexit trade deals, lawmakers and a former diplomat have earmarked two key weapons: the Duchess of Cambridge and a new royal yacht. Following the vote in June for Britain to leave the European Union, and with the government facing the tricky task of securing new trade agreements, some 100 lawmakers from Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative Party have called for ministers to back the commissioning of a new royal yacht. "I think we have to ask ourselves what sort of Britain we want to live in and what we can do ...

12 Apr 2016

Norway Shortlists DCNS, ThyssenKrupp for New Subs

Norway's Defence Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide of the Conservative Party made it clear that there would be no submarine deal with Sweden, according to the Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang. Instead, Norwegian defense officials have narrowed down their search to French and German maritime defense firms to replace Norway's Ula-class attack submarine fleet, says UPI report. French firm Direction des Constructions Navels Services, or DCNS, and German company ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems "are the strongest candidates if Norway decides to procure new submarines," Norway's Ministry of Defense said in a statement. Sweden's defense company Saab suffered a substantial setback in Norway, after a submarine tender was brushed off. Instead, the bid will go to one of Saab's French or German competitors.

21 Apr 2006

B.C. Seeks End to Offshore Drilling Ban

British Columbia's government is pushing to end a nearly four-decades-old ban on offshore oil and natural gas drilling to encourage exploration, Bloomberg reported. Fields off Canada's westernmost province's shores hold as much as 10 billion barrels of oil and 40 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, according to government estimates. It could be the biggest offshore reserves for any province based on these estimates, topping Newfoundland on the east coast. British Columbia is working to get a federal and provincial ban lifted. Talks with the former Liberal Party government started four years ago with limited progress. The province will now negotiate with the new Conservative Party government of Stephen Harper, a native of the oil-rich province of Alberta.

17 Mar 2000

Loss Of Contract Deals Blow To N. Ireland Economy

Northern Ireland's economy suffered a blow when the shipyard that built the Titanic lost its bid to build a new Queen Mary cruise liner. The loss to a French yard threatened the survival of Harland and Wolff, the shipyard that once employed 30,000 workers and symbolized Northern Ireland's industrial prowess. Today it is a shadow of its former self with 1,745 workers. "The impact that this has on the ability of the UK shipbuilding industry to compete for projects is now clear and needs to be urgently addressed if there is to be a future for the industry in the United Kingdom," he said. British Prime Minister Tony Blair rejected the criticism. "We're very disappointed at the decision. But it's a decision by a commercial company.