Suriname's president vows to make oil wealth 'available to all'
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Lawmakers backed Jennifer Geerlings-Simons and her vice president, Gregory Rusland, on Sunday in the Surinamese capital of Paramaribo after the incumbent party opted against putting forward a challenger.
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Geerlings-Simons, a 71-year-old former parliamentary speaker who campaigned on a more socially inclusive strategy, is set to be inaugurated on July 16. 'I come into this position to serve and I will use all my knowledge, strength and dedication to make our wealth available to all our people, but with special attention to our youth,' she told the National Assembly.
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Her National Democratic Party government is taking office as TotalEnergies SE begins development of the offshore GranMorgu project, which is expected to produce 220,000 barrels per day in 2028. The French energy giant and Malaysia's Petronas are searching for more oil in the Guyana-Suriname basin.
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Suriname's reserves are estimated at 760 million barrels and its $4.5 billion economy is forecast to grow 3.2% this year. Growth is on track to slowly edge up to near 4% by 2027 before a more than ten-fold surge once crude starts flowing.
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Sunday's unopposed victory by Geerlings-Simons caps a lengthy electoral process in which her NDP won 18 seats in the May 25 national vote. It later negotiated at coalition with five other parties to form a 34-seat majority in the 51-member legislature. The Progressive Reform Party of outgoing President Chandrikapersad Santokhi holds the remaining 17 seats.
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Toronto Sun
37 minutes ago
- Toronto Sun
Labour groups, lawyers hope fall of Hudson's Bay will spur change for workers
Published Jul 07, 2025 • 5 minute read A Hudson's Bay store in Etobicoke on Friday, March 24, 2025. Photo by Laura Proctor / Bloomberg When Hudson's Bay employees rallied in front of two of the iconic retailer's properties in late May, days before the retailer closed its doors for good, they knew there was no hope of saving their jobs. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Their goal instead was to encourage lawmakers to make the fall of the 355-year-old retailer — and all the failed companies that follow it — a little less painful for employees. They argued that could be done if the government adopted their wish list of ideas ranging from boosting federal support programs to prioritizing workers rather than lenders when companies in creditor protection are repaying what they owe. Such ideas were previously bandied around in labour circles when the Canadian divisions of Sears, Target and Nordstrom collapsed. This time, they're hoping the momentum lasts. 'When you're looking for these kinds of improvements, you will have ebbs and flows, but right now, we have an opportunity because the Bay situation is fresh in people's minds' said Lana Payne, president of Unifor. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Her union orchestrated the rallies at one of the retailer's distribution centres in Toronto's Scarborough and another in front of a Windsor, Ont. store because Unifor represents about 595 of the 9,364 employees that worked at Canada's oldest company before it filed for creditor protection in March. The workers were told they will not get termination or severance pay and lost health, dental and life insurance benefits. A law firm representing them has warned that 'given HBC's significant amount of secured debt, it is not clear that employees will be able to recover any amounts owing to them directly from HBC.' The company has blamed its troubles on the COVID-19 pandemic, depressed store traffic and tariffs. After it failed to attract investors that would keep the company alive, it started to sell off its remaining assets in hopes of recouping as much as possible for the thousands of creditors. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. When Canadian companies file for creditor protection, the various groups owed money are often left to jockey for what little cash remains, knowing there usually won't be enough to go around. Secured lenders are typically first in line because they have collateral backing the money they lent, often well before a company sought a reprieve from the courts. In the Bay's case there are 26 pages' worth of creditors, including secured senior lenders Restore Capital, Pathlight Capital and Bank of America. They alone are owed hundreds of thousands of dollars and have started to recoup some of their losses because the Bay has been paying them with cash from its liquidation sales. Employees are on the list of creditors, but they are not listed as secured and the amount owing is marked 'TBD.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'I think it's pretty clear that workers are not the priority in these kinds of cases,' Payne said. 'The legislation doesn't make them the priority and workers right now are feeling the results of that.' In the future, Unifor would like to see legislation changed so workers' termination and severance claims are paid first, Payne said. Susan Ursel, a lawyer representing Bay employees, agrees with the idea because 'employees are affected in a personal way by their employer's insolvency — losing their income and throwing their futures into uncertainty. 'Unlike sophisticated lenders, they are not able to negotiate security for the contractual promises of their employers and therefore fall behind those secured lenders in recovering money owed to them,' she wrote in an email. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'A legislative priority for employees would provide more certain and effective protection for employees, which we would welcome.' But Sunira Chaudhri, founding lawyer at Workly Law in Toronto, worries that change would scare away lenders long before creditor protection is on the horizon and when companies still have a shot at recovery. 'If employees were to be first in line … any employer that hired a lot of employees would be a bad bet for the banks,' she said. 'You'd want to lend money to them the least, because you'd never be able to recoup on a loan.' Jared Ong, an organizer with the Workers' Action Centre, has heard that argument before. He doesn't agree with it. 'Year on year, the major banks keep making billions more, but compare that to a worker who might be one or two paycheques away from losing a roof over their head,' he said. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Workers left without a job when their company goes under are typically able to lean on two federal government programs, but Ong said they need to be more generous. The first is employment insurance, which pays employees out of work a portion of their salary while they look for a new job. To qualify, applicants must have gone without work and pay for at least seven consecutive days in the last 52 weeks. The second is the Wage Earner Protection Program, which helps workers whose employees filed for creditor protection recoup owed wages, vacation, termination or severance pay. Bay employees have until Oct. 26 to apply for WEPP, after an extension to their deadline was granted by Service Canada. People who qualify under the program can earn up to $8,844.22 this year — a cap Unifor wants raised. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Nadia Zaman, an employment lawyer at Rudner Law, thinks a higher ceiling makes sense, especially for workers who have been with a company for a long time. They generally wind up entitled to a lot more than WEPP's cap, so the program puts them 'essentially at a loss,' she said. While many people don't realize the program exists or understand some of the idiosyncrasies workers face when their company goes out of business, Zaman said the Bay is putting a spotlight on labour relations. 'A lot of people who haven't personally been through the situation, they are becoming more aware of it,' she said, 'And they are also looking for changes even if they haven't been personally affected.' The likelihood of turning that desire for change into actual change may seem 'grim,' acknowledged Ong at the Workers' Action Centre. Labour activists have seen momentum turn into disappointment before. For example, a 2014 Ontario bill pushing businesses to insure long-term disability benefits, so they'd be paid out even if an employer folded, passed, but was seemingly never enacted. Change, said Ong, is 'always a back-and-forth fight.' 'You win some things, you lose some things, government changes, but we need to keep pushing regardless of what happens. Read More Sunshine Girls Editorial Cartoons World Toronto Raptors Canada
Toronto Sun
39 minutes ago
- Toronto Sun
Conference Board report forecasts 1.5% GDP growth for this year
Published Jul 07, 2025 • 1 minute read The Port of Saint John in St. John, New Brunswick, on Tuesday, May 6, 2025. Photo by Graham Hughes / Bloomberg OTTAWA — The Conference Board of Canada is forecasting the economy will grow by 1.5 per cent this year as uncertainty surrounding U.S. trade policies continues to weigh on business and consumer confidence. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Cory Renner, associate director of economic forecasting at the Conference Board, says the economy outperformed expectations in the first quarter, but the momentum is quickly fading. The report notes the housing market remains under intense pressure, while the trade sector is also in for a rough ride. Renner says trade disputes are casting shadows over multiple sectors of the economy and are expected to dampen growth throughout the remainder of the year. While Canadian exporters have turned to new markets with some success, the gains have been insufficient to offset the decline in exports to the U.S., the report says. It also says business investment is expected to suffer, with concerns over the Canada-U.S. trade relationship keeping spending subdued. Read More Sunshine Girls Editorial Cartoons World Toronto Raptors Canada
Montreal Gazette
4 hours ago
- Montreal Gazette
Messing with history: Could Quebec City's new third link wake up ghosts of Battle of the Plains of Abraham?
Quebec News By QUEBEC — With all the local talk of traffic congestion and the need to build bridges and tunnels, Quebec City residents might have overlooked one little fact: They already have a tunnel running under their feet. One of the lesser known historical features of the provincial capital, the 1.6-kilometre train tunnel runs on a north-south axis underground through the city with its northern entrance just west of the St-Sauveur neighbourhood and the southern portal near the St. Lawrence River just east of Gilmour Hill and the Quebec City yacht club. The southern portal is located in the areas known as l'Anse-au-Foulon, which in the old days was called Wolfe's Cove. That's because it was at this strategic point on the St. Lawrence River that British General James Wolfe gained his foothold over the French-held city by having his troops, under the cover of night, scale the steep cliff to the Plains of Abraham. The rest is history with the British defeating the French in a short battle on Sept. 13, 1759. Both generals, Wolfe for the British and Louis-Joseph de Montcalm for the French, died in the battle that was a turning point in the history of North America. But on June 12, when Quebec Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault announced a new corridor for a possible third link between Quebec City and Lévis that could potentially run right through the area, the historical aspects of the potential route were not mentioned. Nor was the fact Guilbault's new 2.8-kilometre bridge from the south shore could make landfall in the same area. That is where the bridge would become a tunnel, either 1.75 km or 3.6 km depending on the route, bored out of Cap Diamant that protected the French from invaders for years. 'It shows Mme. Guilbault has no knowledge or respect whatsoever for history,' said Louis Vallée, president of the Fédération Histoire Québec and the Société d'histoire de Sillery. The borough of Sillery could be radically affected by the project the Coalition Avenir Québec government has been promising since 2018. 'It can't happen,' Vallée said. 'It would scrap an entire heritage area. It would be catastrophic.' A quick tour by bicycle of the L'Anse-au-Foulon area reveals an area lush with greenery (including poison ivy) and recreational facilities such as bike paths. That is mixed in with historic and military lore, all well-documented by information panels installed by the National Battlefields Commission, which owns the site. The tunnel entrance itself is partially hidden by Champlain Blvd., which runs along the river. It can be found by following the rail line from the water side, which leads to the arched entrance of the tunnel liberally covered in graffiti. On its own, the tunnel, known to every rebellious teen in Sillery as a place to sneak off to, is historic. The Canadian Pacific Railway built the tunnel to transport trans-Atlantic passengers disembarking in Quebec City at L'Anse-au-Foulin port to its rail lines to the north and on to Montreal and the rest of Canada. At the time, the masts of the ships were too tall to clear Montreal's new Jacques-Cartier Bridge located downstream, so ships had to drop their passengers in Quebec City. The official opening of the tunnel took place June 1, 1931, to coincide with the arrival of the Empress of Britain. The Empress of Britain and her sister ship the Empress of Ireland were then the fastest ships making the transatlantic run to Canadian ports. According to the March-April 2008 edition of Canadian Rail, 100,000 people witnessed the arrival of the Empress of Britain. Building the tunnel was a substantial job involving 600 workers and the removal of about 61,000 cubic metres of rock and other material. Work was done from both ends and advanced by about five metres a day. The entire project was completed in 11 months. The tunnel is about 100 metres underground, running under the Plains of Abraham, then north under what is now Belvèdere Ave. to emerge in the St-Malo industrial park. Much has been written about the tunnel and the location. In the July 1931 edition of The Canadian Magazine under the headline 'Where Wolfe landed an Empress docks,' author C.H.J. Snider wrote the building of the tunnel allowed authorities to gather until-then-unknown information about the rock under the Plains. 'More was learned of the country's foundations than was guessed about them during the whole pre-conquest regime,' he wrote. Canadian Rail notes the workers found limestone and shale in the construction phase. While the limestone posed few problems, 'the shale had to be supported with timbers until the concrete lining (which exists to this day) could be fitted. Inevitably, accidents occurred in the Wolfe's Cove project.' Ironically, on the day of Guilbault's announcement, officials at the Ministère des Transports et da la Mobilité durable (MTDM) mentioned previous studies and the 'presence of a railroad tunnel' permits the ministry to conclude the rock would be 'safe' to bore. Which raises the question, could the railroad tunnel somehow be transformed into the tunnel Guilbault wants that would be available to car, truck and public-transit vehicles? The question to Guilbault's staff went unanswered, as did questions about whether the ministry considered the effect the project would have on the heritage of the area. So the Gazette consulted an expert. 'The entry point of a tunnel has not been studied in detail,' said Bruno Massicotte, a professor in Polytechnique Montréal's civil, geological and mining engineering department who was also in charge of the first 2016 study of a tunnel between Quebec City and Lévis. 'My personal impression is the current tunnel would be too small and too low. The envisioned tunnel would have to be halfway up the cliff.' He added, however, building a tunnel in this area is 'feasible,' because current technology would work in that rock. There is a Montreal example of a tunnel being repurposed for modern needs. As of April, testing has begun for REM trains using the old tunnel running under Mount Royal that will connect the Du Ruisseau and Central Station stops once the next phase of the project is rolled out. That tunnel was built in 1912 and converting it was something of an engineering and logistical challenge. There is one other potential obstacle to whatever Quebec decides about the tunnel: It and the tracks are privately owned and still in use. In the late 1990s, the tracks, tunnel and infrastructure at L'Anse-au-Foulon were purchased by Quebec-Gatineau Railway, a subsidiary of the U.S. giant, Genesee & Wyoming. In an email, Quebec-Gatineau Railway spokesperson Tom Ciuba said the tunnel is still in use anywhere from one to three times a week depending on freight traffic. 'As far as we are aware, there have been no talks about converting or widening the tunnel,' Ciuba said. 'Any impacts to our business on a possible widening or conversion of the tunnel would depend on the construction.' The citizens of Sillery and their historical society president Vallée, however, are already up in arms. Not only would a bridge block their view of the river, the traffic generated by thousands of cars would create air and noise pollution affecting their quality of life. And they wonder what kind of underground excavation work through posh and historic Sillery would be required for a tunnel. Quebec just spent millions on upgrading the riverside attractions along Champlain Blvd. to make the site near the coves more citizen-friendly. The third phase of the project includes a beach and infinity pool that gives bathers the impression they are swimming in the St. Lawrence River. 'The area would wind up as lifeless as the area under the Jacques-Cartier Bridge,' Vallée said. 'They would be busting up a major recreational tourist area.' Quebec City Mayor Bruno Marchand, who says the Quebec government has cut the city out of the planning process, has expressed skepticism, calling on Quebec to answer 10 key questions he has on the project. But would the bridge and tunnel improve the lives of motoriststs who currently have only two options to cross the river, the historic Quebec Bridge and the newer Pierre Laporte Bridge? One new study, written by Université Laval researchers and published June 12 after Guilbault announced the chosen corridor, concluded the total economy in time for motorists with her route would be two minutes, 18 seconds. Guilbault has promised more project details, this time costed, in the fall, but opposition parties are already calling her scheme another soon-to-be-broken Coalition Avenir Québec government electoral promise. She argues, however, the corridor she has selected represents the best of several options. 'Yes, there will be challenges, as there would have been for all the corridors,' Guilbault said in June.
