Archives for November 24, 2019

CN strike could trigger layoffs at Halifax port

Canada’s biggest railway says temporary layoffs are likely at the Halifax port due to an ongoing strike by its workers.

Canadian National Railway Co. says inactivity at the port means some rail employees will likely be placed on furlough if the labour stoppage — now in its fifth day — continues.

Workers at other ports may also be vulnerable to temporary layoffs as the railway runs at 10 per cent capacity.

Last week CN confirmed job cuts as it deals with a weakening North American economy that has eroded demand for railroad transportation, with a company source acknowledging 1,600 employees will be laid off from union and management positions.

About 3,200 CN rail workers, who have been without a contract since July 23, walked off the job early Tuesday morning over worries about long hours, fatigue and what they consider dangerous working conditions.

The federal government has faced mounting pressure to resolve the strike as premiers and industry voice concerns about lost profits and a propane shortage in Quebec, Ontario and the Maritimes.

Though the striking rail workers are part of the Teamsters union, the potential furloughs in Halifax would affect Unifor members.

The union did not immediately respond to request for comment on the furloughs.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 23, 2019.

Companies in this story: (TSX:CNR)

U.S. lawmakers delivered stern warnings about the Chinese telecom giant at security forum

Huawei, the Chinese telecom giant, is a “Trojan horse” that could restrict Canada’s access to the critical Five-Eyes intelligence-sharing community, the Trump administration’s top security adviser and senior U.S. lawmakers warned Saturday.

Robert O’Brien, the recently appointed White House national security adviser, painted a stark picture of Chinese intelligence gathering vast reams of data on ordinary Canadians, if the Liberal government doesn’t ban Huawei from helping build the upcoming 5G network.

“The Huawei Trojan horse is frightening. It’s terrifying,” O’Brien told journalists in a roundtable question and answer ahead of his appearance at the Halifax International Security Forum. 

He linked developments in artificial intelligence, facial recognition advances, surveillance cameras and advanced data-gathering through wireless networks and warned of China’s ability to harness all of it.

‘They’re going to know everything’

“The technology allows China to put together profiles of the most intimate details, intimate personal details, of every single man, woman and child in China. When they get Huawei into Canada or other Western countries, they’re going to know every health record, every banking record, every social media post; they’re going to know everything about every single Canadian.”

The data-gathering already underway on Chinese citizens makes the activities of Facebook and Google “look like child’s play,” O’Brien said, adding that countries have to decide whether “they’re prepared to surrender every single bit of data on their citizens.”

Asked if Canada’s intelligence-sharing relationship with allies would be put at risk by allowing Huawei into the country, O’Brien said intelligence sharing “would be impacted if our close allies let the Trojan horse into the city.”

U.S. lawmakers delivered a similar stern warnings about the Chinese telecom giant at various points during the security forum.

Democratic and Republican senators spoke with one voice, saying the dangers of proceeding outweigh the benefits.

Canada is among a handful of select Western democracies with a decades-long intelligence-sharing arrangement with Washington. The Five Eyes countries also include Australia, New Zealand and Britain.

Canada’s participation could be in jeopardy, said a leading Democrat on the U.S. Senate Intelligence committee.

“It would make it very difficult to have a full intelligence-sharing information with a partner who has installed a direct line to Beijing,” said Maine Senator Angus KIng, who noted he was not speaking for the Trump administration, but as a committee member.

The U.S. has been urging allies to reject Huawei participation in building the new 5G wireless network over fears that Chinese intelligence services could have easy access to data through the company.

Some of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing partners, notably Australia, have heeded the warnings, but Canada’s Liberal government is still reviewing the issue and his signalled a decision likely won’t come until next year.

King said there was bipartisan agreement in Washington when it comes to Huawei.

“We differ sometimes on issues, but not on this one,” he said. “The risks of Huawei coming into your country far outweigh any benefits.”

Information potentially at risk

Republican Senator Jim Risch, chairman of the foreign relations committee, urged the Canadian government to pay attention to its intelligence services and choose security over consumer convenience.

“I would hope the Canadian government — like any government — as they sort through this get briefed by their intelligence agencies as to the risks involved with signing up with a company that is fully controlled by the Chinese Communist Party,” said Risch.

“When any information goes to Huawei or through Huawei, the Chinese Communist Party will have access to that information. Is it worth it to save a little money by buying a cheaper system? My conclusion is a resounding no. I would hope the Canadian government will reach the same conclusion.”

During a security forum session Friday, he said the top secret briefings he’s received have convinced him there is a clear danger and all of that information has been shared with the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service and other agencies. 

“Canadian intelligence agencies are fully informed on this issue,” he said.

The Globe and Mail recently reported that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) agencies are divided over whether to ban Huawei 5G technology.

The Liberal government has asked the intelligence agencies to evaluate the risks related to the adoption of the Huawei 5G equipment for the national telecommunication infrastructure. The security agencies were also told to evaluate the economic impact for the Canadian telecommunications companies and consumers if Huawei is blacklisted.

That review is still ongoing, officials said.

BC firms used Ponzi scheme to rake in $5 million

The B.C. Securities Commission panel has found that a man and two companies operating in the province committed fraud against investors through a Ponzi scheme that raised about $5 million.

The panel found Todd Norman Bezzasso raised the money from 85 investors through Bezzaz Holdings Group Ltd. and Nexus Global Trading Ltd.

A commission news release says investors were told Nexus was contracted to distribute alcohol in B.C. and that Bezzaz sold a variety of products including health supplements and e-cigarettes.

It says investors were promised rates of return between five and 30 per cent, but the panel found Bezzasso was actually operating the Ponzi scheme and investors funds were used to pay earlier investors.

The panel also found that Wei Kai Liao, known as Kevin Liao, of Richmond, committed fraud, sold securities and acted as an advisor for some of those investors.

The panel says it will impose sanctions after hearing submissions from the commission staff and respondents.

Conditions vary from ‘great’ to ‘absolute garbage,’ veteran developer says

Standing before a crowd of keen industry professionals earlier this week, Jayson Hilchie, the president of the Entertainment Software Association of Canada, painted a bright picture of the video game industry in this country.

Some 692 game companies pumped more than $4.5 billion into the Canadian economy in 2019 — all while paying their 48,000 employees almost double the country’s average salary, Hilchie told the Montreal International Game Summit (MIGS), offering new 2019 statistics for the first time.

The audience applauded.

After the presentation, a worker in the crowd raised his hand. 

He asked Hilchie if that meant working conditions for developers would improve.

It’s a question that has plagued the fast-growing video game industry, as stories of mandatory overtime, abusive practices and burn out ripple through Montreal’s studios.

A ‘garbage dump’ of issues

Henrik Jonsson said he witnessed a host of problems during his 22 years as a video game developer. 

Now an investor, Jonsson spoke at MIGS about how to “survive” in the video game industry, but said he doesn’t blame or judge anyone who chooses to leave.

Jonsson went through what he called a “garbage dump” of issues that most developers have to deal with, including “crunch” — when teams rush to complete a game in time for its scheduled release.

Some developers have described crunch as 16-hour days, seven days a week, sometimes for months at a time. It’s a long-standing feature of the video game industry that is often presented as mandatory, sometimes without overtime pay.

“Some studios are great, don’t crunch, have good healthy language norms, they have a good way that people talk to each other,” Jonsson said in an interview after his presentation.

“Others are absolute garbage.”

A 2017 survey by the International Game Developers Association found 53 per cent of employees said crunch was expected at their workplace. Of those, 37 per cent said they never received compensation for the overtime.

Those that did said they received free meals (37 per cent) and future time off (32 per cent) in exchange for crunch. Only 18 per cent received overtime pay.

“There’s a problem with companies that don’t view crunch as wrong,” Jonsson said.

He also pointed to problems with workplace culture and sexual harassment in a predominantly male industry, describing one studio he worked in as a “frat house,” a setting, he said, that can be alienating at best and abusive at worst.

But not all problems are internal. Jonsson highlighted the stress that comes from online comments, when dissatisfied consumers target individual developers with hate and abuse over social media.

Altogether, it leads to an environment that some find untenable. Jonsson said the average career in video games lasts only four years — and for women and people of colour, it’s even shorter.

“It’s a large industry, there’s a lot of young developers coming in, but they leave relatively quickly,” he said. 

“Overworked, or underappreciated, or underpaid … it’s rarely just one factor.”

Changing the game

When asked about conditions in the industry, Hilchie said it’s in companies’ best interests to keep employees as “creative and free” as possible.

“Over the years, problems that may have existed are being fixed and looked at internally,” he said, “and I think the industry is making good strides in that.”

But that isn’t what activists in the industry are hearing. 

Carolyn Jong is an organizer with Game Workers Unite Montreal, a group advocating for workers’ rights in the video game industry, with chapters around the world.

“A lot of cases, people are feeling like their employer keeps demanding more and more and more of them, to the point where it ends up affecting their health,” she said.

“People end up with serious conditions after the fact where they can’t do anything, can’t get out of bed. They feel disconnected from their family, disconnected from their friends, they have no personal life. And folks feel disposable.”

Jong held an event at MIGS to teach game workers about their rights in the workplace.

She said that because the workforce in video games skews so young — the average age in Canada is 31 years old — many workers don’t know how to push back against abusive practices.

One solution Jong’s organization proposes is unionization. According to her, none of the video game studios in the province has a union.

When asked about the possibility, Hilchie said he didn’t think it would be best for the industry.

“Anytime you start looking at collectives with respect to unionization, there’s a risk you’re going to lose that [creativity],” he said.

Jong disagreed, describing that reasoning as “a common union-busting tactic” that game workers repeatedly hear in the industry.

If anything, she said unionization would make games better.

“Because you have folks … who can feel they can stay [in the industry], and focus on their work in a way you can’t when you’re working 80-hour weeks,” she said.

It’s a message that seems to be resonating. 

A push to ‘know your rights’

Presentations at MIGS normally focus on technical subjects in the industry, such as tips for accurately emulating the laws of physics in-game or what makes a good character design.

This year, four separate presentations — including those by Jong and Jonsson — at the two-day summit were about work environments and conditions in the industry.

After her presentation, a small crowd formed around Jong, asking follow-up questions as she handed out booklets, the words “Know Your Rights” printed in bright red on the cover.

She said she doesn’t know how long it will take for a studio’s workforce to unionize, but is hopeful that it’s not too far off.

“It takes a long time, even if conditions are bad,” she said, because the video game workforce has so little experience with workers’ rights movements.

“But we need to get people to think about what working together collectively can actually accomplish for them.”