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    • Canadian employers, facing labour shortage, accommodate the unvaccinated

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    Canada's tight labour market is forcing many companies to offer regular COVID-19 testing over vaccine mandates, while others are reversing previously announced inoculation requirements even as Omicron variant cases rise.

    Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government adopted one of the strictest inoculation policies in the world for civil servants and has already put more than 1,000 workers on unpaid leave, with thousands more at risk.

    Airlines, police forces, school boards and even Canada's Big Five banks have also pledged strict mandatory vaccine policies. But following through has proven less straightforward, especially as employers grapple with staffing shortages and workers demand exemptions.

    Job vacancies in Canada have doubled so far this year, official data shows, and vaccine mandates can make filling those jobs harder, potentially putting upward pressure on wages. That could fuel inflation, already running at a near two-decade high.

    "It's already difficult to find staff, let alone putting in a vaccine mandate. You'd cut out potentially another 20%" of potential workers, said Dan Kelly, chief executive of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

    There are pitfalls to employing the unvaccinated. Companies run a higher risk of COVID-19 outbreaks and many vaccinated employees are uncomfortable working with those who have not had the jab, said industry groups and marketing experts.

    At Luda Foods, a Montreal-based soup and sauce maker, president Robert Eiser said he has 14 open jobs, no vaccine mandate and no plans to restrict new hires to the vaccinated.

    "I don't know that I want to reduce the (labour) pool, which is already quite low," said Eiser. "We need to attract people to meet the demand. If we don't, our competitors will."

    Data released on Friday underpinned Canada's tight labour market, with a hefty 153,700 jobs added in November. It also showed a growing mismatch between available workers and unfilled jobs. And job postings are far above pre-pandemic levels.

    WALKING BACK

    Quebec backtracked on a vaccine mandate for health-care workers last month, saying they could not afford to lose thousands of unvaccinated staff. Ontario, which was also eyeing a mandate, said it would not go ahead.

    TD Bank and Bank of Montreal have both softened their vaccine policy to allow regular testing for workers who missed their Oct. 31 inoculation deadline.

    In Canada, 86% of adults are fully inoculated, though that drops under 80% among 18-40 year olds. At least 15 cases of the new Omicron variant in Canada have been reported in the past week.

    John Cappelli, vice president of onsite managed services in Canada for global recruitment firm Adecco, said half of his clients are mandating vaccines with the other half allowing regular testing for the unvaccinated.

    But he expects the Omicron variant will prompt more workplaces to get strict on vaccination, even as they grapple with the tightest job market he's seen in his 25-year career.

    "We are now starting to see our first workplace (COVID-19) cases in five months," he said.

    The number of Canadian job postings on search website Indeed mentioning vaccine requirements has quadrupled since August.

    In the hard-hit manufacturing sector, where 77% of firms say their top concern is attracting and retaining workers, vaccine mandates are more rare.

    Dennis Darby, CEO of Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, said most of Canada's factories have operated safely throughout the pandemic. While CME encourages vaccination, "some companies are still using rapid testing if somebody doesn't want to get vaccinated," he added.

    But companies risk a hit to their reputation if they are overt in efforts to tap into the unvaccinated as a labor pool, said Wojtek Dabrowski, managing partner at Provident Communications.

    "If you go out and say, 'We are intentionally seeking to hire unvaccinated people,' many customers are equating that with you being anti-science and anti-safety," said Dabrowski.

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    World

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    Autos

    Local Spotlight

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    A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.

    Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

    The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

    The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

    It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

    A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.

    David Krumholtz, known for roles like Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause and physicist Isidor Rabi in Oppenheimer, has spent the latter part of his summer filming horror flick Altar in Winnipeg. He says Winnipeg is the most movie-savvy town he's ever been in.

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    • Police have arrested an 18-year-old woman who allegedly stole a Porche and then ran over its owner in an incident that was captured on video.

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      Michael Ford, Ontario's minister of citizenship and multiculturalism, says he is taking a leave of absence from cabinet to prioritize his health.

    • The Ford government is considering restricting Ontario municipalities from installing new bike lanes that would require the removal of lanes of traffic, a source confirms to CTV News Toronto.

    • It will be the last show for longtime children's TV star Ron (Buck Shot) Barge as a memorial is held Friday in Calgary.

    • China's ongoing ban on Canadian beef appears to have no end in sight, making it a textbook example of the uncertainty Canadian exporters continue to face in that market.

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    • Maplewood Secondary School is scheduled to open Monday after receiving a permit Friday morning allowing 50 per cent of the building to be occupied.

    • Ottawa Fire Services says a driver has been safely extricated after being trapped following a two-vehicle collision near a high school in the city’s south end.

    • A new garden and microforest, years in the making, have been inaugurated at John Abbott College in Montreal.

    • The Montreal couple from Mexico and their three children facing deportation have received a temporary residence permit.

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    • Mounties say there was an increased police presence in the Emerald Hills area of Sherwood Park on Friday morning as officers searched for a man who is wanted by police.

    • There are plenty of fun happenings in Edmonton this weekend. It's time to savour that last little bit of the summer season before the leaves really start coming down.

    • Alberta Health Services says an E. coli outbreak at a daycare in Blackfalds has ended.

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      A 15-year-old boy who was the subject of an emergency alert in New Brunswick has been arrested.

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    • Emergency crews in northern Ontario found the bodies of four people inside a home where a fire broke out Thursday night.

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    • Windsor police say a 25-year-old mother has been charged with the drowning death of her 5-year-old child in the family’s backyard pool.

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    • A LaSalle couple has won $1 million after buying a ticket for the Aug. 13 LottoMax draw.

    • New Democrat Leader David Eby has launched his British Columbia election campaign a day early, making the key battle ground of Surrey his first stop.

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    • The Red Bridge, a historic landmark in Kamloops, B.C., was completely destroyed by fire early Thursday morning.

    • Animal protection officers in British Columbia have rescued three pit bulls – including one that gave birth to 10 puppies – from a rat-infested home in Kelowna.

    • A Vulcan, Alta., man has been charged with a Lethbridge woman's murder after her body was found in the Oyen area.

    • A Lethbridge couple got a good reminder as to why you should keep your vehicle doors locked at all times.

    • Lethbridge residents who live near the police range can expect to hear plenty of shots fired Wednesday and Thursday.

    • A 26-year-old driver from Surrey, B.C., has been charged with three counts of criminal negligence in a crash that killed two youths in northern Ontario last year.

    • Ontario Provincial Police say three suspects from southern Ontario have been charged and drugs worth $300,000 have been seized following a traffic stop Sept. 16.

    • A Brampton driver, 27, was charged this week when northern Ontario police stopped the SUV he was driving on Highway 17 after a reported shooting and found more than $100,000 in cash.

    N.L.

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