Alberta government names five new members to Preston Manning-led COVID review panel
PRIVATIZE HEALTHCARE PANEL
Fri, February 17, 2023 



EDMONTON — The Alberta government has named five members to a COVID-19 review panel led by former Reform Party leader Preston Manning, one of whom was recently fired along with the rest of the governing board of Alberta Health Services.

Jack Mintz joins Dr. Martha Fulford, Michel Kelly-Gagnon, Dr. Rob Tanguay and Jack Major on the Public Health Emergencies Governance Review panel.

“Albertans can have confidence Alberta’s pandemic response will be reviewed by these medical, policy, legal and economic experts so our province can better respond to the next public health emergency,” Smith said in a statement Friday.

MR. NEOLIBERAL
Mintz is the president’s fellow at the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy and advises and writes on tax, business and health policy.

He and the board were fired by Smith in November. She said they failed Albertans during the pandemic by failing to scale up hospital capacity as promised, forcing the government to impose what Smith has termed freedom-busting health restrictions.

The board members were replaced by an administrator. In an opinion piece published in the Financial Post in November, Mintz wrote that he was OK with the firing because the changes represent a necessary jump-start to achieve true reform in health-care delivery.

Major is a former Supreme Court judge and Kelly-Gagnon is president of the Montreal Economic Institute. RIGHT WING THINK TANK LIKE FRASER INSTITUTE

Tanguay is a psychiatrist and University of Calgary professor focusing on disability and rehabilitation.

Fulford is chief of medicine at McMaster University Medical Centre in Hamilton and focuses on infectious diseases. She challenged the efficacy of some health restrictions during the pandemic.

The panel is not only looking at government decision-making, but also its effects on jobs, children, mental health and protection of rights and freedoms. It is to report back by Nov. 15.

The bulk of the panel's work will be reviewing legislation, regulations and ministerial orders, but it will also take feedback online.

The budget is $2 million. Manning, who was announced as chair a month ago, is to be paid $253,000.

Manning and Smith have been critical of government-imposed health restrictions such as masking, gathering rules and vaccine mandates during the pandemic.

Smith has questioned the efficacy of the methods and their long-term effects on household incomes, the economy and mental health. She has promised health restrictions and vaccine mandates would have no role in any future COVID-19 response in Alberta.

The Opposition New Democrats have labelled the panel a political sop to Smith’s far-right supporters angry over COVID-19 restrictions, and have promised to cancel it should they win the May 29 provincial election.

“This panel is a brutal waste of Alberta taxpayers’ money," said NDP health critic David Shepherd.

"Preston Manning has already reached his own conclusions, and based on the panellists, it looks like it’s headed toward whatever outcome Danielle Smith and the UCP are looking for. An Alberta NDP government will put an end to this sham panel."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 17, 2023.

Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press

BC

Surrey council endorses plan to protect 'unique' highly fertile farmland from development


Tue, February 14, 2023 

Ron Heppell pulls potatoes out of the ground on Campbell Heights farmland in Surrey. The city has decided to throw its support behind adding the land to the province's Agricultural Land Reserve. (Maggie MacPherson/CBC - image credit)

Surrey council is supporting the agricultural future of a large parcel of highly fertile farmland that was threatened by future development in the fast-growing city, but First Nations in the area say the protection is an unwelcome complication to land claims talks.

Council voted unanimously Monday to throw its support behind an Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) proposal to put 123 hectares of land in Campbell Heights into the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR).

"We've had a massive loss of productive agricultural land," said Coun. Mike Bose, ahead of the vote. "This land is unique. It cannot be replaced anywhere in Canada, and I would argue, in North America."

ALR land is protected from non-farm uses, with a number of restrictions on development and construction activities.

The land, at 192nd Street and 36th Avenue, has been highlighted for its fertility. Three generations of the Heppell family have farmed it since the 1970s.

They say it produces between 30 and 50 million servings of fresh vegetables like potatoes, carrots and cabbage yearly — enough for one serving on every Metro Vancouverite's plate for two to three weeks.

Maggie MacPherson/CBC

Proponents have said protecting the land for future agriculture use will help with local food security, especially as the cost of produce imports from the U.S. keeps growing, and as climate change impacts food production in coming years.

The federal government owns the land but has leased about two-thirds of it to the Heppells. It has declared the land as surplus and wants to divest.

Surrey city staff have noted that if the city, region or province were to put in an expression of interest in the land during the divestment process, taking steps to protect the land for farming could play into that process.

First Nations express concern

Kate Newman, a researcher with the University of the Fraser Valley's Food and Agriculture Institute, says while the decision to add the land to the reserve or not is fully for the provincial ALC to make, it does remove the possibility of a municipal-requested review of the decision, which could upend the process.

"And if [the city is] in support, it makes it very unlikely that any opposition to this decision is going to succeed," Newman said.

Maggie MacPherson/CBC

Newman says about the only groups that could make a substantial push to keep the land our of the reserve are First Nations. A group of three local first Nations — Katzie, Kwantlen and Semiahmoo, or KSS — have expressed objections to putting the land in the ALR.

A law firm representing the Nations say ALR restrictions on the land would infringe on their rights and the commission failed to adequately consult the Nations first as required by law.

"KKS ancestors have occupied, governed, stewarded, and used the land, waters, and resources of their territories, which include the [Campbell Heights] land, since time immemorial. The land formed part of a landscape that was vital to the socio-economy of KKS including with respect to travel, trade, and the harvesting of resources," reads a submission from a public consultation.

"The land continues to be culturally, spiritually, and economically important for KKS, and their members continue to exercise their rights in this area except where they have been restricted due to government regulation, displacement, and development."

A Katzie First Nation representative said Tuesday evening the chiefs of the three First Nations are presently in Ottawa meeting with MPs and federal ministers about the land.

They are looking for a solution that "respects the interests of the various stakeholders involved whilst recognizing the vital importance of this land to the three Nations and the Federal government's commitment to the implementation of Indigenous rights and UNDRIP."

The Katzie representative said the Surrey land is a "cornerstone" of Indigenous rights and reconciliation for the three First Nations and talks have been ongoing for over a decade.

Farmers pleased

The Heppells, for their part, are thrilled by council's support for preserving the land for crops.

Tyler Heppell says with increasing public awareness about the importance of food security as grocery prices rise, keeping local farmland productive is the right call.

"There will never be another piece of land like this in British Columbia for farming," Heppell said. "We need to protect it and keep it in agriculture because that's its highest use."

The Agricultural Land Commission says the possibility of protecting the land will be considered "in early 2023."

Food quality matters for southern resident killer whales, UBC study states

For southern resident killer whales, the fattier the prey the better.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

 

IMAGE: LOW LIPID CHINOOK ARE A PROBLEM FOR SRKW view more 

CREDIT: INFOGRAPHIC © AYODELE OLOKO AND BENIA NOWAK

Not all Chinook salmon are created equal, and this has a major impact on the energetics for southern resident killer whales. A recent study quantified the lipid content in Fraser River Chinook salmon – the southern resident’s preferred meal – and found that spring-run Chinook salmon, the earliest to arrive to the Salish Sea are lipid-rich and energy dense; a critical factor for the killer whales who prey on them. Fraser River Chinook salmon that come later in the season have lower energy density.

“This research helps us quantify the energetic requirements of the southern residents,” said Jacob Lerner, lead author of the study and a doctoral student in the Pelagic Ecosystems Lab at the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries. “For example, if the southern residents ate just low-lipid salmon, they would have to eat around 80,000 more Chinook salmon every year than if they just ate high-lipid salmon.”

Southern resident killer whales are an iconic species in British Columbia’s Salish Sea and down the northeastern Pacific coast. With black and white markings, these marine mammals can weigh up to 12,000 pounds and be up to 26 feet long. They are fierce, social creatures that live and hunt in family group pods. And, sadly, there are only 73 left in the world.

Critically endangered by a number of anthropogenic factors, including noise pollution and high levels of water contaminants, their decline is mostly based on the limited availability of their preferred prey – Chinook salmon. However, there are many distinct populations of Chinook salmon available throughout the year, some with stock-specific differences in energy density, and not all in decline.

“We began with an initial hypothesis that these salmon were all created equal, that they all have the same value to resident killer whales. And we quickly realized that this is not true at all,” said Lerner. “They all have different levels of lipid content.”

Quantifying that lipid content is important as it directly relates to the caloric value of a salmon, assigning its value as prey. Specific estimates of lipid content for Chinook populations with different distributions, or run-timings, could be used to inform trends in killer whale populations, properly time fisheries closures, or even decide which hatcheries to augment to increase high quality food availability for southern residents, Lerner said.

This is particularly important as southern resident killer whales are a migratory species and often spend their winter months elsewhere. When they return to the Salish Sea for the spring and summer, their arrival often coincides with the arrival of the spring-run Fraser River Chinook salmon.

“Southern resident killer whales used to come here earlier in the spring season when they could eat early migrating Chinook salmon,” said Brian Hunt, associate professor in the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries. “Those early Chinook were very energy dense as they need to fuel their long freshwater migration back to their spawning grounds, but those stocks have been declining. With the whales coming later, they mainly have access to Chinook from the lower Fraser. These fish don’t migrate very far, and have lower energy density.”

As a major source of prey for southern residents, estimates of lipid content from Fraser bound Chinook salmon may be one of the keys to helping both threatened species. “We identified a spectrum of high, medium and low-lipid Chinook populations from the Fraser that can be used to better inform energetics models and manage both species,” Lerner stated, “We also identified life history parameters for the salmon to predict where on this spectrum they may fall.”

Though the study has quantified lipid content in Fraser River Chinook, and shown new light on its life history drivers, there is still little information on how ocean conditions influence this energy accumulation.

“We plan to keep monitoring Fraser Chinook salmon fat content,” said Hunt. “And one of questions we want to answer is how changing ocean conditions might be affecting their energy accumulation. Our concern is that ocean warming and food web shifts in the North Pacific Ocean are leading to lower energy accumulation in Chinook salmon. This will have implications for both the Chinook themselves – will they have enough energy for return migration and spawning? – and the killers whales that depend on them.”

‘Seasonal variation in the lipid content of Fraser River Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and its implications for Southern Resident Killer Whale (Orcinus orca) prey quality‘ was published in Scientific Reports.

---

JOURNAL

Scientific Reports

DOI

10.1038/s41598-023-28321-9 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Meta-analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Seasonal variation in the lipid content of Fraser River Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and its implications for Southern Resident Killer Whale (Orcinus orca) prey quality

Jagmeet Singh says the Canada Health Act could be used to challenge private health care. Could it?

CHA needs to be used more aggressively by the federal government, Singh says


Mark Gollom · CBC News · Posted: Feb 01, 2023 

The Canada Health Act, enacted in 1984 after being passed unanimously in the House of Commons, laid out criteria to ensure 'reasonable access to health services without financial or other barriers.' That meant Canadians would have access to medically necessary services without being directly charged for those services (Evan Mitsui/CBC)

Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has been sounding the alarm about privatization creeping into the public health-care system.

Recently, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced he wanted to give a greater role to privately run for-profit clinics. These facilities are clinics operated by the private sector that receive public funding from the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) to perform medically necessary procedures.

But Singh says he's worried that trend of using public money to fund procedures in private clinics will take resources from the public system.

He said the federal government needs to utilize the Canada Health Act (CHA), which he said has significant powers to challenge for-profit privatized care.

Canada's health-care system under threat from both Liberals and Conservatives: Singh

Ontario expanding number and range of surgeries offered at for-profit clinics

"And it should be used more regularly and more aggressively to protect public health care," Singh said Monday, speaking to reporters on Parliament Hill.

But what exactly does the CHA do, how is it used and is it a tool that those who oppose health-care privatization can rely on to stop that trend? CBC News explains:
What is the Canada Health Act?

The Canada Health Act, enacted in 1984 after being passed unanimously in the House of Commons, laid out criteria to ensure "reasonable access to health services without financial or other barriers."

That meant Canadians would have access to medically necessary services without being directly charged for those services. All such services would be covered through the province or territories' health-care insurance plan, according to the act.

WATCH | Singh accuses Trudeau of health-care flip flop:

Singh accuses Trudeau of a 'flip flop' on health-care privatization in Ontario
Duration1:06

During the first question period of the year, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh went after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for calling Ontario's recent moves on health care an 'innovation.'

It also established a number of conditions related to health-care access that the provinces and territories had to fulfil in order to receive transfer payments from the federal government, known as the Canada Health Transfer (CHT). One of those conditions stipulated that patients couldn't be charged an extra fee for medically necessary services, also known as "extra-billing."
What restrictions are there on private health care?

Singh said he wants the government to use the CHA to challenge for-profit care. But there are no restrictions on private delivery inside public health-care systems, said Colleen Flood, director of the Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics and University Research Chair at the University of Ottawa.

"So what Ford has proposed, with private for-profit clinics, is perfectly fine under the Canada Health Act," she said.

The CHA does not forbid the provision of health services by private companies, as long as residents are not charged for insured services, according to the federal government website.

More money is a must, but health-care delivery also needs a major rethink, doctors say

Health care is showing the cracks it's had for decades. Why it will take more than cash to fix it

"In fact, many aspects of health care in Canada are delivered privately. Family physicians mostly bill the provincial or territorial health-care plan as private contractors. Hospitals are often incorporated private foundations, and many aspects of hospital care (e.g., lab services, housekeeping, and linens) are carried out privately," the website states.

"Lastly, in many provinces and territories, private facilities are contracted to provide services under the public health-care insurance plan."

It's the finance side of the CHA where restrictions are imposed that disallow patients to be charged out of pocket for medically necessary hospital and physician services, Flood said.

WATCH | Ford government unveils plan for reducing surgical wait-lists:

Ontario to expand surgeries available at for-profit clinics
16 days ago
Duration3:58

Ontario is significantly expanding the number and range of medical procedures performed in privately run clinics. Premier Doug Ford says the move is necessary to improve surgery wait times.

"What is medically necessary and how those rules are fixed are determined province by province."

No province or territory totally prevents a two-tier system — they just try to make it less appetizing for doctors, she said.

"Almost all provinces have this rule which says, 'look, if you want to bill the public system, then you have to only bill the public system. If you want to opt out, opt out.'"

Bacchus Barua, director of health policy studies at The Fraser Institute, said one problem with the CHA is that the conditions imposed are "remarkably vague," which create a risk-averse environment in terms of health-care policy.

"Because of that risk aversion, a lot of provinces actually go beyond what's explicitly required by the CHA so that they don't accidentally get hit by by the federal government's interpretation of it," he said.

"We don't see the sort of experimentation with policies that are proven elsewhere, to work in most other universal health-care systems."
What happens if a province or territory violates the Act?

As the CHA states, if hospitals and doctors charge fees for medically necessary services, then the federal government is supposed to deduct $1 from the province or territories' annual grant or CHT for every dollar assessed of the so-called extra billing.
Has the federal government gone after provinces for violations?

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, responding to Singh's concerns about the enforcement of the CHA, said Monday that his government will continue to defend the Canada Health Act and can pull back money from provinces that violate it.

"In the past, this government has pulled back money from provinces that haven't respected it. We will continue to do that."

Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he's worried more provinces will start using public money to fund procedures in private clinics and take resources from the public system. He's urging the federal government to utilize the Canada Health Act to halt the trend. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

According to the 2020-2021 Canada Health Act Annual Report, for the most part, provincial and territorial health-care insurance plans met the requirements of the Canada Health Act. But there were some instances when the federal government said it had to withhold funds.

A deduction of $4,521 was taken from the March 2021 CHT payments to Newfoundland and Labrador for charges at a private ophthalmological clinic. Both New Brunswick and Ontario were dinged around $65,000 and nearly $14,000 respectively for charges at private abortion clinics.

The biggest violator, according to the report, was British Columbia, which submitted a financial statement of extra billing and user charges for fiscal year 2018–2019, in the amount of nearly $14 million. A deduction in the same amount was taken from British Columbia's March 2021 CHT payments. (The federal government has reimbursed the province in recognition for its Reimbursement Action Plan).

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The province has been the centre of a legal battle waged by private health-care advocate Dr. Brian Day, the owner of the Cambie Surgery Centre in Vancouver, who argues that patients should have a right to pay for services if wait times in the public system are too long.

But Dr. Michael Rachlis, a public health physician and an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto Dalla Lana School of Public Health, says that for the most part the federal government has not gone after provinces or territories for contravening the ban on extra billing for medically necessary services.

"The way the act is enforced — it's not like there's federal inspectors," he said. "The provinces are asked to investigate themselves. There is no real enforcement mechanism."

Rachlis says he also believes that there are lots of private clinics across Canada charging for medicare-covered services or up-selling services, citing a Globe and Mail 2017 investigation and work done by the Ontario Health Coalition.

"And the feds aren't doing anything."

Science of sediment transport key to river conservation & protection: Researchers

Peer-Reviewed Publication

SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

Researchers at Simon Fraser University (SFU) and The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have devised a better way to measure how fast sediment flows in rivers—information that can help scientists and planners better prepare for flooding and weather-related events, understand salmon activity and even restore rivers.

Their solution, outlined in a new paper in Nature, all boils down to the shape and particular features of a sediment grain.

“Sediment transport controls the morphology of the Earth's surface—that includes the physical environments of all ecosystems, the beds of rivers and the ocean, and even terrestrial environments,” says SFU professor Jeremy Venditti, founding director of the School of Environmental Science, whose team carried out the study’s research activities in SFU’s River Dynamics Lab.

“Despite this, accurately predicting sediment transport remains a stubbornly difficult problem. Our work examines the granular dynamics of sediment transported by fluid flows, and shows that grain shape plays an important role in sediment transport rates. The model we developed substantially improves our ability to predict sediment transport.”

Bed load sediment transport involves wind or water flowing over a bed of sediment, causing grains to “roll or hop” along the bed. The researchers say sediment is critically important to the life cycle of rivers and understanding its movement has been “notoriously imprecise.”

Researchers decided to look beyond size and density and focused on two particular properties connected to a grain’s shape – its resistance to flow, or its drag, and its internal friction, which plays a part in its ability to slip past other grains.

Both factor into a new mathematical formula which provided predictions that were successfully matched during a series of flume experiments in the SFU lab. 

During the experiments a current of water was pumped into a small wooden flume to flow over a bed of sediment with various grain shapes, from round glass beads and chips, rectangular prisms and natural gravel. Measurements of sediment transport, drag, and internal friction of the bed were recorded.

In their paper, the research team notes: "Sediment transport is a part of life on Earth's surface, from the impact of storms on beaches to the gravel nests in mountain streams where salmon lay their eggs. Damming and sea level rise have already impacted many such terrains and pose ongoing threats. A good understanding of bed load transport is crucial to our ability to maintain these landscapes or restore them to their natural states."

Venditti has been leading research into the 2018 Big Bar Landslide that prevented salmon from getting to their Fraser River spawning grounds, to map its effects and mitigate future risks.

---

JOURNAL

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41586-022-05564-6 

ARTICLE TITLE

Grain shape effects in bed load sediment transport

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

11-Jan-2023

New discovery of sunscreen-like chemicals in fossil plants reveals UV radiation played a part in mass extinction events

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM

 

IMAGE: ALISPORITES TENUICORPUS THE POLLEN GRAIN USED IN THIS WORK. NOTE A HUMAN HAIR IS APPROXIMATELY 70M SO THE SAMPLES ANALYSED ARE ABOUT HALF THE WIDTH OF A HUMAN HAIR. view more 

CREDIT: PROF LIU FENG FROM NANJING INSTITUTE OF GEOLOGY AND PALAEONTOLOGY

New research has uncovered that pollen preserved in 250 million year old rocks contain compounds that function like sunscreen, these are produced by plants to protect them from harmful ultraviolet (UV-B) radiation. The findings suggests that a pulse of UV-B played an important part in the end Permian mass extinction event.

Scientists from the University of Nottingham, China, Germany and the UK led by Professor Liu Feng from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology have developed a new method to detect plant’s sunscreen-like compounds in fossil pollen grains. The research has been published today in Science Advances.

The end-Permian mass extinction event (250 million years ago) is the most severe of the big five mass extinction events with the loss of ~80% of marine and terrestrial species. This catastrophic loss of biodiversity was a response to a palaeoclimate emergency triggered by the emplacement of a continental-scale volcanic eruption that covers much of modern-day Siberia. The volcanic activity drove the release of massive amounts of carbon that had been locked up in Earth’s interior into the atmosphere, generating large-scale greenhouse warming. Accompanying this global warming event was a collapse in the Earth’s ozone layer. Support for this theory comes from the abundant occurrence of malformed spores and pollen grains that testify to an influx of mutagenic UV irradiation.

Professor Barry Lomax from the University of Nottingham explains “Plants require sunlight for photosynthesis but need to protect themselves and particularly their pollen against the harmful effects of UV-B radiation. To do so, plants load the outer walls of pollen grains with compounds that function like sunscreen to protect the vulnerable cells to ensure successful reproduction.” 

Professor Liu Feng adds: “We have developed a method to detect these phenolic compounds in fossil pollen grains recovered from Tibet, and detected much higher concentrations in those grains that were produced during the mass extinction and peak phase of volcanic activity.”

Elevated UV-B levels can have even further-reaching and longer-lasting impacts on the entire Earth System. Recent modelling studies have demonstrated that elevated UV-B stress reduces plant biomass and terrestrial carbon storage, which would exacerbate global warming. The increased concentration of phenolic compounds also makes plant tissue less easily digestible, making a hostile environment even more challenging for herbivores.

Summarising the groups findings Dr Wes Fraser based at Oxford Brookes University commented: “Volcanism on such a cataclysmic scale impacts on all aspects of the Earth system, from direct chemical changes in the atmosphere, through changes in carbon sequestration rates, to reducing volume of nutritious food sources available for animals.”

  

Photograph of the field area the fossil samples come from.

CREDIT

Prof Liu Feng from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology

JOURNAL

Science Advances

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Dying in the Sun: direct evidence for elevated UV-B radiation at 2 the end-Permian mass extinction

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

6-Jan-2023

Fossil pollen 'sunscreen' proves role of ozone depletion in largest mass extinction

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES HEADQUARTERS

 

IMAGE: THE IMPACTS OF OZONE DEPLETION AND ELEVATED UV-B LEVELS ON THE TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEM view more 

CREDIT: CONOR HAYNES-MANNERING, UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM

Scientists from China, Germany and the UK led by Prof. LIU Feng from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS) have revealed that pollen preserved in 250-million-year-old rocks contains abundant compounds that function like sunscreen but are produced by plants to protect themselves from harmful ultraviolet (UV-B) radiation.

The presence of these compounds suggests that a pulse of UV-B played an essential role in the end-Permian mass extinction event.

The study was published in Science Advances on Jan. 6.

The end-Permian mass extinction event (250 million years ago) is the most severe of the big five mass extinction events, with the loss of ~80% of marine and terrestrial species. This catastrophic loss of biodiversity resulted from a palaeoclimate emergency triggered by continental-scale volcanism that covers much of modern-day Siberia. The volcanic activity drove the release into the atmosphere of massive amounts of carbon that had been locked up in Earth's interior, thus generating large-scale greenhouse warming.

Accompanying this global warming event was a collapse of the Earth's ozone layer. Support for this theory comes from the abundant occurrence of malformed spores and pollen grains that testify to an influx of mutagenic UV irradiation.

Plants require sunlight for photosynthesis but need to protect themselves and particularly their pollen from the harmful effects of UV-B radiation. "To do so, plants load the outer walls of pollen grains with compounds that function like sunscreen to protect vulnerable cells to ensure successful reproduction. Without the 'sunscreen' compounds, forests could have been sterilized, leading to the collapse of the terrestrial ecosystem," said Prof. Barry Lomax from the University of Nottingham.

"We have developed a method to detect these phenolic compounds in fossil pollen grains (Alisporites-type) recovered from southern Tibet and detected much higher concentrations in those grains that were produced during the end-Permian mass extinction and peak phase of volcanic activity," said Prof. LIU.

The researchers found an increase in UV-B-absorbing compounds (UACs) that coincided with a spike in mercury concentration and a decrease in carbon isotopes in the latest Permian deposits, suggesting a close temporal link between large-scale volcanic eruptions, global carbon- and mercury-cycle perturbations, and ozone-layer disruption.

Elevated UV-B levels exerted far-reaching and long-lasting impacts on the entire Earth system. Recent modelling studies have demonstrated that elevated UV-B stress reduced plant biomass and terrestrial carbon storage, thus exacerbating global warming.

In addition, increased concentration of phenolic compounds also makes plant tissue less easily digestible, making a hostile environment even more challenging for herbivores.

"Volcanism on such a cataclysmic scale influences all aspects of the Earth system, from direct chemical changes in the atmosphere, through changes in carbon sequestration rates, to reducing the volume of nutritious food sources available for animals," said Dr. Wes Fraser from Oxford Brookes University.

---

JOURNAL

Science Advances

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.abo6102 

ARTICLE TITLE

Dying in the Sun: direct evidence for elevated UV-B radiation at the end-Permian mass extinction

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

6-Jan-2023

Indigenous conservation funding must reflect Canada’s true debt to First Nations, Inuit and Métis

Story by Zoe Todd, Associate Professor, Department of Indigenous Studies, Simon Fraser University • Yesterday 


The United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15) wrapped up in Montréal on Sunday. The ratification of the so-called 30x30 proposal to protect 30 per cent of the Earth’s territories by 2030 was a central focus during the 12 days of negotiations at the international summit.


Protesters interrupt a speech by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — demanding that the government stop invading Indigenous land — during the opening ceremony of COP15, the UN conference on biodiversity, in Montréal, on Dec. 6, 2022.© THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

Canada is an enthusiastic supporter of the global 30x30 plan, which is championed by a host of nations and international environmental NGOs like The Nature Conservancy and the World Wildlife Fund.

However, in order to achieve its national targets, Canada is relying heavily on Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) — all under the guise of “federally-supported Indigenous-led conservation”.

As a Red River Métis person and a researcher on freshwater fish futures and Indigenous sovereignty, I believe that these top-down targets and public-private partnerships could do more harm than good to First Nations, Inuit and Métis here, who deserve honest and true recognition of our sovereignty across Canada.

Funding with strings attached

In a report titled We Rise Together, the Indigenous Circle of Experts define IPCAs as “lands and waters where Indigenous governments have the primary role in protecting and conserving ecosystems through Indigenous laws, governance and knowledge systems.”

According to the report, IPCAs can be governed under a spectrum of approaches ranging from one that fully affirms the sovereignty of First Nations, Inuit and Métis as sole rights-holders of a territory to so-called partnership approaches that include hybrid, crown-Indigenous or industry-Indigenous partnerships.

At COP15, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced $800 million in funding for four Indigenous-led conservation projects over seven years to signal Canada’s commitment to Indigenous-led conservation. This is in addition to $340 million in funding for Indigenous-led conservation announced in 2021.

This federally sanctioned Indigenous-led conservation work — championed to help Canada meet its 30x30 targets — relies heavily on partnerships between Indigenous nations, industry and environmental NGOs.



Behind the scenes

Canada’s combined funding of $1.14 billion for Indigenous-led conservation — and its vocal support of the 30x30 plan — seems progressive, until we look at the federal government’s other investments.

The federal government has simultaneously invested billions in resource extractive industries in Canada, including the $4.5 billion spent to purchase the Trans Mountain pipeline in 2018.

Internationally, $188 billion of Canada’s $273 billion in mining assets support extensive resource extraction abroad, including mining in Indigenous lands in the Global South.

Canada also works closely with industry to criminalize Indigenous land defenders who are fighting resource extractive projects across the country.

The Cash Back report published by the Yellowhead Institute, an Indigenous-led research and education centre, revealed Alberta’s $200 billion debt to the First Nations in the province. This shows that the federal and provincial debt owed to First Nations, Inuit and Métis in Canada far outpaces the pittance offered to support their land protection and to remunerate Indigenous land protectors.

Conservation at a cost

Canada’s heavy reliance on officially-supported Indigenous-led conservation to meet its targets further complicates things as these targets could significantly impact human rights.



Some of the world’s most marginalized communities, including Indigenous and local communities in Africa and Asia, face threats of dispossession, lack of access to their rightful natural resources and further impoverishment.

Canada’s reliance on IPCAs to meet its 30 per cent targets, could risk aiding land grabs and human rights violations in the Global South.

On the eve of COP15, a consortium of non-governmental organizations representing Indigenous Peoples in the Global South issued a damning plea about the 30x30 plan, urging policymakers not to fetishize a quantified protected area approach. They pointed out that this would come at the cost of addressing the underlying drivers of biodiversity loss, including colonial capitalist extraction and overconsumption.

Tackling the underlying drivers of biodiversity loss

IPCAs in Canada are a potential antidote to the traditional fortress conservation or protected area model employed by eurocolonial parties here in the past. According to these models, biodiversity protection can be achieved only by creating protected areas where ecosystems can function in isolation from human disturbance, thus resulting in the eviction of forest-dwelling communities and Indigenous Peoples.

This being said, we must ensure that these IPCAs are not weaponized by states and environmental groups to silence the concerns about the 30x30 plan from Indigenous communities in the Global South who are not necessarily guaranteed the same legal protections that the federally-supported Indigenous-led conservation in Canada pledges.

At a time when public-private partnerships are facing scathing scrutiny in Canada and internationally, the conservation approaches and policies offered to First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities by the government also need to be scrutinized.

These approaches and policies should fully acknowledge the sovereignty of Indigenous communities without pressure to exchange autonomy for limited funding and partnership support.

Canada is built on lands and waters procured through dispossession and displacement of First Nations, Inuit and Métis. The government must, therefore, compensate our communities for the losses incurred across every stretch of this country.

We deserve better than 30x30. We deserve our land back. We deserve honest and true recognition of First Nations, Inuit and Métis sovereignty across Canada.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.

Read more:
Views from COP27: How the climate conference could confront colonialism by centring Indigenous rights

COP15’s Global Biodiversity Framework must advance Indigenous-led conservation to halt biodiversity loss by 2030

 

Canadians are waiting longer than ever for medical treatments, data reveals

Yahoo Canada
December 9, 2022

A nurse tends to a patient in the Intensive Care Unit at the Bluewater Health Hospital in Sarnia, Ont., on Tuesday, January 25, 2022. Personal support workers in Ontario hospitals were promised last spring that a wage increase introduced during the pandemic would remain permanently on their paychecks. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young (The Canadian Press)

An annual survey of physicians reveals that Canadians have waited longer than ever before for medical treatment this year.

A study from the Fraser Institute, with data collected between Jan. 10 to Sept. 15, 2022, from 855 respondents across 12 medical specialties, found that the median wait time for medical procedures was 27.4 weeks, the longest ever recorded.

Ontario had the shortest wait time at 20.3 weeks while Prince Edward Island had the longest wait time in Canada at 64.7 weeks.

“Excessively long wait times remain a defining characteristic of Canada’s health-care system,” a statement from Mackenzie Moir, Fraser Institute policy analyst and co-author of the report reads.

“They aren’t simply minor inconveniences, they can result in increased suffering for patients, lost productivity at work, a decreased quality of life, and in the worst cases, disability or death.”

It's estimated that across the 10 provinces the total number of procedures people are waiting for in 2022 is 1,228,047.

"This means that, assuming that each person waits for only one procedure, 3.2 per cent of Canadians are waiting for treatment in 2022," the report states. "Physicians report that only about 11.03 per cent of their patients are on a waiting list because they requested a delay or postponement."

October data released by Health Quality Ontario (HQO) on Thursday reveals that patients spend an average of 2.2 hours waiting for their first assessment by a physician in provincial emergency departments.

For patients with a low-urgency medical condition, 72 per cent finish their emergency visit within the target time of four hours. For high-urgency patients, 88 per cent finish their emergency visit within the target time of eight hours.

MINING IS NOT GREEN

Canada’s mining minister wants minerals projects built within a decade
Bloomberg News | December 12, 2022 | 

Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson.

(Image courtesy of Province of British Columbia.)

Canada’s mining minister wants critical minerals projects built in less than a decade — spurred on by government efforts to cut red tape.


“We need to get to the point where we can get these mines from concept to production certainly within a decade, and ideally less than that,” Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said in a Monday phone interview.

Wilkinson’s comments come days after his ministry published a critical minerals strategy that pledged to review Canada’s approval process for developing mines. Government estimates show it can take up to 25 years for a mining project to become operational. Wilkinson said he expects policy recommendations on streamlining processes within the next 12 months.

The time it takes to build a mine has been a source of concern for mining companies worldwide, given that lengthy approval processes pose investment risks and heightened costs, and is top of mind for many mining CEOs. The head of Vancouver-based Teck Resources Ltd., for instance, said last week that the Canadian government could help the industry with an approval process that ensures projects get done in a timely fashion.

“If we are going to bring supply online at the pace that the world needs to electrify, we need to shorten those timelines,” Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Price said in a Thursday interview. “Getting the approvals pathway right is very important, but we have to look for opportunities to accelerate so we can bring new production to market more quickly.”

(By Jacob Lorinc)

Western countries forge green alliance for getting electric vehicle minerals

Reuters | December 12, 2022 | 

The founding members of the Sustainable Critical Minerals Alliance. Credit: Jonathan Wilkinson’s official Twitter page

The United States and other western countries on Monday announced an alliance to produce and buy critical minerals from countries with stronger environmental and labor standards, a move that could reduce business with market leader China.


Announced at the COP15 talks on biodiversity in Montreal, the Sustainable Critical Minerals Alliance would support these standards for elements like lithium, cobalt and nickel, Canada’s Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said.

“Unless China and Russia are willing to put in place … measures required to be able to legitimately say that they are supporting these kinds of standards then it would essentially mean … we will be buying alternatives as we can,” Wilkinson said in an interview.

Wilkinson acknowledged that the voluntary alliance of the United States, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom would not shun China which dominates the market for the minerals used in EV batteries.

“Obviously right now there are some critical minerals that are processed in large measure in China so this will be something that will need to happen over time,” he said.

Western countries have been trying to wean themselves from dependence on authoritarian regimes for strategically important materials. Canada last week unveiled a strategy to ramp up production and processing of critical minerals. In June, the United States and allies set up a partnership aimed at securing supplies.

China said it has taken steps to curb pollution in its mining sector, but has faced criticism.

Mining, along with other sectors are under scrutiny at the Montreal talks due to their impact on nature.

“China is actually free to up its game with respect to environmental standards and with respect to labor standards and eventually join the alliance,” Wilkinson said. “But it would have to make those kinds of changes.”

A strategist from environmental group Greenpeace welcomed the alliance’s support for higher environmental, indigenous rights and labor standards but questioned how it would be enforced.

“Will there be teeth to that? For the moment it’s more like a memorandum,” said Keith Stewart, senior energy strategist, Greenpeace Canada.

(By Allison Lampert; Editing by David Gregorio)

Canada has dozens of critical minerals. Here are the key ones and how they are used

By Sean Boynton Global News
Posted December 10, 2022 

WATCH: Canada eyes 'generational opportunity' with new critical minerals strategy

Canada’s new billion-dollar plan to boost its critical minerals sector will focus on six particular materials that are crucial components of electric vehicles, clean energy technologies and more.

While the strategy unveiled Friday lists 31 minerals it classified as “critical,” the six that are under the spotlight — lithium, graphite, nickel, cobalt, copper and rare earth elements — hold “the most significant potential for Canadian economic growth,” according to the federal government.

READ MORE: Canada unveils new critical minerals strategy eyeing ‘generational opportunity’

Those mining sectors will also be the initial focus of the nearly $4 billion in federal investments under the new plan.

Here’s a closer look at those materials, what they’re used for, and where Canada currently stands with each of them.

Lithium

Lithium is currently one of the most sought-after materials in the world. Not only is it a key component in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, smartphones and computers, it is also contained in metal alloys used in military armour, aircraft, and train components, as well as hydrogen fuel storage containers.

But its use in batteries makes lithium a key mineral for the global clean energy transition.

4:56 Canada eyes ‘generational opportunity’ with new critical minerals strategy

Although Canada does not produce lithium, it has “large hard rock spodumene deposits and brine-based lithium resources,” from which lithium can be extracted. The new strategy seeks to introduce domestic production facilities that take advantage of those resources.

Canada’s lithium reserves were the sixth-largest in the world as of 2020, but they only account for 2.5 per cent of the global supply. Australia and Chile lead the world in both reserves and production.

“We shouldn’t get too excited that we’re going to be one of the big producers around the world when it comes to mining,” said Jack Mintz, who heads the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy and is a senior fellow at the Fraser Institute.

“Hopefully we’ll have enough production that will just satisfy our own needs, but we’re certainly not a big producer by any means compared to other countries like Australia.”

The strategy identifies other ways to extract lithium, including through recycling of lithium-ion batteries via domestic recycling facilities.

READ MORE: Canadian critical minerals will be ‘key’ amid pivot away from China, Russia: minister

Graphite

Graphite is found in rechargeable battery anodes as well as electric vehicle fuel cells and vehicle brake linings. It is also used in electrical motor components and frictionless materials — key components of wind turbines and other clean technologies.

Canada is among the top global producers of graphite, with several mines in Quebec and Ontario either running, newly approved or under environmental assessment. The Black Crystal Quarry and Plant in British Columbia also mines graphite.

Nickel

Another rechargeable battery component, nickel can also be found in solar panels as well as aerospace and military aircraft.

Canada has nickel production facilities in Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador, making the country one of the leading global producers and suppliers. The country is home to nearly 3 million tonnes of nickel reserves.

2:07 Wilkinson comments on critical minerals strategy and foreign investment

Cobalt

Cobalt is primarily found in battery electrodes but is additionally used in turbine engine components, vehicle airbags and magnets. Along with lithium, graphite and nickel, cobalt is among the four main minerals needed for electric vehicle batteries.

The mineral is actually mainly produced as a by-product of nickel mining in Canada, but new projects seek to change that and ramp up production, including a primary cobalt mine in the Northwest Territories and North America’s first cobalt refinery in northern Ontario.

Canada is already a top-five cobalt producer globally, according to the government.

1:03 Canada can contribute global minerals, metals, energy in place of Russia, China: Freeland

Copper

A key wiring material, copper is essential for powering buildings, vehicles, telecommunications and other electrical components. It’s also used in solar panel cells and electric vehicles.

Copper is produced in provinces across the country, unlike many other critical minerals that are primarily found in Quebec and Ontario. Canada is a leading global producer, accounting for nearly three per cent of all copper production in 2020.

Rare earth elements

A group of 15 elements known as lanthanides, rare earth elements are found in some of the most widely-used electronics in modern society, including touch screens, televisions, LED lights and speakers. They are also a key component of permanent magnets, including those used in electric vehicle motors and wind turbines.

Canada has some of the largest known reserves and resources rare earth elements in the world, according to the government, estimated at over 14 million tonnes as of 2021.

In addition to boosting production, the new strategy is also eyeing the potential to extract rare earth elements from recycled magnets.

READ MORE: Trudeau sees ‘real opportunity’ for collaboration with U.S. on electric vehicles, critical minerals

What other minerals are important?

Although these six minerals will be focused on first, the strategy also mentions a series of other materials that “present notable prospects for the future.”

Those minerals — including vanadium, gallium, titanium, scandium, magnesium, tellurium, sinx, niobium and germanium — can all be found in various clean technologies and other modern equipment. Potash, uranium and aluminum are also highlighted.

The government says the list of 31 minerals will be reviewed and updated every few years.

— With files from Global News’ Saba Aziz and Bryan Mullan