Sunday, May 05, 2019

Saskatchewan premier plans to appeal carbon tax decision to Supreme Court

Court rules 3-2 in favour of federal government; but dissenters say carbon tax wholly unconstitutional

THIS IS A WASTE OF TAXPAYERS MONEY, ALBERTA HAS THE BEST CARBON TAX WHICH IS PROVINCIALLY REDEEMABLE FOR 60% OF THE POPULATION
THIS LEGAL CHALLENGE WILL GO NOWHERE AS DID THE PROVINCES CHALLENGES TO THE FEDERAL GUN REGISTRY (EP)

Creeden Martell · CBC News · Posted: May 03, 2019 12:03 PM CT | Last Updated: May 3

Saskatchewan's Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the federal government by a margin of 3-2 in a legal battle against the federal carbon tax. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says the province will appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. (Michael Bell/Canadian Press

Saskatchewan's Court of Appeal has ruled that the carbon tax imposed on the

province by the federal government is constitutionally sound and falls within the

legislative authority of Parliament. The ruling was released Friday.

Premier Scott Moe said the decision will be appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada. The province has about 30 days to appeal, according to Saskatchewan Attorney General Don Morgan. The provincial government would act as intervenor in other court challenges against the carbon tax.

"I remain hopeful for a different outcome," Moe said in the aftermath of the decision's release.

"No one in this nation should confuse climate action with a carbon tax."

Lawyers for the provincial government had argued the tax is unfair and unconstitutional. The 155-page decision was not unanimous. Three judges ruled in favour of the federal government while two ruled the law was wholly unconstitutional.

Justices Ralph Ottenbreit and Neal Caldwell were the dissenting opinions as they argued Part 1 of The Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act,which imposes a charge on greenhouse gas-producing fuels and waste, is invalid and an unconstitutional delegation of Parliament's law-making power.

Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna speaks in the foyer of the House of Commons in Ottawa on Friday. McKenna called out political opponents of the carbon tax, challenging them to 'stop the partisan games and join in on serious and effective climate action.' (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

Moe said Saskatchewan, and the rest of Canada, will be able to have their say on the federal carbon tax when the next general election rolls around. He pointed out that the carbon tax became a hot button issue in recent provincial elections and will be a factor again in October.

"It was forced on the provinces across the nation ... by the prime minister of Canada," Moe said of the carbon tax. "The only effectiveness this tax has is ultimately moving jobs out of our jurisdiction into other areas of the world, and we won't stand for that."

Saskatchewan had introduced its own carbon plan, Prairie Resilience, but did not place a price on carbon. The federal government's carbon price starts at a minimum of $20 a tonne and is to rise $10 each year until 2022.

Federal Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna praised the court's decision to uphold Ottawa's jurisdiction.

"It confirms that putting a price on carbon pollution and returning the revenues to Canadians through the Climate Action Incentive rebate is not only constitutional, it is an effective and essential part of any serious response to the global challenge of climate change," McKenna said in Ottawa on Friday.

McKenna challenged opponents of the carbon tax to "stop the partisan games and join in on serious and effective climate action." She re-emphasized the court's findings that a price on carbon is "an essential aspect or element of the global effort to limit GHG emissions."

Brett Dolter, an economics professor at the University of Regina, said the decision means the Saskatchewan government must now look at how it should modify its own made-in-Saskatchewan carbon reduction plan — whether it's similar to the federal plan, or offering rebate cheques, or moving the revenue to other sectors of government which could use the funding.

Watch CBC Saskatchewan's special coverage:

"The policy can be designed to ensure people don't fall behind. That's the message I want people to realize," said Dolter. "We often talk about carbon pricing as if it's just this cost — and we often forget about the money coming in that could offset this impact."

Ontario has also launched a court challenge against the carbon tax, which was implemented by the federal government on April 1 in provinces that did not have their own carbon pricing plan that satisfied criteria laid out by Ottawa.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said in a statement that the decision from the Saskatchewan court is "far from the broad victory the federal government sought."

Sask.'s highest court to release decision on province's challenge of federal carbon tax

Premier criticizes report that says most Sask. households come out ahead despite carbon tax

Kenney also said Alberta would be joining Saskatchewan's case as it appeals it to the Supreme Court. Kenney touted his province's plan, which includes carbon-capture storage but does not mention phasing out coal. Alberta's plan instead looks at emissions targets that could force some coal plants to close or switch to a cleaner fuel to remain profitable.

"We believe that our strong plan makes a federal carbon tax redundant and that a consumer-punishing retail carbon tax — whether imposed by the NDP or by Justin Trudeau — is the wrong way to go. It's all economic pain and no environmental gain," Kenney's statement reads.

New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs said he's disappointed by the decision, and that the province would consult its attorney general to "determine the most effective means to continue our opposition."

Anti-carbon tax crusaders Doug Ford, Jason Kenney meet at Queen's Park

OPINION
Canada can learn from Australia's carbon pricing mistakes

"The unfair federal tax does not, and will not, work within the strategies developed in New Brunswick to address one of the most pressing issues of our times," he said in a statement.

Manitoba's Premier Brian Pallister has said his province will also launch its own court challenge.

There's also the possibility that the Supreme Court may not hear the case if courts in Saskatchewan, Ontario and Manitoba come to similar conclusions about the constitutionality of carbon pricing, according to experts.

DOCUMENT

PAGES

Zoom

Mobile users: View the document
(PDF KB)
(Text KB)CBC is not responsible for 3rd party content

Mass. Judge Refuses to Halt Pro-Palestinian Event at UMass Featuring Roger Waters & Linda Sarsour
STORY MAY 03, 2019

Watch Full Show

GUESTS
Sut Jhally
professor of communication at the University of Massachusetts and founder and executive director of the Media Education Foundation, which organized the event, “Not Backing Down: Israel, Free Speech, and the Battle for Palestinian Human Rights.”
Rachel Weber
attorney and member Jewish Voice for Peace, Western Massachusetts chapter.

LINKS
Not Backing Down Event Details
Jewish Voice for Peace

“Not Backing Down: Israel, Free Speech, and the Battle for Palestinian Human Rights.” That’s the title of an event set to take place Saturday at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. After three anonymous UMass students filed a lawsuit to stop the event, a judge ruled Thursday the event can proceed, saying, “There’s nothing that comes even close to a threat of harm or incitement to violence or lawlessness.” We get an update from Sut Jhally, event organizer and professor of communication at the University of Massachusetts, and Rachel Weber, attorney and member Jewish Voice for Peace, Western Massachusetts chapter.

British Columbia

'I realized how much power I held': Climate change workshops offer high school students hope for the future

Program intends to rollout in schools across Vancouver this fall

Joel Ballard · CBC News · Posted: May 03, 2019 5:47 PM PT | Last Updated: May 3

UBC Grace Nosek, in red, sits at a table of students including 15-year-old Nina Rossing, pictured at the computer. They are working together to combat climate change. (Submitted by Grace Nosek)

The project, which is in its pilot phase, was created after its organizer, UBC PhD law student Grace Nosek, visited students around Vancouver to ask them how they felt about climate change.

She says her questions were overwhelmingly met with pessimistic outlooks.

"Extinction, the end of the world and the death of all animals," was the general response from students, Nosek said, speaking with Stepehn Quinn, the host of CBC's The Early Edition.

Canada's sea levels are rising — and that's got British Columbians in coastal cities concerned

She says she wanted to give young people hope and a way to affect change.

"We feel like there's a moral prerogative to give them a sense that there's a future...that they can have agency on climate," she said.

Inspiring climate ambassadors

Nina Rossing, like many of her friends at Prince of Wales Secondary, has known about climate change for a while but never felt she could really make a difference until she joined the workshop.

"I realized how much power I held and how much power this generation holds. That could change the world," said 15-year-old Rossing.

Hundreds of students walked out of classes Friday afternoon to protest government inaction on climate change in downtown Vancouver. ((Evan Mitsui/CBC))

She says simple decisions like buying less clothing and changing the type of light bulb used at home could make a significant impact if everyone were to commit to making a difference.

Climate change and poor planning are fuelling more floods. Here's what we can do about it

Since taking part, Rossing has also reached out to her local MLA, Melanie Mark, as well as Education Minister Rob Fleming to demand more education on climate change in B.C. schools.

"We do learn the science behind climate change, but we're not really told how we can act [to fix it], she said.

"That is, I think, a huge problem."

'The scale of hope'

The program launched two weeks ago and Nosek says she has already noticed the effect empowering one person has on others.

Students rally in downtown Vancouver Friday to call for government action on climate change. ((Evan Mitsui/CBC))

She says she has watched Rossing inspire hundreds of other students to take ownership over the planet.

"The scale of hope is the is the only thing, in my mind, that takes on the scale of the crisis," said Nosek.

In the fall, she intends to launch workshops in schools across Vancouver.

TransCanada shareholders agree to drop ‘Canada’ from the name

Posted By: The Canadian Presson: May 03, 2019In: News, Top Storie s

Russ Girling, President and CEO of TransCanada Corp., says the new name, TC Energy, acknowledges the company's origin as TransCanada while signalling that it has evolved. (Mike Ridewood/The Canadian Press). Photo courtesy of CBC. — Russ Girling, President and CEO of TransCanada Corp., says the new name, TC Energy, acknowledges the company’s origin as TransCanada while signalling that it has evolved. (Mike Ridewood/The Canadian Press). Photo courtesy of CBC.

TransCanada Corp. is officially dropping the “Canada” from its name, but CEO Russ Girling isn’t saying he expects it will make it any easier to get pipelines approved in Canada or the United States.

The Calgary-based company is now to be called TC Energy Corp., after shareholders approved the change at its annual meeting Friday.

“The name TC Energy acknowledges our origin as TransCanada PipeLines, while adding the word ‘energy’ speaks to the breadth of our business, which includes pipelines, power generation and energy storage,” Girling told the meeting.

“But to be clear, this is a name change, not a brand name. We are very proud of who we are and what we do.”

He declined to talk to reporters after the event.

The company said the change recognizes its growth into the United States and Mexico, including through its recent US$13-billion purchase of U.S. natural gas transporter Columbia Pipeline Group.

It has about 7,000 employees in North America, with 3,500 in Canada, 3,200 in the U.S. and 300 in Mexico.

But some analysts suggest it’s also a chance to distance itself from Canada, where difficulty in getting pipeline projects approved has been blamed for a glut of oil that caused steep discount pricing last fall and prompted the Alberta government to curtail production starting in January.

“I think the name change is semantics,” U.S.-based analyst Jennifer Rowland of Edward Jones wrote in an email.

“I don’t think it attracts new investors, but I do think it’s a subtle, or not so subtle depending on how you view it, way to de-emphasize Canada as some investors are leery of investing in Canada given the government intervention in free markets in Alberta and the difficult regulatory environment for energy.”

TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta into the U.S. was first proposed in 2008, rejected by then-president Barack Obama in 2015, approved by President Donald Trump in 2016 and again in March, but remains on hold awaiting court rulings in Montana and Nebraska.

The court delays mean the project will not be able to start construction in the U.S. this year, Paul Miller, president of liquids pipelines, confirmed during an afternoon conference call with financial analysts.

The project could still be unfinished if a new federal government is elected in the U.S. in 2020, he added, but it’s hoped all permits and approvals will be in hand by then and a new administration won’t affect bringing the project on stream.

Shareholders at the meeting voted almost 90 per cent against a motion sponsored by the Pension Plan of the United Church of Canada that would have required the company to report on how it is meeting international standards for Indigenous people’s rights.

They went along with the company’s recommendation to reject the motion as unnecessary given its existing policies.

The official approval of the name change came as the company reported a first-quarter profit of $1 billion of $1.09 per share, up from $734 million or 83 cents per share a year ago.

Revenue for the first quarter totalled $3.49 billion, compared with $3.42 billion in the first quarter of 2018.

On a comparable basis, TransCanada says it earned $987 million or $1.07 per share for the quarter, up from $864 million or 98 cents per share a year ago.

Analysts on average had expected a profit of 99 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon.

Story by Dan Healing, The Canadian Press

Trudeau resists pressure to decriminalize drugs in face of opioid crisis

HYPOCRITE IT IS TIME TO DECRIMINALIZE ALL DRUGS AS THE LE DAIN COMMISSION RECOMMENDED BACK UNDER HIS DADDY PRIME MINISTER TRUDEAU SRThe Commission of Inquiry into the Non-Medical Use of Drugs, often referred to as the Le Dain Commission after its chair Dean Gerald Le Dain, was a Canadian government commission that was begun in 1969 and completed its work in 1972.

Trudeau resists pressure to decriminalize drugs in face of opioid crisis

Posted By: The Canadian Presson: May 04, 2019In: News, Top Stories

File photo Justin Trudeau (CBC News). — File photo (CBC News).

OTTAWA — Donna May says she’ll no longer tolerate a nod or weepy eyes from politicians over the opioid epidemic — it’s claimed the lives of too many people she loves.

May wants action in the form of drug decriminalization and she’s far from alone in her plea.

The death of May’s 55-year-old brother a year ago in Bolton, Ont., broke her emotionally.

“We have the ability to stop these deaths and we are stepping back from doing what is right,” she says.

“I lost my brother just a year ago, even after losing my daughter and being able to say to him, ‘Look it, all these drugs are poison.”’

May has spent years advocating with mumsDU — “moms united and mandated to saving the lives of Drug Users” — after the death of her 34-year-old daughter Jacey in 2012.

Jacey was a mother of three who developed a fentanyl addiction and ran afoul of the law. She was introduced to opioids through a prescription after she was injured falling down a flight of stairs onto a concrete basement floor.

Seven years after her death, government interventions on the opioid crisis have not prevented thousands more, May says.

“I’m afraid unless we do something that’s effective and immediate, we are going to see a huge increase in the overdose crisis,” she says. “It hasn’t ended. It hasn’t even subsided. It is just growing at exponential rates across Canada.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has refused to pursue decriminalization, even though he’s faced pressure from grassroots Liberal party members and his own caucus.

Last April, at a convention in Halifax, the Liberal rank and file passed a non-binding resolution on decriminalizing simple possession and consumption of all illicit drugs.

Trudeau shot the idea down. “On that particular issue, as I’ve said, it’s not part of our plans,” he said.

During the first nine months of last year, the Public Health Agency reported 3,286 Canadians lost their lives to apparent opioid-related overdoses, bringing the total to more than 10,300 between January 2016 and September 2018.

Fentanyl and other fentanyl-related substances continue to be a major driver of this crisis, the agency added.

In response to the staggering death toll, B.C.’s chief public-health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry recently called for B.C. to decriminalize the possession of controlled substances for personal use, in a 50-page report titled “Stopping the Harm.”

She said her province can’t wait for Ottawa to act, adding that decriminalizing the possession of even hard drugs is an important step to “stem the tide of unprecedented deaths.”

“I have called on the federal government to move toward regulating access to currently controlled drugs, with a focus on reducing harm associated with the use of those substances, as well as the harms associated with the current prohibition-based regulatory regime and its application,” she said.

“But in the context of the continuing overdose crisis that is affecting families and communities across B.C., the province cannot wait for action at the federal level. Immediate provincial action is warranted, and I recommend that the Province of B.C. urgently move to decriminalize people who possess controlled substances for personal use.”

There is widespread global recognition that the war on drugs and the resulting criminalization and stigmatization of people who use them has not reduced drug use but instead has increased health harms, the report added.

The federal NDP has also called for decriminalization, along with a growing number of health experts.

“I certainly think that it can begin a discussion in this country about where we are going and are we on the right track as it relates to drugs, mental health and addictions,” Dr. Jeffrey Turnbull, a former president of the Canadian Medical Association and the previous chief of staff at the Ottawa Hospital, said in a recent interview. A major part of his work is tending to the medical needs of homeless and street-involved people in Ottawa.

“Can we continue to put all these people in our jails or shouldn’t we try and deal with this as a problem of health rather than justice?”

For her part, Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam is careful to say the federal government is not prepared to decriminalize illicit street drugs “as it stands.”

A major factor in rising overdose numbers is high-potency fentanyl and carfentanil being passed off as lower-strength opioids in street drugs. The more powerful drugs are easier to transport and sell but when users don’t know the potency of the substances they’re taking, overdoses are a big risk.

“We can do much more, I think, in looking at what are the different ways that we can provide people who are using drugs a ‘safer alternative,’ ” Tam says.

Health Canada is funding some pilot projects, Tam says, such as providing pharmaceutical-grade hydromorphone to people who are using street drugs “in an attempt to get them away from the toxic supply.”

The department should be pursuing a safer supply on a broad basis rather than in scattered pilots, May says, adding she sees decriminalization as the “only next step.”

Trudeau’s resistance to it amounts to a “huge disappointment”, she said.

“He gives us his pat answers without any explanation as to why he stands behind these answers and they just don’t make sense,” she says.

“If you take all the reasoning behind why he’s legalized cannabis and you apply it — all those reasons to the opiate crisis, there’s a clear direction that he should be going in the decriminalization (route).”

By Kristy Kirkup — The Canadian Press

with files from Andy Blatchford

Employee advocates call for greater protections for overnight workers after Saanich hotel robbery

Posted By: Mary Griffinon: May 03, 2019In: News, Top Stories

WATCH: Employee advocates are calling for greater protections for overnight workers after the robbery of a Saanich hotel Thursday morning. Dramatic surveillance video shows thieves overpowering a lone hotel clerk. Mary Griffin reports.

Unifor union representative Jeannie Blaney watched the shocking surveillance video of the May 2nd, Howard Johnson Hotel, and Suites robbery and is voicing her concern for the hotel clerk, who was dragged by the suspects to a back room and tied up.

“I’ve dealt with workers who’ve experienced that, and it’s horrific,” Blaney said.

The violent robbery happened Thursday at 4 a.m., at the Howard Johnson Hotel on Elk Lake Drive. The two masked suspects overpowered the lone desk clerk then stole a “substantial” amount of cash.

Now Unifor is pushing for strengthening protections for graveyard shift workers.

“I would like to see two co-workers at the desk,” Blaney said.

That used to be the law in B.C. Working at a gas station in Maple Ridge, employee Grant DePatie died in 2005 after being dragged by a driver who refused to pay. But the Liberals changed Grant’s Law in 2012. The Retail Action Network’s Eric Nordal wants the two-person rule back.

“Working in late night industries like this where you are handling a lot of cash, workers are constantly at risk,” Nordal said.

Spencer Lackmanec knows first hand the dangers of working at night.

“We’re calling on the government, the NDP, to re-implement those parts of Grant’s Law that were taken away,” Lackmanec said.

In the fall, five U.S. hotel chains, including the corporate owners of the Howard Johnson hotels, Wyndham Hotels, agreed to supply workers with panic buttons.

“If you are panicking, and you know you’ve got something around your neck. And you could press it, and police would be notified right away,” Blaney said.

Saanich police confirm the victim in Thursday’s robbery did not have a panic button.

THEY ARE CALLED WORKING ALONE REGULATIONS WE HAVE THEM IN ALBERTA, AND HAVE INCLUDED HAVING PANIC BUTTONS OR SOME FORM OF COMMUNICATION ALSO NOW PREPAYING FOR GAS IN ORDER TO PROTECT GAS STATION WORKERS ON NIGHT SHIFT

SMALL ALBERTA OIL COMPANIES MAY CLOSE IN LARGE NUMBERS

KENNEY AND UCP ARE NOW IN CHARGE SO HOW IS THAT GOING

Change Alberta

Fair Albertans! It appears that many Alberta companies did not receive the UCP e-mail: she-devil Rachel Notley, who was elected eight months after world oil prices began a steep fall, used her black magic to climb into a time warp to reduce those prices. Then she and her New Diabolical Party caused investors all over the world to have heart attacks by investing in schools and health care and even daycares for commoners when every good soul knows that they should have been abandoing such unworthy projects for deep corporate cuts for billionaires.

Now God's sidekick (well, Stephen Harper's sidekick, which is just as good, no?) has been elected by the good people of Alberta to right the wrongs created by the she-devil and her alleged accomplice, the scion of the evil leader of Mordor, P.E. Trudeau. Sir Jason KKKenney, warding off all those who would imprison him for a few little nasty tricks against that chump of a Brian Jean, has told the world that he will build pipelines to everywhere and let oil companies pay less in corporate tax than the province will spend building infrastructure for them and providing an educated and healthy labour force for them. (Don't be glum about such cuts, you silly bleeding-heart leftists. Don't you know that the rich will trickle wealth down to you and you can join Americans in patronizing private health and education services, which may be a trifle expensive but make you feel so much more like free men and women than those socialist schools and hospitals that don't even own credit card machines).

And an oil company has shut down and a dozen plan to follow???? Who's writing that script? It must be the she-devil herself or maybe the international socialist conspiracy???? Everyone knows that when we kneel to the super-wealthy that via the invisible hand of the market, they will enrich us all.

SMALL ALBERTA OIL COMPANIES MAY CLOSE IN LARGE NUMBERS

Business

Another oil and gas company fails in Alberta — and more than a dozen others are teetering

'It's going to get a lot worse,' landowner advocate says about the number of companies on the brink

Kyle Bakx · CBC News · Posted: May 03, 2019 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: May 3

A sign is located near a Trident Exploration natural gas well near the community of Didsbury, Alta. Trident blamed low commodity prices and a lack of export pipeline capacity, among other reasons, for shutting down this week. (Kyle Bakx/CBC)

Alberta's persistently low oil and gas prices have claimed another victim as Calgary-based Trident Exploration ceased operations this week.

Several other companies could suffer the same fate.

Trident's board of directors resigned, 94 people are without work and a large number of oil and gas assets now have no owner. The company, predominantly focused on natural gas, had approximately 3,650 wells, 240 facilities and 500 pipelines, according to the Albey Regulator

While there is no official list of how many firms have declared bankruptcy since the oil price crash in late 2014, many companies declared bankruptcy or entered creditor protection. In the last year alone, at least a dozen companies have become insolvent, according to Insolvency Insider, an industry newsletter.

Plenty of companies are in rough shape, said Daryl Bennett who works with small energy companies through his positions with the Action Surface Rights Association and Alberta Surface Rights Federation.

"It's going to get a lot worse," he said during a phone interview from his home in Taber, in southern Alberta. "There are close to 31 companies right now that are close to going insolvent."

Since the beginning of January, heavy oil in the province has sold for more than $40 US per barrel and even climbed above $50 US this month. Still, this week, the Petroleum Services Association of Canada lowered its 2019 drilling forecast for the second time.

It now anticipates 5,300 oil and gas wells will be drilled in Canada, down from a revised estimate of 5,600 wells in January and a 20 per cent drop from its original 6,600 forecast in November 2018.

'They don't have the money'

Meanwhile, natural gas prices have remained low for several years and Bennett said those companies are the ones hurting the most.

"[For] a lot of them, it's a cashflow problem. They don't have the money," he said.

Trident blamed low commodity prices and a lack of export pipeline capacity, among other reasons for shutting down.

The Alberta Energy Regulator said it will now examine whether any of the company's operations are a risk to the public and the environment. It will also ensure "Trident's infrastructure is transferred to responsible operators, safely decommissioned, or, as a last resort, transferred to the Orphan Well Association."

As more companies go bankrupt, the Orphan Well Association has seen its inventory of wells, pipelines and other facilities rise sharply in recent years. The association is funded by industry, and fees charged to the sector have increased to help deal with the large backlog of work.

A recent study from consulting firm XI Technologies of Calgary found the number of companies producing oil and gas in Western Canada has dropped by almost 300 or 17.5 per cent since 2014.

Last month, one landowner group suggested cleaning up all of the old and unproductive oil and gas wells in Alberta will cost between $40 billion and $70 billion.

Corrections

An earlier version of this story said Trident had 4,400 wells. In fact, the company has approximately 3,650 wells, 240 facilities and 500 pipelines, according to the Alberta Energy Regulator.

May 03, 2019 11:32 AM ET

THE ALBERTA NDP THE PARTY OF OIL WORKERS

THE COINCIDENTAL BIRTH OF THE NEW DEMOCRATS

AND THE OIL INDUSTRY IN ALBERTA