Haaland embraces 'indigenous knowledge' in confronting historic climate change impact

A relentless drought and wildfire season in America's West and a tense standoff over federal leases for oil and gas drilling have been early tests for the Biden administration's climate policy and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to hold the job and first indigenous member of a White House Cabinet.

"I can't speak for every tribe or even my tribe, but I can make sure that tribal leaders have a seat at the table," Haaland said in an interview with ABC News Live Prime. "Certainly, in this time of climate change bearing down upon us, that indigenous knowledge about our natural world will be extremely valuable and important to all of us."MORE: Tribe member Haaland now heads agency that once oppressed Native Americans

"Indian tribes have been on this continent for millennia, for tens of thousands of years," she added. "They know how to take care of the land … that's knowledge that's been passed down for generations and generations."

WATCH: One-on-one with Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. ABC News Live Prime 7 p.m. ET/9 p.m. ET, Wednesday Sept. 22.

© ABC News Interior Secretary Deb Haaland speaks with ABC News at the Vietnam Women's Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Haaland, a former U.S. representative from New Mexico and one of the first two native women to serve in Congress, is leaning in on her experience as a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe to confront the historic impacts of climate change on communities nationwide.

She leads the agency which manages more than 480 million acres of public lands and a government leasing program that has allowed private energy businesses to tap into valuable natural resources situated on federal property

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© Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting with Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and governors about the nation's wildfires, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, June 30, 2021.

Early in his term, President Joe Biden ordered a moratorium of new leases -- with an eye toward discontinuing the program altogether -- in an effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels. The move has made Haaland, who's now conducting a formal review of the program, a target of criticism from the energy industry and Republican lawmakers from states dependent on oil and gas production

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© Leigh Vogel/Pool via Getty Images, FILE

"You said that if you had it your way, and I quote, you'd stop oil and gas leasing on public lands. As secretary, you will get to have it your way," Sen. Steve Daines of Montana charged during Haaland's confirmation hearing earlier this year. The Republican later voted against her nomination.

"It's a pause on just new leases, not existing, valid leases," Haaland responded, explaining the moratorium. Last month, a federal court ordered the Interior Department to resume the leasing program while legal challenges continue.MORE: Haaland makes history as Department of the Interior nominee

"It has the potential to cost jobs here in the United States, good-paying energy jobs," Frank Macchiarola, an energy industry lobbyist at the American Petroleum Institute told ABC News. "It has the potential to increase costs for consumers."

Most U.S. oil and gas production occurs on private land, according to the Congressional Research Service. Roughly 9% of American output came from federal lands in 2019, the agency said.

© Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE Chevron signage is displayed in front of a horizontal drilling rig on federal land in Lea County, N.M., Sept. 10, 2020.

Haaland is also helping to lead the federal government's response to historic drought and wildfires fueled by climate change.

Ninety percent of the American West is experiencing "severe" or "exceptional" drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. The conditions have ravaged the agricultural industry in nearly a dozen states and forced several to enact mandatory water cutbacks for residents. California, Arizona and New Mexico have also been battling some of the largest and most destructive wildfires in years.

“Drought doesn't just impact one community. It affects all of us, from farmers and ranchers to city dwellers and Indian tribes," Haaland said on a visit to Denver in July. "We all have a role to use water wisely, manage our resources with every community in mind, work collaboratively and respect each other during this challenging time.”

The Interior Department has deployed millions of dollars in federal relief funds and sped recruitment of government firefighters. Last month, Haaland announced a pay raise for those on the front lines.

"We need to think about, you know, does that come down to management? Is that something that we need to reinvestigate how some of these forested lands are being managed? And is there a better way to prepare those forested lands for the next fire season?" said Brian Fuchs, a climatologist at the National Drought Mitigation Center, who hopes the worsening drought will lead to a greater review of how federal lands are managed and can best combat drought.MORE: 'Megadrought' in West directly linked to climate change, experts say

Haaland is also overseeing a multi-billion dollar renovation plan for the National Park System; a renewed campaign to improve access to the parks for communities of color; and steps to address longstanding protests by some tribal groups demanding greater control over federal parklands.

© Noah Berger/AP A firefighter lays hose around the Foothills Visitor Center while battling the KNP Complex Fire in Sequoia National Park, Calif., Sept. 14, 2021.

"You have to understand that for there to be any justice or repair on these lands, it has to go back to the roots. And for indigenous peoples on these lands -- it goes back to land theft," said Krystal Two Bulls, director of the Landback movement, which calls for all federal lands to be returned to their original tribes. "This entire so-called country was built on top of -- stolen land by stolen people."

Two Bulls and other Landback organizers argue that tribes are best suited to care for these lands given their deep history and knowledge of the natural world.MORE: To Native Americans, reparations can vary from having sovereignty to just being heard

"Whoever's currently in charge is not protecting these lands, indigenous peoples, that's not what we're about, we're about that relationship to the land," Two Bulls told ABC News. "Native peoples knew how to manage and work with the fire, as a natural element, we knew how to do that."

Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland speaks at an event to draw attention and action to sacred sites and Indigenous rights in the U.S., in Washington, D.C., July 29, 2021.

Haaland has said she wants to use that knowledge in her tenure at the Interior Department and to make clear that "those voices are heard."

"Well, we absolutely are listening," she said.

During official travel, she regularly pays homage to her roots; she was known to wear traditional moccasins in the House and donned ceremonial tribal garb for her swearing in with Vice President Kamala Harris. She even addressed senators in the native language of the Laguna Pueblo during her confirmation hearing in the spring.

Debra Haaland testifies during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resource, at the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 24, 2021, in Washington.

She also brings a legacy of service to her country; her father served as a Marine for three decades and her mother served in the Navy. Haaland said that she has always had a connection with the outdoors, and recalls spending time outside often with her father, who was an avid fisherman.

"I worked hard, and you know I followed a path, but I also stand on the shoulders of … so many tribal leaders who have come before me," Haaland said. "And so I feel very confident that if it weren't for those people that I wouldn't have had that path to follow."

Deb Haaland, U.S. secretary of the interior, center, sworn in during a ceremony in Washington, D.C., March 18, 2021.

Haaland was confirmed as secretary of the interior by a 51-40 vote in the Senate in March. Once sworn in, she took over the reins at an agency that less than two centuries earlier had a mission to "civilize or exterminate" indigenous people and led the oppressive relocation of Native Americans.

She says that history gave her no hesitation.

"This is our ancestral homeland, this is Native Americans', this is our ancestral homeland. We're not going anywhere," Haaland said. "This is land we love and care about."

INCLUDING CARBON TAX TORIES
Environment groups say all parties now firmly behind strong action on climate change

OTTAWA — Two years ago environment groups applauded the federal election results as a win after almost two in every three voters picked a party with a clear commitment to combating climate change.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Monday's election may have returned almost the same seat counts as the last vote, but environment leaders say from where they sit there is one big distinction.


"Now 95% of Canadians voted for climate action," said Tim Gray, executive director of Environmental Defence.

Only the People's Party of Canada had no climate action in their plan, he said.

The Conservative climate plan in 2019 was widely panned as lacking in both detail and ambition, something Erin O'Toole acknowledged was a weakness. He made a climate plan a priority after he took over the leadership in 2020, releasing a climate plan months ahead of the election that included a form of carbon pricing, reversing more than a decade of Conservative policy that carbon pricing was "a tax on everything."

O'Toole's plan was still less ambitious than the other parties, but it was still a commitment to act, said Isabelle Turcotte, director of federal policy at the clean energy thinktank Pembina Institute.

"Even if we have different benchmarks for progress in different parties and in different groups of Canadians, we do have parties across the board that have proposed stronger climate platforms than 2019," she said.. "And climate action, the path forward was not used as as a wedge issue for political gain. And that is, to me, a win."

Both Gray and Turcotte said there is now zero time to waste, no more time for legal battles over federal jurisdiction, no more time for endless consultations that ultimately drag ambition backwards.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres told the Associated Press before this week's UN general assembly meetings in New York, that the world was "on the verge of the abyss and we cannot afford a step in the wrong direction."

"Hmmm, sounds fairly urgent, no?" Gray said. "We don't have any time."

The next UN climate meeting is scheduled for early November in Scotland, and pressure is mounting for wealthy countries like Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, to amp up both domestic action and global financing to help poorer nations keep up.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to attend that meeting, which was delayed a year by COVID-19.

Gray said Canada is now behind many of its peers on climate action. That includes the U.S., which under President Joe Biden now has higher emission reduction targets than Canada and is spending three times as much per capita on climate initiatives.

In 2015, when Trudeau participated in the Paris climate agreement talks just weeks after his first electoral win, he and his new government's climate policies were viewed quite favourably both inside and outside of Canada. Fast forward six years, and that reputation is tarnished, with Canada's emissions actually higher than they were in 2015, and frustration over the lack of action to curb emissions from the oil and gas sector.

Gray said the Liberal climate platform is finally promising that will change. The biggest ticket promise in the 2021 plan is to cap emissions from oil and gas industries, and then set five year targets to keep lowering those caps, until they get to net zero emissions by 2050.

Net zero means no emissions are added to the atmosphere, with anything produced captured by nature or technology.

But that promise is loose, with no actual caps or targets set, and a vague promise to establish the caps in consultation with the industry. Trudeau has an advantage in that most oil companies in Canada have already promised to get to net zero by 2050.

Gray said there cannot be endless consultations to set those targets.

The Liberals are also promising much stronger regulations to push electric vehicles onto Canada's roads, mandating that by 2030, half of all passenger cars sold will be electric, and by 2035, all of them must be.

Transportation and fossil fuel production were the two biggest drivers of Canada's emissions growth between 2015 and 2019, offsetting the significant gains made by closing coal-fired power plants.

The Liberals submitted stronger targets to the UN in July, moving emissions cuts from 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, to 40 to 45 per cent.

Hitting Canada's new targets, means cutting between 292 million tonnes and 328.5 million tonnes of greenhouse gases annually. That's approximately what would be produced by between 64 million and 71 million passenger vehicles over the course of one year. Canada, for the record, only has 23 million passenger cars on the road currently.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 22, 2021.

Mia Rabson, The Canadian Press

Candidates of Colour Dominate New Immigrant-Heavy Ridings

Voters in ridings heavily populated by new immigrants and visible minorities overwhelmingly chose candidates of colour to represent them in the next Canadian Parliament.


An early analysis of yesterday’s election results by NCM showed 19 of the 23 ridings where one visible minority group is dominant either returned or elected MPs whose cultural heritage and origins reflected that of the majority of voters in their area.

In Ontario’s Brampton area, which has the largest South Asian population in the country, all four federal ridings went to the Liberal Party of Canada, which is projected to form a minority government.

Brampton Centre went to Liberal incumbent Shafqat Ali, who won 46 per cent of the vote in the tightest race in the city, beating Conservative candidate Jagdeep Singh.

Liberal MP Maninder Sidhu held onto his Brampton East seat, Liberal MP Ruby Sahota has been re-elected for the third time in Brampton North, while Brampton West was retained by Liberal Kamal Khera.

In B.C.’s Surrey-Newton riding, home to about 60,000 people where more than 60 per cent are South Asian New Canadians, all five candidates for the seat have South Asian heritage.

Liberal incumbent Sukh Dhaliwal beat Conservative Syed Mohsin, New Democrat Avneet Johal, Pamela Singh of the People’s Party of Canada and Independent Parveer Hundal.

Except for Dhaliwal, all the others were first-time candidates for this riding of just 30 square kilometres but among the most diverse in the country.

Markham-Unionville in Ontario and Richmond Centre in B.C are listed by Statistics Canada as having the biggest Chinese-Canadian voting blocs.

The Richmond Centre riding, which has the second-highest population of Chinese-Canadians, has recorded some of the lowest voter turnout in British Columbia over the past decade.

Liberal Wilson Miao, who immigrated from Hong Kong as a child, beat Conservative candidate Alice Wong, who was running for re-election.

In Alberta’s Calgary Skyview, another area with a heavy new immigrant population, Liberal candidate George Chahal defeated Conservative Jag Sahota.

More than 40 of 338 federal ridings in Parliament have populations where visible minorities are the largest voting bloc.

Elections Canada and Statistics Canada records show that compared with established immigrants (those who have lived in the country for 10 years or more) and non-immigrants, new Canadians (those who’ve immigrated to Canada in the previous 10 years) were less likely to vote in general elections.

Many reasons have been put forward to explain this, including the lack of democratic traditions in some regions of the world, the lack of trust in institutions, or differences in political culture. Immigrants from Eastern Europe and East Asia had the lowest voter turnout rates.

In a pre-election interview, Andrew Griffith, a fellow of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute and the Environics Institute, said polling data suggests that new Canadians of South Asian heritage have a general tendency to vote for the Liberals or the NDP, while the Conservatives have fairly strong support from Chinese-Canadians.

He said candidates who can address issues pertaining to the homelands of new Canadians will resonate better with ethnic communities.

“Political parties have always taken demographic realities into account when selecting candidates,” he said.

Based on early results, here is how the top 23 ridings where a visible minority group and new Canadians are dominant, voted:

Fabian Dawson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, New Canadian Media

ECO COLONIALISM



Fighting to Save Coral Reef in One of the World's Most Beautiful Beach Destinations:

 'Let's Go Together' Season 2, Episode 21
Stacey Leasca 5 hrs ago

Travel is not only where we go, but a representation of who we are as people

Though the idea of travel has changed a bit over the last year and a half, it hasn't changed our outlook on how important it is to get out and celebrate both humanity and the greater good.

We're honoring the return of travel — whatever that may look like to you — with new episodes of our podcast, Let's Go Together, which highlights how travel changes the way we see ourselves and the world.

In the first season, our pilot and adventurer host, Kellee Edwards, introduced listeners to diverse globe-trotters who showed us that travelers come in all shapes and sizes and from all walks of life. From the first Black woman to travel to every country on Earth to a man who trekked to Machu Picchu in a wheelchair, we met some incredible folks. And now, in our second season, we are back to introduce you to new people, new places, and new perspectives.

© Courtesy of Cliona O’Flaherty Marine biologist Cliona O'Flaherty is making a huge difference in the waters surrounding Fiji. Here's how you can help.

On this episode of Let's Go Together, Edwards sits down with Cliona O'Flaherty, part of the marine biology team at Kokomo Private Island Resort in Fiji.

"I think eco-travel is the new way to go now," O'Flaherty said. "With everything that's been going on in the world, I think it's made people realize, it's time that everyone needs to do something to give back and there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to do that while you're taking a vacation or going on a holiday."

As part of the Kokomo marine biology team, which is based at Kokomo Private Island Resort in the Fiji Islands in the South of Fiji, O'Flaherty works on sustainability projects for the island and helps teach guests about ways they can make a difference.

"Sustainability is a key pillar of Kokomo's operation and it's not just the marine environment and the forest environment per se. It's actually in all corners of the resort," O'Flaherty said. "You can see it in the architecture, in the farm system that we have, in how we have our fishing systems. It's throughout the whole resort and we play a big role in the marine side and what we do there."

Key projects for the resort, O'Flaherty noted, include a massive Kokomo manta conservation project that focuses on conserving and protecting reef manta rays in Fiji. There's also the Kokomo Coral Restoration Project, which aims to protect corals around the shores of Kokomo.

"We also have a mangrove reforestation project and a new turtle project that we just launched, which is working in collaboration with the University of the South Pacific, which is beside us," O'Flaherty said, adding, "the kids club love joining us on those ones helping us water and weed the mangroves."

Ready to hear more about the projects and how you can get involved during a visit, too? Listen to it all on Let's Go Together, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Player.FM, and everywhere podcasts are available.

WHO reiterates warning against Covid boosters for healthy people as U.S. weighs wide distribution of third shots

The WHO strongly opposes the widespread rollout of booster shots, asking that wealthier nations instead give extra doses to countries with minimal vaccination rates.

The U.S. has already administered over 2 million boosters nationwide, according to the CDC.

An advisory panel to the FDA unanimously recommended boosters on Friday for anyone 65 and older.

© Provided by CNBC World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a news conference in Geneva Switzerland July 3, 2020.

Robert Towey 18 hrs ago

World Health Organization officials repeated their protests Tuesday against Covid-19 booster shots for the general public, even as the U.S. readies this week to authorize their distribution across a wide swath of America.

The WHO strongly opposes the widespread rollout of booster shots, asking that wealthier nations instead give extra doses to countries with minimal vaccination rates. The U.S. has already administered over 2 million third doses nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and an advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration unanimously recommended boosters on Friday for anyone 65 and older.

"What WHO is arguing is that booster doses in the general population, who had wide access to vaccines, who have already been vaccinated, is not the best bet right now," Dr. Mike Ryan, director of the WHO's health emergencies program, said during a live Q&A aired Tuesday on the organization's social media channels.

Ryan reiterated the WHO's support for third doses administered to the elderly, medically vulnerable people and anyone needing an immune system boost after a full Covid vaccine regimen. He reiterated the organization's calls for a moratorium on booster shots through the end of the year to give nations enough time to immunize at least 40% of their populations against Covid.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Sept. 14 that most countries with under 2% vaccination coverage are in Africa, where less than 3.5% of the continent's eligible population is fully inoculated against Covid. Africa will likely miss the WHO's target of a 10% vaccination rate by the end of the year, Tedros added.

But in the U.S., where almost 55% of the population is fully vaccinated, according to the CDC, the FDA is expected to issue formal guidance on Pfizer's boosters before the CDC holds its two-day meeting on the shots on Wednesday and Thursday.

An FDA advisory committee rejected a proposal Friday to recommend boosters for all Americans over 16, citing concerns about insufficient data and the potential for myocarditis. The group, instead, narrowed that plan, endorsing third doses for people 65 and over and other medically vulnerable people.

World leaders further discussed the global vaccination effort at a meeting Tuesday of the United Nations General Assembly. President Joe Biden will hold a Covid summit Wednesday to encourage international dignitaries to help improve global vaccine distribution, noting in a speech to the General Assembly that the U.S. had donated more than 160 million Covid vaccine doses to the cause.

"It's a real moment of truth," Ryan said. "We, as a world, are getting another chance, chances we haven't taken before, to focus on vaccine equity."

DENOUEMENT

‘Anti-vax’ billboard on ‘funeral home’ truck goes viral

Apparent anti-vax billboard on the side of a truck in Charlotte, North Carolina. Credit: AP

Published :September 22, 2021 8:57 AM EDT

CHARLOTTE, NC (CBS)

An apparent anti-COVID-19 vaccine digital billboard had Charlotte residents and social media buzzing Sunday afternoon. But it wasn’t anti-vaccine at all. Quite the opposite.

The billboard was on the side of a truck being driven around uptown Charlotte as thousands walked the streets during Sunday’s Carolina Panthers game at Bank of America Stadium.

The message featured simple white lettering on a black background and read, “Don’t get vaccinated.” Under it was the name “Wilmore Funeral Home.” It also included a web address for WilmoreFuneralHome.com. But the funeral home doesn’t exist.

The billboard was the brainchild of David Oakley, owner of the BooneOakley advertising agency, which went public about it in a tweet:


He spoke to CBS Charlotte affiliate WBTV about why he wanted to have the provocative message on people’s lips.

While at first glance, the billboard may have appeared to be an anti-vaccination plug, Oakley maintains it was meant to carry a pro-vaccine message.

“A lot of the advertisements that you see right now for pro-vaccine are very simple like, ‘get the shot’, ‘get vaccinated’. It’s very simple. We wanted to do something that saw things from a different perspective,” he said.

“The idea came about when we thought about who would really benefit from people not getting the shot and you kind of go back to the simple fact that people are dying that aren’t vaccinated, so who benefits from people dying? A funeral home!” Oakley explained.

He said the faux funeral home is named for the neighborhood where his business is located.

But while the Wilmore Funeral Home isn’t real, WilmoreFuneralHome.com is very much a real website. It features the same black background with white lettering. The website’s message reads, “Get vaccinated now. If not, see you soon.”David Oakley, owner of BooneOakley ad agency in Charlotte.
Credit: WBTV

The message links to the website for StarMED Healthcare, a company that’s helped to vaccinate thousands of people in Charlotte.

Chris Dobbins, Chief Relations and Response Officer for StarMED, sent WBTV a statement about the company’s website being linked to the digital billboard:

“StarMED Health has and will continue to administer and support COVID Testing, Vaccinations, and Antibody Therapy in response to this ongoing Pandemic. While we recognize there are varying opinions and different types of media messages, we support all efforts to educate and motivate our community to prevent and stop the spread of this virus.”

WBTV asked Oakley if he was worried his edgy messaging might rub some people the wrong way.

“I was a little bit worried before we started, but when I really think about it, if this advertisement gets one person vaccinated, it was worth it,” he replied.

A photo of the billboard truck went viral on Twitter Sunday. Thousands of people retweeted the image.

Garrett Crenshaw, owner of Crenshaw Visions, owns the digital billboard truck Oakley paid to use. Crenshaw’s business’s phone number is displayed on the vehicle. He said he’s received nearly 200 phone calls because of the vaccination message on the truck.

“(Oakley) told me that it might cause some attention. I was like, “You know, as long as it doesn’t go against our morals as a company then we’re fine,” and I knew the underlying messages of it that he was trying to get so we were good to go with it,” said Crenshaw.

Oakley said he and his team are proud of the billboard and he hopes it will ultimately lead to more people getting vaccinated against COVID-19.

“I think any advertisement that is provocative is going to create a dialogue and when you get people talking, people have action and I’m hoping that the action is people will get the shot because of this,” he remarked to WBTV.

Elvira's Cassandra Peterson Reveals 19-Year Relationship With a Woman: 'I've Got to Be Truthful'

Cassandra Peterson — known to most as horror hostess Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, since the early 1980s — is finally coming out into the light.

© Provided by People John Sciulli/Getty

Dan Heching 13 hrs ago

Peterson released her first memoir on Tuesday, and in it, she discusses her 19-year relationship with another woman named Teresa "T" Wierson, who started off as her gym trainer.

Titled Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark, the book recounts how Peterson, now 70, first noticed a "dark and brooding" trainer years ago at Gold's Gym in Hollywood — someone she thought was male.

RELATED: Cassandra Peterson Brings Back Elvira in New Music Video for 'Don't Cancel Halloween'

"Often, when I was doing my preworkout warm-up on the treadmill, I couldn't help noticing one particular trainer — tan, tattooed, and muscular — stalking across the gym floor, knit cap pulled so low over his long brown hair that it nearly covered his eyes," she wrote.© John Sciulli/Getty Cassandra Peterson — aka Elvira, Mistress of the Dark — is opening up about her almost two-decade romance in her new memoir, Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark

"A typical sexy bad boy, he was unaware he was so charismatic that he'd garnered his own unofficial fan club. Watching him from the safety of my treadmill made my heart beat faster and the time pass much more quickly."

Soon, however, the Elvira's Movie Macabre hostess discovered that the charismatic trainer was indeed a woman after running into her in the ladies' room. From there, she said a friendship began.

© Provided by People yours cruelly elvira memoirs of the mistress of the dark

RELATED: It's Elvira! The Mistress of the Dark Reveals Her Favorite Horror Movies

"A former body-builder, track runner, and cyclist, she was an incredibly sweet person, despite her tough exterior," Peterson wrote of Wierson. "She had the ability to make something even as mundane as working out fun, and we trained together three times a week for the next six years, striking up a close friendship along the way."

Years later, however, things evolved when Wierson showed up on Peterson's doorstep during a tough time and ended up moving in.

After Peterson divorced her husband Mark Pierson and embarked on raising their daughter Sadie on her own, she found that "instead of being a burden, having [Teresa] around was a huge relief."


"Evenings were spent with all of us laughing, cooking, singing, and dancing around the kitchen while she helped me prep dinner," Peterson added, going on to detail how they took their relationship to the next level.


"...After coming home from a movie, I told her goodnight and suddenly felt compelled to kiss her — on the mouth. As shocked as she was, I think I was even more surprised," Peterson recalled.

"What the hell was I doing? I'd never been interested in women as anything other than friends. I felt so confused. This just wasn't me! I was stunned that I'd been friends with her for so many years and never noticed our chemistry. How could I have missed it? Was it the male energy she exuded that attracted me? Her intense green eyes? Or just my own loneliness?"

Nevertheless, Peterson "soon discovered that we connected sexually in a way I'd never experienced, and after a while it became clear I was falling in love with this beautiful, androgynous creature who'd appeared on my doorstep, like an angel, just when I needed someone most."

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‘Yours Cruelly, Elvira - Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark’ audiobook narrated by me, is now available on @audible & @googleplay 🎧

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Now, decades later, the woman behind Elvira is happy to tell the story of her longtime love out in the open.

"As Cassandra, it wouldn't have mattered to me that people knew about our relationship, but I felt the need to protect Elvira in order to keep my career alive. Elvira has always had a thing for men, and men have a thing for her, so I worried that if I announced I was no longer living the 'straight life,' my fans would feel lied to, call me a hypocrite, and abandon me," she reasoned.

"Would my fans hate me for not being what they expected me to be? I'm very aware that there will be some who will be disappointed and maybe even angry, but I have to live with myself, and at this point in my life, I've got to be truthful about who I am."

Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark is out on bookstands now from Hachette Books.

  

Watch Brian and Stewie from ‘Family Guy’ Explain the Vaccine
Philip Ellis 2 hrs ago

Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane is doing his part to raise vaccine awareness by having his famous characters do the talking in a new PSA. The short film, released on Monday, begins with Peter Griffin visiting the doctor's office accompanied by Brian and Stewie, and expressing some uncertainty over whether or not to take the Covid vaccine.

Stewie then whips out his teleportation device and transports himself and Brian directly into Peter's bloodstream, where he launches into an explanation of exactly how vaccines work, both in general, and in relation to Covid, using some in-universe humor (for instance, the Covid spike protein resembles the frequently maligned Meg Griffin).

The PSA was created in partnership with The Ad Council's It's Up To You initiative, which aims to educate viewers about the virus.

"With millions of Americans still unsure about getting vaccinated against COVID-19, it's more important than ever that we have smart, informative and entertaining messages like this that will boost confidence in the vaccines," said Ad Council CEO Lisa Sherman. "This new work from Seth MacFarlane and the team at Family Guy is bringing critical vaccine information to audiences in a fresh and hilarious way that will surely inspire people to take the next step in slowing the pandemic. We are grateful to our partners at Disney and Fox for their passion and collaboration at this pivotal moment in time."

© Fox Seth MacFarlane wrote a short 'Family Guy' episode in which Stewie and Brian explain how the Covid vaccines work and why it's important to get vaccinated.

Richard Appel and Alec Sulkin, executive producers on the long-running animated sitcom, stated: "We were proud to work with some of the nation’s leading immunologists and epidemiologists on this PSA. And while we never understood a single note they gave us, we took them all."

Jagmeet Singh's priorities are now the wealth tax and adding nurses

Anja Karadeglija 13 hrs ago

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh says his party will have the leverage to pressure the minority Liberal government on priorities like a wealth tax and support for health workers, despite a disappointing election result Monday that saw the party’s seat count stall

.

© Provided by National Post Jagmeet Singh during an NDP election night event in Vancouver.

“I’m ready to get back to work. We had the same position in the last Parliament and we were able to secure a lot of really important victories,” such as forcing the Liberals to increase pandemic wage supports, Singh said in a press conference Tuesday.

“We’re going to continue to do that work. And we’re confident that we’ll be able to do that.”

But it’s not quite clear how leverage will work out when Parliament resumes, according to polling analyst Éric Grenier of the website The Writ. The Liberals don’t want to call another election anytime soon, and that could mean they’re “more willing to put the ball in the court of the opposition to kind of get behind them or be the ones who caused the election.”

Alternatively, the Liberals could be “humbled” if there are questions around Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s leadership.

Analysis: The least consequential election has come and gone with deeper political divisions

Peter Graefe, an associate political science professor at McMaster University, said Singh could have more bargaining power this time around. Post-election, it may be harder for the Liberals to find common ground with the Bloc, making the Trudeau government “a bit more necessarily reliant on the NDP this time.”

“Coupled with the fact that the NDP seems to be more organizationally solid than they were coming out of the 2019 campaign, and financially capable … those are all features which would lead you to believe that Mr. Singh may have a bit more leverage, and negotiations probably will be a bit more tense,” Graefe predicted.

Throughout the election, the NDP hovered at around 20 per cent support, and ahead of voting day Monday, projections showed they could pick up a dozen seats. Instead, the party received just under 18 per cent of the vote. Late Tuesday, the NDP had been elected in 24 ridings — the same number as in 2019 — and was leading in one more, again putting them in fourth place behind Bloc Québecois.

Singh told reporters that he feels secure in his leadership of the party, despite the lacklustre results, and that he doesn’t feel like he’s hit his ceiling as a leader.

Grenier said Singh’s leadership seems to be “not really in any danger,” adding former NDP leader Jack Layton also only made incremental gains in his first couple of elections.

Graefe noted the NDP “generally seems to be a party that’s happy to keep leaders on for a while,” and said Singh actually looks to be a better position now than he was in 2019, when he “was felt to have run a campaign where he kind of saved his bacon.”

At the time, there was a “fair bit of grumbling” about Singh from some factions in the party, but there seems to be “much less” of that this time around, Graefe said. “So in that way, I believe, they probably have a more united party behind him, and one that’s able to read the polls, which show that he is in many ways more popular than the party.”

Singh said Tuesday one immediate priority heading back to Parliament will be support for overworked, burned-out health care workers such as nurses. Nurses across the country held a “day of action” the Friday before the election to call attention to what they say is a chronic nursing shortage that has now reached a tipping point, a year and a half into the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Nurses have been crying out for a long time that the situation is really bad; it’s at a disaster point. And so that’s going to be something we’ll work on right away,” he said.

Asked whether he was disappointed in the NDP’s performance in the election, Singh maintained the party is “in a great position to continue fighting for people.” But he did acknowledge he was dismayed by some of the losses, including star candidate MP Ruth-Ellen Brosseau narrowly losing her bid in Berthier-Maskinongé.

“Of course I’m disappointed that incredible candidates that we have are not returning as MPs, or are not coming to Ottawa as MPs. I think that’s a loss for our team, but it’s also a loss for Quebec and for Canada and for the Parliament,” Singh said.

Grenier said the reason for the NDP’s lacklustre showing could be strategic voting, in which progressive voters opted for the Liberals instead of the NDP, lower turnout among younger voters, who are “more likely to vote for the NDP but less likely to turn out,” or a combination of the two. The NDP was targeting the youth vote in this election and put a lot of resources into social media, including TikTok.

Singh was asked whether that was a mistake in strategy, given that it didn’t translate into votes. “I think it’s important to be able to reach out to people and using the tools that we have to connect with people where they are,” he responded.

Federal election: Battleground riding of Edmonton Centre still up in the air with special ballot count carrying over to Wednesday

Edmonton Centre

Elected

* Previous member

Polls: 208/209
Voters: 81,766
Turnout: 46,534 (56.91%)

LIB: Randy Boissonnault
15,454

CON: James Cumming *
15,318

NDP: Heather MacKenzie
13,363
PPC: Brock Crocker
2,037
LTN: Valerie Keefe
256
CPC-ML: Merryn Edwards
106

Dustin Cook

© Provided by Edmonton Journal Edmonton Centre Liberal candidate Randy Boissonnault in his campaign office on Monday. A final result still hasn't been declared in the tight race Tuesday as special ballot counting is expected to carry over to Wednesday.

The tightly contested race in the federal riding of Edmonton Centre remains up in the air as the count for a record number of special ballots is expected to carry on into Wednesday.

As of Tuesday morning, Liberal candidate Randy Boissonnault had a razor-thin lead of 136 votes over Conservative incumbent James Cumming with more than 2,200 special ballots still needing to be counted.

Special ballots that were submitted by voters living in their riding started being counted Tuesday morning across the country, but results haven’t been finalized for the riding as of press time. Elections Canada media adviser Leanne Nyirfa initially told Postmedia the expectation was that most results would be reported by end of day Tuesday, but then said the results for close races likely wouldn’t be released until Wednesday.

A record number of special, or mail-in, ballots were issued this election as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic which led to a longer verification process before the ballots could be counted to ensure residents didn’t already cast their vote in person, Nyirfa said. More than one million mail-in voting kits were issued this election for voters living within their own riding who decided not to vote in person, a drastic increase from only 5,000 in 2019.

“The count can only begin after the verification process is complete. We’ve always said two to four days for the results to be posted. With the numbers here in Alberta, we’re thinking two is more accurate,” she said in a statement to Postmedia.

With the mail-in ballots still being tabulated, Boissonnault said he is waiting patiently for the results and looking forward to getting more details Wednesday.

“We are very excited and very confident about what we have seen in the results so far,” he said on social media. “Thanks to everyone whose hard work has gotten us this far.”

If Boissonnault holds onto the lead, he will be Edmonton’s only representative in the governing Liberal party that won a minority Monday night.

Responding to the election results Tuesday, Mayor Don Iveson said Edmonton would continue to be at a disadvantage without a voice at the cabinet table, or at least in government, as has been since 2019.

“I am concerned about the prospect of the city not having a voice at the table again for some number of years in Ottawa at the cabinet level,” he said. “It has been challenging for the City of Edmonton to not have that voice at the table.”

The race in one other Edmonton riding is still mathematically close enough to change hands on the special ballot count, but has been declared by news outlets. In Edmonton Griesbach, NDP challenger Blake Desjarlais was declared the winner by The Canadian Press with a 1,017-vote lead over two-term incumbent Kerry Diotte.

Desjarlais didn’t speak to media Tuesday, but issued a statement on social media about what the preliminary results show.

“I’m deeply honoured by the confidence that the voters of Edmonton Griesbach have shown in me and in the NDP,” he said. “I will always fight for you. I will always show up.”

The special ballot vote count in Edmonton Mill Woods wrapped up Tuesday with incumbent Tim Uppal officially declared the winner with 1,759 more votes than Liberal challenger Ben Henderson.

Henderson, four-term Ward 8 city councillor, will return to his city hall post until the municipal election next month.

MAYOR IVESON; Edmonton could again be without a voice in federal cabinet if no ridings turn Liberal

Dustin Cook 

© Provided by Edmonton Journal Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson.

Edmonton may again be without a voice at the cabinet table if a riding doesn’t turn Liberal.

No candidates representing the elected Liberal party in Monday’s federal election were declared elected in Edmonton as of press time. If nothing changes, this will be the second-straight race the governing party is shut out of Alberta’s capital. Edmonton hasn’t had a seat at the cabinet table since the 2019 election when the two Liberal seats in the city turned blue.

Ward 1 Edmonton Coun. Andrew Knack said a lack of representation in cabinet is concerning, but he said this makes electing a strong voice for mayor in the upcoming municipal election all the more important. Mayor Don Iveson has served as the chair of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Big City Mayors’ Caucus for the past few years, which Knack said was key in advocating for important issues in Edmonton, such as transit and affordable housing.

“You think about the last few years while there hasn’t been a Liberal member of Parliament in Edmonton, we had a mayor who was the chair of the Big City Mayors’ Caucus and was able to really advocate for critical issues within the city of Edmonton and I think that will likely reinforce the importance of having people who are able to be vocal to the other orders of government to help bring the Edmonton issues to the forefront,” Knack said in an interview with Postmedia Monday evening.

“If we don’t have a voice in government, we as a council need to continue to be that voice for the people of Edmonton and quite frankly more broadly even across Alberta.”

Iveson didn’t comment on the election results as of press time but has been championing the Vote Housing campaign, asking federal parties to support ending homelessness and increasing the supply of affordable housing. The Edmonton mayor also endorsed Liberal candidate Ben Henderson in Edmonton Mill Woods, but said the endorsement was specifically for Henderson, who he has served on council with since 2007, and not for the party as a whole.

In a statement Monday evening, Edmonton Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Jeffrey Sundquist said the chamber looks forward to working with the Liberal government on revitalizing the country’s economy through the COVID-19 pandemic and make advancements on issues such as climate change and trade barriers.

“Businesses demonstrated their resilience during some of the most challenging economic times in recent history,” Sundquist said in a statement. “Our priorities reflect a need to keep Canadians safe, stimulate our economy, and ensure investment in Alberta that allows us to use our strengths, resources and innovation to lead the way in achieving a more prosperous and sustainable future.”

There was still a close race in Edmonton Centre as of Tuesday morning with the Liberal challenger Randy Boissonnault ahead of Conservative incumbent James Cumming by a thin margin with mail-in ballots still needing to be counted. Conservative incumbent Tim Uppal was declared the winner in a tight race in Edmonton Mill Woods against Liberal candidate and four-term city councillor Ben Henderson.

duscook@postmedia.com