Movement to keep fossil fuels in the ground gaining momentum in Canada and abroad

Inayat Singh, Alice Hopton

© Gerald Herbert/The Associated Press Momentum is growing at the United Nations climate conference in Glasgow, COP26, for the world to phase out oil and gas production. The federal government this week announced a cap on oil and gas emissions that, when…

Our planet is changing. So is our journalism. This story is part of a CBC News initiative entitled to show and explain the effects of climate change and what is being done about it.

The movement to keep oil and gas in the ground has reached Canada, as Quebec joined the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance this week — becoming the first North American member of a new group being launched at the United Nations climate conference in Glasgow that wants to phase out the production of oil and gas.

It comes after the Quebec government committed to permanently ban all oil and gas exploration and extraction within the province, closing the door on the future exploitation of a significant amount of natural gas reserves that could supply the province with its own energy for decades — and providing a model for other provinces to follow.

"We see provinces move first. This is what happened in terms of our public health system. It's also what happened quite significantly for carbon pricing, with Quebec and British Columbia moving first and then the federal government adopting this minimum standard across the country," said Caroline Brouillette, a Montreal-based policy expert at Climate Action Network Canada.

"So it totally makes sense that this is the way it would go forward in terms of putting an end to fossil fuel expansion in Canada."

Quebec does not currently produce any oil and gas, but it has 182 active exploration permits that cover 32,000 square kilometres of land, Brouillette said.
Cutting emissions but not production

Cutting fossil fuel production also means targeting the emissions when oil and gas are burned. Canada, like other countries in the Paris Agreement, is only required to report emissions that come from its territory.

The emissions numbers for the oil and gas sector only account for emissions from producing, transporting and processing those fuels in Canada. The emissions from those fuels when they are actually burned in cars or power plants abroad don't count toward Canada's totals.

"So most of the fossil fuels that Canada produces, we export and go somewhere else, and then they're consumed and they're burned. And the emissions associated with that shows up on another country's tab," said Angela Carter, an associate political science professor at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ont., who researches the fossil fuel industry.

This has led to a growing call to target the production and supply of oil and gas, rather than just the emissions. Canada's current plan to cut emissions from the oil and gas industry relies on making companies extract the oil more efficiently.

According to the official government modelling of Canada's climate plan, emissions from the oil and gas sector in the country are expected to fall from 193 Mt/CO2-equivalent in 2018 to 134 Mt/CO2-equivalent in 2030.

This modelling analysis took place before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's announcement this week of more ambitious targets for 2030 and a cap on oil and gas emissions that, when implemented, might lead to deeper emissions reductions.

"Yes, there is attention to bringing down the emissions associated with the extraction. And that needs to happen," Carter said.

"But in terms of absolute emissions globally, that means also winding down production."

Major reports give dire warnings

Two recent reports have placed giant question marks over the continued production of oil and gas. In a headline-grabbing report in May, the International Energy Agency said that no new oil and gas fields should be developed anywhere in the world in order to limit an increase in the global average temperature to 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels.

Fossil fuels would have to fall from four-fifths of the global energy supply today to one-fifth by 2050, the report said. Sales of cars that run on fossil fuels such as gasoline and diesel will have to be halted by 2035, and power plants that run on coal and oil will have to be phased out by 2040.

Then in October, right before the COP26 conference, the UN Environment Programme released its Production Gap Report, which said that countries are currently on track to produce 57 per cent more oil and 71 per cent more gas in 2030 than would be consistent with limiting global warming to 1.5 C.

The report, which examined 15 major fossil fuel-producing countries, including Canada, also warned that steep declines in production will be required if the world is to meet its climate targets.

The Conference of Parties (COP), as it's known, meets every year and is the global decision-making body set up to implement the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, adopted in the early 1990s, and subsequent climate agreements.
Countries joining alliance on oil and gas

The Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance that Quebec is joining is led by Denmark and Costa Rica. Denmark stopped issuing new licences for oil and gas exploration and plans to end all production by 2050. The country was the largest oil producer in the European Union.

Costa Rica, on the other hand, does not produce any oil and gas but has reserves that it will leave untouched.

"A lot of developing countries believe that in order to industrialize, in order to get that prosperity, they need to exploit their fossil fuel reserves," said Catherine Abreu, executive director of Destination Zero, a non-profit that provides consultancy services to organizations working on climate justice.

"And Costa Rica said, 'We're going to take a different development path.'"

© Kyle Bakx/CBC Catherine Abreu, a member of Canada's Net-Zero Advisory Body and executive director of Destination Zero, is watching which provinces will follow Quebec in phasing out fossil fuel production.

Abreu is a member of Canada's Net-Zero Advisory Body, a group of independent experts that provides advice to the federal environment minister on ways to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. She says she's hopeful that Quebec's move will spread to other parts of Canada.

"Given the fact that British Columbia is relatively progressive on climate change and that there is a similar level of public concern over climate change in B.C., as there is in Quebec, I'm wondering whether we might see something happen there. That being said, the politics are different from province to province," Abreu said from the COP26 summit in Glasgow.

"Every Canadian knows that very well, and the governments in major oil-producing provinces like Alberta and Saskatchewan and Newfoundland, they've not yet moved to a place where they're really actively planning for a transition away from oil and gas for people and communities.

"And so it's no wonder that the workers and communities in those provinces are not yet willing to accept the idea of that kind of transition because their governments haven't made a plan for what comes next."

Industry stresses role in climate change fight

Meanwhile, Canada's oil and gas industry is insisting it still has a role to play in meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement. In a statement released Friday, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers joined its counterparts in several other countries to call for "responsibly produced" oil and gas to be recognized as an important option for countries in "reducing energy poverty and strengthening energy security while also reducing CO2 emissions by displacing more carbon-intensive fuel sources."

In an interview with CBC Radio's The Current, Martha Hall Findlay, the chief sustainability officer at Suncor Energy, said, "The realities out there are that there is still a huge amount of demand globally for fossil fuels." She stressed that oil and gas companies like hers are major investors in clean technologies in Canada

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© Alberto Pezzali/The Associated Press Demonstrators march through the streets of Glasgow this week. The protest took place as leaders and climate activists from around the world gathered for COP26 to lay out their vision for addressing the common challenge of global warming.

And Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey travelled to COP26 to make a pitch for his province's oil products, which he said are "some of the cleanest in the world" because their production has a lower carbon footprint than other types of oil.

It's a pitch Abreu is skeptical about.

"I mean, every country that is a major oil and gas-producing country thinks that somehow their oil and gas is magical, non-climate-change-causing oil and gas," she said.

"Canada is not alone in having that impression. And the reality is that all oil and gas causes climate change once it's combusted. And so we really just need to release this myth that our oil and gas, wherever it comes from, is cleaner than anyone else's."

Ontario Police Are Looking Long & Hard For Thieves Who Stole Over $90K Worth Of Condoms

What does one even do with that many prophylactics?!

Roman Tiraspolsky | Dreamstime
Cormac O'Brien

If you go home with a Tinder date and find out that they have a lifetime-supply-sized hoard of condoms, the Ontario Provincial Police might want to hear from you.

On November 5, police received a report of the theft of $90,000 worth of condoms from an address on Road 68 in Zorra Township, just outside of London, Ontario.

Police say the thieves damaged a fence to get into the property in question, breaking into a white freight truck with a trailer — which housed the Skyn-brand condoms — and stole both the truck and its load.

The perps in question also damaged multiple other vehicles on the property, OPP said.

Surveillance is being reviewed, and anyone with information is being asked to contact Oxford OPP at 1-888-310-1122.

NO DICKIES ALLOWED

Canada's NDP is trying to get rid of what's being called an "archaic" and "gender-based" dress code in the House of Commons

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© Provided by Narcity

According to The Canadian Press, NDP MP Randall Garrison said that his party will ask for the proper attire rules to be updated when Parliament returns on November 22 so they're more inclusive and accommodating to transgender, non-binary and two-spirit MPs.

Garrison noted that a simple statement about what is appropriate in the House of Commons would be good enough without specifically mentioning gender-based outfits.

"The provisions are archaic," he said. "The gender-based dress code needs to be eliminated."

According to the House Of Commons Procedure and Practice guide, all MPs are required to dress in "contemporary business attire" in order to be recognized to speak in the debate, on points of order or during Question Period.

Men have to wear a jacket, shirt and tie as their standard attire but there are no specifics on what women have to wear. Turtlenecks and ascots have actually been deemed "inappropriate" for men to wear.

There are some exceptions to the rules, which allow for kilts to be worn on certain occasions, for military uniforms to be worn by MPs who are in the armed forces and for different tops to be worn for medical reasons, like having an arm cast.

When MPs return to the House of Commons on November 22, Justin Trudeau said his government will be "busy getting into the business of delivering on an ambitious agenda."

The buzz about fusion energy: Expert explains industry’s ‘reinvigoration’ as tech attracts VC dollars

Lisa Stiffler 3 hrs ago

For decades, the promise of harnessing the power of fusion on a commercial scale to create vast amounts of carbon-free energy has hovered just out of reach for scientists. At last that tantalizing dream appears closer to reality and the cash is starting to flow.

© Provided by Geekwire Chris Hansen, senior research scientist in the William E. Boeing Aeronautics and Astronautics Department at the University of Washington. (UW Photo)

This week, fusion energy startup Helion generated a lot of interest with its announcement of a $500 million round — and the Everett, Wash.-based company could land an additional $1.7 billion if it meets upcoming milestones. Other fusion energy companies, many also located on the West Coast, have announced venture capital investments this year in the double- and triple-digit millions.


“Helion Energy’s $500 million Series E marks the largest deal in clean energy ever and could be the beginning of a new era: abundant, clean energy from commercialized fusion technology,” said Svenja Telle, PitchBook’s emerging technology analyst.

So what is fusion energy, and why the excitement?

Fusion takes place in a plasma — which is a superheated gas and the most energetic of the four states of matter — where two nuclei smash into each other, forming a new atom and releasing energy. The most developed method to make fusion uses powerful magnets to contain the plasma. The energy that is generated can be captured and converted into electricity.

The most well-known example of fusion’s power is the sun, a massive fusion reactor producing enormous amounts of energy, which, thanks to excessive greenhouse gas emissions, we are now trapping too much of on Earth.

GeekWire this week caught up with Chris Hansen, a University of Washington senior research scientist in the William E. Boeing Aeronautics and Astronautics Department, to learn more about the field. His lab is studying different aspects of fusion energy and collaborating with startups including Seattle-based UW spinoff CTFusion and other universities.

Questions and answers have been edited for clarity and length.

GeekWire: Why has it been so difficult to harness fusion for electricity production?

Hansen: We always talk about fusion as “we want to harness the sun,” and recreating the sun on Earth already sounds pretty hard, right? But we actually have to do much more than that. The sun uses fusion, but the energy density of the sun is comparable to a compost heap. It’s actually very low energy density and only works because it’s massive. It’s just gigantic.

But on Earth, we’ve got to do a lot better than a compost heap. You’re talking 10-times higher temperatures [about 100 million degrees Celsius] and orders of a million times higher energy density. So it’s very challenging conditions to create. We can do it scientifically, many experiments have demonstrated that it’s possible, but to do it in a way that is cost effective is the hard part.

GW: Dang! That sounds crazy tough. Why bother with fusion?

Hansen: It’s a very interesting problem. There are so many different aspects of fusion that still have to be solved, and so many things that integrate together it’s this scientific grand challenge that requires us to advance almost every type of technology that society uses.
Related: As interest in fusion energy ignites, Helion lands $500M from OpenAI CEO, Facebook co-founder

It’s very exciting, pushing the boundaries of what we can do as humanity.

And then, if you think about if you are able to succeed, just the way that it would dramatically change the whole landscape — of course the energy [production] on the planet, but being in the aerospace engineering department, it opens up all sorts of other things that we don’t even really consider. Doing space missions and travel with people farther out in the solar system, and making it much easier to think about generating large amounts of power on planets that don’t have the conventional resources that we have.

GW: So why is the sector finally taking off?

Hansen: To some extent, we just didn’t have the related technologies that were necessary to make it work 20 years ago. There’s a lot of … new magnetic technologies, new materials, but I think one of the biggest impacts that has not only impacted fusion, but allowed those other technologies to come up too, is just computing.

Our ability to model and move forward on some of these scientific and technological developments because of increased computing power has really been a difference maker. It’s very difficult to make measurements in a fusion reactor because 100 million degrees is pretty hot. So as a result, we really rely on models and computer simulations to interpret and understand some of the things we’re seeing.

As computing has extended, the sophistication of those models has gotten better and we’re really getting to the point where we have a good enough understanding that we feel like we can make some of these big steps again and we feel confident about some of the predictions. And that’s what you see being manifested in the industry’s reinvigoration.

© Provided by Geekwire Hansen’s lab is working on plasma-related technology that could lower the cost of fusion. In this video of their work, the hourglass shape is the wall of a device containing plasma. Inside the vessel, the plasma naturally relaxes into a donut shape. The ghostly image of the plasma is created because hotter regions emit light in different wavelengths, and the high-speed camera used to capture the image is only sensitive to one of the wavelengths.

GW: If one of the companies succeed, how quickly could fusion provide power?

Hansen: Once you get the thing to work, there are still a lot of other things that need to happen. Fusion reactors are extremely safe, and we don’t have the risks that we traditionally think of with nuclear power, but it’s also not wind or solar so there’s some regulation structure that’s going have to be created. There are other materials and things like the whole rest of the power plant has to come together.

But depending on how quickly someone can get the fusion part of it to work, that could be very fast.

I’m fairly familiar with Zap Energy’s concepts that are very cheap and relatively small scale. If something like that or something like Helion that’s on this smaller scale, cheaper side you could see that ramp up pretty fast. CTFusion, which my lab works with, is also pursuing an approach that could really shorten that timeline. It would be very different from these large power plants that people traditionally would think of when they think of fusion energy or other systems.

GW: Fusion power has been decades in the making, and there must still be naysayers. What is their case against the technology, and how do you answer them?

Hansen: People who associate it with traditional nuclear power have concerns given the history of how that has been handled [see Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters] … But we really need to make clear that fusion is fundamentally different. The reason that [commercialized fusion energy] hasn’t happened yet is it’s so hard to create the conditions that allow it to happen. But that’s part of what makes it so inherently safe, because you can just immediately shut down the system. All the fuel that is in there is now inert. You have none of these things that can lead to bad consequences in current nuclear fission systems.

The other thing is people who basically think we should funnel all the money into other types of renewable resources. But you have a challenge with intermittent sources [like wind and solar that aren’t always available]. At the moment, they’re extremely cheap and they’re great, and we should definitely be investing in that. But there’s a little bit of an open question as you try and approach 100% carbon free, you do have to deal with that intermittency. And so that will raise the cost.

I think fusion would fit really well in there. I personally would argue that that’s a good investment but, I can see the see the other side. There are some battery people out there and smart grid people who would say that we can do it this other way. But in government funding, at least, there’s all the different peer review and competitive proposals to try and make your case.

21 Brazil scientists snub medals in row with Bolsonaro

AFP 

Twenty-one scientists awarded one of Brazil's highest honors, the National Order of Scientific Merit, rejected their medals Saturday after President Jair Bolsonaro withdrew two colleagues whose work apparently discomfited his government from the list of honorees.

© EVARISTO SA A file photo of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro

The far-right president named 25 people Wednesday to receive the honor, which Brazil created in 1992 to recognize the most important contributions to science and technology.

However, two days later, he withdrew the names of two prominent scientists from the list.

One was Dr. Marcus Lacerda, who published one of the first studies finding the drug chloroquine is ineffective against Covid-19 -- rebutting Bolsonaro's pet strategy for fighting the pandemic.

The other was Dr. Adele Benzaken, who was fired as director of the Brazilian health ministry's HIV/AIDS department when Bolsonaro took office in 2019, after her department published a pamphlet aimed at transgender men.

In protest, all 20 of the other scientists and one of the three "national personalities" named by Bolsonaro to receive the honor rejected their medals in an open letter.

"This is yet another clear demonstration of the persecution of scientists and the latest step in the current government's systematic attack on science and technology," they said.

"This act of protest, which saddens us, expresses our indignation at the destruction of Brazil's university system and of science and technology in general."

Bolsonaro has faced sharp criticism from the scientific community over budget cuts for research and technology, as well as his frequent rejection of scientific findings and history of spreading misinformation, particularly on Covid-19.

The president long touted chloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19 despite evidence it was ineffective, and flouted health experts' advice on face masks and stay-at-home measures to contain the pandemic.

Benzaken, the director of leading public health institute Fiocruz in the Amazon region, said she was "extremely honored" by her colleagues' decision to reject their medals over what she called the government's "inelegant" treatment of her and Lacerda.

"That was the greatest honor of all," she told AFP, criticizing the Bolsonaro government's attitude toward science.

"There have been heavy cuts to funding for science in Brazil, a total disregard for statements based on scientific evidence, little value attributed to science," she said.

jhb/md

When it comes to climate change, the heavy hand of colonizers is as important as our carbon footprint

Stephanie Arnold 

© Louise Gravel/Radio-Canada High school students advocate for the lower of two UN climate targets, 1.5 C, during a climate protest in Montreal in 2019. Some environmental experts say keeping global warming to 1.5 C would lead to less extremes of heat, rainfall…

Our planet is changing. So is our journalism. This story is part of a CBC News initiative entitled to show and explain the effects of climate change and what is being done about it.

World leaders are meeting in Scotland at COP26 to urge action, make promises, and develop plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions — just as they have in 2019 at COP25 in Spain, 2018 at COP24 in Poland, 2017 at COP23 in Germany, etc.

The Conference of Parties (COP), as it's known, meets every year and is the global decision-making body set up in the early 1990s to implement the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and subsequent climate agreements.

Reducing our carbon footprint is important; so is increasing our use of renewable energy. But developing plans centered on carbon accounting and energy mix is a futile exercise that distracts us. Even if they do slow down climate change, the world will still be left drowning in rampant, unmitigated social and environmental disasters. Is this what we are all striving for?

Why are we spending our focus, energy, and resources on decarbonizing oppression and exploitation, rather than on this very oppression and exploitation that created the climate crisis?

It took a lot of learning and unlearning to ask that question.

At the core of it is the understanding that the climate crisis is a colonial, white supremacist construct. Legal scholar Carmen G. Gonzalez pointed out that the European colonizers used oppressive practices to transform the subsistence economics of the Global South into economic satellites of Europe. This process warmed the planet while creating wealth for colonial powers. The domination and exploitation of BIPOC peoples, lands, and ecosystems continue to this day and span across the globe, fueling the climate crisis.

Asking the right questions

Once we start asking the right questions, the answers become self-apparent. With this understanding, it becomes clear that solving the climate crisis requires us to commit to decolonization and to reexamine our values.

Take the recent attacks on the Mi'kmaq fishers and fisheries as an example. The Mi'kmaq have a constitutionally protected right to fish. The continued infringement of those rights is a deliberate choice to value profits and commercial interests over treaty rights. The group West Coast Environmental Law reminds us that conservation has been used historically to mask racist motivations. Mi'kmaq fishers have managed fisheries sustainably through their own laws and processes for millennia. If not for commercial fisheries, there would be no concerns for conservation.

© Brian Higgins/CBC P.E.I. is expected to feel the effects of climate change dramatically. Experts warn scenes like this one from post-tropical storm Dorian could become more common on the Island.

To decolonize and address the climate crisis, we need to value treaty rights over profits and commercial interests. The values that push us to decolonize also push us to respect peoples, lands, and ecosystems.
Now the hard work can begin

Recentring our core values will not be easy. It will disrupt personal relationships, social fabrics, economic systems, political systems, legal systems, etc. — many of which are long-standing and deeply entrenched.

But this is how we can meaningfully tackle the climate crisis and all other social injustices we face today. When we focus on the right things to push back on, everything else will fall into place.

For example, we need to push back on fast fashion not because of the waste it generates, but because we object to how it exploits natural, human, and social systems to produce clothes so "cheaply." When we refuse to conveniently ignore the hidden social, human, and environmental costs of our daily decisions and alter our consumption patterns, the types and amounts of waste we produce will automatically change. When our priorities are adjusted, our decision-making processes will change, and the impacts of our decisions will follow.

Everything is connected

The benefit of focusing on values rather than specific, discrete climate actions is that it helps us to make the types of fundamental change we need to get ourselves out of this mess. We also begin to see how everything is connected. We can start to incorporate social issues in climate policy and climate issues in social policy.

We also start to ask the right questions of ourselves and each other. Instead of asking how we can maintain the status quo while lowering greenhouse gas emissions, we can start to ask, who does the status quo benefit? Who does it harm? How does it contribute to the crises at hand?

Another benefit of using a value-based approach is recognizing the harm climate actions could cause and designing them to address inequities instead.
The solar equity gap

For example, when policies focus solely on decarbonization, governments may provide subsidies for residential solar panels. These subsidies are used primarily by homeowners who can likely afford the panels to begin with, but are prompted to install them sooner because the subsidies make the economics much more attractive. Over time, their heating and cooling costs go down, putting money in their pockets.

People who rent, who cannot afford homes, or who cannot afford the solar panels even with the subsidies in place will continue to use less efficient, more carbon intensive ways to heat and cool their homes. Over time, their costs will go up

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© Mike Blake/Reuters Residential subsidies for solar panels will benefit those with higher incomes while lower wage earners will continue to pay more for less efficient heating sources, argues Stephanie Arnold.

This solar equity gap continues to grow between higher-income households and low- to medium-income households. But if we value equity, we can easily flip this around.

With a different financing approach, for example, offering loans tied to the property assessment rather than the individuals, some of the barriers can be removed. The United States goes a step further, with an executive order that directs the government to spend at least 40 per cent of its sustainability investments on disadvantaged communities. These investments include clean energy, energy efficiency, clean transit, affordable and sustainable housing, training and workforce deployment, and development of critical clean water infrastructure.

The status quo in waiting

While we may not be the original colonizers, we have benefitted from and reinforced – directly or indirectly – the legal, social, and economic structures that continually oppress and exploit Indigenous peoples and commodify lands. WE ARE CAPITALISM

These structures are also feeding the climate crisis and other social crises.

Solutions that are developed within these structures, by these structures, but do not disrupt the structures will not help us.

I have always felt that the close-knit social fabric of P.E.I. and the creativity of Islanders allow us to punch well above our weight, time and time again. I am optimistic that we can be the status quo in waiting.

 

B.C. to ban mink farms, citing concerns of new COVID-19 variants

Concerns have arisen the virus that causes COVID-19 could mutate in the creatures and spread back to the human population.

about 24 hours ago By: Stefan Labbé

A silver mink in a cage. : Photo: Getty Images

B.C. is set to phase out mink farms, citing concerns the virus that causes COVID-19 could mutate in the creatures and spread back to the human population.

To date, three of the nine mink farms across the province have faced outbreaks among animals and farm workers. In July, that led the provincial government to place a moratorium on any new mink farms and cap the expansion of the animals on the farms.

On Friday (Nov. 5), it took one step further and moved to phase out the industry by 2025.

"This decision follows the recommendations of public health officials and infectious disease experts about managing the threat of the virus for workers at the farms and the broader public," said B.C. Agriculture, Food and Fisheries Minister Lana Popham.

BC Mink Producers Association president Joseph Williams told Glacier Media he and the rest of the industry were told their mink farms would be phased out an hour before the province announced the decision.

“Obviously, this is very emotional for us,” he said. “Our livelihoods have just been taken away.”

Williams says his farm in Langley, Williams Fur Farming Ltd., has been in the family since 1991. Today, he runs it with five other family members. Together, Williams, along with the other eight mink farms in the province are now organizing to figure out how they will respond.

“We don’t accept it and we’re looking into what we can do,” he said. “This isn’t based off science. This is an anti-fur agenda.” 

B.C. officials denied that their decision had anything to do with animal rights. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said data from the BC Centre for Disease Control led to concerns the animals would act as a reservoir for the SAR-CoV-2 virus to mutate.

Henry said public health officials have not seen a variant of concern arise in the B.C. mink population, but other viruses have been documented to pass from the animals into humans in other countries.

Last year, both Dutch and Danish authorities culled their countries’ entire farmed mink populations after SAR-CoV-2 was found to have mutated, passing from the animals to humans. 

Since then, there has been a wider push in several countries, including the United States, to ban mink farming.

"Some of those viruses that spread to humans were variants of concern," said Jan Hajek, an infectious disease specialist at Vancouver General Hospital and clinical assistant professor of medicine at UBC.

"It wasn’t such a terrible mutation, but the idea was this could happen."

Mink isn’t the only non-human species that can catch COVID-19. Ferrets and cats — including several tigers and lions at a zoo in New York City — have tested positive; mink, however, present a greater risk to human health, said Henry. 

"The really important factor is the numbers you have in the small space together," she said. "When this virus gets into a population and spreads, replicates in large numbers, that’s when mutations arise."

Those mutations can give an advantage to a virus, as seen with the Delta variant when an explosion of transmission in India allowed the virus to mutate in the human population. 

Public health officials say they’re worried the Delta variant could get passed back and forth between the mink population and even vaccinated people. 

Another concern, said Henry, is that the government has found escaped mink on and close to farms, raising concerns they would pass it to wild species like deer or even cats and dogs.

Throughout the pandemic, Henry said staff from public health, WorkSafeBC and the Ministry of Agriculture have been faced with an "intense amount of work" to inspect, test and ensure biosecurity measures are in place on mink farms.

B.C.’s nine mink farms are home to roughly 318,000 mink and provide jobs to about 200 workers. That includes families that work their own farms and temporary foreign workers employed on a seasonal basis. 

Minister Popham said the decision to eliminate mink farming in the province had nothing to do with ongoing calls from animal rights advocates to ban the practice. 

She said farms will have access to insurance programs and the government will help them to transition to other industries with support provided through its AgriStability program.

Because the mink industry usually kills the animals near the end of the year, both Henry and Popham said mink farmers will be able to sell pelts from all the existing animals. 

The province says it will place a permanent ban on live mink farming by April 2023, with all operations ceasing by 2025. Popham could not provide a number on how much the phase-out would cost.

"We don’t know what [farm owners] are going to want to do with their future, but we’re going to be there along the way," she said.  

Henry added that some mink used for breeding can be kept until 2023, but that they must be sold out of province. That provision has infectious disease expert Hajek concerned. 

"I’d worry they’d just transition to Alberta or move," he said, noting the spread of COVID-19 does not respect provincial or international borders. 

The BC SPCA has called for a ban on mink farms in the province for some time. Despite the province pinning the decision on public health, animal rights activists are hailing the move as a victory. 

"I’m ecstatic," said animal rights lawyer Victoria Shroff. "There’s been pressure on the government to question the industry… This industry has no place in society anymore. 

"I think it’s something we need to follow through for all fur farming in Canada."

Miller 'dumfounded' appeal dropped over Catholic Church's residential school payments

OTTAWA — Newly named Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller says he wants to get to the bottom of why Ottawa abandoned its appeal of a ruling releasing the Catholic Church from its settlement obligations to residential school survivors.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

"I am as puzzled as everyone," he told The Canadian Press in a recent, wide-ranging interview."

"I don't know what there is to do yet."

The ruling, handed down by a Saskatchewan judge in July 2015, found a deal had been struck between the federal government and a corporation of Catholic entities. That deal released the church groups from their remaining obligations within the $79-million worth of payments and in-kind services owed to survivors under the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement, approved in 2006.

That included, for example, a "best efforts" fundraising campaign to generate $25 million, for which court only heard the groups raised around $3 million since the agreement took effect in 2007.

Today, the efforts made by Catholic bodies to relieve itself of responsibilities under the historic arrangement face renewed scrutiny as First Nations searching former residential school sites confirm the discovery of what are believed to be hundreds of unmarked graves of Indigenous children forced to attend them.

Thousands told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada that they had been neglected, starved, and both physically and sexually abused at the church-run, government-funded institutions.

Several questions have been raised around why survivors didn't receive more compensation from the Catholic Church, including why the federal government discontinued its appeal filed not long after the 2015 decision came down.

"I question why that refusal to appeal occurred," Miller said.

"As everyone, I'm dumbfounded by it. End of the day the whole point was about compensation."

At the heart of the legal ruling was a dispute between a government lawyer and counsel for the Catholic entities about whether they had agreed to let the groups walk away from all obligations outlined in the settlement in exchange for $1.2 million, or only resolved a more specific part of those obligations.

The disagreement occurred as they went back-and-forth communicating details of the arrangement. It ultimately fell to the court to resolve the issue, with Catholic entities contending they had a deal covering the entire settlement and Ottawa asserting that wasn't true.

After the federal government lost its case, it filed a notice to appeal in August 2015. Overshadowing the matter at the time was a federal election campaign consuming the country, which ended that October with the former Conservative government falling to current Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

By November, a government lawyer submitted another document to Saskatchewan's Appeal Court. This time, it contained a single sentence saying it was abandoning the appeal.

Miller, who was then a rookie MP from Quebec not yet invited into cabinet, said he hasn't seen the final agreement releasing the Catholic bodies from their obligations, but wants to have a look.

"I absolutely do want to see it. I want to get to the bottom of it," he said.

Miller enters the Crowns-Indigenous Relations office after critics and First Nations leaders called for former minister Carolyn Bennett to be dumped.

She was criticized both for a text she sent to Indigenous, then Independent MP Jody Wilson-Raybould which the former justice minister labelled as racist, as well as not doing enough to advance the department's mandate of building a new nation-to-nation relationship with Indigenous communities.

Hours after being sworn into his new role, Miller said last week that land was at the centre of that relationship, and it was time to "give land back."

"It's sort of unfair to have piecemeal examples of which particular parcel could be returned," he said, outlining how his department must work alongside other federal ministries, like defence, to find ways for lands to be bought back.

"It needs to sit squarely in people's minds that the relationship that has become broken with Indigenous Peoples did start with land, and it will be solved by returning land."

The Liberals' commitment to reconciliation has been tested over the past six months, not only by the discovery of unmarked graves, but also its ongoing court battle around compensating First Nations children who lived on-reserve without adequately funded child and family services or were separated from their families through foster care.

More tension arose after Trudeau traveled to Tofino, B.C., to spend time with his family on Sept. 30, the country's first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The stated purpose of the new statutory holiday is to honour residential school survivors through taking time to reflect and attending in-person commemorations.

Trudeau has said travelling that day was a mistake, and has since visited B.C.'s Tkemlups te Secwépemc nation after not responding to their initial invitation to do so on Sept. 30.

Asked what the Prime Minister's trip did to the government's process of trying to build trust with First Nations, Miller said it "doesn't help."

"I think the Prime Minister would be the first to recognize that."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2021

Stephanie Taylor, The Canadian Press

PEYTON PLACE
Alberta agriculture minister quits cabinet amid concerns about drinking

EDMONTON — An Alberta cabinet minister has quit, citing concerns over his conduct and drinking, and Premier Jason Kenney is acknowledging he attended one after-hours office get-together.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

"This morning, I offered Premier Jason Kenney my resignation as Minister of Agriculture and Forestry and he has accepted," Devin Dreeshen said in a short statement Friday. "I accept that my personal conduct with regards to alcohol has become an issue for the government as a whole.

"I deeply regret that this is the case but have decided that it is best for both myself and the province to resign my position and focus on my personal health and wellness."

Kenney said he has tabbed Nate Horner, associate minister in charge of rural economic development, to take over Dreeshen's duties. Horner is the legislative member for Drumheller-Stettler.

Dreeshen remains legislature member for Innisfail-Sylvan Lake.

The issue of Dreeshen's drinking surfaced last week in a lawsuit filed by a former senior government staffer, who once had a romantic relationship with him.

In a statement of claim, Ariella Kimmel alleges she encountered Dreeshen and others heavily intoxicated in a legislature office last fall.

The document says Kimmel expressed concern about how much Dreeshen was drinking and encouraged him to stop, which she alleges led to Dreeshen publicly berating her until she was in tears and a bystander intervened.

Kimmel, who was chief of staff to Jobs Minister Doug Schweitzer, said she was wrongly fired soon after by the premier's office when she pressed for redress on Dreeshen's behaviour. She said she had also asked that something be done after one of her staff was allegedly sexually harassed by a senior official at another after-hours office get-together.

The allegations have not been proven in court.

Kenney, asked if he had ever attended a gathering held by Dreeshen, said: "I think, yes, on one occasion when he was hosting investors in the lumber industry, the forestry industry, who are looking at about a $200-million investment in northern Alberta.

"I think there was one or two drinks at a social evening gathering in his office that I attended, and that's all I can recall."

Kenney added: "I don’t object to members of the legislature socializing, having a social drink every now and then. Political life is a very social activity.

"But people should be mature and responsible in terms of consuming alcohol, especially in any kind of a workplace environment. We expect all members to demonstrate maturity and responsibility and, of course, respect for others."

Kenney's office has said Kimmel's firing was unrelated to the sexual harassment issue.

Opposition NDP critic Kathleen Ganley said the government, as an employer, has an obligation to provide a safe working environment, particularly one free of harassment.

"They have obviously failed to do that," she said.

"With respect to Minister Dreeshen, I hope that he is able to get the help that he needs to deal with his health issues."

Dreeshen's resignation was another blow to Kenney, whose popularity numbers have plummeted in recent months, mainly over his handling of the COVID-19 crisis. There has been discontent with him in the United Conservative caucus and two members are openly calling for him to resign.

In response, Kenney has agreed to move up a party review of his leadership to this spring.

He is also facing a renewed challenge from a rival whom he defeated in the 2017 race to become leader of the UCP.

Brian Jean announced this week that he will seek the UCP nomination for the vacant seat of Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche, where he lives.

The seat opened in September when UCP member Laila Goodridge became an MP by winning the federal riding of Fort McMurray-Cold Lake for the Conservative party.

Jean, a former MP and one-time leader of the now defunct Alberta Wildrose Party, has promised to run on a platform to unseat Kenney. Jean has said the premier’s performance has put the UCP on the road to ruin in the 2023 election.

Kenney must call a byelection by mid-February and said he welcomes all entrants.

"We hope to have a competitive nomination there," Kenney said Friday.

He said he would sign Jean’s nomination papers if UCP constituency members chose him as their candidate.

"I would endorse whoever the members choose," he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2021.

Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press

Climate emergency declaration to be Gondek's first motion as mayor


Mayor Jyoti Gondek is making good on her promise for Calgary to join other cities in declaring a climate emergency.

© Provided by Calgary Herald Mayor Jyoti Gondek speaks with the media outside Calgary Council Chamber on Monday, November 1, 2021.

The newly elected mayor’s notice of motion is on Tuesday’s agenda for the first meeting of council’s new executive committee. If the committee gives the proposal technical approval, it will be up for debate at the first regular council meeting on Nov. 15.

The city’s current climate resilience strategy aims for Calgary’s emissions to be 80 per cent lower than the 2005 levels by 2050, a target that many have said falls short . Gondek’s motion specifies that in addition to declaring a climate emergency, the City of Calgary environmental plan would be updated to aim for net-zero emissions by 2050. That’s the worldwide target to stop adding heat-trapping carbon emissions to the atmosphere and limit global warming to 1.5 C , therefore averting even more catastrophic environmental impacts.

Gondek tells economic outlook event that Calgary must lead 'in a world of transition'

Gondek’s motion outlines how the need to address climate change is clear, considering Alberta has seen several of the costliest natural disasters in the country over the past five years.

“Amongst large and mid-sized Canadian cities, Calgary is one of the few without a climate emergency declaration, compromising our city’s ability to compete for global capital and talent.”

City councils in Ottawa, Vancouver, Toronto and Edmonton — among many others — have voted in recent years to declare climate emergencies. But after Edmonton made the move in 2019, there was little motivation from Calgary city councillors to do the same.

City officials fielded internal inquiries about such a declaration from at least one council member, but some former councillors pointed out the city already has a climate resilience strategy, adding they worried about straying outside the city’s mandate or potentially being “overly dramatic.”

At the time, when Coun. Sean Chu was asked whether there was interest in declaring a climate emergency, he said, “Over my dead body.”

Now that council has almost entirely turned over, and with Gondek making the issue one of her first priorities as mayor, the conversation in city hall may look very different.

The motion calls for planning and budgeting across city departments to pursue emissions reductions and opportunities to lower climate risk. Civic partner organizations and city wholly owned subsidiaries would also be required to align with the net-zero by 2050 goal, and the city would advocate for funding from other levels of government to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate risk from natural disasters driven by climate change.

Former Calgary Emergency Management Agency chief Tom Sampson said in 2019 he was uncertain about the utility of declaring a climate emergency, but said if the city ever made the move, there should be a clear sense of its purpose. CEMA has identified climate change as a significant risk to the city, and it’s a factor in major disasters like the 2013 floods.

Gondek has spoken about the climate emergency declaration numerous times since last month’s municipal vote, from election night to her address at the Calgary Economic Development annual economic outlook event.

A few days after the election, Gondek said the move is about more than making a symbolic statement.

“Symbolism doesn’t get you results,” she said, adding she wants to send a clear message about Calgary’s pursuit of innovation and technology that supports responsible and sustainable energy production.

“I have been elected to make sure our city receives the capital it deserves. That’s how you go about getting it: by taking these things seriously.”