Nfld. & Labrador·CBC Explains

What makes the biofuel set to come out of Come By Chance sustainable? An expert weighs in

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Refinery emissions could be cut by 50 to 90%, says

 chemical engineer Bradley Saville

Alex Kennedy · CBC News · Posted: Dec 05, 2021 

The Come By Chance oil refine will soon produce biofuel using refined cooking and vegetable oils. (Sherry Vivian/CBC)

A deal to transform the Come By Chance oil refinery and create renewable and sustainable biofuel will breath new life into the facility by the middle of 2022, according to Premier Andrew Furey.

Cresta Fund Management has bought a controlling stake of the idled refinery, and plans to convert the plant to make aviation fuel and diesel from used cooking oil, corn oil and animal fat. Cresta says initial production capacity will be 14,000 barrels per day, but could reach as high as 35,000.

• Come By Chance refinery sold, will become biofuel operation by mid-2022

But what makes the fuel renewable and sustainable? To learn more, CBC Radio's On The Go spoke to Bradley Saville, a chemical engineer at the University of Toronto and a leading expert in biofuel.

What is biofuel, and what makes it sustainable?

The type of fuel that will be created in Come By Chance will be created using what Saville calls "second use oils," taking things like cooking oil or poultry fat that have limited use outside their primary function.

"They've already been used once or they have very limited use otherwise, and therefore are great options for feeding into a refinery to make renewable fuel," Saville said.

Not all materials, or feedstocks, are made equally, he said, comparing the waste fats collected from a restaurant to a clean sample. The oils we use for food make the best feedstock, according to Saville.

The refinery will need to add tools to clean impurities from the feedstock, but he says the process of refining cooking oil doesn't vary much from refining crude oil.

Bradley Saville is a chemical engineer at the University of Toronto and a leading expert on biofuels in Canada. (University of Toronto)

In terms of what makes the fuel sustainable, he said, renewable fuel tends to emit the same levels of carbon dioxide as diesel fuel when coming out of a tailpipe but the difference comes in how and when the emissions are produced.

"The difference is that we're talking about carbon dioxide that's been generated really that same year," he said.

"It's considered renewable because it's what we call biogenic — a lot different from the CO2 that comes from the carbon that's sequestered in crude oil and has been there for millions of years."

Will the refinery be able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?

The short answer is yes. According to Seville, it could come down by a large margin.

"Work that's been done with these types of fuels and with these kinds of feedstocks in similar types of refineries have shown greenhouse gas emission reductions ranging from 50 to perhaps 90 per cent compared to conventional aviation fuel, compared to conventional diesel fuel," he said.

"Those are really significant, and obviously a great opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in our transportation sector."

• IN DEPTH
  What we know, and don't know, about the environmental deal at Come By Chance

He said the technology to refine sustainable fuel has taken off in recent years, and is already translating to the aviation industry. According to Seville, almost every plane flying out of Los Angeles International Airport contains fuel refined at a local refinery.

What does the price of sustainable fuels look like?

Depending on the oil you use, Seville says the price can vary. Used oils or grease tend to fetch lower prices than crude oil, while fuel made using some vegetable oils can be comparable to — and sometimes more expensive than — fuel made using crude oil.

"But, as we know, crude oil prices vary a lot," he said.

The fuel produced in the Come By Chance refinery will be used in the aviation industry. (Michelle Parise)

The biggest downside is the availability of feedstocks and their price.

"It really comes down to [the fact that] we don't have a huge amount of these feedstocks," Seville said.

"So this is going to be really valuable … but it's really part of what we need to do from an overall perspective in reducing greenhouse gas emissions."

Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador

Renewable Energy Is Great—but the Grid Can Slow It Down

Many solar and wind projects face a problem: getting the energy from where it’s made to where it’s needed.

PHOTOGRAPH: DU YI/GETTY IMAGES

GREGORY BARBER

SAY YOU WANT to build a wind farm. You find a nice empty knoll in northern Vermont, where the breeze blows steadily and the neighbors don’t complain about sullied views. (A damn miracle, in other words.) You line up investors, get the right permits, and prepare to install your turbines. Then you hit snag: power lines. There aren’t enough in rural Vermont; they’re all in Boston, along with the people and their Teslas. So you’ve got a problem. The wind is blowing here, but there’s no way to get its green energy there.

Since 1889, when the US got its first long-distance power line (it traversed a whopping 14 miles), the grid largely has been set up for energy that’s consumed relatively close to where it is produced. There are exceptions—like hydropower that reaches cities from far-flung dams—but for the most part, it has been a century of linking coal and gas plants with people living nearby. But now, with wind farms dotting mountain ridges and solar plants sprawling in the desert, distance is more common.

The wires aren’t ready for it. Researchers at Princeton University estimate that the country’s high-voltage transmission capacity needs to grow by 60 percent in the next decade to meet its clean energy goals. “The grid that we have wasn’t designed for what we do with it now, let alone what we want to do with it, with all sorts of renewables,” says Seth Blumsack, an economist who studies the grid at Penn State University.

In many parts of the country, wind and solar are already the cheapest ways to produce energy, but transmission is a limiting factor, explains Kerinia Cusick, cofounder of the Center for Renewables Integration, a nonprofit that advocates modernizing the grid for green energy. That means that in places like rural Vermont, wind farm owners are frequently ordered to shut down when a healthy breeze is blowing—a move known as “curtailment”—because there’s too much power coming over the wires.

For plants that are yet to be built, the situation is even worse, because grid constraints mean backers must string new lines, and pay for them, before installing turbines or solar panels. Each year, hundreds of renewable energy projects stall in advanced planning stages due to delays in upgrading transmission lines and the cost of making those upgrades.

“There’s a very likely risk that’ll kill your project,” says Hudson Gilmer, chief executive of LineVision. Gilmer’s company attacks the problem from another angle: make the existing grid carry more power. Even when plans for a new line are approved, there’s no guarantee it actually happens. Nobody wants massive power lines draped over their backyard or across an endangered wetland. So Gilmer looks for ways to eke more power out of the lines where congestion is a big problem.

“The grid that we have wasn’t designed for what we do with it now, let alone what we want to do with it, with all sorts of renewables.” 

SETH BLUMSACK, ECONOMIST, PENN STATE UNIVERSITY

That’s possible because power lines generally are not used to their fullest. Limits on how much power the lines can carry are typically set in advance, and they're based on assumptions about physics and engineering that were made decades ago. They’re conservative—understandably so, in the interest of keeping the lights on reliably and safely. But Gilmer and others argue that technological improvements allow line owners to more closely monitor their system and push through more power. “We’re not suggesting that we don’t need those new high-voltage lines carrying renewables from the Dakotas or West Texas to urban areas,” Gilmer says, alluding to two of the nation’s most productive areas for wind power. For that, the country still needs new electron superhighways. But the idea is to get a little more out of the lines where there are bottlenecks, and make room for more of the renewables that are languishing in the queue.

LineVision specializes in a technique called dynamic line rating. One of the physical limits of power lines is the heat they generate as a current flows through them. Too much power and the line will start to sag as the wires get hot and expand, potentially sparking and causing a fire. But nobody actually monitors each line. The limits are based on assumptions meant to avoid a worst-case scenario. There are other factors that affect the line’s temperature—for example, the weather. Most days there’s a breeze blowing on the wires, and it cools them down—maybe just by a couple of degrees, but enough to theoretically carry more power. So Gilmer’s company installs sensors that monitor the lines for sagging, using lidar and other devices. It claims the technology can increase a line’s capacity by up to 40 percent.

Renewables—which ebb and flow with the wind and the sun—add more uncertainty into how much power a line needs to carry. “Flexibility is the coin of the realm going forward,” says Carl Imhoff, a researcher at Pacific Northwest National Lab who studies so-called grid-enhancing technologies. Among them is a form of power steering for the grid. The way that power will flow through a grid is hard to predict—it changes depending on supply and demand, and it can leave certain lines clogged while others sit unused. The first step is knowing what’s happening: The method relies on a network of devices called synchrophasors—electronic sentinels that quickly measure changes in the power flowing through the lines. Those observations help grid operators understand where there’s congestion. That way, they can redirect power through a better route by applying a voltage to the lines, which serves to push or pull a current through them.

A form of that technology is used in the UK, where National Grid, which operates lines across the country, uses power flow devices to push energy from the renewable-rich north of England to power-hungry areas around London. Such tools would be especially useful in places like the Northeast US, explains Terron Hill, who directs clean energy development at National Grid’s US-based utility arm. That’s because the region is covered by a spider web of transmission lines—but often not as thickly as needed in places that are best for renewables. The wires in those areas are among the country's oldest, notes Hill, after returning from inspecting 80-year-old equipment that was due for maintenance.

It’s slow going. The utility has experimented with a variety of grid-enhancing tools, including dynamic line rating to improve capacity in the Hudson Valley and ferry renewable energy south to New York City. But for the most part, the utility follows a straightforward game plan for upgrading transmission: install more wires, even with the challenges of doing so. “You need to change the mindset away from ‘build build build’ to what’s best for customers and how to use your network more efficiently,” Hill says.

The reasons for that mindset get wonky, fast. The grid is complicated. The people who most often own and operate the transmission lines—including private utilities that answer to investors, as well as public entities—are often different from the people building renewable plants that will connect to them. The whole system is overseen by a tangle of planners and regulators, helmed nationally by the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC. When a utility wins approval to build a new power line, it’s usually part of a plan to handle demand from its customers—and it comes with a guarantee that the utility and its shareholders will recoup that investment and more. When a generator wants to hook up to the grid? That’s different. The entities that own the surrounding wires say what upgrades are required and how much it will cost, and the owner of the new solar plant or wind farms pays for it.

Neither of these scenarios leaves much opportunity to make existing lines more efficient. Big investments in new lines mean bigger returns for utilities that put them up. In other words, it's more profitable to spend big. And while utilities may see potential in new technologies, they also come with risks, including safety and reliability problems, and investments in new people and training that might not pay off. “There is a great fear of failure,” says Blumsack of Penn State. “If you try something new and it fails, who pays for it?”

Utilities say their caution is rooted in reliability. Use a newfangled device to increase the capacity of the line and you may end up with a problem that results in penalties for the utility and higher prices for customers. “It puts us in a place not to innovate,” says Elizabeth Cook, general manager of advanced grid solutions for Duquesne Light Company, a utility in the Pittsburgh area. That’s why it’s important to test. The region isn’t a renewable hot spot or facing much congestion right now, but the utility is gathering data using a LineVision device. That way it can be prepared to raise the capacity if it needs to.

Incentives from agencies like FERC would help utilities try new technology and gather data, says Hill. The agency is considering such moves, along with new rules to incentivize more efficient grid planning, including cooperation among different players on the grid. Cusick, the grid improvements advocate, also hopes it will give generators more say over transmission improvements, so the default isn’t an expensive new line.

But what’s needed most, Blumsack says, is a better overall plan for the electric grid. Technologies that enhance the existing grid are one part of a much bigger puzzle. The topology of the old grid is now defunct, and it will take a lot to get it oriented the right way. That means efficiently building new wires not just where they’re needed today, but where they’ll be needed tomorrow—and using every technology we’ve got to get more power through them. Without that, the wind can blow and the sun can shine, but the US won’t be able to harness them.

Oceans Hold Promise as Climate-fighting Carbon Sinks

  December 8, 2021

© artifirsov / Adobe Stock

The United States should study how the world’s oceans could be used to remove planet-warming carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through methods like cultivating seaweed or manipulating nutrients in the water, according to a report released on Wednesday.

The report comes amid a growing realization among the world’s scientists and governments that reducing greenhouse gas emissions from activities like burning fossil fuels will not be enough to avert the worst impacts of climate change. Huge volumes of carbon must also be removed and stored away using strategies that are not yet proven to work on a large scale.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report said oceans are a promising area to study because of their size and capacity to store carbon. A handful of techniques are already available to accelerate the ocean’s carbon-absorbing powers and need to be scrutinized, it said.

"If society wants to be well-informed, if these decisions need to be made at some point, we need to improve an unbiased knowledge base," said Scott Doney, a scientist at the University of Virginia who helped lead the report.

The report recommended an initial $125 million U.S. research program to “complete some very critical research in the next decade” on the subject, Doney said.

China announced in August it would explore ways to increase its ocean "carbon sink" as part of its pledge to reduce greenhouse gases to net zero by 2060. 

The report identified six potential strategies that could be studied in detail, including large-scale seaweed farming, sprinkling phosphorous, nitrogen or iron on the ocean surface to speed photosynthesis by carbon-absorbing phytoplankton, or passing an electrical current into the water to make it more alkaline and thereby enhance its ability to store CO2.

Other ideas include protecting and recovering fish and marine mammal species that store carbon in their bodies and excrete carbon-rich waste to the ocean floor, or artificially forcing ocean upwelling and downwelling to bring nutrients for carbon-absorbing phytoplankton to the surface and carbon to the deeps.

The National Academies said it did some preliminary evaluations of these strategies for how well they are likely to work, along with their costs, scalability and environmental impact, but that much was still unknown.

It found that adjusting the alkalinity of the ocean with electrical currents to enhance its carbon-absorbing ability had among the highest likelihoods of being effective, but also among the highest potential costs.

Seaweed farming, it said, was likely to have medium efficacy, but also moderate to high environmental risks that need to be better understood, including contributing to ocean acidification and reducing available oxygen in the water.

Seagrasses play a large role in regulating ocean environments, storing more than twice as much carbon from planet-warming carbon dioxide (CO2) per square mile as forests do on land, according to a 2012 study in the journal Nature Geoscience.

(Reporting by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Gold mining project in northwestern B.C. gets green light from Mines Act

Premier Gold Project is expected to create opportunities for service providers throughout the region

Prince George Citizen 

Ascot Resources Ltd. project drilling site. Ascot Resources Ltd.

A gold mining venture in northwestern B.C. is moving ahead after receiving a Mines Act permit.

The Ascot Resources Ltd. project has received a Mines Act permit for the construction and operation of the Premier Gold Project.

It’s located in the “Golden Triangle” of northwestern British Columbia.

The Golden Triangle is a 500 km belt of mineralization stretching south from Atlin near the border with the Yukon to Kitsault just southeast of Stewart.

The area has long been known as a mineral-rich region with gold and copper deposits and is also home to silver, nickel and zinc deposits.

The Ascot Resources project is expected to create jobs for as many as 140 people during construction and approximately 280 people during operations.

“This project will be a welcome source of employment for hundreds of people who live in the northwest,” said Bruce Ralston, Minister of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation in a news release.

“Ascot Resources Ltd. is working with the Nisga’a Nation to bring good-paying jobs to the community and those who live around Stewart.”

With the receipt of their Mines Act permit, Ascot Resources Ltd. can move forward with full-scale construction of the Premier Gold Project.

The province notes that once built, Ascot Resources anticipates Premier will be one of B.C.’s lowest carbon-intensive gold mines, connected to BC Hydro’s clean, hydroelectric grid power.

Beyond the hundreds of jobs in construction and operation, the mine will create work opportunities for sub-contractors, suppliers and additional service providers within the region.

Ascot Resources is set to begin underground development at the “Big Missouri” deposit in the coming months with project construction expected to take one year.

The mine is expected to be in operation for an initial term of eight years.

“Receiving the Mines Act Permit for PGP is a momentous milestone for Ascot, and the culmination of extensive collaboration and consultation with Nisga’a Nation and the provincial regulators,” said Derek White, president and CEO, Ascot Resources Ltd.

“We are grateful that our community-centred approach to responsible mine development and environmental stewardship was a vision shared by all parties involved in the permitting process. We would like to thank our shareholders, Nisga’a Nation and the local towns of Stewart, B.C. and Hyder, Alaska for their support as we progressed through the permitting process and are looking forward to the next chapter as we advance Canada’s next gold mine toward production.”

Eva Clayton, president, Nisga’a Lisims Government said they are very pleased to see that the Mines Act Permit for the construction and operation of the Premier Gold Project has been issued.

“The Nisga’a Nation has worked in extensive collaboration with Ascot throughout the permitting process, including through the Mine Review Committee process leading up to the granting of the permit,” added Clayton.

“The rights under our Treaty and our commitment to stewardship of the Nass Valley and Nisga’a citizens have helped to set the Premier Gold Project to be a safe, prosperous and responsible mining operation. We have developed a strong working relationship with Ascot and we wish to congratulate them on this important milestone. We look forward to our continued collaboration with Ascot in the full-scale construction and operation phases of the project.”

Military's former head of HR charged with sexual assault, indecent acts

TIME FOR ALL FEMALE COMMAND & CIVILIAN OVERSIGHT

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Vice-Admiral Haydn Edmundson denied the allegations

Ashley Burke · CBC News · Posted: Dec 08, 2021 

Vice-Admiral Haydn Edmundson has been charged under the Criminal Code. (Justin Tang/Canadian Press)

Vice-Admiral Haydn Edmundson, the military's former commander in charge of military human resources, has been charged with sexual assault and committing indecent acts.

The Canadian Forces National Investigation Service (CFNIS) laid the Criminal Code charges today. 

"As the matter is now proceeding through the civilian justice system, no further information can be released at this time," Department of National Defence spokesperson Daniel Le Bouthillier said in a media statement. 

The allegations against Edmundson date back more than two decades, to when he was a lieutenant-commander overseeing training at the naval officer training centre in Esquimalt, B.C.

Retired Canadian Forces member Stéphanie Viau went public with her allegations in March in a CBC News story.

• EXCLUSIVE
  Senior military commander under investigation after being accused of sexually assaulting subordinate

Viau alleged that she was a 19-year-old steward in the navy when Edmundson, a superior and lieutenant commander in 1991, started exposing his genitals to her onboard a navy ship deployed to the Pacific Ocean for an exercise.

Viau said she yelled at Edmundson and told him it was unacceptable behaviour. Days later, she said, the misconduct escalated and Edmundson raped her onboard HMCS Provider in early November, 1991, while the ship was docked in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Edmundson's lawyer, Brian Greenspan, said his client denies the allegations. 

"Vice-Admiral Edmundson continues to deny any suggestion of criminal misconduct and looks forward to the opportunity to restore his distinguished reputation for service to our country," Greenspan wrote in a statement to CBC News. 

In response to the charges laid Tuesday, Viau's lawyer, Paul Champ, told CBC News his client "will make no comment on this matter other than to say we will wait for justice to take its course."

Champ said last month that CFNIS was consulting with civilian prosecutors in Ontario to determine if criminal charges should be laid. The defence department said the case would be handed over to civilian prosecutors.

Defence Minister Anita Anand announced last month that she had accepted former Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour's recommendation to transfer sexual misconduct investigations to civilian police except in cases where an investigation is close to completion.

"In this particular case, the investigation was near completion," Le Bouthillier said regarding why CFNIS laid the charges.

This case is not part of the transfer of cases from the military to the civilian justice system.

Stéphanie Viau accused Hayden Edmundson of sexual assault. (Andrew Lee/CBC News)

The military placed Edmundson on paid leave when CBC's story first aired in March and later replaced him as the commander in charge of military human resources when the allegations were made public.

At the time, Greenspan called it regrettable that Edmundson was "replaced in his role without an opportunity to appropriately respond and defend against untested allegations which he categorically and unequivocally denies."

The Canadian military is engaged in a public struggle with sexual misconduct in the ranks. Since February 2021, multiple current and former senior Canadian military leaders have been sidelined, investigated or forced into retirement from some of the highest ranking posts in the Armed Forces.

The allegations against Edmundson are the most serious to be levelled recently against a senior leader in the Forces.

DND said that since May 12, Edmundson has been posted as a supported member at the Transition Centre Ottawa. While many military members who go to the transition group end up leaving the military, some transition back in.

Edmundson's first court appearance is set for Jan. 25 in Ottawa. 

Quebec and public daycare unions reach agreement in principle

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Agreement needs to be ratified by union membership

Josh Grant · CBC News · Posted: Dec 08, 2021 

Hundreds of early childhood educators protested outside government offices in November, amid months of talks between public daycare workers and the Quebec government. (Ivanoh Demers/Radio-Canada)

After days of strikes and months of negotiations, the labour dispute between public daycare workers and the Quebec government appears to be nearly resolved and a strike that loomed Friday seems to be off the table.

After two days of "intensive negotiations," the FSSS–CSN, a branch of the Confédération des syndicats nationaux which represents 11,000 daycare employees, announced it had reached an agreement in principle at around 1 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

A few hours later, the Syndicat québécois des employées et employés de service (SQEES) associated with the Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec (FTQ) said its negotiators had also come to an agreement in principle with Quebec's Treasury Board and family minister.

"We've worked really hard to get here," said FSSS–CSN child-care lead Stéphanie Vachon. "We feel we've done everything we can to push forward the workers' priorities at the negotiation table, but in the end the decision is up to them."

The union says it won't be giving any more details on the agreement in principle until its members have had a chance to review it and have their say.

In a video posted to the FSSS-CSN members Facebook page, Vachon said all employees would be receiving more information this afternoon and would be invited to general assemblies where the deal will be put to a vote.

The SQEES-FTQ says it has started a similar process and is delaying an unlimited strike that was set to start tomorrow.

Anxious parents

Arwen Fleming says she and her partner have struggled not being able to send their daughter Tova to her FSSS-CSN affiliated daycare in Côte-des-Neiges, Que., this week. 

"The disruption in routine is horrible," she said, "and I can tell my daughter hates this."

Fleming says she's had to take time off work because it's impossible to work from home with a toddler in the house. And she says it's equally frustrating for her toddler.

"She asks to go to daycare every morning, she's refusing naps and meals, she misses the stimulation and her friends, she misses the structure, the routine."

Arwen Fleming, right, says this week's daycare strikes have been challenging for her and her partner Serhiy Homonyuk as well as their daughter Tova, who's anxious to get back. Fleming hopes today's agreement in principle is something daycare workers will be happy with. (Dave St-Amant/CBC)

"I'm so relieved that there's an agreement in principle," she said, "because I really don't know how much longer we can handle this."

Despite the strain on her and her family, Fleming says she blames the government for failing to resolve the situation sooner and not the workers.

"You need to come up with an agreement that fairly pays people, so they stay in the area of work," she said.

3rd union reaches deal

Early childhood educators and staff affiliated with the SQEES-FTQ and the Fédération des intervenantes en petite enfance du Québec, affiliated with the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (FIPEQ-CSQ), were set to walk off the job on Thursday if no agreement was reached.

But on Wednesday evening the FIPEQ-CSQ, which represents 3,200 educators, announced it too had reached an agreement and its members would soon convene to study and vote on it.

This afternoon, Treasury Board President Sonia LeBel was asked about the negotiations.

LeBel said she didn't want to go into too much detail about the agreement in principle but said she stuck to her position that the government is not able to offer the same salary increases to auxiliary staff as it is to educators.

She said Quebec agreed to offer educators the big salary boosts and increased support they were asking for and considers that issue to no longer be a sticking point.

with files from Kwabena Oduro and Radio-Canada

Concordia University of Edmonton faculty association could be first in Alberta to strike

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University says its primary goal is reaching a fair and

 equitable collective agreement

Madeleine Cummings · CBC News · Posted: Dec 07, 2021 

Concordia University of Edmonton faculty association has voted 90 per cent in favour of a strike. However, the university has been approved to take lockout action against the association. The university says its primary goal is reaching a fair and equitable collective agreement (Madeleine Cummings/CBC)

Concordia University of Edmonton's faculty association could be the first in Alberta to go on strike. 

The Concordia University of Edmonton Faculty Association (CUEFA), which represents 81 full-time professors, librarians, placement coordinators and lab instructors, has been negotiating a new collective agreement with the university since the spring. 

A strike authorization vote on December 1 saw 90 per cent support a strike, with about 95 per cent of the association's members participating in the vote. 

The results mean the association could choose to strike anytime within 120 days.

"We obviously want to minimize the harm to the students, but at the same time, we do have to stand up for our own health and we do have to stand up for our own working conditions," CUEFA interim president Glynis Price told CBC News on Monday.

According to Price,  the university has been approved to lockout staff, should they choose to do so. In the case of a strike or a lockout, 72 hours notice is required.

An emailed statement from the university said it has a primary goal of reaching a fair and equitable collective agreement with the association and to avoid any disruptions. 

"We are hopeful that ongoing negotiations will achieve a reasonable and mutually beneficial agreement as soon as possible," the statement said.

'Highly unusual' workload

Price said the faculty association's biggest point of disagreement with the university pertains to workload. 

In negotiations, she said, the university offered a "highly unusual" workload that reduced the number of courses some teachers would have to teach by one, but increased research expectations for everyone. 

Price said higher teaching loads are common at colleges and undergraduate-focused universities, but Concordia is in the process of transitioning to a research institution.

The association is also concerned about job security, in particular, language in the university's proposal on discipline that would allow faculty members to be disciplined without cause. 

On its collective bargaining website, the university said the parties disagree over "relatively minor" adjustments about faculty discipline and the school "expects this item will be fairly easily resolved."

Regarding workload, the university said a mediator suggested the two sides continue bargaining.

The right to strike

Bob Barnetson, a labour relations professor at Athabasca University, said faculty strikes in other provinces have proven to be effective at putting pressure on post-secondary institutions. 

They typically last no more than six weeks, he said, "at which point, employers cave and give up more than they had originally hoped to."

• U of Manitoba, faculty reach tentative deal, potentially ending weeks-long strike

• New bill gives academic staff the right to strike

Faculty associations did not have the right to strike until the Alberta government passed a 2017 bill that moved faculty collective bargaining under the Labour Relations Code. 

Concordia may be the first faculty association to vote in favour of a strike mandate since the bill was passed, but Barnetson said other universities, including the University of Alberta, the University of Lethbridge and Mount Royal University, could also be headed in that direction.

Barnetson, who is involved in the collective bargaining process at his own institution, said the Concordia faculty association's workload claim is reasonable.

He said professors at research universities typically teach fewer courses to make up for their research and administrative responsibilities.

A strike could happen at any time, so long as the association gives the school at least 72 hours notice, but he said it would be more advantageous for the union to wait until students are in class again in the new year. 

'Students are nervous'

James Wakelin, president of the Concordia Students' Association, said he has received letters and emails from students, departments and faculty members about the dispute.

He said in general, students support the faculty, but a strike would interrupt their education and could derail graduating students' plans.

"I know lots of students are nervous and a little frightened for the next semester," he said. 

Price said she understands students' worries, but if teachers are stressed and burned out, that will also affect students' learning environment. 

Deal with career college irks Fanshawe College faculty ahead of strike vote

Author of the article: Heather Rivers
Publishing date:Nov 30, 2021 •

Fanshawe College. (Derek Ruttan/The London Free Press)
Article content

A new contracting-out deal between London’s Fanshawe College and a private Toronto career college has sparked concern within its faculty union, as it prepares for a strike vote next week.

As negotiations hit a standstill, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, which represents about 800 instructors at Fanshawe as well as at other colleges across Ontario, will hold a provincewide strike vote Dec. 9, 10 and 11.

Friday, Fanshawe announced a partnership with ILAC International College, where it will offer some of Fanshawe’s programs to international students in downtown Toronto in the spring of 2022.

Fanshawe programs to be offered through ILAC include hospitality and tourism, hotel and resort management, addictions and mental health, and gerontology, said Wendy Curtis, who heads Fanshawe’s international student program.

“Fanshawe has a strategic plan where we have targeted a 50 per cent increase to international students over five years,” Curtis said. “Right now we are limited in our ability to grow. The way to achieve that target is by continued growth in London supplemented by growth in Toronto.

“ The college continues to contribute to (filling) the province’s labour market gaps , also the federal government’s plan in terms of supporting economic recovery through immigration.”

Money earned by Fanshawe from ILAC will “be reinvested back into our communities,” Curtis said.

But the freshly minted deal “feels like a betrayal of trust,” said Darryl Bedford, president of OPSEU Local 110, Fanshawe College’s faculty union.

“The issue for our members is they have worked under challenging circumstances during this pandemic to post all of this material online and they did so to help the students and community,” Bedford said. “Now you have a situation where Fanshawe is going to be licensing these programs to a private college so they can make a quick buck off of them.

“Instructors uploaded (the programs) believing it would be to the benefit of Fanshawe College, not so it could be turned around and used by a private college.”

The issue is a big deal within the context of bargaining because “provincially the union has language that materials cannot be transferred outside of a college without their permission,” Bedford said.

“This should not be about profit. It’s not what faculty members or donors wanted,” he said. “We don’t want a strike and it’s the last thing our system needs, but we are in collective bargaining and our team needs a (strike) mandate.”

Bedford said he hopes an arbitrator will step in “to decide what’s fair and reasonable.”

“The union is happy to go back to the bargaining table,” he said.

Instructors at the college last walked out in 2017, with the top issue being job security.

hrivers@postmedia.com