WINNIPEG

City students plan walkouts Monday over safety concerns

Teenagers are organizing walkouts at public and independent schools across the city in protest of the few virus-safety protocols that will be in place when they return to in-person classes Monday.

Shortly before lunchtime Monday, the first day of face-to-face learning after an extended winter break, students at more than 30 schools are planning to protest the provincial government’s response to the fast-spreading Omicron-variant COVID-19 surge.

“I want to go to the movies, I want to go to school, I want to do all of that, but doctors and scientists are saying that it’s not safe and they’re saying that 40 per cent of us already have COVID,” said Cooper Vint, a Grade 10 student at Grant Park High School.

“I don’t want (anyone else to get seriously sick) and I don’t want to be responsible for that happening.”

The students — taking action under the MB Student Walkout for COVID Safety 2022 banner — want an option to enrol in remote learning indefinitely so physical classroom attendance numbers can be reduced. They also want the province to ensure teens have immediate access to booster shots, N95 masks and rapid tests, as well as reassurance they will continue being notified when there is a positive case in their school, in order to feel comfortable returning to K-12 buildings.

The initiative, devised by 15-year-old Kelvin High School student Ava Byrne, was inspired by similar action taken in New York earlier this week.

“(The premier) basically told us that, ‘We’re just going to have to deal with it because everyone’s going to get Omicron,’ which was careless,” said Byrne, a 10th grader. “So I thought it’d be a good idea to show the government that students have a voice and we’ll use it when they’re putting us in danger.”

The Winnipeg School Division is aware of the walkout plan and will monitor the situation Monday to ensure both participants and non-participants remain safe, said Radean Carter, senior information officer for Manitoba’s largest district.

“This protest action is not organized by WSD; however, we support students’ right to peacefully protest and put their education of the democratic process into action,” Carter wrote in an email Friday.

Education Minister Cliff Cullen was asked about the planned demonstrations earlier in the week and encouraged students to “have a second thought,” discuss the situation with their parents and reach out to individual teachers about the new safety protocols in schools.

Cullen said he has heard from pediatricians who say school closures have severely impacted some students’ mental health, as well as teachers, who’ve told him students learn best when they can do so in a classroom.

“We’ve taken as many precautions as we can to really try to mitigate this risk as we have to work with COVID,” Cullen told a news conference, noting the province has been distributing rapid tests and medical-grade masks to schools.

“We’ve got to get back to some form of normalcy, whatever that may look like.”

In response to rising Omicron cases, the province announced a phase-in return to school in 2022 after the winter break, and adjusted measures to ensure staff wear medical-grade masks, students wear three-ply face coverings and educators reorganize classrooms to expand physical distancing.

Sports tournaments and overnight trips have been suspended indefinitely. Some schools will soon receive portable air-filtration units as part of a new initiative to improve ventilation.

Grade 12 student Weldon Scott, however, wants to know how many politicians have physically set foot inside a school recently.

“They don’t know what we’re going through,” the 17-year-old said during a Zoom call with the Free Press and a half-dozen student organizers.

Many of the teens on the Friday video call indicated physical distancing of two metres is not possible in their classrooms, lunchtime protocols require students to remove their masks all at once in poorly ventilated areas, and not all of their peers or teachers strictly follow mask rules.

Grade 12 student Brie Villeneuve said remote learning is not, in and of itself, the cause of mental-health issues, no matter how many times government officials and walkout critics might suggest that it is. In fact, the 18 year old at Grant Park said learning of the province’s back-to-school plans only raised anxiety and depression.

“We’re struggling with mental health because there’s a global pandemic. Everyone is,” Villeneuve said.

There have been at least 4,642 cases — 77 per cent of which are among students — and more than 30 outbreaks connected to schools since Labour Day thus far.

Maggie Macintosh, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Winnipeg Free Press

Western Canadian teachers call for more protection after schools reopen

Elementary and secondary schools across Western Canada have reopened following the Christmas break as provincial governments faced criticism from teachers over what they say is a lack of protective measures against the COVID-19 Omicron variant.

Schools in British Columbia and Alberta reopened on Monday with health and education officials stressing the need for in-person learning. Schools in Saskatchewan returned the previous week as scheduled.

The leaders of teacher unions in Saskatchewan and British Columbia have been critical of how the reopening of schools has been handled and the stress it has placed on staff.

"We have situations where learning assistants, or learning resource teachers, who are specialized teachers are being pulled out of their duties into classrooms to cover staff shortages," said Patrick Maze, the head of the Saskatchewan Teachers Federation. "The learning program suffers when you have this many transitions going on in the schools."

The president of the BC Teachers' Federation agreed with those concerns. Teri Mooring said teachers want greater access to N95 masks in schools as well as priority for booster vaccines.

Four B.C. schools announced functional closures this week, meaning there was not enough staff to teach students.

"We're concerned there will be a lot more functional closures. It's hard for us to understand why the additional safety measures we're calling for aren't being put in place," Mooring said in an interview.

She said refusing to accommodate the union's requests could lead to a staffing shortage in schools.

"We think with those safety measures teachers and support staff are more likely to stay healthy," she said. "This whole issue of doing the bare minimum has always been a problem in education. We'd like to see a more preventive approach rather than a bare minimum approach."

B.C. Education Minister Jennifer Whiteside said in an interview that teachers would not be prioritized for vaccines and the government has taken steps to manage risks posed by the virus.

"It is a balancing act. One thing we have been very determined about in B.C. ... is to ensure we keep children and youth at the centre of our decision-making. We know how important it is to have access to in-person learning," said Jennifer Whiteside.

But Cameron Phillips, a parent and Vancouver secondary school teacher, said he questions if the B.C. government is thinking about the long-term health effects facing students.

Phillips said he and his wife, who is an elementary school teacher, decided to keep their kids home this week as they assess the COVID-19 situation in schools.

"As a parent, I'm concerned about the future health of my children," he said. "As a teacher, I love my kids. I love my students. I know the school I teach at has many multiple generation families. There are so many students in my classes who are terrified of taking it home to auntie or grandma and causing suffering or havoc in their families."

Phillips said he's "baffled" by the reluctance to provide N95 masks to students and staff, and would like to see improved ventilation in schools.

Saskatchewan's chief medical health officer, Dr. Saqib Shahab, said schools have done a commendable job of continuing in-person learning in a safe way.

"One thing we've seen is how important it is to maintain in-class learning as much as possible while accepting some higher transmission, which is not just unique to school, this is happening in health care, schools, all workplaces," he said.

In Alberta, as the number of Omicron infections hit a record high this week, the president of the Alberta Teachers’ Association said he’s concerned about students’ future in classrooms because "community spread is echoed in schools."

“I anticipate we're going to have more of what we saw this year but it might be intensified so we'll see more absences, we'll see more inabilities for schools to fill absent teachers,” Jason Schilling said Friday.

Alberta has left it up to schools to contact trace infections.

Hundreds of students and dozens of teachers were reported absent on the Edmonton Public Schools board website on Thursday. Out of 105,151 students under the division, 3.16 per cent were absent due to COVID-19 and 3.56 per cent were absent due to other illnesses.

The Calgary Board of Education also said its absent rate for kindergarten to Grade 12 students was 20.2 per cent on Wednesday.

— With files from Fakiha Baig in Edmonton and Mickey Djuric in Regina.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 14, 2022.

—

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

Nick Wells, The Canadian Press

There's something in the water: Edmonton's COVID-19 sewage is vast

© Provided by Edmonton Journal Gold Bar Wastewater Treatment Plant at 10977 50 St. in Edmonton on Sunday, Jan. 9, 2022. Alberta is currently using wastewater testing to monitor the spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant.

The level of COVID-19 indicators in Edmonton wastewater has soared well above where it was in any other wave of the pandemic but experts say it’s too soon to predict whether this wave has peaked and how bad the increased pressure from the Omicron variant could get on the province’s health-care system.

According to data collected by researchers from the University of Alberta and University of Calgary, the level of COVID-19 viral RNA in wastewater at the Edmonton testing site jumped to 595.7 copies per 100 ml by Jan. 3 from 153.9 copies per 100 ml on Dec. 28. The most recent number from Jan. 12 sits at 525.7.

A similarly shaped trajectory can be seen in water from the Fort Saskatchewan test site which covers portions of the greater Edmonton area.

Edmonton’s highest peak during previous waves of the pandemic was in December 2020 when it hit 168.5 per 100 ml.

Bonita Lee, an associate professor in pediatrics at the University of Alberta and co-lead of the study into Alberta’s wastewater, said this type of testing, which has been happening for the last 18 months and measures the amount of viral RNA shed and flushed down the toilet, shows the overall disease burden in a community but doesn’t provide details such as how old someone is or how severe their case is.

“One thing we can all imagine is if there is a lot of people with Omicron, then proportionately people who are admitted to hospital, whether it is because of COVID or they were admitted for different reason but they happen to have COVID, will increase the burden of COVID cases in the hospital,” she said.

“Because COVID patients require isolation, it does have resource implications for the hospital, whether it is the general unit or the ICU. It also affects our health-care workforce.”

The number of COVID-19 cases in Alberta has soared due to the Omicron variant and hospitalization numbers are climbing. Doctors have raised concerns about the pressure the surge in infections is putting on the system both due to the increase in patients requiring care and a growing number of health-care workers being unable to work due to illness or exposure to the virus.

With previous variants, a spike in COVID-19 in the wastewater corresponded to an increase in clinical cases in hospital or the ICU about a week later. But there are still too many unknowns to say for sure whether Omicron will behave the same way, said U of A’s second co-lead of the study Dr. Xiaoli Lilly Pang, a professor of laboratory medicine and pathology.

There are still unanswered questions about why the latest variant is so transmissible and how it sheds into the water compared to earlier variants, she said.

“Even though the wastewater seems to have stabilized in that higher level, we are still not 100 per cent sure,” she said.

Lee said the prevalence of the viral RNA in the wastewater means that anyone with symptoms should take the necessary precautions, including isolating, to help slow the spread.

“Not everyone needs to be tested. Hand washing is still important … keep the social groups small and physical distancing is so important,” she said.

At a news conference Thursday, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said it’s too early to know whether the levels of COVID indicators in wastewater have peaked.

“Independent of that timing of the peak, I think it’s really critical to remember that in any wave, we see half of our cases in the second half of the wave and therefore we need to remain cautious,” she said.

“Transmission is still very high and so while we watch those wastewater indicators very closely, our positivity rates are still extremely high, and transmission has never been higher. So caution is appropriate.”

— With files from Jason Herring

ajoannou@postmedia.com

twitter.com/ashleyjoannou

OTTAWA

The Merivale explosion — what we know, and how it all happened
Trevor Pritchard 1 day ago

It's been two days since a massive explosion tore through a tanker truck manufacturer in Ottawa's south end, and the complex, multi-faceted investigation is only just getting started.

Developments have been flying fast and furious since the first 911 calls came in at around 1:30 p.m. Thursday.

While it will likely be some time before there's a firm explanation as to what caused the explosion, some details have been confirmed — including that one person is dead and five more are missing and presumed dead.

Here's what we know so far, and when we learned it.

Thursday

At people start calling 911 about a massive explosion at an industrial business on Merivale Road just north of West Hunt Club road.

Some callers report flames 15 to 18 metres high at the site, while witnesses tell CBC they heard loud bangs and booming noises.

Firefighters on scene discover the building is engulfed in flames and the roof and walls are collapsing. They begin fighting a defensive battle against the fire.

Ottawa police tweet that people have been injured in an explosion and fire on the 1900 block of Merivale, and a stretch of Merivale has been blocked off.

CBC reporters arrive on scene — or as close as they can get — shortly afterward to find officers directing traffic, emergency vehicles racing by, and smoke billowing in the distance.

Acting fire chief Paul Hutt gives his , telling reporters two people have been taken to hospital with undisclosed injuries. At roughly the same time, The Ottawa Hospital says in a statement they actually have three people in their care.

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, meanwhile, discloses the location of the fire as Eastway Tank Pump & Meter Ltd., a manufacturer of custom tank trucks.

Hutt gives a second update, saying the fire is still active and they need to bring in heavy equipment to suppress it. He says crews are sucking up any contaminated water and taking air quality samples, and there's no danger to nearby residents.

Paramedics, meanwhile, confirm three people are indeed in hospital — two in critical condition, one in stable condition.

Ottawa Fire Services announces a "family reunification centre" has been set up at Woodvale Pentecostal Church in order to reunite employees with their families.

Firefighters officially bring the blaze under control

Ottawa police, fire and paramedics issue a joint news release urging all workers and their family members to head to the reunification centre to make sure everyone is accounted for. They say emergency crews are still searching the fire scene and watching for any flare-ups.

Merivale Road reopens

© Guy Quenneville/CBC People walk near Woodvale Pentacostal Church in Ottawa on Jan. 13, 2022. The church served as a 'family reunification centre' in the wake of a fatal explosion and fire on Merivale Road.
Friday

Knoxdale-Merivale Coun. Keith Egli, who represents the area, provides to CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning. He says he visited the reunification centre Thursday night but didn't know if all workers were accounted for.

, nearly 20 hours after the explosion, police officially confirm five people who were in the building at the time of the explosion are missing and believed to be dead.

Police also say one of the three men taken to hospital Thursday had died. Another is in stable condition, while the third was released from hospital.

Ottawa police announce the arson unit will be the lead investigators for the force, although they do not say whether they believe the explosion and fire were caused by a deliberate act.

Ontario's Office of the Chief Coroner confirms it would help with the investigation

, Eastway Tank president Neil Greene issues a statement saying he is "completely [devastated]" and his company will co-operate with all investigations. He says they want to "get to the bottom of what happened."

Another city councillor, Tim Tierney, tells CBC News about how he was nearby when the explosion occurred. He says he initially thought it was an earthquake.

Ontario's Ministry of Labour says they will conduct a parallel investigation.

A spokesperson says they issued four orders against Eastway Tank in 2017, related to issues like ventilation, welding and hazardous chemicals. They were fully complied with.

The Ministry of the Environment, meanwhile, sends an email to say that clean-up efforts are still taking place and that environmental risks to the community are low.

Drone footage captured by CBC roughly around that time also shows work continuing at the fire site.

On , the identity of one of the victims, 57-year-old Rick Bastien, was confirmed to CBC News by his son.

Josh Bastien said his father, a long-time Eastway employee listed on the company's directory as a welder/fabricator/mechanic, was a "stand-up guy" who was "loved by everyone that came across him."

A former Eastway employee himself, Bastien also shed light on the other five victims, saying they were his friends and calling them all "good people."

UCLA researchers cure HIV in 40% of mice - study

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF 

© (photo credit: VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS) Scanning electron micrograph of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), grown in cultured lymphocytes.

As of 2020, nearly 38 million people are infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and over 36 million have died from AIDS or related complications since the beginning of the epidemic, according to data from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS).

Though recent developments in HIV treatment have significantly improved the prognosis, there is currently no known cure. Moreover, the disease is persistent, as infected cells can remain latent in the body for extended periods of time.

But researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, have refined a treatment they developed five years ago that harnesses natural killer immune cells to destroy cells infected with HIV. They published their results on Monday in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications.

The researchers' method forces the virus, while hidden in cells, to expose itself, rendering it vulnerable to existing antiviral drugs.

In 2017, several of the same researchers involved in the recent study infected lab mice with HIV, whose immune systems had been modified to be similar to human ones. Next, they gave the mice a substance called SUW133 to activate the dormant virus, finding that around a quarter of the infected cells died.

© Provided by The Jerusalem Post A student walks past Royce Hall on the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) campus in Los Angeles, California, US, November 15, 2017. (credit: REUTERS/LUCY NICHOLSON)

In the latest study, the researchers followed the same process, but after they gave the mice SUW133 to activate the latent HIV, they injected them with natural killer cells, completely eradicating the virus in 40% of the mice. They found that this method was more effective than administering just the SUW133 or the natural killer cells alone.

Dr. Jocelyn Kim, assistant professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine and lead author of the study, expressed optimism regarding the results, saying they are a major step toward the eventual development of a cure for HIV.

"These findings show proof-of-concept for a therapeutic strategy to potentially eliminate HIV from the body, a task that had been nearly insurmountable for many years," she said. "The study opens a new paradigm for a possible HIV cure in the future."

Kim added that the research team hopes to continue developing the treatment until they can cure 100% of the mice in future experiments – and that they hope to eventually conduct tests on primates and even humans.

Successful 5G rollout in Canada requires access to passive infrastructure, federal action: study

MobileSyrup 1 day ago

Telecom companies in Canada are looking to implement 5G technology across the country, but the success of this lingers on available infrastructure, according to a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute.

THE ORIGINAL CANADIAN CONSERVATIVE THINK TANK

© 5G cellular repeaters on the pole Successful 5G rollout in Canada requires access to passive infrastructure, federal action: study

Given the next-generation network is key to economic growth and inclusion in Canada, with expectations it’ll positively impact health care, education, and many other aspects, telecom companies need to be given access to passive infrastructure that will support the network.

For wireline networks, passive infrastructure refers to poles owned by hydro and telecom companies. In the wireless context, it largely refers to tower rooftops where antennas are located.

The study states 5G network will require small antennas across all forms of non-traditional infrastructure for support. This includes buildings, streetlights, signs, and bus shelters, which will be connected to fibre-optic cables that will allow data to be transported quickly and reliably.

Leslie Milton, Jay Kerr-Wilson, and Paul Burbank are the study’s authors.

They stress carrier access to these sites is essential to delivering 5G in a timely manner. But the authors argue there is no federal oversight over the deployment of wireless infrastructure and insight on how carriers can access multi-tenant buildings, among other factors, is lacking.

Currently, carriers only have access to such infrastructure based on rules modeled by the Telecommunications Act. The act, which regulates telecom services and carriers, “is in serious need of amendment to support timely and cost-effective construction or wireless and wireline broadband networks.”

Without a better framework, carriers don’t have the access they need, resulting in possible delays, higher costs, and a barrage of factors that may result in projects being abandoned altogether, impacting the way 5G is implemented.
Recommendations

The study outlines seven recommendations that can see Canada improve and catch up to other countries.

The first and second focus on amending the act to give carriers the right to access areas to construct, operate and maintain transmissions lines, with jurisdiction under the CRTC.

Recommendations three to six focus on giving the CRTC the right to create conditions to how carriers can access structures where the transmission can be supported, how they can be supported in the federal context, and dispute resolution.

The seventh is to include Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada in consultations about cell deployment

“Implementation of these recommendations will facilitate the achievement of core Canadian policy objectives — including closing the digital divide and enhancing Canada’s economic growth and prosperity and social inclusion,” the study notes.

Canada is in a race with other countries to deploy 5G technology. But the study notes many countries have already taken steps to update framework involving passive infrastructure, including the U.S. and the U.K.

Successful deployment of the 5G network across the country will add an estimated $40 billion to the economy, along with 250,000 permanent jobs. But it’s clear the federal government needs to make changes to see this happen.

Image source: ShutterStock

Source: C.D. Howe Institute

BOOM & BUST PETROECONOMICS

Economist believes Alberta is on track for a balanced budget this yea

The Alberta government has announced Finance Minister Travis Toews will table his 2023 provincial budget on Feb. 24, and he may accomplish something an Alberta finance minister hasn't done since Doug Horner in 2014.

"It's going to be a challenge for the government to actually not table a balanced budget," said University of Calgary Economics professor Trevor Tombe.

Read more:

Alberta predicts smaller $5.8B deficit because of rising energy prices: Q2 budget update

"Markets are kind of anticipating oil averaging about $76 per barrel in the coming fiscal year, and we only need $71 dollars per barrel in order to balance."

Just eleven months ago, Minister Toews tabled budget 2022, which came with a deficit north of $18 billion.

But oil prices have surged significantly since then. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) heads into the weekend above $80 per barrel, Western Canadian Select (WCS) above $71.

These rising prices have lowered the projected deficit for 2022 to around $5.8 billion.

"It's really a large reversal of fortune," Tombe said.

If it comes to fruition, it is a major fiscal win for the UCP government, which campaigned on balancing the budget in its first term.

Some political watchers don't believe it will end all of the government's problems.

Video: IEA head says Canadian oil industry can be part of energy transition if it gets cleaner

"To be in a position where you've balanced the current budget is absolutely a good thing," said Lori Williams, and associate professor of Policy Studies at Mount Royal University in Calgary.

"Most of the attention is going to be focused on the continuing challenges Albertans face."

Williams points to the health care system, which is under significant stress from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as issues around unemployment and the rising cost of living.

"Unless those are addressed, then this isn't going to be enough to mend the party's unpopularity," Williams added.

OIL COMPANIES ROLLING IN $$$
Alberta announces $30 million for carbon capture development to speed up deployment

UCP HANDOUTS
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© Provided by Edmonton Journal The Quest Carbon Capture and Storage project at the Shell Scotford refinery near Fort Saskatchewan.

Alberta will spend $30 million to help speed up carbon capture design and engineering work, the UCP government announced Friday.

The Carbon Capture Kickstart funding competition will support pre-construction work on carbon capture, direct air capture, and carbon transportation infrastructure projects, using cash from the Technology, Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) fund, Alberta’s carbon tax on large greenhouse-gas emitters.

In a pre-recorded video, Environment and Parks Minister Jason Nixon said ahead of a federal capital investment tax credit that’s been promised for this year, large facility operators have called for more support to de-risk hefty up-front investments in carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) projects.

“The capital investment required is substantial,” said Nixon, noting that the province aims to ensure there are projects ready to go with the introduction of government policies that are still in the works.

“These policies will all be helped by expanding the knowledge base and capacity around CCUS opportunities, and by a roster of potential projects that can rapidly proceed once they come into effect,” said Nixon.

Arms-length provincial agency Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA) will dole out the money to support feasibility studies, engineering and design costs, with applicants eligible for up to $7.5 million that must be matched by private investment.

ERA CEO Steve MacDonald said in a statement the effort is key to reaching net-zero emissions in the energy sector, and will encourage collaboration between industries to develop further technology and applications.

Proposals can include efforts to address emissions in power generation, cement production, and manufacturing. Those that receive the funding will need to publicly report on what they learned, and on project outcomes including greenhouse-gas reductions.

The application deadline is March 3 , with recipients to be announced in the summer.

lijohnson@postmedia.com

twitter.com/reportrix

 

Oil Sands Alliance to focus on industry sustainability, advancing net-zero ambitions


CALGARY — Canada's largest oilsands companies have formed a new advocacy group they say will help to advance the sustainable development and operation of their industry.

The Oil Sands Alliance was established Jan. 1, with membership consisting of oilsands producers Suncor Energy Inc., Cenovus Energy Inc., Imperial Energy Ltd., Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. and ConocoPhillips.

It is not clear whether the new organization will be involved in political lobbying or how exactly it will be structured.

Al Reid, director of the Oil Sands Pathways to Net Zero alliance — which, along with other already existing groups like the Oil Sands Community Alliance (OSCA), Canada's Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA), and the Regional Oil Sands Operating Alliance, will be overseen by the new organization — said more details will be released soon.

However, he said all of the companies involved in the new Oil Sands Alliance will remain active members of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, the broader industry organization that is the country's largest oil and gas lobby group.

While CAPP will continue to have the broader mandate for oil and gas advocacy for Canada's oil and gas producers, the new Oil Sands Alliance will "lead the work related to the oilsands."

"As Canada’s largest oil resource, the oilsands have challenges and opportunities that are unique within the broader oil and natural gas industry," Reid said in an emailed statement. "We know this requires a level of concentration and work that requires the specialized focus of our own industry group."

Reid described the level of collaboration between oilsands producers right now as "unprecedented." Through the Oil Sands Pathways to Net Zero initiative — announced last year by the same companies that make up the new Oil Sands Alliance (as well as MEG Energy Inc., which is not involved in the new group) — major industry players have publicly pledged to work together to reach the goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

The industry's vision of getting to that goal is anchored by a proposed major carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) transportation line that would capture CO2 from oilsands facilities and transport it to a storage facility near Cold Lake, Alta.

CCUS is a technology that captures greenhouse gas emissions from industrial sources and stores them deep in the ground to prevent them from being released into the atmosphere.

Proponents say vastly scaling up CCUS across the oil and gas industry will be necessary if Canada is to have a shot at meeting its climate targets. The federal government has proposed a tax credit for CCUS projects, and oilsands producers have been in talks with Ottawa over the details of that credit.

In December, Cenovus chief executive Alex Pourbaix said on a conference call with analysts and reporters that CCUS is not, at this point, an economic technology on its own and that any wide-scale adoption by industry will require "significant government support."

In an interview Friday, Greenpeace Canada senior energy strategist Keith Stewart said it's clear that oilsands players have gone all-in on "net zero" and the creation of the new advocacy group is likely aimed at helping to advance that messaging and securing government support for carbon capture projects.

But Stewart said the problem with the term "net zero" is that the companies are talking about reducing net emissions from their operations, not curbing their overall production of fossil fuels.

"I don't think anyone should be confused by this particular coat of green paint," Stewart said of the newly formed industry group, "until they actually change their business plan to align with getting off fossil fuels in the coming decades."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 14, 2022.

Companies in this story: (TSX:SU, TSX:CVE, TSX:CNQ, TSX:IMO)

Amanda Stephenson, The Canadian Press

Opinion: Why this modified pig heart transplant is a huge deal

Opinion by Jonathan Reiner 

The news last week that David Bennett, a 57-year-old Maryland man, nearing death, had undergone cardiac transplant surgery with a genetically modified pig heart sent shock waves through the medical community and was hailed as a breakthrough in bioengineering, potentially ushering in a new era in solid organ transplantation. While our experience with this technology is still developing and much more research needs to be done, the operation and bravura science that made it possible provide a breathtaking glimpse into a future where patients will potentially spend days rather than months or years on a transplant list

.

© Provided by CNN

This year, the tens of thousands of Americans hoping for a transplant will anxiously await the call telling them an organ has been found. Some of the patients, sick with congestive heart failure, will wait for a heart. Those with end-stage renal disease who are being sustained with dialysis, will wait for a kidney. Others with liver disease, or failing lungs will also wait their turn. There are currently more than 100,000 people who are on the waiting list for an organ transplant, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing. In 2021, only about 41,000 organ transplants were performed -- the highest annual figure since at least 1988, according to UNOS. Given the high demand, some patients will continue to wait. Others will eventually die. More than anything else, the problem is a lack of donor organs.

It has been 54 years since Dr. Christiaan Barnard performed the first human heart transplantation with the heart of 25-year-old Denise Darvall, who had a fatal brain injury after being hit by a car, into the chest of 53-year-old Louis Washkansky who was dying of heart failure. Mr. Washkansky lived for 18 days, but Dr. Barnard's second patient lived for 18 months with his transplanted heart.

Over the ensuing half-century, while surgical techniques have been greatly refined for preserving and transplanting solid organs like the heart, kidneys, lungs and liver, some of the greatest advances have fostered the development of novel drugs allowing patients to live for many years without the risk of organ rejection. Now, the majority of heart transplant recipients survive at least 10 years.

While the safety and efficacy of transplantation have improved immeasurably over the last several decades, the supply of donor organs remains a problem. There are multiple barriers to organ donation including family reluctance and a general lack of social education about the lifesaving nature of organ transplantation. The net result is a perpetual shortage of donor organs. The breakthrough implication of Mr. Bennett's recent surgery is not only what it does for heart transplants, but also what it does for the supply of organs for transplant surgery as a whole.

Xenotransplantation, the transplant into a human of an organ from a nonhuman animal, has been tried without success in the past. In 1984 Stephanie Fae Beauclair (who was called Baby Fae) was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. In an attempt to save her life, she underwent cardiac transplantation with the heart of a baboon. She died of organ rejection 21 days after surgery.

For a nonhuman donor organ to function adequately in a human host, it must be anatomically similar (so as to allow for surgical implantation), function well in the human setting and not be rejected. (Graft rejection is a risk all transplant recipients face, however it is particularly challenging when the donor organ originates from a nonhuman source.)

Although the heart of a grown pig is anatomically similar to a human heart, for Bennett's operation, researchers at the University of Maryland modified 10 genes in the pig. Some pig genes were disabled or "knocked out" to prevent acute rejection. Another gene was modified to prevent the donor heart from continuing to grow to an unacceptably large size after transplantation. Several human genes were given to the pig to prevent clotting abnormalities in the new heart. As is also required for this type of transplant, powerful anti-rejection drugs were administered as well.

We will know relatively soon whether the audacious operation restores Bennett's health. While his recovery is uncertain and perhaps even a long shot, what is certain is that the door to using bioengineered nonhuman organs has been opened -- and with it, the promise of an almost unlimited supply of donor organs could follow. While the road ahead is surely filled with new physiological, technical and even ethical challenges, we may one day look at this courageous procedure the way we now look at Dr. Christaan Barnard's first heart transplant.

FOR FLYING OVER TEXAS

FedEx wants to equip cargo aircraft with anti-missile lasers

Jon Fingas 

FedEx jets might soon pack defensive weaponry. NBC News and Reuters report FedEx has asked the Federal Aviation Administration for permission to equip an upcoming fleet of Airbus A321-200 aircraft with an anti-missile laser system. The proposed hardware would disrupt the tracking on heat-seeking missiles by steering infrared laser energy toward the oncoming projectiles.

The courier service pointed to "several" foreign incidents where attackers used portable air defense systems against civilian aircraft. While there weren't specific examples, NBC pointed to Iran shooting down a Ukranian airliner in January 2020 (reportedly due to mistaking the jet for a cruise missile) and a Malaysian flight brought down by Russia-backed Ukranian separatists in July 2014.

FedEx first applied for the laser system in October 2019. The FAA is open to approval, but has proposed "special conditions" before lasers could enter service. The system would need failsafes to prevent activation on the ground, and couldn't cause harm to any aircraft or people.

The concept of including countermeasures isn't strictly new. Some American commercial aircraft have used anti-missile systems as early as 2008, and FedEx helped trial a Northrop Grumman countermeasure system around the same time. Israel's El Al has used anti-missile systems since 2004. FedEx's plans would be significant, though, and rare for a courier company. It wouldn't be surprising if more commercial aircraft followed suit, even if the risks of attacks remain relatively low.

U.S. FAA reviews FedEx proposal to install A321 laser-based missile-defense system


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Friday it is proposing conditions that would allow FedEx to install a laser-based missile-defense on Airbus A321-200 airplanes.

Delivery company FedEx Corp in October 2019 applied for approval to use a feature that emits infrared laser energy outside the aircraft as a countermeasure against heat-seeking missiles, the FAA disclosed in a document.

A FedEx spokeswoman declined immediate comment about whether it is still pursuing approval for the application. FedEx does not currently operate any Airbus 321 planes.

The FAA said it is still reviewing the proposal and will consider public comments. Airbus did not immediately comment.

The airline industry and several governments have been grappling with the threat to airliners from shoulder-fired missiles known as Man-Portable Air Defense Systems, or MANPADs, for decades. Some use infrared systems to target an aircraft's engines.

"The FedEx missile-defense system directs infrared laser energy toward an incoming missile, in an effort to interrupt

the missile’s tracking of the aircraft’s heat," the FAA document said.

The FAA proposed conditions before it would consider approving the system, including ensuring it will prevent the inadvertent operation while on the ground, including during maintenance.

According to the U.S. State Department, more than 40 civil airplanes have been hit by MANPADs since the 1970s.

Efforts to combat the threat accelerated after two missiles narrowly missed an Arkia Israeli Airlines Boeing 757 passenger jet on take-off from Mombasa airport in November 2002.

Cargo planes have also been targeted.

In 2003, an Airbus A300 freighter flown by DHL was damaged by MANPADs and forced to make an emergency landing in Baghdad.

In 2007 and 2008, FedEx took part in a U.S. government trial of anti-missile technology for civil planes by installing Northrop Grumman's Guardian countermeasures system on some commercial cargo flights while BAE Systems said it had installed its JetEye system on an American Airlines airplane.

(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington and Tim Hepher in Paris; Editing by Matthew Lewis)