UCP PRIVATIZES PUBLIC EDUCATION
CAPE School to benefit from $72M charter commitment

The government of Alberta provided further information on its $72-million investment in public charter schools and collegiate programs Tuesday, as first announced in the 2022 budget. Medicine Hat’s CAPE School is one of 16 charter schools in Alberta set to benefit from the investment; something CAPE superintendent Teresa DiNinno says is long overdue.

Between 2022 and 2025, the province will provide $25 million in operating funding and $47 million in capital investments for 16 public charter schools and several collegiate programs.

“Public charter schools play an important role in Alberta’s education system by offering unique programming to students,” Education Minister Adriana LaGrange, said in a release. “This investment builds on our commitment to strengthening Alberta’s long and successful tradition of providing choice in education.”

DiNinno agrees with LaGrange and believes government funding has historically favoured jurisdictions other than charter schools.

“It’s about time,” DiNinno told the News. “For the last 25 years, charter schools have been operating with less funding than other public jurisdictions, (so) these announcements are amazingly great. We feel very good about what’s happening right now.”

Not everyone was as happy as DiNinno however; Albert Teachers’ Association president Jason Schilling expressed concern with the investment in a Tuesday press release.

“The government is dedicating $72 million in new funding to just 16 schools,” Schilling’s statement read. “This is an inequitable, unjustified, ideological investment which epitomizes how privatization comes at the expense of public education.

“Since 2013, real per-pupil funding for public education in Alberta has declined by 15 per cent. Government funding to expand charter schools is simply an effort at privatization at the expense of our public education system, which is the first choice for 93 per cent of Alberta students. Public funds should go to public education.”

DiNinno refuted Schilling’s statement, saying charter schools are just another form of public school – one which offers specialized programs.

“The implication of (Schilling’s statement) is that charter schools are a way of privatizing education (but) charter schools are public schools, open to all students in Alberta … there is nothing private about it,” DiNinno said. “Our parents do not pay tuition fees. They pay fees, just like everyone else in Alberta pays fees to school jurisdictions … The curriculum is the same. It’s taught by certified teachers. It has a board of directors, just like all other jurisdictions. It has a superintendent and a treasurer, just like all the others. It complies with all requirements, just like everybody else does … what’s the private in that?”

DiNinno also disagreed with Schilling and the ATA’s belief “that charter schools should be incorporated as alternative programs within publicly funded and administered school boards,” stating the programs may not be able to operate in a large-scale system.

“Transplanting a program like ours into a public jurisdiction may not translate in the same way because of the structure of the organization,” she said. “The larger the organization’s structure is, (the) more time consuming.”

DiNinno believes the current education system – incorporating public and charter schools and allowing parents to choose – works well.

KENDALL KING, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Medicine Hat News

Alberta's UCP government has removed the word "public" from all Alberta school boards, affecting eight of 41 divisions across the province and leaving educators and administrators scrambling to figure out why.

Alberta government orders school boards to remove 'public ...

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/public-alberta-school-boards-1.5275561



 

1. 'Why do it?': UCP government orders school boards to ...

   
   

   https://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/why-do-it-ucp-government-orders-sch…

   2019-09-09 · The Alberta government has ordered a number of school divisions to remove "public" from their names, and while the education minister says it …

   • Estimated Reading Time: 7 mins

'The commodification of education is never good': …

https://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/the-commodification-of-education-is-never...

Education advocates are concerned after the 

Eugene Plawiuk: Assaulting Public Education in Canada ...

https://www.marxists.org/history/etol//newspape/atc/1708.html

Assaulting Public Education in Canada: Privatization Plague Spreads — Eugene Plawiuk “I have no intention of increasing funds to schools, they should be looking for corporate partnerships.” —

Spain changes stance, backs Moroccan rule in Western Sahara

MADRID (AP) — Spain on Friday declared “a new stage” in its strained relations with Morocco after the Spanish prime minister wrote to the Moroccan king, agreeing that having Western Sahara operate autonomously under Rabat’s rule is “the most serious, realistic and credible” initiative for resolving a decades-long dispute over the vast African territory.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

This marked an enormous departure from Spain’s earlier stance of considering Morocco’s grip on Western Sahara an occupation. The shift followed months of frosty diplomatic relations and led to the announcement of a flurry of visits by Spanish officials to its southern neighbor.

It also opened up disputes within Spain’s left-to-center governing coalition.

The United Nations has continued to regard Madrid as the colonial administrative power for Western Sahara, even after its annexation by Morocco immediately after Spain abandoned its African province in 1975. Over the years, the Spanish government’s official position, along with the European Union’s, has been to support a U.N.-sponsored referendum to settle the territory’s decolonization.

But according to a statement issued by Morocco’s royal palace on Friday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez recognized “the importance of the Sahara issue for Morocco” in a letter to King Mohammed VI.

“Spain considers the autonomy initiative presented by Morocco in 2007 as the basis, the most serious, realistic and credible, for resolving the dispute,” the royal palace quoted Sánchez.

Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares confirmed the Moroccan announcement.

“Today we begin a new stage in our relations with Morocco and finally close a crisis with a strategic partner,” he told reporters. He added that the new chapter was “based on mutual respect, compliance with agreements, the absence of unilateral actions and transparency and permanent communication.”

Relations between Spain and Morocco hit a historical low last year after Spain secretly hosted for medical treatment the leader of the Polisario Front, which has led the yearning for independence by many Saharawis.

But when media affiliated with the Moroccan government revealed Brahim Ghali’s presence in Spain, Rabat allowed 10,000 people to cross the border into Ceuta, a Spanish city on the coast of North Africa. That unleashed an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. Morocco also recalled its ambassador in Madrid and hasn’t reinstated her.

Abdulah Arabi, who represents the Polisario in Spain, said Sánchez “succumbs to the pressure and blackmail” from Morocco by paying “a toll” to mend their damaged political and diplomatic ties. He said having Western Sahara be autonomous under Morocco is only one of many options that should be voted upon in a referendum.

“The solution has to be based on the choice voted by the Saharawi people,” Arabi said.

Some 176,000 Saharawi are believed to live in five refugee camps on Algerian soil, east of Western Sahara, in a sweltering desert that many consider no man’s land. They rely on humanitarian help and goods from international aid agencies, under the governance of the Polisario Front, which presides over an exiled Sahrawi republic.

In late 2020, their frustration over three decades in limbo led to the end of a cease-fire and new hostilities between Polisario forces and the Moroccan army.

Morocco departed from the agreement to hold a referendum for Western Sahara when it introduced its 2007 proposal of greater autonomy under its sovereignty. Using its leverage in keeping extremism in North Africa at bay and controlling the flow of African migrants towards the EU, Rabat has increasingly scored support for its proposal. First it was backed by France, then in late 2019 by the United States under former President Donald Trump, and more recently from Germany.

Western Sahara sits on vast phosphate deposits and faces rich fishing grounds in the Atlantic Ocean. Thousands of Sahrawis live in the Moroccan-controlled areas, where authorities keep a tight grip on dissent according to human rights groups.

A more assertive Morocco has also irked its regional foe, Algeria, a long-standing supporter of the Polisario that late last year severed diplomatic ties with Rabat.

Albares, the Spanish foreign minister, has been invited for meetings in Rabat later this month and officials were scheduling a visit by Sánchez himself, the Moroccan ministry of foreign affairs said.

In its statement, the Spanish government welcomed the invitations and said it wanted to face “common challenges” together with Rabat, “especially cooperation in the management of migratory flows in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.”

According to the Moroccan royal palace, in his message to the king, Sánchez wrote that Spain’s goal is “to act with the absolute transparency that corresponds to a great friend and ally.”

Sánchez, leader of Spain’s Socialists, has been at the helm of a fragile coalition with the far-left United We Can (Unidas Podemos) party, with the two sides often clashing over their views on feminism, social spending and foreign policy.

Soon after Morocco’s announcement, the junior partner’s most prominent leader, Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Díaz, tweeted that she was committed “to the defense of the Saharawi people and to the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council.”

“Any solution to the conflict must go through dialogue and respect for the democratic will of the Saharawi people,” Díaz added.

__

Tarik El Barakah in Rabat, Morocco, contributed to this report.

Aritz Parra, The Associated Press

Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic | Recognition, …

https://www.britannica.com/place/Sahrawi-Arab-Democratic-Republic

Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), also called Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic or Saharan Arab Democratic Republic, self-declared state claiming authority over the disputed

Polisario Front - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polisario_Front

• Overview
• History
• Political ideology
• Relations with Algeria
• Structure
• Defections
• Foreign relations
• See also

The Polisario Front, Frente Polisario, FRELISARIO or simply POLISARIO, from the Spanish abbreviation of Frente Popular de Liberación de Saguía el Hamra y Río de Oro (Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro), (in Arabic: الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير الساقية الحمراء ووادي الذهب, romanized: al-Jabhah al-Shaʿbiyah Li-Taḥrīr as-Sāqiyah al-Ḥamrāʾ wa Wādī al-Dhahab, in French: Front populaire de l…

Wikipedia · Text under CC-BY-SA license

Polisario / Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR)

https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/polisario.htm

2021-04-26 · Polisario has some mobile multiple rocket launchers that appear old and were probably provided by Algeria. Polisario military service now lasts only two to three months, less

Ginni Thomas's activism sparks ethics questions for Supreme Court justice

John Kruzel 

The revelation this week that Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, attended the pro-Trump "Stop the Steal" rally that preceded the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol has renewed questions about Justice Thomas's impartiality.

© AP-Susan Walsh Ginni Thomas's activism sparks ethics questions for Supreme Court justice

Critics say the new detail is just the latest example of Ginni's political activity posing an ethically troubling overlap with her husband's judicial position.

"Virginia Thomas should be able to back whatever causes motivate her. The problem is that Justice Thomas continues to participate in cases related to her political activities," said Steven Lubet, a professor of legal ethics at Northwestern University Law School. "He is the one whose conduct should be questioned."

Judges on lower federal courts are bound by a code of conduct that requires recusal for conflicts of interest, or even if their impartiality might be reasonably questioned. But Supreme Court justices are permitted to decide for themselves whether or not recusal is appropriate in a given case.

In Justice Thomas's three decades on the bench, he has never stepped aside from a case due to a real or perceived conflict of interest resulting from his wife's political activities, according to letter sent this month to Justice Thomas by several progressive groups, including the court expansion advocacy group Take Back the Court.

"It is striking that in more than 30 years on the Supreme Court you have never - not once - recused yourself from a case because of a conflict of interest presented by professional political activities of your wife, a prominent Republican strategist who has been involved in some of the most controversial matters to come before the Court," the March 8 letter states.

The Supreme Court's public information office did not respond to a request for comment.

The previously unknown detail about Ginni Thomas's participation in the pro-Trump rally emerged from an interview she gave to the conservative media outlet Washington Free Beacon.

Thomas told the outlet she attended the Jan. 6 rally at the Ellipse but got cold and left before former President Trump took the stage at noon. Dubbed "Stop the Steal," the event promoted Trump's lie that he won the 2020 election, which fueled the deadly insurrection later that day.

"I was disappointed and frustrated that there was violence that happened following a peaceful gathering of Trump supporters on the Ellipse on Jan. 6," Thomas told the outlet. "There are important and legitimate substantive questions about achieving goals like electoral integrity, racial equality, and political accountability that a democratic system like ours needs to be able to discuss and debate rationally in the political square. I fear we are losing that ability."

Ethical scrutiny of the justice and his spouse has waxed and waned over the years. A prominent example arose from the court's 5-4 ruling in Bush v. Gore that handed the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush.

At the time that Justice Thomas cast a decisive vote for Bush, Ginni Thomas worked at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, where she was recruiting personnel to staff a future Bush administration.

More ethical questions grew out of the Supreme Court's review in 2017 of Trump's policy banning inbound travel from several Muslim-majority countries. From 2017 to 2018, Ginni Thomas's consulting firm received more than $200,000 from the Center For Security Policy, whose president filed an amicus brief in the case that urged the justices to uphold the ban.

When the case was decided in summer 2018, Thomas cast a decisive vote in the 5-4 ruling upholding the Trump administration's travel restriction.

The latest entanglement to draw headlines related to the Jan. 6 pro-Trump riot and subsequent investigation by the House select committee.

In addition to attending the "Stop the Steal" rally, Ginni Thomas was one of roughly five dozen activists to sign a letter in December to top House Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) urging him to remove outspoken Trump critics Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) and Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) from the Jan. 6 panel.

The following month, Justice Thomas raised eyebrows as the only justice who indicated that he would have granted Trump's request to block a trove of his administration's records from being handed to the House committee investigating the circumstances of the Jan. 6 attack.

Critics say that in light of his wife's political activities, Thomas should have recused himself from that case and future matters tied to the Jan. 6 attack.

"The clear conflict of interest was driven home by the fact that you were the only member of the Supreme Court to side with Trump by publicly dissenting from the Court's decision to allow the Committee to obtain the records in dispute," read Take Back The Court's letter sent to Justice Thomas this month.

"That case is unlikely to be the last case related to the January 6 insurrection that will come before the Court," it continued. "We ask that you recuse yourself from any future involvement in any such cases."

In the Washington Free Beacon article published Monday, Ginni Thomas pushed back on the notion that her political involvement has any bearing on her husband's work.

"Like so many married couples, we share many of the same ideals, principles, and aspirations for America," she said. "But we have our own separate careers, and our own ideas and opinions too. Clarence doesn't discuss his work with me, and I don't involve him in my work."

But according to Gabe Roth, executive director of the left-leaning court-reform advocacy group Fix The Court, it would be fair to say that "a reasonable person might question Justice Thomas's impartiality" given what he described as a years-long pattern.

"I don't think Ginni is the be all, end all of problems," said Roth, an advocate for a code of conduct for Supreme Court justices. "But if it's making folks pay closer attention to these issues, that might not be the worst thing, especially since we know Clarence is probably not going to change his tune on any of this."

Canadian Supreme Court ruling huge win for Beaver Lake Cree Nation, says lawyer

The Beaver Lake Cree Nation is going back to the lower court for a decision on whether or not it qualifies to receive advance costs to finance its legal battle with the federal and Alberta governments against industrial and resource development on their traditional territory.

“This decision gives us solid ground to stand on when we go back to the lower court to argue for advance costs,” said Chief Germaine Anderson of Beaver Lake Cree Nation.

Karey Brooks, legal counsel for Beaver Lake Cree Nation, agrees that even though the decision rendered this morning by the Supreme Court of Canada doesn’t resolve the issue, it is still a “huge win.”

“The Supreme Court provided guidance now and articulated a test for impecuniosity (extreme poverty) that takes into account the First Nation perspective and reconciliation and recognizes that there may be some circumstances (in which) a First Nation government has some resources but it must allocate those resources to its pressing needs, which the Supreme Court defines broadly. So I think it’s a huge win in that respect,” said Brooks.

Impecuniosity is one of a three-part legal test that was set out by the Supreme Court in 2003. In the case of BC v. Okanagan Indian Band, the court ruled that the party seeking interim costs must demonstrate extreme poverty, have a meritorious case, and the issues must be of public importance. However, even if these three criteria can be met it does not ensure interim costs will be awarded.

In fact, such an award is rare.

The application for advance costs for Beaver Lake Cree Nation had worked its way to the Supreme Court in November 2021 after starting with the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench in 2019. Then, the province’s lower court ordered the federal and provincial governments to pay $300,000 each annually to Beaver Lake Cree Nation to finance legal costs.

In 2008, Beaver Lake filed a statement of claim against Canada and Alberta. The First Nation said that the cumulative effects of development on their traditional territory was damaging their members’ way of life.

By 2019, Beaver Lake Cree Nation said it anticipated a $5 million legal budget and it had already spent $3 million on legal fees, about one-half from its own funds, and presently paid $300,000 annually.

Canada and the province appealed the decision for advance costs to the Alberta Court of Appeal, which found the lower judge had erred in applying the impecuniosity aspect of the three-part legal test.

In part, the Court of Appeal pointed to “fresh” evidence provided by Canada of a resolved specific claim of $2.97 million from Canada since 2019 and funds that Beaver Lake Cree had put into a Heritage Trust in 2014, six years after court action began.

Now, though, said Brooks, “we have very clear direction from the Supreme Court…on what is required. There's no debate about the test anymore.”

In the unanimous decision by the nine judges, a four-part test was set out to determine “whether the impecuniosity requirement can be met where (the) applicant has access to financial resources that could fund litigation but claims that it must devote resources to other priorities.”

The decision goes on further to say, “It is open to a court to decide that a First Nation government is impecunious when its prioritization of pressing needs, properly understood, has left it unable to fund public interest litigation.”

“Beaver Lake is really pleased with the articulation of the test…and in particular that it does recognize the First Nation perspective for its community priorities. I think that's really critical here. That supports Beaver Lake’s interest and self-determination and that it doesn't have the Crown dictating to them how they should be spending their money. That there’s space in the test for Beaver Lake’s priorities to exist, as they understand them, is really a big win and really is significant part of the test,” said Brooks.

The four-part test says evidence must be presented to identify the applicant’s pressing needs; determine what resources are required to meet those needs; assess the applicant’s financial resources; and identify the estimated costs of the litigation.

“This approach is sufficiently flexible to account for the realities facing First Nations governments and the importance of furthering the goal of reconciliation,” said the Supreme Court. “A First Nations government may genuinely need to allocate some or all of its resources to priorities other than litigation.”

“Ultimately now it's very clear what is required and Beaver Lake says it's going to meet the test, that it can meet the test,” said Brooks.

What would be “ideal” however, she said, is that Canada and Alberta simply negotiate those costs needed to allow Beaver Lake to take the litigation forward.

Brooks said that the new judge is not required to stick with the $300,000 set by the case management judge.

This application for advance funding has taken three years to make its way through the court system and even though it hasn’t been resolved, Brooks says Beaver Lake has not lost time in fighting the initial legal battle.

“They couldn't have been bringing the litigation anyway. They had no choice. They had no money to continue to litigate and so they had to bring this application,” said Brooks, noting that the fundraising they had undertaken “had dried up.”

The 120-day trial for the 2008 claim has been scheduled for January 2024. Brooks says it is too early to say if the date will need to be pushed back.

The Supreme Court also awarded solicitor-client costs to Beaver Lake Cree Nation for all three levels of court hearings, a form of special costs “where the case involves matters of public interest that are truly exceptional, where the applicant shows it has no personal, proprietary or pecuniary interest in the litigation…”

The court went on to say, “… in our view, the question of advance costs for a First Nation government claimant possessing resources of its own represents a truly exceptional matter of public interest. As we have explained, this is not only a case of first impression, but one that goes to the heart of the separation of powers.”

Windspeaker.com

By Shari Narine, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com, Windspeaker.com

Beaver Lake Cree Nation to prove anew it needs funding for suit against feds, Alberta


OTTAWA — An Alberta First Nation fighting what it calls overdevelopment of its traditional territory has been given a second chance to convince the courts that governments should advance money for its legal bills so it can spend the revenues it has on social needs.

 

© Provided by The Canadian Press

In a decision released Friday, the Supreme Court of Canada overturned a ruling from Alberta's top court that Beaver Lake Cree Nation wasn't entitled to advance funding for its long-running legal case. The Supreme Court said the band was entitled to put first priority for the money it had on "pressing needs."


"Allocating resources to improve deficits in housing, infrastructure, and basic social programming would, from the perspective of this First Nation government, constitute the addressing of pressing needs," the court's judgment said.

"We therefore disagree with the Court of Appeal inasmuch as it suggests that expenditures thereon represent 'spending on desirable improvements' rather than spending on pressing needs."

But, in a unanimous decision, the court also said Beaver Lake has to go back to a lower court and work harder to prove the band's needs are so great it can't be expected to also fund its court action.

"There was no specific account of how much it would cost to address Beaver Lake’s pressing needs, or why no other resources were available to meet those needs," the judgment said.

The First Nation filed the lawsuit against the federal and Alberta governments in 2008, arguing the Crown had allowed so much development on the band's traditional lands that it was impossible to exercise treaty rights or to live a Cree life.

"There are multiple places we can no longer go to," said band spokeswoman Crystal Lameman. "There are multiple examples of roads that are no longer accessible, trails that are no longer accessible, by way of lease pads or no trespassing signs put up by industry.

"There are species of medicines and flora and fauna that we can no longer find."

The First Nation has already paid $3 million to fund its lawsuit. It has argued it doesn’t have enough money to keep the case going until its scheduled trial date in 2024.

The total cost of litigation is estimated to be $5 million.

Lawyer Karey Brooks, who represented Beaver Lake, said the decision lays down clear guidelines for courts to follow in deciding whether a First Nation should get their legal bills paid in advance.

"It leaves a road map that all First Nations that are seeking such an award will have to follow. It's very clear."

The court held that a First Nation government's own ideas about what constitutes a pressing need should be considered in such judgments.

"Pressing needs are not defined by the bare necessities of life," it wrote. "Rather, and in keeping with the imperative of reconciliation, they ought to be understood from the perspective of that First Nation government."

Fourteen years into its lawsuit, Beaver Lake now has to go back into its books and return to Court of Queen's Bench, where the action began, to make the case that it can't afford to both support its people and defend its treaty rights.

"We're not happy about it, but we welcome this exercise," Lameman said. "We know this is not a full win, but this is a victory."

A spokeswoman for the Alberta government's Indigenous Relations department said it's pleased with the decision.

"Alberta’s government is pleased that the Supreme Court of Canada has ... provided additional clarification on the legal test that determines the First Nation’s ability to pay costs," said Olga Michailides in an email. "We continue to work with Beaver Lake Cree Nation to ensure community members can participate in Alberta’s economy."

Comment from the federal government was not immediately available.

Lameman said the costs and court time could be avoided by negotiation.

"We have repeatedly gone to the Crown to ask them to negotiate a resolution to costs and a resolution to the overall treaty case. Each and every time, they have denied."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 18, 2022.

— By Bob Weber in Edmonton. Follow him on Twitter at @row1960

The Canadian Press

Former Alberta premier and former MLA leading donation drive to airlift supplies to people in Ukraine

Kellen Taniguchi 

A former Alberta premier and former MLA are spearheading a donation campaign to airlift up

 to 35 tonnes of supplies to the people of Ukraine.

© Provided by Edmonton Journal Thomas

 Lukaszuk (former MLA) and Ed Stelmach (Former Premier of Alberta) are leading a drive to fill a Polish Airlines LOT Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane with supplies to airlift to the people in Ukraine.

Thomas Lukaszuk, former MLA for Edmonton-Castle Downs, said he and former premier Ed Stelmach decided they needed to “mobilize forces and generate support” amid Russia’s continued invasion of Ukraine.

“I have been continuously in touch with our Canadian embassy in Warsaw, Poland, trying to appraise myself with the best information available on what is needed on the ground in Ukraine and also with now a million refugees in Poland,” said Lukaszuk.

He said they have come up with a list of goods needed in the two countries, including emergency medical equipment such as wheelchairs and stretchers, diapers, feminine hygiene products, items for seniors and items such as sleeping bags and other outdoor survival equipment for those that have been displaced from their homes.

“All that is needed over there on an unprecedented level, so Mr. Stelmach and I put out calls to people we worked with when in government, to fire departments, to companies and to others to gather that more professional heavy equipment that is coming in at a wonderful rate, but now we’re putting word out to Albertans to start gathering the things that are available in store, that can be bought and donated,” said Lukaszuk.

Donations will be accepted Monday and Wednesday from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Polish Hall, 10960 104 St., in Edmonton.

The plane airlifting the supplies is a Boeing 787 Dreamliner donated by Polish Airlines LOT. Shell Canada is donating 50 tonnes of jet fuel to assist in the plane’s travel back to Poland.

“We want to fill that plane. That plane has 35 tonnes of lifting capacity for cargo and I want every square inch of that plane to be filled and we are on our way to get to that goal,” said Lukaszuk.

He said once the plane lands in Warsaw with the supplies, there is already ground transport in place to put it together in a warehouse and then deliver it across the border to Ukraine where support is in place to receive and distribute the supplies.

“Ukraine right now is cut off from the world,” said Lukaszuk. “There are no imports coming in. Their infrastructure is destroyed and they’re going hungry. They have no basic needs met internally, so it’s only through Poland goods are entering Ukraine and Ukrainians are managing to escape through Poland,” he said.

Lukaszuk said he lived under martial law in Poland as a kid and Stelmach is of Ukrainian heritage, making this effort personal for them both.

The plane is tentatively scheduled to transport the supplies on March 28, Lukaszuk said.

ktaniguchi@postmedia.com

twitter.com/taniguchikellen

Guest column: History has shown Ukrainians will always be independent from Russia

Lloyd Brown-John 

It was not an uncommon error. In a shop in Copenhagen, Denmark a sales person asked if we were Americans.

© Provided by Windsor Star WINDSOR, ONTARIO:. MARCH 6, 2022 - 

As the war rages in Ukraine, members of Windsor's Ukrainian community and supporters held a third rally on Ottawa Street, on Sunday, March 6, 2022.

“No,” we replied. “We’re Canadians.”

Our Danish clerk responded: “Canadians, Americans, you’re all the same aren’t you?”

To which I said: “Yes, we are just like Danes and Swedes, eh.”

“Oh” he said. “I fully understand Canadians are Canadians.”

Living as we do in close proximity to the border between Canada and the United States we often tend to forget we really are two uniquely different countries. Many of us have family and relatives in the U.S. In my case, they are quite distant.

Most Canadians live within a few hundred kilometres of the U.S. border. In Windsor, many make daily trips for work across that border. Their choice may reflect that of many Canadians who have sought opportunities in the U.S. where many have become successful.

I am not anti-American. I am, however, fiercely Canadian. I take modest pride in our differences from Americans.

I no longer visit across the border because I prefer a country where gun numbers are well below one per capita. In America there is more than one gun per capita and road-rage shootings seem far too common.

Indeed, according to Geneva based Small Arms Survey, America has 120 guns for every 100 citizens — that is twice the number of second-place Yemen, which is a country at war.

Fortunately, unlike those who reside near Russia’s borders, Canadians should not reasonably expect Americans to invade us and try to force us into a culturally American world.

Certainly, we’ve all met Americans who assume and perhaps mutter: “well, Americans and Canadians, we’re pretty well all the same aren’t we?”

Unfortunately, that rationale seems to be a motivation behind the distorted thinking of Vlad Putin and his fantasy Russian world.

It is as if Joe Biden — or worse Donald Trump — were to announce an invasion of Canada to free us from that British Queen still blatantly visibly serving on some Canadian currency.

Historically, the territory that now constitutes Ukraine has been part of several other countries and empires. The 14th-century Lithuania empire occupied a large portion of what is now Ukraine. And portions of the country were also later part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, while others were Polish.

It was not until the 19th century that Ukraine became a relatively well-defined territory.

One of Putin’s predecessors, dictator Joseph Stalin, brutalized Ukraine during the years of 1932-1933. Millions of Ukrainians were killed in a form of genocide known as the “Holodomor.” This was an early version of quashing Ukrainian independence.

In many ways, Putin is imitating Stalin.

Putin’s problem with Ukraine stems from the significant role the country has played in Russian history.

Consider Nikolai Gogol’s novella “Taras Bulba.” Taras is depicted as an ideal Russian, but is actually Ukrainian and the story is set on Ukrainian’s steppe.

Arguably, Ukraine has been a core of Russian identity. For example, as the centre of a medieval confederation known as Kyivan Rus — the Kyivan myth of origins.

Kyiv was the heart of Russian and Belarusian culture and also from which the Orthodox faith emerged.

The “Little Russians” as Ukrainians were often termed.

In a 1990 essay, “Rebuilding Russia” dissident Alexandr Solzhenitsyn visualized Belarus and Ukraine as essential parts of the Russian metropolitan core.

Solzhenitsyn like many before him, including Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, were children of Ukrainian mothers and Russian fathers.

Regrettably, much of recent Russian and Ukrainian history has rested upon what is termed a kleptocracy — a parasitic state wherein elites thrive upon institutional corruption. For Putin, that appears to be what politics is all about.

Putin can neither imagine nor tolerate a democratic European-oriented Ukraine. Putin may forcibly crush Ukraine, but he will never slay the spirit of Ukraine’s people. History is on their side.

Lloyd Brown-John is a University of Windsor professor emeritus of political science. He can be reached at lbj@uwindsor.ca.

SILVER LININGS NOTEBOOK;
Could Russia's war kick-start a renewable-energy revolution? It depends where in the world you look

By Ella Nilsen, CNN 

As Russia's brutal war in Ukraine disrupts energy supply and forces world leaders to examine their dependence on Russian oil and natural gas, leaders in the United States and Europe are scrambling to fill the gaps.

© Andy Buchanan/AFP/Getty Images Wind turbines in Eaglesham Moor, southwest of Glasgow, in January. Energy experts say Russia's war in Ukraine could help spur a renewable energy revolution.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson this week advocated for new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea in the name of energy security, and there are talks in the UK and in Germany of delaying the closure of some coal-fired power plants.

There's also increased pressure on the oil- and natural gas-rich US to produce more to send to Europe, and US President Joe Biden is trying to get Middle Eastern countries to produce more oil to help bring sky-high gasoline prices down.

© Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Traffic moves along Interstate 80 in Berkeley, California. As climate action in Congress stalls, the Biden administration has taken steps on its own, including proposing new regulations on vehicle emissions.

This is all bad news for the climate crisis — which is caused by the burning of fossil fuels — but they are short-term responses. There is also good reason to believe that the upheaval brought by Russia's war will speed the transition to clean energy in the long run.

While Johnson wrote of more drilling, he also wrote of doubling down on renewable energy, such as solar or wind power. A UK government spokesperson told CNN that a new energy strategy to be revealed next week will "supercharge" its renewables and nuclear capacity.

© Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images The Westlands Solar Park near Lemoore, California.

In Germany, which is highly dependent on Russian gas, the government brought forward its deadline for a full transition to renewables in its power sector by at least five years, to 2035.

But in the US, the path toward a clean energy transition has stalled in the Congress.

"The war will supercharge the European energy transition — most European leaders understand that diversifying from fossil fuels is a path to greater security," Nikos Tsafos, an energy expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told CNN in an email interview. "The response in the United States has been more bifurcated — some calling for more oil and gas production, others for more investments in renewable energy."

Ultimately, Europe and the US are on a different footing with their clean energy transitions. The European Union, for example, has a detailed emissions target in law and a road map to cut emissions 55% by 2030. Biden's administration has undertaken a number of executive actions and federal regulations to work toward the US emissions goal to cut 50-52% of emissions by 2030. But his target is lacking legislative teeth.

© Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images The Burbo Bank Offshore Wind Farm in Liverpool Bay on the west coast of the UK.

"We must walk and chew gum — address supply in the short term because families need to take their kids to school, and go to work, get groceries and go about their lives — and often that requires gas," a White House spokesperson told CNN. "But in the long term we must speed up — not slow down — our transition to a clean energy future."

The EU road map still needs a vote, but it is backed by policies already underway. And many European countries have more developed clean energy infrastructure than the US, which is just starting to build out its offshore wind.

In 2020, the EU and UK had the capacity to produce around 49% of their electricity from renewables, almost twice that of the US' 25%, according to the International Renewables Energy Agency. The EU and UK combined have about double the solar power capacity and wind capacity of the US, the agency has reported.

"It's clear Europe has a game plan and the US has a target, which is not the same thing," said John Larsen, a partner at the nonpartisan Rhodium Group.


The renewables race

In an interview with The Washington Post, International Energy Agency executive director Fatih Birol said Monday he believed the current situation in Europe was the first truly global energy crisis the world has faced — and could shape global energy for years to come.

"It can be a turning point," Birol said, noting that governments responded to the oil shortage of the 1970s by making cars more fuel efficient and investing in nuclear energy. "I am also hopeful that at the end of the first global energy crisis, countries, not just states, will come up with new energy policies accelerating the clean energy transitions."

Europe is already heading in that direction.

"It's amazing how fast the Europeans have moved," said Sam Ori, executive director of the University of Chicago's Energy Policy Institute. "They're racing toward clean electricity."

Biden's administration has done several things on its own: proposing new regulations on vehicle emissions and methane; greenlighting offshore wind projects as well as onshore renewables; and taking executive actions on industrial emissions.

Still, Biden has been unable to get much of his clean energy and climate agenda through Congress so far, and experts say he doesn't have much hope of reaching his emissions targets without it.

A recent Princeton University analysis showed that the clean-energy provisions in Biden's now-shelved Build Back Better Act would have prevented 1.3 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions from entering the atmosphere through 2035.

US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm told CNN Wednesday that the current global energy crunch should spur action in Congress as soon as possible.

"This is a moment for Congress to be able to act," Granholm told CNN at a clean energy event Wednesday. "There can be a compromise. There can be movement on this. The bottom line is this is a moment to have this happen; it's an urgent moment."

But there is no clear path in Congress to transition the US away from fossil fuels. Getting off Russian oil is one thing Democrats and Republicans can agree on; a bipartisan group recently came together to pass a House bill banning Russian oil imports to the US.

That's where harmony on energy ends.

Instead of simply drilling for more oil and gas, officials in Biden's administration and many Democrats in Congress have long argued that passing billions in tax credits for electric vehicles and renewable energy is a key way to relieve the US from its dependence on foreign oil, and will help insulate the country against future gas price shocks.

Republicans, on the other hand, argue this is a moment to get drilling.

In the middle of the two sides sits Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, the Democrats' swing vote on climate and clean energy legislation. Manchin has expressed support for Biden's clean energy package, but he represents a coal state, and wants more drilling and fossil fuel infrastructure built.

Beyond the future of the US clean energy legislation, more questions remain. Russia is also a major exporter of metals needed for electric vehicles and clean energy technology, which could hamper the transition to EVs.

The fate of Biden's climate policy — and how quickly the US can transition to clean energy — largely depends on Manchin's vote. There's still no actual legislative package that's been agreed upon, and Biden and congressional Democrats realistically have the spring and summer to get a Democrat-only bill through Congress before the midterm elections could upend the balance of power in Washington.

Larsen said that while market forces, like continued high oil prices, could nudge consumers away from gas cars and toward electric vehicles, massive federal investment in EVs and clean energy would still be needed.

"Should these higher prices last for a while, they're going to help make the case for accelerating the transition we see with wind and solar, but it's not the same as policy support to actually get there," Larsen said. "Build Back Better and the [clean energy] tax credits, all of that would do 10 times more than these high prices would."

SELF EMPLOYED WORKERS

Main Street's minority owners need loans to grow, but access to capital remains inequitable

TRADE CRAFT 

Kate Rogers 

As main street businesses are continuing to make a comeback post-pandemic, they're facing down the triple threat of supply chain headwinds, labor constraints and historic inflation. For some, borrowing to invest, grow, or simply stay afloat, is top of mind.

Data from Goldman Sachs' 10,000 Small Business Voices "Small Businesses on the Brink" survey finds that 86% of owners find broader economic trends are having a negative impact on business. Nearly 30% of owners are expecting to take out a line of credit or loan for their business this year, and 31% say they feel very confident in their business' ability to access capital. But Black-owned small businesses reported expecting to borrow at a higher rate of 48%, with less confidence about their ability to gain access to capital, at 19%. The survey was released in late January, with responses from more than 1,400 small business owners, including 225 Black-owned businesses.

Business owner Letha Pugh has had experience with funding inequities that predate the pandemic's toll. Pugh owns Bake Me Happy, a wholesale and retail gluten-free bakery and coffee shop. When initially seeking capital for the Columbus, Ohio-based business in 2013, Pugh said she was lowballed.

"Just having an account at a bank isn't a relationship with a bank. We were offered an SBA 7(a) loan for a piece of equipment, and it was specifically for that piece of equipment," Pugh said. "There wasn't a discussion of working capital and things like that, I think that is the disconnect."

© Provided by CNBC Letha Pugh and her wife Wendy own Bake Me Happy in Columbus, Ohio. Pugh has worked for years to build up banking relationships and a network to continue to grow the business.

Pugh and her wife Wendy turned to their savings to get off the ground, and over the last few years, Pugh said the focus has been on building up a network to support the small business. She's leaned on local resources in the city, attending webinars and participating in Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Voices program, along with courses from the National Minority Supplier Development Council and the National Restaurant Association. As the business grew, banks sought to work with the bakery. A relationship with State Bank in Dublin, Ohio, helped the bakery to get access to Paycheck Protection Program loans early on, when other small businesses were shut out.

"I think establishing a banking relationship as early on as possible, even if it's a $5,000 line of credit, or access to credit, just so that you can pick up the phone and reach out ... I think being able to reach a person at the bank, who knows you and understands you, makes a huge difference" she said.

The pandemic highlighted inequities in lending, with minority-owned businesses getting funding from programs like the PPP at lower rates than white counterparts. The Federal Reserve's Small Business Credit Survey 2021 Report on Firms Owned by People of Color showed that even among firms with good credit scores, Black-owned firms were half as likely as white-owned firms to receive all of the financing they sought at 24% versus 48% of borrowers.

Community banks wound up being a lifeline for smaller businesses during the pandemic. Winnie Sun, managing director of Sun Group Wealth Partners, said it's key for businesses setting out to establish banking relationships to prioritize service quality over the size of the bank. Start with a personal or business banker and set up multiple meetings to ensure that person is a good fit for your company and goals.

"It's really important to remember that the relationship you have with your bank is a two-way street. They want to do business with you. But you also get a chance to decide whether you want to do business with them. And that's key," Sun said.

Through persistence, Pugh has continued to grow the bakery, even in the face of the pandemic's many challenges. Sales are up 40% over 2019 levels, but supply costs have also gone up 25%. Pugh just closed on a building last month with an SBA 504 loan after the bakery lost its lease and rent doubled. The new location should open in June or July.

"We sat down and decided we're not going to lose money again on building out a space and renovating that space for the business owner or the building owner, and paying their property taxes. … Let us take advantage of owning the building," she said.

Disclosure: NBCUniversal and Comcast Ventures are investors in Acorns.

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GM to buy SoftBank's stake in Cruise self-driving unit for $2.1 billion

Michael Wayland 


General Motors is acquiring SoftBank Vision Fund 1's equity ownership stake in its majority-owned Cruise autonomous vehicle unit for $2.1 billion.

Softbank's exit comes as the technology investment firm was set to have to invest a second tranche of $1.35 billion upon Cruise's commercial deployment of vehicles, which GM will now pay.

It also follows Cruise CEO Dan Ammann abruptly leaving the company in December.

© Provided by CNBC A robot car of the General Motors subsidiary Cruise is on a test drive.

DETROIT – General Motors is acquiring SoftBank's equity ownership stake in its majority-owned Cruise autonomous vehicle unit for $2.1 billion, the automaker announced Friday afternoon.

SoftBank Vision Fund 1 first acquired a minority ownership in Cruise through a $2.25 billion deal in 2018. Its exit comes as the prominent technology investment firm was set to have to invest a second tranche of $1.35 billion as part of the deal upon Cruise's commercial deployment of vehicles, which GM will now pay.

It also follows Cruise CEO Dan Ammann's abrupt departure from the company in December. Ammann was reportedly let go from Cruise by GM CEO and Chair Mary Barra, who also chairs Cruise's board, over disagreements in strategy, including when to take the company public.

GM has signaled it plans to keep the company public for the foreseeable future. Ammann's successor, Cruise founder Kyle Vogt, tweeted on Friday that an IPO would be a "major distraction, especially right now" as the company is scaling up its newly-launched driverless ride-hailing service in San Francisco.

The SoftBank announcement was made as GM and Cruise also announced the launch of a "Recurring Liquidity Opportunity Program", in which Cruise employees with vested stock options will be able to sell them to GM.

"Employees can sell as many vested shares as they like at a fair price determined by a third party," Vogt said on Twitter. "Or they can hold onto their shares and hope for appreciation over time."

The program is apparently intended to help retain Cruise employees, who may have been hoping for a windfall from an IPO of the company, something that Wall Street has been hoping for as well.

A GM spokesman said SoftBank's exit was not related to the employee program. He referred questions about Softbank's decision to the company. A SoftBank spokesman declined to comment.

Since SoftBank's initial investment, much of the hype and investor optimism surrounding autonomous vehicles has crashed down to reality, including GM and Cruise missing an initial deployment of self-driving vehicles in San Francisco in 2019.

The dramatic downturn in tech stocks since late 2021 also is problematic for SoftBank, which has been among the biggest investors in pre-IPO companies across the globe in the past half-decade. The new deal with GM frees up capital that SoftBank could deploy elsewhere.

SoftBank's investment division ran into problems in 2019 after office-sharing company WeWork had to pull its IPO and massively downsize its business to skirt collapse. SoftBank took a multibillion-dollar writedown on WeWork after rescuing the company and becoming 80% owner.

While SoftBank bounced back during the pandemic, thanks to a large position in DoorDash, OpenDoor and other companies that had blockbuster market debuts, the rapid downturn in high-growth tech stocks this year has again created troubled for Japanese conglomerate.

It's the biggest shareholder in South Korean e-commerce site Coupang and Chinese ride-hailing app Didi, which are both down significantly. With the IPO market shuttered indefinitely, SoftBank has limited opportunities to get liquidity from many of its big dollar bets.

ABOLISH ICE

Ford Patents Hydrogen-Fueled Combustion Engine

Angel Sergeev 

It could be used for a hybrid powertrain.

Earlier this month, Ford announced it is splitting its business into two separate divisions. Model E will be responsible for the all-electric vehicles in the future and there are a number of brand new EVs currently under development. In turn, the Blue division will work on combustion models and it seems that it could be working on a very interesting project, judging by a recent patent.

© Motor1.com Ford hydrogen combustion engine patent

Muscle Cars and Trucks has discovered a patent filed from Ford with the U.S Patent and Trademark Office for a combustion engine running on hydrogen. A typical hydrogen-powered vehicle uses a propulsion system similar to that of an electric vehicle, where energy stored as hydrogen is converted to electricity by the fuel cell. However, Ford’s new patent is for a turbocharged combustion engine running on hydrogen.

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MCT reports that, at least on paper, the company’s engine should be capable of operating across a wide range of air/fuel lambda values. Just like in a standard modern internal combustion engine, exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and valve timing would be used to control the combustion process. According to the available information, the engine would be capable of lambda values in excess of 2.00, which would mean an air/fuel mix of at least 68 parts air to 1 part hydrogen. For comparison, a gasoline engine can vary between 0.54 lambda and 1.25 lambda.

The patent also includes direct injection for delivering hydrogen to the cylinders and, theoretically, supplying hydrogen through direct injection could produce up to 15 percent more power than an equivalent gasoline engine. In Ford’s patent, the hydrogen combustion engine is also seen as a part of a hybrid powertrain with a motor-generator positioned between the engine and the transmission. It’s important to note, however, that the Blue oval’s patent only covers the method of combusting and controlling hydrogen mixtures, not the entire engine.

Bear in mind that not every patent from an automaker is for something that will eventually reach production. Some of Ford's recent patents include a technology that allows you to drive a car with your brain, a deployable drone patent, and others.

Source: Muscle Cars and Trucks