‘Wall of fire’: Arizona blaze forces thousands to flee

Arizona orders mandatory evacuations as dry brush and pine trees ignite in early start to US southwest wildfire season.

In this photo provided by the Coconino National Forest, the Tunnel Fire burns near Flagstaff, Arizona, on April 19, 2022 

[Coconino National Forest via AP]
Published On 20 Apr 2022

A wildfire in the US state of Arizona has nearly tripled in size after high winds kicked up a towering wall of flames outside a tourist and college town that ripped through two dozen structures and drove thousands of people from their homes.

Flames as high as 30 metres (100 feet) raced through an area of scattered homes, dry grass and Ponderosa pine trees on the outskirts of Flagstaff as wind gusts of up to 80kph (50mph) pushed the blaze over a major highway.

Firefighters faced strong winds and bone-dry conditions as they battled the blaze, which officials said late on Tuesday threatened to destroy hundreds of homes as it moved northeast towards Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument.

“I cannot stress enough how rapidly this fire is moving,” said True Brown, a fire management officer with the Coconino National Forest, during a news conference. “I cannot stress how important it is to leave the fire area.”

Heavy winds kicked up a towering wall of flames outside a town in northern Arizona [Coconino National Forest via AP]

The fire has forced more than 2,000 residents to flee 760 homes in Coconino County, said Patrice Horstman, chairwoman of the county’s Board of Supervisors.

The blaze, dubbed the “Tunnel Fire”, covered an area of some 6,474 hectares (16,000 acres) about 23km (14 miles) north of the Arizona city of Flagstaff, fire officials said.

“It’s good, in that it’s not headed toward a very populated area, and it’s headed toward less fuel,” said Coconino National Forest spokesman Brady Smith. “But depending on the intensity of the fire, fire can still move across cinders.”

Approximately 200 firefighters who were fighting the blaze will face a day of wind gusts of 48kph (30mph) and very dry air conditions on Wednesday and Thursday, the National Weather Service said.

“The combination of gusty winds and low humidity can cause fire to rapidly grow in size and intensity before first responders can contain them,” the service said in a fire watch advisory issued for Thursday.

The wildfire started on the afternoon of February 17. Investigators do not know yet what caused it and have yet to corral any part of the blaze.

Firefighters and law enforcement officers went door to door telling people to evacuate but had to pull out to avoid getting boxed in, said Coconino County Sheriff Jim Driscoll. He said his office got a call about a man who was trapped inside his house, but firefighters could not get to him.

“We don’t know if he made it out or not,” Driscoll said.

Various organisations worked to set up shelters for evacuees and animals, including goats and horses.

The scene was all too familiar for residents who recalled rushing to pack their bags and flee a dozen years ago when a much larger wildfire burned in the same area. “This time was different, right there in your back yard,” said Kathy Vollmer, a resident.

Wildfire firefighters rushed to contain the ‘Tunnel Fire’ in Arizona 

[Cheryl L Miller-Woody via AP]

She and her husband grabbed their three dogs but left a couple of cats behind as they faced what she described as a “wall of fire”.

Earlier in the day, the wildfire shut down US Route 89, the main road between Flagstaff, northern Arizona, and communities in the Navajo Nation. High winds grounded aircraft that could drop water and fire retardant on the blaze.

Like other southwestern states hit by climate change, Arizona is suffering an early start to its fire season. Dry grass and brush, along with scattered pine, are fuelling the fire, officials said.

Last week, an elderly couple died in their home when a wildfire swept through Ruidoso, New Mexico, destroying hundreds of houses and forcing thousands to flee the mountain town.

Red flag warnings blanketed much of New Mexico on Wednesday, indicating conditions were ripe for wildfires.

AL JAZEERA

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES

How climate change is affecting wildfires in Arizona

A recent study showed temperatures are not decreasing as much as they normally do during fire season.

Author: William Pitts
Published: April 20, 2022

PHOENIX — Climate change is affecting wildfires and experts say those effects are already being seen.

RELATED: UArizona study finds climate change is putting cacti at an 'elevated extinction risk'

The Tunnel Fire northeast of Flagstaff exploded in size Tuesday, driven by a Red Flag day with extremely high winds.

Typically, fire officials say, those winds tend to die down overnight as temperatures drop and humidity levels increase. But Tuesday night, that didn't happen.

Fire officials said the winds kept up all night, similar to other fires in recent years.

"They were not getting any recovery at night," University of Arizona climatologist Mike Crimmins said. "So the fires were burning intensely through the dead of night."

A study published in February of this year showed temperatures are not decreasing as much as they normally do during fire season. Because of that, the intensity of the fire continues to build.

Other research shows fire becoming more common across the West in the last 40 years as climate change has taken hold.

"They're wind-driven fires, they're in a specific fuel type," Tiffany Davila with the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management said.

And fire forecasters are having to deal with those changes in predicting fire behavior.

"They have this sense of what does this ecosystem observe normally," Crimmins said. "What's the normal fire regime for right now in a stable climate?"

'Just the beginning:' 14 graves found at former residential school in Saskatchewan

Mickey Djuric The Canadian Press

GEORGE GORDON FIRST NATION, SASK. - Chief Byron Bitternose of George Gordon First Nation says members of his community had hoped they would never discover graves near the site of a former residential school.

The First Nation recently wrapped up the first phase of its months-long search near the former George Gordon Indian Residential School north of Regina using ground-penetrating radar.

On Wednesday, Bitternose announced the search discovered 14 possible grave sites, which the First Nation believes likely contain the remains of children.

"It's a sad day for us, but I think we had to get here and this is just the beginning," Bitternose said. "It is my hope that one day we will be able to tell our children the whole story."

The school, near the Village of Punnichy, was first established by the Anglican Church of Canada in 1888 and operated until 1996, making it one of the longest-running residential schools in the country.

An estimated 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend residential schools in Canada. Several First Nations have announced over the last year that hundreds of unmarked graves have been detected at some former school sites.

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation has a record of 49 student deaths at the George Gordon school. Its final report called the school one of the worst run in the entire residential school system.

Eddie Bitternose attended the school in 1958 when he was 10-years old.

He said hearing about the findings has been difficult, but not as hard as relaying the information to the community and feeling betrayed by the Anglican Church, which he said still has close connections to the area.

"It was disappointing, having faith in the Anglican sect ... we thought they were more respectful of Touchwood Indians because we accepted their Jesus or God," he said.

Sarah Longman, a member of the First Nation and head of its residential school cemetery committee, said the first phase of the search is just the beginning.

"This is going to be a 10-year journey for the First Nation, and we just completed the first sixth months," she said. "We're dealing with 100-plus years of history of the residential school here in George Gordon, so there's a lot of work and a lot of area to cover.

"I don't know if we'll ever get to the space of where we're going to be able to identify (bodies)," she said.

Although there is a cemetery near the former school, Longwood said they are intentionally searching that area last. The locations for the first search were directed by the stories of survivors.

"A lot of times we don't hear the voice of the survivor, we don't validate the information they share with us, and we thought it was really important we took that voice and honoured it by going to the areas they suggested we go to first," Longwood said.

The investigation is also complex because students of the school came from across Canada, added Eddie Bitternose.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Final Report documents the school's history, which included harsh discipline for students and rampant sexual abuse.

It says the school had a long history of poor management, sexual abuse of students and complaints that discipline was harsh and abusive, causing many students to run away.

In 1941, 11-year-old Andrew Gordon froze to death after running away from the school.

The report says two other girls died by drowning in 1947. In 1968, a fire claimed the lives of four students.

There are also records of a supervisor impregnating a student, and one child was diagnosed with a venereal disease after being sexually abused.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has a record of six staff members who were convicted of crimes against students.

William Peniston Starr, the school’s director from 1968 to 1984, was convicted of ten counts of sexual assault. He was sentenced to 4-1/2 years in prison.

In 1998, now-retired Saskatchewan justice Ronald Barclay noted that more than 400 lawsuits had been filed related to abuse at the George Gordon school, many of which involved Starr.

The Indian Residential Schools Resolution Health Support Program has a hotline to help residential school survivors and their relatives suffering with trauma invoked by the recall of past abuse. The number is 1-866-925-4419.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 20, 2022.

New fossil on display at ROM predates dinosaurs and was discovered in Ontario

The Royal Ontario Museum says the very rare marine fossil species was discovered near Brechin in southern Ontario and is nearly half a billion years old.

By Ashima AgnihotriStaff Reporter

Wed., April 20, 2022

Royal Ontario Museum will display a very rare and recently discovered fossil of a 450 million year old marine animal found in southern Ontario.

Researchers with the ROM say the new “Tomlinsonus dimitrii” species is part of an extinct group of arthropods and is “exceptionally well preserved.”

The newly discovered marine animal fossil, which is nearly half a billion years old, appears to predate even the dinosaurs that first appeared around 240 million years ago.

This finding was announced on March 24, 2022, in the Journal of Paleontology.

Researchers are calling the fossil’s preservation “remarkable,” as typically only the hard parts of an organism are fossilized (bones and shells).

But not with this extinct group of arthropod. Defying the trend, this new species lacks any mineralized body parts and was entirely soft-bodied.

Lead author Joe Moysiuk, a PhD candidate in ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Toronto, described the species as “an ornate head shield adorned with remarkable featherlike spines, possessing stilt-like limbs.”

George Kampouris, the discoverer and co-author, is also an independent paleontological technician who initiated a project to investigate fossil beds in 2014 at a stone quarry owned by Tomlinson Group, whom the fossil is named after. The quarry is located near Brechin, around Lake Simcoe in southern Ontario.

“Brechin has produced world-class fossils for over 100 years but our work here has revealed the role of catastrophic storm events in the burial and preservation of entire animal communities in their final moments,” Kampouris said.

Moysiuk told the Star that Kampouris was searching for “shelly” creatures like sea lilies and trilobites when he came across the rare fossil. Kampouris went to the active quarry with chisels and hammers and systematically excavated different layers of shale and limestone.

The species is known to have lived in a “shallow tropical marine sea,” which covered most of Ontario at the time of its existence, says researchers. It is said to be no longer than an index finger, in size, and most closely related to modern critters like spiders and scorpions.

“The finding of entirely soft-bodied species like Tomlinsonus allows a much better understanding of the diversity of life that really existed at that time,” said Dr. Jean-Bernard Caron, ROM Richard Ivey Curator of Invertebrate paleontology and co-author of the paper.

The Tomlinsonus will be displayed at the ROM in the newly opened Willner Madge Gallery, Dawn of Life’s burgess shale section, which contains various other soft-tissue preservation.

Ashima Agnihotri is a reporter for the Star's radio room based in Toronto. 

City councillor says EPCOR executives shouldn't be making Oilers-like salaries


CTV News Edmonton
Updated April 18, 2022 

An Edmonton city councillor says the top executives at EPCOR, a city-owned utility company, are taking home too much money.

Michael Janz, ward papastew councillor, believes more of EPCOR's profits should go toward city services and projects.

From 2018 to 2020, Stuart Lee, EPCOR president and CEO, earned between $2.2 and $2.9 million a year. In that same period, other high-level decision-makers made between $700,000 to $1 million.

According to Janz, the corporation's board chair makes $237,000 a year — almost as much as the mayor.

"I thought that the EPCOR salaries might be high," Janz told CTV News Edmonton. "I had no idea that they were going to be this high."

"That's $5 or $10 million that could go towards paying for public services, alleviating the tax burden, and making a better city for everyone," he added.

Now Janz is asking council to pressure EPCOR to lower its executive compensation and give the difference to the city.

Since the utility provider was formed in 1996, EPCOR has paid the city an annual dividend, totalling more than $2.5 billion. Last year, that payment was around $171 million.

"As the sole shareholder of EPCOR, every single dollar that EPCOR makes is a potential dollar that could be paid to the City of Edmonton in dividend," Janz said. "They should be capped not to exceed the City of Edmonton salaries, which I believe are already generous."

Janice Rennie, EPCOR board chair, said executive compensation at the organization is set by the board and is subject to annual independent review.

"Considering the unique nature of EPCOR's business model and strategy, the review process ensures that the company is comparing against organizations that EPCOR competes with for talent, capital, and opportunities," Rennie said.

"The board's objective is to compensate EPCOR's leaders in the middle of the pack, when compared to executives in similar roles," she added.

Janz says that review process is not producing accurate comparisons since it uses private power companies, not Canadian crown corporations.

"I'm all for paying people fair wages for fair work, but this dramatically outpaces the Alberta Treasury Branch, Servus Credit Union, and many other entities," Janz said.

"We could be paying out $20 million in compensation over five years to somebody," he added. "I mean, are we looking at EPCOR, or looking at the Oilers?"

Council is expected to debate Janz's motion to review EPCOR compensation Tuesday.

"We know that we're going to have a very rough budget over the next few years," Janz said. "So we need to look under every rock and stone to find out what we can do."

Indigenous author’s book pulled from Durham school board library shelves without explanation

By Morganne Campbell Global News
Posted April 18, 2022

 An award-winning Indigenous author is questioning the Durham District School Board's decision to pull one of his books from library shelves. The board claims it contains content that could be harmful to Indigenous students and their families the very same groups the author wrote the book for. Morganne Campbell has more on "The Great Bear" and the controversy around it.


A book that focusses on anti-bullying and other contemporary issues has been pulled from libraries within the Durham District School Board and the award-winning Indigenous author who penned The Great Bear says he doesn’t understand why.

“I’ve been doing this work now for 13 years. I have written books for Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth to empower Indigenous youth and to educate non-Indigenous youth about culture history and contemporary issues,” explains Winnipeg-based author David Robertson.

“I started writing books because I wanted kids to have access to resources that I didn’t have and so it’s really confusing to me.”

The Durham District School Board DDSB says the book has been pulled because it includes content that could be harmful to Indigenous students and families. In a statement posted to the board’s website on Saturday, the DDSB suggested the book was flagged by “local Indigenous community members”

“We will be providing an update on this topic next week.”

​Robertson maintains that neither he or his publisher, Penguin Random House, received any information about why the book was pulled. The DDSB took to its website to explain that following an investigation by the DDSB IT department, it found the emails from the publisher were filtered out therefore not received by any of the individuals they were written to.

“The DDSB has previously engaged with Forest of Reading on this topic and would have with Penguin Random House if the e-mails were received. We look forward to responding to Penguin Random House once the appropriate staff have had a chance to review their e-mails,” the statement read.

“We are not aware of Penguin Random House using any other methods, such as phone to contact the DDSB, which would have solved this communication problem.”

But there’s still one think lacking — an explanation.

The author says he’s received support from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, groups and educators and support continues to mount for the author who has reputation of putting “great care” into all of his books.

“It’s just really devastating to know that kids in a school board in southern Ontario are being denied his (Robertson’s) gifts,” explains Sudbury, Ont., Indigenous author and journalist Waubgeshig Rice.

“We are building bigger communities, the circle is widening, and for my kids, they’re growing up in a more empowered era.”

Indigenous MPP Sol Mamakwa is calling on the DDSB to rethink its decision.

“It’s a shame that this book was pulled and I hope the Durham School Board and whoever makes these decisions is open to reopening the dialogue.”

Roberston says he’s not necessarily looking for an apology from the board. Instead, he feels the board should apologize to students. He’d also like to see the board review their policies to make sure they’re being understood and carried out appropriately.

“When you take those books out of the hands of kids effectively what you were doing is you were taking truth from their hands and you were hindering the process of reconciliation rather than supporting it in anyway.”

Magnus Carlsen Will Really, Really Give Up His Championship Title, Maybe

In an interview with VG, a Norwegian news site, Magnus Carlsen, the undefeated World Chess Champion, gave the strongest indication to date that he will not defend his title, come the World Chess Championship match next year. But he can still change his mind.

Magnus Carlsen in London in 2018. He won his match against Fabiano Caruana.

Our Norwegian is a bit rusty, but it’s clear from the interview that Carlsen, citing lack of motivation, informed his team that the Championship in Dubai was his last. Carlsen still thinks this way and clearly wants to break away from the title which defines him yet yields very little returns every time he needs to defend it, so why not step down undefeated and continue being the best in the sport for years without the stress of having to defend the title.

What does this mean for chess? For one, it will dramatically debase the Championship title: what’s the point in fighting for it while the strongest player is not in the fight at all? The Match will also lose a lot of media attention: Carlsen is the sport’s only real superstar. Without him, the Championship match will turn into a fairly mundane three weeks.

Carlsen will inevitably leave the Championship cycle. If not next year, then the year after that. Maybe, this pill needs to be swallowed by the chess world sooner rather than later because it gives Carlsen ample time to decide to come back if he feels like it in a few years. Sure, he will need to win the Candidates again, but this simply means more chess drama, something the fans would appreciate.

The Match is currently expected to take place in the early 2023. The winner of the Candidates Tournament will play against the incumbent Champion. In case the Champion refuses to play, the Match will be between the winner and the runner-up of the Candidates Tournament.

Hong Kong zero-COVID policies create mountains of plastic waste

By Aleksander Solum - Monday
© Reuters/TYRONE SIU

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong arrivals meet plastic everywhere in quarantine hotels: Remote controls are wrapped in cellophane, pillows are encased in plastic bags, food comes with plastic cutlery.

Hong Kong’s strict quarantine policies - intended to halt COVID-19 at the border and in the community - have been criticised for damaging the economy and mental health. Environmentalists say the policies are also hurting the environment by generating excess waste.


© Reuters/TYRONE SIUCOVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong

“Every single one of the staff members here wears full PPE ... the gowns, the gloves, the booties, the hats, and that's every staff member and on every floor," said Hong Kong-based skincare entrepreneur Clementine Vaughan, who flew into the city on April 4.


© Reuters/TYRONE SIUCOVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong

"The phones, you know, the remote controllers, everything's been cellophane-wrapped," she said, speaking to Reuters from her quarantine hotel.

Hong Kong disposes of over 2,300 tonnes of plastic waste a day, and with a recycling rate of just 11%, according to government figures, most of it goes into landfills.


© Reuters/TYRONE SIUCOVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong
A government spokesperson said officials were aware of a surge in disposable waste since COVID began, urging people to adopt a green lifestyle as far as possible.


© Reuters/TYRONE SIUCOVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong

Edwin Lau, with local environmental group The Green Earth, said Hong Kong’s approach to COVID reflected its lack of environmental awareness.

"People living in quarantine hotels, they are not confirmed cases,” Lau said, urging the government to allow the recycling or reuse of plastics from quarantine facilities.

Hong Kong, one of the few places that holds to a zero-COVID policy, has quarantined tens of thousands of people this year in facilities for the COVID-positive and near contacts.

The facilities add to the waste problem, with residents confirming to Reuters all meals came in plastic bags.

Paul Zimmerman, an elected district councillor, said the facilities are also wasteful because they can't be used long-term, such as for public housing.

“They've been built very quickly ... (and don't) comply with any particular building standards we have in Hong Kong.”

(Reporting by Aleksander Solum; Editing By Tom Hogue)

Last leg of Ring of Fire road enters the environmental assessment process

Naimul Karim | April 18, 2022 

Aerial view of lake in Ring of Fire, Ontario. Stock image.

The First Nations of Marten Falls and Webequie have submitted the terms of reference for the proposed Northern Road Link, a piece of infrastructure that Ontario describes as the “final piece” needed to build an all-season road into the Ring of Fire.


The road would link two other roads that are being advanced separately by each community – the Marten Falls access road and the Webequie supply road – to provide access to the mineral rich region in northern Ontario’s James Bay lowlands.

The announcement comes a week after Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest’s Wyloo Metals completed the acquisition of the Eagle’s Nest nickel-copper-PGE deposit in the Ring of Fire.

“It’s a start of a journey for us into an economic reconciliation for Martin Falls First Nation and our neighbouring communities,” Marten Falls Chief Bruce Achneepineskum said at the announcement event.

“There’s a lot of work still to do. We are going to be moving on to the actual work of the environmental assessment, moving forward with the actual studies that are going to be happening,” added Achneepineskum. “We want to move forward in a good way… alleviating the conditions of the community, the poverty levels that we have faced in the decade’s past… there’s a lot of work to do.”

Located about 500 km away from Thunder Bay, the Ring of Fire has “multi-generational potential” for the production of critical minerals such as chromite, nickel, copper and platinum, according to the Ontario government.

But access to the region is a challenge as paved roads are at least 300 km away. In 2017, Ontario committed to spend $1 billion for strategic transportation infrastructure development in the region, including a year-round access road into the mining camp.

However, in 2019, after Doug Ford was elected as Premier in 2018, the new Progressive Conservative government scrapped the previous government’s approach, based on a regional framework agreement, in favour of agreements with individual communities.

Marten Falls First Nation’s 200-km community access road and the Webequie Nation’s 107-km supply road have both advanced to the environmental assessment stage under that approach. Together, with the Northern Link, the three roads are expected to connect the region to Ontario’s highway.

But not all Indigenous groups have supported the way Ontario has approached infrastructure development. First Nations including Neskantaga, Attawapiskat and Fort Albany declared a moratorium, which is still in place, on Ring of Fire development in 2021 to protect the region from environmental damage and “catastrophic climate change.”

Kate Kempton, a lawyer who represents the Attawapiskat First Nation, told The Northern Miner that the community won’t support any mining-related development in the region until there’s “informed consent” of all the affected first nations in the area. “Nobody is in a position to consent today… that full-scale investigation isn’t being done,” she said.

Kempton added that the mining claims comprising the Ring of Fire are not just located in the traditional territories of Marten Falls and Webequie, but also of Attawapiskat.

“This doesn’t mean that only those two First Nations have the right to consent or veto,” said Kempton. “It’s like if my neighbour wants to build a bomb factory next door, he is not the only one that gets to say over that… Those who are going to feel the impacts to this need to be at the front of the decision making and I see nothing in this announcement to see that Ontario is going to proceed that way.”

The lawyer expects the matter to end up in the Canadian courts if Ontario doesn’t address the concerns.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said that the government is working “side by side” with Indigenous partners to ensure that communities around the Ring of Fire get improved access to every-day essentials like fuel, groceries and health care. Natural Resources minister Greg Rickford expects the project to become a “corridor to prosperity” for communities living in the area.

After completing the acquisition of the Eagle’s Nest project in early April, Wyloo Metals said it aims to develop the project as a net zero emissions mine, spend C$100 million on Indigenous-led businesses and establish a training centre that can help provides jobs for indigenous and regional communities.

It also aims to “investigate” the use of electric vehicles, wind power and ultramafic waste rock to capture and sequester carbon at site.

CPP Investments invests in Hydrostor to support the global expansion of long-duration energy storage


TORONTO, April 19, 2022 /CNW/ - Hydrostor Inc. ("Hydrostor"), a leading long-duration energy storage solution provider, today announced an investment commitment of US$25 million from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board ("CPP Investments").

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Logo (CNW Group/Canada Pension Plan Investment Board)

Proceeds from the financing will support Hydrostor's strategy of developing, constructing, and operating Advanced Compressed Air Energy Storage ("A-CAES") facilities globally. CPP Investments' commitment is alongside Goldman Sachs Asset Management's recently announced US$250 million investment into Hydrostor.

Curtis VanWalleghem, Chief Executive Officer, Hydrostor, said: "We are very pleased to have an investment manager of CPP Investments' caliber participate as a co-investor into Hydrostor alongside Goldman Sachs Asset Management. CPP Investments joins a list of existing Canadian investors in Hydrostor, including ArcTern Ventures, Lorem Partners, Canoe Financial, and Business Development Bank of Canada."

Bruce Hogg, Managing Director, Head of Sustainable Energies, CPP Investments, said: "Long-duration energy storage is a critical component in the decarbonization of electrical grids. Hydrostor's solutions are well-placed to address this growing need and provide a unique investment opportunity aligned with our focus on the energy evolution."

About Hydrostor

Hydrostor is a long-duration energy storage solutions provider that provides reliable and affordable utility integration of long-duration energy storage, enabling grid operators to scale renewable energy and secure grid capacity. Hydrostor supports the green economic transition, employing the people, suppliers, and technologies from the traditional energy sector to design, build, and operate emissions-free energy storage facilities. Hydrostor has developed, deployed, tested, and demonstrated that its patented Advanced Compressed Air Energy Storage ("A-CAES") technology can provide long-duration energy storage and enable the renewable energy transition. A-CAES uses proven components from mining and gas operations to create a scalable energy storage system that is low-impact, cost-effective, 50+ year lifetime, and can store energy from 5 hours up to multi-day storage where needed. Hydrostor has projects worldwide in various development stages for providing capacity of over 200 MW each. For more information, please visit www.hydrostor.ca and follow us on LinkedIn.

Hydrostor Logo (CNW Group/Canada Pension Plan Investment Board)

About CPP Investments

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments™) is a professional investment management organization that manages the Fund in the best interest of the more than 21 million contributors and beneficiaries of the Canada Pension Plan. In order to build diversified portfolios of assets, investments are made around the world in public equities, private equities, real estate, infrastructure and fixed income. Headquartered in Toronto, with offices in Hong Kong, London, Luxembourg, Mumbai, New York City, San Francisco, São Paulo and Sydney, CPP Investments is governed and managed independently of the Canada Pension Plan and at arm's length from governments. At December 31, 2021, the Fund totalled C$550.4 billion. For more information, please visit www.cppinvestments.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter.

SOURCE Canada Pension Plan Investment Board

Cision

View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/April2022/19/c5125.html

WE NEED PROVINCIAL GVT INSURANCE CO.

Alberta auto insurers brought in 1.3 billion more than they paid out in 2020: report

Alberta auto insurance providers collected over a billion dollars more than they paid out in 2020, shows a new report released by the province Thursday.

Author of the article: Dylan Short, Calgary Herald, Driving
Publishing date: Apr 18, 2022 • 

Traffic on Calgarys Deerfoot Trail 

Alberta auto insurance providers collected over a billion dollars more than they paid out in 2020, shows a new report released last week by the province.

The Superintendent of Insurance 2020 annual report shows providers collected $5.81 billion in premiums and paid out $4.489 billion in claims, resulting in an overall collection of $1.321 billion. That margin is an increase from 2019 of $1.152 billion and 2018 of $974 million. Both premiums and claims have gone up each year over the past three years.

NDP energy critic Kathleen Ganley said Friday that insurance companies are making hundreds of millions more off the backs of Alberta drivers with the help of UCP policies. Premier Jason Kenney scrapped a rate increase cap on auto insurers in 2019 after it was imposed by the previous NDP government.

“They were able to do this because the UCP removed the cap we put in place to limit increases to premiums,” said Ganley. “That’s $385 million more out of the pockets of Alberta drivers in a single year. No wonder the UCP tried to hide the report before we called them out on it. No wonder they tried to bury it ahead of a long weekend.”

The NDP has accused the government of attempting to suppress the superintendent’s report for 2020 and 2021, which have been produced for more than 100 years.

Ganley said the increases came during a year when many people parked their vehicles due to the pandemic and hardly drove. Despite that, they still saw rate increases, she said.

“Alberta drivers, when you look at your car insurance bill, remember that you are getting worked over by an extremely profitable corporation with the help of the UCP,” said Ganley.

WTF
Kassandra Kitz, press secretary to Finance Minister Travis Toews, said that since much of the information in the report is publicly available elsewhere, the office of the superintendent had paused the release of the annual document while assessing if the report was still necessary.

“They have since taken action to continue the annual report publication,” said Kitz in an email.

Kitz said Albertans deserve an automobile insurance system that is fair, accessible and affordable and that is why the government is committed to examining ways to improve that system. She noted the government introduced Bill 41, the Insurance Amendment Act, which changed regulations around how premiums are calculated.

“We introduced Bill 41 last session that made legislative and regulatory changes to stabilize auto insurance rates, enhance medical care benefits and ensure more options and flexibility for drivers,” said Kitz.

She said seven insurers have filed for rate reductions in 2021 and that across the board, premium rates for private vehicles are down by just under one per cent over the past 12 months.

An analysis using industry and regulator data before the report was released Thursday suggested insurance companies had raked in nearly $2.1 billion in profits during the COVID-19 pandemic

An analysis done by actuary Craig Allen that he says is based on figures provided by the Alberta Automobile Insurance Rate Board shows auto insurers in 2020 pocketed $928 million in pre-tax profits and another $1.153 billion the following year.

The 2021 figure, said Allen, is based on available numbers for the first half of that year and projections for the remainder.

“My estimate of what the profit’s going to be is fairly conservative, cautious,” he said. “The COVID-19 pandemic and reduction in traffic certainly through the first half of 2021 that reduced the volume of accidents and claims is the real main driver.”

The analysis was conducted for the group Fair Alberta, which includes lawyers, medical professionals and injured Albertans.

An insurance industry spokesman echoed the nearly one per cent rate decrease cited by Kitz, adding Allen’s numbers are incomplete and skewed.

He said it doesn’t include more than $100 million in vehicle damage claims from the June 2020 hail storm that ravaged northeast Calgary and more vehicular traffic and probably more eventual payouts in the second half of last year.

“It’s inappropriate to take a point in time and extrapolate it for an entire year … it’s not necessarily accurate,” said Aaron Sutherland, vice-president of the Insurance Bureau of Canada.

He said it’s illegal for insurance company profits to exceed seven per cent so “the notion we’re making any kind of windfall is fanciful.”

With inflation running at nearly six per cent and price increases of car parts and used vehicles far exceeding that, “we’re seeing a lot of pressure on pocketbooks but auto insurance isn’t one of them.”

He agreed many insurers’ financial picture has improved recently but that some companies are doing considerably better than others.

Alberta insurance companies pack in more than a billion in profits in 2020

According to an annual report, drivers in Alberta paid more premiums in 

2020 despite some statistics showing that many left their vehicles parked

 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Michael Franklin

CTVNewsCalgary.ca Senior Digital Producer
Monday, April 18, 2022

While many Albertans were out and about enjoying the Easter long weekend, the Kenney government released new insurance data that reported more than a billion dollars in profit for the industry.

The Alberta NDP says the announcement was made during the holiday period in an attempt to suppress the data that said profits for insurance companies were $1.3 billion in 2020, more than $150 million higher than 2019's statistics.

Kathleen Ganley, the NDP's energy critic, says the UCP government's removal of the cap on premiums is why there was such an increase, even when Albertans were stuck at home and not driving anywhere due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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"These are highly profitable companies," she said at a weekend news conference. "They are fleecing Alberta drivers with the help of the UCP. Many Albertans parked their cars and barely drove in 2020, but they still watched their bills get bigger, thanks to the UCP."

The new data, announced in the Superintendent of Insurance 2020 Annual report, suggests an increase of $385 million in premiums for Albertans in 2020, the NDP says.

In 2019, the UCP government removed the cap on increases to insurance premiums in Alberta, a measure that the previous NDP government had brought in to save drivers from higher fees.

The strategy limited rate hikes to 0.5 per cent each year, but the UCP government claimed it was doing more harm than good.

"Ultimately, we were seeing Albertans running out of affordable options and options that could meet their needs," said Finance Minister Travis Toews in December 2019.

"There were some Albertans who were struggling to find collision coverage or comprehensive coverage. They were being limited in terms of their rate plans. All of that was pointing to a model that simply wasn't sustainable in the long term."


Some insurance experts say it even forced some drivers to run the risk of operating their vehicle without coverage.

According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada, Alberta has the third-highest auto insurance rates in Canada, behind Ontario and B.C.

The Alberta government, in request for a reponse for comment on the annual report, said Bill 41 helped to stabilize auto insurance rates and provide added benefits to ratepayers.

It added that while profits were up, a number of providers have also applied for rate reductions, with seven of them being approved since the new measures:
Intact has decreased its rates by 2.04 per cent effective July 8, 2021;
Belair has decreased its rates by two per cent effective July 11, 2021;
Zurich has decreased its rates by 2.71 per cent effective Dec. 31, 2021;
Alberta Motor Association has decreased its rates by 7.13 per cent effective Jan. 1;
Peace Hills has decreased its rates by 2.63 per cent effective Jan. 1;
Co-operators has decreased its rates by 2.11 per cent effective Mar. 16; and
One other insurer has been approved for a decrease of 2.07 per cent effective April 1.

Officials say they also took into account the fact that Albertans were driving less because of the pandemic.

"When you visit the Auto Insurance Rate Board’s website that details the quarterly rate filings, you can see which have filed for reductions, and also the weighted average of approved rate changes," said Kassandra Kitz, press secretary for Minster Toews in an email to CTV News.

"This shows that across the board, auto insurance for private passenger vehicles is down 0.83 per cent over the past 12 months."

Bell: Kenney under fire slams 'kind of Soviet-style' auto insurance

Author of the article: Rick Bell
Publishing date: Apr 20, 2022 

Premier Jason Kenney. 

You have to admit Premier Jason Kenney has had some explaining to do.

And if there is one group you’d rather not have to defend, it’s insurance companies.

If there is one group not getting a lot of love from a lot of people, it’s insurance companies.

I know. I scored an award 17 years ago for holding the insurance crowd’s feet to the fire.

So the premier deflects.

He goes after provinces such as Saskatchewan and Manitoba, which have government-run auto insurance, schemes staying in place even when politicians of conservative stripe run the show.

“We Albertans believe in markets,” says Kenney.

“We don’t believe in socialism.”

He waits for the dreaded S-word to work its magic.

“Many other provinces have had the government take over the insurance market and that hasn’t worked out for consumers.”

It hasn’t?

Just a question.

Do you readers hailing from Saskatchewan and Manitoba and now living here think insurance is a better deal in Alberta?

Kenney lines up another S-word. Even scarier than the last S-word.

“It means you only have one choice, kind of Soviet-style, to go to.”

Are you listening to this, conservative-minded premiers of Saskatchewan and Manitoba peddling your kind of Soviet-style insurance?

“In many other provinces, you don’t get to shop around and find the right policy for you.”

An election is a year away …

“So that’s the alternative. I’m sure that’s where the NDP wants to take the province. I think that would be a disaster.”

Around the same time Kenney speaks these words, his budget boss Travis Toews is in the legislature talking about the NDP wanting “the nationalization of the automobile insurance industry.”

A quick catch-up on the story du jour.

The NDP opposition in the legislature has been on Kenney to cough up numbers on how much auto insurance companies have been pocketing in the recent past.

Where was the report from the paper shufflers eyeballing the bottom line of these insurance companies in 2020?

After all, the NDP had capped insurance premium hikes at five percentage points when they were in charge.

The cap was kaput in August of 2019, mere months after Kenney took over.

After the United Conservative victory, Kenney’s former campaign chief Nick Koolsbergen and his consulting outfit lobbied the premier’s office, the premier’s inner circle and the Kenney government’s finance department on behalf of the insurance industry.

One topic. Advocating against the insurance rate cap.

We’ll get to that later.

Anyway, the report on the insurance biz rolled out last Thursday. In the afternoon. Just before the start of the Easter long weekend.

It was the classic Take Out The Trash Day where you dump the stuff you don’t want folks to see.

Do they think we’re idiots? Don’t answer. It hurts too much.

The news stories on the report came out when most people weren’t paying attention.

Mission accomplished.

Auto insurers scooped up more in premiums and paid out less in claims in 2020 than in 2019

Those same insurers saw almost $400 million more in premiums in 2020.

For the 12 months before the end of this March, the weighted average of approved premium rate changes has gone down a little less than one percentage point.

The government says seven insurers are now reducing rates. In most cases, the amount is peanuts.

We’ll see how this all shakes out.



Back to Koolsbergen.

What does Kenney have to say about his old political comrade in arms lobbying the powers that be in the UCP government?

“I think every industry has government relations people that represent their interest,” says the premier.

“I don’t recall ever speaking to a lobbyist about this issue.”

Kenney insists he only spoke to the insurance big boys about coverage for oilpatch projects.

And, on a day when the premier was catching more grief about his leadership from those once on his side, he paints his own grim picture, a kind of insurance Armageddon two or three years ago.

Kenney speaks of more and more Albertans unable to get an insurance policy.

Very few insurance companies willing to play in the Alberta market.

Higher and higher court awards going out for personal injuries but the premiums not going up.

Insurers losing money.

“The market was getting totally turned upside down and if that had continued, we wouldn’t have had companies operate insurance here.”

And so, for Kenney, he and his crew kind of saved us from a kind of Soviet-style insurance.

One question remains, one you must answer.


Are you buying what the premier is selling?


rbell@postmedia.com