Thursday, April 21, 2022

 Nfld. & Labrador

Ottawa, N.L. disagree on who will foot hefty Bay du Nord royalty bill

Project's location leaves Canada on the hook for

 international payments

Patrick Butler · CBC News · 
Equinor's Bay du Nord project, seen here in a rendering, will be located in deep water about 500 kilometres east of St. John's. Given the distance from shore, Canada will have to pay international royalties under a United Nations convention. (Equinor)

Canada could soon be the first country on Earth to pay millions of dollars in international oil royalties as a consequence of the Bay du Nord megaproject in Newfoundland and Labrador's offshore — but just how that bill gets paid remains to be seen.

Article 82 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) allows countries like Canada — known as "broad margin" states that have larger-than-normal continental shelves — to extract offshore oil beyond their 200-nautical-mile limit.

But that extraction comes with a catch: broad margin states must pay royalties on that oil, money which then gets redistributed to developing countries.

Bay du Nord, spearheaded by Norwegian oil giant Equinor, is the first project to move the province's offshore oil industry past Canada's nautical limit and into the deep waters of the Flemish Pass, which sits 270 nautical miles — about 500 kilometres — east of St. John's.

Although Bay du Nord moved closer to commissioning this month – with a green light from the federal environment minister on April 6 – Ottawa and the Newfoundland and Labrador government still haven't agreed on just how the hefty royalty bill resulting from the United Nations convention will be paid.

Hundreds of millions of dollars at stake

Michael Gardner, a Halifax-based consultant who previously studied the issue for Natural Resources Canada, said Wednesday that UNCLOS royalties from the project could reach hundreds of millions of dollars.

"It all comes back down to, what are the production levels that you reach and what's the price of oil?" Gardner said.

So, where will that money come from?

The federal government negotiated UNCLOS in the 1970s, and Parliament ratified the document in 2003. Ottawa says the provincial government should help pay the royalties, but the province, which expects to receive $3.5 billion from Bay du Nord, rejects that suggestion outright — and has for years.

"The federal government is the signatory to UNCLOS, and would be responsible for making payments under Article 82," said Andrew Parsons, Newfoundland and Labrador's energy minister, in a statement last week.

"The province does not see a role for itself in this agreement."

The Newfoundland and Labrador government receives all of its offshore revenues through a deal with Ottawa known as the Atlantic Accord.

The Bay du Nord project will use a floating, production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) like the one pictured in this rendering to extract oil from below the ocean floor. (Equinor)

Couldn't Equinor pay the difference?

Ottawa could impose an additional levy on Equinor to help meet its international obligations.

But that approach carries risks, warned Gardner.

"At some point, if the operator is squeezed sufficiently, it no longer is an economic proposition," he said.

"It's that old Norwegian expression, you don't want to kill the cow you're trying to milk."

In a statement, Equinor spokesperson Alex Collins said, "Decision making regarding the implementation of UNCLOS royalties rests with the Government of Canada."

Collins declined to answer further questions.

"The implementation of this mechanism in Canada, including the input from the various parties, is still under development," said Miriam Galipeau, a spokesperson for Natural Resources Canada.

N.L. position called 'almost petty'

Armand de Mestrahl, a member of the Canadian team that negotiated UNCLOS in the 1970s, said he believes a compromise between the provincial and federal government is inevitable.

"Don't forget that without that international agreement, which was painstakingly negotiated over several years by the federal government, there would be no formula. There would be no rights. We had to fight so that the international community would respect Canada's right," de Mestrahl said in an interview in French with Radio-Canada.

"People in Newfoundland… say, 'They stole our rights away.' It's easy to say that, but it's almost petty because the federal government and the Canadian delegation put in incredible effort to ensure that the continental shelf would be recognized."

He added, however, that Ottawa would be remiss to overlook the provincial government's current considerable debt load and series of structural deficits.

"It's hard to see how the government won't concede anything," de Mestrahl said.

Andrew Parsons, seen here in a file photo, is Newfoundland and Labrador's minister of industry, energy and technology. In a statement he said the province is not on the hook for royalty payments. (Patrick Butler/CBC)

Still time to negotiate

Ottawa and the provincial government still have years to come to an agreement.

Production at Bay du Nord isn't expected to begin until at least 2028 and under UNCLOS, no international royalties are due during the first five years of production, in a measure meant to help operators recoup upfront capital costs.

Annual royalty payments of one per cent of gross production revenues begin after the sixth year of production, and increase by one percentage point per year until the 12th year. Thereafter, royalty payments remain at seven per cent, according to the Canada Energy Regulator's website.

Bay du Nord is expected to produce at least 300 million barrels of oil over 30 years.

Risk of prolonged litigation

In a 2020 article, Dalhousie University law professor Aldo Chircop warned "there could be the realistic prospect of prolonged federal-provincial litigation" over who pays the UNCLOS royalties.

But in an interview last week, he said he believes "we live in the era of co-operative federalism. So basically what that means is that the federal and provincial governments will work together on this to find a way."

"Newfoundland would recognize that the reason why there is this offshore development out there is because of the Law of the Sea convention, which creates an obligation for them. And therefore, they would have to work with the federal government to honour this international obligation."

In an email regarding UNCLOS from October 2021 and obtained through access to information legislation, an employee at Newfoundland and Labrador's energy ministry wrote, "discussions between the federal and provincial governments, and industry are ongoing as to how to meet this obligation."

Read more articles from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador

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A win for Macron will not be a complete defeat for France’s far right

If the centrist president wins, it will be by swinging the political pendulum further in Marine Le Pen’s direction
‘When Emmanuel Macron’s carbon tax unleashed the gilets jaunes movement, protesters were dealt with brutally.’ Demonstrators and police clash in Quimper, western France, November 2018. Photograph: Fred Tanneau/AFP/Getty Images


THE GUARDIAN
Wed 20 Apr 2022 

The promise of Emmanuel Macron’s presidency was straightforward: he would transcend the concepts of left and right, and consign populism to the margins of French politics. His rise to power in the spring of 2017 was an apparent lifeboat for liberals traumatised by Brexit and Donald Trump: here was the “centrist” prince over the water, a beacon of good governance and confirmation that the grownups were back in the room.


It hasn’t worked out that way. Champions of so-called centrism believed Macron would be a desperately needed antidote to political polarisation. But Macronism has acted as an accelerant, not a coolant, leaving the country more troubled, divided and disillusioned than when this former investment banker secured office. Macron’s likely re-election, thanks to tactical voting, should not obscure a damning fact: the far right will come closer to gaining power in a western European nation than at any time since 1945.

As I arrived in Paris a couple of hours before voting concluded in the first round, a taxi driver voiced what has become a common refrain: “Macron is for the rich”. Within months of Macron – widely known as the “president of the rich” – taking the post, more than eight in 10 French citizens believed his tax policies favoured the wealthy. His drive to hike the pension age is a class issue, too: after all, the richest French men have a life expectancy 13 years higher than their poorest counterparts, and deprived citizens have fewer healthy years to look forward to. His introduction of a “carbon tax” was a case study in how not to tackle the climate emergency: by hitting less well-off people most, he violated the basic principle of what is called a just transition – that the cost of preserving civilisation from calamity must not be shouldered by the poor. Public consent for necessary measures will be destroyed by such an approach.

As the first-round post-election poll revealed that the leftwing candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon had narrowly failed to reach the second stage of the contest, the expressions of grief and rage on the faces of his supporters were strikingly similar to those who had witnessed the routs of Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn: these were younger citizens aggrieved at their hopes being snatched away by older generations.

On his election, Macron became the youngest president in French history, but his base of support comes from older voters – above all, the over-70s – and he is a distant third among under-35s. It is Mélenchon who is most popular among the young, many of whom say they may abstain in the second round. “I am scared if I vote, and I am scared if I don’t vote,” one young woman told me, arguing that by waging war on the public sector “he [Macron] is creating a monster” and laying the foundations for a far-right victory next time. I hear this narrative again and again.

It is easy to berate these youngsters: to tell them to park their grievances since, however profound their fury with Macron, the victory of the far right’s Marine Le Pen would be infinitely worse. Yet attacking the disillusioned is rarely convincing. When I put to these voters the racist menace posed by the far right, they note that Macron’s interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, denounced Le Pen for being “too soft on immigration”.

Macron has praised the Nazi collaborator Marshal Pétain as a “great soldier”, and been condemned by Human Rights Watch for tearing down refugees’ tents. In his 2017 campaign, Macron pledged to curtail police excesses, yet, when his carbon tax unleashed the gilets jaunes movement, protesters were dealt with brutally. “I have never been so scared of protesting as I have been under Emmanuel Macron,” the young leftwing intellectual Édouard Louis tells me. Rather than acting as a firewall against rightwing extremism, Macronian “centrism” absorbs its racism and authoritarianism, further legitimising the far right in the process.

Undoubtedly, a minority of Mélenchon supporters will defect to Le Pen’s camp: these are voters who don’t think in terms of “left” and “right”, but who resent a system they understandably believe is rigged against them, and who were most convinced by the radical left’s answers in the first round. “Macron only thinks of the rich. He’s a guy who’s all about the money,” one older Mélenchon supporter in the northern city of Douai tells me.

That doesn’t mean the left has nothing to answer for: the nearby town of Hénin-Beaumont is a former stronghold of socialists and communists, but is now firmly Le Pen country and the place she cast her own vote. Many working-class voters came to believe the socialists had nothing but contempt for them, and under François Hollande’s presidency – which promised to confront austerity and then did no such thing – the party collapsed. Indeed, in this election, the centre-left’s standard-bearer, Anne Hidalgo, chalked up a paltry 1.74%, finishing seventh in Paris – the city in which she is mayor. While Mélenchon did unexpectedly well, the radical left – as in other European countries, except where it governs as a junior partner, in Spain and Nordic countries – is yet to emerge victorious from the rubble.

If Macron wins, albeit with a tighter margin than in 2017, expect a mixture of relief and triumphalism from centrists. This failure to learn lessons is a profound error. Witness, too, the fate of Joe Biden in the US: again, the promise here was that with the “grownups” back in charge, the years of turbulence would end and politics would become boring again. No such thing happened: instead, Biden’s popularity has collapsed – not least among the young, who cannot be described as natural Donald Trump supporters – and a revival of the president’s predecessor is entirely plausible, with potentially terminal consequences for US democracy.

This is an age of grievance and fury driven by stagnating living conditions and justifiable pessimism, however much predominantly affluent centrists dismiss the consequences as mass irrationality. One Macron supporter told me far-right success was down to conspiracy theories and the fact that “a lot of French people forget they are extremely lucky”. The centrists believed that by presenting an image of moderation and statesmanship they could make all that go away. They were wrong.

Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist
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Google Search now shows detailed air quality information in three countries 

Abner Li
- Apr. 20th 2022 
@technacity



Last year, Google started prominently showing air quality (AQI) data to Nest Hub and other Smart Display users. You can now also search for air quality on Google to get detailed information.

Searching “air quality” in the United States shows an identically named card. You can specify a city in the query to find data for a location other than your current one.

Update: Besides the US and India, this data is also available for Victoria (EPA Victoria) in Australia. Meanwhile, this city-level data can also be found by searching “air pollution near me.”

In the United States, this data is “From airnow.gov and PurpleAir,” and you’re able to “Choose area” with key locations offered. There’s a map, which follows light or dark mode settings, with color-coded pins of available stations in the area.

Below the map is an explanation of the US Air Quality Index (AQI) and station list. Each entry can be expanded for a text description of what healthy conditions are and to see when it was last updated, as well as the specific provider.



If there are not enough stations, you can enable “include air sensors,” but Google notes how “sensor data may have unknown performance and inaccuracies.” You cannot zoom in on the map so you have to rely on dot colors.

This feature first rolled out in India last November and is dependent on local partners. The US rollout looks to have been more recent. It works on both mobile and desktop web, as well as the Google apps on Android and iOS.

This feature is quite useful and comes after Google Weather in 2018 stopped displaying air quality data. The next step would be to merge AQI with the Weather app on Android as well as its widgets.
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Some Conservatives are condemning a 'truck tax' that doesn't exist

Government says it's not moving on controversial proposal from expert climate panel


Aaron Wherry · CBC News · 
Jason Kenney made this blue pickup truck a symbol of his campaign during Alberta's provincial election in 2019. Now, he and other prominent Conservatives are attacking a federal truck tax policy that does not exist. (Dave Chidley/Canadian Press)

Conservatives have never had a hard time finding actual things to condemn about Justin Trudeau and his government. So it's passing strange to see them put so much energy into condemning a policy the Liberals have neither implemented nor proposed.

What the Conservatives describe as a "truck tax" does not exist. No Liberal minister is known to have expressed an interest in implementing such a policy.

The source for the claim appears to be one of more than three dozen recommendations included in a recent report by the Net-Zero Advisory Body, an independent panel of experts created by the Liberal government's Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act.

The NZAB, whose members include environmental, business and public sector leaders, came into existence a year ago. It released a 28-page report in March that included its advice for the Liberal government's new emissions reductions plan.

One of those recommendations — intended to accelerate the adoption of zero-emission vehicles — calls on the federal government to "broaden Canada's existing Green Levy (Excise Tax) for Fuel Inefficient Vehicles to include additional [internal combustion engine] vehicle types, such as pickup trucks."

That suggestion didn't generate much interest when the NZAB report was released on March 21. But when Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault released his government's new climate plan on March 29, the NZAB's advice was included as an annex — alongside submissions from each of the provinces and territories, the Assembly of First Nations, the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and the Métis National Council.

That appears to have inspired the British Columbia director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation — an interest group that opposes tax increases and advocates for lower government spending — to write a column for the Toronto Sun that claimed the Liberals were "planning to hit Canadians with a big new tax on their trucks and sport utility vehicles."

From expert advice to fundraising pitch

The next day, the Conservative Party sent out a fundraising appeal to its members based on that column. Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe all tweeted their condemnation.

On Monday, the party repeated its call for donations: "Donate today to help strengthen our movement and defeat Trudeau's Truck Tax!"

Guilbeault has described the Conservative claims as "disinformation" and "divisive." 

"A recommendation by an independent body in a report is not government policy," he tweeted.

It would have been perfectly fair to ask Guilbeault whether he had any interest in pursuing the NZAB's recommendation. When that question was put to his office on Tuesday, the response did not suggest that a new "truck tax" is likely to be imposed any time soon.

"The government has no plans at all to act on that recommendation," Guilbeault said in a media statement.

Unless someone produces new evidence to the contrary, that seems fairly categorical.

(Ironically, the existing excise tax that the NZAB recommends expanding — a levy on inefficient vehicles — was implemented by Stephen Harper's Conservative government in 2007. Poilievre was a parliamentary secretary for that government at the time. Kenney was a secretary of state.)

Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre was part of the government of Stephen Harper when it implemented the excise tax in 2007. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

Beyond the basic facts of the situation, there are a few other potential takeaways from the tale of the theoretical truck tax.

It's tempting to conclude that all politicians play games with the truth. But voters should avoid being too cynical.

What's the value of expertise?

It's certainly true that most politicians — maybe all of them — present facts in ways meant to advance their arguments. Most people probably do that from time to time. But to condemn a policy that does not exist and has not been promised is something else entirely.

Given the urgency of the situation and the range of real policy choices at hand, such loud condemnation might also seem like an incredible waste of energy.

Governments of all stripes strike expert panels to advise them on public policy. Seeking out non-partisan advice from policy experts is something most voters probably want their elected leaders to do. And the Liberals came to office in 2015 promising that they would listen to science and evidence.

A cynic might be inclined to think governments sometimes try to launder their decision-making through a non-partisan process — and governments might not be inclined to stack panels with people they completely disagree with.

But if the baseline assumption becomes that the government is responsible for everything an expert panel says, governments probably will try to make sure they only get the advice they want.

Once that happens, there's really no point to expert panels any longer.

Does the Net-Zero Advisory Body have a future?

In that respect, the "truck tax" furor raises questions about the future of the Net-Zero Advisory Body, which is broadly similar to an independent advisory body the United Kingdom created in 2008. (The Liberal government has also provided funding to create the Canadian Climate Institute.)

Would a future Conservative government maintain the NZAB? Would the NZAB be allowed to publish advice that the government disagreed with? Or would a future Conservative environment minister merely ensure that no NZAB report is ever attached as an annex to a report from his or her office?

A government could decide it neither wants nor needs to solicit expert advice. But if a future Conservative government were to one day ask someone to advise it (the last Conservative platform included a promise to appoint an expert panel to review the tax system), there should be some broad agreement about the ground rules.

These questions aren't entirely theoretical.

In 1988, Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservative government created the National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy, an independent body to advise on sustainable development. In 2013, the Harper government cancelled its funding.

Regardless of whether Canada ever gets an actual "truck tax" to get mad about, there will still be a need to combat climate change. Maybe it's time to debate the role experts can play in meeting that challenge.

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Donald Trump appears to storm out of Piers Morgan TV interview in advert


Piers Morgan Uncensored 30-second trailer apparently shows former president irritated by US 2020 election questions


Tom Ambrose
THE GUARDIAN
Wed 20 Apr 2022

Former US president Donald Trump appeared to storm out of an interview with Piers Morgan after he was questioned about losing the 2020 election.

A dramatic 30-second advert for Morgan’s new show – Piers Morgan Uncensored, to feature on Rupert Murdoch’s TalkTV – also showed the former president calling the presenter “dishonest” and “a fool”.

During the interview, Trump, 75, appears to become agitated when Morgan tells him that the 2020 election was “free and fair” and that “you lost”.

The former president responds: “Only a fool would think that”. Morgan then asks Trump if he thinks he is a fool, he replies: “I do now, yeah.”

The 45th president appeared defensive throughout the preview, at one point telling Morgan: “I think I’m a very honest man, much more honest than you, actually.”

He also told the presenter “I don’t think you’re real” when Morgan told him he had failed to produce “hard evidence” to support unfounded and disproved claims of widespread electoral fraud in 2020.

Trump is thought to be preparing his own third run for the presidency after losing out to Joe Biden two years ago.

The advert, which promises “the most explosive interview of the year”, ends with Trump appearing to walk out on Morgan, telling the camera crew to “turn the camera off”.

The 75-minute show will be screened on Monday at 8pm, the launch day of Murdoch’s new television enterprise.

Although his News UK says TalkTV will not be a traditional rolling news channel and will also feature entertainment, documentaries and sports programming, the bedrock of its output is likely to come from current affairs discussions.

Morgan will reportedly be paid £50m over three years to host the daily talkshow, which will be streamed on Fox Nation in the US and also air on Sky News Australia.

Speaking after hiring Morgan in September, Murdoch said: “Piers is the broadcaster every channel wants but is too afraid to hire. Piers is a brilliant presenter, a talented journalist and says what people are thinking and feeling.”

It comes as Morgan announced he will also be returning to ITV for the first time in more than a year, as a guest on the Lorraine show on Thursday.

Last year he left ITV breakfast show Good Morning Britain after an on-air clash with weather presenter Alex Beresford over the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s interview with Oprah Winfrey.
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Quebec duck farm says it has to kill 150,000 birds, lay off 300 staff due to avian flu


By Morgan Lowrie The Canadian Press
Posted April 20, 2022 

Avian flu has made a comeback of sorts. Detected in Southern Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and Saskatchewan, it has prompted concern from experts. Wildlife pathologist Dr. Brian Stevens speaks about the latest development regarding Avian flu in Canada. – Apr 12, 2022


A Quebec duck-farming operation says three of its facilities have been devastated by avian flu, forcing it to slaughter 150,000 birds and lay off nearly 300 employees.

It will likely take six to 12 months and possibly several million dollars to fully restore the company’s operations, Angela Anderson of Brome Lake Ducks said in an interview Wednesday.

Brome Lake Ducks announced its first case of avian flu on April 13. Anderson said the virus was detected after employees at one of its sites noticed some of the birds getting sick and contacted a veterinarian, who recommended testing.

READ MORE: Avian flu cases identified among flock at handful of Quebec farms

While only three of the company’s 13 sites were affected by the H5N1 virus, one of them contained all the company’s breeding stock, including 400,000 Pekin duck eggs that were ordered destroyed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Once birds that are in the pipeline at unaffected facilities are processed, the company will have to lay off staff because there will be no more ducks coming in, she said.

“Yesterday, I spent all of my day going to 11 different sites to inform almost 300 employees that they had no more jobs in four to five weeks,” Anderson said, adding that the number doesn’t include numerous tradespeople and delivery truck drivers who serve the operation.

“The situation is extremely emotional and extremely difficult.”

Veterinarian Jean-Pierre Vaillancourt of Universite de Montreal says the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu represents the highest-risk strain that Quebec farmers have ever faced.

READ MORE: Canada’s food industry making adjustments amid large bird flu outbreak

“We’ve been monitoring high-path (avian influenza) since 1959, and we’ve never had it in Quebec, so this is a first right now,” Vaillancourt said in an interview Wednesday.

Avian influenza, he added, has been present in wild birds for years but has not posed a significant risk because the level of contamination in the environment has always been low.

This strain, however, is stronger and more contagious, which means more virus is circulating, Vaillancourt said. The strain also has a longer incubation period than previous strains, leading to birds being potentially contagious for days before anyone realizes they are sick, he said.

He said the virus can enter a facility through contact with wild birds, adding that it can also be brought in on straw and litter, or even on the shoes of people who have walked near a pond where birds gather. While he said farmers shouldn’t panic, they need to be careful and implement biosecurity protocols.

WATCH: Bird flu outbreak: Can humans contract the virus? Expert weighs in

Vaillancourt said that while it doesn’t pose much of a risk to humans, it’s so contagious that all animals on an infected farm need to be destroyed on-site to stop it from spreading. Left unchecked, the virus can kill half or more of the animals in a flock, he said.

Quebec’s first bird flu cases were detected in wild geese earlier this month, and several other provinces have already reported outbreaks in wild and domestic populations. As of Wednesday morning, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency had confirmed the presence of flu in four sites in Quebec, all in the Estrie region east of Montreal.

Anderson said it will not be easy restarting operations at Brome Lake Ducks, which is one of the biggest duck producers in Canada. She said insurance doesn’t cover animal mortality, adding that while there is some compensation from Canada’s food inspection agency, it doesn’t come close to covering the losses.

New animals will also have to be sourced from Europe, which is hit by its own avian flu problems.

Anderson said she’s hoping different levels of government will compensate the company for its losses and help it get back on its feet. While the company has faced other challenges, including a major fire in 2016, she said this is the biggest yet.

“Problems we can deal with, but this one is extremely difficult and the hill that we have to climb is very steep.”

Vaillancourt said climate change is likely playing a part in the evolution of deadlier viruses, because changing temperatures affect bird migrations, leading some wild birds to visit areas they had not visited before. Breeders, he said, need to be prepared for more viruses in the years to come.

“There’s a new reality, and this is not a one-year thing,” he said.

Avian flu confirmed in wild bird samples from southern Manitoba


The Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative confirmed the cases after samples from several snow geese were collected near Waskada and a single sample from a bald eagle was collected in the Dauphin area. (File Image: Robert Burton)

Katherine Dow
CTV News Winnipeg 
Editorial Producer
Published April 20, 2022

WINNIPEG -

The province has confirmed the presence of avian influenza was found in two different wild bird samples in Manitoba.

The province said in a news release Wednesday the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative confirmed the cases after samples from several snow geese were collected near Waskada and a single sample from a bald eagle was collected in the Dauphin area.

The province said a sample from each location tested positive for the highly pathogenic avian influenza subtype H5N1.

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It noted no cases of avian influenza were detected in poultry flocks in Manitoba.

Cases of HPAI and H5N1 were previously confirmed in other provinces and across the United States, including in North Dakota and Minnesota along the route for spring migratory birds returning to Manitoba.

PROVINCE RECOMMENDS EXTRA PRECAUTIONS

The province said the risk of avian flu to human health is low, and there are no known cases of transmission of this strain from birds to humans in North America.

Still, the province said people should not touch dead birds or other wildlife with their bare hands. Protective eyewear and masks are recommended as an additional precaution. The province advises thorough hand washing before and after with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

If a dead bird has to be handled, the province said you should wear gloves and the dead bird should be placed in a plastic bag.

The province also said this strain does not pose a food safety risk. Manitoba poultry and eggs are safe to eat when properly handled and cooked, the province said.

Officials also ask Manitobans to contact them if they observe clusters of six or more dead wild waterfowl like ducks or geese or other water birds, any number of dead raptors or avian scavengers like ravens or crows, or large groups of dead birds. Anyone who sees this can call the province’s tip line at 1-800-782-0076.

SMALL FLOCKS AT HIGH RISK

Additionally, Manitoba Agriculture said small flocks are considered at high risk for HPAI infection as they often have access to outdoor pens and free-range. Small flock owners are encouraged to confine their birds indoors if possible during wild bird migration.

Meanwhile, Manitoba’s poultry farmers are urged to follow strict biosecurity protocols like taking precautions with farm visitors and service companies.


B.C. poultry farmers uniquely equipped to respond to avian flu

Protecting flocks from flu

The Canadian Press -  | Story: 366447

Poultry farmers in British Columbia are under pressure to protect their flocks as a highly contagious strain of avian flu sweeps over North America.

Ray Nickel, spokesman for the B.C. Poultry Association Emergency Operations Centre, says they’ll use the lessons learned to prevent infections after two severe outbreaks since 2004 that forced them to cull millions of birds.

The H5N1 strain of avian flu is highly pathogenic and can cause serious disease and death in birds, says the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Nickel, a commercial poultry farmer in Abbotsford and member of the BC Chicken Marketing Board, said farmers are worried aftera case of avian flu was confirmed on a North Okanagan farm last week.

"It's so virulent, and there's a degree of concern that we have for our animals because the impact is so severe," he said. "I feel for my peers in the other provinces that are experiencing it in a more significant way than we are at this point, but it does elicit an amount of fear in us that just isn't very comfortable."

Outbreaks of the same strain have also been detected in Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said last week this has been an unprecedented year globally for avian flu.It said it believes migratory birds are responsible for the outbreaks, and expects there will be more cases as flocks continue to fly north for the summer.

Previous outbreaks in B.C. and elsewhere in Canada led to the destruction of millions of birds. The most serious was a 2004 outbreak in the Fraser Valley, where the H7N3 strainspread to 42 commercial farms and 11 backyard coops, prompting federal officials to order a cull of about 17 million birds.

Nickel said B.C. operations are uniquely equipped to respond to potential outbreaks because of their past experiences.

“We know what it looks like. The good part is knowing what to expect, but on the other hand, nobody wants to go through this."

The B.C. Egg Marketing Board said there are 578 poultry farms in the province and about 80 per cent of those are located in the Fraser Valley, which sits in the path of Pacific Flyway, a main bird migration route.

Because B.C.'s industry is concentrated in the Fraser Valley, Nickel said farmers need to take on more responsibility to prevent the spread of the flu.

Avian flu is spread through contact with an infected bird or its feces or nasal secretions. Farm birds that go outside are most at risk because they can come in direct contact with infected wild birds or their feces. Humans can also inadvertently carry the infection into a barn on their shoes or clothing.

Nickel said biosecurity and emergency management measures introduced after the 2004 outbreak helped to control the spread of the virus in 2009 and 2014. Each outbreak has allowed the province and its farmers to improve and refine its response, he said.

The association has an emergency response team that operates using an incident command structure, similar to fire and police services, allowing the team to respond quickly when flu is found, he said. Protocols include strict procedures around locked gates, changing clothing and footwear, and monitoring entrances and exits.

"It’s a very regimented procedure that takes place," he said. "B.C. is the only province that has a mandatory biosecurity program provincially. Everyone across the country has biosecurity measures that they put in place, but because of 2004, B.C. developed a mandatory provincial one that is enforced by the marketing board.”

When Agriculture Minister Lana Popham announced the discovery of avian flu in the North Okanagan farm last week, she said the Canadian Food Inspection Agency was leading the response to the outbreak, which includes testing, mapping, surveillance and disposal of animals.

“All poultry producers, including backyard poultry owners, are advised to increase their biosecurity practices and to be vigilant and monitor for signs of avian influenza in their flocks," she said.

B.C.'s deputy chief veterinarian also issued an order requiring all commercial poultry flocks in the province with more than 100 birds to be moved indoors until the spring migration ends in May, the Agriculture Ministry said.

The order said the H5N1 strain of avian influenza was detected in wild birds around Metro Vancouver earlier this year and because waterfowl are considered the main source of the virus, steps must be taken to limit their exposure to commercial poultry.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada said the food industry is making adjustments to maintain supplies of poultry and eggs in the face of a large outbreak.

The CFIA said no human cases have been detected in Canada and the illness is not considered a significant health concern for healthy people who are not in regular contact with infected birds.

Hundreds of geese slaughtered as bird flu grips France's Dordogne

Issued on: 20/04/2022 - 

The Chamber of Agriculture has suggested that producers located within 20 kilometres of a bird flu outbreak quickly transport their healthy animals for
force-feeding and slaughter. 

REUTERS - Regis Duvignau

A bird flu outbreak in France’s Dordogne region has led authorities to consider new zoning rules and the premature slaughter of healthy animals to create stocks for the summer.

Over the past two weeks 37 outbreaks have been identified in the south-western department, Chamber of Agriculture figures show.

France Bleu Périgord said the first case was detected on 2 April in a goose farm in Saint-Geniès, in the Périgord Noir area of Dordogne.

Other cases were then found in the Périgord Vert at an experimental goose farm managed by the Chamber of Agriculture and the NGO Asseldor in the town of Coulaures.

“The flagship farm of the goose industry" had been “tragically” hit by bird flu in the Dordogne said secretary general of the Chamber of Agriculture, Pierre-Henri Chanquoi

Double whammy

Some 700 geese were slaughtered in Coulaures in what chamber vice president Yannick Frances described as a “double punishment" given the farm, created in 1992, also housed a flock of breeders.

“They allowed us to have goslings for the whole sector, and the Dordogne sector represents almost the entire national production,” Frances said.

France orders poultry lockdown as bird flu spreads across Europe

There are still "two flocks of breeding geese" in the Dordogne with stocks of eggs and chicks, Frances said, adding the challenge now was to “contain the epidemic to preserve them as much as possible”.

The Chamber of Agriculture has suggested that producers located within 20 kilometres of an outbreak quickly transport their healthy animals for force-feeding and slaughter.

It also recommends setting up localised "sanitary vacuums" around the outbreaks to allow production to resume.

The last time bird flu was detected in the Dordogne was in the winter of 2015-2016.

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Mining company signs deal with Alberta to turn coal proposal into renewable energy project

By Staff The Canadian Press
April 20, 2022 

WATCH (March 4): A year after it was established, Alberta's coal policy committee has presented its long-awaited recommendations to the province. Effective immediately, all new coal-related exploration and development activities in the eastern slopes won't be allowed. Jill Croteau has more. – Mar 4, 2022


Editor’s note: A previous version of this story erroneously said the company had signed an agreement with Alberta Innovates. In fact, the agreement is with Invest Alberta.

One of the companies that had planned to build an open-pit coal mine in the Rocky Mountains has signed an agreement with an Alberta government agency to work toward converting the project to renewable energy.

Montem Resources has announced a memorandum of understanding with Invest Alberta, part of the provincial economic development ministry.

Although few details were immediately available, the parties say the deal means they will work together to build a green hydrogen complex in the southwest corner of the province.

READ MORE: Albertans want overall policy on Rocky Mountain development: coal committee

Montem says the project, which would use wind power instead of natural gas, would create 200 construction jobs and 30 full-time positions.

The company has also applied to regulators for a coal mine on the same site.

1:55 Can Alberta’s electricity grid reach net zero by 2035? – Mar 30, 2022


Montem CEO Peter Doyle has said the Australian-owned company will decide by the end of June which of the two projects it will pursue.

The company began examining the renewables project after the growth of public opposition to open-pit mines in the Rockies.

READ MORE: Coal mining in the Rockies would overall negatively impact Alberta: U of C analysis

It also cites the uncertain length of the regulatory process for coal mines as a reason to consider hydrogen.
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Toronto & GTA
Union Station electrical workers go on strike

Workers are mainly responsible for signals and communication maintenance as well as train control

Author of the article:
Liz Braun
Publishing date: Apr 20, 2022 •
An entrance to Union Station in Toronto, July 28, 2021. 
PHOTO BY ERNEST DOROSZUK /Toronto Sun / Files

Electrical workers at Toronto’s Union Station went on strike at midnight Wednesday after failing to reach an agreement with the Toronto Terminals Railway (TTR).

TTR claims increased wage demands from the union are central to the action.

Ninety-five people with the the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers are on strike, workers who are responsible for the signals and train control at the Union Station rail corridor.

Now commuters worry about potential service disruptions at Canada’s busiest transit hub.

But the strike has not yet affected service. Travellers reported GO Trains and the airport UP Express trains were all on time during the morning commute Wednesday.

Metrolinx operates hundreds of trains in and out of Union Station every day, and has a contingency plan in place for just this sort of labour disruption.

However, spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins has said that if the labour dispute drags on, there could be travel complications at the Union Station hub.

Travellers are advised to sign up with Metrolinx for frequent online service alerts in case of train delays or cancellations.

Always check train schedules for GO transit and UP Express prior to setting out.

TTC buses and subways will not be affected by this strike.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers released a statement Wednesday stating its commitment to working with the company toward a fair and reasonable settlement.

Workers have been without a contract since December 2019.

The pandemic delayed negotiations with the union, but talks resumed in the summer of 2021.

A tentative agreement reached in September 2021 was not ratified by union members.
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Citizens officially win fight to ban oil and gas development in Quebec
Pascal Bergeron holds his young son in his arms at Camp de la Rivière, a citizen occupation on a forest road near Gaspé, Que., that leads to the site of the oil company Junex. It was created in August 2017 to demand that drilling work be stopped. 
Photo by Isabelle Hayeur

Natasha Bulowski
Canada's National Observer
Published April 15, 2022

Quebec became the first jurisdiction in the world Tuesday to explicitly ban oil and gas development in its territory after decades of campaigning by environmental organizations and citizen groups.

"Citizens rallied, citizens regrouped and actually won this fight because it was in their backyards … it would have had major impacts on their way of living on the territory," Émile Boisseau-Bouvier, Équiterre’s climate policy analyst, told Canada’s National Observer.

The newly adopted law will end petroleum exploration and production as well as the public financing of those activities in Quebec. It passed only one week after the federal government approved a new oil project off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador despite a recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that found there is no place for new fossil fuel infrastructure in a climate-safe future.

For a jurisdiction within Canada — which is among the top five oil producers worldwide — to forgo the industry as part of its current and future economy immediately after the federal government indicated it will continue to pursue fossil fuel expansion "sends a really powerful signal," said Caroline Brouillette, national policy manager for Climate Action Network Canada.

Last year, Quebec joined the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance, a group of countries, provinces and states committed to ending new fossil fuel exploration. Membership also means jurisdictions must take action to phase out oil and gas by taking steps like ending fossil fuel subsidies. It is the first member of the alliance to pass legislation ending oil and gas exploration and production.

For two decades, citizens have mobilized against different oil and gas projects in Quebec, including shale gas in the St. Lawrence Valley and oil projects in Gaspésie. Without citizens' long-standing resistance to these projects and more, it would not have been possible to adopt this bill, said Boisseau-Bouvier.

Pascal Bergeron, a citizen organizer and spokesperson for Environnement Vert Plus, first became involved in opposing oil and gas development in Quebec in 2016 when he participated in a 42-day walk around the Gaspé Peninsula to inform people about the risks of oil and gas exploration and development in the area. From there, he helped organize protests and marches, pressured the government on abandoned oil and gas wells and industry subsidies, and organized support camps and civil disobedience training for occupation protests.

A group of people sit around the fire at a civil disobedience training camp in May 2018. Photo by Isabelle HayeurAlthough Quebec’s economy is not held captive by the oil and gas industry like Alberta’s, for example, it still wasn’t easy to secure this victory, Bergeron said.

"There needed to be political pressure from an activist movement that made the government fear that they would lose something if they approved the next drilling," he said. "We wanted to avoid this crash that always happens when an extractive industry ends … that's very important for people to understand that always going forward with this oil and gas exploitation, they're gonna hit the wall.

"At some point, it's going to be impossible to go further, so (we) might as well look that in the eye and act now."

Longtime citizen activist Pascal Bergeron with his eldest son. Photo by Gilles GagnéBloc Québécois’ environment critic Monique Pauzé told Canada’s National Observer she applauds the province’s climate leadership.

"The federal government should follow this path, which is central to reducing national GHG emissions," Pauzé’s statement reads. "Recent choices made by the federal government are definitely not setting the pace for progress.

"The Bloc understands the challenges ahead for a province whose economy is captive of oil and gas infrastructure. However, continuing to put forward expansion projects and subsidizing this industry is the same as turning a blind eye to the perils to come."

Carole Dupuis, another longtime citizen activist and spokesperson for Mouvement écocitoyen UNEplanète, told Canada’s National Observer receiving news the bill passed was "an amazing moment."

To her, the adoption the bill shows "we can change things if we work hard enough."

Dupuis’ activism began in 2014 when she moved to the countryside near the St. Lawrence River, looking forward to retiring in a tiny beautiful village called Saint-Antoine-de-Tilly. But upon arriving, Dupuis realized a pipeline was going to be built just across the river and people were largely unaware, so she and her sister created a citizens group in the village to highlight the issue. She has since worked at the provincial level and with multiple organizations.

She says people before her started this work as early as 2008, and the social movement has continued to grow with each citizen’s contribution.

"(Government and companies) could do nothing without us being in their way all the time," said Dupuis.

She said a big part of the fight was showing governments at both the provincial and municipal levels that people did not want drilling to occur so “they could not pretend that there was social licence for (projects)."

The new legislation is a major win with one drawback, environmentalists say.

The province is providing permit-holding oil and gas companies with a total of $100 million, one-third of which will largely cover the cost of closing and restoring wells and the rest of which aims to cover expenses the companies have incurred since 2015.

An abandoned oil well bubbles near Gaspé’s downtown. Photo by Isabelle HayeurAlthough this violates the polluter pays principle, the companies requested $500 million to cover these costs. Despite this downfall of the legislation, Boisseau-Bouvier says it is still a major win.

"This is a step in the right direction, but we cannot stop there,"he said. "Quebec is still far from meeting its (greenhouse gas) reduction targets. They will have to do way more than just not produce oil and gas — we'll have to actually reduce our (greenhouse gas) emissions … by reducing our oil and gas consumption."

There is rhetoric that Quebec’s decision to ban oil and gas exploration and production is insignificant because the province isn’t an oil and gas powerhouse like Alberta or Newfoundland and Labrador, Brouillette said.

But while provincial and territorial economies are very different, it isn’t fair to say the opportunity cost of Quebec’s decision is zero, she added.

"It makes sense for first-movers to be jurisdictions where the opportunity cost of such a decision is the lowest,” said Brouillette. “Some people are under the impression Quebec has absolutely no oil and gas resources it is renouncing … that's not the case at all."

Junex's Galt No. 4 oil drilling site, 20 kilometres west of Gaspé, Que. Photo by Isabelle HayeurIn early February, Le Devoir reported the president of the Quebec Energy Association, Éric Tetrault, said shale gas from the St. Lawrence Valley could represent "lost profits" of $3 billion to $5 billion. Then, on April 12, Tetrault told Le Devoir the oil reserves in the Quebec subsoil were in a financial range of $45 billion to $200 billion.

"In Quebec, the reason there's not a lot of fossil extraction activity is because of political decisions that were made because of citizen mobilization," said Brouillette.

Brouillette and Boisseau-Bouvier agree Quebec’s move is important to push other jurisdictions in Canada and around the world to act quickly to shift away from fossil fuels.

"We decided, collectively, that we don't want to tap into our oil and gas potential, we want to actually move forward and develop greater economies in a way that is more linked to what science tells us and what we should do to limit the worst impacts of climate change in our life," said Boisseau-Bouvier.

- This report by Canada's National Observer / The Local Journalism Initiative was first published on April 15, 2022

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Elizabeth May calls for seizure of North Saanich property used by Royals
OWNED BY RUSSIAN OLIGARCH

Posted: Apr. 20, 2022
CHEK

North Saanich Gulf Islands Green Party MP Elizabeth May is calling for the seizure of an $18-million North Saanich property that was briefly the home to Prince Harry, his wife Megan, and baby Archie in 2020.

Over two years later, there’s no evidence anyone is living here, although a gardener is working on the landscape.

According to an investigation by the CBC, Russian oligarch Yuri Milner bought the property back in 2013 and May says she wants to see action taken.

“Since Vladimir Putin sought fit to put me on a list of people banned in Russia, I’d like to make sure there are no Russian oligarchs in my riding. We know Mr. Milner is Russian, Russian born and now a billionaire. Got his early investments that got him on the track to being a billionaire from Kremlin-friendly sources in Russia.”

May says she hopes Ottawa will act, and if necessary, seize the property.

“Let’s look into his property. If he meets the standards for the kind of Russian billionaire who meets the standard of an oligarch, we should seize the assets, absolutely.”

With a net worth estimated at $7 billion, the Kremlin backed Milner’s early business ventures.

He’s exactly the type of owner that needs to be exposed, according to Sasha Caldera, Campaign Manager for Beneficial Ownership Transparency at Publish What You Pay Canada — an advocacy group that is calling for a public registry of owners like Milner.

“The more transparency we have in this regard, the better off we’re going to be as a society and a community because we will have an understanding of who ultimately has control of assets in their neighbourhood.”

As for May, she wants to ensure that anyone potentially associated with the war in Ukraine should have to pay the consequences, and she feels they should not be able own a luxury property in North Saanich fit for royalty like Prince Harry and his family.

Hidden ownership may let oligarchs escape sanctions: BC MP


As Russia's unrelenting war on Ukraine continues, a B.C. Member of Parliament questions whether real estate ownership rules allow Canada to fully sanction Russian oligarchs, and she is pointing to a sprawling property in her riding as an example. (CTV)

Bhinder Sajan
Multi-media journalist, CTV News Vancouver
Updated April 20, 2022


As Russia's unrelenting war on Ukraine continues, a B.C. Member of Parliament questions whether real estate ownership rules allow Canada to fully sanction Russian oligarchs, and she is pointing to a sprawling property in her riding as an example.

The Mille Fleurs mansion rose to fame in January 2020. It was also shrouded in mystery, not just because of who was staying there – former royals Harry and Meghan and son Archie - but also because no one knew who the owner was.

Speaking to CTV News, Saanich-Gulf Islands MP Elizabeth May said layers of ownership make it incredibly difficult to know who owns what.

"Canada has one of the lowest levels of transparency anywhere in the world in terms of who's buying a property," said May.

As Russia's unprovoked attack continues, the West is focused on crippling the country economically.

B.C. took action to end hidden ownership through a new registry. Ottawa promised to do the same.

A CBC news report – using leaked documents – linked the North Saanich property to Russian billionaire Yuri Milner.

"Who is Yuri Milner?" continued May. "Is he the beneficial owner of this house? He is a Russian citizen. He's also an Israeli citizen. He is a billionaire. His early investment funds came from Kremlin-cozy sources. "

Milner's website doesn't deny that, but appears to distance him from that funding, saying less than 3 per cent of early investments came from a Russian bank, and it was all repaid by 2014.

On March 30, Milner tweeted about the war in Ukraine. The message read, in part: “It is heart-breaking to watch the horror of civilians suffering from Russian shells and rockets.”

It's uncertain if Milner is an oligarch. Still, May believes there may be more assets in Canada that can't be traced back to oligarchs.

May – who, like many other MPs, is banned from Russia – called on the Prime Minister's Office to investigate and take action, if appropriate.

A request to the PMO was directed to Global Affairs Canada and the RCMP. Neither of those agencies replied by deadline.

"I think we should leave no opportunity unexplored for how to bring the pressure on Putin to stop the war," added May.

That, she said, is being made much harder due to Canada's murky rules around property ownership.

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