What’s good for investors isn’t good for Africans

How Africa’s pension funds risk becoming instruments of Africa’s neoliberal takeover.

Photo by Oren Elbaz on Unsplash

BY Alex Park

African pension funds have been getting a lot of attention in the financial press lately. An October 2021 article in The Economist plays matchmaker for some very eligible asset pools: the African Development Bank, it notes, has estimated an annual bill of $130 billion to $170 billion dollars for infrastructure improvements across the continent. Perhaps African pension funds—which, the magazine notes, “have grown impressively” in the last few years and have a tendency to stay close to home, unlike those more fickle foreign capital flows—could be a good fit. Also last year, RMI, a US clean energy think tank, suggested that African pension funds invest in clean energy projects across the continent to “trigger a positive economic-growth feedback loop.”

African pension funds have been shifting their assets to African development projects for some time, but the pace has recently sped up. In February, a consortium of Kenyan pension funds announced they would be working with Chinese firms on a plan to invest in local infrastructure, and just weeks ago, Bloomberg reported that South Africa’s Government Employees Pension Fund, the largest in Africa, planned to invest $1.6 billion across the continent.

It’s easy to see why editors at The Economist would get excited about the new trend. But for those of us more wary of finance capitalism, it’s worth considering the experience of Brazil, where pension funds were instrumental to bolstering a neoliberal takeover of the country at the turn of the century.

In the early years of his presidency, Lula Inácio da Silva took steps to make it easier for workers to invest in pension funds. Simultaneously, he gave unions more freedom to administer the nation’s pension funds and encouraged them to invest in the Brazilian economy. All of these moves were part of a plan to, in the words of Uruguayan journalist Raúl Zibechi, “moralize, humanize, and domesticate capitalism.” But like so much else from the Lula era, what was on its face a way to help Brazil’s working class by playing to the rules of the rich and powerful became, instead, a neoliberal ploy: a way to uplift the rich and strengthen the market forces through which the rich derived their power in the first place.

Within a few years, the pensions grew precipitously, but with the pension’s capital now powering it, the finance sector grew even more. Rather than shaping the Brazilian finance sector to suit their ends, the unions—long the Brazilian Left’s institutional power base—internalized the ambitions of the exclusively white, male clique of São Paulo financiers with which they now collaborated. Instead of seeking out ways to use the enormous weight of their assets to uplift Brazilians, union leaders sought out ways to protect and expand the capital they managed.

The financiers encouraging African pension funds’ entrance into development finance have skipped the talk about moralizing capitalism which characterized the Brazilian experience. But like their Brazilian peers a generation ago, African pension funds now risk putting their assets in the hands of financiers intent on carrying out a developmental vision that, at best, equates the needs of African people with the needs of capital. To see how, one only needs to look at the investment vehicle of choice for any investors looking to bank on African business: private equity (PE).

Since stock markets outside South Africa are generally weak and underdeveloped, African pension funds—like other institutional investors around the world—are funneling their capital through private equity funds. (The aforementioned $1.6 billion South African windfall, for instance, will pass entirely through “unlisted” companies, which almost certainly means it’ll be going through PE.)

To even be considered for admission into a PE fund, pension funds, like all potential investors, have to demonstrate they share the values (and the vision) of the fund managers. One reason is that it’s a long-term relationship: joining a fund means pooling assets and interests with the fund managers and other investors (a group that typically includes European development agencies, multilateral development banks, and American pension funds) for a decade or more. Thereafter, what projects and companies the PE funds back with investors’ money are, generally, up to their managers. But even when those managers claim to be uplifting Africa with their investments, one can expect them to be uplifting capital even more.

Take, for instance, the Rise Fund, a PE fund cofounded by Bono and Jeff Skoll. With a declared intent of transforming African economies and a long list of American pensions as investors, the San Francisco-based PE fund is exactly the kind of partner African pension funds might consider backing in the near future. In 2019, the fund invested in Uganda’s Pearl Dairy, which by then already had operations in nine countries in Africa and Japan. Money in hand, Pearl scaled up its operations even more. The Rise Fund’s parent company, TPG, now says that Pearl sources milk from more than 10,000 small farmers. But in March, one farmers’ union in Uganda accused it of collaborating with other milk producers to drive milk prices down to the point that many farmers could no longer support themselves.

It’s common for investors looking to capitalize on Africa’s growing economies to say, in so many words, and in spite of evidence to the contrary, that what’s good for them is good for everyone. African pension funds—which, like pensions in most countries, have a reputation for caution and prudence—would do better than throwing their clients’ assets behind their agenda.

Empty table laid for 72 victims of the Grenfell Tower fire

Empty table with 72 seats laid out for Jubilee street party nobody will attend

Harrison Jones

Monday 30 May 2022

Empty places were set around the table (Picture: PA/Jeff Moore)

Grenfell campaigners have held an emotional Jubilee street party attended by nobody.

Poignant images show a table set with 72 empty seats, for each of the victims in the 2017 fire.

Special plates were also laid out alongside name cards at the event in west London today, overlooked by the remains of the tower.

They read: ’72 dead. And still no arrests? How come?’


Justice 4 Grenfell put on the gathering as Brits prepare to attend street parties in celebration of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee this week.

The community activism group, which campaigns for justice for the victims of the tragedy, put out bunting, paper plates, cups and Grenfell flags, with a green theme associated with the disaster.

Following the tragedy on June 14, 2017, the Queen visited the area to meet locals affected by the blaze in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

Campaigners are calling for arrests over the disaster (Picture: PA)

The tower overlooks the ‘party’ (Picture: Jeff Moore)

Nabil Choucair, who lost six family members, to the fire, sits at the otherwise empty table (Picture: PA)

Located in foot of the tower on Grenfell Road, organisers say the table will never be sat upon ‘as a chilling reminder that the 72 dead are still without justice, despite a public inquiry’.

Nabil Choucair, who lost six family members, said: ‘I miss my family so much; we enjoyed many good times together, but they were taken from us in the worst of circumstances.

‘I can almost picture them seated at the table today, joining in the celebration.

‘But they are not with us today.

Grenfell flags with a heart also adorned the party (Picture: Jeff Moore)

The tragedy happened in 2017 in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (Picture: PA)

Campaigners branded the public inquiry ‘toothless’ (Picture: Jeff Moore)

‘The pain is indescribable, but they are always with us in our hearts.’

Justice 4 Grenfell group organiser Yvette Williams added: ‘Five years on, a toothless public inquiry and millions still trapped in their homes by flammable cladding – and still no justice.

‘There have been no lessons learned and little action taken.

‘As people up and down the country enjoy street parties – as they quite rightly should, we want to let the powers that be know that our community will always remember the 72 who died needlessly here that night.’

  

 

Spain's 'mega farms': Model of intensive farming comes under scrutiny

 Spain is the largest producer of pork in Europe. But its methods of intensive farming on what are dubbed "mega farms" are now the subject of debate after the country's own consumer minister criticised them, saying Spaniards needed to eat less meat. The environmental impact of "mega farms" is also coming under scrutiny. Our correspondents report.

Haiti has suffered hugely over centuries but its revolution was stunningly innovative

THE CONVERSATION
Published: May 30, 2022 

Since the New York Times published its recent series of bombshell articles about the crippling reparations that France imposed on Haiti after it won independence in 1804, much has been written about how this 150 million franc “indemnity” had virtually doomed the fledgling country before it had a chance to establish itself. The New York Times pieces outlined the huge long-term impact of these enforced payments and demonstrate that they cost the Haitian economy billions of dollars in lost economic growth, affecting the island well into the 21st century.

Historians of Haiti have remarked that the New York Times’ core claims are hardly groundbreaking. The long-term effects of the debt on the Haitian economy have long been acknowledged, researched and taught. Nevertheless the newspaper’s detailed account, with its additional evidence and fresh calculations, has allowed the story to achieve the kind of public visibility most professional historians can only dream of. This is undoubtedly positive.

But this account, for all its moral force and political relevance, also reinforces a longstanding public perception of Haitian history as a story of unremitting failure. Of course this is justified in many ways. To this day, Haiti remains one of the poorest countries in the world, for which France (along with the United States and others) bears undeniable responsibility. But Haitian independence deserves to be remembered for more than its long, tragic aftermath. It was, in fact, a stunningly innovative event which dramatically changed the course of world history.

Freedom fighters

Before the Haitian revolution, Saint-Domingue (as Haiti was then known) was France’s largest and richest colony. Its population primarily consisted of enslaved black people, who lived and worked under a small elite of white plantation owners. When the French revolution broke out in 1789, it triggered a series of revolts and conflicts on the island. These involved white colonists, black enslaved people, free black and mixed-race people, as well as the French, British and Spanish states.

By 1804, the black and mixed-race insurgents had joined forces and claimed victory. White colonists were driven out or killed. On January 1 1804 a former slave, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, proclaimed the independence of the island in the name of the Haitian people.

It was a complex, lengthy, shockingly violent process. For a long time, it was treated as a bloody footnote in Atlantic history, and left out of the triumphant accounts that narrated “the age of democratic revolutions”. But it is now increasingly being viewed by historians as a major turning point in world history. There are several reasons for this.
Emancipation in the New World

The first, and most immediately evident reason, relates to the history of colonial slavery. The Haitian revolution was a multifaceted conflict – but from 1791 its driving force was the great antislavery uprising spearheaded by the charismatic leader Toussaint Louverture. To this day it remains the only truly successful slave revolt in history.

Military genius: Haitian general Toussaint Louverture. 

Coastal Elite from Halifax, Canada/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY

It would be difficult to overstate the impact of the Haitian example on the history of emancipation in the New World. It raised the old spectre of slave rebellion and shocked slave owners across the Americas, but it also informed the British emancipation debate. In the 1810s the support Haiti provided to Simón Bolívar’s liberation movement played a major part in ending slavery in northern South America. Haitian emancipation also encouraged uprisings and rebellions in the US, Cuba and Barbados. It continued to inspire black people across the New World until the final abolition of slavery by Brazil in 1888.

The Haitian revolutionaries also durably transformed the international landscape. Emerging from an 18th-century world ruled by monarchies and colonial empires, Haiti became the first black republic in the world. It was only the second state to claim independence from a European empire, after the US.

Notably, it was the first to be ruled by formerly enslaved people. Independent Haiti was, in many ways, ahead of its time – it would take another century and a half for another significant decolonisation movement to emerge and finally topple the great European empires, in the second half of the 20th century.

Universal human rights

Amid all the tumult and upheavals of revolution, the Haitian people’s claim to independence was also philosophically groundbreaking. The Declaration of Independence of 1804 ended the Haitian revolution with a powerful assertion of national sovereignty:


We must, with one last act of national authority, forever assure the empire of liberty in the country of our birth … we must live independent or die.

By justifying independence in terms of the universal rights of mankind, Haitian leaders were deploying the same novel philosophical principles that underpinned the American and French revolutions. But, unlike the American and French republics, the new Haitian nation was to be rooted in its radical commitment to universal emancipation.

For all the above reasons, the Haitian revolution deserves to be remembered on its own terms – not only as the origin of a historical injustice, but also as one of the great revolutions of the Enlightenment, and a forerunner of modern decolonisation movements.

Author

Anna Plassart
Senior Lecturer in History, The Open University

New York Times admits truth of Haitian coup

by Yves Engler / May 30th, 2022

“A Haitian president demands reparations and ends up in exile”, declared the front-page of Wednesday’s New York Times. Eighteen years later those who opposed the US, French and Canadian coup have largely won the battle over the historical record.

French ambassador Thierry Burkard admits that President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s call for the restitution of Haiti’s debt (ransom) of independence partly explains why he was ousted in 2004. Burkard told the Times the elected president’s removal was “a coup” that was “probably a bit about” Aristide’s campaign for France to repay Haiti.

Other major outlets have also investigated the coup recently. In 2020 Radio-Canada’s flagship news program “Enquête” interviewed Denis Paradis, the Liberal minister responsible for organizing the 2003 Ottawa Initiative on Haiti where US, French and Canadian officials discussed ousting the elected president and putting the country under UN trusteeship. Paradis admitted to Radio-Canada that no Haitian officials were invited to discuss their own country’s future and the imperial triumvirate broached whether “the principle of sovereignty is unassailable?” Enquête also interviewed long time Haitian Canadian activist and author Jean Saint-Vil who offered a critical perspective on the discussion to oust Aristide.

Radio-Canada and the Times’ coverage was influenced by hundreds of articles published by solidarity campaigners in left wing outlets. Damming the Flood: Haiti and the Politics of Containment: Repression and Resistance in Haiti, 2004–2006, Canada in Haiti: Waging War on the Poor Majority, Haiti’s New Dictatorship: The Coup, the Earthquake and the UN Occupation, An Unbroken Agony Haiti, from Revolution to the Kidnapping of a President provide richer documentation about the coup, as do documentaries Haiti: We Must Kill the Bandits, Haiti Betrayed and Aristide and the Endless Revolution.

The Times article on Aristide’s ouster was part of a series on imperialism in Haiti the paper published on its front page over four days. “The Ransom” detailed the cost to Haiti — calculated at between $21 billion and $115 billion — of paying France to recognize its independence. “A bank created for Haiti funneled wealth to France” showed how Crédit Industriel et Commercial further impoverished the nation in the late 1800s while “Invade Haiti, Wall Street urged, And American military obliged” covered the brutal 1915–34 US occupation, which greatly reshaped its economy to suit foreign capitalists.

The Times decision to spend tens, maybe hundreds, of thousands of dollars on the series was no doubt influenced by the Black Lives Matter movement and the paper’s 1619 project on slavery. Additionally, Saint-Vil and other Haitian-North American activists have been calling for France to repay the ransom for more than two decades. In 2010 a group of mostly Canadian activists published a fake announcement indicating that France would repay the debt. Tied to France’s Bastille Day and the devastating 2010 earthquake, the stunt by the Committee for the Reimbursement of the Indemnity Money Extorted from Haiti (CRIME) forced Paris to deny it, which the Times reported. The group also published a public letter that garnered significant international attention.

While these campaigns likely spurred the series, a number of academics made it about themselves. White Harvard professor Mary Lewis bemoaned that her research assistant was cited in “The Ransom” but she wasn’t. Another academic even apologized for sharing the important story. “I regret sharing the NYT article on Haiti yesterday. So many scholars are noting their egregious editorial practices. The writers of the article did not properly credit their sources.” Unfortunately, the academics’ tweets received thousands of likes.

Leaving aside the pettiness of academia, the series is not without questions and criticisms. First, will the Times apply the historical logic of the series to its future coverage of Haiti or continue acting as a stenographer for the State Department? More directly, why didn’t the series mention the “Core Group” that largely rules Haiti today? The series is supposed to show how foreign intervention has contributed to Haitian impoverishment and political dysfunction, but the Times ignores a direct line between the 2004 coup and foreign alliance that dominates the country today.

Last week Haitians protested in front of the Canadian embassy in Port-au-Prince. They chanted against the Core Group, which consists of representatives from the US, Canada, EU, OAS, UN, Spain, Brazil and France. A protester banged a rock on the gates. Previously, protesters have hurled rocks and molotov cocktails, as well as burned tires, in front of the Canadian Embassy.

The Times series has solidified the historical narrative regarding the 2004 coup and popularized the history of imperialism in Haiti. The series is a boon to North Americans campaigning for a radical shift in policy towards a country born of maybe the greatest victory ever for equality and human dignity.

But the point of activism is not simply to describe the world, but to change it.

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Yves Engler is the author of 12 books. His latest is Stand on Guard For Whom? — A People’s History of the Canadian Military.  Read other articles by Yves.

This article was posted on Monday, May 30th, 2022 at 9:38am and is filed under Activism, Canada, Coup, France, Haiti, Imperialism, United States.

Review: Wilco's 'Cruel Country' takes on flawed America

“Cruel Country,” Wilco (dBpm Records)



Wilco goes country as only it can on “Cruel Country,” an immensely rich 21-track, roughly 80-minute deep dive into America that is a raw and engaging take on our tumultuous times.

For longtime fans of Wilco, “Cruel Country” feels in some ways like an extension of the rock band’s “Mermaid Avenue” collection with Billy Bragg that were based on lyrics of Woody Guthrie. But “Cruel Country,” a reference more to the subject matter than the musical style, is very much Wilco’s take on America as it currently exists.

“I love my country stupid and cruel/red, white and blue," lead singer and songwriter Jeff Tweedy sings on the title track.

While death hangs heavy over “Cruel Country,” the record offers solace in music and community.

“All you have to do is sing in the choir with me," Tweedy sings in as much an invitation as an aspiration.

It’s fitting that the tracks were recorded live by the band playing together at Wilco’s loft in Chicago, with minimal overdubs. That gives “Cruel Country” a raw, real feel that’s befitting the songs. Tweedy described the method as “messy. Like democracy.”


“Country Song Upside-Down” perhaps comes closest to stating Wilco's thesis for “Cruel Country.”

“I found a song upside-down,” Tweedy sings. “A country song/Without a doubt/Dying sky and water/Rainbow/Flickering out.”

The record comes on the heels of Wilco celebrating the 20th anniversary of its most revered record, “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.” While the band looked back to celebrate that milestone, it’s maybe no accident that it quickly followed up its anniversary shows with a completely different-sounding genre-bending record.

As Tweedy writes in the liner notes, “Cruel Country” is an attempt to “challenge our affections for things that are flawed.”

“Cruel Country" isn't all cruel and it isn't all country music, either. But it's likely to stand the test of time and still be talked about 20 years from now.

__

For more recent music reviews, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/music-reviews

Scott Bauer, The Associated Press

CANADIAN BUILT

Two new Arctic and offshore patrol ships named in honour of Canadian naval heroes

The Canadian Press

HALIFAX — Two of Canada's new Arctic and offshore patrol ships were formally named on Sunday in a move intended to preserve the stories of two of the country's naval heroes during the Second World War.


© Provided by The Canadian Press

Two new Arctic and offshore patrol ships named in honour of Canadian naval heroes

Bottles of Nova Scotian wine were broken over the bows of the HMCS Margaret Brooke and HMCS Max Bernays during a ceremony on the Halifax waterfront, acknowledging their construction at the Halifax Shipyard.

"These have been built by Nova Scotians for Canadians," Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston told the crowd.

The ritual of naming a ship dates back centuries and is believed to bring good luck and safe travel to the vessel and its crew.

Both ships are part of a fleet of six Arctic and offshore patrol ships, referred to as AOPS, being delivered to the Royal Canadian Navy under the National Shipbuilding Strategy. The ice-capable ships are more than 100 metres long.

Kevin Mooney, president of Halifax Shipbuilding, said despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and global supply chain problems, crews at the Irving-owned yard have both persevered and improved.

"We delivered Margaret Brooke last July with 37 per cent fewer production hours than the first AOPS, Harry DeWolf," he said. "We will deliver a new AOPS each year to the Canadian Navy until 2025, and then two more to the Coast Guard in the following years."

Filomena Tassi, federal minister of Public Services and Procurement, said she was impressed by her tour of the shipyard.

"I'm in awe when I come down and stand before these ships and think that they are made by Canadian hands. The innovation, the dedication, the commitment to deliver this. It is truly awesome," she said.

Margaret Brooke enrolled as a nursing sister dietician in 1942 and rose to the rank of lieutenant-commander during her 20-year naval career.

In October 1942 off the coast of Newfoundland, the ferry SS Caribou was sunk by a German submarine, and while fighting for her own survival, Brooke did everything possible to save the life of a colleague and friend.

Both women clung to ropes on a capsized lifeboat.

Despite Brooke's heroic efforts, her friend succumbed to the frigid water.

Lt.-Cmdr Brooke was named a Member of the Order of the British Empire.

Max Bernays was an acting chief petty officer in August 1942 and was the coxswain aboard HMCS Assiniboine.

During a fierce battle with a German submarine, the Assiniboine maneuvered in and out of fog attempting to ram and sink the enemy vessel.

Both vessels were firing high explosive shells at close range, resulting in a fire that engulfed the ship's bridge and wheelhouse.

Bernays ordered two junior sailors to get clear, leaving him alone at the helm and trapped by the blaze.

Despite machine-gun and cannon fire, smoke and flames, Bernays executed the helm orders and dispatched over 130 telegraph orders to the engine room.

Bernays was able to ram the submarine and sink it.

He was awarded the distinguished Conspicuous Gallantry Medal by the British Admiralty, making him just one of two members of the Royal Canadian Navy to receive the honour during the Second World War.

The HMCS Margaret Brooke was delivered to the navy last summer, while the HMCS Max Bernays will be delivered this fall.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 29, 2022.

-- By Kevin Bissett in Fredericton.

The Canadian Press

Abandoned Glace Bay mine at risk of collapse will be infilled

Emily Latimer - 
CBC

The federal government is filling in an old coal mine in the Table Head community of Glace Bay, N.S., in an effort to keep beachgoers and locals safe.


© Emily Latimer

Former Dominion No. 7 Colliery in Glace Bay’s Table Head community is being filled in this summer to mitigate risk of collapse.

The concern is collapse due to soil subsidence.

The cliff overhanging Table Head beach may give way. There are empty mine cavities about 7-10 metres below the surface that were once the Dominion No. 7 Colliery.

Mining took place at the site until it was permanently closed in 1918. Public Services and Procurement Canada, which owns the land, is set to fill the holes with sand, gravel and cement beginning in late September.

Blayne Melnick has lived in the last house on Hay Street for the past 45 years. His property is on the edge of the cliff overlooking the beach.

There are voids below the surface of his yard. He saw crews surveying the land last fall.

He said he was surprised to see the workers, but he's aware similar work was done in the past in New Waterford.

In 2019, Public Services and Procurement Canada launched a geotechnical drilling program throughout CBRM. It checked rock thickness and stability in shallow mine workings and identified subsidence risks.

Two former mines in New Waterford – No. 12 and No. 16 – have already been filled.

Last fall, the land in Table Head at the shoreline in the Hill Street area was surveyed. Workers found "significant shallow voids that can pose potential human health risk if not addressed," according to a project fact sheet.

"Really, the cliff is what drew our attention to it," said Joseph MacPhee, a PSPC regional manager in Cape Breton. "There's some unstable areas when you look up from the beach."

MacPhee said two past drilling projects found abandoned mine sites that extended further than first thought. "It's not very well mapped," he said.

The plan is to stabilize an area covering about 3,500 square metres along the coast in Table Head.

"We're just working to prevent any hazards to the local community that uses the site," MacPhee said.

"It's a fairly popular area for beach walkers and people that like to look for beach glass. So we want to make sure that what's here is safe for them to use."

MacPhee said the plan is to preserve beach access as much as possible.

Amanda Slaunwhite picks beach glass on Table Head beach about once or twice a week.

She didn't know there was an old coal mine there, but she said the infilling should make it safer for beachgoers like her. But she doesn't want to see it closed for long.

"People go there for their sanity and stuff like that. It's going to suck if that closes," she said.

There will be limited access during work periods if there is a risk to safety, PSPC said in a statement.

A public information session will take place Tuesday night at the Glace Bay Seniors and Pensioners Club.

CANADA
New handgun restrictions expected in federal firearm-control bill today



The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — New measures to curb handguns are expected to be a central feature of federal legislation tabled this afternoon, the Liberal government's latest — and likely boldest — suite of proposed actions to control access to firearms in Canada.

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino will present the bill after the daily question period before joining Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and supportive voices, including some city mayors, from across the country for a press conference at Ottawa's Chateau Laurier hotel.

The legislation will revive some federal measures that did not pass before last year's general election and flesh out new proposals made during the subsequent campaign.

They include a mandatory buyback of guns the government considers assault-style firearms, a crackdown on high-capacity firearm magazines and efforts to combat gun smuggling.

The Liberals also promised to work with provinces and territories that want to ban handguns outright.

Though a national ban is not anticipated in the bill, the government could take steps in that direction by phasing out handgun ownership with a cap on the number of firearm licences, outlawing the importation and manufacture of new handguns, or enacting tougher storage rules.

Prominent gun-control advocacy group PolySeSouvient has criticized the government's approach of leaving a handgun ban up to individual provinces, saying it would create an ineffective patchwork of rules in Canada.

Trudeau defended the approach last week, citing "a range of opinions and views across the country."

Speaking about the Robb Elementary School shooting that killed 19 children and two adults in Uvalde, Texas, Trudeau said Canadians are "remarkably united" in wanting to reduce gun violence" at home.

"That unity is what we're going to move forward with as we take new steps in the coming weeks on gun control," Trudeau said at a press conference in Saskatchewan last Tuesday.

An "assault-style" firearm ban — the government's flagship gun-control promise to date — involves moving forward on a mandatory buyback of models the government outlawed in May 2020.

The plan has won praise from gun-control advocates, but Conservative MPs and others opposed to the plan have suggested it targets legitimate gun owners rather than preventing illegal firearms from falling into the wrong hands.

The buyback will cover some 1,500 models of firearms the government banned through order-in-council on the basis they have no place in hunting or sport shooting.

But some similar models remain legal, and gun-control advocates say Canadian manufacturers have managed to circumvent the rules by introducing new firearms.




PolySeSouvient has urged the government to change the firearm classification system to eliminate loopholes and capture all current and future guns that fall into the category.

Several women's groups have also implored the government to do away with a provision in the previous iteration of the bill that called for potential victims to seek a court order to deprive a stalker or abuser of their guns.

The National Association of Women and the Law and several other groups warned in a letter to Mendicino this month the so-called red flag provision downloads responsibility for gun-law enforcement from authorities onto others, including possible targets of violence.

"There is no support for downloading or eroding the responsibility of law enforcement and other government officials to implement gun laws," the letter said.

"Citizens or other organizations, much less potential victims, should not be expected to put themselves at risk by going to court to request action that should be immediate and within the direct responsibility of police."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 30, 2022.

Laura Osman, The Canadian Press

SEE LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for EMOTIONAL PLAGUE 

 

Handguns present in majority of firearm-related violent crimes, says StatCan report

The Canadian Press

Yesterday 
Firearm-related homicides have gone up 37 per cent over the past 11 years and handguns were the most commonly used weapon in such crimes, a report from Statistics Canada has found, but it warns there are large data gaps in information collection.


© Provided by The Canadian Press

The report looking at trends in gun crime in Canada between 2009 and 2020 was released Friday.

The proportion of homicides where a firearm was used rose from 26 per cent in 2013 to 37 per cent in 2020, it said. Handguns were the weapon of choice in 59 per cent of the firearm crimes, it added.

"Firearm-related violent crime typically represents less than three per cent of police-reported violent crime in Canada," said the report.

"Nevertheless, it has a significant emotional and physical impact on victims, families and communities. Additionally, rates of firearm-related violence have seen a general increase over the past several years."

About six per cent of gun crimes were related to gang violence, it said.

"Though firearms are present in a minority of criminal incidents, the rate of firearm-related violent crime has been increasing in recent years."

An earlier Statistics Canada report said the use of guns in violent crime increased 81 per cent from 2009 to 2019.

A July 2021 report by the agency said there were 8,344 victims of violent crimes where guns were used.

The new report cautioned, however, that there are gaps in data where guns are used, including the type of firearms, ownership and storage.

There is "no consistent definition of a shooting applied by police services in Canada, nor are there consistent criteria used to assess whether a shooting actually occurred," it said.

"Of particular concern, there is currently little information available to determine the source of firearms used in crime: for example, whether a gun used in a crime was stolen, illegally purchased or smuggled into the country. This information is sometimes not recorded by police services, recorded inconsistently or, in some cases, the information is simply not available."

This means not all guns are available for tracing, it noted.

According to the report, handguns were involved in about 75 per cent of violent robberies, and 60 per cent of homicides, other violations causing death and attempted murders. Handguns were also involved in 54 per cent in sexual offences and 51 per cent of firearm-specific violent offences in 2020, the report said.

There were 743 homicide victims in 2020, of which 277 were killed using a gun, said the report.

The first year of the pandemic saw 8,344 victims of crimes involving guns, which was unchanged compared to 2019, it said.

Rates of gun crime in 2020 were highest in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the Territories, it said.

Cities with the highest proportions of gun crimes were Regina, Brantford, Ont., Toronto, Saskatoon, Winnipeg and Windsor, Ont., it said.

"It is worth noting that Toronto had a relatively low rate of firearm-related violent crime, but these firearm-related crimes accounted for a relatively high proportion of all violent crime," said the report.

Gun crimes, it said were mostly higher in rural areas than urban regions, which can be attributed to a number of reasons including more firearm ownership. Firearms are usually used in hunting or farming and are around "when an offence is committed," it said.

About 63 per cent of firearm victims in urban areas involved handguns, said the report. The rural north has seen a 33 per cent increase in handgun crimes over the past six years, it added.

"While rates of handgun-related crimes were generally higher in urban areas than in rural areas, the highest rates of handgun-related crime in Canada were reported in northern Saskatchewan, which is all rural, and the Northwest Territories," it said.

The Canadian Criminal Code classifies firearms into three categories: prohibited, restricted, and non-restricted.

Prohibited firearms include automatic firearms, sawed-off rifles and shotguns. Handguns are restricted while rifles and shotguns, also known as long-guns, are usually non-restricted.

The law requires a person to have a valid license to own or possess a firearm and buy ammunition.

The federal government amended regulations to prohibit over 1,500 models of assault-style firearms, particularly semi-automatic rifles, after the Nova Scotia mass shooting in 2020 where a gunman driving a replica police vehicle killed 22 people.

Men made up 67 per cent of those afflicted by gun violence although women were more affected in rural areas, it said. Most of the victims were between the ages of 18 and 24, it added.

The accused is most often a stranger in firearm crimes, the report said although this was less often the case in rural areas.

"One in four women who were victims of a firearm-related violent crime in 2020 were victimized by a current or former spouse or other intimate partner, compared with two per cent of men."

The knowledge gaps identified in the report also included the extent of the involvement of organized crime, which it said is currently unclear.

"Patterns in the ethnicity, Indigenous identity — with the exception of homicide data — and socioeconomic characteristics of both victims and persons accused of firearm-related violence are also unknown."

The agency said it is working with the Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics on getting uniform data across the country.

"It should be noted that it may take a few years for these changes to be fully implemented by police services in a way that allows the reporting of this information."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 29, 2022.

Hina Alam, The Canadian Press

Canada takes 103rd place in study examining worldwide broadband cost

MobileSyrup

Canadians will spend an average of $58,000 on broadband over their lifespan, according to a recent study from MoneySuperMarket.

The study examined the cost for 135 countries and based life expectancy on the global average of 72 years. Canada lands at 103 on the list, which shows residents will spend an average of $67 a month on the service. Out of the countries examined, only 32 countries charge residents more for internet access.

While this information isn’t new, the analysis adds fire to the longstanding problem Canadians have been complaining about for years.

Image credit: MoneySuperMarket

Any relief on the matter has been short-lived. While the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) lowered wholesale rates larger carriers can charge internet service providers (ISPs) in August 2019, they reversed the decision in May 2021. The CRTC said the decision was erroneous.

ISP TekSavvy has been working on getting the federal government to order the decision to be reversed. Their ‘Pay Less to Connect‘ campaign asks Canadians to remind their MPs to speak on the petition they filed a year ago. The campaign states the government has until May 27th to address the petition.

But why is Canada in this position? One answer comes from examining the countries with some of the highest internet rates. Brunei, for example, offers the third most expensive internet over on MoneySuperMarket’s list.

“While Brunei has great infrastructure, a lack of competition in the market keeps prices disproportionately high,” the study states.

The same is true for Canada. While there is good infrastructure, the lack of competition, with a market larger controlled by Bell, Rogers, and Telus, makes accessing cheaper internet difficult.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: MoneySuperMarket

ISPs and advocacy groups say new CRTC policy does nothing to address current sky-high internet rates



MobileSyrup - Friday

The federal government’s new policy direction to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is a positive move in the long-term but does little to appease the current burden of high-internet rates, advocacy groups, and internet service providers (ISPs) say.

The policy direction doesn’t impact wholesale internet rates currently in place but lists a new set of ideas and objectives the government says will improve competition and affordability. The direction lacks detail about how this will happen and is still subject to parliamentary approval.

It further eliminates two previous policy directions that created conflicts. The first, introduced in 2006, focused on encouraging telecom companies to invest in networks. The second asked the CRTC to focus on affordability, competition, and consumer rights. The Liberals introduced the policy in 2019.

The direction also appears to wipe clean a slate that saw CRTC chair Ian Scott engulfed in a controversy that intensified after meeting with Bell executive Mirko Bibic.

In May 2019, the CRTC found that wholesale internet rates were too high and had to be lowered. ISPs and advocacy groups welcomed the news, but it saw appeals from leading telecom corporations, including Bell.

One week after Bell filed an appeal, Bibic and Scott were pictured in an Ottawa pub having beers. Scott maintained the meeting was on the books, and he followed all the rules. But many said the meeting was inappropriate as a file on the matter was currently open.

The CRTC reversed the decision in May 2021, saying it made it in error. The move led to several appeals, including one by ISP TekSavvy.

TekSavvy

The company says the new policy direction “endorsed higher internet prices and misconduct by the head of the CRTC.” While the ISP acknowledges the approach could lead to competition, it ignores appeals that would see lower wholesale internet rates first outlined in 2019.

“Instead of immediately lowering prices by overturning a bad CRTC decision, it is asking us to hold out hope that the CRTC will do better in the future,” Peter Nowak, a TekSavvy spokesperson, said.
“This lack of action and faith-based policy approach is why competitors will continue to exit the market and Canadians will continue to pay some of the highest telecom prices in the world.”

TekSavvy filed an appeal on May 28th, 2021, asking the government to overturn the 2019 rate and see Scott excused from matters relating to wholesale internet. The new direction didn’t address this. Further comments the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, François-Philippe Champagne, made also ignored this part of the appeal.

This may be because Scott’s time as chair is coming to an end. The government appointed him to the position in 2017 for a five-year term. According to the Globe and Mail, Canadian Heritage is currently accepting applications for a new chair to fill the role.

Distributel

Distributel Communications also took issue with the government not acting on the appeals. The company says the new policy direction addressed longstanding issues but does nothing to address high internet rates in the short-term.

“The government had a real opportunity to act on those appeals and mandate lower wholesale rates,” Matt Stein, Distributel’s CEO, said. “[It] would have put money back into the pockets of Canadians. That would have had an immediate impact.”

Other groups
The Competitive Network Operators of Canada (CNOC) said the new policy direction is encouraging, as it offers a plan that will see more competition and lower internet bills. The group also filed an appeal in 2021, asking for the 2019 rates to be restored. CNOC says it’s disappointed the appeal was denied but remains “hopeful that this new and targeted policy direction will make a difference.”

Open Media, an advocacy group that, in part, focuses on internet affordability, shared similar thoughts.

“Our government agreed the CRTC is failing Canadians — yet did nothing immediate to fix it,” Matt Hatfield, OpenMedia’s campaigns director, said. “The good news [the] announcement is that the CRTC we have today is clearly out of step with the government’s new objectives.”

Industry players have sixty days to review and provide comments on the new policy directions.

WORD OF THE DAY

Eight days after devastating derecho, these Ottawans still lack power

Avanthika Anand - Yesterday 

CBC

On Sunday, Anshul Melville took a chainsaw to the trees that fell in the front yard of his Pineglen Annex home during last weekend's fatal storm.


© Avanthika Anand/CBC

Jai Persaud, left, gestures to his wife Nan as they examine the tree that collapsed onto their neighbour's house after the May 21 storm. Persaud says without power or internet, it's been hard to get the insurance process underway.

For more than a week, Melville has been clearing up that mess — but his biggest challenge is one he can't fix himself.

"There has been no heat, no warm water," said Melville, one of the roughly 10,000 Hydro Ottawa customers who still don't have power, eight days after the storm blew through.

Melville has been using a rented backup generator just to keep his phone charged, in case of emergencies.

But this temporary solution, even when minimally used, is expensive. Melville says he's spending over $100 a day to keep the generator running — and he's beginning to get tired.

"We desperately, desperately want [our] power back," he said.
'It's been tough'

In a Sunday update, Hydro Ottawa said it had restored power to 94 per cent of its roughly 180,000 customers affected by the powerful May 21 derecho.

The power utility said it was entering the "last phase of restoration efforts," with crews scattered across the city trying to reconnect "remaining isolated outages."

One of those outages has been at the Merivale home of 95-year-old Mervyn Brown, who hasn't been able to track down a generator.

The past week has been challenging for both him and his wife, he said.

"It's been tough because we're collecting rainwater to flush toilets," he said, adding they don't have drinking water in their home.


© Julia Wong/CBC

Mervyn Brown, 95, says he's been unable to get access to a generator in the days following the devastating May 21 derecho that slammed into Ottawa. Brown says he and his wife have had to throw out about $1,000 worth of food.

Without power for his fridge, Brown says he's had to throw out at least $1,000 worth of food. That's on top of the significant damages from the storm that still need repairing, he said.

Jai Persaud's property was also damaged, and his power outage means he's been unable to get repairs started.

With neither power nor an internet connection, Persaud said it's been hard for him to contact his insurance provider.

"I go to the [nearby] Tim Hortons parking lot to try to use the internet there. It's been very difficult trying to get in touch with people," he said.
Feeling helpless

Carleton University student Claire Petite lives just off Prince of Wales Drive and said the lack of power and internet has "completely interrupted" her life.

The ongoing outages, she said, are making it hard for her to keep up with her studies.

"The accommodations that the university might be giving students, they're only going to last as long as the majority of students are experiencing them," she said.

"So having to put my hand up and say, no, I need longer accommodations is harder — because you have to make the case that we're still impacted by this, and it's not over yet."

After eight days of cold showers, confusion and complete darkness, Petite said she's beginning to feel helpless.

She said she hopes Hydro Ottawa and the City of Ottawa's cleanup crews haven't forgotten her neighbourhood. So far, she said, she's had no help from either of them.

"We don't know when we're going to get power again," Petite said.

Derecho - Wikipedia

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

A derecho is a widespread, long-lived, straight-line wind storm that is associated with a fast-moving group of severe thunderstorms known as a mesoscale convective system. Derechos can cause hurricanic or tornadic-force winds, actual tornadoes, heavy rains, and flash floods. In many

 ...

The Weather Network meteorologist Nicole Karkic explains the deadly line of storms that tracked through Ontario and Quebec. This event has been classified as a derecho.

   

Unbelievable video of intense storms in Ontario & Quebec on Victoria Day weekend

In depth coverage of Ontario storm destruction | Tens of thousands of people without power