SILVER LINING

Ukraine war will drive demand for Nutrien products for years: CEO


Thu, August 4, 2022 




CALGARY  

Saskatoon-based fertilizer giant Nutrien Ltd. surged to all-time high profits in the first six months of 2022 as the war in Ukraine destabilized agriculture markets and heightened global food security fears.

The Canadian company, which is the largest fertilizer producer in the world, raked in US$5 billion in profits in the first half of the year as crop input prices soared to multi-year highs.

For the three months ended June 30, Nutrien's net profit increased 224 per cent to US$3.6 billion. (The company said its earnings for the second quarter were affected by a non-cash impairment reversal related to its phosphate operations of US$450 million.)

On Wednesday, the company revised its full-year earnings guidance for 2022 to between US$14 billion and US$15.5 billion, down from a previously forecast US$14.5 billion to US$16.5 billion, due to lower nitrogen pricing and higher natural gas costs.

However, in spite of the slightly lower outlook, interim CEO Ken Seitz told analysts on a conference call Thursday that the ripple effects of the conflict in eastern Europe will continue to drive demand for Nutrien products for many years.

"We believe structural changes to global energy, agriculture and fertilizer markets will provide a support environment for Nutrien well beyond 2022," Seitz said.

Record high temperatures in Europe this summer have reduced summer crop yields, Seitz said. While crop commodity prices have been affected over the past month by broader market volatility, they are still 25 to 35 per cent above the 10-year average, he said.

While the recent deal to reopen Ukrainian wheat exports through the Black Sea would be a positive development for global food security if there is a sustained increase to shipments, Seitz said, it won't be enough to stabilize global agriculture markets.

"Analysts believe volumes will continue to be challenged by labor and logistical constraints in addition to ongoing military strikes in the region," he added. "Ukraine's grain production and export levels are projected to be down dramatically compared to 2021, leaving little buffer for any supply issues in other regions this growing season."

In June, Nutrien announced plans to increase its potash production capacity to 18 million tonnes per year by 2025, a 40 per cent increase over 2020 levels, to meet rising global demand.

Seitz told analysts Wednesday that potash shipments from Russia and Belarus were down an estimated 25 per cent and 50 per cent, respectively, in the first half of 2022. While Russian potash exports are not currently sanctioned, they have been impacted by restrictions on financing activities that facilitate exports.

"The impact of sanctions on Belarus supply has been more significant due to the loss of access to tidewater through Lithuania," Seitz said.

Nutrien's potash sales volumes for the three months ended June 30 were 3.7 million tonnes, a second-quarter record high.

Nutrien, which was created in 2018 as a result of the merger between PotashCorp of Saskatchewan and Calgary-based Agrium Inc., has six potash mines in Saskatchewan and two large phosphate mines in the U.S. It is also the world's third-largest producer of nitrogen. (Potash, phosphate and nitrogen are the three main plant nutrients used in commercial fertilizer.)

The company exports its products around the world, with Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and Malaysia accounting for 70 per cent of its offshore sales.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 4, 2022.

Companies in this story: (TSX:NTR)

Amanda Stephenson, The Canadian Press

BCE Inc. CEO confident company can handle network disruptions when they arise

Thu, August 4, 2022 



MONTREAL — The head of BCE Inc. looked to assure investors Thursday that the company's network is designed to avoid the kind of mass outage that recently hit Rogers Communications Inc.

"Bell’s wireless and wireline networks use different network infrastructures, and are configured such that a major disruption on the wireline network does not take down the national wireless network," said chief executive Mirko Bibic on an analyst conference call.

While he acknowledged that no network is completely immune to outages, he said "architecture clearly does make a difference."

"In the event of a localized outage, we have built an automated customer notification system starting first in Quebec and then Ontario," he added.

His comments come nearly a month after the Rogers Communications Inc. network outage hit both wireless and wireline networks and affected millions of customers across Canada.

Just days after the incident, the federal industry minister met with Canada's big telecom companies and gave them 60 days to come up with a resiliency plan to mitigate the impact of future outages and other emergency scenarios, including agreements on emergency roaming, a mutual assistance framework during outages and a communication protocol to better inform the public and authorities during telecom emergencies.

BCE reported Thursday that its profit slipped in the second quarter as revenue grew.

The company's second quarter results showed its profit attributable to common shareholders totalled $596 million or 66 cents per share for the quarter ended June 30, down from $685 million or 76 cents per share a year earlier.

Operating revenue totalled $5.86 billion, up from $5.70 billion in the same period last year.

On an adjusted basis, the telecom giant said it earned 87 cents per share, up from an adjusted profit of 83 cents per share a year earlier.

Wireless revenue rose to $2.24 billion compared with $2.13 billion a year ago, while wireline revenue dropped to $2.99 billion from $3 billion. Bell Media revenue totalled $821 million, up from $755 million in the same quarter last year.

The company said it continues to see momentum in its wireless business, with 110,761 mobile phone net subscriber activations in the second quarter. Retail internet net activations were also up 27.9 per cent.

On the call, the company also noted that the current inflationary environment has been quite manageable and hasn't caused any material issues. It also hasn't seen much change in customer payment patterns, with no related increases in bad debts and no extended payment terms.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug.4, 2022.

Companies in this story: (TSX:BCE)

The Canadian Press

Wood Buffalo National Park anthrax outbreak appears to slow, no new carcasses in past week

Thu, August 4, 2022 

Fire crews were at Sweetgrass Station last week disposing of 10 bison carcasses. (Parks Canada - image credit)

An anthrax outbreak in a remote area of Wood Buffalo National Park appears to be slowing down as no fresh bison carcasses have been found in the last week.

Parks Canada

Alice Will, bison project management lead and incident commander at Parks Canada, said the park completes routine surveillance flights and any recently spotted carcasses had been dead for a long time.

Will said favourable weather temperatures have helped slow the outbreak.

"We've had temperatures in the low 20s, some rain, some cool conditions," said Will.

"So we are seeing a pause or hopefully an end to the outbreak but we don't want to speak too soon."

So far 59 mortalities have been confirmed in remote areas of the park which pose no risk to the public.

Will said park employees continue to conduct ground and aerial monitoring.

Last week an incident management team was mobilized to assist in the disposal of 10 carcasses at the Sweetgrass Station. Sweetgrass is considered a priority area because of its close proximity to visitor facilities.

Culturally important

Will also said it was important for Parks Canada to work with their Indigenous partners who made specific requests for the disposal process.

"Bison are culturally important to the Cree, Dene and Métis [people] in the region and we have worked really closely with our Indigenous partners on the cultural component of our response," Will said.

The Incident Management Team and local staff all smudged prior to disposing of the carcasses. This was led by Wood Buffalo acting site superintendent Rhona Kindopp.

Kindopp said they received the sage from Fort Smith elder and activist, François Paulette and Fort Chipewyan Métis Local President Kendrick Cardinal said a prayer.

D McIntosh/Parks Canada

Indigenous team members also burned tobacco and diamond willow fungus at the disposal site, Will said this was done to pay respect to the deceased bison.

Kindopp said it was the first time ever that they began their anthrax response with the cultural element but said it was very well received.

"The crews were extremely engaged, appreciative, and respectful," said Kindopp.

Although extremely rare, humans can get anthrax from contact with an infected animal.

Anyone who comes across a dead animal in the park should not touch it. Instead, they should immediately report the location to the park at 867-872-0404.

WTF!

Transport Canada passed on chance to regulate cruise ships’ acidic wastewater

U.S. laws and regulations on vessel discharge are “more stringent in several ways compared to Canada,” the memo notes. This means cruise ships travelling up the West Coast are more likely to dump waste in Canadian waters, it says.

Thu, August 4, 2022 

Transport Canada planned to crack down on the cruise ship industry’s biggest source of pollution earlier this year, but that type of wastewater was missing when the department released new regulations.

In an internal memo obtained by Canada’s National Observer through an access-to-information request, the department said it would develop rules that focus on “the discharge of greywater, sewage, and scrubber washwater” — a type of pollution produced by cleaning systems that keep exhaust from heavy fuel oil that’s laden with heavy metals, sulfur dioxide, carcinogens and harmful pollutants out of the air.

Instead, that pollution winds up in the water: scrubber washwater contributes to ocean acidification — a lesser-known climate risk that can cause shellfish to die off and harm the marine ecosystem — and exposes endangered species like southern resident killer whales to harmful heavy metals.

But when Transport Canada announced the new measures roughly two weeks later, this type of pollution wasn’t even mentioned.

Only sewage and greywater — liquid waste from kitchens and showers — are addressed by the measures. Compliance is currently voluntary, meaning there are no penalties if cruise ships don’t follow the rules. Transport Canada is working with the cruise industry to make these measures mandatory starting in 2023, ministry spokesperson Sau Sau Lui told Canada’s National Observer in an emailed statement.

“To my analysis, [this] means that the cruise industry successfully negotiated Transport Canada to not deal with that pollution, which is 95 per cent of the [wastewater] dumping,” said Anna Barford, Stand.earth’s shipping campaigner, after reading the memo. “So, the biggest waste stream is something that Transport Canada just completely backed down on.”

Earlier this year, Lui, the Transport Canada spokesperson, said even though the department has no plans to regulate scrubber washwater this season, it is “committed to working with the maritime industry to develop a feasible approach that can reduce washwater discharge in Canadian waters going forward.”

“It's really striking that scrubber washwater is the thing that got left out because that is completely a choice,” said Barford. While toilets and showers are necessary, cruise ship operators and companies choose to use scrubbers instead of burning cleaner fuel like they're already required to do in California, she said.

The result? The cruise industry gets to use Canada’s waters as a “toilet bowl,” said Barford.

Municipalities and environmental groups have also voiced their concerns about scrubber washwater.

A month after the voluntary measures were announced, the Metro Vancouver Regional District chair wrote to Transport Minister Omar Alghabra and Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault urging them to ban the use of scrubbers and require the use of cleaner fuel.

According to the memo, the non-mandatory measures were developed in consultation with the cruise ship industry and sought to “align with what the states of Washington and Alaska have in place.”

That the memo only references consultation with the cruise ship industry is a big problem, Barford says.

“Where is civil society? Where are the environmentalists, where are First Nations, why is it just industry?” she asked. “I think if Transport Canada consulted people that weren't just in the industry, they would learn more about what they're putting at risk and their arguments may erode, but we're not seeing that transparency.”

When asked why only industry was consulted on the non-mandatory regulations, the department told Canada’s National Observer: “Broader engagement will also be planned, to include all interested parties, starting this fall. The department will take all appropriate measures to ensure that interested parties are aware of, and have an opportunity to participate in, future engagement on the issue of discharges.”

U.S. laws and regulations on vessel discharge are “more stringent in several ways compared to Canada,” the memo notes. This means cruise ships travelling up the West Coast are more likely to dump waste in Canadian waters, it says.

“There's no reason for us to continue to be a toilet bowl. We can put the lid down, very simply,” said Barford.

— With files from Rochelle Baker

Natasha Bulowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada's National Observer

In the North, Indigenous workers outpaced non-Indigenous in CERB uptake by wide margin: Statistics Canada

Thu, August 4, 2022 

Part of a cheque for the $2,000 Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB). Available from March 2020 to September 2020, CERB provided up to $500 per week for eligible Canadians to a maximum of $14,000 over 28 weeks.

 (Chris Helgren/Reuters - image credit)

Indigenous workers with relatively low annual earnings were the most likely to receive Canadian Emergency Relief Benefit payments, says a new Statistics Canada report.

That's among the overall findings of the report, released on Wednesday, which looked at the CERB program among First Nations, Métis and Inuit.

Available from March 2020 to September 2020, CERB provided up to $500 per week for eligible Canadians to a maximum of $14,000 over 28 weeks.

According to the report, among all workers who earned at least $5,000 in 2019, more Indigenous workers (39.2 per cent) than non-Indigenous workers (33.9 per cent) received CERB payments.

"Around 41.5 per cent of First Nations workers received CERB payments in 2020, while 36.2 per cent of Métis and 40.3 per cent of Inuit workers did the same," the report states.

Co-author Huda Masoud said the report drew information directly from CERB records and the long form of the Statistics Canada census to examine socio-economic characteristics of Indigenous workers who received the benefit between March and September 2020.

Inuit and CERB

The report focused largely on various differences regarding CERB receipt by Inuit men and women in the four Inuit regions and those living in the South.

Among the report's findings: In Inuit Nunangat the proportion of Inuit workers who received CERB in 2020 was highest for those living in Nunavik (47.1 per cent,) followed by those in Nunavut (41.7 per cent.)

Those living in Nunatsiavut were the least likely to receive CERB (26.4 per cent).

Masoud said the report noted these differences between the four Inuit regions but did not delve into the reasons behind them.

The report also found that among Inuit living in Inuit Nunangat, the highest proportion of CERB receipt in 2020 was seen among those 25 to 54 years (45.3 per cent).

Outside those regions, younger Inuit, aged 15 to 24, were more likely to receive payments (46.9 per cent).

Overall, Inuit workers living inside Inuit Nunangat were more likely to receive CERB (42.1 per cent) than those living outside (36.2 per cent).

Inuit men living in Inuit Nunangat (44.6 per cent) were also more likely to receive CERB than women (39.5 per cent,) with little difference seen between both sexes outside of Inuit regions.

Again, the report did not look at the reasons for those regional or gender differences, but it did look at over-representation in lower-paying jobs and certain industries such as accommodation and food services as well as construction.

So that "may have been a factor" in why more Inuit men than women in the North received CERB, Masoud suggested.

Northwest Territories and Yukon

The report concluded that among the three territories, 40.2 per cent of people who received CERB payments were Indigenous, compared to 18.3 per cent who were non-Indigenous. That was the greatest differential among all jurisdictions in Canada.

According to the report, the pandemic and economic downturn had "disproportionate impacts on Indigenous people, who were more vulnerable due to pre-existing disparities, such as lower incomes, higher levels of poverty and food insecurity, rooted in historical and ongoing impacts of colonization."

As Masoud noted regarding Inuit CERB recipients, the report states that the overrepresentation of Indigenous workers who turned to CERB may reflect their overrepresentation in low-paying jobs and in pandemic-affected industries.

In the Northwest Territories, the territorial government is the largest employer: it employs more than 5,000 of the territory's labour force of approximately 26,700 people.

Government jobs were largely protected during the pandemic, but those jobs in the Northwest Territories are largely staffed by non-Indigenous residents.

According to the 2020-2021 annual report on the N.W.T. public service, only 29.3 per cent of the government workforce is Indigenous. In senior management, that figure is 20 per cent. Census data shows Indigenous people account for about 51 per cent of the territory's population.

In the Yukon, only 15 per cent of Yukon Government workers are Indigenous even though 22 per cent of Yukon's population identifies as First Nation, Inuit or Métis.

In the Northwest Territories and Yukon, 43.2 per cent of CERB recipients were First Nations, while 28.2 per cent were Métis.

Community and school gardens don’t magically sprout bountiful benefits

Mitchell McLarnon, Assistant Professor, Adult Education, Concordia University
Thu, August 4, 2022 

THE CONVERSATION

While it is widely understood that community and and school gardening have innumerable health, well-being and educational benefits, it’s important to realize these benefits don’t magically appear when gardens take root.

Over the past six years, I’ve worked closely with educators, community workers, activists and community members in Tio’tia:ke/Montréal as we created, funded and sustained gardens and garden teams at schools and community organizations.

We set up adult education internships to provide practical gardening and teaching support to explore the extent to which gardens act as forums where people address social and environmental justice. Some participants experienced barriers to employment, food insecurity and homelessness.

This research and community work demonstrated how critical it is to advocate for broader social, urban and educational structural changes to support community garden work — and to understand the importance of having realistic expectations about what people can accomplish in and through gardens.

Who do benefits reach?

In Tio’tia:ke/Montréal, community gardening unfolds in many different ways that might include gardening efforts at community-based organizations and city-run gardens.

There are significant wait lists to access a garden plot in the city, exacerbated by community gardens being historically reserved for property-owning individuals.

According to the mayor of Montréal, “for many people, community gardens are more than just a hobby. They allow them to feed their families and to obtain fresh produce at a low cost.”

Such statements obscure more complex issues around who controls and accesses community gardens and deeper entrenched social inequities relating to land rights in a capitalist settler-colonial society that privileges ownership, whiteness and hierarchical modes of relating.

Relationship to food insecurity

My findings contest claims that suggest community gardening is inherently an activity that reduces under-served communities’ food insecurity.

Reflecting on my efforts to grow food for organizations that work with people experiencing food insecurity, as part of a project called “Gardening for Food Security,” I cannot claim gardening helped to alleviate the concerns of people experiencing food insecurity in any quantifiable way.

This is despite producing an immense amount of food harvested on a weekly/bi-weekly basis from late June to early November in 2018 and 2019.

Although the gardens were thriving, the organization never reduced their food order to Montréal’s largest food bank. This may be because while participants ate from the garden harvest, their reliance upon it did not reduce their need for other food. The Gardening for Food Security project did, however, modestly support a food bank and a once-a-week meal service.

Mixed effects for communities, individuals

As we gardened and invested in gardens for different social, educational and environmental reasons in rapidly gentrifying neighbourhoods, we contributed to increasing land values in a process described as green gentrification.

Despite these critical observations, some benefits of the project included:

offering relevant paid employment for young adults experiencing barriers to employment, food insecurity and homelessness;

providing mentorship and opportunities for under-served young adults and students to express themselves (through art, photography, music, film, gardening);

facilitating partnerships between schools and organizations with mandates of social and environmental justice for mutual benefit;

acquiring prolonged financial, learning and human resource support to educators, learners, community workers and community members, while developing ethical relationships and collaborating to accomplish shared objectives.

The latter three types of benefits are difficult to quantify to funders.

Problems with schools gardens

Gardening as part of environmental education is not mandatory core curriculum in Québec. School gardening often occurs outside of formal class time, during lunch hour or after school. Taken together, organizing gardening experiences for students within most public schools adds additional labour to already overworked and under-supported educators.

For gardening to be relevant and add educational value for both teachers and learners, gardens need to be incorporated into each core curricular area (French, English, Math and so on) and not only used before or after school hours and during lunchtime.

Read more: School-community gardens plant the seeds of change to address global warming

Many of my teacher collaborators stated that they are fully committed and interested in creating garden-based learning experiences for their students. But securing permissions translates to administrative labour. This can detract from arranging other important aspects of garden creation like establishing funding, building relationships with collaborators or drawing curricular connections and so on.
Small community change

Tio’tia:ke/Montréal, like many Canadian cities, has a long winter and a short intense summer. For school gardens to work, the planning and administrative labour and permissions for a spring garden need to happen early in the school year to account for inevitable delays.

If educators or outside parties wish to support school gardens with funding and labour, I strongly recommend that students lead the creation, development and importantly the evaluation of the garden as a project.

When gardens are prematurely celebrated for producing anticipated outcomes such as health and well-being and food security, without a larger acknowledgement of how these complex issues are affected by systemic barriers, much can be lost.

This includes the well-being of teachers who invest immense labour in something they believe in with limited institutional support, and affordable spaces for people to live who get dispossessed of their homes, communities and networks through green gentrification.

No easy solutions

There are no easy solutions to the social and environmental problems of school, community gardening or greening.

Often, teachers and community members want and need a garden, but they are more in need of: financial support, teaching support, human resource support, more time, fewer students, curricular freedom, relevant professional development and land that isn’t part of a bigger capitalist system of private ownership or tied up in red tape.

Even small community change takes time and needs ongoing collective effort.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Mitchell McLarnon, Concordia University.

Read more:

At a New York City garden, students grow their community roots and critical consciousness

Making our food fairer: Don’t Call Me Resilient EP 12 transcript

Mitchell McLarnon receives funding from Employment and Social Development Canada

List of students alleging abuse at Sask. Christian school growing rapidly

Fri, August 5, 2022 

Former students of the Christian Centre Academy, now called Legacy Christian Academy, say all government subsidies and tax breaks for the school and adjacent Mile Two Church must be halted until police and prosecutors have dealt with their abuse complaints and the government has conducted a full investigation of the school's practices. (Jason Warick/CBC - image credit)

The chorus of former students from a private Saskatoon Christian school with stories of abuse and degradation is growing.

They include children and grandchildren of top officials from Christian Centre Academy and the adjacent Saskatoon Christian Centre Church.

The school is now known as Legacy Christian Academy. The church has also undergone a name change, to Mile Two Church.

"This place has left a long trail of abused and damaged people. I'm glad we got out of that cult-ish community," said 19-year-old Garrison Davis, the grandson of the church's original pastor.

Saskatoon police are encouraging other alleged victims and their supporters to contact them.

"As police, we understand that the decision to file a formal report is a personal one, particularly when it relates to interpersonal violence," reads the statement emailed to CBC News on Thursday. "We ... encourage those who have information believed to be relevant to the investigation to come forward and support those who wish to make a formal report in doing so."

Submitted by Garrison Davis

Earlier this week, a CBC News investigation revealed 18 former students have filed criminal abuse complaints with the Saskatoon police. Since that story was published, CBC News has spoken to nearly a dozen more. Most say they will go to police.

The new allegations cover a wider time period than the initial complaints.

Davis said he was repeatedly paddled as late as the spring of 2012, and it was common to hear of similar assaults on other students at this time.

"It's not like just getting swatted with someone's hand. It's a hard, wood paddle that they had specially made. It would absolutely leave pretty intense bruising [and would] be sore for days afterward," he said.

School says it has apologized

The Supreme Court of Canada declared all corporal punishment by school officials to be illegal as of January 2004. Legal experts said any paddling or other force applied after that time would clearly constitute criminal assault, and private schools are subject to the same laws.

Submitted by Kieran Friesen

School officials have repeatedly refused interview requests, but have issued two written statements.

In the first, they said that paddling has not occurred in "more than two decades." In the second, issued this week, they say they've "offered numerous public and private apologies" to students in recent years.

But students say paddling and other abuse was widespread for years after the Supreme Court ruling, and no student is aware of apologies of any kind.

CBC asked officials for letters, emails, videos or other evidence of previous apologies, but no one from the church or school responded.

'A trauma I'm still dealing with'

Students say the lies must stop, and they want justice.

"It's a trauma I'm still dealing with, [but] I want to stand up and talk about it," said Kieran Friesen, whose estranged father was the principal of the school when he attended.

Friesen, who is transgender, said he was ashamed and confused about his identity throughout his time at the school. After graduation, he engaged in self-harm and contemplated suicide because of the enormous guilt.

"I always knew something was different. I couldn't talk about it because we were always told anything different was wrong. I was in constant fear. I couldn't be myself," said Friesen, who is now living in Edmonton with his partner and two kids.

Friesen and others say they were inspired to finally speak publicly when they saw the interviews with fellow students. They said it showed them they're not alone.

Submitted by Jillian Kudryk

"I saw the story this week and decided I need to file a police report, and I needed to say something," said Jillian Kudryk, who said she was paddled at least 10 times before she left the school in 2005 at age 15 because of deteriorating mental health.

Her brother, Kristian Kudryk, said he was paddled as a Grade 7 student in 2005 because of difficulties caused by an undiagnosed learning disability. Kudryk said he and others were forced to kneel in the school stairwell, extending their arms straight forward as the teacher stacked books in their hands. When their muscles failed and the books fell, they were forced to pick them up, give them back to the teacher and do it twice more.

"These people left a big scar on my life. It was a little cult," he said.

Davis, Friesen, the Kudryks and others said the physical abuse was wrong, but the psychological and spiritual manipulation were worse.

When Kayla Pickles attended in the late-1990s, she said the director would often call her into his office after she broke one of the school's many rules, such as questioning a teacher. She said he would scream and yell at her for two or three hours at a time.

"He said I was filled with the devil and giving in to the dark side," Pickles said.

'It should've been closed down long ago'

In the statement this week, school and church officials say they'll support any former student who asks.

"We have and will cooperate fully with any officials or authorities that are investigating their actions," read the statement.

"We continue to encourage and support any former student who believes they were abused or assaulted to file a report with the police so these matters can be investigated and dealt with properly and legally."

On Wednesday, the Saskatchewan NDP called on the provincial government to suspend more than $700,000 in public funds given annually to the school, until these serious allegations can be investigated.

Education Minister Dustin Duncan's office said no action will be considered until the police investigation is complete

.

Kirk Fraser/CBC

The file has been passed to Crown prosecutors to consider possible charges. But an email sent to students says that process could take another year.

Most students interviewed say Duncan needs to step in to protect other children, and the entire institution must be shuttered permanently.

"It just sickens me," said former student Brooke Parr, 25. "I think it should've been closed down long ago."

Supreme Court won't hear Alberta union's constitutional challenge of Bill 

Thu, August 4, 2022

AUPE asked the Supreme Court for leave to appeal the ruling. The court declined without providing reasons why, as it does in all of its leave to appeal denials. \(Michel Aspirot/CBC - image credit)

The Supreme Court of Canada has decided not to hear an appeal of a decision on the constitutionality of the United Conservative Party government's Critical Infrastructure Defence Act.

The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees challenged the law, also known as Bill 1, after it came into force in June 2020.

AUPE argued the law is unconstitutional as it would prohibit picketing of what the government deemed "essential infrastructure" during labour disputes and hurt its ability to engage in collective bargaining.

The union wanted the court to declare Bill 1 unconstitutional.

In December, the Alberta Court of Appeal dismissed the AUPE's claim, ruling that the union had no standing in the case because none of its members have been charged under the act. The court said AUPE was basing its arguments on "hypothetical" situations.

AUPE asked the Supreme Court for leave to appeal the ruling. The court declined without providing reasons why, as it does in all of its leave to appeal denials. The Alberta Court of Appeal decision stands.

Eric Adams, a law professor at the University of Alberta, wasn't surprised the Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

"For a legal challenge to fully come before the courts, you need evidence," Adams said.

"You need evidence of how it actually is operating on people's lives, what rights and freedoms it actually is impacting.

"And the (Alberta) Court of Appeals said, since we don't have any of that evidence, we don't have any of that information, and the claim could not proceed."

Bill 1 was introduced in response to the blockades of CN rail lines by Indigenous protesters in January 2020.

The bill levies hefty fines against individuals or companies found to have blocked, damaged or illegally entered any "essential infrastructure" including pipelines, rail lines, highways, oil sites, telecommunications equipment, radio towers, electrical lines, dams and farms.

Artur Pawlowski, the controversial Calgary street preacher, was charged under the act in February. He was accused of inciting protesters at the border blockade in Coutts, Alta.

 Newfoundland and Labrador

Province invites more wind energy industry

Thu, August 4, 2022

ST. JOHN'S – On Tuesday afternoon, July 26, Minister Andrew Parsons, Industry, Energy, and Technology (IET), and Minister Bernard Davis, Environment and Climate Change, provided an update on wind energy generation across the province. On April 5 the province first announced that the moratorium on wind development in Newfoundland and Labrador was lifted, and this latest announcement moves the province one step further in that process.

IET is launching a call for the submission of nominations of areas of interest for wind energy projects across the province, and any available Crown lands in the province are open for this purpose. All interested parties can provide any number of proposals, and each proposal has no limit on geographical size.

Submissions opened on the same day as the announcement, July 26, and will remain open until Oct. 1. Parsons said that while nominations are open, NL Hydro will be completing their wind integration study that will assess the amount of wind generation that can be supported by the electricity grid.

“These results will be shared with companies and made public to ensure proposed projects are technically viable before the call for land nomination closes.”

Parsons said he understands there will be a lot of questions moving forward, but they will continue to be transparent throughout the process, which will provide an opportunity to have ongoing constructive conversations.

“In late August we will be hosting a Crown land nomination information session to answer questions that interest companies may have. That’s not to say that we will not be available day-to-day as we have been for the past number of months.”

Parsons said his department has been working hard to understand the needs of a wind industry.

“Wind development in Newfoundland and Labrador provides us an opportunity for economic development and for job creation. We know the majority of jobs in this industry occur within the planning, development, and construction phase, but it’s also supplemented by jobs during operation and maintenance. The number of jobs depends on the projects that get approved through the process and this will be an important part of the bid criteria that is currently being developed.”

Parsons said they have to be sure residents of the province will have the necessary training for jobs in this renewable energy sector.

“Newfoundland and Labrador has some of the best wind resources in North America. My department has been engaged with a number of companies interested in exploring industrial development and we know they are anxious to get further information on the multi-stage process. As we work to develop the policies to allow wind development, we need to ensure a fair and transparent process while recognizing that this resource and these opportunities belong to the people of the province. We must ensure that any decisions we make are in the best interests of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, now and into the future."

Following the assessment of nominations, the province will determine what land will be made available for the first round of the competitive land bid process. Parsons said the goal is for the next step, the call for bids, to be launched by mid-December.

Companies have already submitted a request for Crown lands for wind development but currently no applications have been approved. Parsons said the province is taking a timely approach and are trying to expedite it.

“We want to be first into this emerging market, or certainly near the top, but we also know that we have to get it right at the same time.”

Parsons said it is essential that they make sure all decisions made are in the best interest of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

“I believe this step today is certainly a positive one. It’s laying the groundwork for a process that I think will be successful.”

A proposed project for the Port au Port Peninsula has had many residents voicing their concerns about the potential environmental and health impacts the wind turbines could cause.

Minister Davis said all proposed projects will undergo the province’s vigorous and comprehensive environmental assessment process.

“I am pleased to see the development of alternative energy sources in this province. The level of interest in our wind and hydrogen energy potential is indicative of the role we can play in the vital global transition to a green economy. Technologies such as these will be instrumental in ensuring a sustainable energy future. All proposed projects will undergo the province’s comprehensive and rigorous environmental assessment process, which includes an opportunity for the public and interested parties to provide feedback and comments before any decision is made.”

Jaymie White, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Wreckhouse Weekly News

Climate Reality Project creating collaborative poetry, murals for climate action

Thu, August 4, 2022

Using art to connect disparate communities, the Climate Reality Project wants to uplift the voices of those most dramatically affected by the warming of our planet and hopefully get world leaders at the next global climate conference to take notice.

Teams from Canada, the Philippines and across Africa will host a workshop series this summer to create collaborative “pebble poems” about the climate crisis that will then be displayed (and developed further) at the United Nations' COP27 conference, which takes place in Egypt in November.

“We're bringing inside those decision-making spaces voices that don't necessarily have access to those spaces,” explained André-Yanne Parent, the 35-year-old executive director of the Canadian branch of the initiative, which was founded by former U.S. vice-president Al Gore in 2006 and now boasts more than 40,000 trained climate leaders in 174 countries (including more than 1,600 in Canada).

A pebble poem is a short piece of writing that its creator shares and invites other people to reflect on and add to. The group plans for new poems to be created at COP27, where they have so far secured space in the Indonesian pavilion. The project is still seeking a presence with the Canadian and U.S. contingents.

“We strongly believe that through the medium of art, we're able to bring conversation that can be polarizing and … reduce those elements of our polarization by just being able to connect with the beauty of a poem, the beauty of a mural,” she said, adding another goal is to build compassionate communities standing in solidarity.

The poems are the second stage of a project that kicked off with the creation of murals last month in Montreal; Johannesburg, South Africa; and the Philippines (where Agam Agenda is also involved in the collaboration) that riffed on words from poems, which the visual artists also used as inspiration.

Parent’s colleague Gaïa Febvre, the Canadian branch’s community engagement manager, said they want to “express the urgency to act, and the need to be more ambitious in decision and action” directly to the diplomats and decision-makers in attendance at COP27.

Starting this week and running throughout August, the project will host five virtual workshops featuring poet-mentors from the three participating countries and regions. Each will focus on a different type of biome — forest, freshwater, ocean and coastal, alpine and grasslands.

Bringing in mentors from the different regions is designed to help walk participants through that creative process in a linguistically coherent and culturally meaningful way, Parent said, while the groups — which consist of between 10 and 15 participants from each region for each session — will also be mixed into cross-cultural groups in smaller breakout rooms to share and collaborate.

Parent said given the level of interest in the project so far, they are now looking to develop a mini-curriculum to take into schools to further meaningful conversation on climate in the classroom.

Both Parent and Febvre said it was difficult to imagine not working on initiatives related to climate change.

“It's not a choice, it's really the reality where I have to be involved and it's really part of my purpose in my life,” Febvre said. “I want to be involved and I want to create with people.”

Morgan Sharp, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada's National Observer