Ontario healthcare is 'an absolute disaster': Things are only going to get worse for hospital staffing, medical experts say

Elianna Lev

Thu, August 4, 2022

Ontario’s medical system is currently in crisis, according to several medical professionals, which in turn is impacting the province in many aspects.

According to the Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA), about 25 hospitals across the province had to scale back services over the August long weekend as a direct result of staffing shortages. Despite being the country’s most respected professions, nursing and doctor job positions across the province and Canada are desperately understaffed. One million people in Ontario (and 5 million in Canada) don’t have a family doctor. Meanwhile, paramedics say their response time is slowing as a result of offload delays. Medical staff across the board are experiencing exhaustion, overwhelmed by a workload directly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Rose Zacharias, president of the Ontario Medical Association, describes the healthcare system in the province in an “extreme crisis state,” something she says isn’t surprising.

We had gaps in the healthcare system before the pandemic, so dealing with the crisis of COVID as we have for the last two-and-a-half years has put us into the situation we’re in now with doctor shortages and ER department closures.

Dr. Rose Zacharias, President of Ontario Medical Association

Mike Sanderson, chief of the Hamilton Paramedic Service and the treasurer of the Ontario Association of Paramedic Chiefs, says paramedics have had the same issues with COVID-19 and self isolation as the rest of the community, which has impacted their availability for staffing. He says another challenge they’re currently facing is the increase of call volumes, which continue to go up, anywhere from five to 20 per cent, compared to pre-pandemic levels.

“That creates additional workload and stress, along with other challenges,” he says.

Hospital offload delays in services in both large and small rural communities are creating significant challenges that are leading to crowded hospitals, where paramedics have to keep patients in hallways for long periods of time until the hospitals are able to accept them.

Recruitment is also proving to be challenging, as the pandemic has impacted class sizes and the number of people coming out of school.

“Many services are in the process of hiring and trying to compete for the same employees,” he says.

Sanderson says he doesn’t expect much to change in the fall, and anticipates another few years until things get back to pre-pandemic “normalcy”.

“I think it’s going to be a challenging fall, I wouldn’t paint a rosy picture,” he says. “But hopefully we’ll be able to start to recover…it’s really going to take a concerted effort.”

Ontario healthcare is 'an absolute disaster'

Cathryn Hoy, president of the ONA, calls the current state of healthcare in the province “an absolute disaster.” When it comes to nurses, she says the provincial government needs to be doing more to retain them, namely paying them more.

While the government has offered $5000 of retention funds to nurses who take a job in Ontario, Hoy says the move doesn’t make sense.

“There’s 30,000 jobs out there, why do you have to give someone a bonus to take a job,” she asks. “That’s a waste of healthcare dollars. The (nurses) who’ve been through the thick and thin of COVID aren’t getting any of those dollars.”

She also wants to see the province repel Bill 124, pre-pandemic legislation that is meant to limit compensation for publicly funded organizations. She says more nurses are compelled to take work through agencies, rather than work for healthcare employers like hospitals, because they’ll get paid more, regardless of experience or years working.

“If you pay RNs, they’ll come back,” she says. “They want to live in their communities, they want to live close to home.”

It's not just medical professionals who are expressing their concern. Many are taking to social media to address the health care situation in Ontario.

Zacharias with the Ontario Medical Association says they’ve written a “prescription” for the Ontario government on potential solutions. Some key priorities include catching up with backlogs, investments in mental health and addiction services and an investment in a public health strategy. 

The entirety of the recommendations can be seen at Betterhealthcare.ca

 

Unions representing thousands of Ontario healthcare workers have unveiled a five-point plan that they claim will help fix the current staffing crisis at hospitals across the province.

 

Unions representing 70,000 Ontario hospital workers demand action amid staff shortages

Jul 21, 2022

CBC News

Canadian Medical Association President Dr. Katharine Smart discusses the state of the country's health-care system and the political will to seek solutions to address what she calls a 'crisis.'

  

A Collapse of Ontario's Health Care System? | The Agenda

Jun 24, 2022

The Agenda with Steve Paikin

Despite a two-year pandemic and the strain it put on Ontario hospitals, medical staff are reporting that what is happening in emergency wards throughout the country is worse now than at the height of the various COVID-19 outbreaks. We ask, is Ontario's health-care system on the verge of collapse

Lebanese woman sees son for first time since blast two years ago

Maya Gebeily and Layla Bassam
Thu, August 4, 2022 

Nassma Cheaito, kisses the hand of her sister, Liliane who is mostly paralyzed from August 2020 port as she lies on hospital bed at the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) in Beirut


By Maya Gebeily and Layla Bassam

(Reuters) - Lebanese mother Liliane Cheaito, stuck in the hospital since the Beirut blast two years ago, saw her son for the first time on Thursday following a court ruling in a protracted family dispute with her husband.

Cheaito has not left the American University of Beirut's Medical Center since August 4, 2020, when she was brought in bruised and bleeding after the enormous explosion at Beirut's port, which was caused by improperly stored chemicals.

She sustained severe damage to her frontal brain cortex that left her mostly paralyzed and unable to speak.

Two of her four sisters told Reuters that her husband, Hassan Ali Hodroj, had barred her from seeing their son Ali, now two years old, during her stay in the hospital. Liliane's family in 2020 filed a complaint with Shi'ite religious authorities seeking to compel Hodroj to allow the child to visit his injured mother.

Iqbal Cheaieb, a lawyer for Hodroj, said the father had kept Ali from the hospital because he was "scared" to let the boy see his mother in such a state. The couple remain married.

On Thursday, Ali visited Liliane at the hospital for the first time following an order by a Shi'ite court in Lebanon, where personal affairs including custody of children are determined by tribunals pertaining to the individual's sect.

"The court issued a final decision on Wednesday mandating weekly visits and our father and lawyer met with Mufti Ahmed Qabalan this morning," said Nawal Cheaito, Liliane's sister.

Qabalan is the top Shi'ite cleric in Lebanon.

A photo shared by the family showed Liliane in her hospital bed, extending her left hand to a curly-haired boy in a black shirt that the family identified as two-year-old Ali.

"She didn't take her eyes off of him for one second," Nawal told Reuters, saying she hoped the visits would boost Liliane's morale and speed up her recovery.

In July, Liliane uttered her first word in nearly two years – "mama" – understood by her siblings to be a cry for Ali.

Her sisters had earlier told Reuters that Liliane represented the "agony" of Lebanon's multiple crises: the devastating blast and its aftermath for grieving families, and the daily struggle of many citizens to survive as the country's economy has crumbled.

(Reporting by Maya Gebeily and Layla Bassam; editing by Marla Dickerson)

Ottawa to challenge lower but 'baseless' U.S. duties on softwood lumber, says Ng

Thu, August 4, 2022 



WASHINGTON — Lower than expected U.S. penalties on softwood lumber exports from Canada are doing little to temper the dismay of the federal government in Ottawa.

International Trade Minister Mary Ng is calling the latest duties "baseless," "unwarranted" and "unfair."

The key final rate of 8.59 per cent is significantly lower than the current rate of 17.91 per cent, as well as the 11.64 per cent proposed in a preliminary decision issued earlier this year.

But Ng says the duties are unjustified no matter the level, and will cause undue hardship to both Canada's forestry industry and consumers in the U.S.

She says Ottawa will challenge the latest finding under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement's dispute resolution system.

Ng is nonetheless leaving the door open to a resolution to the years-long dispute, which some U.S. lawmakers and observers have been calling for to help ease record levels of inflation south of the border.

"Canada has always been willing to work with the United States to explore ideas that could allow for a return to predictable cross-border trade in softwood lumber," Ng said in a statement.

"We remain confident that a negotiated solution to this long-standing trade issue is in the best interests of both our countries, and we welcome an open dialogue with the Unites States to this end."

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai has also said the U.S. is willing to talk — on one condition.

Tai wants Canada to address the provincial stumpage fee regime that American producers have long complained gives producers north of the border an unfair advantage — the core issue in a dispute that has persisted for decades.

Federal officials in Ottawa say Canada would never agree to such a fundamental change to the way a key Crown resource is managed before the two sides have even sat down.

"These duties have caused unjustified harm to the Canadian industry and its workers," Ng said.

"They also amount to a tax on U.S. consumers, exacerbating housing unaffordability at a time of increased supply challenges and inflationary pressures."

Lumber-producing provinces set so-called stumpage fees for timber harvested from Crown land — a system that U.S. producers, forced to pay market rates, say amounts to an unfair subsidy.

Democrat Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey and South Dakota Republican Sen. John Thune are among those who have been urging the Biden administration to provide further tariff relief on imports from Canada.

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

Canada to Challenge US Lumber Duties Using Regional Trade Pact

Ana Monteiro and Jen Skerritt
Thu, August 4, 2022


(Bloomberg) -- Canada’s government said it will challenge US duties on softwood lumber, saying the tariffs have caused “unjustified harm” to the industry and workers.

“Canada is disappointed that the United States continues to impose unwarranted and unfair duties,” International Trade Minister Mary Ng said in a statement Thursday. “While the duty rates will decrease from the current levels for the majority of exporters, the only truly fair outcome would be for the United States to cease applying baseless duties.”

Ottawa will request dispute settlement through the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement after the Commerce Department ruled it will keep in place levies on some imports, according to the statement.

The lumber-tariff challenge would be the latest to use a dispute-resolution mechanism in the USMCA agreement between the three nations, previously known as Nafta. Canada and the US have lodged a complaint over Mexico’s nationalist energy policy, while all three are engaged in a spat over car manufacturing.

The Trump administration imposed tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber in 2017, saying the industry is unfairly subsidized. The US raised rates on imports in 2021 even as an unprecedented rally lifted prices to record highs during a pandemic-fueled homebuilding and renovation boom.

Ng added that the tariffs “also amount to a tax on US consumers, exacerbating housing unaffordability at a time of increased supply challenges and inflationary pressures. US builders get more than a quarter of their lumber from Canada, the world’s largest softwood-lumber exporter.

The US Commerce Department on Thursday ruled that the new, combined “all others rate” that will apply to some Canadian softwood-lumber exports will drop to 8.59% from 17.91%.

U.S. Lumber Coalition Supports Commerce Department Continued Enforcement of Trade Laws and Continued Growth of American Made Lumber to Build American Homes

Thu, August 4, 2022 

WASHINGTON, Aug. 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Department of Commerce today issued its final determination in the third annual review of softwood lumber imports from Canada. The total duty rate of 8.59% confirms yet again that Canadian lumber imports are unfairly traded into the U.S. market.

"The trade laws duties announced today by the Commerce Department will help offset Canada's unfair trade practices," said Andrew Miller, Chairman of the U.S. Lumber Coalition and CEO of Stimson Lumber. "The benefit of the trade cases against Canada are clear," added Miller. "Trade law enforcement boosts American manufacturing and results in more U.S. lumber being produced by U.S. workers to build U.S. homes."

U.S. sawmills have invested heavily to expand capacity since the trade cases were filed in 2016. The domestic industry has produced an additional 15 billion board feet of lumber through 2021, averaging 3 billion a year of additional output. This is enough lumber to build over 1 million single-family homes.

The U.S. Lumber Coalition supports the continued enforcement of the U.S. trade laws to strengthen domestic supply chains by allowing American companies to invest and increase the overall supply of made-in-America lumber and will continue to aggressively pursue the enforcement of the trade laws.

The U.S. industry remains open to a new U.S.–Canada softwood lumber trade agreement if and when Canada can demonstrate that it is serious about negotiations for an agreement that addresses Canada's unfair trade practices which are harming U.S. producers, workers, and timberland holders. Until then, the U.S. Lumber Coalition fully supports the continued strong enforcement of the U.S. trade laws to address Canada's unfair softwood lumber trade practices.

About the U.S. Lumber Coalition

The U.S. Lumber Coalition is an alliance of large and small softwood lumber producers from around the country, joined by their employees, and woodland owners, working to address Canada's unfair lumber trade practices. Our goal is to serve as the voice of the American lumber community, and effectively address Canada's unfair softwood lumber trade practices, including its gross underpricing of timber. For more information, please visit the Coalition's website at www.uslumbercoalition.org.

ANTI-VAXXERS
Shelburne protesters continue to rally against vaccine mandates

Thu, August 4, 2022 

Shelburne truck driver Jeremy Glass believes what he calls medical coercion should have no place in Canada.

Put simply, he said people should be given a choice whether to get an increasing number of vaccinations against COVID-19.

Glass was part of a July 30 protest in front of Shelburne’s town hall. It was just the latest of a series of demonstrations.

Gaggles of people with Canadian flags and slogan-scribbled signs gathered on either side of the town’s main thoroughfare. Music blared from speakers and was counterpointed by shouts of “Freedom” bellowed at passing motorists.

Barbecues set up nearby filled the air with aromas of summer fare that was carried on the breeze.

Glass, one of the protest organizers, said he was among the truckers in the so-called Freedom Convoy that besieged Ottawa last winter.

“I let them take my rights,” he said. “I stayed until they arrested me. They took me outside of town in the paddy wagon with a bunch of other people and dropped us off like dirty raccoons.”

He said he didn’t face criminal charges for taking part in the civil unrest.

“I decided when I came back that I was going to stand out here every Saturday,” said Glass.

That was 14 rallies ago, and it started with a handful of family and friends he talked into joining him. People he’d met and spoke with at past protests have joined the throng.

“I just keeps getting bigger,” Glass said.

He acknowledged that many of the protesters have been vaccinated. Their main gripe is not having a choice about being vaccinated against the coronavirus. Further, they have a problem with employment in some professions being contingent upon vaccination status.

And he maintains pharmaceutical companies and governments are withholding information from the masses. Glass cited strokes, Bell Palsy, and neurological ailments as being examples of what he calls vaccination injuries.

“Everybody is going to want to draw their line in the sand sometime,” he said. “Maybe you have your three or your four boosters. Maybe you’re going to draw your line at six (boosters).”

According to Glass, as many as 840,000 Canadians have lost their jobs because of vaccination mandates.

“There’s millions of Canadians that got the shot (while) not wanting to,” he said. “It is medical coercion and it isn’t informed consent. People have a right to know the side effects.”

-30-

James Matthews, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Orangeville Citizen

P.E.I. asking for feedback from non-unionized long-term care workers

Thu, August 4, 2022 

Gord McNeilly, chair of the standing committee on health and social development, says it's time people working in long-term care have their voices heard. (Laura Meader/CBC - image credit)

P.E.I.'s standing committee on health and social development is looking for feedback from non-unionized employees at both public and private long-term care homes.

The committee said it wants to hear what they have to say about what's working — and what's not working — in long-term care on the Island.

It has already heard from the nurses' union and other union representatives.

Gord McNeilly, chair of the standing committee, said all feedback will be anonymous.

"One of the major concerns with all members of the standing committee was long-term care, and how we're moving forward with long-term care, how we dealt with it during the pandemic and where are our shortfalls and we decided to look at long-term care both public and private and make sure that people working in long-term care had a voice and make sure that their input was recognized by the standing committee as we look at a report toward the legislative assembly."

As reported in June, there is also a COVID-19 external panel of experts and community leaders that has been tasked with studying the performance of Prince Edward Island's public and private long-term care homes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

That panel will engage with diverse stakeholders including residents, families and caregivers, long-term care staff, health professionals, unions and geriatricians from across the province to gain a deeper understanding of the widespread impacts of COVID-19 on the long-term care sector.

GagliardiPhotogra/Shutterstock

Any non-unionized long-term care workers interested in offering feedback to the standing committee on health and social development can find information on the legislative assembly's website.

Submissions can be made until Sept. 9.

BC
Canfor Corporation donates 50 k to Radium for its Save the Sheep campaign

Thu, August 4, 2022 

Canfor Corporation a global leader in the manufacturing of sustainable forest products, based in Vancouver recently made a contribution to the Village of Radium Hot Springs that was anything but sheepish. Canfor issued a cheque of $50,000 last month to the Village of Radium Hot Springs to reach its $400,000 campaign goal to Save the Radium Bighorn Herd.

The donations stem from Canfor’s Good Things Come from Trees program which provides support to organizations that benefits any communities where Canfor operates and its employees live. In 2021, Canfor provided over $1.8 million through Good Things in financial support for communities, sponsorships and scholarships, and product donations to over 310 organizations in its priority giving areas of education, health, sustainability, and community.

“As a forestry company with a significant presence in the Kootenay Rockies region of B.C., we are very proud to make this contribution supporting conservation of the Radium-Stoddart herd,” said Michelle Ward, Senior Director, Communications & Government Relations in a recent press release. “The community, including our own employees who call Radium home, has shown great commitment to increase awareness of the risks faced by the sheep and to accelerate the building of a safe wildlife overpass for Radium’s One Mile Hill.”

The proposed goal for Save the Sheep campaign may seem a little more realistic with this last donation that came in from Canfor putting the current campaign total at more than $100,000 and all the closer now reaching the quarter mark.

“It has made a big impact and shows the importance of the partnership between Canfor and our Village and how there is grassroots support for the Sheep Herd,” Reinhardt said of the company’s donation. “Canfor has been a strong, long-time community partner and, with safety as a fundamental pillar of its culture, it’s no surprise that Canfor has chosen to support this initiative. “The bighorn sheep are much celebrated residents in our mountain community.”

A decline in bighorn sheep population by more than half over the years has been recognized as a special concern that has brought the community together. It started as a Facebook page by community member Nicole Trigg that was dedicated to Helping the Radium Sheep and grew quickly. With support from the entire community and the Ministry of Transportation and Industry, momentum was created, and money began to be pledged.

“I might have to own committing to 10 per cent of the project from the village and supporters as we really needed all ministries of B.C. government to pay attention and take some ownership,” Reinhardt said. “This herd belongs to us all, not just the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure or the village.” Reinhardt also gave a nod to local MLA Doug Clovechok, who struck a committee at the start of his tenure, the Lake Windermere Rod and Gun Club and the work that Kent Kebe and Irene Teske have been doing for more than 20 years to draw attention to the plight of this herd.

All funds collected will be used first to get the ball rolling and will allow some of the base work to be started prior to B.C. and Canada determining how they will allocate funds.

Reinhardt said the project has a project manager assigned by the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, which means the project will proceed.

For more information on the cause, visit radiumhotsprings.ca/save-our-sheep

Chadd Cawson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Columbia Valley Pioneer

Beautiful bighorn-The Wild Files: It's our Nature



Thu, August 4, 2022 

Named for their large and majestic horns that can weigh up to 30 pounds. Beautiful bighorn sheep are a sight one may get to see when heading up Highway 93/95 south of Radium, Highway 93 South east of Radium, and on Highway 95 going north to Golden all located on the unceded territories of the Secwépemc and Ktunaxa People and the land chosen as home by the Métis Peoples.

Once boasting a population of 250 in the valley, the animal’s numbers have been rapidly declining, with now fewer than 120 left of the species that roam just outside of Radium. Accumulating deaths of bighorn on the highway over the years have raised more than concerns, but also awareness and pledges. There have been local initiatives, such as the Save the Sheep Campaign and the Slow Your Roll, Save The Sheep driver awareness campaign, which conducts sheep patrol and spearheads a community-driven fundraising effort that targets raising 10 per cent of the construction cost of a wildlife highway overpass, with its main intention being to keep both people and animals safer.

It was nearly 750,000 years ago, during the Pleistocene era, that wild sheep crossed from Asia to North America over the Beringia land bridge, which led to adaptation and evolving throughout different areas. There are now three sub-species of the animal: Desert, Sierra Nevada, and the beloved Rocky Mountain Bighorn sheep, which can be seen from British Columbia to Arizona

Have ewe herd?

Known as grazers, a group of bighorn sheep is referred to as a herd, with a diet made up of grasses and shrubs. These sheep can be many shades, ranging from light to a greyish- or chocolate- brown. Known as rams, the males can be 41 inches tall at the shoulder and weigh up to 315 pounds in general, but the Rocky Mountain bighorns have been known to exceed 500 pounds. Females, or ewes, come in a little smaller, at up to 35 inches tall and weighing up to 201 pounds.

This is explained by the fact females will forage and be on the go while protecting their lambs, whereas males will take the time to rest, which is better for digestion and overall size.

Unlike deer, female bighorns also have horns, but they are smaller and slightly less curved. Home is where the horns are and bighorns’ favourite places to inhabit include meadows, grassy mountain slopes, rocky cliffs and bluffs. Their main predators are black bears, grizzly bears, wolves and mountain lions.

Sheep tales

One false myth about bighorn or any kind of sheep is that they are stupid. Regarded as quite intelligent, all sheep are known to have an excellent memory and ability to learn. A few other fun facts about sheep are that there are more than 1,000 different breeds and that newborns can walk almost immediately. All sheep are known for bonding well with others and can remember their pals for up to two years. Sheep represent many things in different religions and cultures. For many Indigenous people and cultures, bighorn sheep are one of the first animals they associate with the high mountains and are considered sacred. They were also a source of food for many. Also associated with vast sky, bighorn sheep have often been thought of as guardian spirits.

Chadd Cawson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Columbia Valley Pioneer

WHITE REFUGEES

ASET offering employment certification for incoming refugees

, August 4, 2022 

The Association of Science and ngineering Technology Professionals of Alberta (ASET) has announced the organization is now waiving fees for refugees to become members and attain their designations.

These fees include application, prior learning assessment and recognition, professional practice exam and certification exam. Via a release, ASET specified the collection of fees could have previously costed a refugee roughly $1,000 over time.

Barry Cavanaugh, CEO of ASET, said the decision was made to ensure their applicant assessment program was as objective as possible.

“A few years ago, we decided that we needed to make sure that our ways of assessing applicants for our designations were absolutely objective, and that it was a level playing field for everybody,” said Cavanaugh.

“It did occur to us at that time … that was, to some extent, to the advantage of internationally trained professionals.”

ASET launched a program in 2016 designed to offer foreign-trained professionals and other engineering technology professionals a route to establishing careers in Canada without being required to return to school.

The idea behind ASET’s program is that for foreign-trained professionals who have passed an English language proficiency test and are seeking designation to work in their field in Canada, they may undergo a competency assessment.

This assessment looks at relevant credentials, like what an average Canadian would submit to an employer when applying for a job, and will then require the applicant to complete a practice exam testing knowledge on Alberta-specific legislation and professional ethics, as well as technical competency.

ASET currently has 35 members residing in Strathmore, and is encouraging refugees with an engineering background coming from Ukraine to consider their certification.

“As refugees, once you have refugee status, we thought we should be doing something to assist with that, to expedite the process,” said Cavanaugh. “We realized that there was a considerable weight to application fees and examination fees, and if we could avoid imposing them on people, it would help a lot.”

For any refugees settling in Strathmore, Cavanaugh wants to make anyone eligible for certification to be aware that the option through ASET is available, and that becoming eligible for employment in Alberta does not have to be a complicated process.

More information about the program is available through the ASET website.

John Watson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Strathmore Times

Alberta tightening bonus-payment rules after hefty COVID-19 payout to health chief

SHUTTING BARN DOOR AFTER HORSE GOT OUT
Thu, August 4, 2022


EDMONTON — The Alberta government is tightening the rules around employee bonuses in light of the six-figure payout to the chief medical officer of health during COVID-19.

Finance Minister Jason Nixon said the civil service has been directed to review and make changes to the rules to ensure future bonus payments during emergencies go through cabinet for approval.

“The public service should not have the ability to unilaterally approve significant overtime payments of this size,” Nixon said in a statement Thursday.

“The Public Service Commission has been instructed to undergo a full review of the policy to ensure that future overtime payments for emergencies go through cabinet.

“Until the review has been completed and a new policy has been confirmed, all future requests will be brought forward for Treasury Board (headed up by Nixon) to review.”

The CBC, gleaning information from the government's sunshine salary list, reported Monday that Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the chief medical officer of health, received a bonus of almost $228,000 for COVID-19 work in 2021 — the highest such cash benefit payout to any provincial civil servant since the list went public six years ago.

That figure, on top of her regular salary, put Hinshaw's pay at more than $591,000.

The Opposition NDP and public sector unions have called the payout a profound insult to front-line health workers who had to work under COVID-19 while the government attempted to reduce their pay or tried to cut their jobs altogether.

The payout has also aroused the ire of some in the governing United Conservative Party who have long criticized Hinshaw for her role in what they viewed as intrusive and unnecessary health restrictions and vaccine rules during the pandemic.

The finance minister at the time, Travis Toews, is now one of seven candidates running to replace Premier Jason Kenney in a party vote set for Oct. 6.

Toews has said he did not know of the payout and said he would also make changes to ensure cabinet had the final say on such bonuses.

The NDP says Toews had to have known about the payout and contends that he is either lying or didn’t have a firm grasp on the department he was supposed to be running.

“The finance minister needs to know about the finances of the province,” NDP critic Sarah Hoffman told reporters in Edmonton on Thursday.

“I’m not surprised Jason Nixon is trying to come up with lines to backtrack and try to distance himself from the culpability (of) Travis Toews and others sitting around that cabinet table.”

The payout was one of the COVID-19 bonuses paid to 107 employees in management totalling $2.4 million.

Alberta Health, in a statement, said Hinshaw was paid as per a long-standing policy and financial calculation tied to emergencies based on hours worked.

“Given the scale of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, an extraordinary amount of additional work was required by Dr. Hinshaw,” said the statement.

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

Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press

BC

Eagles being unnecessarily injured on Haida Gwaii


Thu, August 4, 2022 

Volunteers on Haida Gwaii have rescued 13 injured eagles since December 28, 2021 and most of the incidents are preventable, Leila Riddall, a volunteer said on July 19.

When Port Clements councillor Kazamir Falconbridge set out to run an errand on June 27, he wasn’t prepared for an eagle rescue.

Driving along Highway 16, just north of Port Clements, he approached a car and two women on the side of the road and could see a juvenile eagle in distress in the ditch so he pulled over.

No one had a box or a blanket in their car, but Falconbridge knew he had to act fast. Once the bird made it into the forest he knew it would be very difficult to get it out because its wings would get caught in the trees.

Falconbridge guessed that this particular bird had a wing span of six feet.

Two more cars pulled over. Luckily, a member of the Search and Rescue team was in one and he started looking for a blanket and tote to put the eagle in.

In the other car were a couple from Masset. The man offered Falconbridge his new jacket as a make-do blanket.

Falconbridge swiftly grabbed the bird’s feet with the man’s jacket and hooked his right thumb under the eagle’s left shoulder. The man from Masset helped him support the injured wing close to the eagle’s body.

“So now I had the eagle in my bare hands and walked out of the ditch with it,” Falconbridge said.

He lowered it into the blanket-lined tote prepared by the search and rescue member.

“Got to go really slow with birds. Really slow and gentle and talk to them and look into their eyes, they’re really intelligent creatures,” Falconbridge said.

“Because I have chickens and ducks and geese, and turkeys now too, so I know about looking after birds and the eagle got into the blanket and I wrapped up the eagle. I’ve also had two children and I know how to swaddle a baby so that they can’t get out of the cloth. So I did exactly that, I swaddled that eagle up in that blanket really nice and tight and only its head was sticking out.”

There isn’t a place on the island that can care for hurt eagles so Riddall coordinates to fly them to the Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society (OWL) in Delta B.C.

Riddall also does a lot of rescues herself in the northern communities, while another volunteer covers the southern region of Haida Gwaii.

“I wish we had a place up here where we could deal (with injured eagles) because just the cost and the stress on the animal, keeping it for two days because there’s no plane and then it’s been suffering for those two extra days,” Riddall said.

Thirteen eagles have been rescued on the archipelago since December 28, 2021, and that doesn’t include those that didn’t survive.

After doing this for almost a decade, Riddall said these numbers are not unusual, and it’s really unfortunate because many of the injuries are preventable.

The most common reason eagles are sent to OWL is lead poisoning, she said. Lead the size of a piece of sand can make an eagle sick, and when hunters leave animal carcass remains in the forest or along the road, they are often contaminated by lead bullets.

Riddall said there is a solution: stop using lead ammunition.

Electrocution and vehicle strikes are the second most common cause of eagle injuries, she said. The large birds are not very agile and have a difficult time gaining altitude quickly. When a car approaches after they’ve been feasting on a dead animal near the road, they try to fly away but often get hit by the vehicle or caught in a hydro line and electrocuted.

Riddall encourages people to drag road kill further into the forest but knows that not everyone is capable of doing this. Someone without the physical strength to pick up a dead animal doesn’t have anyone to call for help.

There are also specialized non-electrocution power lines that would benefit Haida Gwaii, Riddall said. While it’s more expensive, in areas where there is a high population of birds being electrocuted it would be worth the extra cost.

The eagle Falconbridge rescued did not survive. Riddall estimated that less than one in ten injured eagles from Haida Gwaii are rehabilitated and released after being sent to OWL.

“We need to take bigger steps in preventative measures, because all of this is preventable,” Riddall stressed.

She would like to see more garbage bins put out for hunters and fisherman to put animal remains in, as well as informational signs explaining why it is so important to properly dispose of leftover carcasses.

Kaitlyn Bailey, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Prince Rupert Northern View

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