France braces for nationwide strikes amid fuel depot standoff

Issued on: 17/10/2022 - 

01:32

France is braced for nationwide strikes Tuesday set to hit public transport, nuclear power plants and nurseries as a standoff over industrial action at oil refineries continues. It comes as the government, increasingly impatient with striking refinery workers, has said it is forcing key staff back to work amid country-wide fuel shortages.

France strikes 'exactly what the government didn’t want’

Issued on: 17/10/2022 -

With French unions calling a nationwide strike for Tuesday following industrial action at refineries that has caused fuel shortages around the country, the French government is facing a situation it sought to avoid at all costs, explains France 24’s Marc Perelman.

France orders more fuel depot staff back to work as nationwide strikes loom

Issued on: 17/10/2022 - 

Trade unionists and striking employees gather outside the TotalEnergies refinery in Donges, western France, on October 14, 2022. © Loïc Venance, AFP

France on Monday braced for nationwide transport strike actions as the government and unions remained in deadlock over stoppages at oil depots that have sparked fuel shortages.

Leading unions have called for strikes Tuesday in their biggest challenge yet to President Emmanuel Macron since he won a new presidential term in May.

It will come after workers at several refineries and depots operated by energy giant TotalEnergies voted to extend their strike action, defying the government which has begun to force staff back on the job.

Motorists scrambled to fill tanks as the fuel strike, which has lasted for nearly three weeks, crippled supplies at just over 30 percent of France's service stations.

The government, increasingly impatient with striking workers, said it was forcing key staff back to work.

"The time for negotiation is over," Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told the BFMTV broadcaster Monday.

The government said it would begin to requisition workers at the Feyzin depot in southeastern France from 2:00 pm (1200 GMT) on Monday, having already employed the same strategy at the Mardyck depot in the north of the country.

Fuel workers voted to continue stoppages at several refineries run by TotalEnergies, the coordinator for the hard-left CGT union Eric Sellini said, rejecting a pay package agreed between the group's management and mainstream unions.

Three out of seven of the country's oil refineries and five major fuel depots (out of around 200) are affected, the government said.

Strike action at Esso-ExxonMobil ended at the end of last week at the company's two French refineries, after a pay deal between management and moderate unions which represent a majority of workers.

A return to normal supply conditions at petrol stations will take at least two weeks after strikes end, the government has warned.

'Severe disruptions'

Unions in other industries and the public sector have also announced action to protest against the twin impact of soaring energy prices and overall inflation on the cost of living.

Leftist unions CGT and FO have called for a nationwide strike Tuesday for higher salaries, and against government requisitions of oil installations, threatening to cripple public transport in particular.

Rail operator SNCF will see "severe disruptions" with half of train services cancelled, Transport Minister Clement Beaune said.

Suburban services in the Paris region as well as bus services will also be impacted, operator RATP said, but the inner-Paris metro system should be mostly unaffected.

Beyond transport workers, unions hope to bring out staff in sectors such as the food industry and healthcare, CGT boss Philippe Martinez told France Inter radio.

Their action will kick off what is likely to be a tense autumn and winter as Macron also seeks to implement his flagship domestic policy of raising the French retirement age.

But the economic squeeze partly caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, along with the failure of Macron's party to secure an overall majority in June legislative polls, only adds to the magnitude of the task.

On Sunday tens of thousands of protesters marched in Paris to express their frustration at the rising cost of living.

The demonstration was called by the left-wing political opposition and led by the head of the France Unbowed (LFI) party, Jean-Luc Melenchon.

Security forces fired teargas and launched baton charges after they were pelted with objects, while on the fringes of the march, masked men dressed in black ransacked a bank.

Some protesters wore yellow fluorescent vests, the symbol of the often violent anti-government protests in 2018 that shook the pro-business government of Macron.

"We're going to have a week the likes of which we don't see very often," Melenchon told the crowd.

Organisers claimed 140,000 people attended Sunday's march, but police said there were 30,000.

(AFP)

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
Credit Suisse to pay $495 mn in US to settle securities case

Issued on: 17/10/2022

Subprime mortages were at the heart of the 2008 financial crisis

Zurich (AFP) – Credit Suisse said Monday it would pay $495 million to settle a row over mortgage-backed securities dating back to the 2008 financial crisis.

Switzerland's second-biggest bank said it had agreed with New Jersey authorities to make the "one-time payment... to fully resolve claims" for compensation, and said it had already provisioned the amount.

In the claim filed in 2013, Credit Suisse was criticised for not having provided sufficient information on the risks relating to $10 billion of mortgage-backed securities.

Subprime mortgages, credit granted to borrowers often with poor credit histories or insufficient income, were packaged into financial products and sold to investors.

But as borrowers defaulted on many of those mortgages, investors had no way of telling what portion of the loans in the derivatives were bad.

Those products were at the heart of the 2008 financial crisis, which sparked a global recession and brought the international financial system to the brink of collapse.

Credit Suisse said the final settlement with the New Jersey Attorney General allowed it "to resolve the only remaining RMBS (residential mortgage-backed securities) matter involving claims by a regulator and the largest of its remaining exposures on its legacy RMBS docket".

Shares rose after the statement on the SMI, the flagship index of the Swiss Stock Exchange.

Speculation has been growing ahead of an update scheduled by the new chief executive for later this month.

According to the Financial Times, the bank is considering not only disposals in its investment bank but also the sale of some of its domestic activities in Switzerland.
Financial crisis fines

In January 2017, US authorities forced Credit Suisse to pay out $5.28 billion over its role in the subprime crisis -- three years after it was fined $2.6 billion for helping Americans avoid taxes.

Last year, Credit Suisse also paid $600 million to financial guarantee insurer MIBA to settle other long-running litigation connected to the US subprime mortgage crisis.

The bank said last January it was increasing the provisions set aside for the MBIA case and others involving mortgage backed securities by $850 million.

Some of the world's biggest banks have also faced legal claims after the 2008 financial crash.

German banking giant Deutsche Bank agreed in December 2016 to pay $7.2 billion to settle a case with the US Department of Justice.

And British banking giant Barclays reached a deal in 2018 to pay a US fine of $2 billion over a fraud case involving subprime mortgage derivatives.

The Bank of America meanwhile agreed to a $17 billion deal with US authorities in 2014 to settle claims it sold risky mortgage securities as safe investments ahead of the 2008 financial crisis.

© 2022 AFP

‘Let it rot’: Once-flourishing middle class faces end of ‘Chinese Dream’

Cyrielle CABOT - Yesterday -AFP

An ever-growing middle class has been emblematic of China’s ascent ever since Deng Xiaoping kicked off the country’s economic transformation in the 1980s. That progress now risks being reversed as millions of people in China face rising living costs, fierce professional competition, a real estate bubble and sluggish growth.


 Jade Gao, AFP

Chinese President Xi Jinping opened the 20th Communist Party Congress on Sunday, during which he is expected to become the first leader since Mao Zedong to be handed a third term. Xi has made his “Chinese Dream” of a flourishing middle class central to his vision for the country. However, economic headwinds are buffeting China’s vast bourgeoisie – posing a new challenge for Xi.

Xi can cite a strong record as he looks back on his first decade in power. Millions more Chinese have been lifted out of poverty, benefitting from 6 percent average annual growth. It is estimated that between 350 and 700 million people belong to the middle class – compared to about 15 million at the beginning of the century.

“China has been profoundly transformed at great speed,” said Jean-Louis Rocca, a sinologist at Paris’s Sciences-Po University specialising in the Chinese middle class. “In just a few years, hundreds of millions of Chinese have become the first in their families to go to university and then get well-paid jobs, and consumption patterns have changed accordingly.”

‘Declining quality of life’

However, the Chinese Dream now appears to be slipping away. The Chinese economy grew by just 0.4 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, a marked slowdown from China’s robust growth after its early success in managing the pandemic.

Xi’s interventionist economic policies have prioritised China’s strict “zero-Covid” strategy over growth while clamping down on tech titans like Alibaba and the Tencent conglomerate. Meanwhile, the trade war with the United States has heated up, with the US Commerce Department imposing sweeping new restrictions on exports of semiconductor technology to China on October 7.

“Incomes are no longer rising while the cost of living is increasing by leaps and bounds,” Rocca said. “And there is a lot of social pressure. To be considered 'successful,' you’ve got to be able to live in such and such a neighbourhood; send your children to such and such a school; wear clothes from this brand; and own that make of car.”

Health costs are soaring as well, as Chinese society is ageing rapidly. “People are feeling a decline in their quality of life,” said Rocca.

But expectations are still rising – notably for China’s youth – creating a glut of highly educated people vying for the same positions.

“Never before have so many people graduated from university, but not all of them get a job after graduating,” Rocca noted. “Unemployment among well-qualified young people is at nearly 20 percent. Some are accepting low-paid jobs as the 'least-bad' option – and they’re seeing the successful life society tells them to have slipping away.”

Related video: 'Making China Great Again': Xi Jinping announces five-year plan

Duration 2:09

View on Watch

China’s property market further exemplifies the fading of the Chinese Dream. “If there’s one symbol of fulfilled aspiration in China, it’s owning a home,” Rocca said. On the surface, the situation looks good: 87 percent of households own their own property, and 20 percent own several. But the situation is bleak for young people, many of whom find it virtually impossible to afford their own homes. Rampant land speculation has caused prices to soar, creating a property bubble looming over the economy. Rents have become prohibitively expensive, especially in the biggest cities like Shanghai and Beijing.

In this context, many young people have decided to lower their ambitions: The term “tang ping” (lying flat) has been making the rounds on social media in recent months – the idea being to opt out of pursuing success in favour of adopting a simpler lifestyle:

The movement emerged from a 2021 viral blog post by Luo Huazong, a young man recounting how he quit his job as a labourer, moved to Tibet and started living frugally off occasional odd jobs and savings, with a budget of $60 a month. “After working for so long, I just felt numb, like a machine,” Luo told The New York Times. “And so I resigned.”

Since then, testimonies of weariness about the rat race have proliferated on the internet – although Chinese censors have quickly deleted them. T-shirts bearing the phrase “Lying down” soon became popular – before disappearing from online shops with similar speed. According to a survey by tech giant Weibo between May 28 and June 3, 61 percent of its sample said they were ready to adopt the “lying-down attitude”.

“Until recently, everybody thought each generation was going to be better off than the last,” said Alex Payette, a sinologist and director of Montreal-based geopolitical consultancy the Cercius Group. “But now we’re seeing the Chinese Dream hit a ceiling.”

In recent months, “lying flat” has given way to a new rallying cry – “let it rot”. Whereas the former was a “call to live simply”, the latter is “a lot more negative and apathetic”, Payette observed. “The idea is that if you’re asked to do something at work, you’ll avoid doing it, and if in the end you have to, you put in as little effort as possible.”

“Let it rot” has become hugely popular over recent months: On Xiaohongshu, China’s answer to Instagram, the original Mandarin term “bailan” got around 2.3 million hits by the end of September. Videos with “let it rot” in the title are currently the most popular on Bilibili, the equivalent to YouTube.

The “let it rot” ethos has even infiltrated the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Payette noted: “We’ve seen it during floods, for example. CCP cadres would rather wait for an order from the leadership than make urgent decisions – even if this approach risks disastrous consequences. It’s nothing malicious; it’s just a matter of never taking initiative.”

Even more surprisingly, the middle class’s malaise has prompted occasional protests – with demonstrators braving the CCP’s violent repression of any sort of popular contestation. Thousands protested in China’s central Henan province in May and June after four small rural banks failed. Facing ruin, people took to the streets to demand their frozen savings.

Earlier this year, thousands of property developers abruptly stopped construction due to the economic slowdown. Social media lit up with calls for homebuyers to boycott paying the mortgages on the new homes they were waiting for.

‘People don’t want to go backwards’

But as the CCP’s 20th Congress gets under way, Rocca said Xi can feel confident that social discontent will not snowball into political unrest.

“Looking at all these things from ‘lying flat’ to the Henan protests, you can see they’re quite apolitical; they’re all about disengaging from society.”

“The overwhelming majority of the Chinese population – especially those who aren’t members of the party – support the Communist Party,” Rocca went on. “Most people – especially those who lived through the Cultural Revolution and the Tianenmen Square protests – will say it was the party that gave them prosperity. Yes, there is a new ambivalence that’s developed – a certain lassitude in response to changing circumstances – but people still think the CCP is doing a good job of running the country.”

Nevertheless, the middle class’s problems will feature prominently in the CCP Congress, Rocca said: “Experts have now been allowed to criticise certain policies, calling for better financing of health insurance, demanding a fight against inequality and lower property prices,” he said. “That shows there are people in the party who want reforms.”

“People don’t want to go backwards,” Rocca continued. “The party recognises this; it knows that a sense of progress is important for political stability.”

“This issue is going to be a major challenge for Xi’s next term in office,” Payette said. Disillusionment with the status quo and the popularity of the “lying down” mentality “could lead to a drop in the employment rate, especially in sectors like manufacturing”, which would affect the economy overall.

Only a return to robust economic growth can guarantee Beijing’s goal of “common prosperity” and revive the Chinese Dream.

This article was adapted from the original in French.

Shein factory employees are working 18-hour days for pennies per garment and washing their hair on lunch breaks because they have so little time off, new report finds

sjackson@insider.com (Sarah Jackson) - Yesterday 

JADE GAO/AFP via Getty Images© JADE GAO/AFP via Getty Images

Workers who make clothes sold on Shein get as little as 4 cents for each item they make, according to a new investigation.

They often work 18-hour days with one day off per month, Channel 4 and The i newspaper reported.

Some workers even wash their hair on their lunch breaks because they have so little time left after work, according to the report.

Fast-fashion company Shein sells clothes at dirt-cheap prices, and a new undercover investigation shows the human cost of maintaining that business model.

Workers at factories in China that supply clothes to Shein frequently work up to 18 hours a day with no weekends and just one day off per month, according to an undercover investigation from Channel 4 and The i newspaper in the UK.

The news organizations say a woman using a fake name got a job inside two factories and secretly filmed what she saw as she worked there. The footage will be shown in "Untold: Inside the Shein Machine," which will be available to stream on Channel 4's on-demand channel, All4, starting on Monday.

"There's no such thing as Sundays here," said one worker shown in the footage, who said they work seven days a week.

At one of the factories, workers get a base salary of 4,000 yuan per month — the equivalent of roughly $556 — to make at least 500 pieces of clothing per day, but their first month's pay is withheld from them, per the investigation. Many of these workers toil long hours to earn a commission of 0.14 yuan, or just two cents, per item.

At the second factory shown in the footage, workers don't have base pay but instead receive 0.27 yuan, or just under 4 cents, for each garment they make, the investigation found.

Employees are hit with a fine amounting to two-thirds of their daily wages if they make even one mistake, according to the report. In one of the factories, female employees washed their hair on their lunch breaks because there is so little time left after work.

When asked for comment, Shein told Insider it is "extremely concerned" by the material shown in the investigation, which it said "would violate the Code of Conduct agreed to by every Shein supplier."

The company said its supplier code of conduct is "based on International Labor Organization conventions and local laws and regulations, including labor practices and working conditions" and that there are "unannounced audits at supplier facilities."

"Any non-compliance with this code is dealt with swiftly, and we will terminate partnerships that do not meet our standards," the company said. "We have requested specific information from Channel 4 so that we can investigate."

Shein has grown to behemoth size in the fast-fashion industry, notching a $100 billion valuation in April, more than H&M and Zara combined. Though its clothes are often incredibly cheap, sometimes just a few dollars, customers often say their items break down very quickly, and designers frequently claim Shein copies their styles and sells them for cheaper, stealing business from them.

WAR PIGS

Canadian generals push for industry to go to 'war footing,' but hurdles remain

David Pugliese, Ottawa Citizen - TODAY

Canada’s military leadership is pushing for industry and the federal government’s procurement system to go to a war-time footing so more weapons can be supplied to Ukraine.


Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Wayne Eyre has been pushing for companies to switch to what he is calling a “war footing” so weapons production can be ramped up both for Ukraine and to replenish Canadian military stocks.© Provided by Ottawa Citizen

National Defence and top firms that produce arms, such as Lockheed Martin, are financing a conference in Ottawa on Oct. 25 titled “Putting Canadian Defence Procurement on a War Footing.”

Top defence officials, including Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Wayne Eyre and assistant deputy minister for procurement Troy Crosby, will be key speakers at the event.

Eyre has been pushing for companies to switch to what he is calling a “war footing” so weapons production can be ramped up both for Ukraine and to replenish Canadian military stocks.

Eyre has argued that the war between Ukraine and Russia should be the catalyst for such a major shift in defence industrial capacity. “I think what this has shown, though, is we need to increase the capacity of defence industry,” Eyre told CBC in May. “Given the deteriorating world situation, we need the defence industry to go into a wartime footing and increase their production lines to be able to support the requirements that are out there, whether it’s ammunition, artillery, rockets … you name it. There’s a huge demand out there.”

NATO nations, including Canada, have donated billions of dollars in weapons and equipment to Ukraine.

But Alan Williams, a former assistant deputy minister for procurement at National Defence, said industry wouldn’t ramp up production unless it received contracts from the federal government.

Defence firms, he noted, don’t build equipment out of the goodness of their hearts. “They are in it for profit,” Williams said. “They have shareholders to satisfy. They want contracts … Their attitude is, ‘If you want equipment, then sign those contracts.’”

That view was echoed by defence firm representatives at a major conference and trade show last week in Washington. “I think the first thing we need is orders,” Thomas Laliberty, a senior official with Raytheon Missiles and Defence, told the conference. “We need insight into the demand, and, once we understand the insight into the demand and we understand the willingness of the government to pay for additional capacity, that then helps us go plan for what it will take for us to actually increase production.”

Some defence industry officials have privately noted Eyre doesn’t seem to understand industry can’t ramp up its production without government contracts in hand since building sophisticated weaponry requires upfront purchasing of supplies and material.

But Eyre’s office responded to this newspaper that, “The CDS has both a sense of what is required to replenish the draw-down of CAF stocks, as well as our ability to continue supporting Ukraine with the items they are most in need of. The CDS advice was provided in the context of what those items are and the need for industry to surge for the level of support to Ukraine to remain sustainable.”

Williams pointed out there was already an existing process to purchase equipment on an urgent basis. That process was used during the Afghan war to acquire howitzers and drones as well as armoured vehicles. But using that process is a decision that has to be made by elected officials, not generals or bureaucrats, he noted. “Before one acts, one has to get the marching orders from government,” Williams said.

Using such a process will also require Canadian procurement staff to be rigorous in their oversight to ensure firms don’t rip off taxpayers, Williams added.

The Liberal government has not made any announcement that firms need to go onto a war footing or that military procurement process would use the urgent acquisition process.

National Defence has provided $50,000 to finance the Oct. 25 conference hosted by Canadian Global Affairs Institute, a think-tank closely aligned with the Canadian Forces and the defence industry. Other sponsors include Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Irving Shipbuilding, Davie Shipyard; ATCO Frontec, BAE Systems Canada and General Atomics. National Defence also confirmed there were no set costs for commands on what they could spend to send military personnel to the conference, including paying for travel to Ottawa.

Defence insiders have said they hope the conference will highlight the need for the Liberal government to buy more weapons for both Ukraine and the Canadian military.

Williams said there were limits on what Canadian firms could do. Canada does produce ammunition and small arms as well as armoured vehicles and drone cameras, but many other weapons are purchased from U.S. and European firms.

For instance, in May, Canada announced it was buying 20,000 artillery rounds to donate to Ukraine, but those had to come from the U.S..

Canada has provided Ukraine with armoured vehicles, small arms, anti-tank systems and drone cameras. The latest donation involves winter uniforms.

Ramping up defence production for more sophisticated weapons, however, could face hurdles. Many modern weapons are highly reliant on sophisticated electronics and other components now in high demand. The pandemic has also created issues with supply chains and the availability of workers. Lockheed Martin, for instance, has noted it will boost Javelin anti-tank missile production, but that could take as long as two years because of supply-chain problems.

A report earlier this year from the U.S. Department of Defense noted shortages of skilled labour in America’s defence industry. In addition, China has dominated the market for the production of microelectronics as well as castings and forgings, both critical for weapons production.

Eyre recently stated China was at war with western nations, including Canada.

SEE LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for PERMANENT ARMS ECONOMY 

 

BLACK SABATH

Album: Paranoid Song: "War Pigs" ~ LYRICS ~ "War Pigs" Generals gathered in their masses Just like witches at black masses Evil minds that plot destruction Sorcerers of death's construction In the fields the bodies burning As the war machine keeps turning Death and hatred to mankind Poisoning their brainwashed minds Oh lord yeah! Politicians hide themselves away They only started the war Why should they go out to fight? They leave that role to the poor Time will tell on their power minds Making war just for fun Treating people just like pawns in chess Wait 'til their judgement day comes Yeah! Now in darkness world stops turning Ashes where the bodies burning No more war pigs at the power Hand of God has struck the hour Day of judgement, God is calling On their knees the war pig's crawling Begging mercy for their sins Satan laughing spreads his wings oh lord yeah!

Municipal election analysis: As Vancouver swings right, some suburbs sway left

Lori Culbert - Yesterday 

While Vancouver voters elected a more conservative council in Saturday’s municipal elections, many Metro Vancouver cities backed more progressive candidates — a reflection of changing demographics in some suburban cities where younger voters want more action on affordable housing and other pressing issues, experts say.


Signs post election on W. 6th ave. in Vancouver on Sunday.© Provided by Vancouver Sun

“We have a bit of an irony of Vancouver going quite decisively conservative, and outlying places going more progressive,” Hamish Telford, a political scientist at the University of the Fraser Valley, said Sunday.

“Lots of younger people left Vancouver to find more affordable housing, and they’re changing the demographics of the outlying communities.”

Some new Metro Vancouver mayors-elect with platforms that included major housing promises include Meghan Lahti , who easily beat an anti-growth contender in Port Moody; Dan Ruimy , who defeated the former mayor in Maple Ridge; Eric Woodward in Langley District, who toppled other candidates, including former Liberal provincial cabinet minister Rich Coleman; and Nathan Pachal in Langley City, who campaigned on addressing homelessness, unseated the previous mayor.

Perhaps the most radical shift in suburban politics, Telford said, was the Chilliwack school board, where a slate of progressive trustees was elected. Former controversial trustee Barry Neufeld , who was against sexual orientation and gender identify curriculum in schools, is out; Teri Westerby , believed to be one of the first transgendered men elected to public office in Canada, is in.

Some Metro cities will continue with pre-existing centre-left councils after Saturday’s vote, such as in Burnaby and New Westminster , while others will maintain centre-right councils, such as North Vancouver District and Richmond . Surrey’s council will remain conservative, despite a high-profile change of the guards to Mayor-elect Brenda Locke, who ousted incumbent Doug McCallum largely over policing and leadership issues.

In Vancouver, Mayor-elect Ken Sim is more conservative than the incumbent he overthrew, Kennedy Stewart, who had promised 220,000 new homes over 10 years. Sim’s new ABC party also won a big majority on council, school board and park board, which perhaps reflects the large number of “older guard” homeowners in the city who bought their properties years ago, Telford said.

But Vancouver tends to be more progressive than other Canadian cities, so Sim’s business-friendly ABC party still included liberal platform promises around mental health and the overdose crisis, added Quest University political scientist Stewart Prest.


Political analyst Stewart Prest at Douglas College© Francis Georgian

Related video: New mayors elected in several B.C. cities as voters call for change

Duration 2:02 View on Watch

And the outgoing Vancouver council, under Kennedy Stewart who was elected in 2018 as an independent, was very fractured; it should be easier for Sim, with his ABC majority, to get things done, Prest added.

Sim has a challenge, though, to fulfil some of his key promises, such as hiring 100 new police officers and 100 new nurses/mental health workers, which will be “expensive and difficult to accomplish,” Prest said.

Sim has also vowed to improve the complex construction permitting process, which is a good thing, said UBC associate professor and housing expert Nathanael Lauster. But it may be difficult to fulfil his promise to approve home renovations in three days, single-family homes in three weeks, and medium-sized projects in three months.

UBC associate professor and housing expert Nathanael Lauster on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022.

© NICK PROCAYLO 

The new ABC council is not likely to entertain proposals endorsed by centre-left parties, such as allowing apartment complexes in every neighbourhood, but will presumably back more developments along major streets, Lauster said.

ABC’s majority should give Vancouver’s council some stability as the city grapples with the ongoing pandemic and a feared recession, said Ginger Gosnell-Mayers, a member of the Nisga’a and Kwakwak’awakw Nations, a fellow at SFU’s Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, and Vancouver city hall’s first Indigenous Relations Manager.

But she hopes that Sim’s vow to hire more police won’t lead to “criminalizing people on the street,” and that his promise to speed up the permitting process won’t lead to fewer commitments by developers to build low-income housing, as well as units for families and those with disabilities.



Ginger Gosnell-Myers© Francis Georgian

Outside of Vancouver and Surrey, Metro Vancouver’s smaller cities have shown at the ballot box they want change to deal with wide-spread concerns such as the poisoned drug crisis and the climate-caused atmospheric river and heat dome,” Gosnell-Myers said. “Small cities, perhaps, get a chance to lead on what progressive agendas actually look like.”

Across Metro Vancouver there was “ a surprising number of mayors defeated,” Prest said . This list includes West Vancouver, where Mark Sager is the mayor-elect, and in White Rock, where Megan Knight now has the top job.

In Surrey, McCallum appeared to have won in 2018 by promising to take the RCMP out of the city, and Locke appeared to beat him on Saturday by promising to bring the force back — which illustrates how polarizing this issue has been for residents, Prest said. And with Locke’s slim majority on council, it may be difficult for her to get the backing she needs to embark on the expensive process of stopping the transition to a municipal force, which will require support from the provincial government.

“It’s a divided city,” Prest said of Surrey. “The promise to to unwind the local police force, and to return to the RCMP, is one that will be really difficult to follow through on.”

lculbert@postmedia.com

Related
Langley Election Results: Eric Woodward defeats Rich Coleman in bid for mayor

B.C. Municipal Election Day Recap: Ken Sim, Brenda Locke boot incumbents in Metro's biggest cities

SEPARATIST

Danielle Smith under fire for past online comments on Ukraine invasion

Smith posted on the platform Locals.com in February questioning if areas of Ukraine should be allowed to break away.

Author of the article:Dylan Short

Edmonton Journal 
Publishing date:Oct 15, 2022 

s

Danielle Smith called unvaccinated people the most discriminated against group in her lifetime during a news conference on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022. 

PHOTO BY LARRY WONG /Postmedia

Premier Danielle Smith is coming under fire for comments she made in the past on a right-wing social media platform around the conflict in Ukraine alongside a number of other topics.

Smith posted on the platform Locals.com in February questioning if areas of Ukraine should be allowed to break away if they wanted to, saying it appears borders were poorly drawn after the Second World War resulting in ensuing conflict.

“It seems to me the great powers of the world did a terrible job defining the new borders of countries after WWII,” wrote Smith on the website Locals.com on Feb. 24. “So much of the conflict we have had since is due to different people being crammed under one national government that don’t like each other. I’ve read that two regions of Ukraine feel more affinity to Russia. Should nations be allowed to break away and govern themselves independently? If that’s truly what people want, then I think so.”

Smith’s posts were first brought to light Friday by freelance journalist Justin Ling.

The premier went on to question if it was true those regions felt an affinity to Russia or if it was propaganda, saying “it is hard to know what to believe anymore.” She asked her followers for help in analyzing the conflict.

In a post from early March, which no longer appears on Smith’s public feed but was captured and posted elsewhere online, and later reported on by independent media, she linked to an article that appears to imply Ukraine and NATO had shown aggression in the lead-up to Russia’s invasion. Smith’s post goes on to say Ukraine may need to adopt a more neutral stance to remain independent.

The article she linked to came from a website that has been criticized as promoting disinformation coming out of Russia. A second post, which also no longer appears on Smith’s feed but was captured by journalists and posted elsewhere, linked to a report from Fox News’ Tucker Carlson questioning if the United States had been funding secret Biolabs in Ukraine where weapons are being created. That story has since been debunked by several fact-checking sources.

In follow-up posts, Smith showed support for Albertans who had provided assistance to Ukrainian refugees. Speaking earlier this week, Smith showed support for the Ukrainian people saying she supports former Premier Jason Kenney’s initiatives providing assistance to Ukraine. She also showed support for fundraising efforts spearheaded by former MLA Thomas Lukaszuk and former Premier Ed Stelmach.

“We have a large patriot Ukrainian population in Alberta and I would hope that we would be able to do more,” said Smith. “I’ll reserve judgment until I have a chance to talk to get a briefing on intergovernmental Affairs as well as talk to my caucus and cabinet on that. But, I’m supportive of the decisions that we’ve made so far.”

Alberta has committed more than $20 million to support Ukraine.

Lukaszuk, who helped raise millions to support Ukraine, said Saturday that Smith’s online posts are heartbreaking. He said the premier has shown support for his efforts to assist Ukrainians, but the posts show she held different beliefs when posting online.

“To read what she actually says behind the scenes is heartbreaking. Duplicitous, would be the understatement of the year,” said Lukaszuk. “The world community under United Nations agrees that Russia is the unprovoked aggressor — that Russia is engaging in war crimes.”

Lukaszuk said the posts are unforgivable and dangerous.

In response to the posts, NDP leader Rachel Notley released a statement condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin and reaffirming her party’s support for Ukraine.

Smith’s Locals.com feed on Saturday showed she had made numerous posts in support of the Freedom Convoy that took over downtown Ottawa and blockaded several border-crossings earlier this year. She also made several posts against vaccine mandates and shared anti-vaccine content.

In another post, she questioned the legitimacy of reports that unmarked graves had been found at residential schools across Canada.

When asked for comment on her posts, the premier’s office responded with an email referring back to comments Smith made this week regarding her support for Kenney’s initiatives around Ukraine. Her office did not respond to requests asking for confirmation if the premier had deleted posts.

Reports on Smith’s online posts come shortly after she claimed that unvaccinated people were the most discriminated-against individuals in her lifetime. Backlash to those comments led her to clarify, but not apologize, saying she did not mean to trivialize discrimination that minority groups have faced in the past half-century.

Speaking on a radio show Saturday, she said she should have said government discrimination when she had made her comments on unvaccinated individuals.

— with files from Anna Junker

DECRIMINALIZE DRUGS

Alberta psychedelic regulations could limit patient access, critics say

Author of the article: Anna Junker

Edmonton Journal
Publishing date:Oct 15, 2022 •

Psylocibin mushrooms. Health Canada has said requests for psychedelics will be considered on a case-by-case basis for a 'serious or life-threatening condition' and where other conventional treatments have failed. 

Psychedelic therapy professionals warn new regulations set to roll out next year in Alberta could limit access and add hurdles for patients

Nick Kadysh, board chairman of Psychedelics Canada, a trade association for the legal, medicinal and for-profit segment of the psychedelics industry, said while it’s a good sign the province is making regulatory decisions, they lean heavily on the use of psychiatrists.

“Any clinic has to have a psychiatrist responsible,” he said in a recent interview with Postmedia. “Any patient has to talk to a psychiatrist before getting access to these therapies and we just know that there is an incredibly long wait time for psychiatry services in Alberta. So it becomes a patient access issue.”

The Alberta government announced the new rules on Oct. 5 for psychedelics such as psilocybin, psilocin, MDMA, LSD, mescaline (peyote), DMT, 5 methoxy DMT, and ketamine. The province says they are meant to provide safeguards and medical oversight, coming into effect next January.

While some clinical trials have shown promising results for the use of psychedelics as a treatment for mental health conditions, the drugs are illegal in Canada. However, health practitioners and researchers can apply for permission from Health Canada to use psychedelics in research or for therapeutic use in special circumstances. The same rules still apply in Alberta under the new regulations.

The provincial rules differ based on the level of risk involved. With few exceptions, clinics offering psychedelic-assisted treatment must be licensed and have the medical oversight of a psychiatrist.

With only psychiatrists providing oversight and not other professionals like anesthesiologists, neurologists, and general practitioners, access could be limited, said Liam Bedard, coordinator of Psychedelics Canada.

“There are a number of qualified practitioners that can oversee these therapies and by mandating that only psychiatrists can manage them, it’s creating bottlenecks in accessing these potentially very valuable therapeutic tools,” he said.

In a statement, Alberta mental health and addictions spokesman Eric Engler said the regulation does not limit the prescription of psychedelic drugs to only psychiatrists. Others can prescribe them, after and with ongoing consultation with a psychiatrist.

“A psychiatrist is required to oversee services for psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, as they are the most highly trained and experienced regulated health professionals in the diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders,” Engler said.

“Alberta is setting a deliberately high bar to protect patients, since the evidence for use of these drugs in the treatment of psychiatric disorder is still emerging and not without risk.”

At SABI Mind, intramuscular injections of ketamine are used to treat people for mental health conditions like trauma, depression, or chronic pain conditions, said Philippe Lucas, president and CEO of the psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy clinic group that has a location opening in Edmonton in November.

The new regulations do not apply to all uses of ketamine, since it is approved for use outside of psychedelic-assisted therapy, such as an anesthetic for pain management.

SABI Mind also has an in-house psychiatrist and therefore won’t be severely affected by the new regulations. However, Lucas said it can currently take between six and 18 months for a patient with a referral to see a psychiatrist in Alberta, a problem paired with the fact that only a handful in the province would be comfortable considering psychedelics as a treatment option.

“When we’re talking about hundreds, if not thousands, of patients needing to now line up to see one of those 10 or 12 psychiatrists that are willing to prescribe or consider psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, you can see how this will inevitably create bottlenecks,” Lucas said.

Leah Mayo, the Parker Psychedelic Research Chair at the University of Calgary, said the regulations are like “putting the cart before the horse” since the field is still evolving with research still being done on who can be treated, the frequency of treatment, and dosing.

“While it’s good to kind of advance the field and increase access to these compounds, I still think we’re so early on that I mean, we don’t even know what populations should be getting these medications,” she said.

Dr. Robert Tanguay, a psychiatrist specializing in addiction medicine and vice-president of the Newly Institute, a network of medically-assisted psychotherapy clinics, attended the province’s announcement of the new rules on Oct. 5. He said they protect individuals from unregulated individuals providing non-evidenced-based treatment.

“I think at the end of the day, it moves us forward and increasing the amount of access and putting structure behind what we’re supposed to be doing, and most importantly, protecting those individuals who are under the influence while in treatment,” Tanguay said.

In a statement at the time of the announcement, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta supported innovative approaches to health care and noted protecting the public while guiding regulated members remains a focus to ensure safe, high-quality innovation.

Despite criticisms, the Alberta government is credited for trying to get ahead of the curve.

“I think that they are trying to get ahead of the eight-ball and trying to design regulations for these therapies as they progress, which is great. That’s actually very, very forward-thinking,” Kadysh said.

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New Alberta opioid program could increase barriers and harm, health professionals say

“We definitely need to watch the risks of diversion, it's very important to reduce diversion. But there's also a duty to ensure that our clients don't have any harm come their way and get destabilized.”

Author of the article: Anna Junker

Edmonton Journal

Publishing date: Oct 16, 2022 

Mike Ellis, associate minister of mental health and addictions, left, listens to Dr. Robert Tanguay, co-chair, Alberta Pain Strategy and co-lead, Rapid Access Addiction Medicine Program, Alberta Health Services. The two were speaking at a news conference to announce new rules for the use of high-potency opioids on Oct. 5, 2022.

 PHOTO BY GREG SOUTHAM /Postmedia, file

Health-care professionals say new provincial regulations for high-potency opioids may increase barriers and harm to patients seeking treatment.

On Oct. 5, the Alberta government announced the narcotics transition services program where opioids such as hydromorphone, diacetylmorphine (heroin) and fentanyl are offered at licensed opioid dependency program (ODP) clinics run by Alberta Health Services.

The changes mean community health professionals can no longer prescribe and pharmacists will no longer be able to dispense high-potency opioids for treatment. Patients must instead be referred to the ODP clinics by a health-care professional or self-refer.

While the goal is to transition the patient to opioid agonist therapy medication, like suboxone, and provide access to other wraparound supports, a patient cannot be discharged from the program if they are unable to make the transition

The province estimates fewer than 350 people in Alberta are currently prescribed high-potency opioids for severe addiction and will be affected by the changes.

Elaine Hyshka, associate professor at the University of Alberta’s School of Public Health, said that means 350 people who are getting treatment and likely doing well will now be abruptly forced to alter their lives.

“You have to change to a new clinic, where you’re going to have to go likely multiple times per day to get your dose and structure your whole life around that new routine,” she said. “And best of luck to you that you continue to be stable and in your recovery. That to me is really fundamentally unfair to those patients.”

Dr. Monty Ghosh, an internist and addiction specialist at the U of A, echoed concerns that clients will have to travel to a brick-and-mortar facility, as opposed to a pharmacy or have a take-home option.

“That would pose a barrier for numerous individuals if they have cognitive concerns, behavioural concerns, developmental delay,” he said. “Having to come three times a day might be problematic for individuals.”

The new program is only for the most severe cases of opioid addiction and is an extremely specialized service, said Eric Engler, spokesman for the mental health and addictions ministry, in a statement.

“The medications that may be provided as part of this program can be extremely dangerous, especially if they are diverted into the community,” Engler said. “This service will only be provided to those with the most severe cases of opioid addiction, in a supervised setting, with no opportunity for diversion of dangerous opioids to the community. The risk of these drugs being diverted is simply too high to offer this service in any other way.

But Hyshka said it’s “very problematic” that the province is “cracking down” on prescribing high-potency opioids when there isn’t a lot of evidence it is causing problems.

Out of the 884 drug poisoning deaths recorded between January and July this year, 20 were from pharmaceutical opioids.

Diversion is still a real concern, Ghosh said. But the crux of the issue is the risks of diversion need to be weighed with the risk of harms associated with destabilization that the new rules may cause.

“We definitely need to watch the risks of diversion, it’s very important to reduce diversion. But there’s also a duty to ensure that our clients don’t have any harm come their way and get destabilized.”

Individuals who treat chronic pain with pharmaceutical opioids are an example of providing take-home high-potency drugs without concerns of diversion, Ghosh said. (Chronic pain patients are not affected by the new regulations.)

“There are some substance users who are more or less the same as well,” he said. “So where does this land for them? And does this create a system of more stigma for these individuals?”

Dr. Ginetta Salvalaggio, an associate professor with the U of A’s department of family medicine, said continuity and relationships help people stay on their medications long term.

“What we’re doing here is a very top-down approach, sending people to people they don’t know,” she said. “This is not the sort of program that would be designed by people who use drugs.”

Engler said clients are encouraged to maintain relations with their existing care team, and the new standards require AHS to take steps to maintain those connections, too.

There are some positives to the program. Hyshka said clinics providing diacetylmorphine is an addition that has not been offered before in Alberta.

For Ghosh, one of the positives is increased access to high-potency opioids, not just in Edmonton and Calgary, but across the provincial health zones.

“In addition to this, there’s a strong emphasis on providing wraparound services for clients,” he said. “So making sure they get access to other wellness supports to support their housing, their income support, their mental health issues. These are all being provided as part of the service, which is fantastic news.”

The framework also includes a process to protect individuals who can’t transition off the high-potency opioids to more stabilized versions like suboxone.

“That’s really helpful and it really moves us in the right direction and it provides an outlet in some respects for safe supply,” Ghosh said.

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Alberta provincial police question deserves a referendum, rural municipalities say

Anna Junker - Yesterday 

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.© Provided by Edmonton Journal

The head of a group representing Alberta’s rural municipalities says Premier Danielle Smith should hold a referendum if she wants to go forward with the establishment of a provincial police service .

During her first media availability as premier, Smith said rural policing is a top priority for her government and would like to see provincial police “augment” the RCMP. She said provincial police would be trained to address new policing priorities, like rural property crime fuelled by drug use.

“More than 50 per cent of the calls I’m hearing are mental health and addiction calls and so that will require a different type of training and a different type of officer quite frankly,” Smith said. “We can have the ability to chart a new path by establishing the provincial police.”

But Paul McLauchlin, president of the Rural Municipalities of Alberta, believes the province should hold a referendum on the issue during the provincial election next spring.

He said the province should engage the public and let their voices be heard. This will provide clarity on whether money and energy should be spent pursuing provincial police instead of addressing issues with the RCMP.

“If you’re confident that this is a great idea, Albertans are smart people, respect them and let them make the decision and move forward on that,” McLauchlin said.

McLauchlin said there are concerns with mental health and addictions-related calls in rural areas, but a way to address that is through early intervention and better access to wraparound services.

“We do have a revolving door in our judicial system, we really need to find a way to help these people,” he said.

“Literally, they get caught and released in the same day, and it’s frustrating for our RCMP. So definitely, those pieces are so important that I think any investment this province wants to make (in) mental health, poverty reduction, early intervention, and then us addressing the judicial system, that will solve crime two years from now and 10 years from now.”

Becca Polak, Smith’s press secretary, did not answer specific questions on what a provincial police service could look like and whether the province would hold a referendum. In a statement, she said Smith is committed to ensuring Albertans feel safe, secure and protected in their communities.

“We must have a police service that is well-managed, properly resourced, and is focused on the safety, mental health, and well being of our citizens,” Polak said.

“While our frontline workers are valued by the citizens they serve, the model where policing priorities are made in Ottawa does not always work for Alberta’s communities and we are committed to ensuring policing priorities are set by Albertans. We continue to meet with Albertans, rural municipalities, and other stakeholders to ensure we have a policing model that addresses their concerns.”

In August, Justice Minister and Solicitor General Tyler Shandro released details about a possible model. It is estimated a transition from the RCMP would cost an initial $366 million and an extra $200 million annually.

The model outlines the creation of up to 85 community detachments and 30 “service hubs” that would have between 48 and 192 officers. The hubs would serve as detachments and homes for specialized teams.

Three urban detachments would serve larger communities and function as regional headquarters.

Mount Royal University criminologist Kelly Sundberg said a provincial police service makes sense as long as it is not a copy of the RCMP.

“We need to rethink policing altogether, how police are selected, educated, trained, equipped, governed, held accountable. All of this has to change,” he said.

“There’s enough public concern to warrant the exploring of a new model, as the government has already indicated they want a new provincial police, why not make it a modern example of policing excellence, as opposed to just using the same model we’ve been doing forever.”

Related
Alberta police reform legislation ready to go for fall session

Alberta continues to promote idea of provincial police over RCMP

Details, costs revealed of model for potential provincial police force

– with files from Kellen Taniguchi
ajunker@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/JunkerAnna

Robots monitor the environmental impact of the gas leak

Business Announcement

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG

 

IMAGE: THE UNDERWATER ROBOTS, CALLED GLIDERS, REGISTER DATA FROM THE SEA BOTTOM TO THE SURFACE NON STOP. view more 

CREDIT: VOTO/ALEKSANDRA MAZUR

The University of Gothenburg has deployed three underwater robots in the Baltic waters around the leaks on the Nord Stream gas pipelines. This is done to be able to follow how chemistry and life in the sea changes over time due to the large release of methane gas. In addition, research vessel Skagerak is set to deploy on a new expedition to the Baltic Sea to test run the large, unmanned vessel Ran.

The expedition with R/V Skagerak was not the only measure the university's researchers took when the Nord Stream pipelines began to leak methane gas. With the help of the Voice of the Ocean foundation, VOTO, three remote-controlled underwater robots were placed in the area. They will move around the sea and record water data continuously for the next 15 weeks.
“They are called gliders and are provided by VOTO, who also manages their operation. The robots can give us measurements over a series of time about how the chemistry and quality of the water is affected by the natural gas leak”, says oceanographer Bastien Queste at the University of Gothenburg.

Plenty of data from the area

Since March 2021, VOTO has had two gliders in the area which functions as one of the foundation's ocean observatories and where the water quality is measured non-stop. The robots go down to the bottom and then turn up to the surface, something that is repeated over a preset distance. Every time the glider is at the surface, the latest measurement data is sent to the researchers via satellite. Thus, plenty of data from this area already exists from before. One of the three additional robots that was dropped into the sea last week has been equipped by the manufacturer Alseamar with a special sensor to be able to measure the change in the methane content over the next 15 weeks.

 “Last week's expedition provided valuable data and a snapshot of the state of the ocean immediately after the leakage occurred. With the new robots in place, we receive continuous reports on the state of the water near the Nord stream pipeline leaks. They are deployed solely for this purpose”, says Bastien Queste.

“The point is that we get measurements from the water over a long period of time and over a larger area. We can see how long it takes for the methane to disappear and how the aquatic environment reacts over time. The response in the sea is often delayed. It may take days or weeks before we see a change”, says Bastien Queste.

Even the underwater robots that are usually deployed there, can contribute important data as they measure salinity, temperature, oxygen content and the amount of chlorophyll. This completes the picture of how the water in the Baltic Sea is doing after the gas leak.

Solid scientific documentation

 “Together with the new robots and the expedition's measurements, we researchers will have solid scientific documentation of the impact of the Nord Stream leak. When we add it all up, we have a good picture of both the immediate and the delayed effects. With gliders that continuously measure, we will be able to better understand the processes that were observed then”, says Bastien Queste.

The expedition has barely had time to disembark before preparations for the next trip to the Baltic Sea with Skagerak have started. Polar researcher Anna Wåhlin had, for a long time, planned a trip with the ship precisely to the area east of Bornholm.

“I will test how the large underwater robot Ran behaves in seas with large layers of density and how well it can measure over sediment-rich bottoms. This place is perfect for that. Ran will also be able to contribute to research into gas emissions because it measures the carbon dioxide and nitrate levels in the water”, says Anna Wåhlin.
This is also the first time that Ran departs from Skagerak, which will be an important test of the ship's flexibility.

CAPTION

The underwater robot will work in the area for 15 weeks.

CREDIT

Anna Wåhlin