iPhone Exports from India Double to Surpass $2.5 Billion

Sankalp Phartiyal
Mon, January 9, 2023 


(Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. exported more than $2.5 billion of iPhones from India from April to December, nearly twice the previous fiscal year’s total, underscoring how the US tech giant is accelerating a shift from China with geopolitical tensions on the rise.

Foxconn Technology Group and Wistron Corp. have each shipped more than $1 billion of Apple’s marquee devices abroad in the first nine months of the fiscal year ending March 2023, people familiar with the matter said. Pegatron Corp., another major contract manufacturer for Apple, is on track to move about $500 million of the gadgets overseas by the end of January, the people said, asking not to be identified revealing private information.

Apple’s rapidly growing export numbers illustrate how it is ramping up operations outside of China, where chaos at Foxconn’s main plant in Zhengzhou exposed vulnerabilities in the Cupertino-headquartered company’s supply chain and forced it to trim output estimates. That compounded a broader problem with evaporating demand for electronics as consumers weigh the risks of a global recession.

Apple, the world’s most valuable company, began assembling its latest iPhone models in India only last year, a significant break from its practice of reserving much of that for giant Chinese factories run by its main Taiwanese assemblers including Foxconn.

While India makes up just a fraction of iPhone output, rising exports bode well for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plan to make the country an alternative to China as factory to the world.

China’s Covid Zero policies and an episode of violence at the Zhengzhou plant — nicknamed iPhone City as the world’s biggest production center for the device — laid bare the dangers of relying on the country. While Beijing has since dropped that approach to containing the virus, Apple and other global names are exploring alternative locations more than ever before.

India’s vast workforce, Modi’s support and a thriving local market make it a prime candidate to take on more electronics manufacturing. Foxconn, Apple’s largest supplier, began building facilities in the country more than five years ago in anticipation of a need to extend its geographic range.

One recent selling point is a raft of new government incentives, a cornerstone of Modi’s drive to make India an electronics manufacturing hub. Foxconn has won 3.6 billion rupees ($44 million) of benefits in the first year of the so-called production-linked incentives scheme, while Wistron’s claims are currently being processed, the people said.

Representatives for Apple, Foxconn and Wistron didn’t respond to emails seeking comment. A Pegatron spokesperson declined to comment.

What Bloomberg Intelligence Says

India’s cost savings and market potential are among the benefits it offers to Apple’s iPhone supply chain. Its ample labor supply and low wages — at least 50% lower than in China — can be a strong draw for EMS players such as Hon Hai and Pegatron, given their thin margins and labor-intensiveness. India’s Production-Linked Incentives (PLI) offer subsidies equivalent to 4%-6% of production costs for five years once certain performance criteria are met.

- Steven Tseng, analyst

Click here for the research.

Apple’s contract manufacturers currently make iPhones at plants in southern India. But production in the country is just beginning. About 3 million of the devices were made in India in 2021, compared with 230 million in China, according to Bloomberg Intelligence estimates.

Foxconn began making the iPhone 14 in India a few months ago — sooner than anticipated — after a surprisingly smooth production rollout that slashed the lag between Chinese and Indian output from months to mere weeks. Apple’s three Taiwanese partners currently assemble iPhones 11 to 14 in India.

But moving out of China, where Apple has built a deep supply chain for close to two decades, isn’t easy. A Bloomberg Intelligence analysis estimated it would take about eight years to move just 10% of Apple’s production capacity out of China, where roughly 98% of the company’s iPhones are being made.

India tracks production and exports of all smartphone makers who enjoy financial incentives as part of Modi’s push.

Beyond smartphones, the country is drawing up plans to boost financial incentives for tablet and laptop makers, hoping to woo Apple to make everything from earphones to MacBooks locally as well as attract other brands. The iPhone maker is also expected to open its first retail store in India in 2023, after meeting certain criteria imposed on foreign retailers.

--With assistance from Debby Wu.

Tata Nears iPhone Plant Takeover to Grow Apple Supply Role

Saritha Rai
Tue, January 10, 2023

Tata Nears iPhone Plant Takeover to Grow Apple Supply Role

(Bloomberg) -- Tata Group is close to taking over a major plant in southern India in a deal that would give the country its first homegrown iPhone maker.

The airline-to-software conglomerate has been in talks with the factory’s owner, Taiwan’s Wistron Corp., for months, and is looking to complete the purchase by the end of March, according to two people familiar with the process. The two firms discussed various potential tieups but talks have now centered on Tata taking a majority of a joint venture, the people said. Tata is set to oversee the main manufacturing operation, with support from Wistron, the people said, asking not to be named because the plans aren’t public.

Apple Inc.’s iPhones are mainly assembled by Taiwanese manufacturing giants like Wistron and Foxconn Technology Group. Tata’s deal would advance India’s efforts to create local contenders to challenge China’s dominance in electronics, which has been jeopardized by political tensions with the US and Covid-related hurdles.

The Indian conglomerate aims to complete a due diligence process by March 31 so that its Tata Electronics arm can formally take over Wistron’s position in a program that gives it government incentives, one of the people said. The next cycle of incentives will begin from April 1, which marks the start of India’s financial year.

The acquisition could value Wistron’s only iPhone manufacturing operation in India at more than $600 million if the Taiwanese company meets the requirements to receive the expected incentives for the current financial year, one of the people said.

A Tata representative declined to comment. Wistron and Apple didn’t respond to requests for comment.

“I am not directly involved in that, but it should be really good for India because this is going to create an opportunity in India to manufacture electronics and microelectronics,” said N Ganapathy Subramaniam, operating chief at Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., the IT giant that’s Tata’s biggest listed unit.

A deal would mark a step toward establishing India as a cutting-edge electronic manufacturing base, said Subramaniam, who is brother to Tata Group Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran.

Wistron is one of three Taiwanese iPhone manufacturers in India, along with Foxconn and Pegatron Corp. It has sought to diversify its business beyond thin-margin iPhone manufacturing into areas such as servers, agreeing to sell its iPhone production business in China to a competitor in 2020.

Yet even as Wistron plans to exit iPhone-making in India, its Taiwanese peers are expanding their iPhone production lines. Apple, the world’s most profitable smartphone maker, is seeking to reduce its dependence on China, where pandemic-related supply chain snarls and draconian restrictions have wrought havoc on device production.

Wistron’s 2.2 million square-foot factory is located just over 30 miles (50 kilometers) east of Bangalore. If the acquisition goes through, Tata will take over all its eight iPhone lines, as well as the plant’s 10,000 workers, including a couple thousand engineers. Wistron would continue as a service partner for iPhones in India.

Tata has taken other steps to increase its business with Apple. It has accelerated hiring in its factory in Hosur, near Bangalore, where it produces iPhone components. That plant stands on several hundred acres of land where Tata could add iPhone manufacturing lines in the coming years. Tata has also announced that it will launch 100 Apple stores in the country of 1.4 billion, the first of which is set to open in Mumbai this quarter.

The 150-year-old Tata Group makes everything from branded salt and Tetley Tea to steel and Jaguar cars, and runs an airline and Starbucks cafés in the country. Its TCS is Asia’s largest IT outsourcing company and one of India’s most valuable by market capitalization.

In the past couple of years, Chairman Chandrasekaran has accelerated efforts to make the conglomerate more tech-centric with a slew of e-commerce initiatives and a new super-app called Tata Neu. The group is also set to enter chipmaking, he said last year.

--With assistance from Sankalp Phartiyal and Debby Wu.

ALBERTA

Victim's parents call for better jobsite safety after 28 charges laid in oilsands tailings pond death


Tue, January 10, 2023

Suncor and Christina River Construction face a total of 28 charges under the Alberta Occupational Health and Safety Act in the death of Patrick Poitras. (Patrick Poitras/Facebook - image credit)

The parents of a 25-year-old oilsands worker who died in a frozen tailings pond in northern Alberta say charges in the case reveal disturbing details about safety failures on site.

Suncor and Christina River Construction face a total of 28 charges under the Alberta Occupational Health and Safety Act in the death of Patrick Poitras.

Poitras was operating a bulldozer on Jan. 13, 2021, at Suncor's base mine about 30 kilometres north of Fort McMurray, when the ice beneath the machine gave way.

Three days later, his body was pulled from the pond.

"Someone didn't do their job and I lost my son because of that," Marcel Poitras said in an interview from his home in New Brunswick.

"My son gave his life for that job."

The charges, laid in November, allege the companies ignored a series of safety protocols when they directed Poitras to operate a dozer on dangerously thin ice.

The case details how the companies allegedly failed to properly check the thickness of the ice and ignored previous measurements that showed it was too thin to bear the weight of the machine.

Christina River Construction, owned by Fort McMurray 468 First Nation, is facing nine charges in the death of their contractor. Suncor is facing 19 counts.

A plea hearing is scheduled for March 15 in Fort McMurray provincial court. Suncor declined to comment on the case as it is before the court. Christina River Construction has not responded to questions about the charges.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.

Poitras said his son's death was preventable and someone needs to be held accountable.

"It's not the first time this has happened," he said. "With the safety we have today, this is not supposed to happen."

I had told myself it was just a bad accident. - Cathina Cormier

Suncor, one of the largest players in the Alberta oilsands, has been under increased scrutiny for its safety record. At least 12 workers have died at its Alberta oilsands operations since 2014.

Former CEO Mark Little pledged to address the problem, including a promised independent safety review, but stepped down in July 2022, a day after a 26-year-old contractor died after being struck by equipment at Suncor's Base Mine.

Poitras's mother, Cathina Cormier, said she felt grief and disbelief when she learned of the allegations.

"I know there is no price for a human being but when I read the charges, I was angry," Cormier said.

"I had told myself it was just a bad accident."

Cormier said learning details of her son's death has made her grief raw again. She wants answers about what went wrong that day.

"The question and keep asking myself is who sent him there? Who sent my son to do that job?

"I cannot lay my boy to rest because of this."

According to the charges, Poitras was directed to operate a John Deere dozer on the ice of a tailings pond when available ice measurements showed the minimum ice thickness was less than 17 inches, as required by Suncor's safety plan.

The companies are accused of failing to complete adequate ice checks and failing to ensure ground-penetrating radar was used for ice profiling before dozers were permitted to operate.

They also allegedly failed to ensure dozer operators were wearing personal flotation devices when on the ice.

It is also alleged the companies failed to have a safety plan in place directing Poitras to keep his seatbelt off — and the door unlatched — while he was operating the dozer on the pond.

I said, 'If you find that it's dangerous, please stop, because I need you more than you know. I don't want to lose you. - Marcel Poitras

Suncor also faces a charge for underestimating how much the dozers weighed, and failing to account for the weight of snow when calculating required ice thickness.

It's further alleged that Suncor ignored its own winter geology guidelines that called for work to be deferred on any sites with more than one metre of standing water.

Marcel Poitras said Patrick called him the night before he died and told him that he was worried about safety at the site. He said he was scared to go out on the ice.

"I said, 'If you find that it's dangerous, please stop, because I need you more than you know. I don't want to lose you.' And he said, 'Dad, I'm here to work.'"

Poitras, of Saint-André, N.B., had worked in the oilsands for six years. He had recently returned to New Brunswick for Christmas and planned on moving home for good that spring.

Patrick Poitras/Facebook

Cormier said her son was serious about his work, but also a "goof" with a penchant for sporting a mullet and making people laugh.

After two years of uncertainty and overwhelming grief, she hopes the outcome of the case will give her some closure.

She is still coming to grips with her son's death, and the death of her father weeks later.

She hopes Patrick's legacy will be ensuring other workers are protected on the job.

"I just want this to never happen again. It's a worst nightmare for a mother.

"Our family went through hell for this."

The ‘everything bubble’ has popped and the experts on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley were spectacularly wrong about a ton of things


Will Daniel
Sat, January 7, 2023 

Most people don’t think about the Federal Reserve very often, and only a select few contemplate the effects that the U.S. central bank has on investors. But over the past few years, that’s begun to change. Many economists and keen market watchers are making the case that years of loose monetary policies from the Fed and other central banks following the Great Financial Crisis (GFC) helped create an “everything bubble”—and now it’s popping.

The everything bubble idea isn’t new. For years before 2022’s stock market woes, leading minds on Wall Street including the investing legend Jeremy Grantham warned about a brewing “superbubble.” The idea is that near-zero interest rates and quantitative easing (QE)—a policy where the Fed would buy mortgage-backed securities and government bonds to boost lending and investment in the economy—pushed investors toward riskier investments, allowed unsustainable business models to thrive on cheap debt, and fueled a “savagely unhealthy” surge in home prices.

BOSTON, MA - NOVEMBER 5: Renowned investment manager Jeremy Grantham poses on a balcony at his Rowes Wharf office in Boston on Nov. 5, 2013. Grantham has made a fortune for his clients, and now hes pouring a good deal of his own wealth into environmental charities. With more than $500 million in two Grantham family foundations, he is among a handful of successful Boston investors emerging as the citys major new philanthropists. (Photo by Lane Turner/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)More

It’s early days, but in retrospect a lot of outlandish financial predictions accompanied this era of easy money. And the fallout for Americans hasn’t been pretty, as inflation continues to rage and recession fears mount. But there is a silver lining for the finance community. The everything bubble provided some of the most ridiculous—and hilarious—forecasts in history.

From cryptocurrency experts and hedge fund managers to economists and investment banks, the easy money era was filled with bulls who believed the good times would never end. Here’s a look at some of their strangest calls.
The Bitcoin bulls

The cryptocurrency boom of 2020 and 2021 was unprecedented. Between January 2020 and the peak of the crypto fervor in November 2021, the industry’s total value grew to over $3 trillion and Bitcoin prices soared roughly 800%.

The crypto faithful were sure that the party was just beginning. Billionaire venture capitalist Tim Draper said in June 2021 that Bitcoin would hit $250,000 by the end of 2022. “I think I’m going to be right on this one,” he assured CNBC’s Jade Scipioni.

Bitcoin ended up finishing 2022 just above $16,500, but just last month, Draper repeated his call for Bitcoin to hit $250,000—this time he said it would be by the middle of 2023.

“I expect a flight to quality and decentralized crypto like bitcoin, and for some of the weaker coins to become relics,” Draper told CNBC.

Tim Draper did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment.

Draper wasn’t the only leading figure to jump on the Bitcoin train during the easy money era and make lofty forecasts either. ARK Invest’s Cathie Wood was the first public asset manager to gain exposure to Bitcoin via the Bitcoin Investment Trust (GBTC) as a part of her tech-focused exchange-traded ETFs in 2015.

LISBON, PORTUGAL - 2022/11/02: CEO & Chief Investment Officer of ARK Invest, Cathie Wood, addresses the audience at Altice Arena Centre Stage during the second day of the Web Summit 2022 in Lisbon. The biggest technology conference in the world is back in Lisbon. The conference will discuss new technological trends for four days and how they will influence people's lives. 70,000 people expected to participate in the event. 

(Photo by Hugo Amaral/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The bet led Wood to face serious criticism from her peers, but barring a brief crypto winter in 2018, it paid off as Bitcoin’s price soared to over $65,000 by November 2021.

Wood was sure that the good times would last throughout the bull market. In November 2020, she told Barron’s that institutional adoption of crypto would drive Bitcoin’s price to $500,000 by 2026 and repeatedly “bought the dip” whenever Bitcoin prices fell. Wood even told The Globe and Mail in a February 2020 interview that Bitcoin was “one of the largest positions” in her retirement account.

The ARK Invest CEO remained bullish even at the start of 2022, when Bitcoin prices had fallen from their highs of over $65,000 to just under $50,000. She argued that the leading cryptocurrency would touch $1 million by 2030 in ARK’s “Big Ideas 2022” annual research report.

Since then Bitcoin’s price has dropped more than 60%, but Wood and her team aren’t fazed, and still believe that their prediction is fair.

“We think Bitcoin is coming out of this smelling like a rose,” Wood told Bloomberg in December, arguing that institutions will eventually buy into Bitcoin after it is “battle tested” by the crypto winter.

Cathie Wood did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment.

Tom Lee, head of research at Fundstrat Global Advisors, who previously served as chief equity strategist at JPMorgan and spent over 25 years on Wall Street, has also been a perennial Bitcoin bull. In early 2022, he predicted that Bitcoin would hit $200,000 in the coming years.

And despite the recent fall, which he admitted has been “horrific” for investors, Lee told CNBC in November that he still believes Bitcoin will come out of the current downtrend and hit his target. But while many crypto forecasters are sticking by their lofty estimates, Wall Street has been walking back some of theirs.

Tom Lee did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment.

Lofty stock market forecasts

Investment banks made some pretty dramatic forecasts during the cheap money era. After the stock market soared throughout the pandemic, returning 28% to investors, Wall Street was confident that things would slow down in 2022, but not to the extent that they actually did.

Investment banks expected the S&P 500 to end 2022 at 4,825, representing only a mild 1% gain for the year. Instead, the blue-chip index dropped roughly 20%.

The (perhaps unwarranted) bullishness among investment banks was particularly clear when looking at the price targets for growth stocks that benefited from pandemic trends. The online used car retailer Carvana, for example, soared throughout the pandemic as used car prices rose to record highs.

The firm was able to take advantage of consumers’ inability or unwillingness to shop for vehicles in person during COVID, leading some analysts to give incredibly bullish forecasts.

In January 2022, Morgan Stanley’s auto analyst Adam Jonas called Carvana the “apex predator in auto retail” and assigned a $430 12-month price target to the stock. Since then, shares of the online car retailer have plummeted more than 97% to just $4.48—and some analysts believe more pain lay ahead for investors.

NEW YORK - JUNE 09: Morgan Stanley headquarters are seen June 9, 2009 in New York City. Morgan Stanley is one of ten lenders that won U.S. Treasury approval to pay back $68 billion in funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Morgan Stanley did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment.

New Construct’s CEO David Trainer warned investors in June that Carvana was burning cash at an unsustainable rate and may not survive.

“Time is running out for cash-burning companies kept afloat with easy access to capital,” Trainer told Fortune. “These ‘zombie’ companies are at risk of going bankrupt.”

Coinbase is another example of the fervor that developed on Wall Street over the past few years. When the cryptocurrency exchange went public in April 2021, shares spiked from their $250 reference price to $381 per share.

CNBC’s Jim Cramer, a former hedge fund manager, took to Twitter after the IPO, saying that he “liked Coinbase to $475.” And he wasn’t alone, investment banks’ average price target for the exchange was over $400 per share in early 2021.

Since then, however, Coinbase stock is down more than 90% amid the crypto winter. And Cramer has changed his mind, saying in a December 13 tweet that he was “not a buyer of Coinbase here,” calling it “too early.”

CNBC did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment.

The cheap money era may have led many forecasters to assume that asset prices would continue to soar, regardless of valuations, but this year has proven to be a wake-up call. Wall Street analysts have slashed their price targets for many of the stock market’s pandemic darlings. It’s a new era for markets and forecasters, as Tim Pagliara, chief investment officer of the investment advisory firm CapWealth, told Fortune last month.

“We’re going to be unwinding a lot of the speculation,” he said. “There’s going to be a lot of revaluation of everything from commercial real estate to how the investing public looks at things like crypto.

Who gets to fish for B.C. salmon in the future?


Mon, January 9, 2023 

​The West Coast’s commercial salmon fleet is clearly in the midst of transformative change.

Ottawa has shuttered approximately 60 per cent of B.C.’s commercial fisheries since 2021 and last month launched a licence buyback program to lure fish harvesters to exit the industry to protect plummeting salmon stocks.

What’s less evident is who will remain on the water with access to salmon as the federal government reshapes the industry that was once the backbone of the coast.

But many suspect large corporations and investors that never set boots on the deck of a fishing vessel will continue to prosper while independent harvesters and coastal communities languish.

A pattern of fishing licences and quota concentrated in the hands of large seafood processing companies is firmly entrenched in B.C., said Jim McIsaac, vice-president of the Canadian Independent Fish Harvesters' Federation.

If Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) fails to make policy changes as the salmon licences and total catch decline, fishing wealth will continue to slip away to urban areas and those with lots of capital.

“Salmon, from my point of view, is a public resource and should be managed for the benefit of the Canadian public,” said McIsaac. “But DFO is privatizing the resource and managing it for the benefit of investors and processors.”

On the Atlantic Coast, commercial licence holders are required to be present on a vessel and actually fish their catch, he added.

But on the West Coast, many commercial licences and quota — a set share of the allowable catch — are transferable and can be bought, sold and leased like a commodity.

Demand and speculation push the purchase price beyond the reach of independent fish harvesters — especially young ones without deep pockets — leading to the rise of an “investor class” of corporations, investors or retired fishermen.

“Instead of moving to a more community-based local fishery, which a lot of fisheries around the planet are doing to make them more sustainable,” McIsaac said.

The licence buyback program will probably contract and concentrate the commercial seine fishery most immediately, said Joy Thorkelson of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers' Union.

Seine vessels tend to be larger than other types of fishing boats and use nets drawn together into a "purse" to capture fish.

The largest salmon fishery, the seine sector takes about 50 per cent of the total harvest and is already dominated by the province’s largest fish processor, Canfisco, part of the Jim Pattison Group, Thorkelson said.

Independent fish harvesters who can’t afford to buy a licence often lease one from processors that also act as brokers or hubs for other owners looking to “rent” their licence, she added.

This gives processors access to the catch and control over price, creating a monopoly effect, she said.

It also allows processors to concentrate the onshore industry, further draining fishing wealth from B.C. communities, she said, pointing to Canfisco closing its northern canneries and exporting that work to Alaska.

In 2019, the House of Commons committee on fisheries and oceans (FOPO), issued a report to the government centred on fisheries and equity issues on the Pacific Coast.

The committee urged Ottawa to increase the transparency around licence and quota ownership and restrict foreign investors’ access. It also called on the government to find ways for young fishers to enter the industry along with measurable mechanisms to ensure the socio-economic benefits of fishing are fairer, particularly for active harvesters and coastal communities.

But there’s been little real change by DFO over the last two years as the commercial salmon sector has been hobbled by the widespread closures, McIsaac said.

“I’ve been following developments around those recommendations pretty closely,” he said.

“At best, DFO has given them window dressing.”

Thorkelson predicts most of the licence buybacks will involve “low-hanging fruit”: inactive licences bought cheap or inherited by people not involved in the industry or harvesters who have recently retired due to ongoing declines in the commercial salmon sector.

DFO can’t predict who will remain on the water as the licence retirements are voluntary, the ministry said in an email to Canada’s National Observer.

“Those licence holders that wish to remain in the fishery will be able to do so,” DFO said.

The ministry didn’t clarify when, how or if equitable distribution of fishing benefits, including quota or licences, is part of the plan for the fishery once the buyback process is complete in three years’ time.

The retirement program is one element of a commitment to transform the salmon fishery and DFO will monitor how the number of licences changes during the process, the department said.

“DFO will continue to work with commercial fishery interests to determine other changes that will support the conservation and rebuilding of salmon stocks and a more adaptable and economically viable commercial fishery,” the email said.

Beyond limiting costs of retiring a licence, it’s not evident that DFO has any objectives or criteria around the number of licences it hopes to retire from each industry sector, such as large corporations, independent harvesters or First Nations, said University of Guelph researcher Jennifer Silver, a specialist in fisheries management.

“There’s less clarity … about other factors in the decision-making that relate to a larger vision for who retains access to the resource and what that might mean for coastal or Indigenous communities,” Silver said.

Ottawa also needs to consider any potential implications associated with a public resource such as a licence and quota being owned by foreign investors, Silver said, adding it’s extremely difficult to determine the level of investment at play.

In one instance, FOPO heard testimony from Ecotrust Canada, a non-profit focused on revitalizing coastal communities, that it had traced a foreign company that owned 5.9 million pounds of quota. According to the group, that company’s director was the same overseas investor identified in news articles involving money laundering in casinos and real estate in Vancouver.

Those against implementing owner-operator regulations in B.C. similar to those on the Atlantic coast suggest it would be akin to trying to unscramble an egg, Silver said.

But policy that improves the profits from fishing and also ensures benefits for harvesters and communities are not mutually exclusive, she said.

“Policy can be designed to achieve a little of both,” Silver said.

“I don't know if that mix has been achieved in the Pacific region to the same extent that it has been pursued and achieved in the Atlantic region.”

Rochelle Baker / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada’s National Observer

​

Rochelle Baker, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada's National Observer

Artificial Intelligence Will Be Critical For Renewable Energy Growth


Editor OilPrice.com
Mon, January 9, 2023 

The digitalization of oil and gas has been well documented, with pretty much all energy majors adopting AI, machine learning, and other innovative technologies to improve their operations. But what role does artificial intelligence play in renewables? Just as in oil and gas, AI is being adopted for use in wind, solar, and other green energy projects to improve efficiency through greater automation. As energy firms look to digitalize their operations to a greater extent, AI will likely play a leading role in the energy transition of the future.

The use of AI can support numerous activities across the energy industry, for operations across all energy sources, from fossil fuels to renewables. The energy industry has adopted AI technology in recent years to support automated decision-making and aided decision-making. The first is when computer systems process information autonomously, without human input. This often means that tasks can be completed faster and more efficiently than when a human decision is required, as the machine can make an immediate change. However, some issues require greater human input to determine the correct response; in this case, aided decision-making can be useful. Machines can provide useful insights by providing data for workers to interpret and decide on the right actions to take in any given situation.

AI also plays a major role in prediction. The use of complex algorithms can help investors to determine the level of risk involved in a new green energy project, anticipate the energy production from different types of renewable sources in different conditions, and predict the energy demand at different times of the day in various locations. Technology providing constant monitoring and evaluation can help companies prevent failures or the need to halt operations, by anticipating potential challenges and responding to them immediately. For example, using machine learning weather models, historical datasets, and real-time local weather information can help companies to predict when a storm or heatwave is going to hit to adapt their operations to prepare for the change in weather.

Related: Black Sea Shipping Rates Jump 20%

With digitalization becoming commonplace, energy firms are now using AI technologies in their day-to-day operations, and this type of equipment will almost certainly be key to transforming the future of energy. One of the main ways in which AI will support an effective transition away from fossil fuels to greener alternatives is through grid management. AI and machine learning use data analytics to estimate the level of energy consumption across households in any given area. It considers a variety of factors such as time of year, peak and off-peak times, and weather conditions. This can help energy companies to be constantly aware of the likely electricity use in the coming days, manage the grid accordingly and avoid outages. Production can also be altered in response to usage predictions to meet demand and avoid waste.

The rollout of AI technology across different areas of energy operations can also significantly enhance maintenance practices. Machines can predict the need for maintenance to schedule a repair ahead of an outage, to avoid an unnecessary loss of power. Energy companies can prepare for maintenance and inform consumers, rather than be caught unexpectedly by something breaking, which would mean longer repair times and unexpected power cuts for customers.

When it comes to solar power, AI can be used to determine the best sites to construct solar farms, based on the hours of sunlight and intensity. It can also help operators to plan the layout of the site so that solar systems catch the most sunlight. Once operational, AI technology can be used for automated decision-making to control solar panels as they rotate toward the sunlight throughout the day.

Even J. Kvelland, the co-founder and COO of solar AI company Glint Solar, explained: “To us, it’s surprising how many very sophisticated solar developers are still using the old way of sourcing land: reactively waiting for someone to recommend a piece of land or guessing by looking at Google Earth.” He added, “Given how ambitious plans virtually all developers have, they increasingly must be proactive about site screening and we’re proud to finally offer them software for this important task.”

In terms of wind power, Danish renewable energy major Vestas Wind Systems has led the way in the digitalization of wind farms, using machine learning to constantly adapt and improve operations. On-site AI technology learns from the environment in real-time, mainly through trial and error, to create changes to enhance wind energy production.

Espen Mehlum, the head of the energy and materials program on benchmarking at the World Economic Forum stated, “You can use AI to both optimize the construction, siting and the operations of a wind farm, but more importantly, you can use AI to optimize across different systems, both when it comes to consumption but also production.” He added, “That’s where the huge untapped potential is for AI – we’re just scratching the surface and seeing the first use cases.”

The digitalization of the energy sector is well underway, with almost all oil and gas and renewables majors incorporating a wide range of innovative technologies into their operations, for greater efficiency and production stability. AI technologies allow energy companies to predict a range of scenarios, ensure a reliable energy output for consumers, support grid efficiency, and adapt to anticipated and real-time changes to establish optimal conditions for production.

By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

NATO VS. USSR

The tank-killing armored vehicle that France is sending to Ukraine is 'a bit of an oddity,' but don't call it a tank

OPENING THE WAY FOR THE BRADLEY


Michael Peck
Sun, January 8, 2023 at 3:39 p.m. MST·5 min read



French soldiers in an AMX-10RC in Afghanistan's Surobi district in September 2010.JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty Images

France said on January 5 that it would send the AMX-10RC armored vehicle to Ukraine.


French and Ukrainian officials and others have referred to the AMX-10RC as a "light tank."


It doesn't quite qualify as a tank, but it will be a valuable addition to Ukraine's arsenal.

France's decision to send the AMX-10RC to Ukraine sparked pronouncements that the West is finally delivering tanks to Ukraine.

The "tank" vs. "armored vehicle" debate is a long and often contentious one, but AMX-10RCs are armored reconnaissance vehicles and not tanks, which usually have large-caliber main guns, heavy-duty armor, and tracks.

While the symbolism of delivering it to Kyiv is important, it remains to be seen how useful a thinly protected, 1970s-vintage armored vehicle will be on the battlefield in Ukraine.

That France and Ukraine have described the AMX-10RC as a "light tank" is significant. Despite Ukraine's pleas, the US and other countries have refused to send first-line tanks such as the M1 Abrams.

This has left Ukraine reliant on a motley collection of Soviet-designed tanks acquired before the war, Russian tanks captured in battle, or refurbished models provided by countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic.

A French Foreign Legion AMX-10RC during an exercise at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina in October 2017.US Marine Corps/Lance Cpl. Damarko Bones

The AMX-10RC is really a six-wheeled armored car. Designed in the early 1970s and first deployed by the French Army in 1979, it is a 16-ton vehicle capable of traveling 50 mph.

Its wheeled design means it can move fast on roads and smooth terrain — and requires less maintenance — than a heavy, tracked vehicle such as the 70-ton Abrams.

The AMX-10RC's thin armor protects against small arms and shrapnel but not large-caliber tank rounds or anti-tank missiles. While its manufacturer, Giat Industries, does offer an add-on kit with extra armor and missile countermeasures, the AMX-10RC is more suited for locating the enemy — and beating a hasty retreat if necessary — rather than going cannon-to-cannon with main battle tanks.

France operates 245 AMX-10RCs and has deployed the vehicle in Operation Desert Storm and in counterinsurgency operations in Africa. Morocco, Qatar, and Cameroon also operate the AMX-10RC, though the French military is replacing it with the Jaguar, a 25-ton armored scout vehicle armed with a 40 mm rapid-fire cannon and two anti-tank missiles.

Wheeled armored scout cars are not uncommon. Russia, for example, still uses the 1960s-era 7-ton BRDM-2, Japan the 15-ton Type 87, and the US the 19-ton M1127 Stryker scout variant.

French soldiers practice firing an AMX-10RC in Afghanistan's Surobi district in September 2010.JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty Images

But what's striking about the AMX-10RC — and perhaps why it's been called a "light tank" or "tank destroyer" — is that it packs a 105 mm cannon rather than the usual small cannon or heavy machine gun.

While smaller than the high-velocity 120 mm cannons found on main battle tanks, the AMX-10RC's gun is powerful enough to take out a tank at close range and would be deadly against lighter armored vehicles and infantry.

"The US Army was never very fond of" wheeled armored fighting vehicles, said Steven Zaloga, an author and expert on armored vehicles, who compared the AMX-10RC to the US's now-retired M551 Sheridan and M3 Bradley cavalry fighting vehicle, both of which have tracks.

The AMX-10RC also resembles the US's M1128 Mobile Gun System, the fire-support variant of the wheeled Stryker armed with a 105 mm gun, which the US Army has decided to discard.

The AMX-10RC is a "bit of an oddity," according to Olivier Schmitt, a professor at the University of Southern Denmark's Center for War Studies.

"It was conceived for recon and fire support, and, in the 1980s, was the heaviest armored vehicle assigned to the 'rapid action force'" set up by France to rush across Germany in response to a Soviet attack, Schmitt tweeted this week.

French troops back an AMX-10RC onto a ship in Toulon in June 1995.ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP via Getty Images

In other words, the AMX-10RC was designed to be part of a light mechanized force that rides to the rescue of NATO forces desperately defending against a Soviet blitzkrieg. That's not the situation in Ukraine now. Fighting there has become trench warfare, with incremental gains rather than sweeping armored offensives in which fast, armored scout vehicles excel.

Indeed, Ukraine has shown that modern reconnaissance relies on drones and satellites. Armored vehicles are still vital on the battlefield, but an armored car may have limited utility against swarms of anti-tank missiles, attack drones, and smart artillery shells.

Yet the military value of the AMX-10RC isn't really the point. What's important is that the West is sending armored fighting vehicles.

France's announcement was quickly followed by the US announcing that it would send M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and Germany announcing that it would send Marder infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine. Both vehicles are tracked and heavier than the AMX-10RC but have smaller main weapons, though they also carry anti-tank missiles.

Tank or not, if the AMX-10RC boosts Ukrainian morale — and reminds Russia that heavier Western armor may be coming — than it's a valuable weapon.

Michael Peck is a defense writer whose work has appeared in Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy magazine, and other publications. He holds a master's in political science. Follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/05/world/europe/what-is-the-bradley-fighting-vehicle.html

What Is the Bradley Fighting Vehicle? - The New York Times 

4 days ago ... Often mistaken for a tank, the decades-old Bradley offers a compromise between traditional tank firepower and an armored personnel carrier.

https://www.military.com/equipment/m2-m3-bradley-fighting-vehicle

M2/M3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle | Military.com 

The Bradley Fighting Vehicle family currently consists of two vehicles: the M2 Infantry Fighting Vehicle and the M3 Cavalry Fighting Vehicle. Just as with its ...

I’m homeless in California. And I have an easy, cost-free solution to homelessness | Opinion

Lydia Blumberg
Sun, January 8, 2023 
Sacramento Bee

Renée C. Byer/rbyer@sacbee.com


I and my fellow residents of Wood Street Commons, an unhoused community in Oakland, believe politicians pushing sweeps of homeless encampments are only making things worse.

One thing that would dramatically improve the lives of unhoused people in California could be done today, wouldn’t cost taxpayers any money and would require no effort by politicians or city workers. It’s as simple as a governor or mayor uttering three words: Stop sweeps now.

Each time a homeless camp is dismantled, people’s lives are destroyed. All the effort we put into creating a home — we do not actually consider ourselves homeless because our camp is our home — is wiped away. Our worldly possessions, including identification, medical records, family heirlooms, clothing, electronics, furniture, instruments, bedding, tents, tools and other items that we use to earn income, are literally thrown into garbage trucks. Our handmade shelters are smashed by giant machines as we watch.

Opinion

How is this acceptable? How can the people who order and carry out sweeps live with themselves?

Each time a homeless camp is dismantled, its residents face more obstacles to overcoming what put them on the street in the first place. We create camps as a way to create stability, cultivate community, and accrue needed resources to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. Destroying camps pushes us down and forces us to start over, with nowhere to go and often with nothing but the clothes on our backs.

Any politician who pledges to end homelessness in one breath and then pledges to rid the streets of encampments in the next — looking at you, Gov. Gavin Newsom — is completely out of his mind.

The billions spent “helping” the homeless are profoundly undermined by the daily aggression of sweeps, which many unhoused people experience several times a year. Take it from us, the real experts on this issue: Sweeps make homelessness more entrenched.

Sweeps are also an enormous waste of taxpayer money. A 2021 sweep in Los Angeles’ Echo Park, where which roughly 200 people were removed in a violent show of police force, cost an estimated $2 million. That’s nearly $10,000 per person! These are people whose lives were destroyed at an expense that could have housed them for months.

Yet city leaders declared the Echo Park sweep a rousing success, claiming nearly everyone from the camp was placed in temporary housing. But UCLA studies conducted a year later found that only a dozen or so of them remained in temporary housing. Of the rest, four were placed in permanent housing; seven died; and most returned to the streets.

Large cities routinely sweep one or more camps per day, meaning this cruelty is repeated thousands of times each year across the state and country. Sweeps don’t get rid of camps; they just move them around, causing chaos and wasting millions in the process.

A growing body of research illustrates why we should not only keep camps intact; we should actually encourage and celebrate them. That may sound crazy to many readers, but it couldn’t be more logical.

First, the idea that camps equal crime is a myth that has been dispelled. Researchers have in fact found that clearing homeless camps is associated with an increase in overdoses, hospitalizations and mortality.

In a review of research on the topic, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development noted that emergency shelters are unavailable, inaccessible or inhospitable to many unhoused people.

“Encampments may be the best alternative among a limited set of options,” the HUD report said.

It’s important to consider why people choose camps over other alternatives. Most temporary shelter facilities, and many of the permanent housing options designed to house the unhoused, come with a long list of rules that make them a little too much like prison. Among the most common rules are those limiting guests, spouses, pets, cooking, decorations and more possessions than can fit in a suitcase.

Tiny homes and sheds — the latest trends — are often placed like barracks on asphalt lots, surrounded by barbed wire and staffed by rude security guards. Would you give up your freedom to move to one of these places?

Humans need more than food, water and shelter. Autonomy and a sense of belonging are equally important to survival — and are actually the keys to recovery for people who have had a hard time in life. The impersonal facilities that we’re asked to move into are not designed with this in mind.

But autonomy and belonging are the essence of what camps are about. We camp together because it is essential to our physical and mental survival.

Our community on Wood Street in Oakland has recently been subjected to devastating sweeps. Caltrans has cleared an enormous section of the camp.

But the part that remains is stronger than ever. We cook for each other, distribute clothing and bedding, build our own tiny homes, play music, help each other heal, and host cultural events that have been attended by hundreds of housed residents. We see ourselves as part of a movement redefining the identity of American cities for the better: an identity based on an ethos of interdependence rather than the cult of independence that defines the world of the housed.

The last bit of land that we occupy on Wood Street is slated for clearance on Monday. We’ve been trying to work with Oakland officials to find a place where we can set up a new community and begin to rebuild yet again, but they refuse to cooperate. The city loves to tell us where we can’t be but has yet to tell us where we can be.

We do not accept this, which is why we’re taking matters into our own hands. We recently rode our bikes to the Capitol in Sacramento to speak with lawmakers there, and we will continue to press the case at City Hall. We will not be denied the essential human right to exist and exert our free will.

This piece was authored by Lydia Blumberg and other residents of Wood Street Commons, a settlement of unconventionally housed residents in West Oakland founded on the idea of “homeless helping the homeless.”

Republicans Signal Cuts To Social Security, Medicare With New House Majority

Igor Bobic

Mon, January 9, 2023 

House Republicans are making clear that they intend to seek cuts to entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare with their new majority in the 118th Congress.

Their plans to target health care programs follow demands from a group of conservatives that helped elect House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) over the weekend. Those far-right lawmakers have sought across-the-board spending cuts in order to tackle the growing national debt.

But the narrow House GOP majority ― McCarthy can afford to lose just four votes on any bill ― is far more divided on cuts to defense spending than for entitlement programs.

“I’m all for a balanced budget, but we’re not going to do it on the backs of our troops and our military,” Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.), a former Army Green Beret, said Monday during an interview on Fox Business. “If we really want to talk about the debt and spending, it’s the entitlements programs.”

As part of his list of concessions to conservatives, McCarthy reportedly agreed to cap spending for the next year at fiscal 2022 levels, which would amount to over $130 billion in cuts from last month’s $1.7 trillion government funding bill.

Republicans don’t plan to alter benefits for current Social Security and Medicare recipients, according to Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas).

“What we have been very clear about is, we’re not going to touch the benefits that are going to people relying on the benefits under Social Security and Medicare,” Roy said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “But we all have to be honest about sitting at the table and figuring out how we’re going to make those work, how we’re going to deal with defense spending and how we’re going to deal with nondefense discretionary spending.”

The Republican Study Committee proposed a budget for fiscal 2023 that would gradually increase the eligibility ages for Social Security and Medicare, and change the Social Security benefit formula for people 54 and younger, while not changing it for people closer to receiving benefits.

Democrats are likely to oppose those changes, as well as any cuts to Social Security and Medicare, and an ensuing standoff could result in another government shutdown. The 2018-2019 lapse in federal funding lasted 35 days after a fight over former President Donald Trump’s border policies and immigration.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, warned last week that Republicans were “all but guaranteeing a shutdown” by demanding to cap spending at fiscal 2022 levels.

“These types of cuts would harm communities and families across the United States who are already struggling with inflation and the rising cost of living,” DeLauro said in a statement. “They put support for our Veterans, law enforcement, small businesses, and military families at risk.”

Arthur Delaney contributed reporting.

Here’s why defunding the IRS is the House GOP’s first priority

Ben Werschkul

·Washington Correspondent

Mon, January 9, 2023 

The House GOP's first bill out of the gate doesn’t address inflation or gas prices or immigration, but instead zeroes in on the Internal Revenue Service.

The bill set to be voted on Monday evening — barring a stalemate over approving the rules for the 118th Congress — would reverse much of the $80 billion in extra funding set aside for the agency by 2022's Inflation Reduction Act.

While it has little chance of being enacted with Democrats in control of the Senate, the prominence of the issue shows just how much the IRS has become a target of Republicans even though experts say the funds in question would go toward more prosaic concerns like helping the agency chase down tax cheats and refresh its shockingly outdated technology.

"Our first bill will repeal funding for 87,000 new IRS agents,” Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said Saturday, just moments after his victory. “Because the government should be here to help you, not go after you.”

Newly-elected Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy finally won the gavel early on Saturday morning after a protracted fight. (Elizabeth Frantz/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)

‘Absolutely false’ viral claims

The claim from McCarthy, which has been echoed by many Republicans, is that the influx of money will lead to a flood of 87,000 new IRS agents who will then harass everyday Americans. Some critics of the agency go even further and claim these new agents will be armed.

But fact-checkers have repeatedly debunked the claims, and the agency itself pushed back in a Yahoo Finance op-ed from then-IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig in August.

The viral claims are “absolutely false,” Rettig wrote at the time, adding his agency “is often perceived as an easy target for mischaracterizations,” but he promised the new money will not lead to increased audit scrutiny on households making under $400,000.

The plan is instead for much of the money to go toward wealthy tax cheats. IRS estimates of the so-called “tax gap” — the difference between what taxes are owed to the government and what is actually paid — is hundreds of billions of dollars a year.

Much of the $80 billion will be focused on taking a bite out of the gap, focusing on wealthy tax payers. The investment is projected to pay for itself and then bring in over $100 billion in increased tax revenue over the coming decade.

In addition, a May 2021 report by the Department of Treasury estimated that more IRS funding could lead to 86,852 new employees, but many of those new employees would not be agents. Many would work in other areas like information technology.

And nearly all new agents would be unarmed. Very few IRS agents carry weapons as part of their responsibilities. Many of the hires would also replace the thousands of existing IRS workers expected to retire in the coming years.

Nonetheless, claims of a flood of new agents have persisted, repeated by figures ranging from the GOP chairwoman to Elon Musk.

Until recently, the understaffed IRS has been a bipartisan issue, but the increased funding became an issue during the 2022 campaign and played into conservative suspicions of the agency that have been growing for years.

Conservatives have long claimed the IRS targeted the tax-exempt status of political groups during the Obama administration, while a 2017 Treasury report on the controversy found that groups on both sides of the political spectrum had faced scrutiny.

‘The average American cares about defunding 87,000 IRS agents’

This week’s vote will put a spotlight on the agency just as Danny Werfel is set to return this year as Commissioner, leading the agency’s revamp.

In a recent Fox News appearance, Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) argued that “the average American cares about defunding 87,000 IRS agents.”

An Internal Revenue Service building in Washington, DC. (KAREN BLEIER/AFP via Getty Images)

On the other side, activists defending the IRS are already attacking Republicans for even holding a vote, suggesting they will use it against Republicans in the coming years.

“House Republicans agree on one thing: rich people shouldn’t have to pay taxes,” is an example from someone in a group called Patriotic Millionaires. The group added in a recent letter to supporters that, “House Republicans are showing that, to them, the most important thing they can do for our country is to make it easier for wealthy criminals to cheat on their taxes illegally.”

Ben Werschkul is a Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.

ANOTHER TORY F--K UP
Bill 124 a challenge to ending Ontario health-care staffing crisis, internal ministry documents say

Mon, January 9, 2023 

Documents from the Ministry of Health obtained by freedom of information requests show Health Minister Sylvia Jones was briefed on 'concerns about wage disparity via Bill 124' when she stepped into the role last summer. 

(Chris Young/The Canadian Press - image credit)

The Ontario government's wage restraint legislation and deteriorating working conditions have played a role in the province's health-care staffing crisis, internal documents from the Ministry of Health acknowledge.

In briefing materials prepared for Minister of Health Sylvia Jones, ministry officials say shortages of nurses and personal support workers (PSWs) "have become worse" during the COVID-19 pandemic. The documents explicitly identify pandemic-related burnout, "concerns about wage disparity via Bill 124" and working conditions as the main challenges to ending shortages.

The notes say attrition among nurses in Ontario is at about five per cent annually, on par with pre-pandemic years. While nurses are not leaving the profession, the documents say, they are abandoning "front-line positions."

Increasing the number of nurses in the province and avoiding higher rates of attrition "are required to head off chronic shortages," the materials say.

For PSWs, attrition can be as high as 25 per cent each year, though it has recently averaged about 14 per cent.

"Wages and working conditions continue as key drivers" of PSWs leaving the health-care system, the internal documents say

Radio-Canada obtained the documents through a freedom of information request. They are part of a transition binder compiled in the summer to help distil key issues facing the health-care system as Jones stepped into the role of health minister. Global News Toronto reported on the findings earlier Monday.

Premier Doug Ford's government passed Bill 124 in 2019. The law capped wage increases for public sector employees at one per cent annually for three years and was met with fierce opposition from workers, labour groups and unions.

Last November, the Ontario Superior Court struck down the law, ruling it unconstitutional because it infringed on charter rights guaranteeing freedom of association and collective bargaining. The government is appealing the ruling.

Critics of the law have long argued that it contributed to severe health-care staffing shortages. Ford has previously said it was a necessary part of tackling the province's deficit, and that the province would bargain with individual groups in good faith as the bill's statutes expire.

Ontario making 'good progress' on health care, ministry says

When asked to comment on the document's findings, Hannah Jensen, a spokesperson for the Minister of Health, said Ontario isn't the only jurisdiction dealing with health-care challenges..

"The challenges facing our health care system are not unique to Ontario. While there is still more work to do, early results are showing that we're making good progress on our government's plan to build a stronger health-care system."

Frank Gunn/Canadian Press

Citing provincial data, Jensen said more than 14,500 more nurses and more than 1,000 family doctors registered to work in the province since 2018. She noted 2022 was a record year for nurse registration alone, with 12,802 nurses new to the system, according to the College of Nurses of Ontario.

"We also have a pipeline of talent in training, with nearly 30,000 nursing students currently enrolled in colleges and universities across the province."

A 'dishonour' to Ontarians needing health care

Bernie Robinson, interim president of the Ontario Nurses Association, says it's "distressing" for her to know the Ford government has this information and chose "not to act on it."

"It's a dishonour to every person who needs to access health care in Ontario," said Robinson.

says the association has been fighting to get the staffing crisis in health care acknowledged by the Ford government.

She says Ontario has the lowest nurse-to-population ratio in all of the country and nurses are switching to the private sector.

That's why the government needs to withdraw its appeal of the court's ruling, she says.

"They could channel that funding into sitting down with us and giving us an appropriate contract, something that entices nurses to come back."

Documents a 'slap in the face,' opposition says

The Ontario NDP and the Greens also called on the government to withdraw its appeal. Both parties' statements described the documents as a "slap in the face" to health workers.

Liberal MPP and health critic Dr. Adil Shamji said the internal documents add strength to opposition parties' arguments against Bill 124. His critiques came from his experience in the field, he says.

Shamji says the government needs to do a better job of prioritizing accountability and transparency. He says the documents indicated there was more data on nurse vacancy rates that was redacted, despite it being a public-interest issue.

"They now have to answer to their own documents, to their own ministerial briefings," said Shamji.