LAKE LOUISE
Parks Canada says decision to restrict private vehicles at Moraine Lake necessary


Tue, January 10, 2023 



LAKE LOUISE, Alta. — A decision to restrict personal vehicles at one of the most popular tourist destinations in Banff National Park was required to balance the growing number of visitors with protecting the environment, says a Parks Canada official.

The federal agency announced Friday that it was closing the Moraine Lake road to most personal vehicles and would require visitors to take its shuttles, local transit or commercial vehicles to visit the iconic blue alpine lake and its nearby climbing routes and hiking trails.

Environmental groups said it's a good start to protect the ecological integrity of the national park, while some — including an Alberta politician — said it could reduce visitor access to the popular tourist area.

"Alberta's parks — both provincial and national — are jewels of the province, and Albertans and visitors alike deserve to have full access to enjoy their benefits," Todd Loewen, minister of forestry, parks and tourism, said in a letter posted on social media Monday. "Parks Canada's decision to block personal vehicles at Moraine Lake means fewer visitors to this important part of the province."

Jed Cochrane, Parks Canada's visitor experience manager for the Lake Louise, Yoho and Kootenay field unit, said the move is an attempt to improve access to the area.

"Moraine Lake is one of the most sought-after, if not the most sought-after, destination to visit in Banff National Park. It's really busy." Cochrane said in an interview Monday.

"We just want to be clear with visitors that it is very hard — and it was very, very hard last summer — to access Moraine Lake by private vehicle and we heard from visitors that they were very frustrated."

Cochrane said the parking lot at the end of the narrow 12-kilometre road only has room for about 100 vehicles at a time.

"We would allow about 900 cars a day up to Moraine Lake and we carefully managed that to make sure the parking lot wasn't over capacity and that emergency vehicles could get in."

Visitors, he said, would now be guaranteed access if they book the Parks Canada shuttle or use a commercial operator. People with a disability hang a tag on their vehicle and those who want to bike, including electric bikes, will still be allowed to drive up the road.

The move isn't unprecedented as parks across North America try to find ways to balance the number of visitors in popular areas with safety and environmental concerns.

Lake O'Hara, a pristine alpine area across the British Columbia boundary in Yoho National Park, has long restricted private vehicles on its access road and has a reservation system for day use and camping that can only be booked by winning a lottery.

BC Parks also brought in a day-use pass program in June 2022 to visit three popular provincial parks — Golden Ears, Joffre Lake and three trailheads at Garibaldi — during peak hours.

Some parks in the United States, such as Zion National Park, only allow access by shuttle bus or by special permit for people with certain medical needs.

Cochrane said Parks Canada has talked to officials at Zion and BC Parks about those moves. The agency also had an expert panel look at the best way to get the more than four million visitors who visit Banff National Park annually around in a sustainable way and it recommended the move.

"They have a suite of other considerations for us to think about," he said, explaining other measures are still being considered.

"At the end of the day, we really just want to improve visitor experience and balance our mandate between ecological integrity and visitor experience."

Cochrane said the road to Moraine Lake runs across a major wildlife corridor for grizzly bears and elk.

"When we remove 900 cars a day, we are improving wildlife's ability to move back and forth across," he said. "By encouraging visitors to use mass transit and to come in a more efficient way, we think that will improve wildlife movement."

Katie Morrison, executive director of southern Alberta chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, said it's a good decision.

"In all the Rocky Mountain national parks, but especially Banff, we've seen huge increases in visitor use over the past several years," she said. "We know this can have an effect both on people's experience in the park but also things like wildlife and wildlife movement."

Morrison said the organization has long asked Parks Canada to address the massive increase in visitors.

"Someone doesn't want to go to Banff and drive around in circles all day," she said. "So, giving some certainty of … how people are going to arrive at places like Moraine Lake is a really positive thing."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 10, 2023.

— By Colette Derworiz in Calgary.

The Canadian Press

UN Biodiversity conference ends with landmark agreement

Tue, January 10, 2023 

There was no small sense of relief last month when the two-week United Nations Biodiversity Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity ended.

It wasn’t just because it was around 3:30 a.m. in Montreal on Dec. 19 when the event (known more commonly as COP15) concluded. The relief was more jubilant because it concluded with a hard-won, historic agreement on biodiversity.

“I would have thought I was at the arrival of the Beatles in North America,” said Jay Ritchlin, director general of the British Columbia and Western region of the David Suzuki Foundation.

“You would not believe the joy, the exuberance and the happiness that was expressed when that thing passed. The whole room burst out in a standing ovation and cheers went up.”

Ritchlin was one of the approximately 10,000 delegates from around the world in attendance when the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework was approved. The landmark agreement contained four global goals for 2050 and 23 targets to counter biodiversity loss by 2030.

One of the big reasons for that exuberance was because almost every country on the planet signed on with a pledge to designate at least 30 per cent of all land and ocean areas as protected areas by 2030.

That target, more commonly referred to as 30 by 30, places special importance on areas that have particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem functions, in particular ones that are effectively conserved and managed through ecologically representative, well-connected and equitably governed systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures. Canada also pledged to designate 25 per cent of all land and ocean as protected areas by 2025, or 25 by 25 for short.

Dr. Jodi Hilty, president and chief scientist of the Yellowstone to Yukon Initiative (Y2Y), highlighted the importance that connectivity plays a major role, appearing four times in the agreement.

“That's a really important piece because in most cases, our protected areas are never going to be big enough to sustain wide-ranging species especially, and address climate change,” she said. “They’re talking about making sure that our protected areas are connected and actually acting as a functional ecological network, which is so, so, so important.”

Three years ago, Y2Y worked with the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Connectivity Specialist group to develop the global guidelines for ecological corridors and ecological networks as part of the need for large landscape conservation.

Y2Y sponsored a side event on ecological corridors at COP15, the result of which is that a number of different governments, including Canada now have formalized national ecological corridor programs to support the conservation of ecological corridors in key areas across the country.

“It's all about making sure for Y2Y that this region actually stays connected. That's what's going to maintain the biodiversity in this region for the long term,” Hilty said.

For Tara Russell, program director with the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, the concept of connectivity is of even greater relevance in terms of how efforts are made toward achieving the agreement’s objectives. She confirmed that many people see those goals and targets as the “lowest common denominator of what we need for nature.”

Considering the level of difficulty in getting all of those countries to work together and create such a wide-reaching agreement, it’s crucial for a level of collaboration from governments to the populace in general.

“For this to be actually successful in halting and reversing biodiversity loss and achieving those goals, we're going to have to incorporate them into everything we do,” Russell said. “That's going to require public buy-in and political will and recognition across all levels of government.”

Ritchlin said that he remains optimistic that it’s possible, especially because of the determination shown by participants at the conference. At one point, it looked like COP15 was going to end up with a watered-down agreement that wouldn’t carry any weight to it.

“I think if the enthusiasm that I saw from a lot of the government delegations can carry forward, then we've got some hope for sure,” he said.

Part of the hopefulness that Russell feels comes from the presence of and focus on leadership of Indigenous peoples and local communities in solving a worldwide biodiversity crisis.

“It's really clear throughout that respecting and recognizing those rights should be at the core of all the actions to conserve biodiversity,” she said.

Hilty confirmed that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Canadian government really shined on its leadership throughout the conference and on the importance of Indigenous participation in biodiversity loss.

“In the first two days, Trudeau made significant commitments to international conservation, significant commitments to reversing and halting biodiversity loss 30 by 30, 25 by 25, all those things, but also significant financial commitments to Indigenous-led conservation,” she said.

While 2025 and 2030 are not so far into the future, Hilty said that setting targets like those add much to the urgency of the matter.

“I think the importance of having such an ambitious set of targets for biodiversity conservation is it signals two things: it signals world awareness that we really do have to take care of nature for nature itself but also for the survival of humanity.”

Scott Hayes, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Jasper Fitzhugh

Risk of dementia linked to air pollution exposure, new study says

Nathan Howes
Tue, January 10, 2023 

Risk of dementia linked to air pollution exposure, new study says


The health risks associated with air pollution are well-documented, and now, researchers may have found another possible consequence to exposure: Dementia.

Meta-analysis done by Western University researchers has indiciated that higher exposure to a specific type of traffic-related air pollution, called particulate matter, may be tied to an elevated risk of dementia, according to the study recently published in Neurology.

The rate of air pollution exposure for those with and without dementia were compared. Researchers found people who did not develop it had a lower average of daily exposure to fine particulate matter than those who have it.

The risk of dementia increased by three per cent for every one microgram per cubic-metre rise of fine particulate matter exposure.

Researchers examined 17 studies involving more than 91 million people over the age of 40 worldwide. Of those, 5.5 million people, or six per cent, developed dementia.

Cheryl Santa Maria graphic

Researchers at Western University have uncovered a connection between exposure to air pollutants and a greater risk of dementia. (Cheryl Santa Maria/The Weather Network)

"We don't know exactly why there is this relationship between fine particulate matter and dementia," said Janet Martin, professor at Western’s Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, in a recent interview with The Weather Network.
The connection between dementia and pollutants

Martin, working alongside Western graduate student Ehasan Abolhasani, gathered data from any country that reported on the relationship between pollutants and dementia, combined it with information from previously published studies and then reviewed each pollutant that could be isolated.

Afterwards, they were able to draw a link between pollutants and the rate of dementia.

"There are a lot of unknowns as to what really is the main mechanism or related mechanisms that lead to the development of dementia," said Martin.

She said the particulate matter fragments are so small they can actually travel down into the smallest parts of your airways and into your alveoli.

"Because they are so small, they can actually enter the bloodstream and evade some of your immune system. We think that is the reason why they are so risky...because they do have a direct entry into the bloodstream. [This] may then have ultimate impacts in terms of the risk of dementia," said Martin.

Traffic/(Aleksandr Popov/Unsplash)

But the problem of fine particulate matter can't be completely attributed to fuels, Martin said, noting it is something that is emitted through combustion and chemical processes. Other major sources include wood or crop burning and wildfires.

"In Canada, we have exposure to fine particulate matter that is several folds lower than in some other countries where there is the concentration of population, but also reliance on combustion of other types of fuel or wood burning, or crop burning," said Martin.
How to limit exposure

There is good news when it comes to particulate matter in Canada. Exposure to it has been decreasing over the last decade because regulations have prompted a reduction in emissions from the transport industry and the industrial sector, Martin said. There has also been a drop in crop and wood burning, as well as fuel in our homes.

"Different countries around the world have named different thresholds based on what's feasible to achieve," said Martin. "In Canada, our standards have been on the lower side to be safer than what some [other] countries have named as their maximum exposure."

In terms of deterrence, Martin said the "main message" is that fine particulate matter is emitted through combustion and chemical processes, so you can avoid most of the preventable exposure by having a "very safe" indoor environment where you're not burning items.

car traffic beijing 

And if you are burning objects, ensure you have a well-ventilated space.

"If the ambient exposure outdoors is high...then it does really become an important factor where those who live in areas of concentrated exposure have safe indoor spaces, which are then protected from the fine particulate matter from the outdoors," said Martin.

She does note, however, that many people don't have a choice on where they live and they lack a "full control over their own exposures."

So, this is where governments and "each of us as contributors" of air pollutants take responsibility for adhering to standards -- by incorporating a local and global mindset of minimizing our emissions, Martin added.

"It's a very serious reduction in the quality of and length of life. Dementia [has an] increasing incidence. It's sort of like that thief in the night that is coming upon our population as we age," said Martin. "It's one of the most important things that we learn to address and prevent, so that we don't have this huge burden of disease as our population ages."

WATCH: The link between worsening mental health and air pollution

Click here to view the video

What are the next steps?

In a press release, Martin said the Western team plans to further evaluate global dementia trends to see if there is a relationship between policies to reduce air pollutants and downward trends in new cases of dementia.

"We need to now do research on interventions to reduce that fine particulate matter exposure, and to evaluate which interventions actually worked to reduce incidence of dementia into the future," said Martin. "That's one of the most interesting parts of research like this."

"Every intervention comes with potential benefits and maybe some risks and costs. It is the cost and the effort, and the amount of reduction in subsequent dementia, that we would be interested in evaluating."

Thumbnail courtesy of buzbuzzer/ E+/ Getty Images.

Follow Nathan Howes on Twitter.

Anti-racism group claims Quebec told Longueuil police to ignore court order on racial profiling

Tue, January 10, 2023

Joel DeBellefeuille, head of the Red Coalition, says he has proof that the province's Public Security Ministry intervened on the court order. 

(Simon Nakonechny/CBC - image credit)

An anti-racism group on Montreal's South Shore says the Quebec government told the head of police in Longueuil, Que., to ignore a court order to crack down on racial profiling.

In a 2020 ruling, Human Rights Tribunal Judge Christian Brunelle said the city must adopt a policy on profiling that includes training officers while collecting and evaluating race-based data on people who are stopped by police.

That race-based data will be the "perceived or presumed race of persons subject to police stops" and be published starting in 2021, the court ruled.

But that never happened, and the Red Coalition now says that it has uncovered evidence proving the province's Ministry of Public Security is to blame.

The organization says it obtained letters dating back to mid-2021. The letters were exchanged between the former head of the Longueuil police service, Fady Dagher, and the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse (CDPDJ), a civil and youth rights organization.

The Red Coalition has since shared those letters.

Letter exchanges shared with public

In the letter dated Sept. 29, 2021, Dagher writes to the commission inquiring about the Longueuil police service's obligations under the 2020 tribunal ruling.

In the letter, he says the Ministry of Public Security (MSP) informed him that it was working on a province-wide process for police forces to collect race-based data.

He says the ministry asked the Longueuil police "to wait for the implementation of this solution, which, according to our information and according to what was mentioned by the MSP during the meeting of Sept. 23, should be ready by the end of 2021."

In a follow-up letter dated Dec. 30, Dagher adds: "Based on the latest exchanges we have had with the MSP, we believe that the solution allowing all police forces in the province to collect data concerning the perceived or presumed racial affiliation of people who are the subject of a police arrest could be deployed during the first quarter of 2022."

The Red Coalition says that passage is proof that the province told the Longueuil police service (SPAL) to not follow the court order.

"The Red Coalition applauds the efforts to implement a plan and strategy to combat the very real phenomenon of racial profiling," says Joel DeBellefeuille, head of the Red Coalition, in a news release.

However, he says, it is "inconceivable" that the MSP "instructed Dagher to purposely defy a court order and break the law."

DeBellefeuille's complaint against the police service is what led to the court ruling in the first place. It stemmed from an incident in 2012 where DeBellefeuille, who is Black, was stopped while dropping his son off at daycare.

He says Longueuil police still haven't complied with the resulting court order and his organization is planning to head back to court to make that happen.

Police, ministry deny claims

Longueuil police Insp. Simon Crépeau said in an email that the MSP has not in any way instructed the SPAL or the City of Longueuil to defy the court order or disobey the law.

MSP spokesperson Louise Quintin said the ministry would never instruct a police force to defy the decision of a court, whatever it may be.

"The MSP is working on several fronts to fight against racism and racial and social profiling," Quintin said in an email.

When it comes to collecting data on police stops and police training, Quintin said, the MSP has been working for more than a year to implement a framework and a mechanism for collecting data on police questioning.

"To do this, the MSP offered financial support to the police forces that needed it so that they could adjust their computer system to document the police stops made," she said.

"This data collection should gradually be extended over the next few months to all police forces in Quebec."

Dalia Alachi, spokesperson for the CDPDJ, said in an email to CBC News that the commission is "very involved" in developing a training program to counter racism and racial and social profiling for police organizations.

This is in collaboration with the MSP, Quebec's police school and the police ethics commissioner, Alachi says. However, implementing a race-based data collection system is up to the ministry and the Longueuil police service, not the commission, she says.

Opponents of Fredericton jail proposal pack council chamber to hear public comments

Tue, January 10, 2023

About 100 people filled the gallery of the Fredericton council chamber Monday night when the public got a chance to react to proposed rezoning that would allow a new jail. (Aidan Cox/CBC - image credit)

The gallery in Fredericton city hall's council chamber was packed Monday night as councillors heard concerns from residents about a proposal to build a new jail in the east end.

About 100 people filled the third-floor viewing gallery that overlooks councillors, as members of the public spoke largely in opposition to a proposed zoning amendment that would allow construction of a $32 million jail in the Vanier Industrial Park.

Councillors heard from 10 people, including former New Brunswick ombudsman Charles Murray, addictions rehab specialist Dr. Sara Davidson, public safety deputy minister Mike Comeau, and several residents of the Lincoln Heights neighbourhood.

"I have rarely felt unsafe in my community, but this proposal has forced me to think about what my life might be should this be approved," said Erin Mattinson, a 17-year resident of Lincoln Heights.

"Council members, I urge you to reject this proposal. I urge you to be the change. Let's make Fredericton a safer place to be by rejecting this rezoning proposal and changing the conversation."

The New Brunswick government announced in fall 2021 that it planned to build a new jail in the Fredericton area to relieve overcapacity at its four existing jails.

The province's desired location for the jail came out last November when Fredericton councillors were required to vote on whether to sell to the province a 25-hectare plot of land where the 100-bed jail would go.

Councillors voted 6-4 in favour of the sale, valued at $1,075,000, but it still hinged on councillors voting in favour of the land being rezoned to allow a jail.

Last December, the city's planning advisory committee recommended councillors deny the application to rezone the property.

City of Fredericton

On Monday, the motion to amend the zoning for the property went before councillors for first and second reading, which also gave members of the public the opportunity to raise any concerns.

Councillors voted 7-4 in favour of the motion, with councillors Steven Hicks, Jason Lejeune, Eric Megarity, Bruce Grandy, Jocelyn Pike, Greg Ericson, and Henri Mallet giving their approval.

Councillors Margo Sheppard, Kevin Darrah, who's ward covers the proposed site of the jail, Ruth Breen, and Cassandra LeBlanc, voted against the motion.

The motion still needs to be voted on following a third and final reading, which will take place during the Jan. 23 council meeting.

Concerns brought forward by speakers included fears that a jail could hurt the property values of nearby homes, while some said they would no longer feel safe with a jail located a few kilometres from where they and their children live.

Other speakers weren't against the proposed location, but were against the use of jails in general as a means to rehabilitate criminal offenders.

Murray, who served as New Brunswick's ombudsman for eight years, was the only person to address council, aside from Comeau, who spoke in favour of the rezoning proposal.

Aidan Cox/CBC

He said the nearest option now for jailing criminal offenders from Fredericton is about an hour away.

The effect is that inmates are taken away from their families and the community supports that would help with their rehabilitation and transition back into society once released.

"That's why I'd ask you to not stigmatize offenders and not see them as a danger," Murray said.

"They're our fellow citizens who will come back to our community no matter where they serve their jail time. … Do we want them to come back, having had the support and rehabilitation here, or do you want to exile them somewhere, cut them off from their family and their supports, and make their transition back that much harder? That's the real choice."

Davidson, meanwhile, spoke about her experience running River Stone Recovery Centre, a drug treatment clinic in downtown Fredericton.

She told councillors more housing and addiction supports are needed, rather than a new jail.

"Putting people with mental health issues and substance use disorder behind bars will not make our communities feel safer when the people you're incarcerating have no housing, no social programming or no social safety net to return to," Davidson said.

"It will perpetuate an endless expensive cycle that just continues to get worse."

Speaking later, Comeau said it's not an "either/or" situation between jails and drug rehabilitation, adding that the province was investing about $170 million this fiscal year in addiction and mental health supports.

Regarding the land proposed for the jail, Comeau said it would have been chosen by the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure based on a points system.

He said the selected site benefited from being at least 22 acres and accessible by road from multiple angles.

Conflict of interest accusation

Valerya Edelman, a social worker, also spoke in opposition to the proposed zoning amendment and accused Hicks and Grandy of being in a conflict of interest on the matter.

Hicks works as a probation officer with the Department of Public Safety, and Grandy is a director within the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure.

The two didn't declare a conflict of interest before the motion was read and ultimately voted on it.

The two declined interviews about the accusation, and city spokesperson Wayne Knorr forwarded the council code of conduct, outlining rules about conflict of interest.

Saint John wants owners to pay when they let buildings sit empty


Tue, January 10, 2023

Vacant buildings in Saint John's north end in 2016. The city reached a peak of about 220 vacant building cases in its files in 2018. (Julia Wright/CBC - image credit)

Saint John city staff want to persuade the province to give the city more tools to discourage owners from letting their buildings stand vacant.

It was part of a plan presented to city council Monday night designed to repair more older buildings in priority neighbourhoods, one that was passed unanimously.

Coun. David Hickey applauded the report and said it correctly points out flaws in the enforcement process.

"Countless members of our community and experts as well [say] that the process is too clunky, it's too slow and it's ensuring that properties remain vacant and remain unfixed," Hickey said.

Too late by time of tax sale

Hickey said that once a property reaches the stage of being forced into a tax sale, it has usually deteriorated to the point where it can't be repaired.

City staff want the city to lobby the province for the introduction of a vacancy tax placed on vacant buildings.

Municipalities in British Columbia and Ontario have used the tax idea to some success, but New Brunswick municipalities don't have the power to tax vacant buildings at a higher rate.

CBC

The report also suggests the vacancy tax likely wouldn't be based on assessed property values, because many derelict buildings have such a low assessment.

Instead, it recommends a flat rate.

The other proposed option is a vacant building permit.

Other cities have tried the system, which would "require property owners to apply annually for a permit to register their vacant building with the City," the report reads.

The owner must meet certain standards before the permit is issued.

Submitted by Joseph Comeau

In some cities, the permit fees increase each year the building remains vacant, according to the report.

It recommends a fee of between $1,000 and $1,500 for the permit.

But the report is careful to point out "that approximately 10 per cent of vacant building owners do not pay their taxes or water bills and in those cases this fee would likely go unpaid as well."

Council also approved the pursuit of a better tax sale system, one that works more quickly to deal with abandoned buildings.

Right now, the province will not hold a tax sale until there has been a minimum of four years of unpaid taxes.

A survey of demolished buildings in Saint John suggested it often took longer.

Up to 10 years worth of unpaid taxes

"In each case, it is estimated that there were anywhere from 5 to 10 years of outstanding taxes on each property prior to demolition moving forward," the report reads.

"Had these properties been sold at a tax sale earlier, it is possible that demolition could have been avoided."

The tax sale itself can add even more time, if the property does not receive a market value bid.

The province takes ownership of the property, and it can take as long as three years for it to eventually sell.

The city says there are currently 40 vacant lots that once contained buildings the city paid to demolish.

It expects it will take between seven to 10 years for the province to dispose of them.

Julia Wright/CBC

There is good news in the report.

In 2018, the city was monitoring about 220 vacant buildings. That number is now about 145, and the city is processing about 60 cases a year.

About two-thirds of those buildings are repaired and reoccupied. The rest are demolished.

Lane Harrison/CBC

Hickey did take time to refer to the demolition of 111 King St. E, a heritage home owned by J.D. Irving that was demolished on Monday, just hours before the council meeting.

Council reluctantly approved demolition of the house known as the Brown House, after several years of trying to get the company to repair it.

"The more that we can make sure that we are avoiding the 111 King St. East — dare I say it — the more we are avoiding those decisions by this table, the better, because we shouldn't be [making those decisions]," Hickey said.

"We should be ensuring we have processes that are protecting our… buildings."

PEI
Given choice, landlords likely to bypass government program and increase rents, says association


Tue, January 10, 2023 

Landlords are making an economic choice, says Chris LeClair of the Residential Rental Association of P.E.I. (CBC - image credit)

Not allowing landlords to receive both a government compensation program and rent increases beyond the allowable standard will undermine the government program, says a provincial landlords group.

Last week the P.E.I. government announced a program of property tax rebates for landlords. The program is designed as compensation for government intervention last month that froze rents for 2023.

But the government move left open the option of applying to the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission for a rent increase, and Chris LeClair, acting executive director with the Residential Rental Association of P.E.I., said given that choice landlords are likely to apply for rent increases.

"To make it a one or the other option is to really undermine the impact of compensation," said LeClair.

"That makes the tenant the one that will end up paying more because the tax rebate is not addressing the economic losses that the landlord would have faced."

IRAC has told CBC News it is very busy with applications to increase rents. Some of those increases are said to be in double digits.

The new Residential Tenancy Act caps extraordinary increases at three per cent, but the legislation is not yet in effect and is not expected to be until the spring.

Landlords are simply making an economic choice, said LeClair, and rent increases would be lower if they could qualify for both extraordinary increases and government compensation.

"I don't see that as having your cake and eating it too," he said.

"I see it as a matter of landlords trying to piece together a financial scenario that allows them to have the best possible chance to remain viable."

LeClair estimates the property tax rebate will only make up for about 30 per cent of what landlords could make through rental increases.

Newly restored house in Pompeii offers glimpse of elite life


Tue, January 10, 2023 



POMPEII, Italy (AP) — The newly restored remains of an opulent house in Pompeii that likely belonged to two former slaves who became rich through the wine trade offer visitors an exceptional peek at details of domestic life in the doomed Roman city.

On Tuesday, the House of Vettii, Domus Vettiorum in Latin, was being formally unveiled after 20 years of restoration. Given fresh life were frescoes from the latest fashion in Pompeii wall decoration before the flourishing city was buried under the volcanic ash furiously spewing from Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

The unveiling of the restored home is yet another sign of the rebirth of Pompeii, which followed decades of modern bureaucratic neglect, flooding and pillaging by thieves in search of artifacts to sell.

That is delighting tourists and rewarding experts with tantalizing fresh insights into the everyday life of what is one of the most celebrated remnants of the ancient world.

“The House of the Vetti is like the history of Pompeii and actually of Roman society within one house,” Pompeii’s director, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, gushed as he showed off an area of the domus known as the Cupid Rooms last month.

“We’re seeing here the last phase of the Pompeian wall painting with incredible details, so you can stand before these images for hours and still discover new details,” the archaeological park’s energetic director told The Associated Press ahead of the public inauguration.

“So, you have this mixture: nature, architecture, art. But it is also a story about the social life of the Pompeiian society and actually the Roman world in this phase of history," Zuchtriegel added.

Previous restoration work, which involved repeated application of paraffin over the frescoed walls in hopes of preserving them, “resulted in them becoming very blurred over time, because very thick and opaque layers formed, making it difficult to ‘read’ the fresco," said Stefania Giudice, director of fresco restoration.

But the wax did serve to preserve them remarkably.

Zuchtriegel ventured that the fresh “readings” of the revived fresco painting “reflect the dreams and imagination and anxieties of the owners because they lived between these images,’’ which include Greek mythological figures.

And who were these owners? The Vettis were two men — Aulus Vettius Conviva and Aulus Vettius Restitutus. In addition to having part of their names in common, they shared a common past — not as descendants of noble Roman families accustomed to opulence, but rather, Pompeii experts say, almost certainly, as once enslaved men who were later freed.

It is believed that they became wealthy through the wine trade. While some have hypothesized the two were brothers, there is no certainty about that.

In the living room, known as the Hall of Pentheus, a fresco depicts Hercules as a child, crushing two snakes, in an illustration of an episode from the Greek hero’s life. According to mythology, Hera, the goddess wife of Zeus, sent snakes to kill Hercules because she was furious that he was born from the union of Zeus with a mortal woman, Alcmena.

Might Aulus Vettius Conviva and Aulus Vettius Restitutus have recognized their own life story in some way in the figure of Hercules who overcame challenge after challenge in his life?

That's a question that intrigues Zuchtriegel.

After years in slavery, the men “then had an incredible career after that and reached the highest ranks of local society, at least economically,’’ judging by their upscale domus and garden, Zuchtriegel said. “They evidently tried to show their new status also through culture and through Greek mythological paintings, and it’s all about saying, ‘We’ve made it and so we are part of this elite’” of the Roman world.

Pompeii’s architect director of restoration work, Arianna Spinosa, called the restored home “one of the iconic houses of Pompeii. The residence "represents the Pompeiian domus par excellence, not only because of the frescoes of exceptional importance, but also because of its layout and architecture.”

Ornamental marble baths and tables surround the garden.

First unearthed during archaeological excavations in the late 19th century, the domus was closed in 2002 for urgent restoration work, including shoring up roofing. After a partial reopening in 2016, it was closed again in 2020 for the final phase of the work, which included restoration of the frescoes and of the floor and colonnades.

Francesco Sportelli, The Associated Press

Remains of wooden ship appear, then disappear on beach in North Rustico, P.E.I.

Tue, January 10, 2023 

Photos of the wooden shape started to appear on social media after Christmas, including a debate over what the pieces were — a shipwreck or part of an old wharf? (Jody Doucette/Facebook - image credit)

What appears to have been the bow of a wooden schooner has attracted attention on a beach in North Rustico, P.E.I., a decade after local residents say it was last seen in the same spot.

Brendon Peters lives not far from the beach, and remembers the last time the sands drifted away, revealing the wooden structure below.

"My brother Norman Peters, a.k.a. the Bearded Skipper, took quite an interest in it. He did some research, and he got some people to look at it," Peters said.

"They came back with the finding that it was an old schooner that went aground here in 1879. It was the Carrie F. Butler, with 300 barrels of mackerel on board."

Jody Doucette/Facebook

When the shipwreck reappeared shortly after Christmas, Brendon Peters headed to the internet to find out more about the schooner, and found some reports in The Charlottetown Examiner about a ship from Gloucester, Mass.

"About a week or two later, the captain or the owner of the vessel auctioned everything off. They had an auction right here on the beach, anything that was left on board," Peters said.

"They sold all the rigging and everything. It was just left with bare bones sitting here. So the rest is history."

What is it?

Photos of the wooden shape started to appear on social media after Christmas, including a debate over what the pieces were — a shipwreck or part of an old wharf?

"I started putting my little two cents worth in, and some people said 'No, it's part of an old wharf,'" Peters said.

"I would say, 'I have never ever seen a wharf in the shape of a bow.' Maybe they did build them like that, I don't know. But I still say it is the Carrie F. Butler."

Shane Hennessey/CBC

On his most recent visit to the beach, Peters said the wooden remains are disappearing back into the sand, similar to what happened 10 years ago.

"I came down Saturday and there was people buzzing around, and they were saying, 'Where is it?' I said, 'Well, it's buried most of it, but you can see it right here, part of it,'" Peters said.

"You can see the outline of the bow, but if you would've been here December 26, you would have seen the whole thing."

Brendon Peters/Facebook

Buried history

The P.E.I. Museum and Heritage Foundation's education and programming co-ordinator, Jason MacNeil, said people in maritime regions have a special relationship with the ocean and shipwrecks.

He has his own story of a P.E.I. shipwreck, from 2007, when a ship destroyed in the Yankee Gale, appeared on a beach near French River, P.E.I.

Shane Hennessey/CBC

"We went to see it, and it was sitting up on top of the sand all nicely. And then whenever we went out to get it, it was buried, so we had to spend three weeks digging it up out of the sand," MacNeil said.

"We had some of the pieces looked at, and they were made out of white oak, which was the same material that was used by the Americans in the Yankee Gale."

Shane Hennessey/CBC

MacNeil said the fact that the shipwrecks appear and disappear adds to their mystique.

"It makes it more essential to see it when it's there," he said.

"That's what the sea and the sand do, right? They expose things temporarily, and then before you know it, it's all shifted and everything is gone again."

Jody Doucette/Facebook

Remaining staff to be terminated as receivership approved for Caribou mine

Tue, January 10, 2023 

The Caribou mine site southwest of Bathurst. (François Lejeune/Radio-Canada - image credit)

A British Columbia judge approved an order Monday to place Trevali Mining (New Brunswick) Ltd. in receivership later this month, resulting in the termination of remaining Caribou mine employees.

Supreme Court Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick granted the order after a hearing in Vancouver on Monday. The company will be placed in receivership at 11:59 p.m. PT on Jan. 24.

Receivership allows secured creditors to recover what they're owed when a company defaults on its payments.

The mine, about 50 kilometres southwest of Bathurst, produced zinc, lead and silver until its parent company, Trevali Mining Corp., filed for creditor protection in August.

Mining was halted at Caribou, which was placed into a care-and-maintenance mode.

Trevali

Court filings indicate Trevali had 121 workers and employed 165 contractors in August before 100 employees were laid off.

Dawid Cieloszczyk, a lawyer representing mine workers in United Steelworkers Local 1306, told the judge on Monday there were five remaining unionized employees. It wasn't clear how many non-unionized workers remain.

Cieloszczyk said all remaining staff would be laid off when the receivership process begins later this month.

Glencore Canada Corp., Trevali's largest shareholder, and Bank of Nova Scotia sought the receivership order.

Court filings from last week show the New Brunswick government feared a "chaotic" bankruptcy or receivership taking place this week, leaving no one to secure the mine and its tailings ponds.

A Jan. 3 affidavit says that without on-site security, there's a risk thieves could interrupt the power supply and halt treatment of acidic water at the mine. Filings noted a tailings pond is nearly full.

Documents indicate the province is working with a contractor that could secure the site, take over its maintenance, and prepare a remediation plan for the mine.

Michel Nogue/Radio-Canada

But the documents say it's unclear when the contractor can deploy to the mine site.

The province asked Fitzpatrick to extend creditor protection by two weeks to give it time to get the contractor in place.

Fitzpatrick approved that in a second order on Monday. The order will see the province paying $198,000 US to rent the mine site equipment until mid-March.

"At which time, hopefully a clearer path forward will be in place between the parties," Fitzpatrick said.

Court filings indicate the time will allow the province to inspect the equipment, formulate an initial site reclamation plan, and negotiate purchase of the equipment that could be used for mine site cleanup.

Department won't comment

The Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development wouldn't answer questions about the province's environmental liability at the mine.

René Legacy, the Liberal MLA for Bathurst West-Beresford, said what's unfolding isn't a surprise given Trevali's financial issues last year.

"I do see it as a positive sign that the government wants to keep the mine dry and unflooded," Legacy said in an interview Monday.

"If there is a new operator that's going to come in, it would make it easier for them to to become productive as quickly as possible."

Last fall, as part of the creditor protection process, a buyer was sought for the mine. However, no interest had been shown by mid-October.

New Brunswick Green Party Leader David Coon said he would like to know what the province might do to help employees losing their jobs.

Coon was also concerned that the province said in a court filing it wasn't monitoring the mine site for environmental compliance recently.

The documents filed last week show the province has instead relied on Trevali staff who remain on-site.