CANADA

Controversial online streaming bill on the verge of passing in Senate

Story by Anja Karadeglija • 

Bill C-11 is back in the Senate chamber Tuesday, and with a motion to cut off debate set to be introduced, the contentious streaming legislation could soon receive Senate approval.


The online streaming bill sets up the CRTC to regulate streaming platforms like Netflix and YouTube, and requires them to participate in the Canadian content system the way traditional radio and TV broadcasters and cable providers have.© Provided by National Post

That will be the last step before receiving royal assent and becoming law, two-and-a-half years after the Liberals introduced the first version of the legislation.

The online streaming bill sets up the CRTC to regulate streaming platforms like Netflix and YouTube, and requires them to participate in the Canadian content system the way traditional radio and TV broadcasters and cable providers have. The bill has drawn controversy over concerns the CRTC would have too much power over user content, specifically involving recommendations — movies, TV shows, videos and music platforms suggest to their users.

Liberals' controversial online streaming bill could soon be law. Here's what to expect

Critics 'stunned and furious' at Liberals rejecting Senate amendment from controversial online streaming bill

The Senate will resume sitting at 2 p.m. Tuesday. The Red Chamber had previously passed an amendment that would have exempted social media from the bill, which was then rejected by the Liberal government.

Both the House of Commons and the Senate have to pass identical versions of a bill for it to become law.

When the bill went back to the Senate, Marc Gold, the representative of the government in the Senate, introduced a motion stating that is the government’s “stated intent that Bill C-11 will not apply to user-generated digital content.” Senators then changed “stated intent” to “public assurance.”

At the end of Thursday’s sitting, Gold gave notice of a motion that will be introduced Tuesday to cut off debate after another six hours.

Austrians embroiled in row over Nazi roots of regional anthems

Story by Kate Connolly • 

Austria is in the thick of a debate about the origins of the “homeland” anthems that celebrate its federal states after the Nazi allegiances of their composers were brought to light by a group of prominent authors.


Photograph: Wolfgang Spitzbart/Alamy© Provided by The Guardian

The authors are calling on regional politicians to rewrite some of the anthems and to acknowledge the melodies’ Nazi-era roots.

According to the group, the anthems of four out of the countries’ nine Länder, or states, are tainted. It has written to the leaders of Upper Austria, Carinthia, Lower Austria and Salzburg, urging them to take action. In some cases it says that whole verses should be erased or that single lines identified as problematic should be dropped and that historical research is carried out on their origins and musical composers.

The authors, including Robert Menasse, Doron Rabinovici and Gerhard Ruiss, have been accused of “cancelling history” by two local leaders in Carinthia, from the Social Democrats and the far-right populist FPÖ, who are refusing to give in to their demands.

The authors deny the claims. “In all these cases this is not about cancelling history,” IG Autorinnen Autoren said. “It’s about dissociating ourselves from antisemitism, racism, nationalism and national socialism … ensuring historical political falsehoods are discontinued and ensuring, as would be a worst case, that they are not resurrected.”

The anthem considered most flawed is that of Carinthia, the text of which was written by Agnes Millonig, considered a fully fledged Nazi, which contains the line: “Where we scribed our borders with blood.” The final line: “That is my beautiful homeland,” is a reference to Germany, to which Austria was annexed in 1938. The authors have called for the line to be scrapped.

According to historical researchers, the composer of Salzburg’s national anthem, Ernst Sompek, was also a Nazi enthusiast, joining the party when it was still illegal to do so, who composed music inspired by and in the name of the party.

Upper Austria’s so-called Hoamatgsang or Heimat (homeland) song, was penned in 1874 by Franz Stelzhamer, who was well-known for his antisemitic views, writing in an essay calling for the genocide of Jews, that he wished to “knock off the head of the Jewish tapeworm”. The authors have said the necessity to acknowledge Upper Austria anthem’s origins and the antisemitic diatribe of its author was all the more important because it was the state in which the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was born.

Lower Austria’s anthem was written by the Nazi party member Franz Karl Ginzkey. There, the state government has called for a historical study to be carried out on the song, but has insisted no changes need to be made to the text.

The authors criticised the style of the lyrics for encouraging a “subservient mentality” and for being “kitschy-pathetic pomposity”.

The authors have signalled their readiness to collaborate with any rewriting.

PEACE RIVER AB/BC

Local First Nations' loss of Montney Reserve ignites 20-year legal battle for justice

Story by The Canadian Press •

The Montney Reserve, famous for oil and gas, represents a conflict that resulted in a lengthy legal battle for land and Treaty rights following a complicated history between Canada and Indigenous people.

In 1945, the Department of Indian Affairs forced the Fort St. John Beaver Band from the Montney Reserve, and the land was given to returning veterans from the Second World War, according to the Doig River website.

Doig River First Nation members said First Nation leaders during the 1940s couldn’t read or write English — an essential factor in the loss of the Montney Reserve land.

Sandra Apsassin, the Elders coordinator for Blueberry River First Nations, talked about the loss of the Montney Reserve in the Before the Peace podcast, saying it "breaks her heart" every time she thinks about it.

"Our place of happiness was taken away from us by wrongdoings of the Indian affairs, which changed everything for our First Nation communities," Apsassin said.

According to Elder Gerry Attachie, a former Chief of Doig River First Nation, their ancestors were the guardians of the Montney Reserve. Attachie was one of the first people to fight for the land rights of Montney Reserve, and both Doig River and Blueberry River First Nations received compensation.

The Beaver people used the Montney Reserve area to celebrate births, settle disputes and participate in traditional singing and drumming, according to Attachie.

Doig River Chief Trevor Makadahay says it is essential to understand the First Nations' perspective to comprehend such a historical event, which is rarely discussed in schools and media.

Makadahay believes the Canadian government should have acknowledged the band's history and traditions.

"Our Elders still feel the pain of losing Montney Reserve to the Indian affairs," said Makadahay.

According to Attachie, once Treaty 8 was signed, the Beaver Band was given the Montney Reserve.

“We call that “Where Happiness Dwells” our gathering place. So we were there [until] 1945," said Attachie.

According to the Saulteau First Nations website, “Treaty 8, hailed as a treaty of Peace, was signed on June 21st, 1899. The treaty covers 840,000 km2 across three provinces and the Northwest Territories. The treaty’s promises were based on peace, friendship, and the Nations’ ability to continue their way of life 'For as long as the Sun Shines, the Grass Grows and the Rivers Flow.'"

Five Treaty 8 First Nations recently settled TLE claims with provincial and federal governments. According to a provincial release, the settlements resolved decades-old claims by the First Nations, stating they did not receive all the lands owed them in Treaty 8 claims. These First Nations first signed the Treaty of Land Entitlements in 1899.

In his book Where Happiness Dwells: a history of the Dane-zaa First Nations, Ridington and his wife explain that treaties are constitutionally recognized agreements between the Crown and Canada's Indigenous people.

Attachie says treaties are symbolic in nature for First Nations as they allow sacred land to be used with respect to traditions and ancestors' values.

Born in 1948, Attachie was too young to understand the impact of losing their ancestor's land. He spent a great deal of time talking to Elders in the 1970s and 1980s to understand what happened fully with their Montney land.

"When I was a kid, I always spent my time with Elders to learn and understand the history of our land," Attachie recalled.

Around 1977, Attachie became the Doig River First Nation chief. Although he did not have a formal education, his passion and dedication to his community were the driving force behind his success.

While talking on Energeticcity.ca's Before the Peace podcast, Attachie recalled his family's political involvement. The former chief said leadership skills were in his genes due to his family's active participation in First Nations politics.

"My dad was a councilor, and my grandfather was a Chief."

In 1949, oil and gas reserves were discovered on the Montney Reserve, to which the government gave rights to World War veterans. And in 1952, the Fort St. John Beaver Band was forced to move north of Fort St. John, which resulted in some families moving to Doig River and some to Blueberry River, according to the Alaska Highway News (September 20, 1978) archive at the North Peace Museum.

The Montney Reserve is about seven miles north of Fort St. John, spanning 18,000 acres across the Montney Formation, which is rich in oil. There is enough gas in the Montney area to last the country 140 years, according to the Canada Energy Regulator.

David Spurr, the author of The Rhetoric of the Empire: Colonial Discourse in Journalism, Travel Writing, and Imperial Administration, explained that the language of the press in the Peace region between 1944 to 1946 had no mention of First Nations. He claims the press fulfilled the government's role by calling it an agricultural advancement for the area.

"White settlers were repeatedly presented as heroic individuals at the vanguard of progress," wrote Spurr.

Attachie feels that the two parties never understood each other. He believes that lack of communication and the wrong intentions of Indian affairs were responsible for the loss of the Montney Reserve.

“Our leaders never fully understand the surrender of mineral rights and the sale of Montney reserve, but on the other hand, Indian affairs were fully aware of their actions and intentions,” said Attachie.

When Attachie became a councilor in 1974, an Indian agent informed him about the mineral rights to the Montney Reserve.

"[An] Indian agent told me that we have been ripped off, and we should go to the court to attain our legal rights," Attachie.

The role of an Indian agent, who was appointed by the Department of Indian Affairs, was to look after the best interests of First Nations communities, according to the former chief of Doig River.

The mineral rights were influential during the trial, and Attachie needed to be prepared before going to court.

“We hired lawyers, did a lot of research, read books to understand every aspect of Montney Reserve and how it was stolen from us,” Attachie explained.

In September 1978, chiefs from the Doig and Blueberry began joint legal action against the Government of Canada, claiming the damages of the improper surrender of the reserve and mineral rights, according to the Doig River website.

After various challenges along the way, in 1995, the Supreme Court of Canada recognized the mistakes made by the Government of Canada.

In the Montney claim case, the court found that the Department of Indian Affairs had breached a fiduciary duty to the Beaver Band by selling rather than leasing mineral rights. This was a win for the First Nations.

Makadahay explained that the case took twenty years of legal action to reach the final settlement with the federal government, and in 1998, the Nations settled out of court for breach of trust and lost oil and gas revenues. Because the Doig and Blueberry River First Nations shared Montney Reserve, Joe Apsassin, chief of the Blueberry First Nation, was also involved in the case.

Thomas R. Berger, the author of One Man's Justice A Life in the Law, who worked on the Montney claim case, described Gerry Attachie as a leader of the Montney cause.

"[G]erry Attachie, chief of the Doig River Band, had been the champion of the Montney cause for twenty years. He had taken the file to a lawyer in the first instance. He had, after the trial judgment went against the Indians, urged an appeal. He had come to Ottawa for the hearing before the Supreme Court of Canada. No one had been associated for as long as he had been with the Montney claim. But every cause needs someone who will not give up. [G]erry was there at the finish," wrote Berger.

"Gerry Attachie was the Chief of Doig River from the beginning to the end of this momentous twenty-one-year fight for justice."

For Attachie, this long journey for justice was an adventure and a tremendous learning experience as he played different roles in serving his community. He acknowledges that it was only possible because of the First Nation's Elders and their story-telling tradition.

Attachie says that money they received from the Crown was used to build a community hall, the rodeo ground, and other essential buildings at Doig River.

Despite First Nations still having to fight, progress is being made, such as the recent agreement between Blueberry River First Nation and the provincial government and the recent TLE settlement signings in the Peace region.

The settlement of the Treaty Land Entitlement claims results from efforts by chiefs, councils, and negotiators, who have been working together to find a resolution since 2004. According to a provincial release, by settling these claims, the provincial and federal governments aim to show their commitment to advancing reconciliation, building trust, and showing long-overdue respect and acknowledgment for the Treaty relationship.

Hopeful for the future of the First Nation communities, Attachie says that retelling the history of their stolen land will create awareness about their past and hopes to continue the oral tradition to respect Indigenous knowledge that channels their true identity.

Gerry Attachie’s Before the Peace podcast can be accessed here.

, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Energeticcity.ca

Montney Formation - Wikipedia

The Montney Formation is a stratigraphical unit of Lower Triassic age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin in British Columbia and Alberta.

It takes the name from the hamlet of Montney and was first described in Texaco's Buick Creek No. 7 well by J.H. Armitage in 1962.^[3] The well was drilled 41 kilometers (25 mi) north of Fort St. John, immediately east of the Alaska Highway.

Professionals see less credibility, value on Twitter after Musk takeover

Story by The Canadian Press • 4h ago

TORONTO — Canada was plunging into the H1N1 crisis, when Anne Marie Aikins first encountered Twitter.



The media relations maven was working for Toronto Public Health, which saw the new platform as an inexpensive way of quickly sharing vital information that could potentially save lives.

The rationale was similar when she later worked at the Toronto Public Library and 2,300 workers went on strike in 2012, pushing branches to temporarily close, and then at GO Transit-operator Metrolinx, where Twitter was a go-to for communicating service disruptions.

But these days, professionals and organizations are pulling back from tweeting. Aikins, who left Metrolinx after almost 11 years in January, and others feel it's because changes made by new owner Elon Musk have made Twitter "far less credible than it ever was before and less reliable."

That belief is spreading among professionals who once saw the platform as a way to build networks, discover news, connect with others and disseminate trustworthy information in a hurry. They now feel inundated with misinformation and new policies that rattle them every time they log on but have yet to find an alternative offering the same immediacy or connections.

"It's clear that this is no longer the platform it was," said Courtney Radsch, a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation.

“It has been an important platform during crisis or emerging news and it's a shame ... there isn't a good replacement.”

Twitter's descent has come at the hands of Musk, the unpredictable billionaire behind rocket builder SpaceX and automaker Tesla, who bought the platform for US$44 billion last October.

He's since orchestrated a dizzying array of changes, the most high profile being his November plan to strip notable users of their blue verification check marks unless they pay for Twitter's premium service.

When accounts impersonating Tesla, gaming giant Nintendo and pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly sprang up and paid for verification, Musk dumped his check mark removal plans, but revived them earlier this month.

Everyone from Beyoncé to Pope Francis to Kim Kardashian lost their check mark last week, but then many returned in a haphazard fashion. Some had no idea why they had regained the stamp, despite not paying for Twitter’s premium service. Musk later conceded he paid for many like basketball star LeBron James, author Stephen King and actor William Shatner to retain the mark.

"Now I can't tell who's paid for it and who's real," Aikins said, noting Musk is even allowing anonymous accounts to be verified so long as they pay and provide a confirmed phone number.

Musk made changes to media accounts, including NPR’s and the BBC’s, too. He labelled CBC’s “government-funded.”

The public broadcaster objected to the label, saying it receives public funding through a parliamentary appropriation voted upon by all MPs, and its editorial independence is enshrined in the Broadcasting Act. Musk later changed CBC's label to “69% government-funded” before he dropped such tags entirely over the weekend.

In the wake of these moves, Aikins is seeing public organizations tweet less and suspects it's because of how easy it’s become to target brands with misinformation that could tarnish their image.

"It's tiresome and hard for staff to manage that," she said.

The developments have also diminished Twitter's reach.

"The immediacy of Twitter and the number of eyes that you'd see on a tweet quickly during an emergency is just not what it used to be," Aikins said.

Radsch similarly sees “a lot less activity” from journalists, media outlets and academics and attributes it to “whiplash” from policy changes and Musk’s relaxed moderation and harassment stance.

Twitter posted Monday that it will strive for “freedom of speech, not reach” and is against censorship and shadowbanning, when tweets are less visible or hidden, often because its poster violated policies.

“A lot of people aren't going to want to be active on there, when they have to face harassment and hate filled speech that no longer have any way to be dealt with,” Radsch said.

“It was already imperfect to begin with, but now it's just gotten infinitely worse.”

Twitter responded to a request for comment about changes to the platform with an auto-generated email bearing a poop emoji, its standard press response since March.

Toronto parenting blogger Aneta Alaei is staying on Twitter to boost her audience but said the platform has changed since she joined in December 2013.

Back then, she’d scroll Twitter upon waking because it was "a better relayer of what was happening than my local news or social media like Facebook and Instagram."

"It was real-time. Sometimes it was raw," she said in an email.

"Sometimes things were trending that were not in line with my opinions but I read through those threads as well and broadened my horizons."

After Musk’s takeover, many accounts she interacted with vanished. She thought they blocked her, but later learned they left because they didn’t trusted Musk.

"I stopped waking up and heading to Twitter around that time,” she said. “I still use it as a platform to share my blog posts but don't engage as much as I used to."

Now that anyone can pay for a check mark, she feels she can't trust much of what is on the platform and won’t seek verification for her account.

"Why would you pay to use a platform that has now become a running joke where people who have no audience anywhere else can now feel relevant?"

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 25, 2023.

Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press

MANITOBA
Lakes need more protections against invasive species, group says

Story by The Canadian Press • TODAY


The small freshwater mussels, which originated from the lakes of southern Russia and Ukraine and were introduced to many countries worldwide in 1980, have already jeopardized the health of bodies of water in the eastern part of the province, including Lake Winnipeg, Lake Manitoba and the Red River.

The mussels are transferred from one body of water to another by boat or another watercraft if they’re not cleaned properly.

“If those boats move from those [contaminated] bodies of water to ours, it’s not a question of if, but when, they’ll show up,” said Trevor Maguire, chairperson of the Pelican Lake Healthy Lake Committee.

Zebra mussels reproduce quickly and can impact a habitat’s food chain, clog water intake systems and damage watercraft, according to the Manitoba government’s website.

Some bodies of water, such as Sandy Lake, located 96 kilometres northwest of Brandon, have inspection stations to check boats for zebra mussels and other species, but lack the capacity to properly clean them. The closest cleaning station is in Headingley, 206 kilometres northeast of Pelican Lake, Maguire said.

Current provincial regulations say boats must be treated thermally, using either heat or cold, to kill zebra mussels and other invasive species. Thermal treatments should also be used to decontaminate water-related equipment. These regulations aren’t doing enough to protect Pelican Lake and other Westman waterways from being contaminated, Maguire said. There must be an option in western Manitoba for people to clean their boats, too.

“If you leave Lake Winnipeg or Red River at nine o’clock at night, and you’re driving home, that wash station isn’t open again until the morning. Are you going to wait in Headingley and get your boat cleaned? Or are you just going to drive home?” Maguire said.

Currently, Manitoba’s aquatic invasive species website does not list the locations of any stations, stating the annual watercraft inspection program has ended for 2022. The website doesn’t contain any information on this year’s program.

It’s virtually impossible to thoroughly decontaminate a boat at home, Maguire said.

“If you have a higher temperature pressure-washer that goes over 60 degrees Celsius, it needs to sustain that temperature for an extended period of time,” he said. “Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of people with that equipment.”

More enforcement from conservation officers could also help stop the spread of zebra mussels, Maguire said.




Related video: New method proves effective to decrease invasive species in Lake Erie (WEWS Cleveland, OH)


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Greg Nesbitt, Manitoba’s minister of natural resources, agreed that more needs to be done to protect Prairie lakes from the threat of zebra mussels. To figure out the best way to do that, he appointed a ministerial working group of interested citizens last fall, which will meet soon, he told the Sun.

“The point of this committee is to work with our department to try to formulate a strategy to deal with aquatic invasive species moving forward,” said Nesbitt, the Progressive Conservative MLA for Riding Mountain.

Echoing Maguire’s words, Nesbitt said one of the things the ministerial working group will look at is potentially adding more decontamination stations to places in Manitoba where they’ll have the most impact.

“We need to have them at pinch points, where the traffic is getting to the lakes.”

However, Nesbitt’s department will need a larger budget to increase the number of cleaning stations and enforcement, he said.

“We need to develop a strategy so we can go to our Treasury Board and ask for more money to do this around Manitoba.”

Manitoba’s lakes are huge drivers of the economy and municipalities would have a lot to lose if those lakes ever became infected, Nesbitt said.

Staff at Riding Mountain National Park said in February they were on high alert for zebra mussels in Clear Lake after a test for environmental DNA for the invasive species came back positive in January.

The presence of the DNA doesn’t necessarily mean there are zebra mussels in Clear Lake, Parks Canada said. Instead, it could have been decontaminated zebra mussel DNA brought to the body of water via a boat, water toy or other source, without the transfer of any living mussels. Three subsequent tests for zebra mussel DNA came back negative.

The Sun contacted the park to see if there were any updates about zebra mussels in Clear Lake but didn’t receive a reply by press time.

Until more cleaning stations are available across the province, there’s only one sure-fire way to keep lakes safe from zebra mussels, Maguire said.

“At the end of the day, if people really value the lakes, just don’t move your boats from lake to lake.”

Miranda Leybourne, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Brandon Sun

Experts from the World Resources Institute and Climate Policy Radar discuss biodiversity and climate change.
Story by insider@insider.com (Elizabeth Wood ) •

Catherine Boudreau, senior sustainability reporter at Insider; Dr. Susan Chomba, Director of Vital Landscapes at the World Resources Institute; Dr. Michal Nachmany, CEO and Founder of Climate Policy Radar Courtesy of Insider Studios© Courtesy of Insider Studios
Biodiversity loss and human impacts are becoming a key component in climate change conversations.

Experts discuss their views on how biodiversity loss and climate change are also impacting the financial sector.

The conversation was part of Insider's event "For a Better Future: Bridging Culture, Business, and Climate," which took place on Tuesday, April 18, 2023.

Click here to watch a recording of the full event.

1 of 27 Photos in Gallery

©Junior Kannah/AFP/Getty Images

 

Bleak photos show the reality of the cobalt mining industry responsible for the batteries in your phone, computer, and car

 

Cobalt is one of the world's most important natural resources.

 

The Democratic Republic of Congo is estimated to possess 70% of the global supply of cobalt.

 

But terrible working conditions have companies and countries looking at alternatives.

Cobalt is the new blood diamond.

It's highly valuable and dangerous to extract. The Democratic Republic of Congo is responsible for about 70% of the world's supply of Cobalt.

As the world transitions to renewable energies to fight climate change, the demand — and the price — for cobalt, a crucial ingredient used to make lithium batteries, has skyrocketed.

But even as the cost increases, the working conditions of the people mining it can be brutal, and the pay is almost nothing — The Guardian found in an investigation that workers were getting paid about 35 cents an hour.

Here's the reality of where cobalt comes from and how it is mined.

As the symptoms of climate change worsen so too do natural disasters, extreme weather events, and food and water scarcity. Wildlife experts and researchers are pressing for more attention to be paid to how the climate crisis is affecting not only humans but also the alarming loss of biodiversity.

Dr. Susan Chomba, Director of Vital Landscapes at the World Resources Institute spoke with Catherine Boudreau, senior sustainability reporter at Insider, about biodiversity loss in the past decade.

Chomba said, "This is hugely driven by, of course, human factors. Human beings, the way we live, the way we cultivate our food, the way we go ahead with our businesses in different dimensions of our lives."

In the session Together for a Greener Tomorrow part of the "For a Better Future: Bridging Culture, Business, and Climate" Dr. Michal Nachmany, CEO and Founder of Climate Policy Radar echoed Choma's sentiments.

Nachmany said, "I think between the micro and the macro, between the rhinoceros and the fungi, we need to remember that there are critical services that we don't even know how they are interconnected to each other."

Biodiversity's climate change connection

Related video: Climate change is continuing its advance, says UN report (WION)

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Climate activists worldwide hold demonstrations to mark the 54th Earth Day celebrations

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Dailymotion Activists gather for Earth Day, urge action on climate

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WION  Climate crisis: Too late already? | Alarming UN report on climate change

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Chomba said that people often make policy based on a "siloed approach." In terms of climate change she said, "It's really affecting a lot of actors outside the policy environment, like the private sector actors in the energy sector, in the industrial, in the input side on the agriculture side, and of course transport."

Nachmany agreed and added that humans love to think in terms of solutions. Nachmany said, "When it comes to biodiversity it is important to think of needs instead of solutions. If we think about what are human needs: humans need shelter, humansneed food, humans need a temperature range that is livable in. And all of those, the solutions that address both climate change and biodiversity conservation are the same solutions."

Finance and Biodiversity

Nachmany noted that the financial sector is trending towards a better understanding of sustainable investment. She said, "Without a livable planet, no investment is safe. We're seeing movement in very strange places, like large investor coalitions that all of a sudden care about nature positive investments."

Chomba noted that people who can pay are the ones who are benefitting from biodiverse populations. Referring to the Congo Basin she said, "What we are seeing recently, and especially in a country like DRC, is the government last year decided to issue concessions to at least 27 concessions basically for any kind of use. Anybody who is willing to pay for the concessions gets the rights to use these lands."

The Congo is home to critically endangered species and protected indigenous communities. Chomba said, "I think the case of DRC has really tested the global finance mechanisms and the global commitments to protection of biodiversity, to protection of carbon that is already in these ecosystems and to the protection of indigenous people."

Catherine Boudreau:

really glad that you mentioned finance because what I've been thinking about a lot is how as a society we don't really put a price on nature, even though it does have so much value to communities, to businesses, to governments. So as a result, there aren't always the best financial incentives to protect it when maybe there's more money to be made in other industries, whether it's oil or timber.

Nature adds value to communities, businesses, and goverenments society doesn't necessarily put a price on nature. As an outcome governments can't find the best financial incentives to protect nature. Nachmany said, "Financial mechanisms and financial instruments are also a mechanism to ensure that polluting activities and damaging and destructive activities are capped and banned. So you asked if we can put a price on nature, and the question is, can we put a price on destroying nature?"

Biodiversity and vulnerable populations

Nachmany posited that the most vulnerable populations impacted by climate change are often the least likely contributors to the problem. He said, "We have vulnerable communities all over the world, but we see the people who are the strongest but also the ones impacted the most by climate change and biodiversity loss also the ones who have contributed the least towards creating it."

On how to tackle biodiversity and the harm to vulnerable populations Chomba said, "The problem is, we don't have strong governance to access that that decentralized power and authority and decision making to these communities more. We still tend to have a lot of centralized regime in terms of how we manage our biodiversity, and that's a key issue."

FACT FOCUS: COVID vaccines are not in the food supply

Anti-vaccine advocates have for years used foreboding imagery of syringes to paint immunizations as dark and dangerous. But recent vaccine conspiracy theories are casting an air of fear around more mundane things — like cows and lettuce.



In widespread posts online in recent weeks, misinformation purveyors have spread an erroneous narrative that COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are being quietly added to the food supply, threatening staunch vaccine holdouts.

In some cases, users misrepresented the limited use of RNA-based vaccines in animals. In others, they distorted a company’s research into using plants to grow proteins used in vaccines.

But experts confirm there are no COVID-19 vaccines in your steak or salad. Here are the facts.

CLAIM: 

COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are being added to the food supply through livestock and produce.

THE FACTS:

 COVID-19 vaccines are not being passed along through livestock or produce, and experts say that would not be an efficient way to immunize someone. A flurry of social media posts are falsely suggesting otherwise.


“The Unvaccinated Won’t Be Unvaccinated for Long With mRNA in the Food Supply,” reads one tweet shared thousands of times. Another asks: “Did you know they will be giving all of our livestock the covid vaccine this year?”

A TikTok video shared on Instagram, meanwhile, questions whether Whole Foods customers are unknowingly being vaccinated with “the C19 mRNA shot via food products” and shows pictures of arugula and lettuce packages.

In reality, there are no COVID-19 mRNA vaccines licensed for animals, Marissa Perry, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, told The Associated Press. She noted that the department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service “has not approved and does not have any vaccines under trial to vaccinate livestock for COVID-19.”

Some animals, particularly those in zoos considered susceptible, have received vaccines against COVID-19. But those immunizations do not rely on mRNA technology, said Suresh Kuchipudi, a veterinary scientist and chair of emerging infectious diseases at Penn State University.

In terms of vaccines more generally, there are some RNA-based vaccines licensed for animals. For example, the pharmaceutical company Merck offers a customizable vaccine against the flu and other viruses in pigs to protect a specific herd as needed. That approach predates the advent of humans’ COVID-19 mRNA vaccines and the technology is not the same.

There are no mRNA vaccines for any disease being used in cattle in the U.S., the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association emphasized in a recent statement addressing online misinformation. Farmers and ranchers ultimately choose which vaccines, if any, to give their animals.

Regardless, the notion that an mRNA vaccine could be transmitted to humans through eating meat is not rooted in science.

“No, it could not be transferred,” Ted Ross, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Georgia and director of the Center for Vaccines and Immunology, said in an email. He said mRNA vaccines have a very short duration in living organisms and degrades.

In addition to the mRNA breaking down quickly, it's unlikely it would survive the cooking process to hypothetically be passed along to consumers, experts said.

Additionally, regulators require something called a “withdrawal time,” a minimum amount of time that must pass between a food animal getting a vaccine and entering the food chain, Alan Young, a professor of veterinary and biomedical science at South Dakota State University, recently told the AP.

There is also no evidence to support the notion that COVID-19 vaccines are being added to produce.

The TikTok video about Whole Foods homed in on a clip of a co-founder of New Jersey-based AeroFarms, an indoor vertical farming company that grows leafy greens.

But the video misrepresented the work described by AeroFarms co-founder David Rosenberg. Rosenberg was discussing early research into growing proteins that could theoretically be used for vaccines, not making edible vaccines that would be on a store shelf.

“Couldn’t be further from the truth,” Marc Oshima, AeroFarms co-founder and chief marketing officer, said of the claim that the company’s vegetables contain a COVID-19 vaccine.

The research initiative Rosenberg discussed, which is no longer active, was part of a research and development arm of the company and separate from its commercial products, Oshima said. The farms for research and commercial products are separate spaces.

While some researchers have explored the possibility of growing edible vaccines — an appealing idea for use in countries where vaccine storage can be an issue — that concept is “far, far away from being proven,” said Shawn Chen, a professor at Arizona State University’s Biodesign Center for Immunotherapy, Vaccines and Virotherapy.

Chen said scientists have used plants to grow vaccines that can be extracted and used for injections. But producing edible vaccines is tricky in terms of getting the right dosage and delivering the medicine through the gut. That approach, he said, would require much more work, including trials and approvals, before it could even theoretically enter the market. ___

This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.

Angelo Fichera, The Associated Press

TORY AUSTERITY KILLS
For N.S. welfare recipients, budget freeze by Tories in inflationary times hurts
Story by The Canadian Press • 10h ago

HALIFAX — Sandra Page wonders how the Nova Scotia government expects her to remain healthy after its recent budget froze welfare payments despite more than a year of high inflation.



"I sometimes go to ask for help out on the street — panhandling — which I shouldn't have to do," she said during a recent interview when asked how she manages to pay her monthly costs.

The 59-year-old Halifax resident said a hand injury prevents her from working and that she relies on monthly income assistance of $950 — along with a special payment of about $220 to cover medical and dietary needs for a thyroid condition. But after rent is paid, there's not enough to buy the healthy food her condition requires, she said.

The Progressive Conservative government has emphasized fixing health care as its prime focus, and its March budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year kept welfare rates at 2021 levels. But cases like Page's are raising criticisms that the government is too harsh on the province's poorest citizens.

Lori Turnbull, director of the school of public administration at Dalhousie University, said she understands that the focus of Premier Tim Houston is on recruiting doctors and nurses, but is "baffled" his government isn't seeing how leaving welfare rates unchanged may send more people to seek medical care.

"It seems an obvious thing for the government to do (increase the income assistance rates). Why it's not a priority, I don't know … I just don't get it," she said in a recent interview.

In his annual budget analysis, Vince Calderhead — a human rights lawyer with Pink Larkin — says the decision against increasing the income assistance rates during high inflation is one of the harshest moves he's seen in 11 years of tracking the issue.

He said that since welfare rates last went up in May 2021 — under the prior Liberal government — overall inflation in Nova Scotia increased by about 11 per cent, a figure the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council confirms.

"The failure to increase rates at all means the provincial cabinet has effectively chosen to significantly increase food insecurity," Calderhead wrote in an email.

He's calculated how much further people like Page are falling below the poverty line of $27,631 — a figure based on the ability to pay for a basic mix of goods and services like food, footwear, transport and shelter. She and other single adults with disabilities have incomes about half that amount, and Calderhead's calculations estimate that with 3.7 per cent inflation in 2023-24, their monthly income would fall another $37.50 per month in purchasing power.

For Page, inflation and a freeze in her welfare payments have forced her to buy cheaper food. "I buy canned food now sometimes. But canned meat is not as good as hamburger."

Less fresh food effects her health and sends her to the doctor's office more often, she said. "I can't even afford a can of fruit."

The Maytree Foundation, a Toronto-based anti-poverty group, estimated that in 2021 there were on average almost 28,000 cases, including families and single adults, and almost 42,800 beneficiaries, receiving Nova Scotia's employment support and income assistance programs.

The foundation has said that New Brunswick and Nova Scotia had the lowest social assistance rates in the country in 2021.

Mohy Tabbara, a policy adviser at Maytree, said in an interview Monday that while New Brunswick made small income assistance increases in its recent budget, "Nova Scotia is falling behind the rest of the country."

Tabbara noted there were a number of one-time supports introduced last year by the Nova Scotia government, such as a payment of $150 per household to help recover from post-tropical storm Fiona. "But these were one-time payments and people lost them this year."

The government also points to certain targeted programs, such as an investment of $8 million to increase the monthly Nova Scotia child benefits, and $100 million to provide home-heating rebates.

When asked about the welfare payment freeze, Community Services Minister Karla MacFarlane mentioned the government's targeted programs, and repeated its message that health care is the number 1 priority.

“I think this government has been very clear we were presenting a budget that was based on health care, and we have made significant investments in health care," she said Friday.

Turnbull said she wonders about this communications strategy, adding that there's little evidence that letting the poorest citizens fall victim to inflation solidifies the party's base.

"They've got a communications line about being focused on health care," she said. "Yes, yes, we heard that. But you're also the government, and that means keeping multiple balls in the air at one time."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 24, 2023.

Michael Tutton, The Canadian Press

Cascades restructuring tissue business in U.S., 300 employees affected

Story by The Canadian Press • 3h ago

KINGSEY FALLS, Que. — Cascades is restructuring its tissue business, changes that will affect 300 employees in the United States.



The company says it will progressively close plants in Barnwell, S.C., and Scappoose, Ore., and a tissue machine at its St. Helens plant, also in Oregon, starting in July.

Cascades says the changes will reduce costs, create synergies and improve its tissue group's financial, operational and environmental performance.

The equipment slated for closure has a combined total annual rated capacity of 92,000 short tons of tissue paper and 10 million cases of converted product, but has been operating below capacity.

The company says it will work to mitigate the impact of the cuts by offering to relocate as many employees as possible to its other operations in the United States.

Closure costs, including severance, are expected to total about $20 million to $25 million.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 25, 2023.

Companies in this story: (TSX:CAS)

The Canadian Press

Murray Mandryk: Moe may swerve further right as NDP sputters in rural mudhole

Opinion by Murray Mandryk • 6h ago

Before anyone from either side gets too carried away with the Insightrix Research poll perhaps suggesting NDP gains in Saskatchewan, consider a few important realities.


A new Insightrix survey may or may not be great news for the NDP and Carla Beck. But it may. be reason for Premier Scott Moe to further appease the right.© Provided by Leader Post

All polls are the day’s snapshot, and online panelist surveys with questionable methodology stemming from a partisan podcast are likely of even less value.

Insightrix’s April 11-13 survey was promoted in a news release last week by the Skoop podcast hosted by former Saskatchewan Party digital operations director for Premier Scott Moe’s office, Dale Richardson, who is now a consultant and podcaster.

Nevertheless, we always take notice of the ‘who-would-you-vote-for?’ horse race question — especially when it’s seemingly telling us the Sask. Party is down to 46 per cent across the province (compared with 60.7 per cent in the 2020 election) and that the NDP under new Leader Carla Beck is at 37 per cent (compared with 31.8 per cent).

Other numbers suggesting the NDP at 56 per cent in Regina and 48 per cent in Saskatoon would translate into more NDP MLAs from the 26 “city seats” that will still exist under the electoral boundaries map.

That’s good news for an Opposition with two upcoming Regina byelectons , but it offers no insight into the new battleground bedroom community seats outside the two major cities and/or what might happen in Moose Jaw and Prince Albert, or even Yorkton and North Battleford.

Arguably more telling is that the Sask. Party is still at 56 per cent outside the two biggest cities, compared with 25 per cent for the NDP.

Beck spent the summer touring the rural s and has made rural health care one of her priorities. Yet the NDP leader doesn’t seem to be moving the needle her way much in rural Saskatchewan.

Again, one needs to be rather careful here because the survey numbers remain rather dubious. But what’s happening with the fringe parties — especially in rural Saskatchewan — may be the most interesting thing about this survey.

Insightrix pegs both the Saskatchewan United Party and the Green Party at just two per cent (about where the Greens were in 2020), and both the Buffalo Party and the Liberals are at about three per cent (which, for the Liberals, would be about 12 times better than the did in 2020, even though a Saskatchewan “Liberal” party may not exist much longer).

Far more surprising is the struggling old Progressive Conservative Party at a surprising six per cent — more than three times its 2020 popular vote. (As suggested by Richardson, it’s quite likely voters were confusing the old PCs with the federal party.)

The Sask. Party partisans on the podcast rightly noted Sask. United’s two per cent showing is hardly impressive.

However, given that Sask. United is at zero in Regina and likely near the same in Saskatoon, you can likely double that number in rural ridings. Now, add to that support for the Buffalo Party and the rather bizarre numbers for the old PCs.

Of course, even all this combined would still not be enough to topple rural Sask. Party MLAs who won their seats in 2020 with 60 to 75 per cent of the popular vote, when you seldom need much more than 45 per cent to win in our first-past-the-post system with multiple candidates.

What it might accomplish, however, is pushing the ever-skittish Sask. Party even further to the right in the year and a half before the next vote in 2024.

Obviously, that would seem counterintuitive, given that all this would seem to suggest both the political threat and the real economic problems for Moe and his Sask. Party government are coming from the left and the cities.

But since 2020 election night, when Moe simply ignored NDP voters and spoke directly to the concerns of Buffalo Party supporters , appeasing the right has been the Sask. Party’s near obsession.

Maybe the Insightrix survey, itself, doesn’t tell us much about the political landscape.

But it might become rather telling when it’s combined with the great predictor of future behaviour: past behaviour.

Mandryk is the political columnist for the Regina Leader-Post and the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.