UK

Workers walked out of ExxonMobil refinery due to safety fears, says union

Sarah Ward, PA Scotland
Thu, 17 August 2023


Workers at a Fife refinery withdrew their labour over safety concerns prompting calls for an investigation, a union has said.

ExxonMobil’s Mossmorran refinery in Cowdenbeath will be subject to inquiries from the Health and Safety Executive after industrial action on Tuesday August 15.

Unite claimed about 200 workers withdrew their labour at the petrochemical plant – a legal right under the Employment Rights Act – due to safety concerns.

However, ExxonMobil said less than 100 workers walked out of the refinery and that many Unite members did not get involved.

And the company said that the Fife Ethylene Plant “operates in full compliance with approved site safety standards and procedures”.

Unite claimed the workers objected to “health and safety warning signals and procedures not being in full working operation across the plant” and a lack of procedures put in place to protect them.

The union claimed ExxonMobil and contractors Altrad, Bilfinger and Kaefer, failed in a “legal duty” to protect and pay workers.

Unite said it received reports from workers citing repeated examples over a year that alarm systems were not working in areas at the petrochemical plant and workers not being notified – which is legally required in the event of any leakages, blasts or exposure to hazardous materials and chemicals.

It also alleged that workers were having pay withheld, contrary to employment laws which say workers have the “right” to withdraw from, and to refuse to return to a workplace that is unsafe, without being subject to loss of wages.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Unite will robustly defend the legal right of our members to withdraw their labour over health and safety concerns at ExxonMobil’s Mossmorran plant.

“It is completely unacceptable that the company and the various contractors on site are refusing to pay our members their wages.

“This is a legal duty and not open to interpretation.

“Our members will be receiving their union’s unflinching support.”

Unite members at ExxonMobil’s plant are employed on construction engineering maintenance contracts and they are split between different contractors at the plant: Altrad, Bilfinger, and Kaefer.

Unite is further calling on the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to investigate immediately due to the seriousness of the claims.

The union claimed there have been various recorded incidents at the plant over safety, the risk of pollution and environmental damage.

Bob Macgregor, Unite industrial officer, added: “Unite’s members working for Altrad, Bilfinger, and Kaefer at the Mossmorran plant are rightly furious at potentially being exposed to dangerous chemicals due to failings in the plant’s safety procedures.

“To add insult to injury, ExxonMobil and the contractors are refusing to pay the wages of the workers following the withdrawal of labour on health and safety grounds.

“This is not an isolated incident, these safety breaches and failings have been ongoing for around a year and nothing to date has been resolved.

“That’s why Unite is calling for the Health and Safety Executive to urgently intervene due to the seriousness of the claims, and the chequered history of the plant.”

An ExxonMobil spokesperson said: “We are aware of unofficial action instigated by a small number of individuals employed by contracting companies on our site.

“There is no impact on our operations, which continue as normal.

“Fife Ethylene Plant operates in full compliance with approved site safety standards and procedures.”

A HSE spokesperson said: “We are aware of safety-related concerns being raised by union and employee representatives onsite.

“We are now making enquiries with the site operator.”

Altrad, Bilfinger, and Kaefer have been approached for comment.

WINNIPEG

Landfill search more likely if victims were white women, says union president

Thu, August 17, 2023

Support grew this week for a search of a Manitoba landfill for the remains of two Indigenous women, as both the national Union of Taxation Employees (UTE) and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) announced they are in full support of a search for the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran.

“We have come here today to strongly condemn the inaction of the city of Winnipeg, the Winnipeg police, the premier and the province of Manitoba, and the federal government,” UTE national president Marc Brière said while speaking on the steps of CMHR in downtown Winnipeg on Thursday.

Brière and other members of UTE, who are in Winnipeg this week for their 2023 annual convention, joined advocates and family members at a rally at CMHR asking for the Prairie Green Landfill to be searched for the remains of Harris and Myran, two women who are believed to have been murdered by an alleged serial killer and dumped in the landfill north of Winnipeg.


Brière told the crowd of several hundred that if it were white women that were believed to be in the landfill, he believes that a search would probably have been given the go-ahead by now.

“Their refusal to search the Prairie Green Landfill is totally unacceptable,” he said. “And I am asking you, if it would be white women or white men, do you think there would be a greater chance they would be searching?

“That is what I believe, and it seems to me that some believe that the lives of Indigenous people and especially Indigenous women are not valued, and this is a shame.

“This is absolutely shameful.”

Brière added he believed it was important for UTE members to come out and show support in Winnipeg on Thursday, because it shows that the support for a search is coming from beyond the Indigenous community and Indigenous advocates.

“We all need to be allies,” Brière said.

Melissa Robinson, a cousin of Morgan Harris, one of the women whose remains are believed to be in the Prairie Green Landfill, said it was “amazing” to see the support of union members in Winnipeg on Thursday, because she believes that it sends a message that it is not just Indigenous people pushing for a landfill search.

“It’s amazing and it’s about damn time,” Robinson said. “It sends a message, because it shows that people are realizing that we matter too.

“It’s not just Indigenous people, it’s all of society standing up and saying Indigenous people matter, and it’s amazing.”

And while supporters spoke on the steps of CMHR on Thursday, the museum also said this week they are in full support of a search of the Prairie Green Landfill.

In a letter addressed to the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) CMHR Chief Executive Officer Isha Khan said the museum supports calls for a search and said not doing a search would be a betrayal of basic human rights.

“Our role at the museum is to encourage people to understand our world through the lens of human rights,” Khan wrote in the letter sent out this week. “In this situation, the human rights implications are clear.

“Article 12 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples states that Indigenous peoples have a right to access the remains of their family and community members.

“It is a universal human value that the remains of the dead should be treated with dignity and their families accorded respect.”

Jeremy Skibicki was charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of four women in December, including Harris and Myran, whose remains are both believed to be at the privately-run Prairie Green Landfill north of Winnipeg.

He has also been charged in the death of Rebecca Contois, whose remains were found last year at the Brady Road Landfill, and an unidentified woman that Indigenous leaders are calling Buffalo Woman, whose remains have not been found.

Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson announced on July 6 the province would not offer assistance to search the Prairie Green Landfill, saying she came to the decision because of the results of a feasibility study that said there would be safety risks involved in that type of search, and no guarantee the search would be successful.

— Dave Baxter is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of the Winnipeg Sun. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.

Dave Baxter, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Winnipeg Sun

AP, other news organizations develop standards for use of artificial intelligence in newsrooms

Thu, August 17, 2023 



NEW YORK (AP) — The Associated Press has issued guidelines on artificial intelligence, saying the tool cannot be used to create publishable content and images for the news service while encouraging staff members to become familiar with the technology.

AP is one of a handful of news organizations that have begun to set rules on how to integrate fast-developing tech tools like ChatGPT into their work. The service will couple this on Thursday with a chapter in its influential Stylebook that advises journalists how to cover the story, complete with a glossary of terminology.

“Our goal is to give people a good way to understand how we can do a little experimentation but also be safe,” said Amanda Barrett, vice president of news standards and inclusion at AP.

The journalism think tank Poynter Institute, saying it was a “transformational moment,” urged news organizations this spring to create standards for AI's use, and share the policies with readers and viewers.

Generative AI has the ability to create text, images, audio and video on command, but isn’t yet fully capable of distinguishing between fact and fiction.

As a result, AP said material produced by artificial intelligence should be vetted carefully, just like material from any other news source. Similarly, AP said a photo, video or audio segment generated by AI should not be used, unless the altered material is itself the subject of a story.

That's in line with the tech magazine Wired, which said it does not publish stories generated by AI, “except when the fact that it's AI-generated is the point of the whole story.”

“Your stories must be completely written by you,” Nicholas Carlson, Insider editor-in-chief, wrote in a note to employees that was shared with readers. “You are responsible for the accuracy, fairness, originality and quality of every word in your stories.”

Highly-publicized cases of AI-generated “hallucinations,” or made-up facts, make it important that consumers know that standards are in place to “make sure the content they're reading, watching and listening to is verified, credible and as fair as possible,” Poynter said in an editorial.

News organizations have outlined ways that generative AI can be useful short of publishing. It can help editors at AP, for example, put together digests of stories in the works that are sent to its subscribers. It could help editors create headlines or generate story ideas, Wired said. Carlson said AI could be asked to suggest possible edits to make a story concise and more readable, or to come up with possible questions for an interview.

AP has experimented with simpler forms of artificial intelligence for a decade, using it to create short news stories out of sports box scores or corporate earnings reports. That's important experience, Barrett said, but “we still want to enter this new phase cautiously, making sure we protect our journalism and protect our credibility.”

ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and The Associated Press last month announced a deal for the artificial intelligence company to license AP’s archive of news stories that it uses for training purposes.

News organizations are concerned about their material being used by AI companies without permission or payment. The News Media Alliance, representing hundreds of publishers, issued a statement of principles designed to protect its members' intellectual property rights.

Some journalists have expressed worry that artificial intelligence could eventually replace jobs done by humans and is a matter of keen interest, for example, in contract talks between AP and its union, the News Media Guild. The guild hasn't had the chance to fully analyze what they mean, said Vin Cherwoo, the union's president.

“We were encouraged by some provisions and have questions on others,” Cherwoo said.

With safeguards in place, AP wants its journalists to become familiar with the technology, since they will need to report stories about it in coming years, Barrett said.

AP's Stylebook — a roadmap of journalistic practices and rules for use of terminology in stories — will explain in the chapter due to be released Thursday many of the factors that journalists should consider when writing about the technology.

“The artificial intelligence story goes far beyond business and technology,” the AP says. “It is also about politics, entertainment, education, sports, human rights, the economy, equality and inequality, international law, and many other issues. Successful AI stories show how these tools are affecting many areas of our lives.”

The chapter includes a glossary of terminology, including machine learning, training data, face recognition and algorithmic bias.

Little of it should be considered the final word on the topic. A committee exploring guidance on the topic meets monthly, Barrett said.

“I fully expect we'll have to update the guidance every three months because the landscape is shifting,” she said.

David Bauder, The Associated Press

WHAT IS AUTHORITARIANISM

Iranian filmmaker and his producer face prison for showing film at Cannes without state permission

Thu, August 17, 2023 

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An Iranian filmmaker and his producer reportedly face prison time and being barred from filmmaking after they showcased a movie at the Cannes Film Festival without government approval, drawing immediate criticism internationally from leading American director Martin Scorsese and others.

Director Saeed Roustayi and producer Javad Norouzbeigi traveled to Cannes last year to show “Leila's Brothers,” competing for the festival's grand Palme d’Or prize. The film focuses on a family struggling to make ends meet as Iran faces international sanctions and includes sequences showing protests in the Islamic Republic as a series of nationwide demonstrations shook the nation.

The film also depicts security forces beating demonstrators protesting Iran’s ailing economy, which has already sparked mass protests and bloody security force crackdowns killing hundreds. The family in it loses all its savings over the rapid depreciation of Iran’s rial currency, something Iranians across the country have lived with for years.

Additionally, the aging patriarch, hoarding his family’s wealth and forcing them into squalor for a chance at personal glory, can be seen as an allegory to Iran’s theocracy.

“Leila's Brothers” didn't take the coveted Palme d’Or but ended up winning two other awards at Cannes. However, authorities in Tehran did not nominate the film for the Oscars despite its success at the renowned French film festival, something Roustayi later criticized in published remarks.

On Tuesday, Etemad newspaper reported that Tehran's Revolutionary Court sentenced the two men to six months in prison over creating “propaganda against the system.”

The men showcased the film “in line with the counterrevolutionary movement ... with the aim of fame-seeking in order to prepare fodder and intensify the media battle against Iran's religious sovereignty,” the court decision read, according to Etemad, a Tehran-based newspaper run by reformists.

The judge suspended all but 10-odd days of the prison sentence for the next five years, the newspaper said. However, the men will also be banned from filmmaking and communicating with those in the field during that period, as well as must attend a mandatory filmmaking course while “maintaining national and moral interests.” The sentence is appealable.

No other major media outlet in Iran reported the sentencing and Etemad did not explain how it came about its information. Iran’s Revolutionary Courts conduct closed-door hearings over alleged threats to Iran’s government, taking nearly every case involving a suspect with Western ties or facing accusations of espionage.

The international reaction against the sentence was swift. Scorsese, known for his films “Goodfellas,” “Casino” and the upcoming “Killers of the Flower Moon,” asked people online to sign a petition to protest the men's sentence “so they can continue to be a force of good in the world.”

The Biarritz International Film Festival, at which Roustayi chaired the jury this year, immediately criticized the sentence as well and asked it be quashed by Iran's judiciary.

“His only crime is being a free-spirited filmmaker," the festival said. “Although he's not even 35, his sharp take on society makes him one of today's major international filmmakers.”

Even inside Iran, there's been anger over the sentencing. The Iranian Cinema Directors Association issued an online statement, saying that “the race to issue insulting verdicts, which at the same time undermines the judiciary itself, has entered a new stage.”

“If you think that by issuing such humiliating rulings, you are helping to solve problems, bring people together, create joy and hope and strengthen national security, then you have not been successful,” the statement said.

Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Iranian filmmakers, though applauded internationally, long have faced government pressure back home. The same goes for actors, particularly after the September 2022 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after being detained by the country's morality police over not properly wearing a mandatory headscarf. Her death sparked nationwide protests and saw a security force crackdown that killed over 500 people and saw more than 22,000 others arrested.

One of the lead actors in “Leila's Brothers,” the Oscar-winning Taraneh Alidoosti, found herself detained and later released on bail after posting online in support of the protests. She posted an image of herself, without the mandatory head covering, holding a sign reading “Women, Life, Freedom” in Kurdish — the slogan embraced by demonstrators at the time.

Jon Gambrell, The Associated Press

Hawaii wildfires: 'Directed energy weapon' and other false claims go viral

Shayan Sardarizadeh and Mike Wendling - 

BBC Verify and BBC News
Thu, August 17, 2023 

The fires have been the subject of false posts that have spread rapidly online

False claims about the deadly wildfires in Hawaii - including that shadowy forces orchestrated the disaster with a laser beam - have gained traction online.

The misleading posts come from a variety of sources and accounts, but generally imply that "elites" or government agencies deliberately started the fires.

Some of the most popular theories are couched in questions about a "narrative" and make claims that alternative views are being "censored", despite collecting millions of views.

While there are specific rumours circulating about Maui, they fit into a general pattern repeatedly seen after extreme weather events and natural disasters - politically motivated activists seeking to downplay the potential impact of climate change.
'Energy weapon'

Videos and images claiming that the wildfires were not a natural disaster - and were instead caused by a "directed energy weapon", a "laser beam" or explosion - have been viewed millions of times.

One video viewed 10 million times claims to show a large explosion in Maui just before the fires.

But the video was originally a viral clip shared on TikTok in May showing a transformer explosion in Chile.

Chilean TV network Chilevisión ran a report on the viral video, confirming the explosion was the result of a blown transformer caused by strong wind.

An image of a church on fire in Hawaii has been viewed 9 million times, with claims it shows a laser beam striking it.

But it has been digitally altered. The original image - of the Waiola Church in Lahaina in flames on 8 August - has no laser beam or ray of light visible.

Two other false images have been racking up huge numbers of views.

One shows a fireball and a bright streak of light rising up towards the night sky. It, too, has been accompanied by claims that wildfires are not a natural phenomenon.

But a search on the internet for previous versions of this image reveals the photo shows a controlled burn at an Ohio oil refinery and was first posted online in January 2018. The streak of light, known as a "light pillar", is an optical illusion formed by reflections off ice crystals on a cold day.

A similar image claims to show a huge beam of light in Maui just before the wildfires. But it shows the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in California in May 2018.
Why are trees standing?

There are claims circulating about videos from Maui showing some trees still standing while houses and vehicles have been burned, with people pointing to the pictures as "evidence" that the fires were deliberately set or that their real cause is being hidden from the public.

One post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, includes a video of the destruction and the message: "Everything is burnt but the trees, but don't point that out or you're a conspiracy theorist."

That post - which has been seen more than 24 million times - has been challenged by X's Community Notes feature, where users add context and facts around viral content.

Dr Rory Hadden, senior lecturer and expert in fire investigations at the University of Edinburgh, told BBC Verify that it is common for trees to remain standing even after severe wildfires because "burning through a large piece of wood takes a long time", "thick pieces of wood are usually not able to sustain burning on their own" and "the high moisture content of trees will also make them hard to burn".

Some plants, known as pyrophytes, have also adapted to survive wildfires due to thermal insulation or other means.
'Elite land grab'

Alongside the "directed energy weapon" rumours, speculation spread in viral posts that some of the island's rich inhabitants and second-home owners deliberately started the wildfires to grab valuable land in Lahaina.

One viral video includes claims by a podcaster that native landowners in Maui have refused to sell land to investment management companies and rich locals. He notes the false "directed energy weapon" rumours before going on to speculate that there might be something to them because news outlets have called the rumours "conspiracy theories".

Another viral thread was seen 10 million times on an X account that frequently spreads false information debunked by Community Notes. It includes a list of wealthy people who purportedly own property on Maui, a video including aerial footage of Lahaina, and claims that the pattern of destruction is suspicious.

The cause or causes of the fires on Maui are still unknown, but no real evidence has emerged to suggest they were deliberately started as part of a land grab.

X had not responded to a request for comment as of Monday (14 August).

SMITH'S UCP IS ANTI GREEN ENERGY

Peace River solar farm delayed due to moratorium

Local Journalism Initiative
Wed, August 16, 2023 at 11:20 a.m. MDT·3 min read

An Alberta government six-month moratorium on solar and wind energy projects has put a proposed Peace River project at a standstill.

Peace Energy Renewable Energy Cooperative (PEC) was days away from final approval for its cooperatively owned Peace River Energy Project (PREP) solar farm project that was planned near Peace River, AB. PEC executive director Don Pettit says the Premier Danielle Smith’s decision has put their $11 million solar farm project on hold, a project they have been preparing for three years and one that provides share offering to its members and investors.

“This was a very unexpected shock, of course,” says Pettit. “After three years of detailed studies and approvals, it is hard to understand their rationale for putting up more roadblocks for such a beneficial clean energy project. Locally financed and operated, this solar facility will provide jobs and profits that will stay local while feeding green power into the local grid.”

The Province’s decision will put all new projects over one megawatt that were planned on the backburner, a movement that will pose a threat to the livelihood of thousands of Albertans working in alternate energy.

The PREP project is poised to be one of Western Canada’s first cooperatively owned and operated solar farms.

Smith announced the decision stating the government’s concerns include requirements for mandatory site reclamation requirements and the use of agricultural land for solar farms. Pettit says reclamation concerns for a solar farm are non-existent and that there are no after-life clean up issues.

“Because the solar resource cannot be used up, there may be no clean up at all,” he says, noting that much of the equipment will last for decades before requiring replacement.

“The equipment will simply be upgraded to harvest the sun’s energy more efficiently. The project can generate solar at this same location for generations.

“And besides, we have already provided our mandatory clean up plan, just like all the other solar projects.”

In addition, Pettit says the concern of agricultural land being taken out of production for solar energy is simply untrue. He says using the principles of “agrivoltaics” the PREP farm would increase the agricultural productivity of the land on which it is located, not decrease it.

“Native grasses, using sheep for vegetation control and other measures were all in place,” says Pettit.

“There are no issues that the studies we have already completed do not address. “

Alberta has been experiencing quick growth in solar and wind projects in recent years, many of which were waiting for Alberta Utilities Commission’s approval, but now have been put on the backburner until February of next year. Pettit cites information from the Business Renewable Centre, saying Alberta was on track to see $3.7 billion of renewable projects constructed by the end of this year. These projects would have created 4,500 jobs.

“The six-month pause recently announced will put a hold on all of these projects and may jeopardize the financial viability of many,” says Pettit. “This is bad for business, bad for the environment, and bad for rate payers since solar is now the cheapest energy ever.”

Pettit says PEC’s plans for the solar farm will still be executed, just with a project delay due to the recent decision.

“As far as we are concerned, our community-owned solar farm project is still a go,” says Pettit.

“There are several steps we can take to keep PREP moving forward, and we are going to take those steps, hoping that the Alberta government can figure out how to handle Alberta’s renewable energy boom. We can only hope they do so soon, very soon.”

Emily Plihal Local Journalism Initiative Reporter - South Peace News - southpeacenews.com

Emily Plihal, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, South Peace News

Protesters march through Miami to object to Florida's Black history teaching standards


The Canadian Press
Wed, August 16, 2023 

MIAMI (AP) — Dozens of teachers, students and activists marched to a Miami school district headquarters Wednesday to protest Florida’s new standards for teaching Black history, which have come under intense criticism for what they say about slavery.

The protesters who marched to the School Board of Miami-Dade County objected to new curriculum standards that, among other things, require teachers to instruct middle school students that enslaved people “developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is seeking the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, has repeatedly defended the new language while insisting that his critics, including Vice President Kamala Harris and two leading Black Republicans in Congress, are intentionally misinterpreting one line of the sweeping curriculum.

“These new state standards that DeSantis has come up with will not be tolerated in our schools. We will not let our children be taught that slaves benefited from their slavery. That’s a lie,” said march organizer Marvin Dunn, a professor emeritus of psychology at Florida International University.

About 50 protesters who started the 1-mile (1.6-kilometer) trek from Booker T. Washington Senior High School in Miami’s historically Black Overtown neighborhood chanted, “What do we want? Truth. When do we want it? Now. What if we don’t get it? Shut it down!”

They were greeted by another 50 protesters at the school board building, where they planned to urge board members to reject the new state standards and refuse to teach the new curriculum.

Harris, the nation’s first Black vice president, traveled to Florida last month to condemn the curriculum. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who is the chamber’s sole Black Republican and is also seeking the White House, issued a direct rebuke of DeSantis.

Critics said the new school standards are the latest in a series of attacks on Black history by the governor’s administration. At the beginning of the year, DeSantis’ administration blocked a new Advanced Placement course on African American studies from being taught in high schools, saying it was contrary to state law.

DeSantis also has pushed through the “ Stop WOKE Act,” a law that limits discussions on race in schools and by corporations, and banned state universities from using state or federal money for diversity programs.

David Fischer, The Associated Press

Quebec energy minister insists province must reduce reliance on cars to meet GHG objectives

CBC
Wed, August 16, 2023

Quebec Economy, Innovation and Energy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon said on Monday that Quebec must halve the number of cars. He echoed those comments Wednesday. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press - image credit)

Quebec has to drastically reduce the number of vehicles on the road in order to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, according to the province's minister of the economy, innovation and energy.

Pierre Fitzgibbon made the statement to journalists as he headed into a cabinet meeting in Quebec City. He was echoing statements he made Monday, when he suggested that Quebec would need to halve the number of vehicles in order to meet its greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets.

As energy minister, Fitzgibbon is responsible for Hydro-Québec and right now, the public utility is trying to plan for higher demand for electricity from industry and consumers, as more switch from fossil fuels to hydro-electric power.

With no more large-scale dams in the works, Hydro is looking at alternative forms of power, from wind and solar to even, possibly, rebooting a mothballed nuclear plant.

But Fitzgibbon says Quebecers need to more than just switch — they need to reduce their energy consumption.

"It's a matter of being consistent and if we want to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, consumer habits need to change significantly," he said.

However, no official car reduction target had been decided by the government, he added.

"I know that Pierre has read a lot of environmental reports this summer," said Premier François Legault, when reporters asked him if Fitzgibbon, whose background is in the business world, had suddenly developed a green streak.

"There are environmentalists proposing to halve the number of cars. Our approach is really to move toward electric cars."

What's most important is making electric cars available, and in large cities, ensuring there's more public transportation, the premier said.

"But we have to understand that Quebec is large, and in regions, population density doesn't allow us to have public transit everywhere, so we still need to be realistic," he said.

Leagault said he is aiming for an incentive-based rather than coercive strategy.

Currently, there are more than six million passenger vehicles operating in Quebec, including around 170,000 electric automobiles, according to data from the Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) as of the end of last year.

Fitzgibbon expressed satisfaction with the reaction to his Monday comments, despite the concerns raised, notably by automobile dealerships. He stressed that people need to accept the necessity of changing our habits.

"If we want to be carbon neutral, we need to be consistent," he said, but the government will never restrict the number of cars one person can own.

"But those who have a social discourse, who want to allow the planet to be free from GHGs by 2050, they will have to understand that there will be changes."

The minister of the environment and the fight against climate change, Benoit Charette, showed support for Fitzgibbon, but suggested he had used a metaphor when it comes to halving the automobile fleet.

"We need to offer additional solutions, and that's what we're currently doing," said Charette, making note of the recent inauguration of the Réseau express métropolitain (REM), Montreal's new light-rail network.

Other projects are ongoing, such as lengthening the Blue line in Montreal, he said, "but there was never any talk of halving the automobile fleet."

Oceanographers say warming waters in the Gulf of St. Lawrence affecting animal life

The Canadian Press
Thu, August 17, 2023 



MONTREAL — From great white sharks around Quebec's Îles-de-la-Madeleine to lobsters conquering new territory, oceanographers say the warming of the Gulf of St. Lawrence is having an impact on the creatures that live in its unique ecosystem.

Data from Fisheries and Oceans Canada show that deepwater temperatures have been increasing overall in the gulf since 2009. In 2022, gulf-wide average temperatures hit new record highs at depths of 150 to 300 metres, and passed the threshold of 7 C at 300 metres for the first time. Average monthly temperatures at the sea surface also set new records in August and September, the data showed.

The news is worrisome to oceanographers, who say they're already seeing the impact of the warming water on different species in the gulf, which touches five provinces at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River.

Philippe Archambault, a professor of oceanography at Université Laval, says that while ecosystem changes are a normal part of nature, the speed of change is striking.

"If we're talking about life in the ecosystem, it doesn't have time to adapt, to reposition itself into new balance, a new method," he said in a phone interview. "Everything is too fast."

Archambault said that while humans can adapt to their environment by building or modifying a house, animals can only move in search of environments where they can thrive.

He said there are signs that some of those changes are happening already, pointing to an increase in sightings of great white sharks in parts of the gulf, and of lobsters expanding from their traditional range around Anticosti Island and the Gaspé Peninsula into new places that might have been too cold a decade earlier.

Stéphane Plourde, a research scientist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, says there are both "winners and losers" when it comes to warming temperatures.

He says that, in general, cold water species such as northern shrimp are struggling, while there are signs of an increased presence of species that prefer warmer waters.

"There are indications that show that, indeed, the warming can encourage the presence of predators such as bluefin tuna or white shark in the Gulf of St. Lawrence," he said, adding that the increases could also be due to greater population numbers as a whole.

He said it's still too early to know what impact the temperature changes could have on larger mammals, such as whales. He said that because mammals are less directly affected by temperature, the immediate impact is more likely to be behavioural, such as changing feeding areas in response to prey shifts. That phenomenon has recently been observed among endangered North Atlantic right whales, which seem to be increasingly coming into the Gulf of St. Lawrence to search for food.

He said the cumulative effects of the changes experienced by whales — which are hard to study because they move so much — may only become clear down the line.

Plourde said the species that appear to be most affected are tiny organisms, such as krill and plankton, which are just as important because they form the base of the food chain. Scientists are already noting gradual shifts in the presence of different species and timing of population peaks, which Plourde said could eventually have a cascade effect on all the species that depend on them.

Mathilde Jutras, a McGill University PhD candidate in oceanography who studies temperature changes, said the warming in the Gulf of St. Lawrence has been more dramatic than some open ocean areas, in part because of its unique mix of currents.

She said in recent years there has been an increase in the amount of water from the warming Gulf Stream current and a decrease coming from the colder Labrador current.

"Because it's located at the intersection of the Gulf Stream and of the Labrador current, it's very sensitive to what is happening in those currents," she said. "It's kind of like the canary in the coal mine of the changes that we're seeing in the North Atlantic Ocean."

At the same time, she said there has been an increase in deep water areas with low oxygen, making it harder for species to thrive.

On the surface, she says there's been less sea ice, which could mean more mixing of the gulf's different water layers during storms.

All three say more study is needed to learn about how the confluence of different changes will ultimately affect life in the gulf.

Archambault says there's a risk that the ecosystem reaches a "tipping" point brought on by the combination of different stressors, including warming temperatures, acidification, increasing ship traffic and winter storms. He said that while scientists have a tendency to study phenomena individually, they need to look at how they might combine.

"All these stressors seem to be increasing, in general. And what is their interaction?" he asked. "That's what we're trying to understand."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 17, 2023.

Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press

Steven Guilbeault to become first cabinet minister to visit China since 2018

The Canadian Press
Wed, August 16, 2023 



OTTAWA — Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault will travel to China on a diplomatic mission later this month, even as politicians in Ottawa continue to negotiate a public inquiry into alleged foreign interference.

Guilbeault will be in Beijing from Aug. 26 to 31 in what will be the first official visit of a Canadian cabinet minister to China since 2018.

A spokesperson for Guilbeault says the world is faced with the "triple crisis" of climate change, pollution and biodiversity, which can only be handled through urgent international co-operation.

His office said the minister will attend a meeting of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development while in Beijing.

Guilbeault's office noted that he and his Chinese counterpart, Huang Runqiu, strengthened their ties when their countries co-hosted the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal in December.

Despite that example of co-operation, relations between the two countries have been tense ever since the 2018 arrest of Chinese tech executive Meng Wanzhou, which led to a legal dispute with foreign-policy implications that still reverberate.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 16, 2023.

The Canadian Press