London luxury gyms in crisis as Equinox plunges to £18 million loss

Simon Hunt
Fri, 25 August 2023

Kensington Equinox

There are growing signs London’s luxury fitness market is in crisis after high-end gym club Equinox posted an £18 million loss and warned on its future in the UK.

The firm, which has three sites in Kensington, Bishopsgate and St James’s and is popular with celebrities such as Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Khloe Kardashian, warned that there was ‘material uncertainty’ as to its status as a going concern and it was reliant on funds from its larger US parent to continue trading.

Equinox, which charges as much as £350 per month for a membership, turned over revenues of less than £15 million in 2022 as losses widened and it shed hundreds of members compared to pre-pandemic levels.


The firm’s plans to open a fourth site in Shoreditch, which it first announced in 2016, have never materialised, while a cycling studio group it owns, SoulCycle, was taken to court by Cadogan Estates earlier this year for failing to pay rent on a site in Chelsea which it never managed to open after three years. A Cadogan spokesperson yesterday told the Standard the firm reached a settlement with SoulCycle shortly before the court case was set to begin.

The Standard also found that:

Luxury gym club 1 Rebel, which has 11 sites including in Angel and St John’s Wood and charges up to £240 per month for a membership, warned in accounts filed in March it had millions of pounds of debt maturing this year that could bring down the company if it were not refinanced.


Another luxury gym, KX Life in Chelsea, warned in accounts filed in March its future was uncertain as it needed to find an extra £400,000 in funding before the end of 2023 or risk defaulting on loans owed to Metro Bank, after it posted a £2.7 million loss.


GymBox, which has sites in Bank and Farringdon and charges up to £153 for a monthly membership, in January said it had taken out a £2.5 million loan to finance operations after it made a loss of £8.8 million.


Body Machine, a high-end fitness studio set up in 2019 to serve the residents of Kensington, entered insolvency in September last year.

It comes as premium cycle machine firm Peloton saw its shares tank 22% yesterday after it posted a loss of $242 million as sales slipped.

The difficulties facing the luxury fitness market stand in stark contrast to more affordable gyms, which have seen their membership numbers creep up over the same period.

PureGym yesterday posted a 17% jump in sales and cheered membership growth in new gyms performing ahead of plan.

An analysis shared by PureGym suggested that as many as 40,000 members of premium UK gyms traded down to low-cost alternatives between 2022 and 2023. That would equate to a £100 million drop in trade for the luxury gym market, assuming an average membership fee of around £200.

One market analyst told the Standard: “People trade down from premium to low-cost memberships because the majority of activity that takes place in gyms is actually using the gym equipment.

“People in premium gyms who only use that equipment, who are subsidising say a swimming pool they don’t use, find that the low-cost clubs actually have more gym equipment, while the money saved from the high membership fee could be better spent on a personal trainer.”

P&O FIRED ALL THEIR WORKERS

P&O cruise ship carrying thousands of Brits 'crashes' off the coast of Mallorca

SCAB CRUISE LINES

Andrew Smart
Sun, 27 August 2023 

P&O cruise ship 'crashes' into oil tanker off the coast of Mallorca (Image: PA)

A P&O cruise ship carrying thousands of panicked Brits has apparently crashed off the coast of Mallorca in Spain.

The ship was said to have hurtled into an oil tanker after strong winds left those on board stranded.

It was reported that a storm "suddenly hit" the island, forcing the Britannia to anchor before the harrowing incident.


Passengers (including Brits) were told to assemble at the emergency points by the captain and crew after a loud bang was heard aboard, according to reports by the Mirror.

Bournemouth Echo: Mallorca has been battered by heavy wind and rain this weekend (PA)

Mallorca has been battered by heavy wind and rain this weekend (PA) (Image: PA)

Terrifying footage was shared of furniture being thrown about the ship as staff members attempted to maintain calm on the 140,000-tonne boat.
P&O ship hurtles into other vessel off the coast of Mallorca

One woman, who was on board the P&O cruise with her partner and two children said to WalesOnline: "We have now been told we’re allowed to leave our cabins but we can’t do anything on the ship and all the crew are in their life jackets and doing all of their emergency things. The side of the boat is battered."

She claimed: “We were docked overnight in Palma and the wind was so strong our anchors broke and we blew out into another ship.

"We were up browsing on our phones in bed and heard the big horn after the bang. It was panic stations, I was bawling my eyes out.

Bournemouth Echo: P&O Cruises has since responded to this incident (PA)

P&O Cruises has since responded to this incident (PA) (Image: PA)

"We went out onto our balcony and could see debris in the ocean and all the damage to the side of the boat and our lifeboat. The captain said: ‘Everyone to their muster stations, this is not a drill.’ Lots of people were running around looking panicked. Then they came around again and said everyone needs to get back to their cabins.

"We’re still none the wiser. I can’t see how they’ll be able to sail it again after this.”

This comes after the islands faced flight delays and cancellations over challenging weather.

A spokesperson for P&O Cruises said: “We are aware of an incident involving Britannia on Sunday morning while the ship was alongside in Palma de Mallorca. We are working to assess the situation. The captain is keeping all guests updated.”

P&O cruise ship with thousands of passengers onboard crashes into tanker

Holly Bancroft
Sun, 27 August 2023 

P&O cruise ship with thousands of passengers onboard crashes into tanker


A small number of people are injured after a P&O cruise ship that was carrying thousands of British holidaymakers crashed into a petrol tanker.

The ship broke free of its moorings during a storm in Mallorca, Spain and collided with a freight vessel.

Port authorities in the capital Palma said the ship collided with a petrol tanker because of high winds.


One passenger Gavin McCoy told the BBC that the incident happened while “the local fire service and crew were carrying out an emergency drill”.

He added: “A sudden rain and wind storm ripped us away from our dockside moorings, breaking tethering lines, water hoses, and causing the walkway to fall into the sea.”

He said he was sitting by the windown in the coffee shop when he saw “the blue dockside reception marquee tents blowing through the air”.

Another passenger told Wales Online: “We were docked overnight in Palma and the wind was so strong our anchors broke and we blew out into another ship.

“We were browsing our phones in bed and heard the big horn after the bang. It was panic stations, I was bawling my eyes out.”

A spokesperson for P&O Cruises said: “P&O cruises Britannia was involved in a weather-related incident while alongside in Palma de Mallorca. A small number of individuals sustained minor injuries and are being cared for by the onboard medical centre.”

A view shows a car passing through a flooded road in Mallorca, Spain, August 27, 2023, in this screen grab obtained from a social media video (@gozzo82 via X via REUTERS)

“To allow our technical teams to make an assessment Britannia will remain alongside in Palma de Mallorca tonight with onboard entertainment and activities scheduled.”

Britannia, which entered service in 2015, is 330 metres long and weights 143,000 tons, according to the company’s website. It has 13 guest decks and an operating capacity of 3,647 guests and 1,350 crew.

Torrential rain has lashed the islands of Mallorca, with the conditions leading the cancellation of over 20 flights.

UK

LABOUR EMBRACES AUSTERITY

Top economists pile pressure on SIR Keir Starmer to reverse Tory cuts


Jon Stone
Mon, 28 August 2023 at 1:28 am GMT-6·4-min read


Top economists have piled pressure on Keir Starmer to break with Tory spending plans amid anxiety over Labour's policy direction if it wins the next election.

In a letter seen by The Independent, 70 prominent academics say they are "concerned" at the party's programme for government and warn that failing to reverse cuts would "deepen the poverty and hardship many are already facing".

Labour last month said its fiscal rules might not allow it to reverse cuts like the two-child benefit limit or bedroom tax, between them responsible for putting hundreds of thousands of families in poverty.

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves also announced she would be scaling back the party's green investment plans, saying spending limits were "non-negotiable".

The latest warning comes after Jim O'Neill, a prominent economist who coined the term BRICs and who until recently was advising the shadow chancellor, called for "petty and arbitrary" fiscal rules to be scrapped.

In a sign of shifting feeling in the discipline, the former Goldman Sachs chief, an ex-Tory, wrote that parties needed to focus on increasing investment rather than trying to balance the books by restricting it.

The latest letter, authored by economists and social policy experts, urges the opposition to revisit the "legacy of the last Labour government", which they say was "achieved by increased spending on services like Sure Start and child benefit".

The letter’s authors include South Korean “rockstar” economist Professor Ha-Joon Chang, as well as Professors Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson, the authors of the influential book The Spirit Level, which informed speeches by Ed Miliband when he was Labour leader.

Other signatories of the letter include Professor Brendan Burchell, president of Magdalene College at the University of Cambridge, and Professor Ruth Lister CBE, a Labour peer and emeritus professor of social policy as Loughborough University.

"We, the undersigned, are concerned that your current economic programme for government will not transform the economic orthodoxy that has made this country poorer, less cohesive and more unequal than fifteen years ago," the letter says.

"The maintenance or extension of cuts in the current economic climate will only serve to deepen the poverty and hardship many are already facing.

"We believe it is the duty of an opposition to, where necessary, present an alternative vision for the future and when it comes to economics."

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has called for ‘iron’ fiscal discipline

 (Victoria Jones/PA) (PA Wire)

The economists urge the opposition to move away "from an out of date, economically and socially destructive approach towards a model which improves wellbeing, works in alignment with our environment, and achieves social justice".

They warn: “Failure to table an alternative will mean not only wasting that opportunity but many lives and futures as well."

Asked to respond to the letter, a Labour spokesperson told The Independent the party would have to make “tough choices”.

Ms Pickett said: “We need our next government to have a clear vision to protect and promote the wellbeing of both people and planet. New economic models, based on social rights, are there to underpin an attractive and feasible future for the UK.”

The letter says reversing benefit cuts and raising spending on public services would not just help reduce poverty, but also on the wider economy, providing "a sturdy backbone to household finances" that would in turn stimulate growth – which has been at the core of Labour's rhetoric.

The opposition has said that day-to-day spending will be completely covered by taxes and that the party will “get debt as a share of our economy falling by the end of the next parliament”.

Koldo Casla, director of the Human Rights Centre Clinic, and co-author of the letter, said: “In the face of global warming, harmful inequalities and rampant inflation, more than an opportunity, Labour has the historic responsibility of presenting a transformational alternative grounded on social rights."

Labour has said it may not reverse major Tory benefit cuts (EPA)

She said the party should enshrine social rights like housing and health in law to "set a roadmap for public policy" and that these should inform its spending decisions.

Jennifer Nadel, co-director of the think-tank Compassion in Politics, which organised the letter, told The Independent: “Now is a unique opportunity for change. The public have seen through austerity. An election is on the horizon. Labour - and indeed every party’s - mission must be to show bravery and ambition in articulating a new and better vision for the future of the economy and our country.”

Responding to the letter, a Labour Party spokesperson said: “With Keir Starmer’s leadership, Labour has transformed into a party ready to govern for the whole country.

“The Tories crashed the economy, saddling working people with a Tory mortgage bombshell and less money in their pockets. This means an incoming Labour government would have to make tough choices.

“We will put a serious, credible and ambitious policy programme to the country, for a mission-driven Labour government that will build a better Britain. That includes growing a strong economy by strengthening workers’ rights and making work pay, underpinned by fiscal responsibility.”

RED TORIES
Business interest in Labour conference soars, party says

Sophie Wingate, PA Political Correspondent
Sat, 26 August 2023 

Labour has attracted a surge of interest from business at its annual conference in October, as shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves ruled out any version of a wealth tax under a Labour government.

The Opposition, which continues to ride high in the polls, said its latest figures show the number of attendees at its business forum has risen by 50% in a year.

It is described as the “flagship engagement event for business” at the four-day gathering in Liverpool.


The website for the event states there are no more tickets available, and Labour said on top of the 200 people already signed up, a further 150 are on the waiting list.

Labour said the increased corporate presence demonstrates it is now the “party of economic growth”.

Sir Keir Starmer is expected to use this year’s conference to set out how a government led by him will revive a sluggish economy, with planning reforms central to the party’s bid to build its way back to economic growth.

The Labour leader, who is stepping up his efforts to woo business chiefs ahead of a likely general election next year, has indicated income tax for top earners will not be raised if his party forms the next government.

Ms Reeves confirmed the tax hike is off the table, as is a levy to target wealth or expensive properties and an increase in capital gains tax.

In an interview with The Telegraph, the shadow chancellor said: “I don’t see a route towards having more money for public services that is through taxing our way there.

“It is going to be through growing our way there. And that’s why the policies that we’ve set out are all about how we can encourage businesses, big and small, to invest in Britain.”

 Ms Reeves and Sir Keir Starmer will fire the starting gun on their general election campaign at October’s Labour conference 

(Stefan Rousseau/PA)

She also told the newspaper her preparations for office include “spending an awful lot of time with businesses”.

Party donations are increasingly coming from businesses, and Labour said it expects to make up to half a million pounds from business sponsorship this year, up from £200,000 in 2022.

A spokesperson for the Labour Party said: “With Keir’s leadership, the Labour Party is once again the party of economic growth.

“At this year’s conference, we will be setting out how a mission-driven Labour government will deliver economic growth across all parts of the country and give Britain its future back.”

It will also be the first Labour conference to feature a half-day event for small and medium-sized firms to discuss Labour’s plans to reboot the economy.

The Labour Party conference will take place on October 8-11, following the Conservatives’ conference to be held in Manchester on October 1-4.

‘It’s over’: World Cup kiss becomes Spanish football’s #MeToo moment


Ashifa Kassam European community affairs correspondent
Sun, 27 August 2023

Photograph: Quality Sport Images/Getty Images

When Jenni Hermoso arrived in the stands, the standing ovation was thundering. On the field below, Atlético de Madrid and AC Milan were battling it out for the Women’s Cup, but the message – scrawled on posters, temporary tattoos and a metres-long banner unfurled by the players – was unanimous at the stadium in Madrid on Saturday night: “We’re with you, Jenni Hermoso.”

It was a hint of how the tumultuous events of the past week since La Roja’s dazzling World Cup win have supercharged the long-running battle for equality in women’s football. As the hashtag #SeAcabó, meaning “it’s over”, was embraced from Sevilla to Santander, it was clear that Spanish football’s #MeToo moment had arrived.

After years of pushing for change, Spain’s players were eager to seize on the momentum. “Grandma, tell me about how your team won the World Cup,” read an illustration posted on social media by La Roja’s Misa Rodríguez on Friday. The grandmother answers: “We didn’t just win the World Cup, little one. We won so much more.”

Hours earlier, Luis Rubiales, the embattled head of the Spanish football federation, had lashed out at “fake feminism” and bemoaned what he called a “social assassination” in the reaction to his grabbing Hermoso by the head and kissing her on the lips during the medal ceremony at the World Cup. On Saturday, Fifa suspended Rubiales for 90 days, ordering both him and the federation to stay away from Hermoso and those close to her.

The backlash against Rubiales’ conduct was swift. The World Cup champions said they would not play for the national team until the federation’s leadership was removed. More than 50 other female players said the same. On Saturday, nearly all of the coaching and technical staff for Spain’s women’s team resigned, joining the seven members of the Spanish football federation who reportedly responded to Rubiales’ speech with their resignation.

“In six days, feminism swept Rubiales away,” the El País journalist Isabel Valdés wrote on social media. “In six days #SeAcabó has replaced the kiss that Hermoso never consented to.”

Condemnations of Rubiales’ behaviour cut across political lines. The country’s acting prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, called the kiss an “unacceptable gesture”, while the country’s acting equality minister, Podemos’s Irene Montero, described it as a “form of sexual violence that we women suffer on a daily basis and until now has been invisible”.

The conservative People’s party, criticised by women’s groups for allowing the anti-feminist far right to gain a foothold in local and regional governments across Spain, also weighed in.

Related: A revolution 40 years in the making: how the Spanish women’s team fought back

“Spaniards don’t deserve this,” the party’s Cuca Gamarra told broadcaster Antena 3. “It’s a global embarrassment for the whole country and is tarnishing the incredible victory of a group of women who should be the only protagonists.”

Across Spain, many sought to broaden the conversation. No longer was this only the story of a team that had long wrestled with the perception that the federation saw them as less worthy than their male counterparts; what had played out on the world stage was a power imbalance that hit home for many.

“To all the guys who are stunned by the reaction against Rubiales; it’s because this has happened to all of us,” the journalist Irantzu Varela wrote on social media. “With our boss, with our client, with our teacher, with our friend, with a stranger, with you?”

Rubiales initially dismissed his critics as “idiots and stupid people” and later offered an apology that was widely seen as half-hearted. As the uproar continued, he changed tack on Friday and sought to portray the kiss as consensual, claiming that he had asked Hermoso if he could give her a peck and that she had replied “OK.”

Hermoso rejected any suggestion that the kiss was consensual. She described Rubiales’ words as “categorically false” and said the “conversation did not happen”.

Rubiales offered up the claim as he insisted he would stay on as president of the federation. “I will not resign,” he said repeatedly, his defiance earning hearty applause among the federation members in attendance, including Jorge Vilda, the coach of the Spanish women’s national team, and the men’s national team coach, Luis de la Fuente.

Natalia Torrente, the editor of sports website Relevo, said the reaction from the federation – which counts just six women among its 140 members – to Rubiales’ refusal to resign offered a glimpse of the deep-rooted systemic issues that female players have long faced.

“Five times he shouted it, clinging a little tighter to his position in each sentence, and shattering what little dignity he had left as an institutional representative,” she said in a piece that described Rubiales as a “global embarrassment”.

On Saturday, both Vilda and de la Fuente sought to distance themselves from Rubiales, issuing statements criticising his actions. Spanish media described their U-turns as a sign that Rubiales was becoming increasingly isolated from those who had long protected him. The country’s most powerful football clubs, from Real Madrid to Barcelona, have also condemned Rubiales’ behaviour.

On Sunday, as the Spanish government promised to continue its efforts to have Rubiales removed from the federation, women across the country called for the battle to continue.

“Despite Rubiales’ attempts to gaslight all of the women in this country, let’s show that we’re a society that refuses to take a step backwards,” Patricia Moreno wrote in Vogue España. “Our World Cup champions will thus have achieved something even more historic than a sporting title: the fall of a man who believed he was invincible.”

MACHISMO KULTURE

We asked people in Madrid what they thought of World Cup kiss row - their response was 'eye-opening'

Sky News
Updated Mon, 28 August 2023


The fallout from that kiss at the World Cup winning ceremony has overshadowed Spain's win and sparked a national debate.

The story has been hugely inflamed by the subsequent behaviour of Luis Rubiales, the man who planted the unwanted kiss and the recently suspended boss of Spanish football.

He's declared himself the victim of a witch hunt and Spain's FA threatened the player he kissed, Jenni Hermoso, with legal action for declaring the act non-consensual.


In Madrid, many people we spoke to think Mr Rubiales does not deserve the backlash he's received.

In Plaza de Santa Ana, a busy square in the city centre where locals and visitors enjoy early evening drinks, a group of young women did not want to be identified and were reluctant to speak up on the story.

However they said the response to Mr Rubiales and the kiss has been overblown.

We approached another larger group of men and women and we found a similar opinion among them.

Read more:
Who is Luis Rubiales?
Who said what in World Cup kissing row
Spanish FA calls 'extraordinary' meeting

Maria Gomez was among the group. She told me: "It is not appropriate that he [Rubiales] has done this, but as for the reaction, it does not seem to me, that the situation is that bad."

Her 14-year-old son Alexander Herranz agrees. He thinks Rubiales should face some form of sanction but shouldn't have to resign.

Their friend Vali Popa added: "I think it was exaggerated. It was just a moment of happiness and to celebrate it was nothing more than that."

The only dissenting voice at the table was Astrid Guerra. When I asked her whether Rubiales should go, she gave me a one word answer: "Completely".

By no means is my relatively brief spell in Plaza de Santa Ana a reliable representation of the sentiment of the Spanish people - and clearly there are many differing opinions - but it was eye-opening.

Clearly this is a divisive story and wherever it goes, people won't be able to agree on what was the right action to take.

UEFA rejects Spanish expulsion plea as Luis Rubiales crisis takes bizarre new twist

Miguel Delaney
Mon, Aug 28, 2023

UEFA will take no action over an astonishing request by the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) to be expelled over the Luis Rubiales crisis, as the federation president now faces an investigation from Spanish prosecutors for sexual assault.

In other developments of a story that even UEFA officials were describing as “absurd” and “stranger by the moment”, Rubiales’s mother Angeles Bejar locked herself in a church to go on hunger strike, before police and doctors eventually intervened. Such details have stunned even the most experienced people in football, but it is the request to the European body that is being seen as the most significant, given it sums up how surreal the story has become.

With Rubiales facing a series of official complaints and a government process that could yet see him banned from sport in Spain for two to 15 years – to go with his current 90-day suspension from Fifa – the federation sent a request to Uefa to be expelled for breaking UEFA's own statutes on state interference. Expulsion would see clubs including Real Madrid and Barcelona kicked out of European competitions such as the Champions League.

The move has been interpreted as “bluster” and “brinkmanship” by the federation in order to support Rubiales, but it would still involve all of Spain’s club and national teams being removed from competition, depriving them of income and – in the words of one party – “setting Spanish football back years”. The Independent has been told that Uefa will not take action and that the government’s involvement does not meet the criteria for state interference.

Spain’s players and coaches celebrate their World Cup win – as Luis Rubiales (second left) joins in (Getty)

Victor Francos, the president of Spain’s Higher Council for Sport who has become a central figure in this situation, stated on Monday that all of the relevant bodies are “acting within the regulations as they stand”. Rubiales being punished according to regulations and rules is different to the government just ousting him, which it cannot do, although it has created an almost Kafkaesque circus over what remains a serious issue.

Underpinning it all has been the Spanish government’s willingness to act on issues of equality and sexual harassment.

The country’s prosecutor’s office will ask World Cup winner Jenni Hermoso if she wishes to press charges against Rubialies after she stated that their kiss on the lips following Spain’s 1-0 win over England eight days ago was not consensual. It was that statement which led Rubiales’s mother to go on hunger strike in a church in his home town in Montril, demanding that Hermoso “tell the truth” about the incident. There have also been public accusations from one of Rubiales’s cousins that the Spanish midfielder changed her story – something that did not happen. All of this comes amid FIFA's directive that Rubiales not contact Hermoso or her family.

Spain’s Administrative Court of Sport (TAD) has meanwhile been meeting all Monday to examine four complaints against Rubiales. Should it decide to open proceedings, it could mean the official is suspended for even longer than Fifa's 90-day provisional punishment.

In that event, the Spanish government has confirmed it would take action.

“If the court upholds the complaint and begins to process that case, we can request the provisional suspension of the president of the RFEF until TAD finishes analysing it and takes their decision,” sports minister Miquel Iceta said on Friday.

Also on Monday morning, the Spanish player’s union Futpro – representing Jenni Hermoso – further clarified Hermoso’s stance while describing a “structural problem” in the Spanish federation. In a video statement prior to meeting with union officials, Yolanda Diaz, deputy prime minister in the acting Socialist government, said that Rubiales’s defiance and the support from some federation members showed that macho behaviour was systematic in Spanish society.

“What footballer Jenni Hermoso experienced should never have happened,” Ms Diaz said. “Those who applauded Rubiales [at the assembly], in my opinion, should not continue in their positions.”

While Rubiales’s position as vice-president of Uefa has itself led to criticism of the European body for a lack of comment, Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin has been in constant contact with Fifa. The position is that since the events fall under the disciplinary jurisdiction of Fifa – because the World Cup was a Fifa event – it was agreed that Fifa’s disciplinary bodies would handle the case, something Uefa does not feel it should comment on.

The global football representative body FifPro is meanwhile yet to receive an official response from Uefa to a letter sent on Friday requesting disciplinary action against Rubiales.

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/08/coaching-is-abuse-jenni-hermoso-says-in.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/08/when-is-kiss-not-kiss-spain-womens.html

How green spaces can keep urban cities cool in a warming world


Nathan Howes
Sun, August 27, 2023


With the frequency of extreme weather events such as heat domes, finding ways to keep communities cool has never been more important.

Communities are increasingly turning to nature-based solutions such as drought-tolerant gardens, which have become popular in an effort to create cooling, sustainable landscapes that require minimal water. Earlier this year, Metro Vancouver released a list of more than 300 tree species that have been assessed for their suitability to the current and projected future climate in the region.

DON'T MISS: Droughts can be tough reminders of importance of water conservation

"When we incorporate development, what often happens is we remove canopy cover. When we remove canopy cover, we increase the urban heat-island (UHI) effect. So we make it so that the spaces aren't necessarily as nice," said Andrew Almas, assistant professor of teaching in the faculty of forestry at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and urban forestry expert, in a recent interview with Mia Gordon, video journalist at The Weather Network.

"Essentially, what we do is, when we push those boundaries we stress out the trees. When we have young trees [and] young plants, they're going to have less access to water anyway because their root systems aren't as robust."

Green space/Getty Images- 8621606

Canopy important to reduce heating of cities

As buildings, roads and other infrastructure absorb heat, temperatures around them can be several degrees hotter compared to outlying regions, Almas said in a news release.

Providing plenty of shade and drought resistance in landscaping plans to offset the scorching heat and resulting water shortages is "crucial," he said.

"We care about the well-being of people, and in cities, we have all kinds of clamouring for how [the] space is used," said Almas, in the interview with The Weather Network. "When we look at all the various goals that people have about how space is used, we see development happening all across Metro Vancouver."


With B.C.'s current drought and heat, many residents have seen their lawns "sort of browning" and not being able to retain the water as usual, he said.

"They're not providing as much in terms of water sequestration for the other plants that are around. We have to think about,'well, what plants are we going to have in place that are going to retain the water?" said Almas. "How can we get some sort of symbiotic relationship between the plants that we've planted?"

SEE ALSO: No reprieve in sight for B.C.'s prolonged drought and wildfires

In a recent interview with The Weather Network, John Richardson, a UBC freshwater scientist and professor in the faculty of forestry, echoed Almas' message about the roles our green spaces provide and said they are important allies to maintain cooler conditions within cities.

He noted that a street with tree cover can often be two to four degrees cooler than areas without it, and sometimes even more.

"We know the heat islands that are created by cities can be really devastating for many, many populations," said Richardson. "Having tree cover can really reduce the requirement for people to have air conditioning or other uses that might require water."

Student green space/Submitted (UBC faculty of forestry/Paulo Ramos)

"It's unfortunate when governments start to think about just removing that [tree cover] to build more houses. I know we have a housing crisis, but that may not be the solution."
Factoring in tree types in green spaces that can survive weather extremes

As an example of what types of trees may be most suitable for green spaces that can offset temperature extremes, Metro Vancouver released a list of more than 300 tree species that have been assessed for their suitability to the current and projected future climate in the region.

"Alarmingly, a lot of the native species are in that last year where, really, we should just be planting them in these areas that always have access to water. For instance, the western red cedar," said Almas.

When considering species that will be shade-tolerant, some that come to mind are the Oregon grape or holly-leaved barberry, snowberry, Douglas fir and maple trees, Almas said.

"And if we look at, for instance, the Interior of British Columbia, it can give us sort of a good analogue, as well," said Almas. "If we want wildflowers, let's go and look at [the Interior] because it has slightly more drought than we do here."

Green space

He noted that optimal species will vary by region because of different types of extremes experienced during the four seasons.

"In a problematic way, we start to get into species that have a lot of tolerance for a lot of stressors. This is the way we plant in cities anyway because there are so many added stressors to the environment," said Almas. "We select species that are fairly resilient in most stressful situations."

When contemplating water intake with any green space, you have to consider trees that are going to be more drought-resistant, Almas said.

"We turn up the stress on trees" with the increase in hotter and drier summers.
WATCH: Dishwasher or sink? Tips for conserving water during widespread B.C. drought

Click here to view the video

"When we have year-after-year of those stresses, we start to see that some of the more vulnerable trees and plants are dying off," said Almas.

"First and foremost," Almas said, mature trees need to be maintained wherever possible. When new trees are planted, those will also need to be watered.

SEE ALSO: Green spaces often neglect this key demographic: UBC study

Not only will a green space do wonders for cooling the surrounding area, it will also benefit people's health, both physical and mental.

"We've seen for a long time...this idea that being around greenery, hearing the sounds, being in the shade [and] having it a little cooler is good for our mental health, and our well-being. So we want to have these spaces," said Almas.

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It's 'key' for residents to manage local greenery

The UBC assistant professor stressed that if we want to incorporate more of the green spaces, we need to be "intentional" in how we will maintain them during the planning process.

"We can either not maintain them at all and then people don't use them, or when we maintain them, we need to think about what are the species that are going to do well into the future because we also don't want to be removing a whole bunch of dead trees," said Almas. "This is sort of the balance that we strike."

Almas added it's key to have residents involved in managing the greenery in municipalities.

"When municipalities are planting a new tree in front of your house, even though it's a municipal tree, we want residents to be watering that," said Almas. "We want residents to be the stewards of the greenery in their particular neighbourhood. When people feel attachment to the greenery, they're less likely to dispose of it easily."
WATCH: Green space plans are failing to include this important age group

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English CEGEPs starting to feel the weight of French-language law reform in Quebec


CBC
Mon, August 28, 2023

John Halpin, director general of John Abbott College, says it has been difficult to prepare for this school year, and there is still uncertainty ahead.

As 145,000 students trickle back into Quebec CEGEPs, John Halpin, director general of John Abbott College in Montreal's West Island, says "our employees are exhausted."

That's because this year is like none other due to the significant changes brought on by the province's new Law 14, stemming from Bill 96, which was passed by the Legault government in May 2022 to protect the French language.

The more significant changes won't come until 2024, but preparations are already underway to begin capping enrolment numbers, prioritizing English-eligible students and offering classes in French.

Already, school administrations are searching for ways to prepare certain students — those who don't have English eligibility — to not only pass those classes in French but also pass a newly mandated French-language exam.

Vanier College spokesperson Isabelle Moncion said the law essentially requires that English-language CEGEPs split students into two categories: Those with English eligibility and those without it.

"Previously, once a student was admitted, their academic path was defined by their program and their own success. Now, language proficiency is a factor," she said.

New French-language study requirements

By 2024, students attending English CEGEP will be required to take five courses in French.

For those with English eligibility, those can be French-as-a-second-language courses or their regular classes in French. For those without eligibility, it has to be a mix of French as a second language and regular classes in French.

English eligibility is largely determined by family history. For example, a student is eligible to study in English if one of their parents is a Canadian citizen who studied in English in Canada, as laid out in Bill 101.

Ineligible students who attend English CEGEPs must also pass an exam in French called Épreuves uniformes en langue d'enseignement et littérature (ÉULEL) to graduate. This is the same exam students in the French CEGEPs are required to pass.

To ensure students are able to take all the required courses in French and prepare for the exam, "we have doubled all our program grids, which was logistically and administratively challenging," said Christian Corno of Marianopolis College in Westmount, Que.

Isabelle Moncion, spokesperson for Vanier College, says academic paths were once defined by a students' own success, but now language proficiency is a factor.

Officials from several CEGEPs have told Radio-Canada that they have prepared additional measures to support students who are weaker in French, ensuring they can pass their classes and the mandatory examination.

While that may seem simple on paper, it has had a significant impact on school organization, schedules, facilities and teaching teams, said Moncion.

Rushing to get ready

French teachers have worked tirelessly in recent months to develop the new courses that will help students pass the uniform French examination, said Diane Gauvin, Dawson College's director general.

But despite that extra preparation, Corno said there is still an experimental aspect to all of this.

"This is the most significant reform we've endured in 30 years, and I choose my words carefully," he said. "I don't think we've fully measured all the effects yet."

All the institution directors contacted by Radio-Canada agree that the past year required a monumental effort to comply with the new rules set by the Legault government.

"It has been stressful, frustrating. At times, we were exasperated. But we didn't give up because the alternative was to fall apart, and we couldn't allow that," said Don Shewan, director of Champlain College in Saint-Lambert.

Christian Corno, director general of Marianopolis College in Westmount, Que., says new new law is creating significant challenges.

Law 14 imposes several restrictions on admissions. For example, English CEGEPs are expected to prioritize English-eligible applicants.

However, the government has been slow to clarify these restrictions, and so little has changed so far. Students were accepted last spring as usual, with no effort to reach linguistic requirements.

Capping enrolment at English CEGEPs

The law also puts a cap on the number of students allowed to attend English CEGEPs. There are financial penalties for exceeding the quota.

This quota cannot increase and must not exceed 17.5 per cent of the total number of students in the entire college network.

For now, the Ministry of Higher Education has decided to maintain the current enrolments. But officials are worried about what this means for the future.

Minister of Higher Education Pascale Déry says protecting the French language is the priority.

Corno said that the admissions cap, coupled with the prioritization of English eligible students, will mean the number of francophone and allophones attending English CEGEPs will decrease.

"But, in my opinion, a higher education student should be able to choose the institution that meets their needs," he said.

CEGEPs will not receive funding for the "extra" students, and they will also face a financial penalty of $3,500 per "excess" student this year, and about $7,000 per student starting next year.

"We will be penalized in two ways," Corno said. "We have explained many times to anyone who will listen that the admissions process is not an exact science."

Job losses low at this point

At this point, the impact on jobs is relatively low, according to the various colleges consulted, but it will be more complicated in 2024 because of the required addition of offering courses in French.

At Champlain College, there are teachers who are unable to teach their subjects in French and will lose their jobs, said Shewan.

To avoid having to lay off certain employees, some CEGEPs like Vanier College plan to request funding from the government to help their teachers prepare to teach in French.

Moncion said the school is still sorting out which courses will be offered in French.

They will also need to determine how many new French-speaking professors will need to be hired and which English-speaking professors will need to be let go for their lack of French proficiency, she said.

"We are not out of the woods," said Corno. "This is not a minor reform."

Radio-Canada asked the ministers of justice, the French language, and higher education to respond to the comments and concerns raised by the directors of English CEGEPs. Only the minister of higher education, Pascale Déry, responded.

"For our government, slowing the decline of the French language is a priority, and we commend the efforts made by anglophone institutions to comply with the new provisions of the Charter of the French Language," said Déry in a statement.

"We are aware of the challenge this represents and that the work is not done."

Déry said the ministries will be there to support colleges during the transition, "as they have been since the beginning."

CANADA
Wildland firefighters battle mental health, labour challenges atop deadly blazes

The Canadian Press
Sun, August 27, 2023 



Two-week work cycles. Shifts that can last up to 18 hours. Sleeping in tents or gymnasiums far from home. Dangerous and unpredictable work environments.

Those are the working conditions for many wildland firefighters across the country as Canada contends with a record wildfire season.

With climate change expected to worsen wildfires in the future, some firefighters say gruelling labour conditions and associated mental health challenges are taking a toll on the workforce.

"There's no question that we are seeing burnout," said Steve Lemon, safety and well-being officer with the BC Wildfire Service.

Officials have called this wildfire season unprecedented, with more than 137,000 square kilometres of land scorched to date — more than six times the 10-year average. Tens of thousands have had to flee their communities under evacuation orders, homes and businesses have been destroyed, and four wildland firefighters have been killed on the job this season.

There's little doubt this year's wildfires and the efforts to fight them are affecting firefighters' mental health, said Lemon.

"We've been engaged pretty full on since the beginning of May really, without any respite," he said.

"The length of the fire season, the intensity, the long-term drought that we've been experiencing, that all leads to more complex fires, bigger fires. Those will all undoubtedly have an impact on people."

The BC Wildfire Service used to respond largely to seasonal wildfires but has slowly been expanding into a year-round agency helping with other natural disasters, like floods and landslides, said Lemon.

That's weighing on the service's approximately 700 full-time staff, who would typically take advantage of the off-season to rest and recover, he said.

Alex Lane, a firefighter with the service who is also a master's student in psychology, is researching the mental health outcomes of wildland firefighters and support staff in B.C. and says there's a clear need to pay attention to firefighters' mental health.

"It was something that I struggled with throughout my career," she said.

The BC Wildfire Service offers mental health supports that include a 24/7 dedicated counselling line and has seen those programs get increased use in recent years, said Lane.

It has also seen "a lot" of psychological injuries and workers taking time off due to psychological health issues since the service began tracking those numbers in 2021, she said.

The BC Wildfire Service relies heavily on seasonal personnel during wildfire season, employing 1,600 seasonal workers each year – a third of those are students on summer break.

Paul Finch, treasurer of the BC General Employees' Union that represents nearly 2,000 employees with the B.C. fire service, said earlier starts to the fire season mean some part-time firefighters are being rushed into the field or placed in roles that should require more experience and training.

"It means that decisions can be made that prolong the fire or allow it to burn over a broader area, and we've seen that happen," he said.

Seasoned, full-time wildland firefighters are being paid at "the lowest rung in government," Finch said, with wages starting at $26 per hour. That's causing some veterans to leave for the private sector or other careers, while holding others back from considering wildland firefighting as a long-term career option, he said.

"They can't sustain raising a family and retiring at a decent time," said Finch, noting that all those factors add to the mental load on wildland firefighters.

David Greer, director of strategic engagement at the BC Wildfire Service, said the service's staff complement is being re-evaluated given the new reality of fire seasons. More than 100 crew members were converted to full-time employees this year.

"We would like to see less turnover for certain and that is why we have placed a focus on employee health and wellness, learning and development, and more full-time opportunities with career pathing," said Greer.

A study into mental disorders among firefighters deployed to the fire that ravaged Fort McMurray, Alta., in 2016 found 40 per cent met the criteria for post traumatic stress disorder, 30 per cent for anxiety disorder, and 28.5 per cent for depressive disorder. The study looked at all types of firefighters, not just those focused on wildfires.

Ken McMullen, president of the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, said volunteer firefighters with municipal services are increasingly being called upon during wildfire season and many of them are volunteers.

"It's just not a sustainable model to rely on volunteers for three months of straight (wildfire) activity," he said.

The association is lobbying the federal government for an increase to the tax incentive for volunteer firefighters, as well as greater funding for mental health supports and specialty equipment, McMullen said.

Those in the field of wildland firefighting say the public can also play a role in diminishing the strain on firefighters.

Beyond taking precautions not to start wildfires, Canadians should be conscious of their comments online, said Lemon, with the BC Wildfire Service.

"We tend to get beat up pretty heavily by the public who don't necessarily understand the complexity of the work that we're doing, so we're often accused of not doing enough," he said.

"Kindness on social media in support of our people, of our workers, it is an incredibly meaningful thing."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 27, 2023.

Tyler Griffin, The Canadian Press

N.W.T. wildfires have emitted 280 times more carbon than its people

CBC
Mon, August 28, 2023 

An aerial view of the wildfire threatening the Yellowknife area from Aug. 17. The intensity of the fire dampened over the weekend thanks to rain, lighter winds and cooler conditions. (N.W.T. Fire - image credit)

Wildfires in the N.W.T have emitted 97 megatonnes of carbon into the air so far this year — 280 times more than what was caused by humans in the territory back in 2021.

Mark Parrington, a senior scientist working at the European Union's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), said the N.W.T. has contributed the most of all the provinces and territories to Canada's total wildfire emissions.

From the start of the year up until Aug. 23, wildfires across Canada have emitted 327 megatonnes of carbon into the air according to CAMS data. (For context, one megatonne is a million tonnes.)

More than a quarter of that has been generated by wildfires in the N.W.T., which began burning back in May and have displaced tens of thousands of residents across 10 communities this summer — including the capital city of Yellowknife. The fires have caused damage so far in Kátł'odeeche First Nation, Enterprise and Behchokǫ̀. Hay River and Kátł'odeeche First Nation have been displaced twice by wildfire in a matter of months.

Houses in Enterprise, N.W.T., that were burned by wildfire. (Tyson Koschik/CBC)

"We can all unequivocally agree this is climate change at the very root of this," said Jessica Davey-Quantick, a territorial wildfire information officer, during a press conference last week.

"We're going to see more active fire behaviour, more extreme weather, more drought-like conditions — all of those factors have kind of combined. But it's really hard to say that there's one culprit that led it to communities this year, when it didn't in previous years."

How does it all compare to 2014?

The N.W.T.'s vast boreal forest usually sequesters more carbon than it emits — except during big fire years.

Up until now, 2014 has been considered the territory's worst wildfire year. According to CAMS data up until Aug. 23, the current wildfire season has not quite eclipsed 2014 in terms of emissions. (It has, however, if you compare it to Natural Resources Canada data which says fires that year emitted roughly 94.5 megatonnes of carbon).

Drone aerial still photo of houses in Enterprise, N.W.T., on Aug. 24 that were burned by wildfire. (Tyson Koschik/CBC)

According to N.W.T. Fire, 2.96 million hectares of land have burned in fires so far this year, but they're working to to calculate an updated figure — they said the territory is well on it's way to beating the record set back in 2014 of 3.4 million hectares burned.

Wildfires emit more than just carbon

CAMS monitors where wildfires are around the world, and how intensely they're burning. It also tracks emissions and forecasts the effect smoke has on the atmosphere.

Parrington said they're able to do this using meteorology and satellite imagery. It's important to monitor wildfire emissions, he said, because of the effects it has on air quality and human health.

"Fires release far more pollutants into the atmosphere than the usual activities like road transport, energy production, industry," he said. "As well as the carbon gases, there's a lot of very harmful and hazardous constituents of smoke, including particulate matter, things like benzene, which a lot of people might associate only as an industrial pollutant."

When fires stop and the wind shifts, Parrington said air quality improves — but pollution from wildfires can persist for a long time if it settles on rivers and water bodies too.

The link between fires and climate change

World Weather Attribution, a U.K. based group that estimates the contribution of climate change to individual extreme weather events, recently released a study that found record-setting fires in Quebec earlier this year were made twice as likely because of human-caused warming.

The group says it's exploring options to study wildfires in other parts of Canada.

Yan Boulanger, a forest ecology scientist with Natural Resources Canada and an author of the already-published study, said its findings can be extrapolated to Canada's North.

A member of B Company, 2nd Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment, conducts Type III firefighting operations in the vicinity of Hay River, N.W.T., in support of Operation LENTUS on Aug. 22. (Corporal Jonathan King/Canadian Armed Forces)

Quebec is one of the areas of Canada that's least affected by climate change, he explained, yet climate change still played a very big role in the fires there.

Given that climate change is having a bigger effect on British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Northwest Territories and Yukon, Boulanger said wildfires in those provinces and territories are probably made more than twice as likely by climate change.

"These are very, very conservative estimates," he said.

Still, Boulanger said he's shocked by the record number of people displaced across the N.W.T. and the evacuations that have taken place in Quebec, B.C., Alberta, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Yukon.

He said Indigenous people are over-represented among evacuees, and they will continue to be over-represented in the future because their communities are typically in very fire-prone environments.

World Weather Attribution's Quebec analysis has not yet been subject to scientific peer review, but it is based on peer-reviewed modelling. In the past, the research group has subjected its analyses to review and has not had to change its findings.

CANADA
Racism partly to blame for unequal health care provided to Indigenous women: PHAC study

The Canadian Press
Sun, August 27, 2023 



Racism and the lack of primary care providers mean off-reserve First Nations, Métis and Inuit women and girls have poorer health overall compared to their non-Indigenous counterparts, says a study by the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Compared with non-Indigenous females, those in the three distinct groups reported a higher prevalence of diagnosed chronic diseases and worse mental health, including mood or anxiety disorders, says the study, which noted Canada's colonial history of residential schools, forced or coerced sterilization and destruction of traditional lands.

Researchers used data for all females aged 15 to 55 from the annual Canadian Community Health Survey between 2015 and 2020. That amounted to 6,000 people from the three distinct groups and 74,760 non-Indigenous females, all in their reproductive years.

"Indigenous females waited longer for primary care, more used hospital services for non-urgent care and fewer had consultations with dental professionals," says the study, published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Lead researcher Sebastian Srugo said that while thousands of women across Canada lack a family doctor, "those conversations are happening much, much more among Indigenous women."

"Even when we compare Indigenous women and people assigned female at birth to non-Indigenous counterparts of a similar age, similar education, income and living in the same places, we still have those gaps," Srugo said.

Women who were pregnant or had just given birth were worse off, and that could affect their children years later, he said.

"This is about intergenerational impacts of not having access to this care," Srugo said. "It's also about a justifiable lack of trust that Indigenous communities have with the health-care system in Canada."

Primary care providers could support the women in their reproductive decisions and assess them for conditions including heart disease, depression and cancer, he said.

Multiple studies have connected poorer health outcomes for Indigenous females compared to the wider population.

But Srugo said the PHAC study adds to limited research involving First Nations, Métis and Inuit, which have diverse cultures, languages and histories but are typically lumped together as Indigenous Peoples.

The study included 2,902 First Nations, 2,345 Métis and 742 Inuit women and girls. Researchers also received input from an advisory committee specifically created for the project. Members were from four organizations — Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak (Women of the Métis Nation), the Native Women’s Association of Canada, Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada and 2 Spirits in Motion.

While Lee Clark, director of health for the Native Women's Association of Canada, lauded federal researchers for partnering with Indigenous organizations, she said their study should not become "one more paper in the pile of evidence" that has made little difference in the lives of women deprived of equitable care.

Researchers themselves cited the challenges in access to care in a "disjointed jurisdictional system, resulting in medical relocations for birthing and general health care."

Clark said she hoped the federal government would use the findings to "hold provinces accountable" to deliver targeted programs for women whose needs have been sidelined for too long.

Indigenous communities are still deeply affected by the 2020 death of Atikamekw woman Joyce Echaquan in a Quebec hospital, where she filmed staff insulting her as she lay dying, she said.

"The majority of people I speak with in the community, we have stories of blatant racism," she said from Gatineau, Que. "Colonialism isn't historic. It's ongoing. These harms are continuing and they're perpetuated still. Joyce's example is just one of the examples that was recorded."

In a decision earlier this month, anarbitration tribunal ordered the reinstatement of an orderly who was fired by the hospital. An arbitrator wrote that while the employee made inappropriate comments toward Echaquan, she was not responsible for most of the poor treatment the patient received compared to the "insulting, vulgar, racist and rude remarks and behaviour'' of a nurse. That nursewas also fired for telling Echaquan that she was stupid and "better off dead."

Clark also called on federal and provincial governments to work together to incorporate Indigenous practices in health care, including midwifery that uses traditional practices.

"Pockets of this is happening, recently in Nova Scotia. It needs to be everywhere. It needs to be more accepted. The medicalization of birth is just an outright stamp of colonialism."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 28, 2023.

Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.

Camille Bains, The Canadian Press

P.E.I. government ponying up to fix Hermanville wind farm

CBC
Mon, August 28, 2023 

Production at the Hermanville wind farm in July was just 10% of energy produced when wind farm first opened. (Angela Walker/CBC - image credit)

With energy production at the Hermanville wind farm in eastern P.E.I. going from bad to worse, the provincial government has decided to make repairs itself, despite the fact it has a warranty.

The 10 turbines at Hermanville became operational in 2014 with a 15-year warranty. Under that warranty the P.E.I. Energy Corporation has been receiving millions of dollars from Nordex U.S.A. in lieu of lost production.

But the problems are about more than money. The wind farm is an important piece of the province's plan to reach net zero carbon emissions.

"Our priority is to make the windmills work so that we can have the renewable energy on the grid," said P.E.I. Energy Minister Steven Myers.

Steven Myers, P.E.I.'s transportation minister, says every Islander who asks for help will get it "because I didn't want to leave anybody behind."

Repairs should be completed this fall, says Energy Minister Steven Myers. (Steve Bruce/CBC)

"There's a plan that's been approved to fix them — fix the bearing, I think, that's what's gone in them — and get them back working to 100 per cent."

The P.E.I. Energy Corporation's most recent annual report showed megawatt-hour production from the turbines in 2022-23 was down to just 35 per cent of the farm's output in its first year of operation.

The annual report said the warranty provider had been working to fix the turbines, but more recent numbers from the government show problems have grown worse. In July production was 942 MW-h, about 10 per cent of monthly production in its first couple of years of operation.

The province has now decided to take charge of repairs itself.

"We're footing the bill up front,' said Myers.

"It's $10 million, but there's a whole legal component that hasn't been completed yet so we'll have to wait and see how it all shakes out."

The original cost of the wind farm was $60 million. Myers said repairs would be completed this fall.

Developing wind energy is still considered a risky venture, said Myers, and that's why the provincial government got involved in the first place, because private developers were not prepared to take on that risk.