'EVIL COMES FROM THE NORTH'*
Republican presidential candidate proposes border wall with Canada

Story by Alexander Panetta • 

Republican presidential candidate businessman Vivek Ramaswamy speaks during the third Republican presidential primary debate in Miami on Wednesday night

.© Rebecca Blackwell/The Associated Press

Awall with Canada? The idea came up during a Republican presidential debate, from a candidate insisting his party's border policies aren't tough enough.

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy brought it up unprompted on Wednesday night in Miami.

Bombing drug labs in Mexico has become an increasingly popular idea in his party, along with building a wall along the southern U.S. border.

But Ramaswamy said these policies don't go far enough. He lamented that the northern border does not get discussed as often as it should.

"I'm the only candidate on this stage, as far as I'm aware, who has actually visited the northern border," Ramaswamy said, on the tail end of remarks about border security.

"There was enough fentanyl that was captured just on the northern border last year to kill three million Americans. So we've got to just skate to where the puck is going — not just where the puck is," he said.

"Don't just build the wall — build both walls."

It was not a throwaway line either. Ramaswamy has begun raising the idea as part of his platform and tweeted about it last month.

Wednesday's debate would have been the highest-profile venue for his proposal.

Ramaswamy also said the U.S. should also use its military to seal any tunnels constructed by trafficking gangs.

Republicans complain about northern border

For context, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports that two pounds of fentanyl have been seized in the northern border region this year.

That represents approximately 0.0074 per cent of the 27,000 pounds seized overall, according to the agency's figures.

Republican lawmakers have been complaining more frequently about the northern border in the context of unauthorized migration, but the numbers remain a tiny portion of the U.S. total.

A mere 2.7 per cent of people stopped trying to enter the U.S. from Canada since the start of the 2022 fiscal year were actually trying to enter between crossings, according to U.S. data available earlier this year.

Ramaswamy is not the first candidate seeking the Republican presidential nomination to talk about a wall with Canada.

The last time, it didn't end well for the candidate.

For simply musing idly about the possibility of a Canada wall, Scott Walker drew merciless ridicule in the 2016 campaign.

He was derided by other Republicans. The eventual winner Donald Trump even brushed off the idea in an exchange with CBC News.

The Canadian ambassador to the U.S. at the time got in on the mockery. Gary Doer wondered how Walker, the governor of a Great Lakes state, Wisconsin, no doubt aware of that body of water, intended to build a wall across the monumental natural boundary.

Walker quickly backtracked. He soon withdrew from the race.

The New York Times obituary for his failed campaign said his string of gaffes had unnerved supporters, and it specifically cited the Canadian wall comment.

With just a year to the election, Ramaswamy's campaign has already lasted longer than Walker's and is in fourth place in hypothetical national primary polls.

He remains a distant longshot, however, languishing approximately 54 percentage points behind Donald Trump, the Republican frontrunner, who skipped Wednesday's debate.

* TWIN PEAKS THE LOG LADY

Trudeau and Singh trade shots on carbon tax exemptions amid rumours on future of alliance

Story by Catherine Lévesque •  National Post

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh faced off during question period in the House of Commons, Wednesday, November 8, 2023.

© Provided by National Post


OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau slammed the NDP for siding with the Conservatives in calling for the government to scrap the carbon tax on all forms of home heating, saying that New Democrats have deceived “millions of progressives” across Canada.

The NDP presented a motion of its own this week to instead cancel the GST on home heating, make heat pumps more accessible for Canadians and tax the “excess profits” of the oil and gas industry, but it was rejected by all the other parties except the Greens on Wednesday.

Speaking in question period, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh pre-emptively asked Trudeau how he could justify voting against his plan to tackle affordability and climate change.

“It was with confusion and consternation that I noted the way that the NDP voted with the Conservatives against one of the most successful measures Canada has ever seen in the fight against climate change,” said Trudeau, speaking about his government’s price on pollution.

“Seeing the NDP vote with the Conservatives against a fight on pollution is something that has disappointed millions of progressives across this country,” he added.

Singh shot back by saying that Trudeau had “literally missed every single target he set” to reduce carbon emissions, seemingly referring to this week’s audit from the environment commissioner which states that the government is set to miss its 2030 targets .

“It’s almost tragic and heartbreaking to see these two squabbling in this way,” chuckled Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, in reaction to Trudeau and Singh’s exchange.
John Ivison: An enfeebled Trudeau has the NDP seriously reconsidering its support
Conservative motion to exempt carbon tax from all home heating rejected in House of Commons

Trudeau was the latest Liberal to express his disappointment with the NDP’s vote on the Conservative motion earlier this week. Other MPs from his caucus also accused the NDP of sending mixed signals by suggesting another motion to fight against climate change.

“From my perspective, NDP members are trying to cover the fact that they voted with Conservatives,” said Deputy Government House leader Mark Gerretsen in a debate in the House of Commons on Tuesday.

His colleague Kevin Lamoureux said he had expressed “disappointment” with his “New Democratic friends” for the way they voted on Monday and suggested they should take their distances from the Conservative Party “to have a healthier party in the future”.

NDP House leader Peter Julian told the National Post that the Liberals were the ones who came up with a “very improvised plan” consisting of exempting the carbon tax for home heating oil “that blew up in their face” with premiers across the country calling for more exemptions.

“We believe on a price on carbon, yes, absolutely. But the Liberals messed that up… with an improvised, chaotic announcement,” said Julian.

His colleague Carol Hughes said that removing the price on carbon on heating oil was “the wrong thing for the Liberals to do in the first place because it is one of the most polluting oils” and said her party supported extending the exemption to all forms of heating out of “fairness”.

“We felt that we needed to move that yardstick even more,” she said of her party’s motion to remove the GST on all home heating, including electricity. “That will have a better impact on individuals who are finding it very difficult right now to make ends meet.”

NDP MP Taylor Bachrach, who sponsored his party’s motion, said the NDP just had a “better plan” that would save his constituents money “regardless of how they heat their homes.”

The idea of removing the GST on home heating is not new. In fact, former NDP leader Jack Layton was calling on the federal government to do just that in 2010 , and opposed the idea of taxing any necessities, like groceries, said NDP strategist Cam Holmstrom.

“If anything, the NDP is extremely consistent here,” said Holmstrom, who is founder and principal of Niipaawi Strategies. “It’s essential for living, you shouldn’t be taxing it regardless of what the tax is.”

The latest kerfuffle between Liberals and New Democrats is also raising questions on the state of the supply and confidence agreement between both parties. As reported by National Post’s John Ivison , the NDP could be reconsidering its support and go back to a vote-by-vote basis.


Holmstrom said it is getting riskier for the NDP to associate with a government that has been sinking in the polls unless they obtain some concrete results, like a national pharmacare program.

“You don’t want to be near the building when it falls. And I think for the NDP, it’s like, ‘look, I’m willing to help you hold up as long as you’re putting up your end of the bargain. But if you stop doing that, I’m getting out of the way because I don’t want to be under the rubble.”



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MPs to study $300M Liberal government paid to now-shuttered COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer

Story by Brennan MacDonald • CBC

MPs on the House of Commons health committee voted Wednesday to launch a study into the more than $300 million the Liberal government paid to a now-shuttered Quebec-based pharmaceutical company whose COVID-19 vaccine never made it to market.

Conservative MP Stephen Ellis brought forward the motion calling for the study after reporting by the National Post revealed last week that the government paid $150 million to Medicago in the form of a "non-refundable" advanced purchase agreement.

The Liberal government signed that agreement in October 2020 to secure up to 76 million doses of a plant-based COVID-19 vaccine it was developing.

The government also provided Medicago with an additional $173 million for research and development and for the construction of the company's Quebec City manufacturing facility.

The vaccine never made it to market and Medicago was shuttered earlier this year.

"Three hundred million dollars of taxpayer money was wasted and ... was hidden deep in a document," Ellis told the committee. "The sunny ways and transparency of this Liberal government have gone long and far and deep into some dark, dank cave."



Health Minister Mark Holland, seen here in November 2021, says the government 'did the responsible thing' by supporting the company's vaccine development. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)© Provided by cbc.ca

Health Canada approved Medicago's vaccine in 2022, but the company ultimately cancelled production after the World Health Organization rejected it for emergency use over the company's ties to a major tobacco company.

At the time, Philip Morris International (PMI) held a minority stake in Medicago. It divested all of its shares in late 2022.

In February, Mitsubishi Chemical Group, which by then owned 100 per cent of Medicago, announced it was shutting down the pharmaceutical company, citing "significant changes" to the vaccine market.

Health Minister Mark Holland said before the committee voted to launch the study that the Conservatives are asking for "a connection with psychics so we can know the future."

Health Minister Mark Holland told the committee the Conservatives expect the government to have predicted the future.

"Let's remember back to the depths of the pandemic when we were all praying for a vaccine. The government did the responsible thing. We took a bet on all viable, scientifically probable options," Holland later told reporters.

"Imagine the world the Conservatives are saying where we should have picked one and guessed that would've worked out."

Conservative MP Rick Perkins raised questions at committee about whether Mitsubishi Chemical Group gets to walk away with the intellectual property and patents produced by Medicago.

"That's the way it appears," said Perkins. "Maybe that's not the case. Maybe the witnesses could actually shed some light onto these contracts."

Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne told reporters Tuesday that the government is negotiating a settlement with Mitsubishi in order to obtain the intellectual property produced by Medicago.

"We're very close ... we found someone who is willing to take back the assets and some of the people to turn that around and that's what we hope is going to happen," said Champagne. "The technology is sound but it was a matter of scaling and that's what we've been talking to management and we've found people who want to take that over in a format that would allow the company to be successful over the long term."

The motion to launch the study calls on Holland and Champagne to appear before the House committee to take questions, along with other government officials and representatives from Medicago and Mitsubishi Chemical Group.

'A scandal': Bombardier CEO calls for open bidding process to replace military jets

Story by Alicja Siekierska • 

Bombardier chief executive Eric Martel continued to push Ottawa to consider its planes for a new military contract this week. (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

Bombardier chief executive Eric Martel continued to push Ottawa to consider its planes for a new military contract this week, telling a government committee that it would offer a cheaper option than rival Boeing and would create 22,000 jobs in Canada.

The Canadian government is set to spend billions for new reconnaissance aircraft to replace the military's aging fleet of CP-140 Aurora maritime patrol planes. Bombardier wants the government to launch an open procurement process for the contract, something Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said Ottawa has yet to decide on. However, the government had said Boeing's P-8A Poseidon is the only aircraft available that meets operational requirements for the replacement.

Speaking before the House of Commons defence committee on Tuesday, Martel said the procurement process for the new aircraft is "deeply flawed and lacking transparencies" and that there has "clearly" been a violation of proper protocols.

"Too often, our current procurement approach starts too late, is not strategic and results in the acquisition of equipment that is just good enough, rather than the most cutting-edge solution," Martel said, adding that Bombardier has "a more capable solution" with aircraft that can fly faster, higher and further than the alternative options being considered.

"We're capable, we can do it. We've done it for other people and we're not even being considered? This is a scandal."
Provincial support

Earlier this year, Bombardier announced it would team up with General Dynamics to deliver an aircraft that could meet the government's replacement needs. The collaboration would equip Bombardier's Global 6500 aircraft with General Dynamics' mission system technology and sensors.

Martel says the cost to operate the Bombardier aircraft will be 30 to 40 per cent less than the Boeing option, and that its planes are more efficient, burning 40 per cent less fuel. He also says the contract would create 22,000 jobs in Canada, as the planes would be produced in Ontario and Quebec.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Quebec Premier Francois Legault issued a joint statement on Tuesday calling on the federal government to allow an open procurement process that lets Canadian companies compete.

"Should the federal government maintain its intention to grant a sole-source contract, we’re calling on the House of Commons to request that the Parliamentary Budget Officer review the costs and consequences related to this decision," the premiers said in the statement.

"We understand that all governments need to be able to deliver on their priorities while ensuring the best value for taxpayer dollars. Allowing Canadian companies and their workers every opportunity to compete only supports this goal."

Champagne did not say whether the process to replace the fleet of aging military patrol planes will be an open-source bid.

“There is no decision made,” Champagne said in French. "In military acquisitions, it is rarely very, very fast. It's complex, too."

Bombardier has been the recipient of significant government assistance in the past, receiving $372.5. million in interest-free loans in 2017 for its business jet and CSeries commercial jet programs. Airbus acquired a majority stake in the CSeries program in 2017, rebranding the commercial jet to the A220. Bombardier exited the partnership in 2020 and is now focused on producing private jets and expanding its defence division.

With files from The Canadian Press

Alicja Siekierska is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow her on Twitter @alicjawithaj.

Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android.

Quebec mayor, 23, resigns mid-mandate because of burnout from managing forest fires

© Provided by The Canadian Press

CHAPAIS, Que. — One of Quebec's youngest mayors announced Wednesday she will be stepping down next week, suffering the effects of burnout from handling last summer's historic wildfire season in her northern community.

Isabelle Lessard was acclaimed in 2021 as mayor of Chapais, Que., a town of just over 1,500 people, located 400 kilometres northwest of Quebec City.

The 23-year-old said Wednesday that her resignation is effective Nov. 17, about halfway through her mandate. She has been on a leave since mid-September, after shepherding Chapais through one of the worst forest fire seasons on record.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, Lessard said she feels unable to complete her term and is at risk of developing post-traumatic stress syndrome.

“Even if I was at 100 per cent when it was time to return to work, the workload was going to be enormous because I have been absent for a bit,” Lessard said.

“I saw it happening and I said to myself: I don’t think I’m going to have managed to build myself up strong enough to be able to face it."

At the beginning of June, two-thirds of the residents of Lessard's community were forced from their homes for several days as wildfires closed in. The community was on high alert in the weeks that followed.

She said that before going on leave, she was sleeping poorly and felt constantly stressed. She also felt anger — first over the unprecedented forest fire situation and then at herself for not being strong enough.

She doesn't think this is the end of her time in public life.

“Yes, I'm leaving two years later, but I still have my life ahead of me, and maybe it's not the end of politics for me," Lessard said. "I think I need to take a step back."

Lessard said she realizes the message from her decision might be seen as contradictory for younger generations looking to her as inspiration for entering politics, but she encouraged them to take the leap, all the while being mindful of their own health.

“I think you just have to be aware of those battles,” she said of taking care of mental health issues.

Lessard acknowledged that finding a replacement as mayor could be difficult in the small community.

The Union des Municipalités du Québec, an organization representing towns and cities across the province, paid tribute to Lessard on Wednesday.

“Isabelle gave her body and soul for her community, it is now her turn to take care of herself," the organization's president, Martin Damphousse, said in a statement.

"Her decision seriously reminds us that municipal officials are, above all, human beings, the challenges and crises they face are increasingly complex and also reveal the importance of their role."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2023.

— By Vicky Fragasso-Marquis in Montreal

The Canadian Press

Protest outside Calgary Catholic School offices after attack of Indigenous student

CityNews

Nov 8, 2023

The Reconciliation Action Group of Calgary protested outside Calgary Catholic School offices Wednesday. The group is looking for answers after the attack of an Indigenous junior high student. Danina Falkenberg reports.

'Fought for human rights we share': First Indigenous Veterans Day held at Edmonton city hall

Story by Jackie Carmichael • Edmonton Journal

Holding an eagle staff, Chuck Isaacs, president of the Aboriginal Veterans Society of Alberta, prepares to lead a group of indigenous veterans into the City of Edmonton's National Indigenous Veterans Day event, at city hall on Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023. The City of Edmonton in partnership with the Aboriginal Veterans Society of Alberta hosted the event to recognize the sacrifices and contributions that First Nations, Inuit and Metis veterans have made in service of Canada.

© Provided by Edmonton Journal

Rousing traditional drums and singing from the Enoch Cree First Nation set the tone for Edmonton’s first-ever Indigenous Veterans Day ceremony Wednesday at city hall.

Gladys McDonald opened the event in prayer.

An elder at the Enoch Cree First Nation, she recalled laying a wreath for Indigenous soldiers at the cenotaph in Devon when two Indigenous veterans told her of their service — one had his leg blown off in combat — and that they felt forgotten in their own community.

“They were not treated right when they came back,” she said.

Since that day, McDonald has held Remembrance Day ceremonies at Enoch for the past 31 years.

“I made an oath to those two warriors and to my uncles George Hope and Robert Hope and other warriors I knew that they would never be forgotten on Remembrance Day,” she said.

Desmond Bull, Grand Chief of Treaty Six territories, wore full head regalia with his tailored suit.

“We hear these stories that are disheartening,” Bull said, noting that nationality and culture didn’t matter in the heat of battle.

“We fought for human rights we share,” he said.

He found Wednesday’s ceremonies moving.

“This is a one step moving towards reconciliation,” Bull said. “We must learn from our history so we don’t repeat it.”

Chuck Isaacs, president of the Aboriginal Veterans Society of Alberta, served from the Cold War to mine-clearing in Yugoslavia.

Isaacs, whose family military records extend into Canada’s more distant past, said that Veterans Affairs numbers of 15,000 Indigenous Canadians serving in the First World War, Second World War and Korea are way low.

Poor record keeping, poor research and even racism contribute to the disparity in numbers, Isaacs said.

“Thirty years ago, it would have been hard enough for somebody to get past themselves and admit that without the Indigenous people, Canada wouldn’t be here because the British and the French used the Indigenous people to fight against the Americans. Without them, we’d all be living in America right now,” Isaacs said.

A great-great-great-uncle of his, Donald Ross, was the last man to die at the Battle of Batoche, the definitive battle of the Métis rebellion, Isaacs said.

“When I go out to the veterans monument at Smoky Lake, there’s probably 50 names on that monument from my family,” he said.

Metis veteran Donald Langford signed up for the Canadian military at the Calgary Stampede in 1959.

“I was going to the rodeo and something happened,” he said with a grin.

Langford’s chest is covered with medals recognizing his 37 years of service.

But he always carries his grandfather’s medals from the First World War — and his death certificate. Leonard Langford died on the Western Front on Aug. 1, 1917.

Wednesday’s ceremony was a long time coming, Donald Langford said.

“A lot of people don’t really understand the real-life history of the Indigenous people in the military,” he said.

Now executive director of Métis Child and Family Services in Edmonton, Langford uses skillsets learned in the military.

He said the recognition of Indigenous veterans is needed because of hardships they went through coming back from the two world wars when they were given a run around between Indian Affairs and Veterans Affairs.

“This day allows the community to recognize that yes, we do serve and we do participate. It’s our duty, because it’s our country,” he said.

Jaynine McCrae is part of Edmonton’s large Inuit community. In a rhythmic, almost dance-like performance with a thin white drum, she accompanied her mother as the elder McCrae, a native of former Coppermine, Nunavut, (now Kugluktuk) sang a stirring song in her traditional language about caribou.

“It was an honour to be included,” Jaynine McCrae said.

Scientists call on Canada to adopt ecologically minded forest degradation definition

The Canadian Press

TORONTO — The Canadian government must take action to stop the degradation of its forests from large-scale industrial logging, a letter signed by more than 100 scientists urged Wednesday. 

The letter, signed by several prominent Canadian and American climate and forest scientists, also called on the government to help, rather than obstruct, global policies intended to curb industrial expansion into old-growth and primary forests, those previously undisturbed by industrial activity. 

"We urge Canada to now recognize and address forest degradation domestically, properly defined according to ecological, rather than economic, indicators" read the letter, penned by Dominick DellaSala, chief scientist for the California-based conservation group Wild Heritage.

"The industrial logging of primary and old-growth forests invariably degrades the forest’s original characteristics, no matter the subsequent forest regeneration practices." 

It comes as Canada moves to draft its own definition of forest degradation after the European Union passed a law earlier this year intended to limit the availability of products that contribute to deforestation and degradation. 

Environmental groups have called out Canada's effort to lobby the EU to drop references to forest degradation from that law. 

While Canada has often boasted about its low rate of deforestation – when forest land is converted for another use – the letter released Wednesday places attention on degradation. The signatories wrote they were concerned by government statements questioning the functionality of the term degradation because of its lack of a commonly understood definition. 

"I think Canada really needs to be honest with how it's approaching this issue," DellaSala said in an interview.

Although forest degradation is not a term with a formally agreed upon international approach, the letter said it's widely understood to refer to effects on forest ecosystems that might not amount to full-fledged land-use change but that have negative impacts on things such as native species, ecosystem quality and the ability to store carbon.

Natural Resources Canada did not immediately respond to a request for comment.  

The federal government has referred to Canada as a world leader in sustainable forestry with the vast majority of the country's forested lands under public ownership and management. Harvested areas in those forests must be either replanted or left to regenerate. 

Canada is also a signatory to the Glasgow Leaders' Declaration on Forests and Land Use that commits to halt and reverse deforestation and land degradation by 2030.

But what has been considered sustainable forest management in the past could, in many cases, be seen as degradation given its effects on carbon pools and biodiversity, said Suzanne Simard, professor of forest ecology at the University of British Columbia, who signed the letter. 

"We're doing the very thing that we said we shouldn't do, that other countries should not do," said Simard, author of "Finding the Mother Tree".

Simard is one of several scientists who have suggested replanted forests store less carbon than those undisturbed by industry, in part because some of that carbon is accumulated over centuries below ground or on the forest floor.

"When we put these machines on the ground and cut these trees down, we're actually losing a good portion of our forest floor carbon pools," she said. "We should be avoiding those losses at all costs because they're really irreplaceable, especially in the time we have to act (on climate change)."

The letter said Canada's identification of forest degradation should use "ecological indicators," such as biodiversity declines, rather than economic ones. 

"Properly construed," the letter said, forest degradation would include industrial impacts on primary and old growth forests, and the conversion of naturally regenerating forest to planted forests or plantations.

In a statement, the industry group Forest Products Association of Canada called the letter "wrong-headed." It said Canada was "among the best in the world" in sustainable forest management. 

"Canada’s forest sector and its workers support the importance of global pledges to advance climate action, halt and reverse deforestation and land degradation, and promote sustainable sourcing," read the statement.

"These efforts are part of a bigger international dialogue, and Canada must do this work in step with its international partners."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2023. 

Jordan Omstead, The Canadian Press

PRIMITIVE ACCUMULATION OF CAPITAL
A $10 billion battle is brewing over ownership rights to a 300-year-old sunken warship believed to hold the biggest maritime treasure ever
Erin Snodgrass
Updated Wed, November 8, 2023 at 4:58 AM MST·4 min read
215

A US salvage company is suing Colombia for half of a shipwreck's estimated $20 billion treasure.


The company says it was the first to find debris from the San José, which sank in 1708.


The Colombian government disputes the company's claims and says the treasure is a national heritage.

A sunken Spanish warship that lay undiscovered at the bottom of the ocean for nearly three centuries is spurring a modern-day legal battle over who has the rights to its antique treasures worth billions of dollars.

The San José galleon, which sank off the coast of Cartagena, Colombia, in 1708, contained "the biggest treasure in the history of humanity," an October legal filing from the government of Colombia said.

Now, more than 300 years after the San José went down, a US salvage company is suing the Colombian government for half the ship's treasures, saying it discovered the wreck first in 1981.

When the San José sank in a battle against the British in 1708, the ship was carrying what is believed to be the most expensive cargo ever shipped from the New World, including more than 7 million pesos, 116 steel chests full of emeralds, and 30 million gold coins, according to court documents.

Most of the ship's Spain-bound treasures were taken from Colombian and Peruvian mines using slave labor, NBC's "Today" reported.

Court cases over the years estimated the treasure was worth anywhere from $4 billion to $20 billion, Bloomberg reported.

Current litigation over the ship stems from the US salvage company Sea Search Armada's claim that it found debris from the San José wreck first in 1981 during an exploratory exhibition searching for "shipwrecked species" and other treasures in Caribbean waters.

Sea Search Armada — previously known as Glocca Morra — says it handed over the coordinates of the discovered debris to the Colombian government under an agreement that it would receive half the ship's treasure, according to the company's December 2022 notice of arbitration.

But the Colombian government disputed many of Sea Search Armada's claims in an October response, including the notion that the San José was even at the coordinates handed over by the company.

A 1994 report from the Colombian government said no shipwreck was found at or near the coordinates included in Glocca Morra's initial 1982 report on the exhibition, according to Colombian legal filings in the case.

Gold coins found in the San Jose shipwreck.ARMADA DE COLOMBIA

Glocca Morra never even explicitly reported the finding of the San José in its 1982 report, which makes no mention of the ship by name, the Colombian government alleges. In its notice of arbitration, Sea Search Armada said the report referenced the discovery of a "large shipwreck."

"How can it be explained that a private company finds the biggest treasure in the history of humanity and fails to report it?" attorneys for the government wrote in the October response. "The answer is simple: because it did not find it."

In 2015, President Juan Manuel Santos said the real San José shipwreck had finally been discovered but declined to make the coordinates public, saying they were a state secret.

Colombia has since said the ship and its treasures are a national heritage item and should be kept in the country.

Sea Search Armada, meanwhile, alleges the Colombian navy simply discovered parts of the same debris field it first found in 1981.

The company is suing for $10 billion — which it says is equivalent to half the value of the ship's treasures — under the US-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement.

The case is set to play out in the Permanent Court of Arbitration, an intergovernmental organization dedicated to dispute resolution among international entities. Hearings in the case are scheduled for the coming months, according to a procedural order, and a court tribunal is expected to try to issue a decision by February.

The race to exhume the treasure trove is heating up amid the brewing legal battle. Colombian President Gustavo Petro wanted the ship brought to ground before the end of his term in 2026, the country's minister of culture told Bloomberg this month.

The minister of culture, Juan David Correa, told the outlet that Petro instructed officials to set up a public-private partnership or work with a private firm to get the ship above water as soon as possible.

Photos and videos of the ship show fine china, coins, and cannons littered across the ocean floor where the San José sank.

‘Holy grail of shipwrecks’ to be raised from the deep – along with $20bn of treasure

Martha McHardy
Tue, November 7, 2023

‘Holy grail of shipwrecks’ to be raised from the deep – along with $20bn of treasure

The ‘Holy Grail of shipwrecks’ is set to be recovered from the bottom of the ocean - along with its treasures which are believed to be worth up to $20bn in today’s money.

The Colombian government said the San Jose, which was sunk by the British navy in 1708 off the port of Cartagena, would be recovered as a matter of urgency.

The ship is thought to have sunk with a huge amount of treasure aboard, including 200 tonnes of silver, emeralds and eleven million gold coins.

When the wreck was discovered in November 2015, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said the treasure was “the most valuable that has been found in the history of humanity.”

The San Jose was discovered by a team of navy divers in 2015 lying nearly 3,100 feet below the ocean’s surface.

Pictures taken of the wreck by navy divers last year show the wreck is still perfectly preserved, despite lying on the ocean’s floor for more than three centuries.

The Colombian government said the ship will be brought above water before President Gustavo Petro ends his term of office in 2026.

The San Jose was discovered by a team of navy divers in 2015 (Colombian Armada)

The ship sank along with its treasures which are believed to be worth up to $20billion in today’s money (Colombian Armada)

When the shipwreck is recovered, it is expected that there will be a dispute over who should lay claim to the bounty.

A US salvage consortium called Glocca Morra claimed to have located the San Jose in 1981, but the Colombian government has disputed this, claiming it independently found the galleon with a team of divers in 2015, at a different location, which remains secret.

Glocca Morra has claimed it is owed $10bn by the Colombian government and said it has handed over the coordinates of the shipwreck to the Colombian authorities.

The company are suing the Colombian government for half the treasure, worth $10bn, and the arbitration case is currently being heard in London, according to Bloomberg.

The San Jose galleon was owned by the Spanish crown when it was sunk by the British Navy in 1708 (Colombian Armada)

However, Colombian Minister of Culture Juan David Correa said the government’s team had visited the coordinates given by the company and found no trace of the San Jose.

Spain and Bolivia’s indigenous Qhara Qhara nation also claim ownership over the ship after, they said, the Spanish forced their people to mine the metals used in the treasure.

The 62-gun and three-masted galleon ship sank after it was intercepted by a British squadron on 8 June 1708 off Cartagena, during the War of the Spanish Succession.

Ceramic jars and other items from the 300-year-old shipwreck of the Spanish galleon San Jose on the floor of the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Colombia (AP)

Eleven million gold coins are thought to have been on board (EPA)

There were 600 sailors on board, all but 11 of whom went down with the ship.

When it sank, the San Jose was transporting plundered gold, silver, emeralds and other precious stones and metals from the Americans back to Spain.

Images recovered last year show a part of the bow covered in algae and shellfish, as well as the remains of the frame of the hull.

Treasure aboard the San Jose could also be seen - including gold ingots and coins, muddy cannons made in Seville in 1655 and an intact Chinese dinner service. Porcelain crockery, pottery and glass bottles could also be seen.

Mr Correa told Bloomberg that recovering the ship within the next two years is now a priority for President Petro. “The president has told us to pick up the pace,” he said.


‘Holy Grail’ Shipwreck With $20 Billion Treasure Will Be Raised From the Depths

James Gilboy
Tue, November 7, 2023 a

San Jose shipwreck


A 17th-century treasure ship described by many as the "holy grail of shipwrecks" will reportedly be lifted from the sea floor where it has lay for more than 300 years. The ship's cargo of gold, silver, gemstones, and antiques is speculatively valued at up to $20 billion. As the Independent reports, the treasure's ownership is now the subject of a four-way dispute that's in international arbitration.

The San José was a 64-gun, three-mast galleon launched by Spain in 1698. On June 8, 1708, it encountered a British squadron that engaged it off the coast of what's now Colombia along the Caribbean coast of South America. The ship suffered a magazine explosion that sent it—and its cargo of gold, silver, and jewels—to the ocean floor, where it remained lost for more than three centuries. Or maybe not, depending on who you believe.

Action off Cartagena, painting by Samuel Scott. Public domain

In December 2015, Colombia declared a team of navy divers had found the San José, footage of which found its way to the news. The well-preserved shipwreck was reportedly found in 3,100 feet of water, with much of its cargo visibly intact.

Artifacts identified in the depths so far include gold ingots, Chinese ceramics and tableware, and the ship's cannons, which were cast in Seville in 1655. Of the most interest of course is the ship's coffers of 11 million gold coins, making up a significant portion of the 200 tons of treasure on board (which also reportedly includes silver and emeralds).

The Colombian government reportedly says it plans to raise the ship by 2026 when the term of its current president ends. However, multiple parties have laid claim to the cargo, one of whom has brought Colombia to arbitration in London.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suF85DI2Pco

Vanity Fair reports that a group of U.S. investors operating as Glocca Morra, later Sea Search Armada, claim to have signed a salvage contract entitling them to half the ship's cargo in 1979. The group alleges it found the San José in 1981 at a depth of around 660 feet, and provided Colombia officials with coordinates. Colombia disputes this, claiming the shipwreck was not found at the coordinates provided.

Spain, which originally owned the vessel and its forcefully extracted cargo on board, has also reportedly tried to claim the bounty. Bolivia's Qhara Qhara indigenous group has also raised its hand, due to its ancestors reportedly being forced to mine the valuable metals and gems in the first place.

AGRIBUSINESS BURPS & FARTS💩💩💩
Rising Livestock Emissions Undermine World’s Climate Fight

Agnieszka de Sousa
Tue, November 7, 2023 




(Bloomberg) -- Greenhouse gas emissions from the world’s top meat and dairy producers increased further this year, highlighting the urgent need for the food industry to clean its practices and help prevent global warming.

Disclosed emissions from the world’s 20 largest publicly-listed meat and dairy companies rose 3.3% from 2022 levels, according to a report by investor network FAIRR Initiative. Its analysis includes companies like Hormel Foods Corp. and China’s New Hope Liuhe Co., which supply household names like Walmart Inc. and McDonald’s Corp.

The food industry’s climate footprint is immense, accounting for about a third of global greenhouse gases. Livestock, which releases potent methane, makes up 14.5% of worldwide emissions. The Science-Based Targets initiative, a UN-backed agency that evaluates companies’ net-zero goals, recommends that the food and agriculture sector cuts emissions by 3% a year between 2020 and 2030.

“The sector is just not on track,” said Thalia Vounaki, senior manager for research and engagements at FAIRR.

Read more: Companies Aren’t Using Quick Fix to Reduce Methane Emissions

That underlines the need to focus on food and agriculture as world leaders gear up for the upcoming COP28 summit in Dubai later this month, FAIRR said in its report. The group of investors raises awareness about the environmental, social and governance risks and opportunities in the global food sector, and is backed by more than $70 trillion in assets.

The United Arab Emirates has called for commitments to transform the food industry, while the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization is set to unveil a net-zero roadmap for the sector.

FAIRR’s report highlights that some companies have managed to reduce their emissions, such as Tyson Foods Inc. and Danone SA. But overall there are varying levels of climate commitments and disclosure, it said. Almost two-thirds of the companies it analyzed didn’t disclose so-called Scope 3 emissions, which include those that occur indirectly along a company’s value chain. Only four out of top 20 companies in the sector have net-zero aims.

“We need to get these companies up to the same standard, irrespective of where they’re sitting,” Oshni Arachchi, head of active ownership at Danske Bank A/S, said in an interview.

FAIRR’s sixth protein producer index has highlighted improvements made by the livestock industry, including in areas like alternative proteins, waste and pollution and water use, it said. While that shows “bad practice is not an inevitable part of the food supply ecosystem,” the investor group urged for more progress on environmental aspects.

“We’ve long known that humanity can’t fix climate change without fixing the way we feed the world,” according to Jeremy Coller, private equity investor and founder of FAIRR.