Guyana rejects quest for US military base as territorial dispute with Venezuela deepens



GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — Guyana's Attorney General Anil Nandlall said Thursday that Guyana’s government has reassured neighboring Venezuela there is no plan for the U.S. to establish a military base in the South American country and that it has not made a formal request for one.

Nandlall spoke to The Associated Press days after Daniel P. Erikson, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Western Hemisphere, visited Guyana and one day after Guyanese officials announced they were seeking help from the U.S. to improve its defense capabilities.

Nandlall and other officials in Guyana have sought to temper tensions with Venezuela over a disputed region known as Essequibo rich in oil and minerals that represents two-thirds of Guyana and that Venezuela claims as its own.

“We have not been approached by the United States to establish a military base in Guyana,” said Guyanese Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, adding that the government does not conduct public policy at press conferences.

Erikson visited just weeks after a long-standing dispute over Guyana’s Essequibo region deepened, with Venezuela holding a referendum in December to claim sovereignty over the area.

Related video: Guyana says it refuses to bow to Venezuela in territorial dispute 

(The Associated Press)

Nandlall told the AP that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro remains “convinced that Guyana could host” a U.S. military base. He said Maduro raised the issue when he attended an emergency mediation meeting in St. Vincent last month to talk about the territorial dispute with Guyanese President Irfaan Ali.

“(Ali) reiterated that this is not so, but we will encourage cooperation with our allies in defense of our territorial integrity and sovereignty,” Nandlall said

Guyana and Venezuela have agreed to refrain from using force, but the dispute continues, with Venezuela insisting that Essequibo was part of its territory during the Spanish colonial period, and that a 1966 agreement nullified a brder drawn in 1899 by international arbitrators.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Bert Wilkinson, The Associated Press

Posthaste: What closing door to temporary residents could do to Canada's economy — it's not good

Story by Pamela Heaven • 

A pedestrian walks past a 'Help Wanted' sign in downtown Toronto. Cutting off the arrival of temporary residents to Canada could hurt the economy, Desjardins warns.© Provided by Financial Post

Posthaste: Ontario job seekers are increasingly looking for work in other provinces

Canada now boasts one of the fastest growing populations in the world, but that growth has also brought concerns.

The nation has looked to immigration to boost the economy, replace aging workers and fill labour gaps, but there has also been criticism that this surge of newcomers is straining resources and exacerbating Canada’s housing crisis .

Ottawa has acknowledged these concerns and last November decided against hiking immigration targets and in December, increased the cost-of-living requirement for foreign students .

But a new report by Desjardins cautions that there could be economic repercussions if the arrival of newcomers is cut off too quickly.

“Closing the door to temporary newcomers would deepen the recession expected in 2024 and blunt the subsequent recovery,” Randall Bartlett, senior director of Canadian economics, wrote in the report.

Much of Canada’s population growth comes from non-permanent residents, temporary foreign workers and students. In 2022 their numbers outpaced permanent residents for the first time, said Bartlet

Desjardins’ baseline case assumes there will be half as many non-permanent residents in 2024 as last year, and half as many again in 2025. The numbers begin to gradually rise in 2026.

The working-age population will grow an average of 1.8 per cent a year from 2023 to 2028 with real GDP growth averaging 1.5 per cent a year.

While the slowing economy will naturally lead to a decrease in temporary residents, the numbers could also change abruptly due to government policy, said Bartlett.

“Some of this is playing out in real time now, with new restrictions on foreign student admissions and work permits announced recently,” he said.

With this in mind Desjardins calculated two alternative scenarios: one in which non-permanent residents fall to zero in each year of the projection and one in which they arrive at double the pace.

In the first scenario, population growth slows to 1.5 per cent between 2023 and 2028, and real GDP falls “considerably” below the baseline. The short and shallow recession that Desjardins expects in the first half of 2024 is doubled in length.


In the second scenario, population growth averages 2.1 per cent a year and real GDP rises above the baseline, leading to a milder downturn and possibly avoiding a recession altogether.

One downside would be elevated inflation, which could keep the Bank of Canada holding interest rates higher for longer.



Desjardins

The wildcard in Canada’s population growth is non-permanent residents, said Bartlett.

“While we anticipate the flow of these newcomers to slow, how much it slows will have material impacts for Canada’s economic growth, both in the near and long term,” he said.

“Caution is warranted on the part of policymakers to minimize the economic downside of slowing the pace of newcomer arrivals too quickly.”


However, Bartlett acknowledges that it is a difficult balance to achieve and provincial and municipal governments carry the brunt of the burden because of their direct role in delivering services to the growing population.

“Maintaining the current pace of newcomer arrivals will erode housing affordability further in the absence of a monumental increase in the supply of homes,” he said.


Posthaste: Canada's housing market headed for 'historic correction,' says RBC

BMO Economics

It’s no secret psychology plays a big role in real estate, and today’s chart from BMO maps Canadians’ moods over some turbulent times.

Surveys show expectations of home price gains have ebbed and flowed along with the Bank of Canada since the pandemic, says BMO senior economist Robert Kavcic — from the euphoria of “rates will remain low for a long time” in 2020 to the crushing onset of interest rates hikes in 2022.

The Bank’s hiking cycle is widely seen as over now, which Kavcic says is an important milestone because buyers know the worst case scenario on rates and can plan accordingly.

Market psychology will also get a boost from markets and pundits predicting rate cuts this year.

“If the job market holds up, we could see housing activity firm up notably this spring,” said Kavcic.

Penny Black: ‘First’ piece of mail sent using a stamp could fetch up to $2.5 million at auction

Story by By Issy Ronald, CNN •

The first known piece of mail sent using a prepaid stamp — “one of the greatest leaps forward in human communication” — could fetch between $1.5 million and $2.5 million when it comes up for auction at Sotheby’s in New York next month.

If the piece realizes its estimate, Sotheby’s said it would become one of the most valuable pieces of postal history to have ever been auctioned

Dated May 2, 1840, the letter’s original recipient was William Blenkinsop Jr., the 35-year-old manager of a Victorian iron works in Bedlington, a town in the north of England. Sotheby’s state that all that’s known about the letter’s sender is that they posted the missive in London — about 300 miles to the south — and paid for it with the Penny Black stamp.


The envelope was resent as a Mulready. - Sotheby's© Provided by CNN

After receiving the letter, Blenkinsop Jr. turned the envelope inside out and refashioned it as a “Mulready” – an ornate wrapper embellished with images representing the British Empire that acted as another method of prepaid payment introduced at the same time as the Penny Black.

That second envelope reached a Mr. Blenkinsop, most likely his father, who lived 75 miles away in Dalston, Carlisle and kept it, although the contents of both letters themselves have been lost.

“Surviving over 180 years, the ornate Mulready envelope sealed with a Penny Black revolutionized the way people from all walks of life correspond, exchange ideas, share news and express themselves,” Richard Austin, Sotheby’s Global Head of Books & Manuscripts, said in a statement.

“At the dawn of the AI age, this remarkable object speaks to our innate human desire for connection and the ways in which it has evolved to new heights in the two centuries since.”



The Penny Black stamp revolutionized the postal service. - 

Sotheby's© Provided by CNN

Both sides of the envelope still bear the stamped dates on which they were sent, the first on May 2, 1840 and the second on May 4, two days before the official start date of the Penny Black.

Teacher and social reformer Sir Rowland Hill conceived the idea for the Penny Black, the world’s first adhesive stamp, to standardize the complex, expensive and unpredictable postal rates at the time, that were paid for by the recipient.


The system was unwieldy for both those using it and the postal service, who could sometimes not recover the costs of delivering items if the person receiving them did not pay.

While the stamp was wildly successful and subsequently adopted worldwide, the Mulready envelope was withdrawn after it was ridiculed by the public.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com

Tesla is raising factory worker pay as auto union tries to organize its electric vehicle plants

DETROIT (AP) — Factory workers at Tesla have been told to expect pay raises this year, a move that comes as the United Auto Workers union tries to organize the electric vehicle maker's U.S. plants.

The UAW said Thursday that Tesla workers have told the union about company statements on the raises, which did not give details about the size of the increases.

After winning strong contracts with Detroit's three automakers last year, the union has embarked on an effort to organize all nonunion auto plants in the U.S., including Tesla's assembly and battery factories in Texas, California and Nevada.

The Tesla raises come after nearly all companies with nonunion auto plants announced worker pay increases shortly after the UAW contracts were ratified.

The UAW said its organizing drive will target more than a dozen U.S. plants run by Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, Subaru, Mazda, Volkswagen, Mercedes, BMW and Volvo. Tesla also is on the list, along with EV startups Rivian and Lucid.

UAW President Shawn Fain has called the raises at nonunion automakers the “UAW bump," saying that they were given in an effort to thwart union organizing efforts.

“As great as these raises are, they still fall far short of what the companies can afford and what autoworkers are worth,” Fain said in a statement Thursday.

Related video: Tesla Hiking Pay for All US Factory Workers (Bloomberg)

A message was left Thursday seeking comment from Tesla, which is based in Austin, Texas.

Tesla production workers, material handlers and quality inspectors will get a “market adjustment” pay raise, according to Bloomberg News, which reported the raises early Thursday.

The UAW said this week that over 30% of workers at a Mercedes-Benz plant near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, have signed cards authorizing a vote on union representation.

The action at Mercedes comes after more than 1,000 workers at Volkswagen’s Tennessee factory signed similar cards authorizing a vote.

The union says its strategy includes calling for an election at factories when about 70% of the workers sign up. A union can seek an election run by the National Labor Relations Board once a majority of workers support it.

The UAW pacts with General Motors, Ford and Jeep maker Stellantis include 25% pay raises by the time the contracts end in April of 2028. With cost-of-living increases, workers will see about 33% in raises for a top assembly wage of $42 per hour, plus annual profit sharing, the union said.

Tesla also has found itself locked in an increasingly bitter dispute with union workers in Sweden and neighboring countries. The electric car maker’s CEO Elon Musk is staunchly anti-union.

The Associated Press

Virtual ERs are controversial, but in rural Newfoundland, one has saved a life

 The Canadian Press

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — The 12-bed hospital in New-Wes-Valley, N.L. — population 2,000 — found itself at the centre of a heated debate about staff shortages in rural health care when the province signed a contract to staff its emergency department virtually.

Mayor Mike Tiller, a paramedic, is not completely sold on the idea of having doctors hundreds of kilometres away responsible for urgent care of his town's residents, but a recent experience has convinced him the virtual ER can save lives.

Tiller says a patient who came to the Dr. Y.K. Jeon Kittiwake Health Centre in cardiac distress was able to get a life-saving injection thanks to a virtual emergency doctor, who teamed with on-site health professionals such as nurses or paramedics to provide treatment. The injection broke up blood clots and kept the patient alive so he could be transferred to a larger hospital in Gander, about an hour and a half away, and then airlifted to St. John's, Tiller said in a recent interview.

Without the virtual emergency room, the hospital would have been closed, Tiller said.

"It will save lives," Tiller said about the town's virtual emergency room. "It's not ideal. It's not what we hope is a permanent solution … but it's saving lives, which is what it's there for."

Like many rural hospitals across Canada, the New-Wes-Valley health centre has been plagued by closures because there were no doctors or nurses to keep it open. It currently has one doctor on staff who does not cover the emergency room, Tiller said. Normally, the facility would have six doctors, all sharing emergency duties.

Tiller said the hospital was closed so much at the beginning of last year, he was worried it would be shut down for good.

In an effort to keep these centres open, the Newfoundland and Labrador government has offered more money to doctors working in rural hospitals, flown in temporary doctors, and introduced virtual services where patients in smaller, unstaffed hospitals could speak to physicians in larger facilities.

In November, the province signed a two-year, $22-million contract with Teladoc Health, which is headquartered in New York state, to build a more robust "virtual care solution" for rural emergency rooms and for patients who need primary care but don't have a family doctor. 

The move signalled that virtual care would play a more prominent role in the government's efforts to keep rural hospitals open. The contract, obtained by The Canadian Press, says Teladoc would offer its services in up to five rural emergency rooms beginning in November, and up to 20 rural emergency departments beginning in March. It began operating in the New-Wes-Valley hospital in late November.

In its proposal to Newfoundland and Labrador health officials, the company says it has a pool of 350 physicians licensed to practise in Canada. Doctors working virtual emergency rooms will reside outside the province but be licensed to work there, the company said. They will keep rural emergency departments open seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

"Teladoc Health’s vision is to make virtual care the first step on any health-care journey," the document said.

The company has since expanded its virtual emergency services into two more rural hospitals, said a statement Thursday from Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services. As of Dec. 31, 172 patients had sought urgent or emergency care across the three facilities, and ten were transferred to larger hospitals.

Staff shortages are driving a record number of rural emergency room closures across Canada, and more provinces are turning to virtual care to keep them open, said Dr. Trevor Jain, an emergency physician in Prince Edward Island and a spokesperson for the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians. The approach is not without its risks, he said.

"I've heard this argument before, that some care is better than no care. But some care can cause harm if not done properly," Jain said in an interview. Virtual care is "extremely expensive," he added, and officials often turn to it as a "quick fix" without addressing the larger problems.

Ultimately, virtual care would work best in a hybrid situation, alongside on-site emergency physicians in well-staffed hospitals, Jain said. He added that provinces must keep working to train and recruit physicians and nurses who will work in rural emergency rooms and to shore up health-care systems outside of emergency rooms.

Dr. Jan Sommers agrees. In an ideal system, she said, virtual care would be primarily used to help during surge times in emergency departments that are already well staffed. Sommers is the head of emergency at Nova Scotia's Colchester East Hants Health Centre, which piloted the VirtualEmergencyNS system. Like the Teladoc system, it uses virtual physicians with on-site health professionals who act as the doctor's hands.

However, the physicians with VirtualEmergencyNS either work in Nova Scotia or have experience there, she said.

Virtual care as it's used today in Canada is relatively new — it emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic — and there are still questions about its use, Sommers said.

"Virtual care will never replace face-to-face care, and nor should it," she said. "But I do think that it definitely is going to be a piece of the solution for health care going forward."

In New-Wes-Valley, Tiller said he's grateful the hospital is open and saving lives, but virtual care still has its drawbacks. For example, patients who arrive at the town's virtual emergency room and need extended care still have to be transferred to Gander, and patients using virtual care for regular checkups see a different doctor for each visit.

"We want to have our doctors here," he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 11, 2024.

Sarah Smellie, The Canadian Press

'Cutting the heck' out of Canada's boreal forest has put caribou at risk

Story by Benjamin Shingler • CBC

Canada is home to the largest boreal forest in the world, a vast expanse of wilderness rich in biodiversity that stretches from coast to coast.

But a major new study examining nearly a half century of logging in Ontario and Quebec warns that clear-cutting has left forests in the provinces severely depleted — and puts woodland caribou at risk.

The peer-reviewed research, published in the academic journal Land, found that logging practices between 1976 and 2020 have resulted in the loss of more than 14 million hectares of forest, an area roughly twice the size of New Brunswick.

There are only 21 million hectares of older forest (defined as forests 100 years or older) remaining in the region.

"We have been cutting the heck out of the boreal forest," said Jay Malcolm, a professor emeritus of forestry at the University of Toronto, and one of the authors of the study, conducted by researchers in Canada and Australia.

The researchers calculated that older forests make up only 42 per cent of the forest area, and most of the remaining older forest is in the remote north.

"It's very frightening. It was startling to see how little is left and how badly fragmented it is," said Malcolm.

Caribou herds under threat

Using satellite imagery and government data, the study found that only eight patches of older forest greater than 500 square kilometres are still intact in Ontario and Quebec.

The patchwork of remaining older forests threatens the survival of woodland caribou, which require large areas of undisturbed habitat for their survival.


Nearly all remaining caribou herds in Ontario and Quebec — 19 of 21 — are considered at "high risk" or "very high risk" because of disturbances to their habitat.

Environmental groups have been calling for more stringent measures to protect the dwindling caribou population.

"This paper shows that our logging practices are not, in fact, sustainable," said Rachel Plotkin, boreal project manager with the David Suzuki Foundation.

"What caribou need is to have the habitat that they depend upon protected and where it's already been degraded, to have it restored."



An aerial view shows an area of the boreal forest in Quebec where trees were felled during salvage logging efforts following an insect outbreak near Baie-Comeau, Que., in August 2022. A recent study, published in the academic journal Land, found that logging practices since 1976 have resulted in the loss of more than 14 million hectares of boreal forest, an area roughly twice the size of New Brunswick. 

(Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images)© Provided by cbc.ca

Caribou feed on lichen, which grow on the floor of older forests. Plotkin said the disappearance of those feeding grounds and an expanding network of logging roads that make it easier for predators like wolves to track caribou have contributed to their decline.

According to Plotkin, the federal government hasn't done enough to manage the problem.

"Even if only one per cent of a forest is cut annually, Canada will say, 'Don't worry, we're unlocking one per cent of our forest every year.' But in 100 years the entire forest is going to be logged," she said.

Forests planted after logging are more limited in the variety of species they contain and don't have the attributes that favour caribou, like a floor rich in lichen, she said.

"We're not managing our forests so that they have old growth, and the roads that are used by forestry operations will be the lasting legacy that impact wildlife species like caribou."

In a statement, Natural Resources Canada said it is "committed to the protection" of at-risk species, including caribou.

"The government continues to work with provinces, territories, Indigenous peoples and stakeholders," the statement said.



A map prepared for the study features orange areas to indicates places that have been logged in Ontario and Quebec since 1976. The turquoise represents areas where the forest is at least 100 years old.

 (Griffith Climate Action Beacon/Griffith University)© Provided by cbc.ca

Quebec plan coming

Logging practices fall under provincial jurisdiction, but provinces must comply with federal environmental regulations.

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault has been critical of Ontario and Quebec for not doing enough to protect caribou habitat. He has threatened to use the Species At Risk Act, which includes a seldom-used provision that allows Ottawa to impose stricter rules on provinces.


Amélie Moffet, a spokesperson for Quebec's environment minister, told CBC News a caribou protection plan is coming soon, with the goal of reducing human disturbance on herds.

In Ontario, forestry companies are required to demonstrate that their operations will not adversely affect the amount and arrangement of caribou habitat over a long period of time, said Marcela Mayo, a spokesperson for Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources.

"Forest management activities are required to follow a comprehensive forest management plan."
'The most magical animal'

Valérie Courtois, executive director of the Indigenous Leadership Initiative, a national conservation and stewardship organization, questioned whether the current management practices are enough.

"We have a tendency as a Western culture to want to maximize our economic opportunities when we engage with natural resources," she said.



A caribou is seen in Gaspé, Que. The province has promised a stronger approach to protecting the animals, which require large areas of undisturbed habitat for their survival. 

(Denis Desjardins/SEPAQ)© Provided by cbc.ca

"What we're seeing with caribou is an early warning sign, and it behooves us to listen to that warning sign because the reality is that this will happen to other species."

Courtois is a member of the Innu community of Mashteuiatsh, located on the shore of Peikuakami, or Lac-St-Jean, Que., about 200 kilometres north of Quebec City. She has seen the George River caribou herd, which roams between eastern Quebec and Labrador, up close.

"They're beautiful," she said of caribou. "It's not an accident that it's featured on our quarter. I think caribou is the most majestic, the most magical animal I know."

MANITOBA

Trustees call on province to boost number of Indigenous teachers

 Winnipeg school trustees are calling on the newly-elected NDP government to set aside funding to help local universities graduate more Indigenous teachers.

Elected officials from two city school divisions, St. James-Assiniboia and Winnipeg, have co-written a letter to call attention to representation gaps in kindergarten-to-Grade 12 classrooms.

“It’s our way of saying to the government that this is still a priority for us and we hope that it can be a priority for them, too,” said Holly Hunter, chairwoman of the SJASD board of trustees.

The memo, sent Wednesday to Advanced Education Minister Renée Cable, requests the province make a “significant investment” into training to tackle the workforce shortage.

It also calls on the ministry to partner with community organizations to ensure First Nations, Métis and Inuit candidates have access to bursaries and wraparound services ranging from housing to child care.

Hunter said the letter, which was also shared with Education Minister Nello Altomare, Indigenous Economic Development Minister Ian Bushie and Premier Wab Kinew, is largely symbolic.

“We want to have more Indigenous teachers in our schools, but the universities aren’t graduating enough students for us to be able to have enough Indigenous teachers to be representative of the number of students that we have in our buildings,” said the trustee, who is also a certified teacher.

Indigenous teachers make up nine per cent of certified teachers in SJASD — a proportionate representation shortfall of 10 per cent, per June 2023 data from the division.

Hunter added: “This isn’t something that we can fix (alone).”

The Winnipeg Indigenous Executive Circle estimates an additional 570 teachers would need to be hired across city divisions to match the percentage of public school students who are First Nations, Métis and Inuit.

WIEC’s latest report on the state of equity in education indicates the University of Manitoba and University of Winnipeg have graduated an average of 35 Indigenous teachers annually over the last two decades.

“At this rate, it will take almost 20 years to address the under-representation of Indigenous teachers in Winnipeg,” states an excerpt from 2022 report.

Manitoba’s largest faculty of education is in talks with WIEC and, in a wider bid to attract teacher candidates, developing an introductory course to encourage students from different disciplines to consider the profession. The elective is anticipated to launch in the fall.

Given U of M’s program is an after-degree option, recruitment needs to happen internally within the campus community as much as it does externally with outreach to high schools, said Frank Deer, associate dean of Indigenous education.

“(Our recruitment) is not terribly robust, if I’m honest; we need to do more,” Deer said, noting the university has cut back on these efforts to find cost savings in recent years.

At the same time, the professor said the U of M — which graduated about 170 teachers overall last year — is also focused on up-skilling opportunities for working professionals.

The faculty is designing a post-baccalaureate diploma in Indigenous education to be rolled out as early as September.

“For us, it’s not just about Indigenous teachers in the field but it’s the sort of competencies they have to serve all students… on such things as Indigenous history, literature, science and other aspects of Indigenous life that are really quite important,” he added.

In their letter to government leaders, trustees acknowledged both concerted efforts to address the issue are ongoing and the reality that they have not made a significant dent.

For example, the Community-based Aboriginal Teacher Education Program — an initiative between divisions and the U of W that provides educational assistants a pathway to become teachers — only graduates a handful of teachers every year.

The letter also suggests there is an urgency to hiring more Indigenous teachers in order to improve academic outcomes among underrepresented children and youth.

“We will continue to support post-secondary institutions so that they are able to provide quality Indigenous teacher education programs,” Cable said in a statement that noted University College of the North is expanding its Kenanow bachelor of education.

The advanced education minister added there is “a long way to go” to address representation gaps owing to years of the Tories’ austerity agenda.

Last week, the province appointed its first assistant deputy minister of Indigenous excellence in education and tasked Jackie Connell, a Métis school division administrator, with providing advice to improve graduation rates, among other indicators.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Maggie Macintosh, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Winnipeg Free Press

China's Zijin Mining to buy 15% stake in Canada's Solaris

Story by Reuters  • 

(Reuters) -Solaris Resources said on Thursday that Chinese mining firm Zijin Mining Group plans to acquire a 15% stake in the Canadian miner for about C$130 million ($96.99 million), in a deal that would test Canada's new foreign investment rules.

The deal is the first investment by a Chinese miner since November 2022, when Canada ordered three Chinese companies to divest their investments in Canadian critical minerals, citing national security.

Canada has in recent years tightened its Investment Canada Act (ICA), under which deals involving a foreign company are reviewed to safeguard national security.

The Canadian government did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Under the terms of the agreement, Solaris will issue about 28.5 million shares at C$4.55 per share to a unit of Zijin, representing a 14% premium to the stock's close on Wednesday.

Shares of Solaris were up more than 5% on Thursday.

The deal would also permit Zijin to nominate a member to the Solaris board for as long as the Chinese firm held at least a 5% stake.

Solaris said it would use the proceeds of the transaction for the development of its Warintza copper-gold project in Ecuador.

Brokerage Eight Capital said in a note that it was a "good deal for Zijin Mining and a strong endorsement of the Warintza exploration strategy."

($1 = 1.3404 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Kabir Dweit; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)

VIDEO  Ottawa monitoring Chinese investment in domestic rare earths mine

The Canadian government says it's keeping an eye on a recent Chinese investment in a struggling Australian firm that owns Canada's only operating rare earths mine. The minerals are essential to the “green” economy. As Heidi Petracek explains, some industry insiders want Ottawa to take more assertive action to keep China away from domestic resources.

ALBERTA FREEZES  PRIVATIZED CHILD CARE FUNDING

Matthew Lau: The Alberta government's disastrous child-care takeover

Opinion by Special to National Post • 

Children's backpacks and shoes are seen at a daycare in Langley, B.C., 

on Tuesday May 29, 2018.© Provided by National Post

The government takeover of child care is a full-blown crisis in Alberta, with many of the province’s child-care entrepreneurs saying they are being pushed to the brink.

They have until the end of January to sign the provincial government’s new agreement, but its terms give child-care operators “serious concerns for financial viability moving forward,” says Krystal Churcher, chair of the Association of Alberta Childcare Entrepreneurs (AACE), in a letter co-signed by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) and addressed to Searle Turton, Alberta’s minister of children and family services.

Even as the government pours increasing sums of taxpayer money into the sector, child-care operators are suffering from a government-imposed revenue cap in the face of inflating expenses, a lengthy delay in receiving revenue and heavy administrative and audit expenses required to participate in the government program.

Opting out of the government program isn’t a great option either because it means competing without subsidies in a sector awash in government funding while also paying the same taxes that pay for everyone else’s subsidies.

One child-care entrepreneur, Christine Pasmore, who has managed her facility for 18 years and serves over 120 children, told me this week that “it is virtually impossible for my centre to remain financially viable under the new agreement.” She added that the situation is made worse by the heavy administrative burdens of the program.

“While the government emphasizes that child-care centres have the option to participate in the program or not, the reality for many operators is a stark choice between immediate bankruptcy by not signing in or a slower path to financial ruin by participating,” she said.

The new government agreement gives child-care operators a three per cent fee increase for 2024, but the baseline is artificially low because many child-care centres essentially froze fees coming out of the pandemic, and need 10 to 12 per cent revenue growth just to account for inflation.

On top of that, are the administrative burdens imposed by government. Child-care operators who participate in the government program must pay for mandatory financial audits, which for most centres will cost around $30,000 per year.

In her letter to the minister, Churcher noted that additional administrative expenses will come from paperwork, staffing and reporting. For her business specifically, she tells me the government-imposed administrative burden works out to $28 per child per month on top of the $30,000 audit fee.

 Another child-care operator, licensed for 100 spaces in Calgary, told me this week that he estimates the government is wiping out about one-third of his centre’s income by limiting the growth of fees to three per cent and by imposing significant new costs.

“Operators have little control and little ability to fix things as our revenues are contractually restricted,” he told me.

A one-third cut to income is a calamity; for many other child-care centres, the negative financial impacts could be even worse. When revenues cannot rise to match expenses, even modest expense growth causes a severe reduction to margins and earnings.

The government’s stated goal is to make child care more widely available, but wrestling control away from operators and severely impairing the value of their investments is not going to help grow or strengthen the sector.

In addition to constraining revenue, government is imposing a massive liquidity burden on child-care operators by delaying funding. Instead of receiving fees at the beginning of each month, government reimburses revenues on a delay of 40 to 45 days, which places “an unsustainable burden on child-care operators,” the AACE-CFIB letter states.

It will lead to “severe cash flow problems, making it challenging to cover essential expenses like rent and wages on time, depleting savings and requiring reliance upon business loans” which increases interest expenses. While 40 to 45 days of delayed revenue might not sound like much, for many centres this is equivalent to the government borrowing something like two-thirds or more of annual net income, interest-free and on a rolling basis.

Responses to a survey from the AACE to its members, who operate about 250 child-care centres accounting for 30,000 spaces across the province, was appended to their letter to the Alberta government. When asked how they would cope with the funding delay, many said they would need to obtain bank loans or lines of credit: “borrowing money to fund the government,” as one operator put it.

Some operators are panicking, and have asked landlords to delay rent and staff to delay payroll. Others say they will have to close their businesses unless a swift course correction is taken by government. Indeed, without serious policy improvement, the government is destroying a vitally important sector. It is a disaster for Alberta’s child-care businesses, their staff and the families they serve.

National Post

Matthew Lau is a Toronto writer. 

Ontario government's partnership with ServiceOntario and Staples Canada raises questions

Story by National Post Staff  • 

A ServiceOntario located photographed in Cornwall, Ont.

© Provided by National Post

The Ontario government is reportedly closing an undisclosed number of ServiceOntario locations as it moves forward with a plan to open new centres in select Staples Canada stores.

The government announced the change in December , stating it was “making it easier and more convenient for families and businesses to access vital government services.” It added that the new scheme would “reduce the overall cost to deliver government services to the public.”

The announcement did not mention any closures. Citing unnamed sources within the premier’s office, CityNews reported that an unspecified number of ServiceOntario centres are set to close and will have new locations open in Staples Canada stores.

There are 275 ServiceOntario locations currently operating in the province under a mix of private and provincial ownership. A 2013 Auditor General of Ontario report found that out of the then-289 ServiceOntario centres, 82 were provincially run and 207 were privately owned.

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CityNews reported that some of the locations set to close have been family businesses for decades and they were given just 70 days’ notice of the impending closures.

ServiceOntario says it completes 59 million transactions annually, and private operators are paid a commission for each transaction they process. It helps residents get vital documents, such as health cards, birth certificates and driver’s licences.

The government source told CityNews that Staples Canada was chosen after lengthy consultations with possible retail partners, including factoring in the number of locations, the size of the stores and parking availability, among other considerations.

The source said that Staples Canada was chosen as a partner because it met all its criteria and the shift will give customers “a 30 per cent improvement to current service accessibility hours.”

The reaction to the announcement on social media has been mixed, with some Ontarians, particularly in rural areas, expressing concerns about the impact the change could have on services in their communities, and the distances they would have to travel to access Staples Canada locations.

Staples Canada currently operates in 73 cities in Ontario. The privately held business was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Richmond Hill, Ont.

Catherine Fife, the official opposition NDP critic for the finance and treasury board, said the move “raises serious concerns about Ontarians’ access to government services.

“Closing down ServiceOntario locations without details of how many or how service demands will be managed, especially in Northern and rural parts of the province, is worrisome,” she said . “This is not an expansion of service, but another attempt for Ford to quietly hand over more of our public services to private corporations.”

The financial details of the partnership, including what cost savings are expected, have not been disclosed.