Ratification votes held for City of Edmonton, Edmonton Public Library CSU 52 members after strike averted

Story by Caley Gibson • 22/03/2024

Global News

Civic Service Union 52 employees outside the City of Edmonton's Clareview 

Recreaction Centre on Monday, March 11, 2024.

Ratification votes are being held this weekend for members of Civic Service Union 52 (CSU 52) employed with the City of Edmonton and Edmonton Public Library after a tentative deal was reached last week between the parties and the union, narrowly avoiding a strike.

The tentative four-year deal includes a retroactive lump-sum payment of $1,000 for 2021, a retroactive 1.25-per cent wage increase for 2022, a retroactive two-per cent wage increase for 2023 and a three-per cent increase for 2024.

The tentative deal was reached in the 11th hour, as members were set to walk off the job Thursday morning. The union said it spent about 18 months negotiating the deal with the city.

Now, union members must approve the deal through a ratification vote, which opened to City of Edmonton CSU 52 members on Friday morning. The ratification vote will be open until noon Monday.

Members employed by EPL will vote on the deal between 8:30 p.m. Sunday and noon Wednesday. While the tentative deal being voted on is the same for both city and library members, EPL members are in a separate bargaining unit.

Video: Tentative deal reached between City of Edmonton, some CSU 52 members

The deal must be approved by at least 50 per cent of members. The union is recommending ratification of both agreements.

Last week, union president Lanny Chudyk said he was pretty certain the agreement will be ratified.

"Both parties compromised a bit at the end of bargaining," he said Friday.

 

Uproar mounts of Northvolt

Story by The Canadian Press

 • 3h •

Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK) chief Ross Montour was in Montreal this week alongside environmental groups calling on Quebec to submit the Northvolt mega-lithium battery plant to an environmental assessment process.  

Activists with Greenpeace, Équiterre, the David Suzuki Foundation, and Nature Quebec all gathered at a press conference this Monday. They say public trust is being eroded because citizens and First Nations aren’t being properly consulted about the project and how it could impact the environment.  

“You have to take into account the potential impact of your decisions on the faces that are still in the earth and the faces yet to come, or as some people say, the seven generations,” Montour told the room, mentioning the Great Law of Peace. “If you can’t meet that basic criteria then you really need to think about the kinds of decisions you’re making.” 

The factory for the production of electric car batteries is set to be in operation by 2026 and will be located across 170 hectares of land between Saint-Basile-le-Grand and McMasterville. Nearly 14 hectares of wetlands with at-risk species will be destroyed to make way for the plant, which has been the subject of widespread condemnation ever since the province approved it. Construction is already underway. 

In late January, the MCK launched a legal challenge against Northvolt and the provincial and federal governments in the hope of halting the project – one they were not consulted on and didn’t consent to being on their traditional territory, Montour reminded the room. 

“The mining of lithium, everything I’ve seen and read so far leads me to question if this is a good thing for the environment,” the Council chief said, adding “Your great-grandchildren’s grandchildren won’t be able to eat that money.” 

The environmental activists there say they’re concerned about the Quebec government’s growing tendency to weaken environmental regulations surrounding major industrial projects and how they get approved, one that’s accelerated since the pandemic, when a new law was passed to accelerate infrastructure projects.  

In February, the government also increased the production threshold needed to trigger independent environmental reviews on lithium-ion battery factories in Quebec from 50,000 to 60,000 tons. Northvolt’s application meanwhile proposed a project capable of producing 56,000 tons leading to speculation the province bended the rules with Northvolt in mind. 

“They’re creating a new process for this specific industry, for this specific company,” said Marc-André Viau, director of government relations with Équiterre. “Is the trade-off worth the destruction of wetlands? For this specific case, I don’t know,” he said, adding the public has largely been left in the dark.  

Questions about emissions that will result from the plant, what’s to be released into the neighbouring Richelieu River, and how much the company will need to withdraw from it once it’s in operation are among some that have gone unanswered. 

“We have a lot of questions that we didn’t receive any answer for,” said Jacinthe Villeneuve, a McMasterville resident part of a citizens’ coalition against the project. 

“We are asking the government to respect democratic processes, to be transparent, and to work on restoring public trust,” added Alice-Anne Simard, executive director of Nature Quebec. 

Montour said Northvolt will also be on the agenda at an upcoming meeting with the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) later this month.  

miriam@easterndoor.com

Miriam Lafontaine, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Eastern Door

E-waste from trashed electric devices is piling up and recycling isn't keeping pace, UN says




NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — U.N. agencies have warned that waste from electronics is piling up worldwide while recycling rates remain low and are likely to fall even further.

The agencies were referring to “e-waste,” which is defined as discarded devices with a plug or battery, including cellphones, electronic toys, TVs, microwave ovens, e-cigarettes, laptop computers and solar panels. It does not include waste from electronic vehicles, which fall into a separate category.

In a report released Wednesday, the U.N.’s International Telecommunications Union and research arm UNITAR said some 62 million tons of “e-waste” was generated in 2022, enough to fill tractor-trailers that could be lined up bumper to bumper around the globe. It’s on track to reach 82 million tons by 2030.

Metals — including copper, gold and iron — made up half of the 62 million tons, worth a total of some $91 billion, the report said. Plastics accounted for 17 million tons and the remaining 14 million tons include substances like composite materials and glass.

The U.N. says 22% of the e-waste mass was properly collected and recycled in 2022. It is expected to fall to 20% by the end of the decade because of “staggering growth" of such waste due to higher consumption, limited repair options, shorter product life cycles, growing “electronification” of society, and inadequate e-waste management infrastructure, the agencies said.

They said some of the discarded electronic devices contained hazardous elements like mercury, as well as rare Earth metals coveted by tech industry manufacturers. Currently, only 1% of the demand for the 17 minerals that make up the rare metals is met through recycling.

About half of all e-waste is generated in Asia, where few countries have laws on e-waste or collection targets, according to the report. Recycling and collection rates top 40% in Europe, where per-capita waste generation is highest: nearly 18 kilograms (39 pounds).

In Africa, which generates the least of any of the five big global regions, recycling and collection rates hover at about 1%, it said.

“The latest research shows that the global challenge posed by e-waste is only going to grow,” said Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava, head of the ITU telecommunication development bureau. “With less than half of the world implementing and enforcing approaches to manage the problem, this raises the alarm for sound regulations to boost collection and recycling.”

For some, e-waste represents a way to earn cash by rummaging through trash in the developing world to find coveted commodities, despite the health risks.

At the Dandora dumpsite where garbage collected from the Kenyan capital of Nairobi ends up — even though a court declared it full over a generation ago — scavengers try to earn a living by picking through rubbish for e-waste that can be sold to businesses as recycled material.

Steve Okoth hopes the flow continues so he can eke out an income, but he knows the risks.

“When the e-waste comes here, it contains some powder which affects my health," he said, adding that when electronic devices heat up, they release gases and he “can’t come to work because of chest problems.”

However, Okoth said they don't have any other options: "We are now used to the smoke because if you don’t go to work you will not eat.”

Recycling plants, like Nairobi’s WEEE center, have collection points across Kenya, where people can safely get rid of old electric equipment.

“We take inventory of the items," said Catherine Wasolia, WEEE's chief operating officer, to check for data on submitted devices and wipe them clean. Then they test each to assess if "it can be reused or repurposed.”

E-waste expert George Masila worries about the impact of electronic waste on soil.

“When you have all this e-waste — either in the dumpsites or mercilessly deposited anywhere else — it could have major effects on the soil," Masila said. "Every year it rains and water flows and attracts all these elements that are deposited into the environment. You have water getting contaminated.”

He said greater recycling and re-use of such materials, "are some of the things we should be considering.”

Report authors acknowledged that many people in the developing world pay their bills through harvesting such e-waste, and called for them to be trained and equipped to make such work safer.

“We must try to support these people trying to find their niche,” said Ruediger Kuehr, senior manager of the sustainable cycles program at UNITAR.

__

Keaten reported from Geneva.

Moses Ndungu And Jamey Keaten, The Associated Press

Ghost Army members who deceived Nazis with battlefield ruses in WWII given Congressional Gold Medal

DALLAS (AP) — With inflatable tanks, radio trickery, costume uniforms and acting, the American military units that became known as the Ghost Army outwitted the enemy during World War II. Their mission was kept secret for decades, but on Thursday the group stepped out of the shadows as they were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal at a ceremony in Washington.

“The actions of the Ghost Army helped change the course of the war for thousands of American and Allied troops and contributed to the liberation of a continent from a terrible evil,” Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth said during the ceremony at the U.S. Capitol.

She said that many of the techniques the Ghost Army pioneered are still used on the battlefield. “Even though technology has changed quite a bit since 1944, our modern techniques build on a lot of what the Ghost Army did and we are still learning from your legacy,” she said.

Three of the seven known surviving members attended the ceremony: Bernard Bluestein, 100, of Hoffman Estates, Illinois; John Christman, 99, of Leesburg, New Jersey; and Seymour Nussenbaum, 100, of Monroe Township, New Jersey.

Their work during the war "was like putting on a big production,” Nussenbaum said in an interview before the ceremony.

“We have had in some cases people impersonating generals, putting on a general's uniform and walking around the streets," he said.

Nussenbaum, who grew up in New York City, was studying art at the Pratt Institute before he joined the Army. Eventually, he joined a unit specializing in camouflage that was part of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops.

“Our mission was to fool the enemy, to put on a big act,” said Nussenbaum, a painter who went on to a career in commercial art.

Sen. Edward Markey of Massachusetts said during the ceremony that the Ghost Army members were “creative, original thinkers, who used engineering, art, architecture and advertising to wage battle with the enemy.”

“Their weapons were unconventional but their patriotism was unquestionable,” he said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said during the ceremony that it’s estimated that between 15,000 to 30,000 lives were saved because of the Ghost Army’s work.

The legislation to honor the military units with the Congressional Gold Medal — Congress' highest honor — was signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022. That came after almost a decade of work by family members of the soldiers and Rick Beyer, a filmmaker and author who has who helped bring their story to light after their mission was declassified in 1996. Beyer, president of the Ghost Army Legacy Project, produced and directed the 2013 documentary “The Ghost Army" and co-authored the 2015 book “The Ghost Army of World War II.”

“They put themselves in harm’s way wielding imagination, bravado and creativity in order that other soldiers might be able to fight and live,” Beyer told those gathered Thursday.

“This is a day that has been a long time coming but it has been well worth the wait,” Beyer said.

The Ghost Army included about 1,100 soldiers in the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, which carried out about 20 battlefield deceptions in France, Luxembourg, Belgium and Germany, and around 200 soldiers in the 3133rd Signal Company Special, which carried out two deceptions in Italy.

One of the biggest missions, called Operation Viersen, came in March 1945 when the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops' deception drew German units away from the point on the Rhine River where the 9th Army was actually crossing.

“They had hundreds of inflatables set up," Beyer said in an interview before the ceremony. “They had their sound trucks operating for multiple nights. They had other units attached to them. They had set up multiple phony headquarters and staffed them with officers who were pretending to be colonels.”

“This was an all-hands-on-deck affair and it was completely successful," Beyer said. “It fooled the Germans. They moved their troops to the river opposite where the deception was.”

In September 1944, the Ghost Army helped fill a gap in Gen. George Patton's line during an attack on the Germans in the French city of Metz.

“They end up holding this part of the line for eight days, which is really long in terms of doing a deception, trying to keep up appearances,” Beyer said.

Kim Seale of Dallas said that his father's work in the Ghost Army came as a surprise to him. Only about six months after his father's death at the age of 84 in 2001, he was told of the connection by a past member of the Ghost Army who was putting together a reunion.

“I said, ‘What do you mean, Ghost Army?’” Seale said.

“My Dad never talked about it," Seale said. “He kept the oath.”

He said his father, Oscar Seale, who was a captain, had told him that at one point during the war that he had transitioned from a tank division to a position as a courier. Seale said he now thinks that's when his father joined the Ghost Army.

“It’s been a 20-plus year journey of learning about the Ghost Army, learning about what my Dad did, learning about what the men did and just being amazed at that story,” he said.

Jamie Stengle, The Associated Press

Defense expert details the 'theocratic fascist dystopia' that could follow 2024 election

Story by Alex Henderson

 • 2h • ALTERNET

Journalist/author Brynn Tannehill, a former U.S. Navy aviator and defense analyst, has been sounding the alarm about the possible violence and unrest that the United States' 2024 presidential election could bring.

In a disturbing article published by Dame Magazine on February 24, Tannehill detailed the authoritarian actions that GOP nominee Donald Trump — judging from his rhetoric during campaign speeches — could take if he defeats President Joe Biden in November and returns to the White House in January 2025. While that piece detailed some frightening scenarios in a second Trump presidency, a more recent Tannehill article describes four possible scenarios for the November election and the months that follow it.

In a listicle published by The New Republic on March 22, Tannehill explains, "In the coming election, there are four realistic outcomes that depend on who ends up in the White House and how they get there."

READ MORE: Watch: Robert De Niro fears retribution from 'malignant, sociopathic narcissist' Trump if he wins

Those possible outcomes, according to Tannehill, are: (1) "Biden wins the popular vote and Electoral College, and Democrats win the House," (2) "Biden wins the popular vote and Electoral College, and Republicans win the House," (3) "Trump loses the popular vote but wins the Electoral College," and (4) "Trump wins the popular vote and the Electoral College."

Scenario #1, according to Tannehill, would be "the best-case scenario for Democrats and probably the country" and "looks like a repeat of 2020."

"Trump and Republicans will allege fraud and rigged elections," Tannehill explains. "They'll try to block certification at the county, state, and federal levels, resulting in court cases that generally go nowhere…. After chaos that looks a lot like 2020 — only more intense, widespread, and gaining more support from state-level Republicans — Biden gets sworn in on January 20, 2025, to govern a nation where over half the states don't accept his legitimacy."

In Scenario #2, Tannehill warns, it is "very likely" that "Speaker Mike Johnson will refuse to certify the election, invoking the 12th Amendment to decide the election."

READ MORE: 'The fascist nightmare looms': Columnist says Trump’s election may end democracy worldwide

In Scenarios #3 and #4, Trump would return to the White House on January 20, 2025. Tannehill fears that during a second term, Trump would emulate Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and other authoritarians he openly admires.

"No matter how I map it out," Tannehill laments, "the election cycle either ends in chaos and violence, balkanization, or a descent into a modern theocratic fascist dystopia. There is no scenario in which everything turns out 'just fine.' Even in my first scenario, the best case for Democrats (and democrats), nullification of Biden policies by red states is rampant, and the union slowly dissolves."

Tannehill continues, "The only scenario that results in a peaceful transfer of power is the one that leads almost inevitably toward the worst possible long-term outcome: a fascist nation, allied with the globe's worst dictators, governed by religious fundamentalists yearning for Armageddon, while armed with enough strategic nuclear weapons to give God a run for his money."

READ MORE: Ex-Trump lawyer vows to seek political asylum in another country if he wins in 2024: 'I fear for my life'

Read Brynn Tannehill's full New Republic article at this link.

Time for Ottawa to protect Canadians from 'forever chemicals,' toxics experts say

OTTAWA — Nearly a year after Health Canada issued a draft recommendation to designate an entire class of chemicals as toxic, environmental experts say it's time to actually do something about it.

There are now more than 10,000 variations of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, which are used in hundreds of products from waterproof cosmetics and stain repellents to carpeting and non-stick cookware.

Scientifically they are referred to by the acronym PFAS, pronounced like Pea-fass. But many call them "forever chemicals" because they don't break down.

Cassie Barker, the toxics program manager at Environmental Defence, told the House of Commons environment committee Thursday that the chemicals have one of the strongest bonds in organic chemistry, making it nearly impossible for them to break down.

"Instead they persist forever and accumulate in the environment and our bodies for years," Barker said.

Studies have linked them to significant health problems including cancers, hormone disruptions, immune system problems and liver disease.

In May 2023 Health Canada issued a draft recommendation, following a scientific review of available evidence, that said the science meets the requirement to label PFAS as toxic under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.

Related video: Calls to ban "forever chemicals" (CityNews)
PFAS as toxic under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act 
Duration 2:09   View on Watch

That designation would then allow regulation of the substances, including an outright ban.

Barker said not only is it time to move to finalize that designation, the regulations must swiftly follow. She said the important thing is to designate the entire class, not just each substance individually.

Canada did designate and ban some versions of PFAS in 2012 but other products simply moved in to take their place and pose similar harm, said Barker. This time, the proposal is to label the full class at the same time.

"We can't just keep playing whack-a-mole here," Barker said.

In a statement, Environment and Climate Change Canada said a final report deciding whether to confirm the toxic designation is expected "in the coming months." If the designation goes ahead, a risk management plan will be published at the same time.

The European Union and several U.S. states have already moved to limit or phase out their use. Europe is phasing out all PFAS except for essential uses where there is no alternative.

California has put limits on the use of the chemicals in food packaging, banned them entirely in products aimed at children under the age of 12 and will ban all PFAS from cosmetics next year.

Last June 3M agreed to settle lawsuits from more than 300 municipalities who found the chemicals in their drinking water. The settlement could reach more than $12.5 billion. The company is also planning to stop making PFAS by 2025.

In 2005, DuPont was fined US$16.5 million by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for failing to report its research that had found potential health risks to PFAS chemicals it made as early as 1981.

The chemicals were unregulated at that point. DuPont also paid more than US$107 million to settle a water-contamination lawsuit by residents who lived near the West Virginia plant.

In Canada, most consumers are currently not even informed if the product they're buying contains forever chemicals, Barker said.

Sébastien Sauvé, a professor of environmental chemistry at the University of Montreal, told the committee he collected nearly 500 drinking water samples in Quebec from 376 different municipalities. All but two contained at least some traces of PFAS.

Health Canada proposed new limits for PFAS in drinking water in February 2023.

"But we're one year later and these recommendations have still not been adopted through our comments, but we're still waiting to see any results," said Sauvé.

Barker said even if there are limits placed on PFAS in drinking water, municipalities are at a loss about how to comply. The technology that would at least capture most of the chemicals is extremely expensive, she said, and municipalities have no power to keep them from entering their waterways in the first place.

Last June, in a letter to Environment and Climate Change Canada responding to the draft toxic designation, the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada asked that PFAS not be designated toxic as an entire class of substances but on a case-by-case basis, based on proven risk.

"These substances impart a wide range of important performance characteristics that are vital for industrial safety and the manufacture and performance of medical devices, cellphones and laptops, telecommunications infrastructure and advanced transportation, aerospace, and defence applications, among many others," the industry wrote.

"Moreover, PFAS currently used by Canadian industry have not been shown to be of high risk."

The association warned that following Europe's lead and widely regulating the category would be a mistake.

"Canada should not follow the example of other jurisdictions, who have proposed sweeping prohibitions of this class of substance and who will likely face economic hardship and significant consequences to a variety of value chains, requiring correction after the fact," the letter said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 22, 2024.

Mia Rabson, The Canadian Press

Canada's air quality is the worst in North America for the first time ever

by MTL Blog

Canada has achieved a dubious distinction: it's now the most polluted country in North America, according to the latest World Air Quality Report. The revelation puts the country at the forefront of a continental crisis in air quality, marking the first time Canada has topped the charts in the undesirable category.

Swiss air quality tech company IQAir sourced data from over 30,000 monitoring stations across 134 countries and found many regions fail to meet safe levels of fine particulate matter PM2.5. The tiny particles, less than 2.5 microns in diameter, can penetrate the lungs and bloodstream causing severe health issues.

Smoky horizons

Only seven countries globally meet the World Health Organization's air quality guidelines, according to the report. Australia, Estonia, Finland, Grenada, Iceland, Mauritius, and New Zealand are clean-air champions. Europe shows a mixed bag, with Iceland having the cleanest air, followed closely by Estonia and Finland.

Related video: Record wildfires plunge Canada's air quality below the U.S. for first time (cbc.ca)

Duration 2:04  View on Watch

CityNewsSpring arrives after the warmest winter on record
2:24

Fox WeatherMillions under Freeze Warnings as cold air rushes into US from Canada
3:34

CityNewsSpring arrives after the warmest winter on record

2:24

Fox WeatherMillions under Freeze Warnings as cold air rushes into US from Canada

3:34

Global News After a warm winter, Canada may see more drought, wildfires in the spring

1:13

While Sweden, Ireland, and Norway sit comfortably in the green zone, with air quality up to double the WHO's safe standard, Eastern European countries like Lithuania and Poland have yellow and orange pollution levels, signifying a much higher risk. In some positive news, Croatia has slashed its PM2.5 levels by over 40% from the previous year. The country's progress is attributed to increased renewable energy usage and ambitious policies to reduce coal dependency and methane emissions.

Meanwhile, South and Central Asia bear the brunt of worldwide air pollution, especially Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India.

Canada's burning issue

Canada, typically known for its clean air and natural beauty, is now experiencing increased pollution levels, making it the most polluted country in North America. The new report identifies Canada as having the top 13 most polluted cities on the continent.

Recent wildfires are a major cause of the pollution spike. Around 4% of Canada's forests burned last year, affecting areas from Yellowknife to the Pacific Northwest and even sending smoke as far as Florida. The most polluted Canadian cities in 2023 were Fort McMurray, Peace River, and Yellowknife.

From May to October, fires burned an area half the size of Germany. In Alberta, PM2.5 levels in the air were nine times higher than the previous year. Now, over 40% of Canadian cities have particulate levels twice the safe limit set by the WHO, and 35 cities (or 11%) face levels three times above the safety threshold. That's a major change from 2022 when only one Canadian city exceeded those pollution levels.

With the arrival of El Niño, expectations are set for even higher temperatures this year, which could lead to an increase in wildfires throughout the country. Scientists suggest the summer could see unprecedented levels of fire activity. The situation puts pressure on emergency services and air quality management, especially in regions like Quebec, which was enveloped in smoke last year.

Clearing the air

To help combat air pollution, IQAir recommends that governments incorporate WHO air quality guidelines into national standards, which could set a clearer benchmark for clean air. It suggests investment in renewable energy sources to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, and expanding public transportation systems.

Incentives for the use of electric vehicles could also help reduce emissions. Governments are advised to enforce stricter emissions controls and adopt forest management practices that mitigate wildfire risks. Expanding and enhancing air quality monitoring can also provide valuable data to guide policy and public health responses.

For individuals, the report suggests limiting exposure during high pollution periods. Using air purifiers, choosing eco-friendly transport options, and supporting air quality improvement policies can make a difference. People can also lower their own pollution footprint by reducing energy use at home and reusing/recycling items instead of buying new.

Shifting lifestyle habits might be uncomfortable in the short term, but the report suggests they should become the new norm to safeguard public health and preserve the environment for future generations.

Videogame voice actors poised to strike as they battle AI for their jobs

Hollywood is bracing for another actors strike, this time against the videogame industry.

“We’re currently in bargaining with all the major game studios, and the major sticking point is AI,” SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said Thursday. “Actors at all levels are at risk of digital replication. We have strike authorization on that contract and it is, at this point — we could end up going on strike.”

Voice actor Sarah Elmaleh chairs the union’s interactive-media-agreement negotiating committee. “I’ve seen nothing like this in technology to impact our jobs,” she said. “A replicated voice cannot display a spectrum of emotions — yet. For now, it is technology based on averaging and best questions. It lacks nuance.”

The union, which navigated its way to a new film and TV contract after a 118-day strike against the Hollywood studios last year, is again focusing on regulating artificial intelligence and its impact on wages and jobs. “It will be a recurring issue with each successive contract” every three years, Crabtree-Ireland said.

Companies facing a possible strike are Microsoft Corp.’s Activision Publishing, Blindlight LLC, Disney Character Voices International Inc. Electronic Arts Inc. Epic Games Inc., Formosa Interactive LLC, Insomniac Games Inc., Take 2 Productions, VoiceWorks Productions Inc. and Warner Bros. Games

“Actors and actresses should be very much afraid,” Chris Mattmann, an adjunct research professor at the University of Southern California’s Computer Science Department, said in an interview. “Within three seconds, gen AI can effectively clone a voice.”

Videogame studios pay professional actors to voice the aliens, detectives, elves and monsters that inhabit virtual worlds. But increasingly, some are employing realistic, AI-generated voices to save money. And that has cut into actors’ work.

It’s been more than a year since the Interactive Media Agreement, the guild’s videogame contract, was extended beyond its original expiration date. SAG-AFTRA’s last strike against the gaming companies, in 2016-17, lasted about six months.

In September, members overwhelmingly approved a strike authorization on the current contract. The national board has authority to call a strike at any time if negotiations fail.

A spokesperson representing the 10 videogame companies said they are optimistic that a resolution will be reached.

“We are continuing to negotiate in good faith and have made tremendous progress. We have reached tentative agreements on the vast majority of proposals and remain optimistic that we can reach a deal soon,” the spokesperson said in a statement to MarketWatch.

AI horror stories abound

When it comes to AI, Hollywood has been as fraught with tension as any industry — even tech, media or customer service.

A flashpoint came in 2014, when Baidu Inc.’s DeepSpeech technology first converted speech into text. Fast-forward to today, and dialect, inflection and connotation have been refined with voice clones.

“It was the No. 1 topic of discussion at a [voice-over] conference in Atlanta this month,” Joe Davis, a board member of World Voices Organization, the international trade association of voice actors, said in an interview. “Everybody is concerned about AI. It looks like the low end of the market is going away. Where are people going to start in the industry then? In the last six months, the majority of those jobs are going to AI.”

Also read: Tennessee becomes first state to protect musicians and other artists against AI

Marquee actors like Bradley Cooper — the voice of Rocket Raccoon in Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” — need not be worried, but many cartoon and videogame voice actors are looking at reductions in salary and in the number of jobs.

Most at risk are the thousands of working actors who earn anywhere from $100 a gig to tens of thousands of dollars a year on a project. Increasingly, many are either seeing their roles de-emphasized or are losing jobs altogether to digitally replicated voices similar to their own.

“It’s scary. We don’t know where things are going. Just in the last year, the progression has been insane,” said Rebecca Davis, a videogame voice actor who plays a time weaver in Oculus’s “Asgard’s Wrath 2” and member of SAG-AFTRA. “As far as I know, my voice has not been replicated, but things are popping up with videogames. We don’t really know sometimes, until someone notifies you. The company doesn’t tell you.”

Diana Birdsall, a nonunion voice actor of about 20 years, was abruptly replaced by AI on a phone-messaging service a year ago. The gig had paid $17,000 to $20,000 annually. Just as she was getting over the shock of losing that work, she learned last week that she may have lost a $25,000-a-year job making medical-explainer videos to another AI “voice.”

“There is no compensating for this” loss in revenue, Birdsall said in an interview. “I have to work my butt off more, and I’ve been told I have to sound more authentic. Are you kidding me?”

In 2021, Bev Standing, a nonunion voice actor, successfully sued TikTok owner ByteDance Ltd. for using her voice without her consent.

In her more than 20 years as an actor, including as a voice-over actor, Laurie Burke has done thousands of voice-overs for the likes of Facebook LinkedIn, Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. She started as the original voice of Google Voice and later played an AI voice in the movie “Jexi.”

“AI can’t replicate the emotion of a voice,” Burke said in an interview. “It’s kind of like the drum machine. Drums cannot be improvised.”

Sparks fly as non-confidence motion fails to bring down Liberal government over federal carbon tax

Story by Catherine Lévesque • 22h • 

Conservative Deputy Leader Melissa Lantsman in the House of Commons on Thursday, March 21, 2024. She described the government’s rationale for a carbon tax as “Liberal math.” © Provided by National Post

OTTAWA — There were references to an online trend and a children’s fable in the House of Commons during the Conservatives’ attempt to force a federal election over the carbon tax on Thursday, but very little talk of the country’s environmental policies.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre triggered the debate when he introduced a “motion of non-confidence” in hopes of making the minority Liberal government fall to protest their planned increase on the price on pollution by $15 to $80 per tonne on April 1.

The motion was ultimately rejected late Thursday afternoon, given the supply-and-confidence agreement between the Liberals and the NDP, which forces New Democrats to vote with the governing party for all matters of confidence. The Bloc Québécois also voted against the motion.

“This year, groceries are going to cost $700 more than they did last year for the average family. And in the middle of all of this, what does the NDP, and this prime minister choose? To raise taxes on food and fuel, on heat and homes,” said Poilievre during the debate earlier in the day.

“We cannot in good conscience stand by while this prime minister imposes more misery and suffering on the Canadian people,” he added.

NDP MP Charlie Angus mocked Poilievre’s threat of bringing down the government over the carbon tax and noted that it was not the first time that the Conservative leader had made a promise to slow down the work of the Commons without exactly following through.

“I’m going to huff, I’m going to puff and then I’m going to go off and have a fundraiser… while the poor backbenchers dutifully follow through,” said Angus.

Last year, Poilievre said he would offer an hours-long speech to block the budget bill from passing. He also threatened to ruin Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Christmas with hundreds of votes, which resulted in a marathon vote that lasted 30 hours.

Poilievre had missed part of the marathon vote because he attended a fundraiser with the Montreal Jewish community. He is also expected to miss his party’s confidence vote on Thursday evening because he will be in Toronto for a Bay Street fundraiser.

“Will he show up tonight or will he be off fundraising with his lobbyist friends and leaving his poor schleps on the backbench to do the heavy lifting of bringing down the government and forcing an election?” asked Angus during Thursday’s debate.

Poilievre shot back: “Showing up for work means showing up for the people you work for. And I’ll just say I’ve been more in his riding in the last two years than he has.”

Later, Conservative Deputy Leader Melissa Lantsman compared the government’s rationale for a carbon tax to “Liberal math” — a term inspired by the internet phenomenon of “girl math,” which is an invented set of rules to justify impulse buying.

“Liberal math,” explained Lantsman, is “like some bizarre fantasy telling Canadians that less is more, and they are somehow better off.”

“Canadians don’t live in Liberal land. They live in the real world. They look at their empty fridges at home. They look at the price of gas at the pumps. They don’t do Liberal math; they do real math. The real math is getting harder and harder every day,” she said.

Angus said he had to elbow his way through the Conservatives in the opposition lobby because they were too busy filming videos on their phones about their motion.

“They were going to huff, to puff and they might blow the House down tonight but ‘please send us money to our addresses as quick as you can’,” he ridiculed.

Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux accused the Conservatives of having abandoned its progressive heritage but set off Conservative MP Rick Perkins who claimed it was a “classless” comment to make while former prime minister Brian Mulroney is lying in state.

“I’ve been a member of his party since I was 17 years old. I knew Brian Mulroney. Brian Mulroney was a friend of mine. He’s lying-in state and repose. That was the most classless statement I’ve ever seen in this House,” said Perkins.

Eventually, Green Party co-leader Elizabeth May had had enough: “Could we ever have a serious discussion in this place about the actual climate crisis?” she asked.

May suggested convening a committee of the whole, once MPs get back from the Easter break, to hear from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and other scientific experts to “raise a conversation that doesn’t involve rhyming slogans.”

Liberal MP Mark Gerretsen said he thought it was “an absolutely fabulous idea.”

GUNTER: Alberta UCP jacking up its disguised PST, the provincial fuel tax

Opinion by Lorne Gunter • 20h •  Edmonton Sun

The provincial fuel tax is jumping again to 13 cents per litre of gasoline or diesel on April 1, the very same day the Trudeau government is jacking up the federal carbon tax from just over 14 cents a litre to nearer 18 cents.

© Provided by Edmonton Sun

Who says Alberta doesn’t have a provincial sales tax (PST) — or at least a consumer tax that acts very much like a sales tax?

The provincial government’s fuel tax — a per-litre charge on gasoline and diesel — goes up when the province needs it to, and for the same purposes as a PST.

The provincial fuel tax, which was zero at the end of 2023, jumped up by nine cents a litre on Jan. 1. Now, as provincial Finance Minister Nate Horner announced on Thursday, it is jumping again to 13 cents per litre of gasoline or diesel on April 1, the very same day the Trudeau government is jacking up the federal carbon tax from just over 14 cents a litre to nearer 18 cents.

And here’s the irony of ironies, despite Premier Danielle Smith having been one of the premiers most critical of Ottawa’s added grab, her government’s gas tax is going up by 44 per cent on April 1. The federal Liberals’ tax is rising by “only” 23 per cent.

While Smith was one of the first premiers to request that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “pause” his carbon tax hike until the cost of living comes down in Canada, she seems unable to see that her government’s reimposition of its full fuel tax has the same inflationary effect.

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If adding nearly four federal cents per litre raises the cost of everything that moves (including the tractors that plant your food and the trucks that bring it to your neighbourhood grocery store), then Smith’s four provincial cents per litre does exactly the same thing.

Inflation recognizes no difference between federal and provincial taxes. If increasing one stunts the economy, so does raising the other.

Here’s another irony. While Prime Minister Trudeau is delusional when he insists his government’s quarterly carbon tax rebates make the federal carbon tax a financial “win” for middle-class families, at least Canadians get some of the federal carbon tax back.

Few Canadians get as much back in rebates as they pay in carbon tax, but Albertans get nothing back on the provincial fuel tax.

I’m guessing if most UCP MLAs were federal Conservative MPs instead, they’d be in Ottawa right now voting to have the Liberal government stall its April 1 carbon-tax increase. However, there hasn’t been one peep from any of them about their own government’s fuel tax rise.


If Smith is to have any credibility at all when attacking Trudeau’s 23-per-cent tax spike, she has to stop her own 44-per-cent increase.

But how does all this make Alberta’s fuel tax the equivalent of a PST?

During his announcement on Thursday, Horner explained the provincial fuel tax program “is designed to save Albertans money when oil prices are high and bring in needed government revenue when oil prices drop.”

That’s the first time I can recall the Smith government admitting its fuel tax is meant to supplement government revenues.

As oil prices fall (and take government revenues from royalties, leases and taxes down with them), the government admits “revenue from the provincial fuel tax helps fund the programs, services and infrastructure Albertans rely on every day.”

For decades, “progressives” in Alberta have been pushing for a PST to regularize the flow of government revenues and lessen our dependence on oil and gas. In other provinces, when general revenues fall, they increase the PST.

Here we don’t have a PST, so the provincial government appears to be using the fuel tax as an alternative.

With gasoline already at nearly $1.50 a litre and diesel at $1.65 or more, the last thing Alberta drivers and businesses need is yet another fuel tax increase — federal or provincial.

 

Alberta set to fully reinstate gas tax of 13 cents a litre after drop in oil prices


Alberta set to fully reinstate gas tax of 13 cents a litre after drop in oil prices© Provided by The Canadian Press

EDMONTON — Gas prices are set to rise in Alberta next month, with the provincial government fully reinstating its fuel tax following a drop in oil prices.

Finance Minister Nate Horner says the fuel tax for gas and diesel will be 13 cents per litre starting April 1, an increase of four cents.

Under the provincial Fuel Tax Relief Program, the tax can be paused or reinstated partially or in full, depending on oil prices.

Fuel tax rates are adjusted quarterly based on the average price per barrel of the benchmark West Texas Intermediate oil.

Horner says Albertans will continue to pay some of the lowest fuel prices in the country even after the increased rate takes effect.

He says the tax rate will drop back down if oil prices hit US$80 a barrel or higher.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 21, 2024.


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