Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) 

Federal minister highlights $30 million investment in Saskatchewan’s VIDO research institute
Story by Bryn Levy • Star Phoenix

Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry of Canada François-Philippe Champagne (right) was among the visitors who toured the University of Saskatchewan's Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization on Monday, April 22, 2024. VIDO received $30 million in the recent federal budget to complete critical infrastructure that establishes the organization as Canada's Centre for Pandemic Research. 

(David Stobbe/supplied)

Federal Innovation, Science and Industry Minister François Phillippe Champagne quipped that his portfolio often sees him serve as Canada’s “bragger-in-chief” as he talks up the country’s success stories in meetings with political and business leaders from around the world.

Anyone observing Champagne on a tour of the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) facility at the University of Saskatchewan’s campus in Saskatoon might also add “recruiter-in-chief” to his job description.

VIDO pulls in talent from around the globe, and Champagne made a point of asking where students and researchers were from, learning a bit about their work, and then encouraging them to remain in Canada when they finish their programs.

Champagne was in Saskatoon as part of a tour promoting initiatives from the most recent federal budget, which includes $30 million to help VIDO finish work on a new animal research building and complete upgrades to bring lab space up to what’s known as containment Level 4 – the highest possible safety rating required for labs working with potentially dangerous pathogens.

Champagne was scheduled to go from VIDO to a Saskatoon ice cream shop, where he promoted another budget initiative aimed at small businesses.


Fable Ice Cream Owner Jordan Ethridge, left, operates a coffee machine as Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry of Canada François-Philippe Champagne, right, looks on at Fable Ice Cream in Saskatoon on Monday, April 22, 2024.© Heywood Yu

Critics, including at least two former Liberal finance ministers, have lined up against the spending proposed in the federal budget, which calls for deficits of nearly $40 billion for the next two years, before they gradually taper to $20 billion for the 2028-29 budget year.

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Champagne on Monday said the budget’s funding for VIDO is an example of making “investments” that help attract highly-skilled workers and generate innovation needed to help spur productivity gains.

“We need to invest in our future. A confident nation invests,” he said, adding that VIDO is a good example of how billions in the budget to support scientific research and development can generate returns for future generations.

“The science of today is the economy of tomorrow,” Champagne added, noting he looks forward to showing off VIDO’s cutting-edge facilities to the world.

VIDO’s national and international profile has greatly expanded in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the municipal, provincial and federal governments all contributing to turn the facility into Canada’s pandemic research and vaccine development hub.

Once the new animal facility is complete, VIDO will be one of what CEO and director Volker Gerdts described as “a handful” of facilities on the planet of its size offering a full suite of animal research, vaccine development and production all in one place.

Gerdts noted during a presentation that the world benefited from some 20 years of previous research done on coronaviruses when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, allowing for vaccines to be developed fairly quickly.

Future pandemics could be caused by less well-known pathogens, Gerdts said, and a facility like VIDO effectively provides insurance that Canada will be able to respond to the next pandemic.

In the meantime, VIDO will continue leveraging its roots in developing vaccines for use in agriculture. Gerdts noted that understanding and controlling animal diseases is vital for protecting human health and the food supply.

The provincial Saskatchewan Party government has for years been publicly at odds with the federal Liberals. That acrimony took a backseat at Monday’s event, when provincial Minister of Trade and Export Development Jeremy Harrison noted Champagne has been “a great friend” of Saskatchewan within the federal government on files including co-operation on VIDO, as well as federal support for projects undertaken by the Saskatchewan Research Council on critical mineral processing and the development of small modular nuclear reactors.

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LIBERAL MINORITY

Singh says NDP still hasn't decided whether to support Liberals' new budget

Story by Darren Major • CBC

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Monday his party still hasn't decided whether it will vote in favour of the federal budget introduced last week.

The New Democrats have an agreement in place to back the governing Liberal Party on confidence and budgetary votes in exchange for movement on key policy priorities.

The agreement is set to last until June of next year, but Singh has been coy on whether he supports the Liberals' most recent budget.

"We've not made that decision yet," Singh told a press conference Monday.

The budget does include items the NDP has been calling for, such as funding for a national pharmacare program and a school lunch program.

But Singh said he has a number of concerns about the budget. He cited what he described as inadequate funding for a national disability benefit.

"We've got to hear from the prime minister and the Liberals on what their response is to our concerns before we make a decision," he said.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said Monday that she spoke with NDP finance critic Don Davies over the weekend.


Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland participates in a TV interview after tabling the federal budget on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)© Provided by cbc.ca

"We have had good conversations with the NDP as we built the budget, all along the way," Freeland said during a press conference.

"I hope that MPs from every single party will support the essential investments in the budget."

The Conservatives, Bloc Québécois and Green Party have all said they won't be supporting the budget.

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The confidence-and-supply agreement between the Liberals and NDP says both parties are committed to "a guiding principle of 'no surprises.'" That includes a commitment from the Liberals to have ministers and public servants brief NDP members on certain policy matters, including the budget.

Vermont border patrol records highest number of illegal crossings from Canada in single month

Story by National Post Staff • 

A road sign in Swanton, Vt., where the road ends at the Canadian border, on April 20, 2010.© Provided by National Post

A U.S. border patrol sector in Vermont has apprehended a record number of attempted illegal crossings from Canada in a single month.

Officials in the U.S. Border Patrol’s (USBP) Swanton Sector in Vermont saw 1,109 apprehensions in March 2024, the highest recorded by the sector in a single month.

“The top three nationalities apprehended were 408 Indian, 323 Bangladeshi, and 170 Mexican nationals,” according to the Chief Patrol Agent Robert Garcia. People from 40 different countries were apprehended in total, he added. National Post has reached out to Swanton Sector’s headquarters for comment.

The Swanton unit is in charge of a 475-kilometre border shared by the U.S. and Canada, starting immediately east of the Great Lakes. The border is shared with Quebec and Ontario, with about 327 km linked by land and close to 150 km consisting of a water boundary, primarily the St. Lawrence River.
RCMP demolish last structure at Quebec’s Roxham Road migrant crossing
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The sector includes close to 62,160 km of territory across the entirety of Vermont, three counties in New Hampshire and four in upstate New York.

According to Gracia, the number of apprehensions made in the Swanton Sector have increased dramatically this year and last.

The number of apprehensions in fiscal year 2023 were higher than the previous 11 years combined, he wrote on X. Since the start of the 2024 fiscal year (Oct. 2023), he added, the number of apprehensions has “doubled” compared to the same period in the previous fiscal year.

USBP defines apprehensions as the “physical control or temporary detainment of a person who is not lawfully in the U.S. which may or may not result in an arrest.” This can include multiple apprehensions of the same person.


The number of apprehensions at the Swanton sector, a 475-stretch of international border between Canada and the U.S.© U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Elise Stefanik, a Republican congresswoman representing New York, put the higher figures in surprising context.

“We’ve seen an 800 per cent increase in the Swanton sector, which is the part of the northern border that I represent, in illegal crossings,” she told Fox News earlier this year.

The crossing in Swanton is especially “perilous” around this time of year due to extended winters, freezing bodies of water and the difficult terrain, which includes lowland swamps, mountain ranges and rural and remote areas.

“Unpredictable storm fronts bring ice and significant snow accumulation throughout the extended winter season,” USBP says on its website. “Swanton Sector Border Patrol continues to encounter family groups with children (aged as young as a few months old) crossing uncertain terrain in single-digit (Fahrenheit) temperatures,” the release adds .

In the 2023 fiscal year, 30,010 Indian nationals were apprehended trying to enter the U.S. from Canada, including at airports, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection figures cited in the Daily Mail . That is a sharp increase from 17,331 recorded in 2022 the outlet reported.

This includes 1,630 Indian nationals in the 2023 fiscal year who were apprehended between ports of entry, meaning they were trying to cross without being detected, the Daily Mail reported. In 2023-2024, the total is 2,454, with six months still left in the fiscal year.

Chirag Patel, a Maryland-based immigration lawyer, told Voice of America an increase in illegal crossings might be attributed to the upcoming U.S. election, with people trying to cross ahead of possibly stricter border policies under a potential Donald Trump presidency.

‘Strides made, challenges remain’ to provide drinking water in Manitoba

Story by Dave Baxter Local Journalism Initiative reporter • POSTMEDIA

UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights to water and sanitation Pedro Arrojo Agudo said last week that Canada still has a lot of work to do to ensure all Canadians have access to clean water no matter where they live. 

Handout© Provided by Winnipeg Sun

Canada could be doing more after a court ordered billions to be put aside to bring safe drinking water to First Nations communities, said a UN official.

This comes more than two years after a court ordered the federal government to put aside billions to bring safe drinking water to First Nations communities.

“I received overwhelming direct testimonies about harsh living conditions in the Reserves where First Nations have historically been forced to live and where, in many cases, not even their right to drinking water is guaranteed,” UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights to water and sanitation Pedro Arrojo Agudo said on Friday in Ottawa.

Last week, a tour of Canada took Arrojo Agudo to stops across the country and included meetings with Indigenous people, government officials, and civil society groups to examine “issues of concern” in Canada related to safe drinking water and sanitation in Indigenous communities.

Arrojo Agudo said after the tour wrapped up that he has seen Canada “make strides” in recent years to bring safe drinking water to First Nations communities, and to lift long-term water advisories.

According to the federal government, a total of 144 long-term drinking water advisories have been lifted in First Nations communities in Canada since November 2015, but 26 advisories currently remain in place, including three in Manitoba.

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“However, there are still challenges to be addressed, including the recurrence of water advisories, toxic contamination, the criminalization of water defenders, and the need for a human rights and ecosystems approach to water management,” Arrojo Agudo said.

After his tour wrapped up, Arrojo Agudo also expressed concerns about what effects mining projects could have on water in First Nations communities in Canada, and about what he said was the “criminalization” of those who protest against large infrastructure projects on or near First Nations communities.

“These actions violate their rights to peaceful protest and freedom of expression,” Arrojo Agudo said.

In Manitoba, according to a federal government website, long-term boil water advisories are currently in place in the Mathias Colomb Cree Nation, the Shamattawa First Nation and the Tataskweyak Cree Nation (TCN).

In 2019, the community of TCN, along with Ontario communities Curve Lake First Nation and Neskantaga First Nation, filed a class-action lawsuit against the federal government to have access to clean drinking water recognized as a basic human right.

A court ruled in 2021 that the feds must put aside approximately $8 billion to bring clean drinking water to First Nations communities over the next several years, and to compensate those who have lived for years without access to it.

In an affidavit filed in 2019, TCN Chief Doreen Spence said that TCN, a community of about 2,000 on-reserve members, had been under a boil-water advisory since 2017, saying the community’s water supply, which comes from Split Lake, has been contaminated by upstream development and recurring flooding, and was contaminated with E.coli and large-scale blue-green algae blooms, which can cause serious illness.

Last December, Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) announced they planned to spend $40 million to bring a new water treatment plant and a 40-kilometre pipeline to TCN that would see the community draw their water from Assean Lake, and give TCN a source of clean and drinkable water for the first time since 2017.

On Monday, TCN Bank Councillor Dennis Kirkness confirmed that ground broke on the project in January of this year, but he said it could still take between four and five years for it to be completed, and while the community waits, they will continue to use bottled water that is delivered into the community as their only source of safe drinking water.

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

Canadian ventilators sold for scrap metal: Report

Story by Postmedia News •

Records show that the Public Health Agency auctioned off new ventilators, valued at just over $22,000 each, for $6 scrap, violating its own rules, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.

Apparently, PHA directives forbids licensed medical devices to be sold as scrap metal.

“They were sold for parts as the possible divestment option for unlicensed medical devices,” the agency said in a statement to Blacklock’s.

“The medical devices were no longer authorized.”

But documents show the ventilators were sold as such as late as Feb. 8, 2023 while still licensed by the Department of Health. The with licenses were revoked weeks later on March 22 after dozens of units were scrapped.

StarFish Medical of Toronto was awarded a $169.5 million sole-sourced contract in 2020 to deliver up to 7,500 devices at $22,600 apiece.

The devices were among $700 million worth of rush orders for ventilators placed by the Department of Public Works as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company has declined comment to Blacklock’s.

A total of 40,547 ventilators were ordered from various manufacturers but only 27,025 were delivered and only 500 ever used, with the latter being relayed to the Commons government operations committee in 2021.

“We know we ordered too many of them,” Bloc Québécois MP Julie Vignola told the committee at the time

“What if we have to return the surplus of ventilators? Do we get reimbursed at the end of the day for those? I am just concerned with taxpayers’ money.”

While most ventilators remained in federal warehouses, 839 were donated to hospitals in India, Pakistan and Nepal or sent to Ukraine as war surplus, according to a March 25 Inquiry Of Ministry, tabled in the Commons.

The federal labour relations board says Treasury Board’s decision to suspend without pay  public servants who refused to be vaccinated does not amount to disguised discipline.


A person draws out Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. As part of two grievances launched by suspended public servants, the federal labour relations board was asked to decide whether the government’s mandatory vaccination policy was introduced to protect the health and safety of employees or as a means of disguised discipline aimed at punishing those who refused to abide by it.

© Provided by Ottawa Citizen

As part of two grievances launched by suspended public servants, the board was asked to decide whether the government’s mandatory vaccination policy was introduced to protect the health and safety of employees or as a means of disguised discipline aimed at punishing those who refused to abide by it.

That question was crucial because the federal labour relations board has the legal authority to decide such grievances only if they involve disguised discipline.

In a recent ruling, the board found the government’s policy was not intended to punish unvaccinated civil servants or “correct” their behaviour.

It represents the board’s first decision about its jurisdiction over a raft of grievances that contend the mandatory vaccination policy was unfair.

“Although imposing leave without pay for failing to comply with the policy had an adverse effect on them (the grievors), I find that they did not demonstrate that the effect of the employer’s decision to place them on leave without pay — and to keep them on leave until the policy’s application was suspended — was disproportionate to the employer’s cited administrative reason,” said adjudicator Amélie Lavictoire.

She concluded the policy was adopted to address the health and safety of public servants based on the best scientific evidence available at the time.

Lavictoire found that the adverse career and financial effects suffered by public servants who refused to be vaccinated resulted from their own decision-making.

“They knew and understood the consequences of failing to comply with the policy,” she said. “Although the choice of whether to comply with the policy was difficult and had consequences, they made informed choices, on principle.”

Lavictoire dismissed the grievances for a lack of legal jurisdiction.

The federal government introduced its vaccine policy on Oct. 6, 2021. It required 260,000 public servants in the core public administration, including members of the RCMP, to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or to go on unpaid leave.

The policy applied whether employees were working in a government office or from home.

Public servants who refused to comply were placed on leave without pay until they were vaccinated or until the policy was suspended.

The case before the labour relations board involved two civil servants, Slim Rehibi and Karine Lavoie, both of whom were placed on unpaid leave in November 2021 because they refused to comply with the vaccination policy. They remained on leave without pay until the policy was suspended in June 2022.

Rehibi worked onsite with Service Canada where he helped process Old Age Security benefits. Lavoie, a translator, had worked from home since 2015 under a previously negotiated telework agreement with Public Services and Procurement Canada.

Rehibi told the labour board that he weighed the risks and benefits of taking what he considered to be an experimental vaccine versus the potential risks and complications of COVID-19. Rehibi said his stand against vaccination was a matter of principle, and that the more insistent the government became about it, the more he resisted.

Lavoie said she had previously experienced adverse effects from a tetanus vaccine and did not want to take a COVID-19 vaccine that required two doses. She called the government’s mandatory vaccine policy an intimidation tactic.

Like dozens of other suspended public servants, Rehibi and Lavoie filed grievances about their forced, seven-month unpaid leaves.

At the labour board, they sought to call as witnesses a number of people who had been harmed by COVID-19 vaccines, but the adjudicator deemed such evidence irrelevant to the question of whether the vaccine policy was disguised discipline.

As part of their defence, the grievors also contested the existence of a true COVID-19 health emergency in Canada, and the reliability of scientific data regarding the safety of mRNA-based vaccines.

Government lawyers argued that, as an employer, Treasury Board was required by the Canada Labour Code to ensure the health and safety of public servants. When a COVID-19 vaccine became available, they said, it offered the best means of protecting employees.

The grievors argued the government should have waited for scientific certainty about the dangers and benefits of the new vaccines.

Lavictoire accepted the government’s contention that it could not afford to wait for scientific certainty before taking action.

Rebuilt town of Slave Lake at threshold of wildfire again

Story by Jackie Carmichael • Edmonton Journal

Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen and Alberta Wildfire information unit manager Christie Tucker provide the first weekly update on wildfire activity at the Alberta legislature on April 18, 2024.

Nothing like a whiff of wildfire smoke to send the town of Slave Lake’s collective blood pressure up.

“Ever since the wildfire that took a portion of our community down, some people’s tensions get a little high,” said Deputy Mayor Shawn Gramlich as wildfire icons popped up around the Alberta Wildfire Status Dashboard on Monday.

A small fire Sunday briefly closed Highway 2 near Slave Lake so fire apparatus could be brought in, but was under control Monday.

Closer to Slave Lake, a three-hectare blaze near Canyon Creek on Lesser Slave Lake, about 20 km west of the town of Slave Lake, was “being held.”

On May 15, 2011, a full evacuation was ordered as wildfire destroyed 40 per cent of the town, its houses and businesses — and Gramlich’s own home, lock, stock and laundry barrel.

“No one wants to relive that again, and you can see when you smell some of the smoke in the air, depending on what type of personality you are, it does trigger people where they get an uneasy feeling,” he said.

“It’s a smell we grew up with, but now it relates to burning half of our town down. It’s like, ‘Oh God, here we go — forest fire season.’”
The day the town burned

Power outage here, a bit of smoke there — that was wildfire season in Slave Lake. Edmonton kids had snow days but 255 km northwest, Slave Lake kids stayed home on smoke days.

Gramlich recalls his hometown in denial.

“Most people didn’t take it serious and we were kind of instructed to keep listening to the radio,” he said in a Monday interview.

“We were used to having fires close to us.”


SLAVE LAKE, ALBERTA: May 15, 2011 – A wildfire burns out of control near Slave Lake May 15, 2011. All residents were evacuated.© Larry Wong

The radio station was among the first to go, broadcasting a loop of old information as flames consumed it, Gramlich said.

“Cellphone signals were all blocked and we waited until the last second to leave our homes. That’s what we were instructed to do.”

Seven months pregnant, his wife Lacy was ready to leave, right down to having family photos scanned.

cbc.ca

Starting fires to prevent fires

Duration 3:43 Watch

He told her she was “nuts.”

“Turned out, I was the one who was nuts,” he said.

“I grabbed my dirty clothes out of the laundry. That’s what I got.”

They saw a neighbour’s house ablaze.

“I picked up the dogs, the house filled with smoke and all the power went out.”

Across town, they encountered a friend’s dad, walking with a case of beer.

“He’s like, ‘It’ll be fine!’ I’m like, ‘No, I’m pretty sure my house has already burned,’ and he’s ‘Oh you’re one of them now,’” Gramlich recalled.


SLAVE LAKE, ALBERTA: May 15, 2011 – This residential home burned to the ground in the town of Slave Lake on May 15, 2011. An wildfire swept through the town, burning down about one third of the buildings.

The fires next time

In Slave Lake, they’re “all kinds of ready, but hoping we’re just over-prepared and nothing happens this year,” Gramlich said.

“It’s very dry. I predict it’s going to be mayhem, but I’m hoping that’s completely wrong.”

There’s frustration because so many fires — including the one that razed part of Slave Lake — are human-caused.

“It’s people starting them, it’s their quads, it’s leaving a campfire behind. It’s cigarettes,” he said.

“It’s too dry nowadays to do that. It’s not 10 years ago, it’s not 20 years ago, so we have to be a little more cautious around here, but it doesn’t take much for fire to travel.”

The fire department issued a sort of ‘To Go for Dummies’ guide that’s something of a preparedness bible.

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Fire restriction in effect for Strathcona County

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An overnight bag ready to go is an ingrained habit.

The town has purchased 1,000 cots and has them ready to either send ahead of evacuation or to accommodate others fleeing fires elsewhere.

Last year, it was Slave Lake’s turn to be the good neighbour.

“Last year when things were a little closer, there were communities coming here. We opened up our community last year for months to a lot of the First Nations around us and High Level. Since the fire, we’re very accommodating when it’s fire related — that’s one thing we do well in Slave Lake, lend a helping hand when it comes fire season,” he said.

In case of evacuation, there’ll be no repeat of last time’s lingering.

“We’re not going to wait till the bitter end because we’d rather leave like Edson did last year and have no homes burned but not have to panic, then have 6,000 people flee at the drop of a pin,” he said.
Elsewhere in Alberta

Meanwhile, on Monday Lac Ste. Anne was hoping to contain a fire near Township 544 and Range Road 15, said County Reeve Joe Blakeman, who was mindful of 10 kmh wind.

“They put out a 30-minute alert in case of evacuation — I think they’ll probably lift it pretty soon — but with this wind, who knows? Hopefully, they get it out before it jumps anything,” Blakeman said.

There were 65 wildfires burning across the province Monday, three of them out of control.

jcarmichael@postmedia.com

Edmonton condo at risk of collapse to be sold as corporate law clouds hope for court fight

Story by Wallis Snowdon • 

The corporations behind the construction of an Edmonton condo building that was evacuated last year due to the risk of collapse no longer exist, which poses a legal hurdle for owners who were forced from their homes seven months ago.

All residents of Castledowns Pointe at 12618 152nd Ave. were ordered out last September after engineers investigating damage caused by a March 2023 fire uncovered dangerous structural flaws

Investigators determined the 83-unit building, constructed in 1999, does not match the architectural designs on record and that construction did not comply with the building code.

Owners have decided to sell the condemned building and the land it sits on, rather than attempting to rebuild.

But the question of who could be held liable for the flawed construction of their homes remains complex.

City documents obtained by CBC News show that Carrington Hermitage Ltd applied for the building permit and Carrington Construction Ltd. applied for the development permit for Castledowns.

Parent company Carrington Holdings Ltd. continues to operate, but the subsidiaries directly involved with Castledowns Pointe "have long since been dissolved," law firm Witten LLP said in a statement to CBC.

The law firm, which represents active Carrington corporations, has declined to comment on the structural flaws uncovered at Castledowns Pointe or its evacuation.

Related video: Questions being raised on affordable housing projects in Edmonton (Global News) Duration 2:05  View on Watch

Condo board president Susan Strebchuk said the chances of a successful lawsuit are slim. Owners are instead planning to close down the condo corporation and cut their losses.

"We can't go after the company that built this because supposedly, they don't exist," Strebchuk said.

"We're not going to get anywhere."


Engineers investigating the damage caused by fire discovered the Castledowns Pointe building was not structurally sound. (David Bajer/CBC)© David Bajer/CBC

The board is seeking approval from the court to terminate the condo corporation and sell the property as-is. A majority of owners — 71 of 101 of those eligible to cast a ballot — voted in January in favour of the exit strategy, Strebchuk said.

A rebuild was expected to cost more than $7 million. Demolition was expected to cost $500,000.

The property is expected to sell for anywhere from $2 million to $3 million, Strebchuk said.

If termination is formalized by the Court of King's Bench, the condo corporation would cease to exist. The titles on each unit would be cancelled, creating a single parcel of land that can then be listed.

Strebchuk said owners are mulling a class action but the board has no plans for litigation.

"We've found it most frustrating that this is standard operating practice. You build a project and then, in a few years, you dissolve that part of your company. That doesn't protect homeowners," she said.

"There's no one left to be held accountable."
Single-purpose, a common practice

Housing developers often rely on single-use corporations. Developers create new corporations for the sole purpose of developing a project, and then dissolve the company once construction is complete.

A previous case involving Carrington — and allegations of improper construction at a different Edmonton condo building — illustrates how builders can be shielded from liability through the creation of single-purpose corporations, two legal experts say.

The case centred on construction deficiencies at the Avenue at Hermitage, a condo in Edmonton's Canon Ridge neighbourhood.

During litigation, the Carrington subsidiary named in the suit dissolved. Despite an initial judgment in favour of the owners, they never saw their money.

Dana Hagg, a lawyer with Calgary-based HMC Lawyers LLP, said it was a notable case that upheld a longstanding legal practice in corporate law. Parent companies and their subsidiaries are considered legally distinct.

Hagg said while it can seem like an unfair loophole that developers can leverage single-purpose corporations and avoid liability, there is nothing inherently wrong with the practice. She noted that the same limited liability does not apply in cases of fraud.

"Single-purpose corporations, they are a necessary evil," she said. "They're the backbone of commercial transactions since the dawn of the common law."


Images gathered by engineers demonstrate some of the framing issues uncovered during various inspections of the Castledowns Pointe building.

 (Read Jones Christoffersen Ltd.)© Provided by cbc.ca

The Avenue at Hermitage condo board filed suit against developer Carrington Hermitage Ltd.

The company was a wholly owned subsidiary of Carrington Holdings Ltd., created for the purpose of developing the condo project.

Carrington Hermitage denied any liability. But as litigation progressed, the company dissolved in January 2018 and stopped defending the suit.


On June 4, 2018, the condo corporation won a default judgment against Carrington Hermitage for $112,000 and costs, but the company had no remaining assets.

The condo board then launched a second suit, seeking to collect damages from Carrington Holdings.

The board ultimately lost its case, first in the Court of Queen's Bench in 2022 and then again last year in the Alberta Court of Appeal.

The appeal decision found that although Carrington Holdings was the parent company, it could not be held liable in the ruling against Carrington Hermitage.

Robert Noce, an Edmonton real estate lawyer who represented the Hermitage board, said the case shows how corporate laws can make it challenging for owners and the courts to hold developers accountable.

The Alberta government has said it has improved consumer protections through a new-home warranty program and stiffer penalties for builders. But Noce said those changes didn't go far enough.

He said Alberta's Business Corporations Act should be amended to ensure owners of poorly constructed buildings could launch claims against project developers and their parent companies.

"There's a corporate term called 'piercing the corporate veil,' and it is a difficult, difficult thing to do in Alberta," he said.

"The legislation does not afford buyers like condominium buyers any real protection to allow them to pierce the corporate veil and go after the parent company.

"The provincial government needs to come forward and really take steps to provide that additional consumer protection that people so desperately need."
'Just stops the bleeding'

But any changes in legislation will not change the situation for Castledowns, Noce said. He said owners have few legal avenues left and the termination process will do little to alleviate their financial hardships.

Owners will likely still be faced with making mortgage payments on homes they no longer own, and will also likely take a hit on the sale price for the property, Noce said.

"Termination really just stops the bleeding," he said.

Strebchuk said the board is hopeful the court will expedite the termination process, but it could still be months before a sale is possible.

Another winter will mean additional costs to maintain the building, including heat and security, she said. She said many owners have been unable to afford their share of the $375,000 in special assessments levied since the evacuation, and that some owners have declared bankruptcy.

"We're still paying condo fees for a building that we cannot live in. All of us lost our homes," she said.

"Some of our elderly owners have said, 'I can't deal with this anymore. I'm just walking away.'"

Strebchuk questions how the condo passed inspection, and how many other buildings in Edmonton have undetected flaws.

"We would never have found these flaws until we had that fire," she said.

"No one buys a home and rips the Gyprock off to inspect the studs. You assume that it has passed inspection and it's safe."

Alberta NDP leadership race set to enter 'persuasion period' with close of membership sales

Story by Matthew Black • Edmonton Journal

Alberta NDP leadership candidates Naheed Nenshi, left, Kathleen Ganley, Sarah Hoffman, Gil McGowan and Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse outlined their platforms and visions for the party during a leadership showcase hosted at Sherwood Park's Agora on April 3, 2024.

© Provided by Edmonton Journal

The Alberta New Democratic Party (NDP) is set to take another step Monday towards replacing outgoing Leader Rachel Notley as membership sales close and the party’s membership list will begin being finalized.

The end of the day marks the last chance for candidates to sell memberships. Tuesday will mark the start of the “persuasion period” where the prospective leaders will pitch their platforms to those members, including through three debates in the weeks to come.

The party will announce its new leader on June 22 at an event in Calgary.

Postmedia spoke to all five candidates ahead of Monday night’s deadline.

Scroll down or follow the links below to read what they each had to say and to learn more about their platforms ahead of Monday night’s deadline.

Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse | Kathleen Ganley | Sarah Hoffman | Gil McGowan | Naheed Nenshi

Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse


Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse announces her candidacy for the Alberta NDP in the constituency of Edmonton-Rutherford during a news conference on April 24, 2022. David Bloom/Postmedia

Entered the race: Feb. 23
Policies and priorities: Alberta Water Rights Act, conservation
Endorsements: MLAs Brooks Arcand-Paul and Sarah Elmeligi
Website: voteforjodi.ca

Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse joined the race as a first-term MLA representing Edmonton-Rutherford.

She’s focused her campaign on the environment, specifically her proposed Alberta Water Rights Act that calls for improved protection of rivers and other headwaters.

“We have to figure out how we are mitigating and managing our most precious resource that is needed for every single economic system,” she said.

She described the province’s health care and education systems as being “broken” and called on the government to better listen to those working in those areas.

Despite her relative newcomer status to the Alberta legislature, Calahoo Stonehouse believes she could lead the party to victory in the next election.

“I will beat Danielle Smith and I’ll clean up the mess.”

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Kathleen Ganley


Alberta NDP leadership candidate Kathleen Ganley in downtown Calgary on Feb. 19, 2024. Jim Wells/Postmedia
Entered the race: Feb. 6
Policies and priorities: Income tax cut, boosting minimum wage, public auto insurer
Endorsements: Former party leaders Brian Mason and Raj Pannu, eight NDP MLAs
Website: teamganley.ca

Kathleen Ganley was the first candidate to enter the contest and said that she wants to address issues of affordability that are at a “crisis point.”

“The most common concern we hear are families that don’t know if they’re gonna be able to keep a roof over their head or buy their groceries.”

The Calgary-Mountain View MLA said the party needs to bolster its economic platform from where it was during the last election in order to grow support and win in 2027.

“People whose top issue is health care, education, they voted with us last time. What we need is people whose top issue is the economy,” she said.

“Our ideas on the economy are better.”

Sarah Hoffman


Sarah Hoffman, MLA for Edmonton-Glenora and former deputy premier and minister of health, officially launches her campaign for the leadership of the Alberta NDP on Feb. 11, 2024, in Edmonton. Greg Southam/Postmedia
Entered the race: Feb. 6
Policies and priorities: Health, climate, housing
Endorsements: Former party leader Ray Martin, Edmonton Coun. Michael Janz, Edmonton Strathcona MP Heather McPherson
Website: sarahhoffman.ca

Sarah Hoffman entered the race on its opening day and said she’s worked with experts to develop what she terms “bold policy” around housing, health, and climate change.

The three-term Edmonton-Glenora MLA also cited her experience and work ethic as keys to her campaign.

“New Democrats have to work three or four times as hard in the province,” she said. “I know what it’s going to take for us to help get over the finish line.”

Hoffman said she is best positioned to help the party grow its presence outside of the two major cities, including in rural Alberta.

“There are so many people across this province who want to vote NDP and they need to get to know us.”

Gil McGowan


Gil McGowan at a news conference in Calgary on Oct. 12, 2022. Jim Wells/Postmedia
Entered the race: March 7
Policies and priorities: Workers, affordability, economic transition
Endorsements: Alberta Federation of Labour
Website: gilforalberta.ca

Longtime labour leader Gil McGowan said the province needs to “relearn the lessons of Lougheed” and start pivoting the economy towards the future amid a global energy transition.

For him, that means expanding the party’s appeal among the working class, something he believes is essential to the NDP winning the next election.

“If we’re not laser-focused on winning workers back, then we will continue to lose not just in 2027 or beyond.”

He also said the leadership race will determine the future of the Alberta NDP itself.

“We’re making a decision about whether the party remains true to its social democratic roots or whether it becomes an Alberta version of the Liberal party or the Alberta party.”

Naheed Nenshi


NDP leadership candidate Naheed Nenshi after speaking at an Alberta Chambers of Commerce event in Edmonton on March 14, 2024. David Bloom/Postmedia
Entered the race: March 11
Policies and priorities: Economic growth, affordability, expanded public health care
Endorsements: Rakhi Pancholi, eight other current NDP MLAs, Jann Arden
Website: nenshi.ca

Naheed Nenshi was the last of the candidates to enter the contest but managed to double the size of the party within two weeks, according to MLA Rakhi Pancholi who dropped out of the leadership race to endorse the former Calgary mayor .

He described the current government as being divisive and coming from a place of negativity, something he said he would change.

“Politics these days, for the last decade or so, have been the politics of being ‘against,'” he said. “We’ve got a chance to be ‘for.'”

Nenshi’s policy pitches include boosting funding to both public health care and education, reversing the government’s policies on 2SLGBTQ+ youth, and fully implementing $10-a-day child care.

“We have a lot of work to do to rebuild Alberta.”

DISARM, DEFUND, DISBAND

First Nations leaders call for Thunder Bay Police Service to be disbanded

Story by Alex Brockman • CBC

Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler and other First Nations leaders from northwestern Ontario are set to speak out about their issues with the Thunder Bay Police Service on Monday.© Sarah Law/CBC

First Nations leaders from northwestern Ontario are calling for the Thunder Bay Police Service to be disbanded and say they are making complaints with Ontario's Inspector General of Policing to bring in an outside service to investigate recent deaths of Indigenous people in the city.

This comes after the OPP laid multiple charges against the former police chief and others linked to the force this month. It follows three recent deaths: Mackenzie Moonias, who died in December 2023; Jenna Ostberg, who died in December 2023; and Corey Belesky, who died in 2022.

Leaders from Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) made their call Monday at Queen's Park in Toronto and were joined by Kiiwetinoong MPP Sol Mamakwa to discuss "the Thunder Bay Police Service's long-standing misconduct and systemic failures," according to a news release issued Friday.

"The Thunder Bay Police Service has turned into a cold case factory when it comes to investigations into the deaths of Indigenous Peoples," NAN Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler said Monday. "There is a complete lack of trust, everything has broken down."

NAN represents 49 First Nations in Treaty 9 and Treaty 5 in northern Ontario, a land mass covering two-thirds of the province.

cbc.ca

Thunder Bay police chief vows to rebuild public trust

Duration 2:01  View on Watch

Numerous reports and expert panels have documented the Thunder Bay Police Service's failures to serve Indigenous people in the city, and a 2018 report found systemic racism within the force.

"Please remember that these were individuals that were loved, and that they meant a lot and their deaths shouldn't have happened," said NAN Deputy Grand Chief Anna Betty Achneepineskum. "It shouldn't be deaths that are cast aside like they don't matter."

Achneepineskum and other First Nations leaders in the region made a similar call for the Thunder Bay Police Service to be disbanded in 2022. Shortly afterwards, the province appointed a board administrator to take over decision-making authority for the oversight board.

"I stood here in Queen's Park and shared these same words, and we still have not seen any results from that," Acheepineskum said.

The police service is under renewed scrutiny after Ontario Provincial Police laid multiple obstruction and breach of trust charges against former police chief Sylvie Hauth and ex-Thunder Bay police lawyer Holly Walbourne earlier this month. In December, OPP also charged Staff Sgt. Michael Dimini with assault, breach of trust and obstruction of justice.

In response, current police Chief Darcy Fleury said last week that he and the new oversight board are working to move the service forward from the challenges it inherited from previous leadership.

Leaders from Nishnawbe Aski Nation were joined in their call at Queen's Park on Monday by:
Kiiwetinoong MPP Sol Mamakwa.
Anishinabek Nation Grand Council Chief Reg Naganobe.
Bearskin Lake Chief Lefty Kamenawatamin.
Family members of Ostberg, Moonias and Belesky.
Julian Falconer, the lawyer for the Osberg, Moonias, Belesky and Debungee families.