Norfolk Southern will pay $15 million fine as part of federal settlement over Ohio derailment


Josh Funk
Thu, May 23, 2024

The Associated Press

The federal government agreed to a $15 million fine for Norfolk Southern over last year's disastrous derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, and the railroad promised to pay more than $500 million to complete the efforts to improve safety that it announced after the crash and address community health concerns.

Residents who had to evacuate their homes after the derailment were generally underwhelmed by the deal the Environmental Protection Agency and Justice Department announced Thursday that doesn’t include any criminal charges. This federal settlement comes two days after a federal judge signed off on the railroad's $600 million class action settlement with residents whose lives were disrupted.

In addition to the civil penalty, Norfolk Southern agreed to pay $235 million in past and future cleanup costs — on top of what they've already paid for cleanup — and set up a $25 million health care fund to pay for 20 years of medical exams in the community. The railroad will also pay about $30 million for long-term monitoring of drinking water, groundwater and surface water in the area. The agreement also says the railroad will pay $244 million for previously promised railroad improvements through 2025.

Many East Palestine residents feel this settlement doesn’t do nearly enough to a company that just reported a $527 million profit in the fourth quarter of last year and $53 million in the first quarter after the derailment costs. The railroad’s CEO received $13.4 million in total compensation last year.

“Honestly, no amount can ever make this right, but it should be at least enough to hurt them a little bit. I’m sure that’s not going to hurt their bottom line at all,” Jami Wallace said.

EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the fine is the largest allowed under the Clean Water Act, and the railroad agreed to continue paying all of the cleanup costs. Plus he said Norfolk Southern committed to meaningful safety improvements

“This settlement is historic in many ways and will begin to make up for some of the damage caused to the residents of East Palestine. And it would absolutely push the industry in the direction that we would like for the industry to go,” Regan said. “Again, if some of these provisions that we’ve secured and locked in had been in place, we may not even be where we are today. ”

But the railroad won't face criminal charges, and this latest settlement won't add anything to Norfolk Southern's roughly $1.7 billion in total costs related to the derailment because the Atlanta-based company was already anticipating those costs.

Neither this federal settlement nor the class action settlement seem like enough to Krissy Ferguson.

“Slaps on the wrist. A $15 million fine? And I can never go back to my home again?” Ferguson said.

But resident Misti Allison said it is encouraging to see the investigations and lawsuits against the railroad start to wrap up, and the cleanup is expected to be done sometime later this year.

“I think this is a great step, but let’s continue to make sure the community is made whole,” Allison said.

Many in the small town near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border are eager to put the derailment behind them, but fears about the possibility of developing cancer down the road hang over residents. Allison said she wants to make sure health needs are addressed. But this federal settlement primarily includes only money for exams while the class action settlement includes money for health problems that developed over the past year. Neither deal addresses potential long-term health problems that might develop.

The safety improvements Norfolk Southern promised include adding about 200 more trackside detectors to spot overheating bearings. It has also promised to invest in more than a dozen advanced inspection portals that use an array of cameras to take hundreds of pictures of every passing railcar.

A bill in Congress that would require Norfolk Southern and the rest of the major freight railroads to make more significant changes has stalled, although the industry has promised to make improvements on its own.

Norfolk Southern officials said they believe the relatively small size of this settlement reflects how much the railroad has already done, including paying $780 million in cleanup costs and providing $107 million in aid to residents and the communities affected.

“We are pleased we were able to reach a timely resolution of these investigations that recognizes our comprehensive response to the community’s needs and our mission to be the gold standard of safety in the rail industry," CEO Alan Shaw said. "We will continue keeping our promises and are invested in the community’s future for the long haul.”

After Thursday's announcement, the only remaining federal investigation is the National Transportation Safety Board's probe into the cause of the Feb. 3, 2023, derailment. That agency plans to announce its conclusions at a hearing in East Palestine on June 25. Republicans in Congress have said they might be willing to look at rail safety reforms after that report.

Ferguson said it feels like Norfolk Southern is rushing to resolve things before the NTSB report comes out. U.S. Sen. JD Vance and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said in a joint statement that they think the government should have waited to settle.

“The residents of East Palestine deserve full compensation to account for the hardships they have faced in the months since the derailment, but they also deserve the full truth about why the derailment and vent and burn occurred," the statement said. "With its decision to reach a settlement now, the DOJ may have sacrificed its opportunity to use the NTSB’s findings to impose maximum leverage on those responsible for any potential wrongdoing.”

The NTSB has said previously that the derailment was likely caused by an overheating bearing that wasn't caught in time by the trackside detectors the railroad relies on to spot mechanical problems. The head of the NTSB also said that the five tank cars filled with vinyl chloride didn’t need to be blown open to prevent an explosion because they were actually starting to cool off even though the fire continued to burn around them.

The railroad is still working to resolve a lawsuit Ohio filed against it after the derailment.

Josh Funk, The Associated Press

'Like the old Wild West': Yukon's commercial morel harvest needs more rules, some pickers say

CBC
Wed, May 22, 2024


A pile of morel mushrooms. (Michelle Freeland - image credit)


Commercial harvesting of morel mushrooms in the Yukon needs more oversight, according to some experienced pickers.

"It's kind of like the old Wild West,'" said long-time picker Michelle Freeland, who lives in Mayo, Yukon.

For the past 10 years, Freeland has been picking morel mushrooms both commercially and for her own use. She described how commercial buyers, often from outside of the Yukon, will travel to burn sites to recruit local pickers. Morels are often found in areas recently burned by wildfire.


Once at a camp set up by a buyer, Freeland said pickers are often overworked and underpaid.

"They [buyers] know they can take advantage of these people because they're in the middle of the bush," she said.

"If you ever go to the store, to buy morel mushrooms in a grocery store, they're usually $45 a pound. What you see out in the field is $6, $7 a pound."

According to Freeland, morel pickers can make up to $300 to $400 a day, if the pick is good. But she said that money can quickly be spent before getting back to civilization.


Mushroom pickers who pick morel mushrooms for commercial sale require a permit while those who pick for personal use do not. There are no regulations around mushroom buyers according to the Yukon Government's Jason Hudson.

People who pick morel mushrooms in the Yukon for commercial sale require a permit, while those who pick morels for personal use do not. There are no regulations for mushroom buyers, according to the Yukon Government's Jason Hudson. (Michell Freeland)

"I experienced in the Northwest Territories where [commercial buyers] would bring alcohol out to the camps and sell it to the pickers for extreme prices," Freeland said. "I'm going to call it bootlegging because that's what it is."

Freeland also said trash is often left behind when a camp moves on to another site.

She wants there to be stricter regulations around the way buyers operate their camps. She said if mushroom harvesters are required to hold a permit to pick for commercial use, then buyers should also be accountable in some way.

"'They take advantage of the territory, and the people there too."

No regulations for buyers

People who pick morel mushrooms in the Yukon for commercial sale are required to have a permit. This year, the Yukon Government has made applying for those permits much easier.

Since 2011, pickers had to apply for a permit at a local office, but now people can visit the Yukon government's website to expedite the process.

People who want to pick morel mushrooms for personal use don't need a permit.

Jason Hudson, head of enforcement for the compliance, monitoring, inspection branch for the Yukon government, said that in order to enforce rules people need to come forward with complaints first.

"If there's a complaint, officers will follow up and see what the complaint is about," Hudson said.

Hudson said the penalty for not having a permit to pick morel mushrooms for commercial use could range from a simple warning, to a fine under the Forest Resources Act, to a criminal prosecution.

As for buyers, Hudson said there's a grey area when it comes to rules and regulations.

"There's no current regulations that I'm aware of, for buyers," he said. "If they're operating a business in the Yukon they'd have to have a business licence, but I'm not the best person to ask about that."

'People are just seeing dollar bills'

Jeffery Mickleson lived in the Yukon for close to 20 years before moving to Powell River, B.C., to start a restaurant.

He said while he was picking in the Yukon he was doing it for the restaurant he worked at in Dawson City. He said there's a big difference between a local operation and larger commercial harvesting operation.

"A lot of it, people are just seeing dollar bills," he explained. "They don't care about anything else of the process regarding the land, or how anything was handled."

Mickleson said he's been to camps where garbage, fire pits, and makeshift outhouses were left after people moved on.

"For us really small-scale people who pick for what they need, or for a small business, versus seeing people on a large, commercial kill-them-all style level, there's always been a little bit of animosity, and a little bit of..I don't know. I guess some people would look at it as shameful picking on a massively commercial level," he said.

Now a mushroom buyer himself, Mickleson said one concern for him when buying morels is that there's no food safe regulations.


Jeffery Mickleson sitting in the back of his truck with a basket of mushrooms he harvested in Dawson City, Yukon

Jeffery Mickleson sitting in the back of his truck with a basket of mushrooms (not morels) he harvested in Dawson City, Yukon. (Jeffery Mickleson)

"You don't really know the history of what has happened with that food," he said. "You're taking some sort of inherent risk. Who knows if they've sat, got half-moldy before they got sprayed out and dried? You just never know."

Mickleson said when he needs to restock up on fresh mushrooms he'll find where a burn recently happened and put a call out on social media to people he knows in that area. He said he's never needed a permit to buy mushrooms for his restaurant.

Like Freeland, Mickelson said that pickers, and buyers, have the chance to walk away much richer than when they started the season.

"A lot of people have a lot of cash floating around out there," he said.

Mickelson said he's never had a bad experience during his time as a mushroom picker, but he agrees that more regulations should be considered in Yukon to keep everyone safe.

"I think it's something that should be looked at for sure," he said.

He compares the commercial harvesting industry to the Klondike Gold Rush.

"They hear that there's a burn there and they get that... not the 'gold fever,' they get that 'mush rush' — and they start just seeing nothing but cash and 'shrooms. People will do whatever it takes to get that."

Quebec minister tables bill to restrict evictions for three years amid housing crunch

The Canadian Press
Wed, May 22, 2024




QUÉBEC — Quebec's housing minister acknowledged on Wednesday that the province is in a housing crisis, as she tabled a bill that would impose a three-year moratorium on certain types of evictions and boost protections for low-income renters aged 65 and older.

France-Élaine Duranceau's proposed legislation would prevent landlords from evicting renters in order to subdivide, enlarge or change the use of a housing unit.

"An eviction or the threat of an eviction causes immense stress, and we want to prevent as many Quebecers as possible from finding themselves in that situation given the few alternatives at their disposal right now," she told a news conference.


"In a crisis context, losing one's housing can have immense consequences which can lead to homelessness, so we must avoid that,” she added.

An owner would still be allowed to repossess a unit for a close family member.

The moratorium would last three years but would end early if the rental vacancy rate for all Quebec cities with more than 10,000 people reaches three per cent. The vacancy rate was 1.5 per cent in Montreal in January, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

Duranceau's bill would also extend Quebec's law against evicting low-income seniors to cover people beginning at age 65 instead of 70, and it would raise the income at which a person becomes eligible. The government estimates that some 24,000 households would be protected by this new measure.

The seniors eviction law is named after former Québec solidaire co-spokesperson Françoise David, and Duranceau on Wednesday acknowledged the left-wing rival party's contribution to the expansion of the legislation. Members of Québec solidaire have long pushed for the measures in the bill, and met with Duranceau several times to discuss the changes.

"We share the objective of protecting the most vulnerable people from the impacts of the crisis and we have had very good collaboration on this issue so far," Duranceau said.

Wednesday's announcement represented a shift for the minister, who has been criticized in the past for a housing bill that allowed landlords to reject lease transfers, which are a popular tool tenants have used for years to limit rent increases. During detailed studies of that bill, Duranceau rejected proposals from opposition parties to increase protections for seniors, insisting that her legislation included sufficient measures to shield people of all ages from evictions.

Her change of heart, she said Wednesday, was due to the shifting situation, including the "massive arrival of non-permanent residents" to the province. And she said she wasn't ruling out further legislation to address the housing crisis as the situation evolves.

There was mixed reaction to the announcement, ranging from praise from Québec solidaire to criticism from the Liberals. Québec solidaire's Christine Labrie said the bill was "a revolution" in tackling the housing crisis, noting that the ideas it contained originated with her party.

Réseau FADOQ, a group representing seniors, said the bill was a big step forward in protecting older renters, adding, "We see that political pressure gets results."

Liberal member Virginie Dufour called the bill a "charm operation" that would do little to solve the lack of housing, but said her party would still support it.

That sentiment was echoed by a group representing landlords and building managers, which said the bill's intentions were "laudable" but that it "will not help resolve the widespread housing shortage, which continues to grow."

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

Thomas Laberge, The Canadian Press

Jobless doctor from Nepal says his 'dreams have been shattered' on P.E.I.

CBC
Wed, May 22, 2024 

Akash Kumar Mishra says his dreams have been shattered since moving to Canada. (Laura Meader/CBC - image credit)


Every day, Akash Kumar Mishra applies for jobs and checks to see if he's heard back from anyone he approached the day before.

He estimates he has put out hundreds of applications, with no response about anything but low-paying jobs he says are too far below what he's qualified to do.

It's not what he expected when he moved to P.E.I. in December.

"Despite my every effort, I'm not finding a job here, and that is the most difficult part, and that is the frustrating thing after moving to Canada," he told CBC News in an interview.

Mishra used to work as a doctor in Nepal and Dubai, helping critically ill patients.

He understands and accepts that he can't practise medicine in Canada without the proper certifications this country requires, but he thought his years of education and experience would help him land a decent job. He said he has saved lives working in critical care, and has experience in addiction care, long-term care and hospital administration.

Everyone says we need doctors in this island, we need nurses, we need health-care workers, but everything is so slow. — Akash Kumar Mishra

"I had very big dreams. I thought I would do something good here, after moving to Canada, but here nothing is coming. My dreams have been shattered completely."

Both he and his wife, Shreya Karki, got permanent residency in Canada partly on the basis of their health-care backgrounds, he said.

Laura Meader/CBC

Karki is working as a resident care worker, but the income is not enough to support them and their 11-month-old son.

"It's been very hard for us," she said. "He's a man who's always used to work, back in our home country and in Dubai. I've always seen him working and him telling me, 'This patient happened, this happened.' It feels very bad. I want him to get a proper job."

Came for better life

They came to Canada to give their son a better life. Now they are questioning their decision.

"Everyone says we need doctors in this island, we need nurses, we need health-care workers, but everything is so slow," Karki said.

Laura Meader/CBC

Mishra was told he was short-listed for an associate physician job with Health P.E.I., but that was three months ago.

Six months ago, Health P.E.I. said it planned to hire five associate physicians — international doctors who would be paired with fully licensed doctors. The province has lost some employees in health recruitment, which may be slowing the hiring process.

In an email statement to CBC News, Health P.E.I. said that due to privacy concerns, it could not comment on the specific experiences of any potential candidate.



Prince Edward Island has worked with the various licensing bodies to add new pathways in the last year for internationally trained health care professionals to gain employment here. — Statement from Health P.E.I.

"Prince Edward Island has worked with the various licensing bodies to add new pathways in the last year for internationally trained health care professionals to gain employment here, including the Internationally Educated Nurses (IEN) program, as well as the addition of associate physicians. Health P.E.I. has already welcomed its first cohort of IENs and will be integrating the first associate physicians into the system within months."

Mishra said it's not just about supporting his family — he doesn't want to lose his expertise.

"Let me work, let me show my capabilities, let me prove myself," he pleaded.

Doctors, patients want options to reduce dialysis waste adding to climate change

The Canadian Press
Wed, May 22, 2024 

VANCOUVER — Francis Silva watches the blood flow through a straw-like tube in his left arm to a dialysis machine where it's cleaned of toxins and returned to his body through a second tube.

The 60-year-old chef endures the four-hour process every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday at St. Paul's Hospital where a 42-bed unit is dedicated to lifesaving hemodialysis but is also the source of a significant amount of medical waste that a group of nephrologists wants to curb across the country.

"Last year when I had a heart operation, it just got worse," Silva said of his kidney problems, for which he tried to find a bright side. "I need the rest. I've been standing for eight hours."


Down the hall, carts are loaded with blue plastic bins full of dialysis supplies that include plastic tubing in plastic and paper packaging. A supply room contains plastic jugs of solution that will be mixed with purified water and piped into the dialysis machines lined up against a wall.

A nearby room is stocked with boxes of more supplies including plastic saline bags — at least two per patient for each dialysis session.

Patient care manager Laila Aparicio points to a garbage bin filled with waste.

“We came here about 10 minutes ago and it was empty,” Aparicio said. "It would be awesome if we were able to decrease that as much as possible to reduce the environmental impact."

In another room, hoses in the wall pump hundreds of litres of purified water into a dialysis machine where it is mixed with electrolyte solutions. Toxins from blood are removed, as is excess water from a patient's body, and the wastewater is piped into the city's sewer system.

"Downstairs, there are huge tanks, three of them, that provide highly purified water, lots of it," said Aparicio.

The clinic does about 800 dialysis treatments a week, with two nurses assigned to each patient.

Dr. Caroline Stigant, a nephrologist at Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria and a leading advocate for sustainable kidney care, said each hemodialysis treatment uses up to 500 litres of water and large amounts of energy.

"A single hemodialysis treatment’s carbon emissions are comparable to that of an average vehicle driven 100 kilometres," said Stigant.

She said more than 20,000 patients in Canada undergo the therapy. There are no established recycling programs for dialysis or medical waste in Canada, she added.

Biohazardous waste, including tubing in some cases, as well as blood-soaked gauze, is sent to a facility to be autoclaved — sterilized with high temperature steam — and then shredded and landfilled, Stigant said.

The Canadian Society of Nephrology has a planning committee to find ways to reduce waste. One goal is to develop a carbon footprint calculator to collect data on the environmental impact of kidney care.

Stigant, the committee's inaugural chair, said kidney diseases are on the rise, producing more waste that contributes to climate change. In turn, climate change can increase the risk of kidney diseases, since dehydration during extreme heat is especially risky for vulnerable populations.

"There's a global environmental evolution in nephrology and kidney care. And it's huge work, not just for nephrologists. It's for administrators, it's for funders of the system, it's for patients to be involved in, it's for industry as well," she said.

"We believe that we need a redesign of the systems that we're using in kidney care, in part because no patient wants to be on dialysis. They're tethered to a machine."

She said it's crucial to promote healthy living to prevent conditions including high blood pressure and diabetes, which are most commonly associated with kidney diseases. Early diagnosis is also important because by the time symptoms develop, a patient has likely lost 80 per cent of their kidney function, added Stigant, medical lead for planetary health at BC Renal, the agency responsible for kidney care in British Columbia.

Greater access to kidney transplants is also key, before patients end up needing dialysis, Stigant said. "Their general well-being, their outcome, is also what's best for the environment."

Patients who have dialysis at home with supplies that are typically shipped to them once a month must put their plastic and cardboard waste at the curbside, and that could include blood-soaked material, said Stigant. She said some patients pay municipalities for extra bags or take their garbage to a relative's home.

"When people come in for their home dialysis training, they'll say, 'What about all this garbage? Does this all get thrown away?' '' she said.

"They find the waste embarrassing, they find it very costly to deal with. And that's something that the system hasn't, to date, reimbursed."

One of Stigant's patients burns the waste produced by his peritoneal dialysis — another form of therapy for kidney failure in which a catheter is inserted into the abdominal cavity, or peritoneum. It can be done daily and produces smaller but still challenging amounts of waste.

"He lives in a rural area and there's no garbage collection. He's an elderly man and so it's too burdensome for him to sort it into recyclable and non-recyclable."

Home-based peritoneal dialysis generates 211,000 kilograms of recyclable polypropylene plastic, or PVC, annually in Canada, along with 55,600 kilograms of recyclable polypropylene, the thin peel-away plastic, according to a study Stigant co-authored and published last November in Kidney International Reports.

Stigant said that in Australia, recyclable plastic items are picked up each time peritoneal dialysis supplies are delivered.

"This is something we would love to implement locally."

"We're really in our infancy of managing the waste properly. But it has to involve reducing the burgeoning number of people with disease risk factors and even those living with impaired kidney function. The world is facing this very rapidly increasing condition."

Nancy Verdin, a home dialysis patient in Red Deer, Alta., is a member of the nephrologists' sustainability committee and said she struggles with the large amount of waste from hemodialysis she's received for 26 years.

The 63-year-old who's had three failed kidney transplants said some of the waste can't be recycled in her city because it accepts only numbered plastics.

"I have to separately package and then decide, am I going to pay the shipping costs to send it to Edmonton?" she said of more recycling options there.

"I don't drive any more. So that means I have to get someone to help me take it to a delivery site. And everything costs money."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 18, 2024.

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

Camille Bains, The Canadian Press

NDP slam Liberals for slow reunification programs for relatives stuck in Gaza, Sudan

Dylan Robertson

CBC
Wed, May 22, 2024




OTTAWA — The NDP has accused the government of bungling measures introduced months ago that were meant to bring relatives of Canadians from conflict zones in Sudan and the Gaza Strip to safety.

"Not one person has been able to get to safety through the government's special immigration measures," NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan told reporters Wednesday on Parliament Hill.

"This is perhaps one of the most urgent situations before us, that the government needs to take action on."


She spoke alongside three Canadians with relatives trapped abroad, who have spent thousands of dollars to help their family members survive.

They had each hoped to sponsor relatives through special emergency programs designed to bring their loved ones to safety, provided that they can support their family members when they arrive in Canada.

The office of Immigration Minister Marc Miller did not have an immediate response to the criticism.

In Sudan, civil war broke out last spring, yet officials have said they don't expect relatives to reach Canada until the end of this year.

Einam Mohammadian, who has roots in Sudan, said it's been painful to see her relatives flee the conflict to Ethiopia, which has its own recurring ethnic violence.

Officials told her the delays stem from a lack of access to equipment needed for fingerprinting and other biometric requirements, she said. She questions why her family and others can't be transported to a place where the equipment is available.

"This government left us behind. In 2019, the whole government stood up and said Black Lives Matter, but in this crisis we feel that black lives don't matter anymore," she said.

Safinaz El-Sohl broke into tears when recounting desperate calls from her relatives in Gaza; the lack of answers from Canadian officials leaves her with little to tell her family members.

"We've been treated as though this was never an emergency, and that our families do not matter and our emotions can be pushed aside," she said.

Some people have been able to leave the besieged territory by paying thousands of dollars to private firms in Egypt, but communication from Canadian officials left many with the impression that their loved ones would be disqualified from the program if they escaped the Gaza Strip too early in the application process, she said.

Many later learned they could still be eligible for a Canadian visa program if they leave Gaza.

Gaza's only civilian border crossing with Egypt has been closed since May 7, when Israel invaded the densely populated city and seized control of the crossing.

That means people who chose to not pay their way out beforehand are now trapped, El-Sohl said, all because they were trying to follow the rules.

"We're being left alone in the dark without any glimpses of hope," she said. "We deserve to be treated with the same respect and basic rights of all Canadians."

Another woman, Israa Alsaafin, said the government's approach to the crisis in Gaza smacks of racism. She's gone into debt to pay the $70,000 to get her relatives out of Gaza to Egypt.

Immigration officials told her in closed-door meetings that they're working to rectify the issues, and that it's complicated to get approval from Israel to allow people to leave.

Yet allied countries have evacuated some relatives, she noted. Australian media have reported that 330 Palestinians from Gaza arrived in that country by early February.

"I'm tired of hearing just promises, we need real action," Alsaafin said.

"We should stop the anti-Palestinian racism that's being done through this government, and nobody is caring about it."

Documents tabled in Parliament at the request of the NDP show that Ottawa had requested that Israel allow a total of 304 people in Gaza to leave the territory as part of the family reunification program.

Canada has allowed some 4,467 Palestinians to apply for the program, though many have been unable to escape the Palestinian territory.

It's unknown if any have reached Canada. Kwan believes none have.

The Liberals haven't learned from the mistakes made during the emergency resettlement of Afghans, Kwan said, and bureaucratic hurdles are leaving people to die in conflict zones.

"They just lurch from crisis to crisis," she said. "The government has demonstrated that they are insincere, and they have learned nothing."

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

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press

Ottawa removes regulatory red tape for Trans Mountain pipeline

CBC
Wed, May 22, 2024 

The pipeline has been expanded to transport 890,000 barrels per day from Alberta to Canada's Pacific coast. (Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press - image credit)


Ahead of Canada's plan to move the Trans Mountain pipeline to Indigenous ownership, the federal government is changing how it manages the pipeline, according to a notice published Wednesday on the federal government's official newspaper, Canada Gazette.

The Canada Development Investment Corporation and Trans Mountain Corporation will no longer need authorization from a top official, the governor in council, to make transactions like incorporating subsidiaries.

"[These changes] would allow them to organize themselves in a way that allows Trans Mountain to compete effectively in the sector and facilitate Indigenous economic participation in Trans Mountain," the notice said, adding Ottawa eventually plans to transfer ownership of Trans Mountain "in whole or in part" to Indigenous groups.


Canada bought the pipeline system in 2018. At the time, it could ship 300,000 barrels of oil per day.

The federal government oversaw the expansion of the pipeline, which can now ship about 890,000 barrels per day from Alberta to Canada's Pacific coast.

According to the Canada Gazette notice, the project was "a necessary and serious investment in the national interest," adding the pipeline has increased the country's GDP by $26.3 billion and will create "thousands of middle-class jobs."

Trans Mountain Corporation estimates the pipeline and related port activities will emit about 400,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each year. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, that's roughly the same as the annual emissions from 95,000 gas-powered cars.

The pipeline expansion has been steeped in controversy. A number of First Nations leaders have spoken out against the pipeline's impact on the environment.

The chief of the Coldwater First Nation raised concerns over how the pipeline may affect groundwater near the Nation. Secwépemc matriarch Miranda Dick has protested the pipeline for how it may affect water near her homelands.

But Indigenous-led groups have expressed interest in buying the pipeline, including the Western Indigenous Pipeline Group, Project Reconciliation and the Alberta-based Iron Coalition.

The new pipeline began commercial operations this month after years of regulatory delays and construction setbacks. In the six years since Ottawa bought Trans Mountain, its cost has ballooned from $7.3 billion to more than $34 billion.

Trans Mountain said it expects to load the first vessel with oil from the expanded pipeline this month.

On Monday, tanker Dubai Angel moored at the Westridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby, B.C., preparing to load the first cargo of crude oil from the pipeline.

Change to B.C. law allows First Nations to directly own land

CBC
Wed, May 22, 2024

In a statement emailed to CBC News, B.C. Finance Minister Katrine Conroy called the changes


The B.C. government's changes to a law that prevented First Nations from acquiring land have come into effect, meaning nations can now directly buy and own land in the province.

Previously, First Nations needed to form a proxy, like a corporation or a trust, to buy land. The legislation, which was introduced in April, came into effect on Tuesday.

The changes have no legal impact on other landowners — just federally recognized First Nations.


"To be honest, it is a huge relief." said Hugh Braker, a political executive for the First Nations Summit of British Columbia and a member of the Tseshaht First Nation. "It gets rid of a rather racist relic from colonial times."

In a statement emailed to CBC News, Finance Minister Katrine Conroy said the changes to the Property Law Act and the Land Title Act are "a step on the path towards reconciliation."

"A connection with land is central to the identity of many First Nations," Conroy said. "These changes ensure fairness by reducing barriers and costs that First Nations have faced."

The previous barriers to land ownership were a holdover from when Canada considered Indigenous people and governments to be wards of the government, according to Braker. Before the 1960s, governments required First Nations to get the approval of Indian agents before buying land.

Even after the practice was abolished, British Columbia had its own legislation preventing First Nations from holding property.

Creating a proxy to buy land can be costly, Braker said, and is "really onerous for First Nations."

Now, a First Nation may acquire property in its own name. If leadership chooses, a First Nation may still acquire land through a proxy.

According to Braker, the new legislation will make it easier for First Nations to provide members housing and healthcare centres.

"It's gonna save a lot of money for the First Nations, and it's going to make things happen a lot faster."

Workers at Georgia school bus maker Blue Bird approve their first union contract

Associated Press Finance
Fri, May 24, 2024 

FILE -- An all-electric school bus sits on display in front of the Blue Bird Corp. factory in Fort Valley, Ga., on Feb. 8, 2023. The company and the United Steelworkers union said on Thursday, May, 23, 2024 that workers had approved an initial three-year contract after voting to unionize in May 2023. (Matthew Pearson/WABE via AP, file)


FORT VALLEY, Ga. (AP) — A year after they voted to unionize, workers at a Georgia school bus manufacturer have approved their first contract.

The United Steelworkers union and Blue Bird Corp. said union members at Blue Bird's assembly plants and warehouse in Fort Valley have voted to approve a three-year contract between the company and the union.

The union said the contract will provide all 1,500 covered workers with at least a 12% raise, with some of the lowest-paid workers getting raises of more than 40%. The union says the company will contribute to a retirement plan for workers, share profits, and improve health and safety.

The negotiations had been closely watched by President Joe Biden's administration, in part because Blue Bird has gotten $40 million in federal aid to build electric school buses.

Biden released a statement Thursday saying acting Labor Secretary Julie Su had helped bring the negotiations to a successful agreement. Contract talks after a first union vote are often difficult.

“Congratulations to members of the United Steelworkers and to Blue Bird for proving once again that meeting our clean energy goals is an opportunity to create good-paying union jobs for American workers,” Biden said.

Blue Bird is one of three major school bus manufacturers in the United States, along with Thomas Built Buses, a subsidiary of Daimler Truck AG, and IC Bus, a unit of Navistar International.

Blue Bird had urged employees to reject unionization last year, but CEO Phil Horlock said in a statement Friday that contract talks had been “very collaborative” and that the company is “looking forward to a strong partnership with our USW team members.” The company said higher pay, benefits and opportunities for career development will help Blue Bird attract workers.

“We reached an agreement which provides positive outcomes for all parties involved and will continue to drive our One Team, high-performance culture,” Horlock said. “We are confident that the agreement will further bolster Blue Bird’s position as an employer of choice in the region."

Blue Bird is a publicly held company based in Macon. With about 2,000 employees overall, it has long been the largest private employer in Peach County.

The vote for the USW was a notable win for organized labor in the traditionally unfriendly Deep South.

“Federal investments like these must come with a seat at the table for workers,” United Steelworkers District 9 Director Dan Flippo said in a statement. “Our union has a long history in the South fighting for better wages and working conditions in a variety of industries, but for too long, corporations and their political cronies have tried to characterize the South as a place where they could run away from unions, cut corners and pay workers less."

The share of workers who are unionized nationwide has been falling for decades, dipping to 10% last year, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. And private sector workers are much less likely to be union members, with only 6% paying dues.

Organized labor is an even smaller sliver of Georgia workers, with only 4.4% of workers being union members. The state's business leaders have long been hostile to unions, with Republican Gov. Brian Kemp this year pushing through a law that would bar companies taking state incentives from recognizing unions without a formal secret-ballot election.

Strike at Hudson's Bay store in Kamloops, B.C., set to end
CBC
Wed, May 22, 2024 

Hudson's Bay Co. workers at Kamloops' Aberdeen Mall are seen on Dec. 10, 2023, after they went on strike. The company said Wednesday that a new contract has been ratified to end the nearly six-month long contract dispute. (Jenifer Norwell/CBC - image credit)

The Hudson's Bay Co. says its agreement with the union representing workers at its store in Kamloops, B.C., has been ratified, bringing an end to a strike that lasted nearly six months.

Around 50 workers, unionized under United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1-417, walked off the job on Dec. 10 and had been picketing outside the Hudson's Bay store at Aberdeen Mall since then.

Citing a wage dispute as the main reason for the strike, workers rejected an offer in December of a one per cent wage increase for each year of the contract.


Hudson's Bay Co. confirmed Wednesday that a new contract has been ratified, though the company did not share any details about the agreement.

The deal came after the province appointed David Schaub as a special mediator in the contract dispute earlier this month.

"We are happy with the outcome, and look forward to welcoming associates back to store and serving our customers in the community," a Hudson's Bay Co. spokesperson wrote in a statement.

"We thank mediator David Schaub for his assistance in achieving a resolution, and our customers for their patience and loyalty over the last several months."

Around 50 workers at the Kamloops, B.C. location of Hudson's Bay have walked off the job Sunday, saying their employer has not come to the table with a good enough wage proposal.

Around 50 workers at the Bay location in Kamloops, B.C., were involved in the job action. (Jenifer Norwell/CBC)

Union representatives have previously said the store's workers unionized in 1993 after a nine-month strike.

USW Local 1-417 had also said that there is one other unionized Hudson's Bay store in B.C., located in Victoria.