Sam Altman called on the tech sector to have more “empathy” for Muslim, Arab, “and especially Palestinian” colleagues amid the ongoing war in Gaza.

The chief executive of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, one of the most powerful startups in the world, said in a post on X that Muslim, Arab and Palestinian colleagues in the tech community that he has spoken with “feel uncomfortable speaking about their recent experiences, often out of fear of retaliation and damaged career prospects.”

“Our industry should be united in our support of these colleagues; it is an atrocious time,” Altman wrote.

He added that he continues to “hope for a real and lasting peace.” But said that in the meantime, “we can treat each other with empathy.”

His comments come nearly three months since the Oct. 7 attack in Israel by Hamas militants that left some 1,200 Israelis dead.

They also come as the death toll from Israel’s counteroffensive attacks has now left 22,600 people dead in Gaza, according to the latest tally from the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry.

The ongoing carnage in Gaza has deeply divided the American public.

Advocacy groups have reported a sharp uptick in both anti-Semitic and Islamophobic discourse online, some of which has also been linked to real-world violence.

Across college campuses and corporate America, meanwhile, protests and debates have erupted that have resulted in some people losing their jobs or being doxxed and threatened.

In response to a reply to his post asking about how his Jewish colleagues were doing, Altman said, “i am jewish. i believe that antisemitism is a significant and growing problem in the world, and i see a lot of people in our industry sticking up for me, which i deeply appreciate.”

Altman continued: “i see much less of that for Muslims.”

First Nations, advocates criticize approval of nuclear-waste site near Ottawa River

 The Canadian Press

Several First Nations and environment advocates have criticized a decision by Canada’s nuclear regulator to greenlight a proposed nuclear waste site near the Ottawa River.

Following an environmental assessment, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission has authorized construction of a waste facility on the site of the Crown-owned Chalk River Laboratories, which tests nuclear technology in Deep River, Ont., about 180 kilometres northwest of Ottawa.

The site sits within a kilometre of the Ottawa River, on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg peoples.

Kebaowek First Nation councillor Justin Roy, whose community is located on the other side of the Ottawa River, said his First Nation and others are reviewing the regulator's decision and will consider all options, including asking for judicial review.

"We're not going to leave any stone unturned regarding this project," he said.

The regulator said in its approval announced this week that the project is "not likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects."

Roy said the project would cause adverse environmental effects including deforestation of almost 40 hectares of old growth forest and put several animal species at risk, including black bears and eastern wolves.

"There are a number of environmental impacts that we know are going to happen," he said.

He said the approval also violates Canada's commitments under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which requires free, prior and informed consent from an Indigenous community ahead of any development on its ancestral land.

The Canadian Environmental Law Association, an organization that was involved in the review process, said it regrets the regulator's decision.

Executive director Theresa McClenaghan said her organization is concerned that radioactive contaminants would eventually leak into the surrounding wetlands and the nearby Ottawa River.

“The design of this facility is tantamount to an ordinary domestic landfill and we know that such facilities always eventually leak to the surrounding environment," McClenaghan said.

"Given that this facility is proposed to contain radioactive contaminants that would remain hazardous for thousands of years, CELA is highly concerned that this project has been given the go-ahead to proceed by the nuclear regulator.”

The proposed facility consists of an engineered containment mound, a wastewater treatment plant, and other support facilities, and it's expected to have an operating life of at least 50 years.

It will hold up to a million cubic metres of low-level radioactive waste.

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission launched its environmental assessment in 2016, but First Nations have said the assessment wasn’t culturally relevant, leading them to release their own report in June, which noted the area around Chalk River was never ceded by the Anishinaabeg people, nor were they consulted when the original Chalk River Laboratories site was developed in the 1940s.

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

Maan Alhmidi, The Canadian Press

Radioactive waste site ‘shoved down our throats,’ critics say

 Some First Nations and environmentalists are dismayed by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission’s approval of a proposed storage facility for radioactive waste that will sit a stone’s throw from the Ottawa River.

The approval of the controversial project has left critics and some Algonquin First Nations reeling because their environmental concerns fell on deaf ears, while proponents of the project maintain the facility is needed to address decades of legacy waste.

Kebaowek First Nation and Kitigan Zibi Anishnabeg were quick to condemn the decision. Both said their legal teams and environmental experts are reviewing the 160-page decision to determine their legal course of action.

“All options are going to be on the table,” Coun. Justin Roy of Kebaowek First Nation told Canada’s National Observer in an interview after the decision.

It’s too early to say for sure, but Roy said a judicial review or injunctions are potential avenues.

“Unfortunately, with the decision that was made, we suddenly feel like our inherent rights and titles are not being respected,” Roy added.

In the interim, Kebaowek will be focused on raising public awareness, lobbying government officials in Ottawa and Quebec, and continuing to work with the Bloc and Green parties, who have supported the First Nations over the past months, Lance Haymond, chief of Kebaowek First Nation, told Canada’s National Observer. 

Haymond also points to a parliamentary petition with about 3,000 signatures, which means Parliament will have to address the issue. 

The “near-surface disposal facility,” referred to as the NSDF, will hold up to a million tonnes of radioactive and hazardous waste about one kilometre from the Ottawa River, where the land slopes away from the river. It will mainly store low-level legacy waste from Chalk River Lab’s 65 years of operations, including debris from decommissioned buildings, contaminated equipment such as protective shoe covers, clothing, rags and equipment, and more. The Ottawa River holds great cultural importance for Algonquins and supplies drinking water to over a million people downstream. 

Anti-nuclear groups portray the NSDF as a “dump,” but it is a “very sophisticated containment structure with all kinds of safety barriers,” said Deep River Mayor Suzanne D’Eon.

“I'm very pleased that CNSC made the sensible solution to deal with this waste, which is less than optimally dealt with right now,” D’Eon told Canada’s National Observer. “This is going to fix things, not make them worse.”

The nuclear waste dates back to the late 1940s when Canadian Nuclear Laboratories produced nuclear power and researched nuclear technologies. Chalk River Labs is one of the region’s main employers, second only to the Petawawa military base. In recent decades, the facility has been a major producer of medical isotopes used to treat heart disease and cancer, as well as sterilizing medical and other consumer products. 

James Walker, a former AECL employee and intervenor, cautioned that some of the waste is intermediate level and should not be stored in an NSDF designed for low-level waste, pointing to issues with waste inventory and assessment processes in his submission to the CNSC.

On June 9, 2023, Pikwakanagan signed a long-term relationship agreement with Canadian Nuclear Laboratories that created a guardian program with the Algonquin First Nation so it could monitor the nuclear facilities. 

Pikwakanagan — the only Ontario-based Algonquin Nation and closest to Chalk River — told Canada's National Observer that they are not entirely surprised by the decision, Chief Greg Sarazin said.

Sarazin points to the environmental risks of the older and aging technology that currently stores decades' worth of low-level waste. He says it makes sense to consolidate the waste into a single storage facility with modern engineering designed to outlive its radioactive properties.  

"The NSDF is designed to clean up the CNL site rather than make it worse," he said in a statement.

However, Algonquin First Nations on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River feel that Canadian Nuclear Laboratories and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission are not actively consulting and building relationships with all Algonquins. 

“This just goes to show that the Government of Canada will just shove these projects down our throats and force and force it upon us,” Dylan Whiteduck, chief of Kitigan Zibi, said. 

Both Whiteduck and Haymond were concerned the hearing last August was lip service for their concerns laid out in an Algonquin-led environmental assessment. When the decision was made without addressing any of those concerns, their worries were actualized.

“This is not reconciliation. This is a dictatorship,” Whiteduck said. 

There are also concerns about a deal made with the Algonquins of Ontario, a controversial First Nation organization accused of manufacturing Indigenous membership from dubious ancestral claims. Haymond looks at both deals and sees a purchasing of consent.

“They bought consent by offering financial resources and job opportunities, and [Pikwakanagan] is there to monitor the slow poisoning of the site, perch lake, and eventually the Ottawa River.” 

D’Eon and the Deep River Council have been supportive of the NSDF since the regulatory process began in 2016 and are glad to see a decision from the CNSC after nearly eight years. 

She believes constructive criticism is important for all projects, including this one. “But it gets to the point where it's just stupid panic-mongering, fear-mongering and trying to scare people to rile public attention or interest against something that is actually going to fix things purely because certain people have a very, very deep-seated hate, lifelong hate, of nuclear,” said D’Eon. “Unfortunately, a lot of people have been hoodwinked by that.”

Concerned Citizens of Renfrew County “are the ones trying to negatively influence groups like Indigenous groups and things like that,” said D’Eon.

She said the citizen group has been “feeding them information” and First Nations like Kitigan Zibi and Kebawoek rely, in large part, on this information. 

This couldn’t be further from the truth, said Roy, pointing to multiple environmental studies Kebaowek undertook in collaboration with CNL, the findings of which were presented at the licensing hearings.

“We are never influenced by outside voices. We do what is right for ourselves based on facts that we come up with ourselves,” said Roy, speaking for Kebaowek and their responsibility to their unceded traditional territory.

“This is information (and) research that we did, our own teams of people did — not the Concerned Citizens of Renfrew County or any other opposition group. This was strictly Kebaowek-based work and research,” said Roy.

When talking to communities about the NSDF, Roy said he doesn’t push an anti-nuclear agenda, but rather informs people of the existing waste problem and proposed solution so people can draw their own conclusions. The waste problem must be solved, but the NSDF is not the right solution, he added.

At the heart of Kebaowek’s concerns is inadequate consultation. Kebaowek and Kitigan Zibi previously got the CNSC to delay its decision so they could present their findings to the commission, but say the process still failed the duty to consult.

D’Eon said the well-publicized consultations have been delayed several years to accommodate more consultation.

“If somebody wasn't given a direct invitation eight years ago, they have been in the last few years, so they've had the opportunity,” she added. “There's also an obligation on people to involve themselves and I guess that's part of this, too.”

It’s “frustrating” and “disheartening” for an elected official of a non-Indigenous community to express this sentiment, said Roy. 

“It's a very, very, very colonized approach to thinking about Indigenous Peoples,” and shows a clear misunderstanding of the duty to consult and what it means for Indigenous people to have inherent rights protected by the Constitution Act, said Roy.

“If we have elected officials of non-Indigenous communities who still want to speak like this and talk about Indigenous Peoples being hoodwinked and providing fear-mongering to the public, I mean, wow, I really don't know what to say,” said Roy.

Jane Toller is warden of Pontiac, a municipality directly across the Ottawa River from Chalk River Laboratories. Unlike Deep River town council, Toller’s municipality and more than 80 others on the Quebec side, all the way to Montreal, previously passed resolutions opposing the NSDF project.

“The part when I stepped back that bothers me the most is that this is a violation of a declaration that was made by the United Nations saying that no [hazardous] storage could be on Indigenous land,” said Toller in an interview with Canada’s National Observer. “And that is exactly what this is.” The declaration requires free, prior and informed consent.

Natasha Bulowski and Matteo Cimellaro / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada’s National Observer

Matteo Cimellaro, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada's National Observer

Sask. teachers to stage one-day strike on Jan. 16 as bargaining with province at standstill

Author of the article: Alec Salloum • Regina Leader-Post
Published Jan 11, 2024 • 

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PHOTO BY GETTY IMAGES


Despite fast approaching job action, the president of the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF) emphasized that a one-day strike is a last resort.

“We do not want to take this action,” said Becotte, STF president, on a Thursday morning virtual news conference.

“We’ve been trying to avoid this for the last seven months.”

With five days notice the STF announced a provincewide, one-day strike to be held on Jan. 16 by its more than 13,500 members as contract negotiations remain at a standstill.

“Unfortunately, government continues to refuse to make any agreements directly with teachers that provides improvements to schools and classrooms,” said Becotte.

She hopes the one-day strike will be enough to get the province back to the table.



STF says job action 'virtually inevitable' after failed talks with province

Saskatchewan stories of the year: Teachers’ union and province duke it out over new contract

Conciliation report urges province, STF to 'keep talking' about classroom complexity

Explainer: A brief history of teachers' strikes in Saskatchewan

Minister of Education Jeremy Cockrill expressed “disappointment” in the move to job action, in a written statement provided Thursday.

He said the Government-Trustee Bargaining Committee (GTBC) is ready to sit down and bargain at any time, but has maintained matters of classroom complexity will not be dealt with at the bargaining table.

“Outside of that process, we have demonstrated our commitment to addressing classroom complexity with record funding, and two brand new pilot projects announced just this week,” the statement said.

A major sticking point between the STF and the GTBC is classroom size and complexity.

Both sides, while admitting it is an issue, differ on where the matter should be resolved; the union says the bargaining table, while the government says school divisions. A report from a conciliation board released earlier this week said it is “not prepared to make a recommendation in that regard. It is far too complicated a matter, involving legal arguments of statutory interpretation and Charter principles.”

Ahead of the one-day strike, Becotte emphasized that while the union only needs 48-hours to enter a strike position, the advanced warning is for the benefit of children and parents who will need to arrange childcare. Becotte said the five-day warning is a demonstration of the union “bargaining in good faith.”

Despite several months and sit downs Becotte said there has not been any movement from the GTBC, which has offered a seven per cent raise over three years. She’s hoping that this action will lead to the government coming back to the table with a new mandate.

The STF said the job action comes after several actions like rallies, letter writing campaigns and more, but there are few other mechanisms for the union. For example, the ability to opt for unilateral binding arbitration is not possible for the STF. This change came with Bill 63, which passed in 2017 and requires both parties, instead of one, to agree to binding arbitration.

Both the government and the union have said they are willing to get back to the table. Becotte said they’d be game to sit down “at any time if government is willing to discuss longer term commitments to address class complexity.”

The matter of class complexity remains the keystone to bargaining talks, Becotte said, as it affects students first and foremost.

“These working conditions are our students’ learning conditions. Children and their families deserve to know that they will have the support that is needed for them to thrive during their years in public education,” said Becotte.

What the job action looks like on Jan. 16 remains to be seen. The STF said 90 per cent of teachers voted, 95 per cent of which voted in favour of taking job action, but that won’t necessarily mean provincewide pickets on Tuesday.

More job action, a longer strike, work to rule and other options remain, but while speaking about those possibilities Becotte remained steadfast that the goal at the end of the day is a deal.

“Teachers have done everything we can to find a resolution to this process.”

alsalloum@postmedia.com

 Invasive clover in Yukon can help clean mine water, even in the cold: researcher

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Apesky invasive plant found in many areas of Yukon could be put to use helping clean contaminated water from mines, research suggests.

But the closure of Minto Mine, 240 kilometres north of Whitehorse, last summer means researchers have been stalled in their efforts to test what they found in a real world environment.

Master's degree student Taylor Belansky said a Sea-Can full of lab equipment for their pilot project remains on the site after the copper and gold mine was abandoned in May.

Belansky's work at Yukon University focused on bacteria that can remove nitrates from mine water by converting the contaminant into gas. But doing that most effectively depended on finding the right source of nutrients for the bacteria.

She said she tested food sources ranging from wood chips to waste from the local brewery but found that invasive white sweet clover helped to remove 99 per cent of nitrates from the water.

In practice, contaminated water would be pumped through long Plexiglas tubes containing both the bacteria and the clover. The water would flow at a rate allowing the bacteria enough time to consume the nitrates. 

Belanskyfound this passive method of cleaning the water, using bacteria rather than filters or other forms of human management, was able to work in cold northern temperatures in a similar way to how it is already used in some southern projects.

"What we really had to do was make sure that we could use it and adapt the system to work in cold climates," she said.

"So, we did that by changing the amount of food that we gave (the bacteria) and also changing … how much time it took the water to pass through the system so the bacteria could be in contact with the contaminated water and have time to remediate it." 

"Those are the two factors that we found we could manipulate to make sure that this treatment system worked in the cold." 

Nitrates and nitrogen naturally exist in the environment, but activities like blasting at mines can release more into the environment and throw off the balance of an ecosystem.

Belansky said too many nitrates can cause algae blooms, impacting the oxygen levels in water and suffocating fish, as well as potentially affect drinking water.

She said Minto workers would have no problem finding white sweet clover, which grows across much of the territory, including near the mine

The Yukon Invasive Species Council warns that the plant "readily invades open areas and forest clearings as well as on river banks," pushing out other species and degrading natural grasslands. 

"Mines are actually mandated to manage their invasive species on site. So, we would never want to be planting it intentionally, we wouldn't want to be spreading it in a way that would allow it to continue its invasion of the natural ecosystem," Belansky said.

"It's more like harvesting it, taking it out of the places where it's a problem, and kind of containing it in our treatment system."

Belansky said the pilot project would examine how the bacteria responds in the fluctuating temperatures in nature, how often the clover needs to be added to the soil, and whether it works better after being composted. 

"The rest of the research team is hoping to be able to access the Minto site in the coming years, hopefully next year, to set up that pilot project and test the system in those conditions," she said.

The Yukon government controls entry to the site along with the Selkirk First Nation.

The Department of Energy Mines and Resources said in a statement that it appreciates the work researchers do to understand approaches to mine remediation. 

"We plan to work with Yukon University and the Minto site operator to facilitate the continuation of this research," the statement said.

"We will be speaking with the university soon to better understand how this research could be done without conflicting with reclamation works happening on the site."

For now, Belansky said she's working on finishing her Master's thesis and waiting to get DNA tests back that will reveal exactly what type of bacteria is in Minto's soil. She then hopes to publish her findings.

The mine was put up for sale by a court-appointed receiver in August.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 4, 2024

Ashley Joannou, The Canadian Press

Saskatchewan government lawyers argue pronoun case a 'Trojan horse'

"(These) are improper motives and the court should not be drawn into such an exercise."

Author of the article: Larissa Kurz
Published Jan 11, 2024 •

Deron Kuski, of firm MLT Aikins and acting as legal counsel for the Government of Saskatchewan, walks out of the Court of King's Bench during lunch break of a hearing regarding legal action against government's pronoun consent policy in Regina on Wednesday, January 10, 2024. 

PHOTO BY HEYWOOD YU /Regina Leader-Post

Lawyers for the Government of Saskatchewan say the UR Pride Centre for Sexual and Gender Diversity has “improper motives” in asking the court to allow litigation against the province’s pronoun consent law to continue.

Deron Kuski and Milad Alishahi, private counsel from firm MLT Aikins representing the province, stood Thursday to argue the entire case should be ruled moot, regardless of any amendments sought by the non-profit to the case it originally filed in August.

“Our submission is that nothing will remain of the originating notice to be dealt with, if you accept our submissions,” Kuski told a Regina Court of King’s Bench justice.

UR Pride’s original filing sought to challenge a policy directive requiring schools to inform parents should students under 16 ask to change their names or pronouns, on grounds that it violated sections 2, 7 and 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Kuski argued the matter is no longer relevant, as the policy directive in question was rescinded when the province passed Bill 137, or the Parent’s Bill of Rights, which enshrined provisions from the former policy directive into law.

The use of Section 33, or the notwithstanding clause, when the government passed Bill 137 in October shields the law from Charter challenges under the sections outlined in the original filing, Kuski added.

Kuski further advised the court that the government is not opposed to letting UR Pride amend its application to instead target Bill 137, rather than the Parental Inclusion and Consent policy as originally filed.

The opposition is to UR Pride attempting to add a claim the law violates Section 12 of the Charter, which protects a person’s right not to be subjected to any cruel and unusual treatment or punishment.

Kuski labelled the proposed Section 12 challenge as “a creative way to get around the legislation,” referring to arguments Wednesday from UR Pride counsel Adam Goldenberg when he said they had to consider a different section “because of the decision the Legislature made.”

“This is a Trojan horse to try and convince the court to continue this claim, for reasons other than a belief in merit. They’re trying to do indirectly what they cannot accomplish directly,” he said.

“It’s not an attempt to raise real issue between the parties, but to navigate around their own fallacies of the use of the notwithstanding clause.”

Said called adding a new claim after-the-fact an “abuse of process” that he posited makes the case “frivolous.”

He claimed UR Pride’s arguments “do not meet the threshold” necessary, and that their timing is strategic.

UR Pride had “the whole of the Charter” when crafting the original claim and chose not to include Section 12, he said.

Kuski argued UR Pride is attempting to use the court system to “hold government accountable or inform the electorate,” which he said is “not the role of the judiciary.”

“Those are improper motives and the court should not be drawn into such an exercise,” Kuski said.

“There is a risk here that rather than your courtroom be used to as a means to resolve what are genuine disputes between parties, it’s used — and I mean this with no offense — as a political soapbox,” Alishahi told Justice Michael Megaw.

UR Pride continues effort to challenge Saskatchewan pronoun law

Sask. education minister received 75 letters in immediate wake of pronoun policy

Further, invoking Section 33, or the notwithstanding clause, in Bill 137 is not an admission of a violation of rights, as alleged by Goldenberg, said Kuski.

The reasons government put forward the bill as it did “isn’t really relevant” to the court, he argued.

“The fact is they have this power in the Constitution and they’ve exercised it,” he said. “The position of government in this matter is there were no charter breaches in this legislation.”

He furthered that “more harm is caused without the legislation, than with the legislation,” as there is no process to address the potential harms caused by “secret social transitions,” the term used for gender identity changes without parental consent.

The legislation “better protects” youth, because it requires school staff to put together a plan to approach the parent, he argued.

Kuski continued that to add Section 12 is to open a new argument, and as such requires a new proceeding. Government suggests a statement of claim is more appropriate than an originating application.

Should the originating application be struck, as suggested, and UR Pride put forward a statement of claim, Kuski advised government would oppose on the same merits as argued Thursday.

Responding to the day’s arguments, Goldenberg stood again to call the concept of “secret transitions” touted by government a “bogeyman.”

“This language of secrecy is, frankly, insulting to gender diverse youth and professional educators,” he added.

He went on to address the government’s position that it was “vexatious” to ask the court to hear the case and issue a declaration on its merits.

“I’m sorry accountability under the Constitution is annoying,” he added.

Kuski had earlier in the day indicated he’d be willing to speak to media outside the courthouse, if his client was amenable.

Media were later informed that neither of the lawyers representing the province would be made available, with no explanation offered for why a statement from a government spokesperson would be provided instead.

“The majority of Canadians and Saskatchewan citizens are in favour of parental rights and do not believe that these rights constitute ‘cruel and unusual punishment,’ which is an unprecedented Charter argument generally used in penal cases,” the emailed statement read, before concluding that no further comment could be provided “at this time” as the matter is before the courts.

Megaw reserved his decision, promising to deliver it in a timely fashion.

Two additional intervener applications from Regina Civic Awareness and Action Network and Our Duty Canada also remain undecided, he said, which may or may not require another hearing.

lkurz@postmedia.com

Murray Mandryk: ER crisis is culmination of a lot of things gone wrong

Opinion by Murray Mandryk • 

Saskatchewan’s emergency room crisis is an immediate mess, but it’s also a problem long in the making.

The crisis in Saskatchewan emergency rooms didn't happen overnight or in the last 16 years. It's been decades in the making.© Provided by Leader Post

Unfortunately, why it doesn’t seem to be getting any better is that we seem unwilling to invest in understanding the short- and long-term reasons for the problem — let alone the massive dollars we’d need to pour into the system to make any headway.

Again this week, we saw the NDP Opposition blasting the Saskatchewan Party government for emergency room disruptions at City Hospital in Saskatoon —  what health critic Vicki Mowat called “a complete lack of transparency”.

Admittedly, what we heard this week goes beyond problematic. It’s downright dangerous for the public to have to rely on social media posts from frustrated ER doctors to find out the emergency room services are “limited”  and that patients might be rerouted to other hospitals to seek help.

Surely we shouldn’t have to rely on doctors’ social media posts to find this out.

Surely someone must get that there is a serious problem when a Saskatoon fire department inspection determines overcrowding in the hallways of St. Paul’s Hospital is violating fire codes.

Surely this should be ringing alarm bells, warning us there’s something terribly wrong with emergency rooms and perhaps the entire health system. 

Mowat may be right in her theory that this is an ongoing effort by the Saskatchewan Party government to “attempt to paint a rosier picture than what we have in front of us right now … to distract from the system they have created after 16 years in government.“

But in reality, the problems are complex and likely go back much further than the last 16 years of Sask. Party governance.

And it would be considerably more helpful to break down the ongoing short- and long-term problem.

The issues begin with the insatiable appetite of the now $7-billion provincial public health budget, where, it seems, throwing more money at the problem has not always brought us closer to solutions.

As recently explained in a piece by the Leader-Post’s Larissa Kurz, emergency rooms are where many of the health-care system’s problems intersect.

City emergency rooms have been getting busier for decades, said Saskatoon Paramedic Association president Paul Hills, explaining the “multi-faceted issue” in which lack of EMTs, nurses and doctors, medical technologists and specialists is part of a massive and ever-changing jigsaw puzzle.

Also in play are policy requirements, like the need for ambulances to remain at hospitals until their patients are cleared, meaning clogged emergency rooms translate into fewer ambulances on the road.

All this has combined with the changing face of Saskatchewan, a province with both a growing senior population and record immigration that it hasn’t seen in 100 years. Seniors and newcomers are likely to put added strain on emergency rooms because of the added emergency needs of older people and because new arrivals may not have a family doctor or easy access to the health-care system.

However, lack of a family physician has become an increasingly widespread problem, causing more people to rely on emergency rooms to see a doctor. There is also the problem of more people becoming sick during and since COVID-19.

Even before the pandemic, which clearly made the problem worse, there was already a growing plague of new street drugs and more people winding up emergency rooms.

The government has made some attempts to address this with clinics adjacent to emergency rooms, but this solution has yet to come to fruition.

For now, the health system remains dependent on emergency service, and there is less emergency room service than three decades ago. It’s now 30 years since the closure of the Plains Health Centre and 52 rural hospitals, adding more pressure to the remaining city services.

We can debate until the cows come home the necessity for this, but less debatable is the impact.

It’s just one more factor that’s helped create the crisis in Saskatchewan emergency waiting rooms we see today.

Mandryk is the political columnist for the Regina Leader-Post and the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.

U$A

Nation’s Biggest Hospital Landlord Suffers New Losses

The Wall Street Journal

Medical Properties Trust, the country’s largest hospital landlord, said it would record about $350 million of write-downs related to its largest tenant, which had fallen behind on its rent, and hired a well-known restructuring adviser.

MPT, which had long supported Dallas-based Steward Health Care System, said more write-downs are possible. The news, released Thursday after the market closed, sent shares of MPT down 30% to $3.46 in early trading. The stock is down by 70% over the past year.

MPT said Steward was $50 million behind on its rent at year-end. MPT said it had agreed to fund a new $60 million loan to Steward and to defer portions of rent owed for 2024.

MPT also said it had hired Alvarez & Marsal as a financial adviser. The firm is known for its restructuring-advisory services, but an MPT spokesman, Drew Babin, said the scope of its services “is strictly limited to supporting MPT’s efforts to recover uncollected rents and outstanding loans from Steward.”

MPT grew quickly during the years of ultralow interest rates. The Birmingham, Ala.-based real-estate investment trust made $23 billion of acquisitions over two decades, mainly of hospital properties. MPT buys the bricks and mortar, and leases the buildings back to hospital operators.

Now, with interest rates higher and money tighter, MPT has been shrinking. MPT has been extending financial support to some of its most-troubled tenants, including Steward and Los Angeles-based Prospect Medical Holdings. Steward accounted for $3.8 billion, or almost 20%, of MPT’s assets as of Sept. 30 and is MPT’s largest tenant. Prospect accounted for $1.7 billion, or 9%, of MPT’s assets. Earlier this year, MPT slashed its quarterly dividend by almost half.

MPT played a crucial role in private-equity firms’ push into healthcare facilities. It used cheap, plentiful financing to buy more than 400 hospitals, in some cases enriching private-equity firms that sold to MPT at high prices and paid themselves large dividends. Now some of the deals have soured. Hospital chains that are MPT’s tenants, including Steward and Prospect, have closed facilities and cut services, reducing healthcare options in some communities.

MPT in its disclosure Thursday didn’t provide an update on Prospect, its third-largest tenant. MPT’s earnings for 2022 were hit by $283 million of impairment charges related to Prospect. MPT owns hospital properties operated by Prospect in Connecticut and southern California, and it is the mortgage lender for a handful of Pennsylvania hospitals that MPT last year sold back to Prospect, including two hospitals near Philadelphia that Prospect had closed.

MPT has pledged to lower its $10.2 billion of debt and boost liquidity through a series of deals for its properties.

In October 2022, Yale New Haven Health announced plans to buy Prospect’s Connecticut operations, part of a three-way deal involving MPT and the two companies. That deal has been on hold, and Yale New Haven has sought to reduce its purchase price, citing deteriorating conditions at Prospect’s operations in the state. MPT in its most recent quarterly report said it expected to receive $355 million of cash from the planned sale to Yale New Haven to help fund its short-term liquidity needs.

In a note Thursday, JPMorgan analysts said “the reality for the stock is that it is essentially another multi-quarter work-out being added to the mix on top of MPW’s deleveraging plans (potentially spanning multiple years) and the evolving Prospect situation.”

Prospect and Steward both are closely held and don’t disclose consolidated financial statements publicly. During a conference call with analysts in August, MPT’s chief financial officer, Steven Hamner, said MPT planned to file Steward’s financial 2022 financial statements once the company received them.

He said MPT would be doing so at the request of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and he pointed to SEC rules requiring such disclosures if a single tenant represents a significant portion of a company’s assets. To date, MPT hasn’t disclosed Steward’s 2022 financial statements. Babin, the MPT spokesman, said the company still hasn’t received them.

Write to Jonathan Weil at jonathan.weil@wsj.com

Commentary: America seems intent on repeating its history of Black oppression with book bans

2024/01/10

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Governor of Arkansas, speaks during the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, on May 2, 2023.

 - Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

America has a race problem, and it has abandoned all pretensions to hide it. We need only to do an autopsy on 2023 to witness this toxic brew of racial animosity boil over, in full public view. The days of the so-called post-racial, colorblind America are long behind us, if they ever existed. White legislators in statehouses and boards across the U.S. seized power to institute openly anti-Black laws, resolutions and decrees.

Take, for example, the recent decision by an all-white Missouri school board to remove Black history classes and books from the district’s course offerings. This act of Black scholastic erasure comes in the aftermath of the Florida Board of Education’s approval of new protocols for the teaching of Black history. Those guidelines tout the benefits of Black chattel slavery, arguing enslaved people enjoyed advantages because of their conditions in bondage. As to be expected, such a mendaciously driven, and revisionism-riven, reading of American slavery history unleashed much public outcry from a chorus of Black civil rights organizations. So universal was the condemnation of the board’s ahistorical account that even some prominent Black conservatives criticized the reckless move.

Any cursory reading of Black history in this country, from slavery to Jim Crow, reveals a clear historical pattern: Keep Black people away from writing their own histories by outlawing Black literacy witnessed in slavery, or explicitly impoverishing Black literacy, as observed in Jim Crow laws of “separate but equal.”

Yet, America seems intent on repeating its noxious history of Black oppression. Arkansas, under Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ governorship, approved similar bans on Black literature and history. Sanders ceremoniously banned the teaching of critical race theory in public schools, arguing such classes amount to indoctrination.

Other states, from Texas to Oklahoma, also banned various forms of Black literature, curriculum, history and the teaching of critical race theory. In Oklahoma, McCurtain County commissioners were caught in a recording touting the lynching and whipping of Black people. The McCurtain County sheriff’s office issued a statement arguing such audio recordings are illegal and questioned the authenticity of the tapes.

Have we forgotten the lessons of Jim Crow and the tremendous damage heaped upon Black communities? History would remind us well if white officials did not outlaw it.

According to the American Library Association, Texas led the nation in book banning in 2022. The white hoods of a past era are now substituted for the corporate jacket, the judicial gavel and the legislative pen. There’s an oft-repeated adage that speaks of slavery being America’s original sin. But what of its contemporary sins? Has America repented of its lust for Black oppression? Put another way, when will America overcome its fondness for racial injustice?

Indeed, the times are changing. No longer is racial terror the sole work of people in white hoods but inked in this nation’s history through legislators. These evolving currents of America’s race problem must be voiced and documented for all to witness. Failure to name racism, in whatever form, necessarily gives full rein for its rise and continuity in American life.

Sober reflections on America’s racial injustices in 2023 also remind us of the expulsion of the two Black legislators in the Tennessee state legislature. Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson were expelled because their advocacy for gun control on the floor of the chamber was deemed to be in breach of House decorum. In what can only be described as tragic comedy, one of the white representatives of the House who voted for the expulsions was accused of sexual harassment by a legislative intern. He was not expelled, even though a House ethics panel convicted him, quietly, of the misconduct. He resigned — after a news outlet confronted him. Historically, a common feature of anti-Black racism is the revelation of white hypocrisy that follows it.

All these examples of anti-Blackness in America are made possible only when white people use their legislative pens and gavels to reproduce racial oppression that they say they oppose.

The anatomy of America’s long-standing racism can be dissected this way: White people are the primary source of the nation’s anti-Black racism. This is an ugly truth. Yet, it must be told freely. Failure to grapple with contemporary wrongs will result in repeats of racial crises, of the sort witnessed after the 2020 police murder of George Floyd, the 2012 fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, the 1991 near-death beating of Rodney King and the 1968 assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Banning Black literature is not an abstraction. Its costs are counted in Black graves.

____

Derefe Kimarley Chevannes, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Memphis, who teaches Black political theory and critical race theory.

___

© Chicago Tribune

Gabriel Attal becomes France's youngest and first openly gay premier

Agence France-Presse
January 9, 2024 

Gabriel Attal (left) pictured with French President Emmanuel Macron on September 1, 2023.

© Ludovic Marin, AFP

Gabriel Attal, 34, took the reins on Tuesday as France's youngest-ever prime minister as President Emmanuel Macron sought to revamp his government following a year of protests and criticism from both the left and the right.

"The president of the republic appointed Mr. Gabriel Attal prime minister and tasked him with forming a government," read a presidential statement issued on Tuesday.

Gabriel Attal rose to prominence as the government spokesman and education minister. He is France’s first openly gay prime minister.

A wider cabinet reshuffle is expected this week as Macron seeks to sharpen his team for the final three years of his presidency.

Attal's predecessor Élisabeth Borne resigned on Monday following recent political turmoil over an immigration law that critics said made too many concessions to the far right. Among other measures, it broadened the government's ability to deport foreigners.

The government overhaul comes ahead of the Olympic Games in Paris and European parliament elections this summer, where Macron's centrist forces risk defeat at the hands of the far-right under Marine Le Pen.

Confirming the appointment on X, Macron said he wanted the new prime minister to bring back the spirit of bold change from when he first won office on a wave of hope for radical reform in 2017.

"I know I can count on your energy and your commitment," said Macron, adding that the new premier would act in line with the spirit of "excellence and audacity" of 2017.

In his first speech as prime minister on the steps of the Élysée presidential palace on Tuesday, Attal said the three priorities of his premiership would be employment, opening up the economy to simplify procedures for businesses and focusing on the youth.

Standing beside Attal, Borne extended her best wishes to the new prime minister in her handover speech. “As I pass the baton to you, I’m confident you have the determination and energy to lead the team,” she said.

Borne, 62, only the second woman to have served as French prime minister, ended her address on a personal note. “In taking office, I sent a message to all young girls to fulfill their dreams and my career demonstrated that whatever your background everything is possible. I say to all women: hold fast, the future is in your hands,” she said.

Macron – who was France’s youngest-ever president when he came to power – is set to work with Attal to name a new government in the coming days, though some key ministers are expected to continue in their posts.

The 46-year-old French president has shifted rightward on security and migration issues since rising to power on a pro-business centrist platform in 2017, notably as far-right rival Marine Le Pen and her anti-immigration, anti-Islam National Rally party have gained political influence

Acknowledging his youth, and the fact that he was named prime minister by the youngest Frenchman to become president, Attal said his appointment sent a “clear” signal of the nation’s “project of transformation”.
‘Fragile as ever’

Commentators see the reshuffle as essential to relaunch Macron’s centrist presidency for its last three years and prevent him becoming a “lame duck” leader after a series of crises.

Since he defeated the far right to win a second term in 2022, Macron has faced protests over unpopular pension reforms, the loss of his overall majority in parliamentary elections and controversy over immigration legislation.

While Macron cannot run again in 2027 presidential elections, relaunching his government is seen as crucial to help prevent Le Pen becoming president.

The conservative daily Le Figaro said Borne was leaving a political situation “that remains as fragile as ever".


“Changing a face at the top doesn’t change the overall picture,” the newspaper said, adding that Borne’s successor was facing “an overwhelming pile of political emergencies” including the task of uniting a fragmented nation.

(FRANCE 24 with AP and AFP)

Right-wing media's anti-Taylor Swift crusade leaves 'The View' baffled

Sarah K. Burris
January 11, 2024

Taylor Swift's international 'Eras Tour' is expected to become the first live event series to rake in over $1 billion in ticket sales (Michael Tran)


The co-hosts of "The View" are baffled by the sudden shift against Taylor Swift from certain right-wing media figures.

Swift, who was raised in Tennessee, started out as a country singer before leaving the genre for pop music. Fox host Jesse Watters claimed that she was part of a secret Pentagon program to manipulate the right wing into falling in love with her and then pushing a leftist agenda on them.

"In modern times, with these people having such influence and such, you know, an immeasurable amount of followers, she can potentially singlehandedly swing voters because of just the amount of followers that she potentially can influence," said former FBI special agent Stuart Kaplan in a discussion with Watters.

"Yeah, because when she posted the link to the Vote.org, like hundreds of thousands of young Taylor Swift fans all of a sudden registered to vote," said Watters. "I wonder who got to her, from the White House or from wherever. Who makes that initial handshake? Is it the binder?"

Approximately 35,000 people registered to vote thanks to Taylor Swift's Instagram post, not hundreds of thousands, NPR reported.

"There are real issues impacting millions of Americans," Whoopi Goldberg pointed out before playing the clip of Watters.

"My theory is Taylor Swift was born in Tennessee," said Sunny Hostin. "She started out as a country music pop princess, and I think that the Jesse Watters of the world thought that she was their princess, and then all of a sudden, she decides to endorse a Democrat in Tennessee. She was in support of the March for Our Lives against gun violence and supported the LGBTQ community in her music videos. She said, I'm pro-choice, and then she said vote. They picked the wrong princess."

Joy Behar joked that all Republicans are left with is Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) as their "princess."

See the clip in the video below or at the link here.