Former top fencer calls for ‘public inquiry into Canadian sport culture’

• 12 hours ago
• News
• Duration4:11  CBC

While speaking before a parliamentary committee focusing on safe sport in Canada, Emily Mason, founder of Fencing for Change Canada, discusses the ‘culture of toxicity, bullying and abuse pervasive in Canadian fencing.’

 

Federal public-service worker strike enters sixth day

Story by The Canadian Press • 

In The News is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to kickstart your day. Here is what's on the radar of our editors for the morning of April 24 ...

© Provided by The Canadian Press

What we are watching in Canada ...

One of Canada's largest labour disruptions has entered a sixth day as the union representing thousands of striking public-service workers looks to hamper access to ports.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada says more than 100,000 of its staff remain on strike, some of whom will move their picket lines today to strategic locations more likely to have an impact on the federal government.

National President Chris Aylward says Ottawa presented an offer Saturday afternoon, which the union countered with its own proposal that same day.

Yet the office of Treasury Board President Mona Fortier says it made a second proposal Saturday that the union had not responded to by late Sunday.

Earlier this weekend, the two sides accused each other of poor communication as bargaining teams sort out how much to increase wages to account for inflation and whether civil servants have a right to work remotely.

The two parties have been at odds since negotiations began in June 2021, and the union insists it can find other financing if it depletes the strike fund it's been using to pay those on the picket line since Wednesday.

Who sets remote work rules? That's a key issue in the PSAC strike

Story by CBC/Radio-Canada • Yesterday

The president of the Treasury Board, the federal department negotiating with striking Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) workers, made her case Monday for why the government believes remote work rules are best made by department management rather than laid out in a new contract.

Many sectors predominantly worked virtually during the first COVID-19 shutdown more than three years ago and the federal government once suggested that arrangement could become permanent for some workers.

As the pandemic evolved — and contracts with now-striking PSAC groups expired — the approach to where people should work swung to the other end of the pendulum.

Through stops, starts and studies, the government announced in December 2022 its workers generally had to return to the office two to three days a week in the first months of 2023.

Union leaders, including those with PSAC, pushed back before and after that announcement. PSAC said its members are just as effective working remotely as they are in the office, and protecting remote work in a new deal is a main reason why it's striking.

"We want to make sure everyone knows what the game rules are and that our members have recourse if this is not being applied fairly and consistently," PSAC national president Chris Aylward told CBC Sunday.

He mentioned the 2022 federal budget saying remote work could save billions of dollars a year if it meant the government could sell off some buildings.



Christine Griffin holds a sign supporting remote work at a PSAC picket at the Tunney's Pasture government complex in Ottawa last week.© Joseph Tunney/CBC

Treasury Board President Mona Fortier told CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning on Monday she believes rules should be set at the managerial level within each department as they continue to evaluate how to best deliver services.

Host Hallie Cotnam asked Fortier about why this should not be part of a collective agreement.

Related video: PSAC accuses the government of incompetence, no deal reached yet (cbc.ca)  Duration 8:34   View on Watch

cbc.caGovernment workers threaten to escalate strike action

2:00

Global NewsPSAC strike: Workers increasing pressure on feds for deal

1:58

Global NewsTreasury board president says PSAC must be ready to compromise: 'We cannot write a blank cheque'

2:11

"It's operations, it's … the fact it [could be the subject of a grievance], for example. I think this management right needs to be sustained as a management right and I truly believe remote work or telework is something that will continue to transform," she said.

"We were in a situation during COVID where we needed to work, by necessity, from home and then we started doing hybrid [work] by design and have been moving."

Speaking later in the day on CBC's Power and Politics, Fortier repeated the government's stance that decisions around telework are the right of management.

"It is a red line," she said. "It's so important that we have the flexibility for managers to see how we are going to best deliver services."

Strike enters 2nd workweek

The national strike for more than 155,000 federal public servants under PSAC began on April 19 at 12:01 a.m. and has entered its second workweek.

Two groups covered by the union remain on strike: one includes approximately 120,000 employees who fall under the Treasury Board, making up several government departments and agencies, and the other is a smaller tax group of more than 35,000 workers at the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).


In this drone photo, striking PSAC members and supporters are to the left on the picket line at Tunney's Pasture.© Michel Aspirot/CBC

About 110,000 to 120,000 PSAC members are eligible to walk off the job once you factor out staff performing work designated as essential, such as employment insurance or pensions.

Picket lines have gone up across the country while some government services — including taxes, passports and immigration — are disrupted.

Contracts for both groups expired in 2021. Negotiations between the federal government and PSAC's two groups began that year, but the union declared an impasse last year and called strike votes this past winter.

PSAC had previously asked for a 4.5 per cent raise each year for 2021, 2022 and 2023.

The most recent public offer from the government to each group was a nine per cent raise over three years, a total that matched recommendations of the third-party Public Interest Commission.

CANADA IS WILDERNESS

A rare lynx sighting reported east of Toronto in Prince Edward County
Story by Jane Stevenson • Yesterday

Toronto Sun

A lynx has been spotted Prince Edward County, a rarity in the area which is about a 2 1/2-hour drive east of Toronto. This image was taken from PC MPP Todd Smith's Twitter page.

A lynx has been spotted Prince Edward County, a rarity in the area, which is about a 2 1/2-hour drive east of Toronto.

The elusive creature was spotted in the tiny hamlet of Cressy, not far from Picton, by resident Paul Wallace.

“My neighbours saw the lynx sitting on their front lawn, then it strolled off to the Cressy Church and sat there before proceeding west to our property,” Wallace told countylive.ca.

“In the past few weeks, it has been seen around the Glenora Ferry area and Lake on the Mountain.”

Lynx, which have prominent ear tuffs and large furry feet, are seldom seen as they are wary of people and are found in places with cold, snowy winters and lots of their prey, the snowshoe hare.

According to countylive.ca, an Ontario Parks post from biologist Christine Terwissen says lynx, generally live north of Algonquin Park.

Terwissen said their tracks have a round shape with three lobes on the pad and rarely have claw marks.

Biodiversity loss is threatening Canada’s wetlands; here’s why it matters

Story by Cottage Life • 8h ago

© Photo by Elena Berd/Shutterstock


The swamps of the Minesing Wetlands, a 15,000-acre area about 15 kilometres west of Barrie, Ont., are not the most immediately welcoming of places. Convincing someone to spend a day exploring the thick, forested marshes—with clouds of mosquitoes in the air and bloodsucking leeches in the water—isn’t easy. I should know. I’ve been trying to convince friends to join me on a trip there for years. Again and again, my attempts are met with two questions: why would I visit, and why should I care?

Answering the first question is easy. Despite seeming unappealing, the Minesing Wetlands (sometimes called the “Everglades of the North”), are one of our country’s most significant wetland systems. As a conservation biologist helping to map out some of Canada’s most important places for nature, I’m excited to see some of the dozens of rare and endangered species that still call the Minesing Wetlands home. One species here has piqued my interest above all others—a jewel in this swampy rough. It’s called Hine’s emerald, a large dragonfly with a metallic green body and brilliant emerald eyes.

It’s an incredibly rare species; it requires a very specific type of wetland environment, and—unlike most dragonflies, which go from egg to adult in less than a year—the aquatic larvae of this species take three to five years to grow into adulthood, relying on crawfish burrows for shelter during winter and through any dry spells in summer. The Minesing Wetlands are the only place in Canada where this dragonfly is found, so as a nature lover, the slimmest chance to see this beautiful and unique piece of Canadian biodiversity is more than enough reason to visit.

Answering the second question—why should I care—takes longer to answer. I get asked similar things quite often: why care about this one rare species, no matter how beautiful it is? Why should I care about these wetlands or any other seemingly random place? Ultimately, it comes down to understanding why conservation and nature are important at all. Sure, nature is a nice-to-have, but is it really a must-have?

Why does biodiversity matter?

Most people are aware that across Canada and the world, we’re losing more and more wild biodiversity every year. From looking at around 25,000 Canadian species that scientists have some basic understanding of (a fraction of the estimated 80,000 species in Canada), we know that about one in five species in Canada are imperilled to some degree.

These bits of Canadian biodiversity are significant internationally too. More than 300 species in Canada are found nowhere else in the world. From the adorable Vancouver Island marmot to Algonquin Provincial Park’s Eastern wolf, the planetary survival of these species depends entirely on our conservation decisions here in Canada. When it’s gone here, it’s gone everywhere.

But, sometimes when I talk to landowners and land-users—farmers, cottagers, hunters, and ATV-ers—who hear me say we need to protect species or habitat, they get on the defensive. They don’t want to be told how to use their land, or be limited in what they do on it because of some obscure plant or insect. They want to know what purpose these species serve, and if their function really outweighs the inconvenience, annoyance, or danger that these animals pose to us. They want to know, if it’s gone, does it really matter?

The answer is, yes. Many of the natural processes that humans rely on depend on biodiverse ecosystems. Consider pollination, where a huge variety of wild bees, flies, and other insects—including mosquitoes—play a crucial role in ensuring the growth and yields of the fruits, veggies, and nuts that our diets rely on. Or consider decomposition, where species of ants, termites, mushrooms, worms, and more work together to break down and recycle dead plant and animal matter, clearing the way for new life. Gardeners will be familiar with these decomposers and detritivores as some of the main players in creating compost, but without them in the wild, we would quickly be buried under piles of dead plant and animal material.

Species including rattlesnakes and black widow spiders and plants such as American ginseng might hold the cure to helping treat different diseases and conditions. Even those “annoying” species are fundamental pieces of biodiversity. Throughout their life cycle, mosquitoes help to move nutrients between aquatic and terrestrial systems. They also form a key link between phytoplankton and micro-organisms—favoured prey of filter-feeding aquatic mosquito larvae—and larger animals, from bats to frogs, fish to birds. Mosquitoes are a central component of the food web in wetlands. Losing these pesky critters could compromise the function of the wetland, an ecosystem that helps us by filtering water, acting as a buffer to hold water and prevent destructive flooding during storms and winter thaws, and fighting climate change by removing carbon from the atmosphere. These are ecosystem services that would be massively expensive to replace.

Having a variety of species participating in these functions matters as well. For example, pollination is more effective when done not just by a single species (such as honeybees), but instead by a diverse set of wild pollinators. And more biodiverse ecosystems may also be more resilient to change.

While many species might seem similar on the surface, we still lack so much understanding about the basic biology of most species and the complex interactions that they participate in within ecosystems. It’s rarely clear what effect losing a species might have. To paraphrase biologists Paul and Anne Ehrlich, early pioneers in the fields of conservation biology and environmental advocacy, losing species in an ecosystem is like blindly popping rivets off a plane while it’s flying. Some rivets might be redundant, and the plane can probably keep flying for a short while even with some structurally important rivets removed. But it’s silly to risk popping off any rivets when you don’t need to.

What can we do to help biodiversity?

We have a big (but not impossible) task ahead of us to make sure that we keep all of our rivets on the metaphorical plane (or threads in the tapestry of life, if you prefer a less utilitarian analogy). Preventing further loss and recovering biodiversity to what it was—think of it as restoring rivets that have been damaged on a plane—goes together with addressing the climate crisis. The good news is that nations are taking steps towards this.

Just this past December, 188 countries from across the world agreed to a new global framework for addressing biodiversity loss. While not perfect, the agreement contains some ambitious goals, including protecting 30 per cent of lands and waters by 2030, restoring and stopping the loss of areas important to biodiversity and of high ecological integrity, and addressing key drivers of biodiversity loss. Importantly, this agreement highlights the need for conservation to be led by (or at least happen in collaboration with) Indigenous peoples and local communities—something that is especially important here in Canada.

And it’s not just at the Minesing Wetland. Wherever you are—at the side of a lake, on the banks of a river, on the edge of a field, or deep in the woods—there are many things that you can do to help biodiversity around you. It can start as simple as creating a pollinator garden of native wildflowers (or encouraging the wildflowers that are already growing), setting aside parts of lawn or lands to stay “wild” (such as by leaving leaf litter or wetlands alone for the year), or building and properly maintaining nest boxes for species such as bats or bees.

Or you can participate in community science through apps such as iNaturalist or eBird. Local land trusts, conservation authorities, and nature groups can give you advice on the best actions to protect and steward lands you own and connect you to like-minded networks of people. Conservation doesn’t need to be hard, and doesn’t always need to be opposed to other ways of enjoying lands. By engaging with the conservation network and community around you, you can find new creative ways to take care of the land and appreciate nature.

Ultimately, stopping biodiversity loss requires action at both the local level and globally. As important as it is to protect and steward biodiversity near you, it’s also important to vote for leaders who will take conservation seriously and work to meet global commitments.

I’m looking forward to my trip to the Minesing Wetlands in search of the Hine’s emerald. I’ll keep asking people to risk the marshes and mosquitoes to join me, and along the way, start down the path of appreciating biodiversity in all its forms. Like the gears in a watch, every bit of biodiversity—whether it’s an emerald-eyed dragonfly, or a bloodsucking leech—plays some sort of role in the bigger picture and has intrinsic value of its very own. With hope and hard work—and an appreciation for the importance of all the pieces of our planet—I’m optimistic that creatures like Hine’s emerald and other rare species will be a little less rare by the time I get a chance to see them.

Peter Soroye is the Key Biodiversity Areas assessment and outreach coordinator with Wildlife Conservation Society Canada. As you read this, he’s likely on a hike that’s taking 200 per cent longer than necessary as he stops to photograph every bug, bird, and flower he sees along the way.

Related video: Nature nuts loving this 'amazing example of biodiversity' so close to Edmonton (cbc.ca)

Just Stop Oil cause major disruption across London’s West End

Story by Miriam Burrell • Yesterday
Evening Standard

JustStopOil_London1_24042023.jpg© Just Stop Oil

A Just Stop Oil demonstration involving more than 160 protesters has caused major traffic disruption across London’s West End.

Protesters blocked traffic at seven locations across the West End, Westminster and South London on Monday morning.

Some formed a line, holding banners as they slowly walked down Haymarket, a major thoroughfare which runs between Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square and plays host to a number of theatres, hotels and restaurants.

Just stop oil take to the streets for a slow match protest in Waterloo, London at 8am

View on Watch

DailymotionJust Stop Oil begin ‘slow march’ campaign through central London

0:45

Traffic was also backed up along the Strand, Kennington Lane and Waterloo Bridge.

“Officers are on scene and we’ll aim to get traffic moving again freely as soon as it is safe to do so,” Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

Buses, lorries and commuters have been forced into a gridlock snaking behind the protesters as they chant, hold placards and walk slowly in a line.

The rally is “in solidarity with the UK’s political prisoners”, including those “wrongly imprisoned for resisting the Government’s genocidal plans to licence over 100 new oil and gas projects by 2025”, Just Stop Oil said in a statement.

The group warned: “At 1pm today, hundreds more will set off from Parliament Square, marching to the Shell building with supporters of Extinction Rebellion and other groups to demand an end to the fossil fuel era.”

Just Stop Oil said marches have been planned for “every Saturday” at Parliament Square from 12pm.

The protest comes just days after two Just Stop Oil protesters who scaled Queen Elizabeth II Bridge at Dartford Crossing were sentenced.

Morgan Trowland, 40, and Marcus Decker, 34, were sentenced at Southend Crown Court to three years in prison, and two years and seven months in prison respectively, for causing a public nuisance.

The pair used ropes and other climbing equipment to shuffle up the cables of the bridge in October last year, causing major traffic disruption.

They ascended to a point close to 200ft above the road and unfurled a giant Just Stop Oil banner and “rigged up hammocks and stayed there”, prosecutors said during their trial.

The Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links the M25 in Essex and Kent, was closed from 4am on October 17 to 9pm the following day.

In response to their sentencing Home Secretary Suella Braverman said: “These selfish protesters caused families to miss funerals, cost businesses money, disrupted emergency services and brought chaos to the law-abiding public.

“I welcome the court’s verdict. Others considering similar stunts should take note.”

Just Stop Oil claimed that Trowland and Decker were “given draconian custodial sentences”.

“The Just Stop Oil supporters were demanding that the Government halt licensing and consents for the development of any new fossil-fuel projects in the UK,” the group said last week.

Speaking outside the courtroom spokesperson Stephanie Golder said:“What Morgan and Marcus did was extraordinary, risky and extremely disruptive.”

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German climate group take responsibility for Berlin Formula E protest

Story by Stefan Mackley • Yesterday 10:18 a.m.

The Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit in Germany was holding a double-header this weekend, which marked the halfway point in the championship’s 16-race calendar.

As drivers performed burnouts before taking their positions on the grid, headed by both Abt machines after a shock qualifying performance, several protestors entered the track from the far side of the circuit.

The start procedure was delayed as security swiftly moved onto the track and removed the protestors, who were then detained by police.

After a delay of a few minutes the start procedure went ahead as normal, with Envision Racing’s Nick Cassidy winning the race, his first of the season, as the Kiwi cut championship leader Pascal Wehrlein’s advantage at the top of the standings down to just four points.

German group Letzte Generation (Last Generation) claimed responsibility for the disruption, with the organisation holding a series of demonstrations around the German capital city over the course of the weekend.

The group are calling on the German government to take action against climate change and took to Twitter about their actions: “We are at the @eFORMELde racetrack to sound the alarm.

“It's time to slow down. Because we're on the highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator.”


Protestors climbing onto the track
Photo by: Andreas Beil

Formula E also released a statement following the incident: “The race was temporarily delayed while local authorities responded to a protest action unrelated to the event. Security services quickly and safely contained the disruption. The event was able to proceed as planned.”

This is the second high-profile single-seater race to be disrupted by protestors in the last 12 months, with Just Stop Oil members storming the Silverstone circuit at the 2022 British Grand Prix.

Several members of the group accessed the track along the Wellington Straight on the opening lap of the race, which was red-flagged following Zhou Guanyu’s first-corner accident which sent his Alfa Romeo Formula 1 car over the barrier.

U$A

TikTok ban poll uncovers age, party divisions

Story by Olafimihan Oshin • 4/24/2023

Nearly half of Americans support a potential ban on TikTok, but there are clear divisions between age groups and political affiliation.


TikTok ban poll uncovers age, party divisions© Provided by The Hill

That was the finding of a new Wall Street Journal poll published on Monday, as momentum is building in Congress to ban the Chinese-owned social media platform due to security concerns.

The poll found that 46 percent of respondents said they support a nationwide ban on the social media platform, while 35 percent of those surveyed said they’d oppose the measure.


TikTok ban poll uncovers age, party divisions© Provided by The Hill

Along party lines, 62 percent of registered Republican respondents supported the ban, compared to just 33 percent of registered Democrats.

Related video: TikTok Troubles – Who Supports The Ban? (Stringr)

Duration 1:00  View on Watch

By age group, 59 percent of respondents who are 65 years of age or older said they support a nationwide ban on the social media platform, while 37 percent of respondents who are between the ages of 18-34 years were on board with a ban.

Among racial groups, about half of white respondents backed a TikTok ban, compared to 42 percent of Hispanic respondents and 35 percent of Black respondents.

The poll comes as multiple state governments and Congress in recent months have implemented TikTok on government devices, citing national security concerns due its Chinese owner ByteDance, and potential links to China’s communist party.

Calls for a national ban on the platform have picked up steam in recent months, after the then-Trump administration’s failed attempt to bar the social media platform in 2020.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was grilled before the House Energy and Commerce Committee last month, with lawmakers expressing concerns ranging from national security threats, data privacy, the spread of misinformation, and the safety for minors.

The Biden administration recently demanded ByteDance sell its stake in the company or prepare to be banned in the U.S.

The Wall Street Journal poll was conducted from April 11 to 17 with a total of 1,500 respondents participating in the survey. The poll’s margin of error is 2.5 percentage points.

The Hill.

U$ Supreme Court Allows State-Law Climate Suits Against Oil Companies

Story by Jess Bravin, Erin Mulvaney • WSJ -Today


WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court on Monday turned away appeals by oil companies seeking protection from potential liability under state laws for harms caused by climate change, a decision that at least for now allows a number of cases to move forward under state laws the industry sees as less favorable than federal environmental statutes.

Oil companies, among them Chevron Corp., Exxon Mobil Corp. and Shell PLC, are facing lawsuits alleging varied environmental harms from greenhouse-gas emissions filed under state laws by Rhode Island and several local governments, including the city of Baltimore; Boulder and San Miguel counties, Colo.; Honolulu and Maui counties, Hawaii; and Marin, San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties, Calif.

The Supreme Court denied the industry petitions in a summary order that as is typical contained no comment. Justice Samuel Alito didn’t take part in the cases, likely because he owns shares in companies involved in the suits. In one case, Suncor Energy (U.S.A.) Inc. v. Boulder County, Justice Brett Kavanaugh noted that he preferred to hear the appeal.

“This was the right decision, and it is time to prepare for trial,” said Sara Gross, an attorney with the Baltimore City Law Department. “Since we filed this case nearly five years ago, the climate crisis has worsened, the costs to Baltimore taxpayers are skyrocketing, and the defendants have pocketed trillions of dollars in profits while trying to dodge accountability for their deception.”

The Baltimore suit, filed in 2018 in Maryland state court, alleges that more than 20 energy companies promoted fossil fuels while concealing information about the harmful changes in climate they cause, including rising sea levels and extreme weather. Other cases brought by state and local officials make similar allegations.

Theodore Boutrous, who represents Chevron in several of the disputes, said he was confident that the pending climate lawsuits would ultimately be dismissed.

“Climate change is an issue of national and global magnitude that requires a coordinated federal policy response, not a disjointed patchwork of lawsuits in state courts across multiple states,” he said. “These wasteful lawsuits in state courts will do nothing to advance global climate solutions, nothing to reduce emissions, and nothing to address climate-related impacts.”

Related video: Guyana's Climate Change Fight Starts With Oil (QuickTake)

We know the value of the forest.  Duration 3:05  View on Watch

Dailymotion

International Court of Justice gets closer to ruling on states' climate policies

1:10

New anti-gouging bill aims to increase oil refinery accountability

2:58

 UN votes to ask world court to rule on countries' climate duties

3:55

An Exxon spokesman said the company would fight the suits, adding: “Today’s decision has no impact on our focus to invest billions of dollars to leading the way in a thoughtful energy transition that takes the world to net zero carbon emissions.”

“We do not believe the courtroom is the right venue to address climate change,” a Shell spokeswoman said.

Since 2017, at least two-dozen lawsuits have been filed by states and local governments against oil companies. Lower courts largely have rejected industry motions to dismiss the cases or move them into federal courts the defendants believe may provide a legal advantage.

In 2021, the Supreme Court handed industry a procedural win when it ordered a federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., to reconsider its decision to leave Baltimore’s suit in state court. The appeals court in 2022 reaffirmed that ruling, which Monday’s Supreme Court order leaves in place.

The state-level litigation represents a major threat to the oil industry. It has been likened to state litigation filed against tobacco companies in the 1990s for the harms of smoking, and to recent cases against major players in the pharmaceutical industry accusing them of fueling the opioid epidemic. Companies in both sectors have had to pay multibillion-dollar settlements.

The climate-liability suits were filed under state laws after similar efforts under federal laws proved unsuccessful. They have been stalled while companies jockeyed in courts to have the cases handled instead in federal courts, where precedent is favorable to their arguments. The Justice Department advised the Supreme Court not to take up the cases earlier this year.

Around the world, activists have filed suits in national and international courts seeking to spur action against climate change, contending that their governments aren’t acting with enough urgency to address the environmental crisis.

The Supreme Court took no position Monday on a further, similar petition in which the companies asked it to reverse a Third Circuit opinion allowing lawsuits filed by Hoboken, N.J., and Delaware to move forward in state courts. The justices are scheduled to consider whether to take up that petition in May.

Also Monday, the justices agreed to hear a pair of cases over whether the First Amendment prohibits local officials from blocking individuals who posted critical comments from their social-media accounts. In 2019, a federal appeals court held that then-President Donald Trump couldn’t block individuals from his Twitter account, but the Supreme Court dismissed an appeal as moot after his term ended in 2021.

The cases accepted Monday over Facebook and Twitter accounts involve less exalted officeholders, including two school board members from Poway, Calif., and the city manager in Port Huron, Mich. Arguments will take place in the court’s next term, which begins in October.

Write to Jess Bravin at Jess.Bravin@wsj.com and Erin Mulvaney at erin.mulvaney@wsj.com

Trudeau says Canada is 'very serious' about reviving nuclear power

Story by Special to National Post • Today

Pickering Nuclear Generating Station.© Provided by National Post

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada is “very serious” about reviving nuclear energy production to lower the country’s reliance on fossil fuels.

The prime minister made the comments in response to a question about Canada’s LNG exports to Germany during a discussion with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and university students in Ottawa on Monday. Trudeau last year said he wasn’t persuaded to advance liquid natural gas exports to Germany , which has been searching for alternative energy sources as it moves away from Russian imports after the Kremlin ordered the invasion of Ukraine.

Trudeau said while Canada has increased its natural gas exports to the global market, the country is prioritizing reducing dependency on oil and gas in the coming decades.

“Even though in the short term there is a need for support of more fossil fuels into the global economy, what the world is looking at is not just getting off Russian oil and gas, it’s reducing our dependency on oil and gas overall and decarbonizing our energy mix as much as possible,” Trudeau said Monday.

Is nuclear energy green or not? Federal government sending conflicting messages, critics say

'Affordable, safe' nuclear power is key to reaching Canada's climate goals: federal minister

Trudeau said there will be a need for oil and gas far into the future, but rather than burning it for energy it will be used in other processes like making plastics.

The prime minister suggested increased attention to nuclear energy would be key in the shift, adding Canada has been investing in small modular reactors. Germany, on the other hand, shut down its remaining nuclear power plants earlier this month.

Chris Keefer, president of Canadians for Nuclear Energy, applauded the decision, saying it signals a growing enthusiasm in Ottawa towards nuclear energy.

“While we still need to be smart about how we use energy … we’re talking about doubling or tripling our grid,” he said. “Nuclear is a real optimal way to do that.”

Roughly 15 per cent of Canada’s electricity comes from nuclear power, according to the World Nuclear Association. A January Angus Reid Institute poll found 57 per cent of Canadians would like to see further development of nuclear power generation.

As Canada shifts away from fossil fuels and spends billions to attract green-tech investments, Trudeau said there will be an increase in the amount of nuclear energy production required in the country.

“As we look at what the baseload energy requirements are gonna be needed by Canada over the coming decades, especially as we continue to draw in global giants like Volkswagen who choose Canada partially because we have a clean energy mix to offer to power, we’re gonna need a lot more energy,” he said. “We’re gonna have to be doing much more nuclear.”

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland made an appearance at the Pickering Nuclear station east of Toronto last week and said nuclear could benefit in the energy transition away from carbon-based fuels.

The Pickering station was originally set to close as early as 2025, but Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government has extended its life for at least a year, while it looks at the feasibility of a longer extension.

Keefer said the government still has more to do to meet its large energy requirements, especially with investments like the Volkswagen battery plant deal on the way. He hopes to see investments in large reactors like the CANDU reactor, which has been successful in Ontario.

Still, Trudeau said Canada will have the capacity to generate energy for the world through wind, solar, geothermal and hydro energies in addition to nuclear energy, as other countries move toward net-zero emissions.

“Canada can and will be that solution,” Trudeau said.

Opinion: No, nuclear power isn’t the ‘big bazooka’ climate fix you might think

Germany’s exit from nuclear power on April 15 doesn’t single it out as a quirky anomaly or black sheep in a world otherwise enthusiastically embracing nuclear energy.


CNN Germany closes the last of its nuclear plants, but opinions divided over future of energy policies   Duration 5:30  View on Watch



Paul Hockenos - Hayyan Al-Yousouf

Rather, it situates Germany firmly within the global mainstream: ever more countries are abandoning or scaling back their nuclear power programs, including the US.

Since a highpoint in the early 2000s, the number of operational nuclear reactors worldwide has fallen – from 438 to 411, according to this year’s World Nuclear Industry Status Report. (And that was before Germany’s move this week).

Nuclear power’s share of global electricity generation has now slid to its lowest point in four decades. While at the same time, renewable energy generation – clean tech like solar, wind, bioenergy and geothermal – has expanded by more than 30-fold.

Despite bipartisan backing, the US, the globe’s nuclear energy stronghold, has 12 fewer reactors operational than a decade ago – and none at all under construction.

In fact, when matched up against renewables as a source of energy that doesn’t emit carbon, nuclear power falls egregiously short.

It is so expensive and grievously slow to roll out that its steady decline is no wonder – even if there’s currently the illusion of nuclear’s comeback as a solution for the climate crisis.

Nuclear power may look like an attractive, big bazooka fix to rising emissions. But it is a red herring and the so-called renaissance is nothing but a soap bubble. Nuclear power actually obstructs the transition to a carbon-neutral world. It robs the urgent rollout of clean tech funds, obscures planning clarity and throws a spanner in energy systems driven increasingly by renewables.

In terms of price, nuclear power is itself a striking anomaly in the world of technology, as cost has risen over the course of time rather than sunk.

Since 2011, the price of a kilowatt of nuclear generated electricity has soared by 40%.

Meanwhile solar energy, which the International Energy Agency calls “the cheapest electricity in history,” has plummeted by 90% – and is still falling as its technical efficacy steadily improves.

The cost of a megawatt-hour generated by utility-scale solar or wind is around $38; the same from a nuclear plant runs around $167. Why invest four dollars in a unit of energy when get you the same for one?

The high price tag on nuclear kilowatts is a result of the exorbitant construction bill and insurance costs. The tab is so high that countries simply can’t attract investors no matter how sweet they make the deal.

The two reactors that will go online this year in the US state of Georgia racked up costs of more than $30 billon. But the Hinkley C plant in the UK takes the dubious prize of the priciest: currently $32 billion.

As for rollout time – critically important as the planet is racing against the clock to stop global warming – nuclear also occupies the doghouse. While authoritarian states such as China start up plants more quickly – though not nearly as quickly as they throw up giant wind and solar farms – in the West construction time is almost always vastly underestimated. Supposedly about ten years, though usually much longer.

Since 2000 only one new European reactor has gone online, and in the US the first to be built in more than three decades began operations in Georgia this year. Of the 63 reactors that commenced construction globally between 2012 and 2021, only 19 are operational – and almost all of them in China.

This also means that the world’s current nuclear fleet is aging – average age 31 years. And as France’s disastrous summer of 2022 taught us (half of its reactors were down for repairs) old nuclear technology is unreliable – anything but the 24/7 phenomenon that advocates claim.

None of these numbers or arguments, however, should obscure the original reason that Germany, as well fellow European countries Spain and Switzerland, chose to toss in nuclear power, to say nothing of many of the 163 countries that never went the way of spitting atoms for energy in the first place.

Nuclear fission remains an extremely dangerous and toxic means of energy generation. In addition to the meltdowns in Chernobyl, Ukraine (1986) and Fukushima, Japan (2011), according to the IAEA, there have been 31 serious incidents at nuclear power stations worldwide since 1952— including two in France and six in the United States.

Most recently, in November 2022 the Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant north of Minneapolis, Minnesota, leaked about 400,000 gallons of radioactive water into a nearby stream.

And nuclear waste remains a radioactive dilemma without a solution. There are currently more than 250,000 tonnes of spent fuel sitting on or near nuclear plant sites – waiting for permanent repository sites to be named and constructed. The problem since 1954: nobody but nobody wants it stored near their communities or water supplies.

Germany, and all of Europe, is building out renewable energy, smart grids, electric vehicles and energy storage facilities at breakneck pace to eliminate fossil fuels from its energy supply.

This is a clear-headed, evidence-based decision in contrast to the pipedream of a nuclear future.

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