It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Thursday, July 20, 2023
A vast problem: Coast guard floats a new solution to problem of abandoned boats
The Canadian government's inventory of wrecked, abandoned or hazardous boats includes a U.S. warship, a derelict floating McDonald's known as the McBarge, a human-smuggling ship and an old BC Ferries vessel rotting on the Fraser River.
But the most problematic aren't the well-known vessels with colourful histories — it's the fleet of mystery craft that have dogged the Canadian Coast Guard and Transport Canada for years.
The inventory has more than 1,700 entries, about 70 per cent of them in B.C., ranging from abandoned dinghies to yachts and fishing vessels. Many have opaque ownership, testing the skills of coast guard investigators. Some are of unknown origin. Others, said one wharf keeper, may have been abandoned by owners who took to the water during the "COVID era" but found themselves unable to keep up with expenses.
Now there's new impetus to putting owners' names to the vessels.
In late June, the coast guard imposed its first fine under the Wrecked, Abandoned or Hazardous Vessels Act, a 2019 law that empowers authorities to penalize owners of boats that are hazardous to marine environments and public safety.
The owner of a wrecked cabin cruiser, the Akoo, which had washed ashore on Vancouver Island was fined $15,000 after being targeted by a coast guard compliance and enforcement program established in April, said Paul Barrett, the agency's superintendent of compliance and enforcement.
Barrett said the vessel was anchored in Cadboro Bay in Victoria before wind washed it ashore on a popular beach and owner Ryan Brackenbury failed to establish a salvage plan.
"We're less worried about eyesores. What we're worried about with this act in particular is hazards," Barrett said.
He said the Akoo had been a problem for months having drifted ashore, discharging pollution as its hull deteriorated.
Barrett said he didn't know Brackenbury's personal circumstances, but court records and social media posts show struggles with homelessness, keeping the Akoo afloat, and a history of run-ins with the law.
Brackenbury, 43, said in an interview that he believes his boat was deliberately cut loose, calling the fine a "vindictive" move by the coast guard that he plans to appeal.
"It's not even my boat, like it's not registered to me," he said. "They can't really prove that it's mine."
Brackenbury said he proposed a way of removing the Akoo from the beach, but the coast guard didn't accept his plan.
He said he's studying social work at Camosun College, living off disability payments and living aboard boats is his only option, because he is unable to afford a rental home.
"I've had my name on the BC Housing thing for a couple years now and I haven't had any luck," Brackenbury said. "So, you know, this (living on boats) is the best option."
Barrett said the challenge when they receive a report of an abandoned vessel is "just trying to determine ownership, which takes a fair amount of investigative skills."
Some vessels require registration, but records might not always reflect a current and accurate chain of ownership, while smaller boats that end up abandoned don't require registration.
"If a vessel's been left for a really long time, the registries might have lapsed and might not be valid anymore," Barrett said.
Some vessels on the inventory of wrecked and abandoned vessels have well-documented histories, including the MV Sun Sea, intercepted off Vancouver Island after smuggling 492 Sri Lankan migrants in 2010.
Also listed is the Brigadier General M.G. Zalinski, a U.S. warship that sank south of Prince Rupert in 1946 that prompted a multimillion-dollar cleanup effort when it began leaking oil a decade ago.
Then there's the Queen of Sidney, a former BC Ferries vessel sold off in 2002 that now sits abandoned on the Fraser River near Mission, east of Vancouver.
Transport Canada keeps a bulletin board of "vessels of concern," but the few entries on the list show the federal government is trying to find their owners before removing or disposing of the watercraft.
Nico Preston, a wharf keeper, or wharfinger, with the Capital Regional District on Mayne Island, said there are many reasons vessels end up abandoned.
"I imagine there are going to be a lot of abandoned boats from kind of the COVID era, where a lot of people got into boating and then had lost interest or became unable to keep up with the costs of keeping a boat on the water," Preston said. "Then there’s also limited moorage available. It's difficult to find a place to dock a boat that's protected. You know, there's only so many protected harbours in British Columbia."
He said the so-called live-aboard community, those who drop anchor in open waters near shorelines and live on their boats, gets unfairly blamed for problematic vessels. Many abandoned boats are unoccupied and may be from defunct fishing operations or owned by companies that have gone bankrupt, he said.
Preston said his views are "very nuanced" because he's known a wide range of people who "ply the seas."
"Some vessels that you think might be neglected are in fact cared for within someone's means, whereas the luxury yacht hasn't moved in five years, (that) kind of thing," he said.
John Roe, a longtime mariner in Victoria, started the Dead Boats Society after helping seize and dispose of "numerous" problematic vessels over the years.
He said many boats end up abandoned due to "urban pressures," with marina space in short supply.
"The prices have gone up exponentially. I can't afford to keep a boat in the marina myself, so none of my boats are in the water right now," he said. "There's no economical way to dispose of these things. There just isn't."
Roe said his work to clean up waterways that began in the late 1990s has been supported by heavy industry, and it's a positive step that the coast guard has tools to deal with hazardous boats tainting marine environments.
"We can govern what happens, both municipally and provincially, and federally what happens in our water," Roe said. "So, we just need to say, 'your rotten old boat's got to go.'"
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 19, 2023.
Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press
FIFA Women’s World Cup: Professional women athletes are still fighting for equitable sponsorship
Dawn Trussell, Professor of Sport Management & Chancellor's Chair for Research Excellence, Brock University
Laura Harris, Research Assistant, Sport, Allyship, and Inclusion Lab, Brock University Wed, July 19, 2023
THE CONVERSATION CANADA A United States women's national team member takes a shot during a FIFA Women's World Cup send-off soccer match in San Jose, Calif., on July 9, 2023. Sponsorship and marketing deals with women athletes are often performative and exploitative.
As part of our recent sport management research into this issue, we worked with current professional women soccer players from the United Kingdom (Women’s Championship and Women’s Super League) and the United States (National Women’s Soccer League) who had a sponsorship deal at one time in their careers.
Because our study was centred on storytelling as a form of research, we will share some excerpts from the soccer players we spoke to that highlight the inequities women continue to face in sport.
We also worked with average professional athletes, rather than the upmost elite who have multiple lucrative partnership deals. These average athletes still played in the world’s top leagues, but were not as widely recognized as the top players of their sports.
Olivia’s story of losing sponsorship
A goalkeeper picks up the ball before a FIFA Women’s World Cup send-off soccer match in San Jose, Calif., on July 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Josie Lepe)
Olivia is a professional footballer in her mid-twenties who competes in England’s tier one Women’s Super League. While she does not currently have a personal sponsor, she formerly had a partnership with a large shoe and athletic apparel brand that ended abruptly after she changed teams.
Right now, I currently don’t have a sponsor. In men’s soccer, players in the top three leagues will have [brand deals] whereas in women’s soccer it might only be the top players.
I’ve been fortunate because when I signed my first professional contract, I did gain a two-year deal with [a brand]. That being said, I remember trying to get shin pads for the season, and it took about three months just to get a pair.
On Instagram they were like “Olivia this, Olivia that,” but I’d wait a long time for the essentials. The next season I moved teams, and they pulled the sponsorship.
They said the team I was playing for wasn’t what they would class as “tier one” football, even though it was. They were a second-tier club in the men’s game, but the top in the women’s league. I wasn’t expecting it to end and it was brutal.
Olivia’s story reveals how the majority of professional women’s soccer players rarely receive sponsorship deals. Despite moving to a higher ranked women’s club, Olivia’s sponsorship criteria was based on the equivalent men’s team, which was a tier lower.
While the significant lack of media coverage afforded to women’s sports may not allow a breadth of professional athletes to be widely known, the women we interviewed believed men players at all levels received unquestioned sponsorship while they had to fight to be seen as valuable despite the surging profitability of women’s sports.
Morgan’s story of labour exploitation
One athlete had an unpaid sponsorship deal with a meal prep service.
(Shutterstock)
Morgan is a professional footballer in her early twenties who competes in England’s tier one Women’s Super League alongside her country’s national team. While she does not currently have a sponsor, she recently completed her first career sponsorship with a meal prep company.
Recently, I did have a food sponsorship deal, that meal prep stuff. It isn’t paid, but I just need to post twice a month when I receive the food and I get to keep all of my meals for free. I actually thought they would make me still pay, but instead they gave me a discount code to give out to other people.
Before I had a sponsorship deal, I thought you had to have a certain look. Like the perfect body. But that’s changed; it’s more how good you are at your actual sport and how active you are on social media.
So far, they’ve been happy with what I’m doing and repost what I do since it’s easier for them to not have to make their own content. At the moment, we have to really prove ourselves to get recognized. So, when we do get media opportunities, it’s something everyone jumps at, even if it’s a two-hour drive away.
Morgan’s story reflects a positive shift away from the over-sexualization of women athletes. Rather than being primarily valued for her physical appearance, Morgan’s athletic ability was recognized as being valuable on its own.
Corporate sponsors of women’s sports experience an increase in consumer intent to purchase their products or services around their supposedly equitable brands. But these sponsorship deals are not as equitable as they seem because the women athletes receive little to no financial compensation for their work. Current state of women’s sports marketing
Despite women’s sport traditionally receiving only one to two per cent of global sport sponsorship dollars, investment is exponentially increasing as media coverage begins to meet consumer demand.
However, while previous sport sponsorship literature has focused on men athletes and mutually beneficial partnerships, it is clear that the power imbalances in women’s sport sponsorship reflect a different exploitative reality.
The state of marketing and sponsorship in women’s sport is far from equitable — even though it may be portrayed as otherwise in media coverage. The women in our study discussed how male athletes receive substantial financial and brand-specific compensation for their sponsorship deals. In contrast, the women felt like they just had to be grateful for whatever they had been given.
While positive change has been seen, especially surrounding this year’s Women’s World Cup, there is still much work to be done by women’s soccer organizations and corporate sponsors to create a more equitable sporting future.
This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.
Dawn Trussell receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and Sport Canada.
Women's World Cup: Canadian interest higher than for men’s tournament, poll shows
Canadian women relaxed ahead of World Cup opener but still face some injury issue
MELBOURNE, Australia — Canada looked relaxed at training Wednesday ahead of its FIFA Women's World Cup opener against Nigeria, although several players appeared to be working at their own pace.
Midfielder Jessie Fleming was mostly a spectator in the portion of the morning practice open to the media at a local soccer club. And forwards Deanne Rose and Nichelle Prince, who are both returning from Achilles injuries, worked out on their own under the direction of a trainer.
"A few players are on their own individual plan," said Canada coach Bev Priestman, downplaying an injury question. "Today was a light day … You would have seen Deanne, Nichelle doing some specific work on their rehab. So yeah, I think Jessie should be fine."
One hopes so.
Fleming is one of Canada's most important cogs. The 25-year-old Chelsea midfielder, at her third World Cap with 115 caps and 19 goals on her Canada resume, makes things happen.
The seventh-ranked Canadians open play Thursday night (10:30 p.m. ET) against No. 40 Nigeria at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium.
Injuries have dogged Canada in the lead-up to the tournament. The hope was that storyline was done.
Prince and Rose were in a race against time to recover in time for the tournament. While they made it, veteran midfielder Desiree Scott (186 caps) was not deemed healthy enough to make the roster. Defender Jade Rose, a rising star, also had to drop out of the pre-tournament camp due to injury while influential forward Janine Beckie was ruled out in March after having knee surgery.
The injuries have slowed Canada's momentum.
The Canadian women had won five straight going into their final match of 2022 when Prince was taken off in a stretcher in a 2-1 loss to Brazil in November in Sao Paulo.
"We've got a teammate out. We stick together … I need you to stick together" Priestman told her team in a post-match huddle after the Brazil game.
Canada has gone 3-1-0 this year, scoring just three goals. Three of those games were at the SheBelieves Cup in the U.S. in February when the players' focus was clouded by the ongoing labour dispute with Canada Soccer.
An interim deal covering compensation for the World Cup is near completion and the Canadian brain trust had hoped a lengthy pre-tournament camp in Australia would allow the team to find its feet again. Concern over Fleming and question-marks over how many minutes Prince and Rose have in them to start the tournament are not what the doctor ordered.
Despite that the mood was light at training.
The three goalkeepers were the first onto the field, busting some moves to Madonna's "Vogue" and S Club 7's "S Club Party."
"We're really excited to get going," said Kailen Sheridan, Canada's No. 1 goalkeeper. "We've been here for a couple of weeks. I think the anticipation is getting high … We've loved our time so far but there's nothing like playing a World Cup game."
Priestman was all smiles as she met the media.
"We're here and we're excited and we're ready to go," she said. "We've kept it fresh. I've talked a lot about being fresh and being fresh when it really matters later in the tournament. And everything we've done has been designed that way.
"So absolutely the fun you've seeing them have, I think this team is at its best when it's having fun."
Asked about the pressure of being Olympic champion going into the tournament, Priestman referenced a favourite metaphor.
"We talk about climbing a mountain. We're just taking one step at a time," she said. "I think we are very much focused on the process. We enjoy the process. And what we do know from the Olympics is you take one game and you grow from it and you get better and better and better.
"So for us, we're not getting too far ahead. We're not looking back too much. We're very much here and taking one step at a time. Pressure, it is new for this group? At the end of the day, I'm not sure the whole world sees us where we should be seen. And that's fine. In many ways it drives this team."
The climb has been a theme Priestman has turned to repeatedly since the Olympic triumph in Tokyo.
"You get to the top of a mountain, you look out, it's all great. But when you look back, actually it is the climb that is the most important thing. Since the minute Tokyo happened, we targeted little things to help us get better and better. And that very much will be the focus in this tournament.
" … We haven't played a lot of games recently. We're going to get better and better and better and learn from it (Game 1). So absolutely it is literally one step and one climb at a time."
The challenge of Canada's Group B schedule grows each game. After Nigeria, the Canadians face No. 22 Ireland and then No. 10 Australia.
The top two teams in the group advance with the pool winner likely avoiding a matchup with No. 4 England, the reigning European champion, in the round of 16.
Veteran midfielder Sophie Schmidt was a picture of calm Wednesday despite acknowledging the Canadian women "have always underperformed at the World Cup."
"We know what we're capable of. We know what our goals are. We're very clear on that. But we need to get the job done Day 1 to set ourselves up for success," she said. "So we're very focused on the Nigeria game."
The Nigerians have had their own pre-tournament issues, unhappy with the lack of support from their federation.
Nigeria has won 11 of the 15 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations since its inception in 1991. The Super Falcons won the first seven tournaments did not drop a point until the fourth edition in 2000 and didn't lose their first game until 2002.
But Nigeria finished fourth at the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations, losing to eventual runner-up Morocco in a penalty shootout in the semifinal and 1-0 to Zambia in the third-place game. The top four teams qualified for the World Cup.
With every other edition of the tournament serving as a World Cup qualifier, Nigeria has qualified for all nine editions of the soccer showcase. The Super Falcons have made the knockout round just twice, however, losing to Brazil in the 1999 quarterfinals in 1999 and Germany in the round of 16 in 2019.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 19, 2023.
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
Christine Sinclair, still hungry and motivated to lead Canada to World Cup glory
Christine Sinclair says she plays her best soccer when she is having fun.
Watch out world. The Canadian captain is healthy and happy going into her sixth World Cup.
"Honestly as of right now, my mindset is just to enjoy it," Sinclair said of the expanded 32-team tournament in Australia and New Zealand. "I'm a perfectionist and I always put so much pressure and stress upon myself that my goal is enjoy this World Cup. My family's coming down … It's the first time they really travelled to watch me play.
"I just want to create amazing memories. And then on the pitch, it's our first time entering the tournament as (Olympic) champions. So we've got a target on our back and we want to prove to the world that what we did in Tokyo wasn't a one-time thing."
At the age of 40, Sinclair continues to be a talismanic figure on the Canadian women's team. Her role may have changed on the pitch — she often plays a more withdrawn role as an attacking midfielder rather than leading the attack and 90 minutes per game is no longer automatic — but she continues to lead and connect her teammates on and off the field.
"She's working really hard," said Canada coach Bev Priestman. "I went to see her in Portland (where she plays for the NWSL Thorns) a couple of months ago, met with her. The look in her eyes, the hunger, she's doing extra work. She's hungry. And a hungry Christine is not someone you want to mess with. She's been getting way more flow and minutes at Portland. I think when you get to that point in your career and that's not there, that was difficult for her last year. But I think she's seems a lot more positive, a lot more in her flow. And I think Christine in her flow is the best you can get.
"All the interactions I've had with her — (she's) positive and excited, ready to lead this group and bring her experience. So yeah, I'm really happy with where she's at."
Seventh-ranked Canada opens the tournament Thursday (10:30 p.m. ET) against No. 40 Nigeria in Melbourne, continuing Group B play against No. 22 Ireland in Perth on July 26 and No. 10 Australia back in Melbourne on July 31.
Sinclair's positivity comes despite a rocky lead-up to the tournament with both Canadian national teams embroiled in a labour dispute with Canada Soccer. As one of the women's player representatives, Sinclair has been front and centre in recent months.
The players are fighting for the next generation as well as themselves.
"If we want to remain relevant, yeah, some things are going to have to change," Sinclair said by way of summary.
The Canadian women, already a tight-knit group before the dispute, have presented a unified front in their battle for equity and the support they need to succeed.
"I think what it's done is reinforce how close we are," Sinclair said of the off-field fight. "I told the team that there's no other group of players I'd rather go to battle with, on or off the pitch."
Sinclair, the world's all-time leading goal-scorer with 190 in 323 senior appearances, is a down-to-earth humble sort who does not seek the spotlight. But her humility and values are at the root of the Canadian team character.
Sinclair and other veterans have made the Canadian team a welcoming environment and home to all.
"As Canadians we're always known to very humble, very welcoming, very kind. And that's no different at the (national team) level," said defender Vanessa Gilles. "Whether you come in for the first time and have veterans like Christine Sinclair, Desiree Scott — all these players who have been there for years, who have been at the top of their game for years — welcome you in and treat you like an equal is incredible.
"And that's the culture that's been developed and definitely worked on … over many many years with the vets having done the foundational work to get us where we are now. But we definitely have a culture and an environment that's conducive to team chemistry, to winning, to be honest with each other. Which not many national teams can be."
Defender Shelina Zadorsky, a veteran of 89 caps, calls Sinclair "a hero to so many Canadians, not just her teammates."
"Her humility has inspired me so much to be a better player, be a better leader and person," Zadorsky added.
After the isolation of the Tokyo Olympics, Sinclair is looking forward to seeing family at the tournament. Her brother, his wife and their two children will be there for the group stage.
But the native of Burnaby, B.C., will be missing two key teammates with influential winger Janine Beckie (101 caps and 36 goals) recovering from knee surgery and veteran defensive midfielder Desiree Scott (186 caps) unable to recover from her own surgery in time for the tournament.
Beckie's absence has been known for a while but Scott made the pre-tournament camp in Australia in an ultimately failed bid to prove her fitness.
"It's tough to see one of your best friends go through what she's having to go through right now," Sinclair said of Scott.
Sinclair has been a constant, making her senior debut at 16 in March 2000 and scoring her first goal two days later in her second outing.
The goals come more rarely these days. Sinclair has not scored in her last 12 internationals and has five goals in her last 33 appearances since breaking Abby Wambach's record of 184 goals with a two-goal performance in an 11-0 thrashing of St. Kitts and Nevis in January 2020 in the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifier in Edinburg, Texas.
But she continues to lead by example and to provide for others on the pitch.
Priestman credits her captain for her attitude and work ethic, saying she did "brilliantly" in pre-tournament fitness testing.
"What stands out to me now is the level of hunger still," said Priestman. "To be at this many World Cups, Olympic Games … She eventually got that gold medal around her neck but she's not finished. She knows the one thing that this country hasn't done yet is go win a World Cup.
"And I think when you've got that hunger, desire and just work ethic in your captain, any player who puts on the (national team) jersey is really thankful to play alongside Christine."
She also credits Sinclair for continuing to evolve.
"She makes critical passes, is critical to this team," said Priestman. "But what I do know is this team is no longer just about Christine Sinclair. I think we've got the depth across the forward line, the midfield line, to not rely on anyone for every single minute across the tournament and I think that's what you'll see (at the tournament).
"But I think she's critical to this team's success."
Sinclair has shown she still has a nose for the goal with Portland.
She has three goals and an assist in 12 outings with the Thorns this season, showing a deft touch in June when she scored against the Chicago Red Stars, shifting the ball from one foot to another to make room for a shot before hammering the ball past the 'keeper.
Sinclair has yet to confirm her post-World Cup plans with Canada. But important matches lie ahead, starting with a two-match Olympic qualifier against No. 43 Jamaica in September.
The Paris Games are just a year away.
"It's incredible," former Canada teammate Diana Matheson said of Sinclair's ability to keep competing at an elite level. "I think it's maybe one of the understated or undervalued aspects of what an incredible athlete she is. Obviously she's the GOAT because she's the best goal-scorer in the world, period. That's one of the many things that differentiates her.
"But I think the longevity that she's had, the ability to put attention on what she needs to put attention on off the field to keep herself healthy year after year and game after game … has been key to her success. There's very few players who have been able to play as long as Sinc does at the level she's been able to do. That's just more firmly cementing her as the GOAT every year that goes by, I think."
Sinclair credits her strive for perfection as the major reason she has had the career that she's had.
"I'm the type of person that's never satisfied always thinks there's room for improvement, whether it's individually, collectively as a team," she said. "That drives me on a day-to-day basis, whether it's early days in pre-season in Portland or getting ready for a World Cup here in Australia, I have the same mindset. And that's to improve, try and find that one or two per cent that can make a difference when it matters most."
---
Follow @NeilMDavidson on Twitter
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 18, 2023
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
Recent resignations suggest industry has too much sway with Health Canada: NDP The Canadian Press Wed, July 19, 2023
OTTAWA — The resignation of a scientific adviser from the federal pesticide regulator is yet another example of industry having too much influence at Health Canada, the NDP's health critic is alleging.
Dr. Bruce Lanphear, a health-sciences professor at Simon Fraser University, stepped down as co-chair of the department's scientific advisory committee on pest control products late last month.
He cited concerns over the role the pesticide industry plays in the regulatory process, pointing to a tendency to favour industry-provided data over broader, independent studies.
NDP heath critic Don Davies said the issues Lanphear raised in his resignation letter are alarming and dangerous.
Davies noted that in February a board member and the executive director of Canada's drug-price regulator also resigned, alleging that industry pressure stalled reforms to lower the cost of patented medicines.
He said in a statement that Lanphear's decision to leave is "yet another high-profile resignation" due to the "over-influence" of industry representation.
"This resignation is yet another example of a Liberal government that chooses to place the profits of industry ahead of the interests and safety of Canadians."
The office of Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos did not comment on what Davies had to say.
The scientific advisory committee on pest control was launched in July 2022 as part of a reform effort to improve transparency at the Pest Management Regulatory Agency, which is an arm of Health Canada.
The committee gives Health Canada independent scientific advice on the health and environmental risks of pesticides and evaluates new products. It has so far met five times.
"There's no question historically and today that industry has too much influence over policy decisions around pesticides and toxic chemicals," Lanphear said in an interview Wednesday.
The problem is systemic, he said, and has to do with the way drugs, pesticides and other chemicals are approved.
When a new product is ready to come on the market, the manufacturers' studies are used to deem the chemical safe or not. Studies that prove products are unsafe for humans can take many years, Lanphear said.
"What we've really done is we've set up a system that basically says, 'Until proven otherwise, industry can use these chemicals in commerce.'"
That means millions of people are being exposed in a "massive experiment for which nobody's given consent," he said.
He also took issue with the agency allowing pesticide manufacturers to sit on a separate advisory council.
"It seems to me that no public health agency that purports to protect consumers — whether it's from pesticides, toxic chemicals, unsafe food, drugs — should have anybody with a financial conflict of interest on their advisory board or committee," he said.
In the case of the resignations from the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board, its members had been in the process of consulting on the finer points of new rules that would effectively lower the cost of drugs in Canada.
The reforms were shelved after a pharmaceutical industry group requested further consultations and Duclos wrote to the board's acting chair to suggest the process be paused to give drug companies, patient groups, provincial ministers and himself more time to understand the changes.
Board member Matthew Herder resigned, and later told the House of Commons health committee that the independence of the board had been undermined.
"The line between consultation and conflicts of interest has become completely blurred under the industry's influence," Herder told the committee in May.
"Unless we start taking conflicts of interest far more seriously, meaningful pricing reform will be impossible."
Duclos has said repeatedly that he did not put undue pressure on the board.
When it comes to the pesticide agency, Health Canada has said the Pest Management Regulatory Agency takes advice from the science advisory committee, academic experts, pesticide manufacturers, growers and environmental and health groups.
All decisions are ultimately made by the agency alone.
The scientific advisory committee was initially set up to answer the regulatory agency's questions, but Lanphear and other members argued that the scientists should be able to explore their own questions about pesticide regulation as well.
Lanphear had pushed to study a high-profile failure of the regulatory process involving the 1970 approval of the controversial insecticide chlorpyrifos, which is now being phased out in Canada. He said his repeated request was denied.
He didn't blame the staff, he said, but systemic constraints within the agency.
"It worried me and I think that's perhaps one of the overriding concerns about industry influence," he said.
"If a pesticide regulatory agency is constrained from talking about some of the most controversial pesticides that we now know are toxic, like chlorpyrifos, how can … we really expect them to protect us?" he said.
"Hopefully, in the next year, we'll be able to tackle the more sensitive one," said Langlois, an ecotoxicogenomics professor at L'Institut national de la recherche scientifique.
When the committee of independent scientists meets, pesticide manufacturers often attend, she said, but don't interfere with their work.
Still, she does share some of Lanphear's concerns about the role of the pesticide industry on the regulatory process.
"I personally think that when there's new molecules, these compounds should be given out to independent researchers so there's balanced study design ... and also output coming from different parties," she said.
A new co-chair was appointed to the scientific advisory board to replace Lanphear on Tuesday.
Health Canada said in a statement that the agency would take the "change in leadership" as an opportunity to review the committee's terms of reference.
"This process will continue in order to ensure that (the agency) is obtaining scientific advice on questions that are most important to both the committee members and the regulator."
The agency is working to strengthen the oversight and protection of human health and the environment when it comes to pesticides, the department said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 19, 2023.
Laura Osman, The Canadian Press
Canada's green subsidies a 'bankable gap' weaker than U.S.: report
It'll be difficult for Ottawa to systematically attract investment in key low-carbon technologies
Jeff Lagerquist Wed, July 19, 2023 A new report warns Canada will continue to rely on bespoke deals like the package offered to Volkswagen to set up a battery facility in Ontario to make up for government incentive gaps with the U.S.
From producing hydrogen, to mining and refining ingredients for batteries, Canada's incentives for low-carbon industries lag those in the United States despite attempts to level the playing field in the last federal budget.
That's the thrust of a report from Clean Prosperity and The Transition Accelerator published on Tuesday. Based on an analysis of 10 low-carbon technologies in both countries, the think tanks highlight multiple gaps in Canada for "bankable" funding, the type which companies rely upon to greenlight investments. Those funds do not include less certain revenue, like Canadian carbon-credit sales or grant programs.
"This bankable gap will make it difficult for Canada to systematically attract investment in key low-carbon technologies," the report's authors wrote. "Instead, Canada will have to continue to rely on bespoke discretionary deals to make up for this incentive gap, such as the package offered to Volkswagen to set up a battery manufacturing facility in Ontario."
The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) signed into law by President Joe Biden last year put Canada and other major economies on notice to respond. The legislation includes US$369 billion in public funding for energy security and climate change over the next decade. Canada's federal budget sets out $83 billion for clean technology tax credits through to the 2034-35 fiscal year.
The competing incentives recently sparked tense negotiations between Ottawa, Ontario's government, Volkswagen, and Stellantis over separate deals to locate two massive battery plants in Canada's most populous province.
The report identifies gaps that could threaten Canada's goal of becoming a major destination for electric vehicle manufacturing. For example, the authors found Ottawa's planned 30-per-cent investment tax credit should make Canada competitive with U.S. subsidies for lithium mines. But it falls more than one-third short of what the U.S. is offering for nickel mines, and represents only a fraction of U.S. backing for graphite mines.
Canada's hydrogen ambitions are threatened as well, according to Clean Prosperity and The Transition Accelerator. The report found a blue hydrogen project in Edmonton would be leaving almost $500 million per year on the table by locating in Alberta, versus in the south of the border. Comparing hypothetical green hydrogen plants in Quebec and New York, the report found the Canadian investment tax credit would provide less than one-tenth the bankable funding available in the U.S.
To narrow the bankable gap, Clean Prosperity and The Transition Accelerator suggest using carbon contracts for difference (CCfDs) to provide certainty around carbon credits that are generated under industrial carbon pricing systems. The think tanks also advise "sector-specific strategies for high-priority opportunity areas such as battery materials, clean hydrogen, and sustainable aviation fuels."
Israeli doctors hold 'warning strike,' caution that judicial overhaul threatens health care system
JERUSALEM (AP) — Doctors in Israel held a two-hour strike Wednesday to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to overhaul the country's judiciary.
The doctors say the plan will endanger public health by granting Netanyahu and his allies greater control over the country's health care system.
Wearing scrubs and holding signs saying, “We are the wall shielding democracy,” doctors gathered outside Ichilov hospital in Tel Aviv. Medical leaders warned they will take more severe measures if Netanyahu's government — the most right-wing in Israel’s 75-year history — moves forward with a bill to limit the judiciary's oversight powers which could become law as soon as next week.
In a letter to Netanyahu on Tuesday, Dr. Zion Hagay, chairman of Israel's Medical Association, said the bill would lessen the judiciary's ability to strike down inappropriate appointments to the health care system.
“As someone who once served as health minister, you are undoubtedly aware of the extensive professional powers held by the politicians within the health care system," he wrote in the letter. "These powers include the appointment of district psychiatrists, district doctors, and various other positions, as well as the authority to make significant decisions regarding infectious diseases, epidemics, clinic and hospital closures, service privatization, and more.”
The plan has triggered months of mass protests, including one on Tuesday, and warnings from key sectors of society, including business leaders and military reservists, that it will damage the country.
The doctors’ strike Wednesday was the first by a workers’ organization since Netanyahu announced last month that the overhaul would move forward.
Weekly mass protests against the plan — including a strike by the country’s national labor union — led Netanyahu to suspend the overhaul in March, but he revived the plan last month after compromise talks with the political opposition collapsed.
Emergency rooms were still open on Wednesday and oncology and fertility treatments remained available, said Dr. Hagai Levine, chairman of the Israeli Association of Public Health Physicians.
The Israel Medical Association will meet tomorrow to decide on further measures, Levine said.
“If the government continues with the legislation, then the Israel Medical Association will take more severe steps, meaning a more severe strike,” he said.
The overhaul consists of a series of measures that Netanyahu and his allies say are needed to rein in the powers of an unelected judiciary that they believe is overly interventionist in government decisions.
But protesters representing a wide cross section of Israeli society say the plan is a power grab by Netanyahu and his ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox allies that will destroy the country’s fragile system of checks and balances.
Julia Frankel, The Associated Press
Wed, July 19, 2023
Dockworkers Call Off Strike in Canada After 24 Hours of Drama
Randy Thanthong-Knight and Robert Tuttle Wed, July 19, 2023
(Bloomberg) -- Workers at Canada’s west coast ports withdrew plans to go back on strike, just hours after threatening to restart a disruption that would have paralyzed shipments at the country’s busiest maritime hub.
The International Longshore & Warehouse Union had told workers late Tuesday to go back on strike after rejecting a tentative contract. That decision was ruled “unlawful” on Wednesday morning by Canada’s industrial-relations board because the union failed to give 72 hours of notice.
So the union gave that notice, warning that a strike would instead begin Saturday at 9 a.m. Vancouver time. It then canceled it, according to a statement Wednesday evening that didn’t give reasons or further details.
“The past 24 hours have demonstrated that this continues to be a fluid and unpredictable situation,” the BC Maritime Employers Association, which employs the union’s workers, said in a statement. The group said it would say more once it receives clarification.
More than 7,000 workers at British Columbia ports had already been on strike July 1 to July 13 before a tentative agreement briefly put an end to the walkout. But the union’s caucus rejected the deal.
Labor Minister Seamus O’Regan’s office said workers are expected to return to their jobs Thursday, but the government is ready for any eventuality if things change.
The board of trade in Vancouver, Canada’s most important port, has estimated the strike has so far disrupted C$10.6 billion ($8.1 billion) worth of cargo. Several industry groups, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and the Forest Products Association of Canada, have demanded action from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government to end the strike.
The government has been reluctant to issue back-to-work legislation, given that it has an alliance in parliament with a union-friendly opposition party.
Trudeau met with ministers and senior officials Wednesday and “stressed the critical importance of resuming operations,” according to a statement. He also “directed them to pursue all available options to ensure the stability of our supply chains and to protect Canadian jobs and our economy.”
The turmoil at the ports is being felt in Canada’s agricultural sector. Canpotex, the potash-exporting joint venture of Nutrien Ltd. and Mosaic Co., said earlier it was withdrawing all new sales offers. Nutrien has curtailed production at two potash mines in Saskatchewan.
The strike had also affected small businesses that were hit with thousands of dollars of storage fees for goods stuck at ports, according to Greg Wilson, director of government relations at the Retail Council of Canada. “This sort of disruption can be the end of a small business.”
The key sticking points in the negotiations appeared to be the length of the agreement and pay raises. The four-year agreement was “far too long” given economic uncertainty, and employers had “not addressed the cost of living issues” that workers have faced, the ILWU said in a statement.
BCMEA, the employers’ group, said the deal was “fair and balanced” and that it would allow workers to receive a 19.2% wage increase over four years, which it described as above industry standards.
The labor unrest shows workers are pushing to recoup purchasing power lost over the past two years, even as the rate of inflation eases. The port strike came just months after federal workers walked out to demand higher wages.
It also points to the possibility that more strike votes could be coming this year. The period of high inflation in the 1970s and 1980s led to a surge in strikes and lockouts in the country, most of which lagged the runup in prices by several months and remained high for years, data on work stoppages in Canada show.
--With assistance from Curtis Heinzl.
Union rescinds 72-hour B.C. port strike notice that had been set for Saturday
VANCOUVER — The labour dispute at British Columbia ports is receiving a federal reaction previously used for events including the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, blockades associated with the Freedom Convoy, and the short-lived rebellion in Russia last month.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau convened the government's incident response group on Wednesday to discuss the conflict between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada and the BC Maritime Employers Association as the union threatened strike action again.
The response group, made up of cabinet ministers and senior officials, is described as only being convened at times of "national crisis," or to discuss events with major implications for Canada.
The actions were part of a chaotic 24-hour period at the port, where union pickets went up, were forced down by a labour board, then job action was threatened again for Saturday only to be rescinded by the union late Wednesday.
The union said in a brief note to its locals that strike notice set for July 22 at 9 a.m. "has now been removed."
With the 72-hour notice lifted, the union can't resume strike action unless it files another notice, according to the Canada Industrial Relations Board decision issued against the union on Wednesday.
A statement from the Prime Minister's Office said the response group discussed the impact of the situation, which is creating severe disruptions to Canada’s largest export and import gateway.
It said strike action earlier this month froze billions of dollars' worth of goods from moving in and out.
"The prime minister stressed the critical importance of resuming operations in our ports as soon as possible. Workers and employers across Canada — and all Canadians — cannot face further disruption," the statement said.
Trudeau asked the group to pursue all available options to ensure the stability of supply chains and to protect Canadian jobs and the economy.
The meeting comes as the federal government faces increasing pressure to bring in back-to-work legislation, with industry groups warning of continued impacts on the economy if a strike is allowed to resume.
The union said in a statement earlier Wednesday that it "regrets" the economic impacts of its job action and wants Ottawa to "allow free collective bargaining to occur."
Union president Rob Ashton said in a statement that the union's caucus "was not satisfied the mediator’s deal met the membership’s goals and directed the bargaining committee to seek a negotiated agreement."
The union has said the four-year term of the mediator's proposed agreement was "far too long" and "employers have not addressed the cost-of-living issues" faced by workers in the last few years.
About 7,400 workers at more than 30 B.C. port terminals and other sites began striking on Canada Day and originally returned to work last Thursday after a tentative deal was drafted by a federal mediator.
Both the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business have called for back-to-work legislation after the original strike prevented billions of dollars' worth of goods from moving through the ports.
"The 13-day strike had already done significant damage to small businesses across the country and Canada’s international reputation as a dependable trading partner," federation executive vice-president Corinne Pohlmann said in a statement.
"To let it carry on any further is negligent and will amplify disruptions of the supply chain."
Robin Guy, vice-president and deputy leader, government relations, at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said further delay will cause the Canadian economy more harm.
"We’re calling on the government and all parties to agree to reconvene parliament and pass back-to-work legislation immediately," Guy said.
Nutrien Ltd. said it had curtailed production at its Cory and Rocanville potash mines in Saskatchewan due to the strike.
Manitoba Pork and Keystone Agricultural Producers say recovery from the first 13 days of the strike would have taken at least until the middle of October.
"We are already witnessing the negative consequences on our reputation as a reliable supplier. This is costing both farmers and our value-added processors. Jobs in every region of Manitoba will be impacted," KAP general manager Brenna Mahoney said in a statement.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Wednesday that Trudeau must end the strike immediately because of the massive cost to workers, consumers and businesses.
"We're calling on him to deliver a plan to end this strike within the next 24 hours," Poilievre said.
However, NDP transport critic Taylor Bachrach said it’s part of union bargaining rights to be able to reject an agreement.
"We know that their team is ready to get back to the table right away and we encourage other parties to do the same," Bachrach said.
"We are also renewing our call for the federal government to support the collective bargaining process, rather than resorting to the sort of back-to-work legislation that Liberal and Conservative governments have imposed far too often."
B.C. Premier David Eby said relying on Ottawa to bring in back-to-work legislation would not be a quick solution for a minority Parliament.
"The parties need to accept the responsibility that they have on both sides to come to the table in good faith and solve this for Canadians quickly."
Federal Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan and Transport Minister Omar Alghabra issued a statement late Tuesday saying workers and employers across Canada cannot face further disruption and that they were looking at all options.
The ministers said they have been patient and respected the collective bargaining process, but they need the ports operating.
"The deal presented to the parties was the result of a constructive and substantive collective bargaining process," the ministers said in their statement.
"It represented a fair and balanced deal. It was informed by weeks of collective bargaining and drafted by third-party mediators in the interest of both the union and the employer."
While national figures had their say, closer to the ports themselves, Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond said it was disappointing that the strike wasn't ending, after a “collective sigh of relief” when news of a possible deal came down.
Pond said local businesses certainly feel the impact when families watch their spending as with so many workers on picket lines.
”There are two major arteries that feed the Canadian economy from the West and it's Prince Rupert and it is Vancouver, and when you choke those off it won't be long until people feel that impact.”
— With files by Chuck Chiang and Craig Wong
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 19, 2023.
Timeline of events surrounding failed talk leading to the B.C. port strike
The union representing about 7,400 port workers in British Columbia has rescinded a 72-hour strike notice that could have shut down cargo movements across the province again on Saturday.
Here is a timeline surrounding the events.
2022
Nov. 30: The British Columbia Maritime Employers Association provides notice to commence collective bargaining to the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada.
2023
Feb. 16: Negotiations begin.
March 20: The ILWU serves a notice of dispute to the federal government, signalling an impasse, and requests the appointment of a conciliation officer.
March 29: Talks enter a 60-day conciliation period.
March 31: The existing collective agreement between the BCMEA and the ILWU expires.
May 30: Conciliation ends. Talks enter a cooling-off period of 21 days.
June 5: The ILWU's negotiating committee authorizes a strike vote to be conducted on June 9 and 10.
June 12: The ILWU says members voted 99.24 per cent in favour of supporting strike action if necessary.
June 28: The ILWU serves 72-hour strike notice.
June 30: Both sides say cruise ships will continue to be serviced.
July 1: Strike commences at B.C. ports, shutting down operations at most of the province's marine terminals.
July 3: The ILWU says the BCMEA has walked away from the negotiating table. The BCMEA says it is a pause to reset talks.
July 8: The two sides meet again with mediators about a deadlock on maintenance work. The BCMEA says the ILWU rejected a proposal.
July 11: Federal Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan asks a mediator to draft terms for a potential settlement agreement.
July 13: The BCMEA says a tentative, four-year agreement has been reached with the ILWU. Port operations resume. In a tweet, O'Regan declares "the strike is over."
July 18: The ILWU says its leadership caucus voted down the mediator's terms, and workers are back on strike. Picket lines resume. O'Regan and federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra say in a statement that the disruptions at B.C. ports "cannot go on" and officials are now looking at "all options."
July 19: The Canada Industrial Relations Board rules the ILWU's move to strike on July 18 was unlawful because no 72-hour notice was provided. The ILWU issues a new 72-hour notice to strike, but rescinds the notice hours later. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau convenes the incident response group.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 19, 2023.
B.C. ports shut down again as union rejects tentative deal, resumes strike action
VANCOUVER — British Columbia's ports are facing an uncertain future after the longshore workers union rejected a tentative mediated deal and resumed strike action that had been put to a temporary halt only last week.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada says in Tuesday's decision to go back to picket lines that "employers have not addressed the cost of living issues" faced by workers in the last few years.
The union representing about 7,400 workers who were previously on strike from July 1 to 13 says its priority has always been to protect its jurisdiction, and that position "has not changed."
University of British Columbia professor emeritus Mark Thompson says the situation is now in "uncharted territory" because the strike is unusually long for Vancouver.
Thompson says the federal government has been very reluctant to enact back-to-work legislation in labour disputes, but strikes disrupting the Port of Vancouver — Canada's largest — have not lasted more than two weeks since at least the 1980s.
The renewed ILWU strike means more than 30 port terminals and other sites across the province are shut down again for an indeterminate time.
The tentative four-year deal that was rejected by the union's caucus had been proposed by a federal mediator at the instruction of Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan.
A late-night joint statement was released by O'Regan, and Transport Minister Omar Alghabra, confirming the employers' association agreed to the terms of the deal, but the workers' union leadership decided not to recommend ratification of the terms to its members.
The pair also expressed disappointment, saying that the mediated deal ending the work stoppage was the result of a constructive and substantive collective bargaining process.
The ministers' joint statement also seems to hint at a possible move to introduce back-to-work legislation, stating, "We have been patient. We have respected the collective bargaining process. But we need our ports operating."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 19, 2023.
The Canadian Press
Geely truck unit, Farizon, raises $600 million in funding round Reuters Wed, July 19, 2023 A view shows the logo of Chinese automobile manufacturer Geely at a dealership in Moscow
(Reuters) - China's Farizon, a maker of electric and hybrid trucks which is owned by automaker Geely, has raised $600 million in a Series-A funding round, the company said in a statement.
The Hangzhou-based company, which produces and markets hybrid and pure electric commercial vehicles, said it plans to use the funds for further technology and product development, as well as expansion outside of China.
It said the company's latest round of fundraising was led by Boyu Capital and Yuexiu Industrial Fund, with participation from other investors such as Singapore-based United Clean Energy and Linjiang Industry Group. It comes on the heels of Farizon’s Pre-A round financing in October 2022, in which it raised over $300 million.
Outside of China, Farizon said the company is moving to establish a presence in markets including as Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, South America and Europe.
The company has said a key focus outside of China will be Europe, where it plans to start selling a light electric cargo van called the Super Van as early as 2024. It will compete against the likes of Ford Motor's e-Transit van, the company has said.
It aims to become one of Europe's top three electric cargo van suppliers with the Super Van.
Farizon, which started selling vehicles in 2016, sold roughly 37,800 light commercial vehicles in China in 2022, according to consultancy LMC Automotive. During the January-May period this year, it sold 24,760 vehicles.
This year, Farizon said it expects sales in China and abroad to reach 150,000 vehicles.
Currently, a majority of its overall sales volume comes from China.
(Reporting by Norihiko Shirouzu in Austin, Texas; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
VC Firms Investing in China’s Tech Companies Draw US House Panel Investigation Daniel Flatley and Anna Edgerton Wed, July 19, 2023
(Bloomberg) -- A US congressional committee is investigating four venture capital firms for their investment in Chinese technology companies, the latest sign of Washington’s increasing scrutiny of American funds suspected of helping develop sensitive industries in China.
Investments by GGV Capital, GSR Ventures, Walden International and Qualcomm Ventures are being probed by the House select committee on China, led by Wisconsin Republican Michael Gallagher.
GGV declined to comment on Wednesday night. The other firms didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The investigation, reported earlier by the Wall Street Journal, comes as Washington seeks to block China’s development of next-generation technology that officials worry will dominate the security and economic landscape — specifically semiconductors, artificial intelligence and quantum computing.
Both the White House and members of Congress are crafting policies to track and potentially block US investments in those fields in China, which they say are being used for human-rights abuses and advancing military capabilities.
Gallagher referred to the four firms on Wednesday as the committee’s “initial targets,” and said the investigation will inform the committee’s policy recommendations, including any requirements mandated by Congress to review outbound investment.
Gallagher said his two main concerns are that the Chinese companies receiving US investment could be contributing to human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region and helping the Chinese military develop sophisticated technology.
“There’s no such thing as a truly private entity in China,” Gallagher told reporters Wednesday, a reference to China’s so-called military-civil fusion strategy. “Democrats and Republicans agree that we don’t want to be fueling our own destruction.”
The China committee, which was created earlier this year by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, has subpoena power and is working on a report about US-China policy that will focus in large part on US business activity in the country.
The committee said in a letter to GGV that it’s being targeted for investments in AI developers, including Megvii Technology Ltd., and semiconductor firms. Qualcomm Ventures’s investment in SenseTime Group Inc. was also cited by the committee, among others.
Megvii and SenseTime in 2019 were placed on the so-called Entity List, which bars them doing business with American firms without US government approval.
Walden International was cited for its investment chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., which was is also on the US blacklist.
The letters, which each refer to recent research on outbound US investment by Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology, requested the companies respond to questions by Aug. 1.
--With assistance from Mackenzie Hawkins, Sarah McBride and Lizette Chapman.
Brazil’s All-Powerful Sugar Industry Is Souring the Country on EVs
Dayanne Sousa, Leonardo Lara and Simone Preissler Iglesias Wed, July 19, 2023
(Bloomberg) -- For two decades, Brazil’s unique solution to curb tailpipe emissions — specialty cars powered by any mix of gasoline and ethanol — helped it boast a fraction of the roadway pollution of other countries its size. Now, it threatens to hold it back.
As governments in many of the world’s other top economies lay out detailed plans to eventually end the sale of combustion-engine cars, Brazil is digging in its heels. The country’s most popular models are so-called flexible-fuel vehicles capable of running completely on biofuel produced from sugar cane, making them by most accounts cleaner than pure gasoline engines. When Brazil releases its updated auto-industry policy as soon as next month, it will plot a path to reduce its reliance on cars that run entirely on gasoline, Secretary for Industrial Development Uallace Moreira Lima told Bloomberg News — but it won’t touch the beloved flex-fuel models.
“Brazil will be the last among its peers to shift to electrics,” said Eder Vieito, senior commodity analyst at Green Pool Commodity Specialists. “And that’s because of ethanol.”
Since their introduction 20 years ago this spring, flex-fuel cars have become dominant in Brazil, making up a whopping 84.5% of all auto sales in June, according to the Brazilian Association of Automotive Vehicle Manufacturers, known as Anfavea. That same month, electric cars comprised less than 0.5% of the market. By comparison, almost one in four passenger vehicle sales in China this year will be battery-powered. Even the US, a fossil fuel diehard, will see EVs comprise almost 8% of sales this year, GlobalData estimates. By 2030, battery-electric vehicles will account for around 7% of the light vehicles sold in Brazil, Bright Consulting projects, far below the expected world average of 37%.
Brazil’s slower adoption of EVs isn’t a fluke. Big-name automakers, the prominent sugar industry and government authorities are pushing hard to keep ethanol in drivers’ gas tanks. That support takes several forms: a series of pro-ethanol regulations, including lower taxes than gasoline at the pump and a federal carbon-credit program that essentially rewards ethanol mills, plus scant investment in the charging infrastructure or battery production needed to make widespread acceptance of EVs a reality.
Changing course would be complicated for leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Phase out flex cars, and he’d lose the massive economic boost created each year by ethanol in the world’s largest producer of sugar cane, where agribusiness represents about a fourth of GDP. But keep the popular, affordable and locally made flex-fuel models, and they’ll continue to elbow out EVs, which would be among the world’s cleanest given that more than 80% of Brazil’s electricity comes from renewable sources like hydropower, wind, solar and biomass. That makes them cleaner than flex-fuel cars over the lifetime of the vehicles.
So far, Lula’s government is trying to support both technologies in a precarious balancing act. To appease the sugar industry, it will keep incentives for ethanol in place while simultaneously courting electric-car makers from China scouting new overseas factory sites with a compelling sales pitch: proximity to local battery-metal deposits, a growing domestic middle class and access to other Latin American markets with their own discretionary incomes to spend. It has worked, with at least two of China’s biggest carmakers — BYD Co. and Great Wall Motor Co. — planning to bring their vehicle production to the country’s shores. But even they plan to add some ethanol-fueled hybrids to their Brazilian lineups in what looks like a friendly — and savvy — gesture.
The discussion about electric cars is “very important for Brazil and for the world,” said Renan Filho, Brazil’s transport minister. But ethanol should be part of the conversation, too, he said. “Ethanol emits much less.”
The longer Brazil waits to start mapping out its path to battery cars, the harder it will be to keep up with the dizzying evolution of EV technology. Transitions take time, and the country may find itself trapped in an outdated system if it delays putting in place the kinds of programs, incentives and municipal projects other countries have found are key to bringing down prices for consumers and spurring adoption.
Like many other emerging economies, where local supply chains primarily focus on affordable vehicles, EVs remain out of reach for many Brazilian households. The cheapest EV in the local market costs more than 140,000 Brazilian reais ($29,000), twice the price of the most affordable flex car.
Meanwhile, Brazil only had one public charger per 12.9 EVs at the end of 2020, BloombergNEF estimates, compared to one for every 5.4 in China, or every 3 in the Netherlands.
“Brazil needs to step out of its comfort zone if it does not want to become isolated from the rest of the world,” said Lourenço Faria, a researcher at University of Copenhagen.
Pure ethanol cars first arrived on Brazilian streets in 1979 when Fiat, the brand now owned by Stellantis NV, introduced a biofuel-powered model. Several powerful industrial and political forces were behind the move. For one, it offered Brazil a way to better shield itself from future petroleum shortages like the one that decimated its economy earlier that decade.
The push into ethanol cars also created a massive new market for the influential five-century-old sugar industry. The sector has deep political connections that are embedded in the nation’s history: Sugar gave birth to Brazil’s very first agricultural elite in a time when landowners profited by exploiting the work of enslaved people trafficked from Africa. This year, Brazil’s sugar-cane production and its subproducts will be worth 105.6 billion Brazilian reais ($22 billion).
The ethanol-only models made from the late-1970s onward were eventually dethroned by flex-fuel vehicles, starting with Volkswagen AG’s subcompact Gol Flex in 2003. In the last two decades, they’ve secured a seemingly unshakable foothold. VW in 2021 announced the creation of a research and development center in Brazil to explore expanding the applications of ethanol and other biofuels in emerging markets, and nearly every carmaker operating in Brazil plans to keep ethanol it its lineup in some form going forward.
Some players in the auto sector, including industry group Anfavea, are even lobbying for the end of a tax exemption for EV imports in a bid to promote Brazil’s domestic carmaking and ethanol refining; the plea has the support of sugar-cane industry group Unica. The carmakers’ group also wants to establish temporary import quotas for EVs landing on Brazilian shores to give local manufacturers more time if they want to develop their own domestic EV production. With no local manufacturing currently, 100% of light electric vehicles on the market have to be shipped in.
By most measures, Brazil’s flex-fuel autos have been a rare success story among developing markets that are in many other cases behind in the race to clean up their car sectors. And unlike other so-called solutions, like VW’s “clean diesels” that appeared greener than they actually were, the country’s unique reliance on ethanol has brought some tangible benefits.
For one, tailpipe emissions per capita are better than in most developed economies and other middle-income, populous nations like Russia or Mexico, International Energy Agency data show. According to data from BloombergNEF and the International Council on Clean Transportation, a flex-fuel Brazilian car made in 2020 will emit 16.7 tons of carbon dioxide over the course of its life, a fraction of the roughly 40 to 50 tons produced by combustion cars in other major economies. Sugar-cane fields can capture carbon from the atmosphere, too, the industry argues.
Because of its use of biofuels in light-vehicle transportation, Brazil avoided around 35 million tons of CO2-equivalent emissions last year, a study by think tank Getulio Vargas Foundation found. That’s the same as shutting down nine US coal plants for a year, according to US Environmental Protection Agency data.
But the ability of flex-fuel cars to run on biofuel doesn’t mean they always do. The BloombergNEF and ICCT study, for instance, assumes a 48% share of ethanol in flex-fuel cars. In reality, consumers often choose to fill their tanks solely with gasoline. A common rule of thumb is that selecting ethanol at the pump only makes sense when it’s priced below 70% of the cost of gas. While fuel costs vary a lot by region, the biofuel hasn’t been competitive in Brazil’s most important market, Sao Paulo, for much of the past two years. In fact, pure ethanol accounted for about 20% of Brazil’s car-fuel consumption in the past year. That figure rises to 42% when blending is considered, sugar-cane industry group Unica estimates.
And although Brazil’s flex models perform well in comparison to combustion-engine cars globally, they aren’t nearly as clean as the battery-powered vehicles that could replace them if the political will were there. Over the course of a car’s life, a pure EV operating in Brazil would produce half the carbon emissions of a flex vehicle — and less still if the batteries were made domestically instead of in a Chinese factory.
And yet, only 618 fully electric cars were sold in the country during the entire month of June, a pittance for an emerging economy with well over 200 million people. Flex cars reign supreme, and that’s likely to continue, especially if a group of nearly 350 members of Parliament who defend the interests of agribusiness are able to secure for ethanol-fueled cars the same incentives as EVs when an update to the Rota 2030 policy comes out as soon as next month.
“With the public already sold on the reduced environmental impact from driving on ethanol, it makes the argument for switching to a battery considerably more challenging,” said Kevin Riddell, a senior manager at GlobalData.
For now, most automakers operating in Brazil are sticking firm to their commitment to ethanol, but with a new spin: a hybrid model that includes a flex engine, plus a battery.
“It is not about denying the electric vehicles, but ethanol still holds a place in Brazil’s journey for the next 10 to 15 years, especially because hybrids increase efficiency,” said Paula Kovarsky, chief strategy officer at Brazil’s biggest sugar-cane processor, Raizen.
Toyota Motor Corp. has already started selling a hybrid flex version of its Corolla that can run on gasoline, ethanol or electricity. Other major carmakers are plotting a similar path that lets Brazil keep ethanol in the fuel tank.
Stellantis, which sells almost one in three new cars in Brazil, aims to develop its own flex-hybrid technology by the end of this year. China’s BYD, which will build a production complex in the northeastern state of Bahia state, told Bloomberg it will make EVs as well as flex-fuel hybrids. China’s Great Wall Motor plans to start assembling a flex hybrid model locally in 2024; it’s even in talks with Chinese suppliers and local authorities to develop a local supply chain for EV batteries. Brazil is already being aggressively mined for metals including copper and nickel used to make batteries in other countries, and it sits on relevant reserves of lithium, so producing EV parts locally would be a chance for the country to regain some ownership in the energy-transition economy.
“Why should we deny this solution, which needs no additional infrastructure and uses such a clean fuel?” said Rafael Chang, president of Toyota Brazil, when asked about flex-fuel hybrids. Ciro Possobom, the head of VW in Brazil, makes a similar case: “Cars are going to be electric in the future, but that’s going to take a long time,” he said. In the meantime, “we strongly believe in a hybrid with ethanol.”
General Motors Co. is one of the only major carmakers skeptical that ethanol cars have a future in Brazil. The company, which has laid out goals to be carbon neutral by 2040, wants to replicate locally its global focus on EVs. Electric vehicles made in Brazil could be exported to any other country, while flex-fuel cars have only one real market, said Santiago Chamorro, GM’s president for South America. The company also doesn’t think EVs and flex hybrids are equals in terms of carbon emissions.
“Brazil has the potential to be the third-largest global market for electrics,” said Fabio Rua, a vice president at GM South America. “So why would we accept delaying that progress?”
For now, ethanol remains so popular — among consumers as well as policymakers — that during a recent car show featuring more than 40 EVs in the nation’s capital that was meant to highlight the need to build charging infrastructure, Brazilian Vice President Geraldo Alckmin chose to take pictures inside the sole flex-hybrid car on display. While recognizing Brazil’s need to explore EV technology, he also spoke at the event about initiatives for fostering ethanol.
Until Brazil looks beyond ethanol, the country risks stalling out its emissions gains or failing to land a place for itself in the global automotive supply chain.
“Ethanol is a fine fuel, but wrapped in this topic is the desire that many have of not facing the real challenges ahead,” said Robson Cruz, a partner at Barassa & Cruz Consulting and a proponent of electrification. “Addressing carbon emissions with ethanol is cheaper for automakers, but it does not mean that’s the best option for Brazil.”
--With assistance from Tatiana Freitas and Beatriz Reis.
