Canada's federal single-use plastics ban: What they got right and what they didn't


Bruce McAdams, Associate Professor in Hospitality, Food and Tourism Management, University of Guelph,

Emily Robinson, Post-Graduate Researcher and Food Education Manager, University of Guelph

THE CONVERSATION
Mon, July 24, 2023

There is little dispute these days over the need to regulate single-use plastics. But there is ample confusion around what plastics to address and how to do so.

In 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the intention to reach zero plastic waste in Canada by 2030, spurred on by a ban on some plastic items in 2022.

As the UN continues to develop its own global regulations, Canadian businesses and consumers are starting to feel the impacts of our single-use plastics ban, and some industries are finding it more challenging than others to adapt.
Designing a plastics ban

In order to determine what items to include in the first phase of the ban, the federal government performed a scientific assessment of plastic consumption. Based on this study, the ban targeted six items determined to be of highest concern: plastic ring carriers, plastic straws, plastic stir sticks, plastic bags, plastic cutlery and plastic food wares.

The government also laudably categorized plastics as a toxic substance.

However, the question remains: is Canada’s single-use plastics ban actually going to make a big difference?

Among the targeted plastics include common food service items such as takeout containers and plastic cutlery, items which are among the most commonly found in the environment. This waste alongside the usefulness of plastics for restaurants would seemingly make the food service industry an essential place to start when addressing plastics waste.
Focus on circularity and reusable alternatives rather than single-use items

When looking for alternatives to single-use plastics as a restaurant operator, there are a plethora of single-use paper, bamboo, compostable, biodegradable, wood pulp or bio-based plastic options.

However, despite the advantage that many of these alternatives can break down over time, not enough emphasis is put on the remaining essential single-use nature of these items.

Indeed, the ability for compostable and biodegradable food wares to be accepted in a municipal composting facility is entirely dependent on the waste management cycle of that municipality, which can differ greatly between neighbouring cities.

Additionally, given the lack of standardization on what is classified as biodegradable, consumers can often be deceived by mislabelled products.

After all, microplastics are biodegraded plastics.

Offering alternative materials to food service operators is certainly a step in the right direction. However, as an effective long-term solution, the government needs to offer support for the integration and growth of circular systems.

In doing so, we also need to acknowledge the challenges involved in implementing these systems for restaurant operators.
Challenges and solutions for food service operators

The greatest challenges operators are facing with this ban are the costs of quickly switching to reusable or compostable items, sourcing issues and the general lack of alternatives that tick all the same material boxes as conventional plastics.

Looking at the way restaurant operators are responding to this challenge, there are a few key solutions we need to be focusing on.

First and foremost is an emphasis on reusables over alternatives. To make a zero-plastic waste transition realistic, we need to focus on supporting the infrastructure and consumer education required to make reusables accessible.

Ample progress has been made in this area since takeout food has become more common and has resulted in the launch of multiple reusable takeout container startups such as Suppli, Friendlier, or ShareWares.

Additionally, as with any change that affects our daily lives, our own habits are simultaneously the easiest place to start and the hardest to change. As such, a large piece of this transition will be consumer education so that restaurant goers and grocery shoppers understand the ‘why’ behind this plastics transition.

All levels of government can better support restaurants through this transition by providing guidance, funding and advocacy for scaling reusable startups and for integrating them into food service with different communities likely requiring different levels of support.

Some companies have been experimenting with their own reusable schemes, however, relying on corporate drive alone will not be sufficient.
Seeing the plastics ban as an opportunity

In light of the development of this ban and the deliberations over the United Nations’ plastic regulation treaty, it’s clear that legislation surrounding single-use plastic reduction will likely increase over the next decade.

Restaurant operators, and other industries that regularly handle single-use plastics need to be more proactive about what they will need from their government to become less reliant on plastics in the future.

Read more: In a Barbie world ... after the movie frenzy fades, how do we avoid tonnes of Barbie dolls going to landfill?

Moreover, the six items included on Canada’s list of banned plastics are by no means comprehensive and activists continue to call for additional items to be included. In particular, nine additional common single-use plastics were found in the environment but are not being practically addressed.

Canada has the opportunity to be a global leader with the implementation of this single-use plastics ban by supporting reuse and moving towards circular practices.

If we can get further support for reusable programs, expand the list of harmful plastics and provide targeted consumer education around the harms of plastic waste then we have a real shot at an exemplary start to a circular economy.

Are we up to the challenge?

This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. 

It was written by: Bruce McAdams, University of Guelph and Emily Robinson, University of Guelph.

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Environmental racism comes to light with proposed Bill C-226; while a new law enshrines environmental justice in Canada


Local Journalism Initiative
Mon, July 24, 2023

Water security is not an issue that is paid much attention to in the general population in this country, including in Ontario, despite the dozens of urban centres that dot the shoreline of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway, the largest source of freshwater in the world. But it is a different story in First Nations communities, where residents have been fighting for their right to clean, drinkable water for decades.

Thirty-two long-term boil water advisories remain in 28 First Nations communities across Canada, the longest has been in place for almost 30 years. The majority of these advisories (24) impact Indigenous communities in Ontario. The disproportionate impact of these advisories on Indigenous communities is a clear example of what is increasingly becoming known as environmental racism.

It is a type of inequality where racialized communities and Indigenous residents are disproportionately impacted by nearby polluting industries and associated health conditions.

It is a global problem.

The roots of these harmful practices go back to the history of colonization by imperialist European nations that had little regard for the Indigenous populations of the lands they conquered. Stripping out resources at any cost, even the mass destruction of forests, fisheries, wildlife and mineral and chemical resources, including oil, was the goal. Harm to existing local populations that had walked softly on the land for thousands of years, was of no concern to the British, French or all the other colonizing forces.

Fast forward to modern day and, alarmingly, little has changed when weighing the facts around the treatment of Indigenous communities, and other marginalized groups impacted by the unchecked thirst for industrial productivity.

In Canada, battles over pipelines and water quality have been fought for decades by Indigenous groups and First Nations while Black communities have pushed back against environmentally harmful projects, such as landfill sites, built adjacent to their homes.

“There's a tendency for government and industry to cite or locate industrial facilities or other environmentally hazardous projects like pipelines and dumps and landfills and incinerators, in Canada, primarily in Indigenous communities but also in other racialized communities,” Ingrid Waldron, a professor at McMaster University, tells The Pointer. She has been instrumental in the fight against environmental racism, first in Nova Scotia and now nationwide and is co-director of the Canadian Coalition for Environmental and Climate Justice (CCECJ) and founder of the Environmental Noxiousness, Racial Inequities and Community Health (ENRICH) project. Both organizations work with community members to combat environmental racism.

While environmental racism is a relatively new term, and a concept that grew out of the environmental justice movement exploding in the United States after 30 years of mounting activism, environmental injustice has been witnessed in Canada since the British and French first arrived. The legacy continued into the modern era.

One of the most well known examples in Ontario devastated the Grassy Narrows First Nation, an Ojibway community located north of Kenora near the Manitoba border. In the 1960s and 70s, mercury was dumped into the Wabigoon-English River from a chemical plant in Dryden, poisoning the water and the organisms and fish that lived in it. Through a biological process known as bioaccumulation, residents of Grassy Narrows were poisoned from eating the contaminated fish. If the health impacts weren’t enough, the Ontario government closed the commercial fishery in the area leading to economic collapse for the community. It took until 1986 for the First Nation to receive a settlement from the provincial and federal governments, and the companies involved, but despite this, the mercury was never removed from the water. A new study published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives found a correlation between the mercury poisoning and suicide attempts in Grassy Narrows. The First Nation, home to 1,500 people, which never had a recorded suicide prior to 1970, is now plagued with a suicide rate three times higher than other First Nations across Canada.

Nova Scotia offers a snapshot of a trend across Canada and the United States where landfill developments are often located adjacent to Black communities. Lincolnville is an example of how Black settlers, who were already driven from the land they were promised by the British centuries ago to segregate them from the white population, faced environmental injustice within their own community that persists almost 250 years after they first arrived following their escape from slavery in the U.S..

In 2006, after a landfill had been opened right next to them in 1974, the provincial government finally closed it following decades of advocacy by the local Black community. But a second generation landfill accepting waste from across the northern reaches of the province and Cape Breton was opened in its place.

Despite the County determining that extensive testing of surface and groundwater had been completed, no studies were done on the impact to the community. Hazardous materials such as transformers and refuse from oil spills are reported to have been dumped in the landfill leaving community members concerned about traces of carcinogens being above safe limits in the nearby water which they drink. Since cancer is often slow growing, if proper studies are not completed, devastating impacts on local populations often aren’t seen for years, when it is too late to prevent widespread sickness.

Examples of this kind of injustice, motivated by discriminatory attitudes, are seen across the country, and around the world. In 2019, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights, Baskut Tuncak, made a visit to Canada, by invitation, to examine the steps taken by the federal government to “protect the human rights implicated by the management of hazardous substances and wastes”. The results confirmed the trend Waldron had set out to study.

“During my visit, I observed a pervasive trend of inaction of the Canadian Government in the face of existing health threats from decades of historical and current environmental injustices and the cumulative impacts of toxic exposures by Indigenous peoples,” Tuncak wrote.

But getting the general population to understand environmental racism has been a challenge. Conflating it with climate change is one critical problem Waldron pointed to.

“It's important to understand environmental racism as an independent issue from climate change,” she says. “Environmental racism is about poisonous facilities. It's about contaminated water. It's about polluted air. And it's about the facilities or projects that create contaminated water, and polluted air, so completely different issues. But where they intersect is that interestingly, the same communities that tend to be most impacted by climate change are the exact same communities that are disproportionately impacted by environmental racism.”

Environmental racism can often be subsumed within the overarching problem of climate change but never the other way around. Waldron cautions against linking the two.

“With climate change, it is this notion that we're all impacted by climate change, it's not a race issue. So I think part of the subsuming of environmental racism within a broader topic of climate change is seeing climate change is more important, or because environmental racism tends to focus on racialized communities, people are uncomfortable with that.”

Despite the general population’s hesitancy to talk about issues dealing with race, Waldron has dedicated almost a decade to educating people about environmental racism and, if Bill C-226 (An Act respecting the development of a national strategy to assess, prevent and address environmental racism and to advance environmental justice) passes in the Senate in the fall, her efforts will have led to potentially impactful legislative action.

In January 2015, Waldron walked through the door of a local coffee shop in Nova Scotia to meet then NDP Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Lenore Zann. In the midst of employees from surrounding offices enjoying their 15-minute break and long time friends catching up over a steaming cup, the sight of the two women wouldn’t have stood out. But a plan was brewing, one that would follow a roller coaster path. Just when it looked like the two women had been defeated, a bold idea salvaged their determined effort to force change, to protect those Waldron had stood alongside.

“She proposed to me that one way to create awareness about environmental racism, and just kind of get it on the map more than I had, was to develop a private member's bill,” Waldron tells The Pointer.

Zann warned Waldron that private member’s bills don’t have high success rates, but it would be an excellent opportunity to educate the public and to emphasize in the media the widespread nature of environmental racism. In 2015, environmental racism was not well understood and the hope was that the campaign could bring greater attention to the problem, spurring public action.

“When I started in 2012, I had journalists and members of the community email me and say, ‘I've never heard of environmental racism. Are you serious? What is this? You know, this sounds strange’,” Waldron says. “There was a lot of doubt in what I was doing, or just lack of doubt that this existed when I first started. And then as I continued on in Nova Scotia, the questions and the perplexed look on people's faces changed.”

Introduced as Bill 111 in the Nova Scotia legislature on April 29, 2015, it sought to establish a panel to examine the issues of environmental racism across the province, particularly as it impacts the African-Nova Scotia community, First Nations communities and the Acadian community, and to provide recommendations on how to address this uniquely harmful discrimination.

The Bill made it to second reading but was never passed. Zann reintroduced it multiple times throughout the following three years without success.

“It was a bit frustrating,” Waldron recalls.

While they faced roadblocks within the provincial legislature, the women were successful in building an awareness campaign that spread nationwide. Attention started to build in Nova Scotia at first, but Waldron says she began receiving requests for events and talks all across the country.

“I get emails from professors across the country, saying we are putting on an event on environmental racism, which is just glorious to my ears, because that never happened in the past.”

In 2020, a twist of fate reignited the potential of turning Waldron’s work into binding legislation. Shortly before the onset of the pandemic, which would bring upon its own challenges for BIPOC communities, Zann contacted Waldron to let her know she had moved on from her position as an MLA and was serving as an MP in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government, and she wanted to reintroduce the environmental racism legislation on the federal stage.

“I said, that sounds great to me, because then we can now address not just Nova Scotia, we can address all the Indigenous communities that have pipelines across Canada,” Waldron says. “I thought this is much better.”

The two worked together once again to alter the legislation and make it much more robust. At the federal level, the Bill called for statistical and disaggregated race data to fully paint the picture of the problem across the country.

The Bill made it to second reading, before getting wiped off the table during the snap election in September 2021. But the election did more than take the legislation off the table, it also led to Zann’s defeat, removing the champion of the environmental racism bill from Parliament.

With one more chance for success, federal Green Party leader Elizabeth May decided to revive the work of Waldron and Zann, tabling Bill C-226, an Act respecting the development of a national strategy to assess, prevent and address environmental racism and to advance environmental justice, with the same wording as it had during the previous parliamentary period.

It passed in the House and is awaiting a vote in the Senate when Parliament reconvenes in the fall. Hopes remain high.

“From what I'm hearing from several people, they say it's going to pass. I can't believe it,” Waldron says. She’s even heard Conservatives in the Senate support the bill despite the PC MPs voting against it in the House. “I'm very cautious because I've been doing this since 2015. But I'm hearing from different people saying they’re 99 percent sure this is going to pass.”

If it does pass, it will be the first legislation of its kind.

“This is groundbreaking. So when you say what I've been through all these years, it's been such a long road. And there were times I felt like giving up,” she says. “I was like, okay, somebody's gonna take this on once I'm gone.”

“This has a lot to do with the education over the years … The ongoing community activism, by Indigenous communities and Black communities, I think all of these things come together to create this awareness amongst people, including politicians that this is something real.”

Despite the revolutionary nature of the Bill, if it passes, collecting data to prove what has only been shown through anecdotal evidence is just the start. Indigenous, Black and other minority communities are disproportionately impacted by environmental harms across a spectrum of political and commercial actions, in every province, in numerous business sectors, and it will take more than quantifiable evidence to change the damaging dynamics that have persisted for more than a century, particularly in the country’s powerful natural resources industries.

A huge step forward in the fight against environmental racism is the passage of Bill S-5, which received Royal Assent on June 13, with amendments to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA), the first significant changes to the groundbreaking legislation since 1999. The new law ensures that every Canadian has the right to a healthy environment.

According to the federal government’s press release following Royal Assent, “Bill S-5 requires that decisions made under CEPA respect the right to a healthy environment. Over the next two years, the Government will develop an implementation framework to set out how that right will be considered in administering the Act. That framework will explain how the right will account for principles such as environmental justice, intergenerational equity, and non-regression. It will also describe any other relevant factors to consider in interpreting and applying the right and determining its reasonable limits.

The legislation is a huge step for Waldron and all those demanding environmental justice for all Canadians, particularly marginalized communities that have suffered harm due to racist and discriminatory actions by governments and corporations.

BIPOC communities are still on the front lines, taking matters into their own hands to fight for a safe environment.

Perhaps one of the most well known examples of resistance against environmental racism is the Idle No More movement, a grassroots political strategy started on Facebook by four Indigenous women in Saskatchewan in 2012. Through peaceful demonstrations, teach-ins and rallies, Idle No More demands Canada repeal parts of legislation that affirm colonial actions and hinder Indigenous rights to oppose development on their territory, calls for the recognition of legally binding titles and asks that existing environmental protections be upheld.

African Nova Scotia communities have collaborated to take action against landfill sites in various locations including Africville, Lincolnville and Preston. Actions have ranged from community demonstrations to complaints with the Human Rights Commission and even a lawsuit in the case of Africville. Despite these local actions, little has been done to address the continued harm to these communities.

In Ontario, the current government continues to push through legislation and policy that work against the environmental goals of community-based organizations.

The Doug Ford PCs have made it a priority to mine in the Ring of Fire, to extract and produce special metals including cobalt, nickel and platinum. The area is approximately 500 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay and spans approximately 5,000 square kilometres. Despite the government’s claim that it will create jobs, stimulate the economy and bring prosperity to communities in the north, mining is known to have severe environmental consequences on the surrounding land, air and water, which could have serious impacts on the health of local populations, the majority of which are Indigenous.

Regardless of the outcome of Bill C-226, Waldron says Canada is at a turning point on environmental racism. As dictated in the mandate letter sent to the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change in 2021, Canada will undertake the creation of a new environmental justice strategy to recognize the “right to a healthy environment” and examine the “link between race, socio-economic status and exposure to environmental risk”.

With the recent passage of Bill S-5, which makes potentially precedent-setting changes to the main existing environmental legislation, and could have profound legal consequences for future court cases, the federal government is making good on its commitment to enshrine environmental justice as a legal right.

“[The Coalition is] now in a fabulous stage where we are looking to assist with a new environmental justice strategy for Canada,” Waldron says. “We are just hoping that there's going to be some kind of collaboration. I can't say too much. But we feel that our coalition is in a very good place to work with the government because of the connections we've had with actual community members impacted.”

“Obviously, an environmental justice strategy where you do not hear from the people impacted doesn't make any sense. So we want this to be community based and community engaged where community members would say, ‘This is what I think an environmental justice strategy should look like’.”

In addition to possible collaboration with the federal government, the Canadian Coalition for Environmental and Climate Justice is continuing with its work on a mapping project which provides visual data on environmental racism in Canada. The ENRICH project has a similar map for Nova Scotia, but the one undertaken by the CCECJ will reveal nationwide examples of environmental racism and will include images and stories shared by community members who have faced and fought these injustices.

“It's a very big project,” Waldron says. “But we see that as a data collection tool, just like a book or doing research or study. The map will show cases of environmental racism that you're familiar with. But also those smaller cases that nobody has heard of.”

Regardless of the outcome of Bill C-226, the Coalition will continue its own work in partnership with grassroots organizations committed to end environmental racism in Canada.

Email: rachel.morgan@thepointer.com

Twitter: @rachelnadia_

At a time when vital public information is needed by everyone, The Pointer has taken down our paywall on all stories to ensure every resident of Brampton and Mississauga has access to the facts. 

Rachel Morgan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Pointer

Stone carving festival comes to Montreal for 1st time

CBC
Mon, July 24, 2023 

Forty stone carvers from three different provinces participated in this year's Canadian Stone Carving Festival in Montreal's Place d'Armes. (Valeria Cori-Manocchio/CBC - image credit)

Sitting under a large canopy tent in Montreal's Place d'Armes, Danny Barber, with his hammer and chisel in hand, worked away at his sculpture of a goldfinch perched on a tuque.

This is his fourteenth year organizing the Canadian Stone Carving Festival which is meant to raise public awareness around the craft.

"Really you only see carving in museums or gift shops, you don't see the person making it," he said.

Typically held in Ottawa, Barber decided to bring the event to Montreal this past weekend. It was part of a partnership with Alexandre Maquet, the co-founder of a local stone carving organization, Les Ateliers de la pierre du Québec.

Maquet says that for many years he and other stone carvers from Quebec had been travelling to Ottawa for the festival so it only made sense for there to be a Montreal edition.

"We have this amazing spot right in front of the church and we're surrounded by all these buildings with beautiful stones so we're pretty happy," he said.

Danny Barber founded the Canadian Stone Carving Festival in 2010. He hoped that by bringing it to Montreal he could meet new carvers and expose the craft to a new audience.

Danny Barber founded the Canadian Stone Carving Festival in 2010. He hoped that by bringing it to Montreal he could meet new carvers and expose the craft to a new audience. (Valeria Cori-Manocchio/CBC)

Forty stone carvers from Ontario and Quebec — and one from Halifax — participated in this year's festival which began on Friday and ended in a public auction Sunday afternoon. The proceeds were donated to a Montreal-based organization Le Centre d'apprentissage parallèle de Montréal (CAP) which uses art to help people dealing with mental health challenges.

On Sunday, Maquet was adding the finishing touches to his otter carved out of white marble, in line with this year's theme: "Where two rivers meet" — a reference to the intersection of the Ottawa and St. Lawrence rivers.

A few stations over, Caroline Guay was focused on producing a seashell out of Indiana limestone joining herself to the choir of artisans gently tapping hammer against chisel.

"I love the noise," she said.

"It's sort of empowering to see how you can mould stone to the way you want it to be."

A carver chips away at a block of limestone during the Canadian Stone Carving Festival in Montreal. Each piece was auctioned off to raise funds for a local Montreal charity.

A carver chips away at a block of limestone during the Canadian Stone Carving Festival in Montreal. Each piece was auctioned off to raise funds for a local Montreal charity. (Valeria Cori-Manocchio/CBC)

She's been practising stone carving for 10 years and has participated in the festival eight times. For her, the hobby came naturally since she works as a conservator of heritage buildings in Ottawa.

"It's surprising how many people think it's a lost art," she said.

According to Maquet, there's been a growing demand for stone carvers especially in heritage conservation. He says he hopes the festival will encourage others to look into the classes offered by his organization.

Barber says he feels the same way.

"It's alive and well and there's room for more people to come [and] try it," he said about the craft.

Sunday afternoon, 41 unique sculptures, including one created by members of the public, went up for auction. They all sold, raising $10,700 for the CAP, according to Barber.

Trans Mountain wants higher tolls. They won't cover even half its price tag


Local Journalism Initiative
Mon, July 24, 2023 

Trans Mountain wants to charge oil shippers more to use the Trans Mountain expansion pipeline (TMX), but those increased tolls wouldn’t cover even half of the project’s $30.9-billion price tag.

“There has never been an instance in any western country — that I'm aware of — where tolls have been set below the level required to cover the cost of the operation of a pipeline,” said Thomas Gunton, professor and director of the Resource and Environmental Planning Program at Simon Fraser University in B.C.

Certainly in Canada, the National Energy Board and Canada Energy Regulator (CER) have never set tolls below that threshold for a pipeline, he said, “so this will be an unprecedented first if they approve these tolls.”

Trans Mountain applied to raise the base tolls on June 1, and CER accepted comments from interested parties in mid-June. Oil shippers including Suncor, Cenovus, BP PetroChina Canada and more submitted comments, saying the proposed tolls are too high and requesting a hearing.

The Tsleil-Waututh Nation also requested a hearing but argued the tolls weren’t high enough. In a letter to the CER, the nation — whose territory is at the epicentre of the project — argues the regulator should reject Trans Mountain’s application and set tolls that account for and cover the project’s ballooning construction costs. The current toll settlement was based on Kinder Morgan’s 2013 construction cost estimate of $5.4 billion, but since the federal government purchased TMX in 2018, the financial situation has gotten progressively worse. Trans Mountain is a Crown corporation, meaning Canadian taxpayers are the true owners of the pipeline and expansion project.

“Trans Mountain’s inability to recover even half of the project cost means that their capacity to adequately fund maintenance, safety, integrity, and spill response is compromised,” reads the letter, adding the Tsleil-Waututh Nation’s territory and rights would be “significantly impacted by an oil spill of any kind.”

“Tolls that cover less than half of a project’s costs cannot be found to be just nor reasonable,” it added, pointing out that insufficient tolls could also result in higher rates for customers down the line.

Trans Mountain’s proposed tolls would leave the Crown corporation $16.2 billion in the hole, and in all likelihood, the cost will end up borne by Canadian taxpayers, the letter states. The private sector appears unwilling to put any more money into TMX so, to keep the project afloat, the federal government has approved a total of $13 billion in loan guarantees to convince Canada’s six biggest banks to finance it.

The Tsleil-Waututh Nation and multiple analysts say there are only two ways out of this situation: debt forgiveness or toll increases.

Finance Canada has repeatedly refused to confirm whether it will consider forgiving Trans Mountain’s debt, despite Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland putting $13 billion in taxpayer dollars on the line with loan guarantees in a little over a year. If the federal government forgives Trans Mountain’s debt, it will go against Freeland’s 2022 promise that no more public funds will flow to TMX.

Debt forgiveness would amount to a roughly $17-billion fossil fuel subsidy, according to an analysis by independent economist Robyn Allan.

“The Trans Mountain Expansion Project will ensure Canada receives fair market value for our resources while maintaining the highest environmental standards,” a Department of Finance official said in an emailed statement to Canada’s National Observer. “This is in addition to being an important investment in Canada’s economy, generating significant operating revenues and creating well-paying, middle-class jobs.” The statement added that the federal government doesn’t plan to be the long-term owner of the project and “will launch a divestment process in due course.”

The Crown corporation applied to charge a base toll of between $10 and $11 per barrel in most instances, roughly $5 more than what it is currently set at. The exact toll varies depending on the type and volume of oil and how far it’s travelling, and companies with longer contracts receive a small discount.

If tolls were set to fully cover the $30.9-billion cost of TMX, shippers would be charged roughly $22.20 per barrel, according to the Tsleil-Waututh Nation’s calculations.

“All of these forecasts for the viability of the pipeline are based on an assumption that the pipeline continues to operate and ship oil beyond the 15- to 20-year contracts,” said Gunton. When those contracts expire, Trans Mountain will have to lower the tolls so shippers don’t leave en masse, said Gunton.

“The question the Canadian taxpayers should ask is, ‘Why should I pay a subsidy of $13, $14 a barrel to the oil industry when the oil industry is making record profits?’” said Gunton.

Shippers, naturally, are balking at Trans Mountain’s proposed cost increase and have said as much in letters submitted to the CER.

Now the energy regulator has received letters of comment from the oil shippers and other groups (like the Tsleil-Waututh Nation), it will either issue a decision on Trans Mountain’s request or hold a hearing, Ruth Anne Beck, communications officer at CER, explained in an emailed statement. The CER has not yet decided which route to take.

“If the CER is consistent with its regulatory policy, it should review the application, conclude that the current tolls that are being applied for are not sufficient to cover the cost of the pipeline and maintain its financial viability, and they should set tolls that are significantly higher,” said Gunton. “Will they do that? Who knows? I doubt it.”

In this scenario, “everybody is significantly worse off as a result of building this pipeline,” said Gunton. Oil shippers end up paying more than they would to use Enbridge’s Mainline pipeline, Enbridge loses out on oil volume and Canadian taxpayers are out billions of dollars for the project itself as well as environmental costs in the billions, he said.

Trans Mountain has asked CER for a decision by Sept. 14, writing a delay beyond that “could jeopardize the in-service date” for the new pipeline. TMX is currently 90 per cent complete, with planned mechanical completion expected by the end of 2023, according to an emailed statement from Trans Mountain media relations.

The Tsleil-Waututh Nation also noted the Canada Development Investment Corporation’s 2022 annual report found storms, droughts and flooding present “acute risks” to the pipelines and infrastructure. Any tolling structure must account for the increased spending needed to deal with the prevention of and fallout from climate change-related risks, the nation maintains.

When the federal government bought TMX from Kinder Morgan in 2018, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told Canadians its profits would help fund climate action.

Finance Canada regularly cites two financial reports produced by TD Securities and BMO to say TMX is still viable, but Canada’s National Observer discovered those reports assume an unrealistic 100-year lifetime.

More recently, the department has been pointing to a March 2023 report, also by TD Securities and BMO Capital Markets, that says third-party financing is a feasible option to fund the completion of the project and that they “believe investors … would participate in a process involving a sale of all or a portion of [Trans Mountain Corporation].”

The fact that government loan guarantees have been necessary to finance a total of $13 billion of the project clearly shows it is not viable and that third-party financing is not a feasible option, said Gunton.

Natasha Bulowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada's National Observer

Homeless face challenges during heat wave

LETHBRIDGE HERALD
Local Journalism Initiative
Mon, July 24, 2023

Current local heat warnings reaching 32 degrees and higher for daytime temperatures poses a challenge for individuals who are experiencing homelessness and have no means to keep cool from the raging heat.

Sage Clan team lead Josh Cummins shared the challenges and hardships the homeless go through and especially with a heat wave.

“First off, it's like, just the reality of downtown Lethbridge with the homeless and addicted. It's a very hard reality, no matter what the weather is. But with the heat wave coming up, I think what we were always looking for is that heatstroke overdoses.

The numbers have risen during heat waves and cold spells, so we're always looking out for that sort of thing. It's tough out there. When it's hot, for sure, there's not a lot of places to go to get away from the heat. So, we're nervous. We're hoping everyone makes it through,” said Cummins.

Cummins said Sage Clan prepares for extreme temperatures by varius means including stocking up with bottled water and wet cloths to help cool down those with heatstroke. He advises those with water or cold items to spare can help by giving them to homeless individuals.

“It's always good to check in on people. If you have water, give it to them. If you have something cold, give it to them for sure.”

Sage Clan is not the only organization preparing for the heat warning as Streets Alive is also preparing.

Cameron Kissick, Streets Alive chief operations officer, expressed resources the City has for emergencies to keep some of the homeless out of the heat.

“The City has an emergency response when it comes to things like these. So, there are locations that are open as cooling stations, or cooling locations that community members can access to cool off, get inside, get out of the heat for a bit. So, accessing those are all really important,” said Kissick.

“Of course, outreach teams are out . . . checking on people, making sure they're hydrated, makeing sure they're staying cool as they can.”

Cummins bottled water donations have an impact during extreme heat temperatures and notes the places accepting water donations.

“Sage Clan always accept available donations. You can get ahold of us on our social media pages. Food banks, there's a whole lot of resources out there that could use water.”

Water donations for Streets Alive can be delivered to 323 4 St South.

A local woman who is experiencing homelessness shared the difficulty it can be to find shelter during extreme heat temperatures and the difficulty of being accepted by the community. She said some homeless individuals don’t have the support to overcome their battle with addiction.

“They can just say, ‘oh, yeah, well, you know, I can quit,’ but go home to their families and have all the love and support they got. But some of us don't have that. Some of us just have each other's,” she said.

She described the trouble of judgment homeless individuals face on a daily basis and how many of them are in the process of trying to get their lives together.

“We're not even allowed to do pretty much anything. And if we do get, you know, taken care, we get in trouble, and they constantly call, and they automatically assume that we're just using drugs or whatever. They're painting us pretty much with all the same brush. And what they don't understand is most of us are just trying to get our own place so that we can get our life back together. We're trying to get it together.”

Steffanie Costigan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Lethbridge Herald

Manitoba hires firm to recruit family physicians to the province



WINNIPEG — The Manitoba government has hired a firm to recruit family doctors in a move to address physician shortages in the province.

The Progressive Conservatives hope to recruit 150 family physicians to provide services in all areas of the province with cohorts of 50 doctors allocated for Winnipeg, northern Manitoba and rural communities.

"Family physicians play an integral role in our health-care system. They provide ongoing longitudinal care for patients across the continuum of community, hospital and long-term care," Health Minister Audrey Gordon said at a news conference Monday.

Gordon said adding more doctors means Manitobans would get the preventive care they need and help relieve burden in the overall health-care system.

The province has contracted the Toronto-based company Canadian Health Labs to assist with recruitment.

The province also announced it has approved regulatory changes that would allow internationally educated doctors to start working sooner.

Beginning in September, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba is to have the ability to establish more streamlined assessment requirements for fully licensed internationally educated doctors that will speed up the process for applicants from similar jurisdictions to Canada.

This follows the government's move to amend requirements for internationally educated physicians to pass the first portion of the Medical Council of Canada qualifying exam.

The college said it has heard from international medical graduates and Canadians who have trained overseas that the process was too difficult for specialists to come back to Manitoba.

"These changes will allow the province to bring in more specialists with less burdensome qualification processes," said Dr. Anna Ziomek, a registrar with the college.

Doctors Manitoba, which represents some 4,000 physicians and students, welcomed the move, saying it will remove unnecessary steps to obtaining a licence in the province.

"This will mean well-qualified international medical graduates will be able to practise sooner, which will help address Manitoba's physician shortage," president Dr. Michael Boroditsky said in a release.

The organization has said doctor shortages in the province have reached an all-time high.

A report released last year from the Canadian Institute for Health Information found Manitoba would need 405 more doctors to be on par with the Canadian average of 246 physicians per 100,000 residents.

The Opposition NDP accused the province of ignoring physicians concerns over the past seven years resulting in the physician shortages.

"Premier Stefanson will make election promises now that she never intends to keep," Uzoma Asagwara, critic for health care, said in a statement.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 24, 2023.

Brittany Hobson, The Canadian Press

Edmonton mayor announces funding to plant 1.5 million trees, expand urban canopy

The Canadian Press
Mon, July 24, 2023

ELMS  OVER 100 YEARS OLD

Edmonton's mayor has announced joint funding from the municipal and federal governments to support the planting of 1.5 million trees.

Amarjeet Sohi says $47.8 million is coming from the federal 2 Billion Trees program and the amount is being matched by the city.

Sohi says the money will allow Edmonton to expand its tree-planting efforts and bring it closer to its goal of being a "healthy and climate-resilient city."

Edmonton is planning to increase its urban forest canopy by planting about three square kilometres over the next eight years in naturalized areas, boulevards, parks and open spaces.

The city aims to have two million trees planted by 2031 as part of a broader goal of achieving 20 per cent canopy cover by 2071.

It says it will also work with Indigenous leaders, elders and knowledge keepers to ensure the planting of local species is reflective of and supportive of the traditions and cultural practices of local Indigenous Peoples and those with historic and cultural connections to the region.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 24, 2023.

The Canadian Press

‘Weak tea’: G20 fails to agree on cutting down fossil fuels


Stuti Mishra
Mon, July 24, 2023 

A delegate walks past a display of flags of participating countries at the venue of G-20 (AP)

The meeting between the energy ministers of the world’s 20 richest countries ended with a “disappointing” outcome that has been branded by experts as “weak tea” and a reneging of commitments made by them last year.

The G20 countries, in their latest meeting held in India’s tourist state Goa, failed to reach a consensus on cutting down fossil fuels amid globally record-shattering heatwaves and rising climate concerns.

With just two months to go for the main G20 summit in September and four months for the Cop28 UN climate summit in Dubai, this meeting was seen as a crucial temperature gauge for the geopolitics of the urgent need for energy transition.


Cutting down planet-heating fossil fuels is becoming an increasingly urgent call as back-to-back heatwaves caused by the climate crisis have led to record temperatures in large parts of the northern hemisphere with Europe, China and the US sweltering in unprecedented heat this year.

However, experts said that when the world needed to hear a “clarion call to action”, the outcome of the meeting turned out to be “weak tea”.

“With temperature records being set daily around the world and the impacts of climate change spiralling out of control, the world needed to hear a clarion call to action from the G20 energy ministers meeting that just wrapped up in Goa,” said Alden Meyer, senior associate at environmental think-tank E3G.

“Instead, what we got was very weak tea indeed, with the failure to set strong goals and implementation plans for at least tripling deployed renewable energy capacity worldwide by 2030 and sharp divisions on display around the need for a fair, fast, and equitable transition away from fossil fuels.”

One of the biggest points of contention during the meeting was the call to cut down all fossil fuels, the emissions from which are heating the world. However, this issue has remained highly challenged in international climate negotiations.

While at the Cop26 Glasgow summit in 2021, all countries agreed with the language to phase down coal, ministers at the G20 meeting failed to reiterate the commitment to accelerate the phasedown of unabated coal generation.

Anusha Mata, senior policy advisor at E3G, said it showed there are “clear divisions among energy leaders on the pathway to securing a clean energy future.”

“The weak language on fossil fuel phase down and absence of any mention of coal – the most polluting energy source – is a clear backtracking on previous commitments in last year’s G20 Bali Declaration,” she said.

People cool themselves at the Trevi Fountain during a heatwave across Italy as temperatures are expected to cool off in Rome, Italy (REUTERS)

The debate over the phasing out of fossil fuels, which is becoming all the more urgent with recent climate extremes, has been a long-standing dispute in international climate negotiations.

India, a coal-reliant country and the host of the G20 summit this year, has been demanding that countries should agree to cut down all fossil fuels, including oil and gas, instead of just singling out coal.

Experts said the ongoing dispute resulted in a watered-down language in the final outcome on fossil fuels and tripling of renewable energy capacity. They said it also showed the Dubai presidency for the upcoming Cop summit has a long way ahead to build consensus on key issues.

“The fight over energy pathways seems to be a continuation of the disagreement at Cop27 over phasing down ‘all fossil fuels’, which India supported because it wanted oil and gas to be treated similarly to coal, which the world agreed to phase down – but not phase-out – at Cop26,” said Tarun Gopalakrishnan, pre-doctoral fellow at the Climate Policy Lab, Centre for International Environment Policy.

“As expected, India had to settle for language, for eg tripling of RE has been changed to ‘tripling of clean technology capacity’ and phasing down of all fossil fuels has been watered down. This has been the best diplomatic solution, but it is not the best climate policy solution.”

However, some progress was made, as countries agreed to step up energy efficiency and deployment of distributed renewable energy technologies as well as recognise the need for low-cost finance for clean energy transition in developing countries.

But Mr Meyers said the Indian G20 presidency “must not accept this outcome as the final answer”.

“Instead, it should push G20 leaders to put the interests of their people ahead of those of the fossil fuel industry when they meet in September for their summit in Delhi,” he said.

“The UAE’s incoming Cop28 presidency now has an even clearer sense of the fault lines among major countries in reaching the transformational outcome it is seeking for the Dubai climate summit in December and must intensify its discussions with ministers and leaders in the weeks ahead.”

Congressional Democrats call on Biden for workplace heat safety steps

Excessive heat warning in Las Vegas

Mon, July 24, 2023 at 2:18 PM MDT
By Josephine Walker

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of 112 Democratic members of Congress on Monday called on U.S. President Joe Biden's administration to establish heat safety regulations for indoor and outdoor workplaces as a persistent and deadly heatwave spreads across the country.

The group asked the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue new standards on adequate water and sheltered rest breaks, medical training to identify heat-related illness and a plan for workplaces to adjust their operations during times of dangerously high heat.

The move comes as the U.S. experiences a summer of record-breaking heat in some cities. Lawmakers cited the recent heat-related deaths of two Texans, a U.S. Postal Service employee who died on his route in 115 degree Fahrenheit (46°C) heat and a 35-year-old electrical lineman restoring power who likely died from heat exhaustion.

"These heat waves are dangerous, they are life-threatening, and – with the devastating effects of climate change – they are only getting worse," Senator Bernie Sanders, one of the lawmakers who signed the letter, said in a statement. "I urge the administration to move quickly to create this national heat standard to protect workers on the job.

The lawmaker asked OSHA to model the new standards after a 2022 bill that Congress never took up, the Asuncion Valdivia Heat Illness and Fatalities Prevention Act, named after the death of a California farm worker who died after picking grapes for ten hours in 105 F (41°C) temperatures in 2004.

(Reporting by Josephine Walker; Editing by Scott Malone and Marguerita Choy)

US House Democrat holds thirst strike to protest Texas water break law

Greg Casar
American politician

Tue, July 25, 2023 
By Moira Warburton and Josephine Walker

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. Representative Greg Casar of Texas held a thirst strike at Congress on Tuesday to protest a new law signed by Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott blocking local ordinances that mandate water breaks for workers.

Casar, whose district includes parts of Austin and San Antonio, Texas, said would not drink water for eight hours while standing on the steps of the U.S. Capitol building, as temperatures in Washington rise to almost 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32°C).

A day earlier, over 100 Democrats signed a letter to President Joe Biden's administration, asking for federal workplace heat safety regulations.

"It's challenging and it's hot, but it's not as hot as it is in Texas," said Casar, who was sweating in the sweltering humidity. Temperatures in Casar's district were expected to top 100°F (38°C) on Tuesday.

Top House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries called Abbott's bill "unreasonable, unconscionable and un-American."

Abbott's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The legislation blocks cities from writing local rules that go further than state laws, an attempt by Texas Republicans to limit the ability of local Democratic lawmakers to enact their policies.

The cities of Houston and Austin have sued the Texas government over the bill set to take effect in September.

Jasmine Granillo, whose family successfully pressured the city of Dallas to implement mandatory water breaks in 2015 after her brother died of heat stroke while working a residential construction job, said Abbott's bill "is chipping away what my family has fought for."

(Reporting by Moira Warburton and Josephine Walker; Editing by Scott Malone and Bill Berkrot)

Canada hailed for focusing foreign aid on women's rights amid global backslide

OTTAWA — Canada is being hailed for funding initiatives in developing countries that aim to keep women who care for children or elders from being excluded from the economy.

Ottawa announced projects to support people working in the caring economy at a major foreign-aid conference focused on women's advancement.

International Development Minister Harjit Sajjan also offered details at the Women Deliver conference in Rwanda about how $200 million in previously announced funding would be allocated.

The managing director of the Equality Fund, an organization that helps administer government cash for projects in developing countries, said Canada is holding the line amid a backsliding in gender equality.

Katharine Im-Jenkins says the funding will support women's sexual health and reproductive rights, even as other countries pull funding away from voluntary abortions, contraception and family planning.

The announcement comes after Canada joined some of its Western peers in cutting back on foreign aid, with this year's federal budget showing a 15 per cent drop in funding.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 24, 2023.