MINING IS NOT GREEN

Mining lobby warns Ottawa against taking miners for granted in push for more aid

Missing link in government strategy is the millions needed to build the mines

Author of the article:Naimul Karim
Published Mar 20, 2023

The head of Canada’s top mining association said Ottawa’s strategy to build an electric vehicle industry could fail if it doesn’t encourage miners through tax credits and other incentives to construct the mines needed to produce critical minerals that power EVs, such as nickel and lithium.

Existing policies have encouraged the hunt for new mineral deposits in Canada, and have brought investment from big automakers and battery companies such as Volkswagen Group and LG Energy Solutions in the past year, said Pierre Gratton, head of the Mining Association of Canada.

But the government “appears to have taken for granted” miners, who require millions of dollars to construct mines, Gratton said ahead of the federal budget on March 28.

“We have projects now that are almost shovel-ready but they are having trouble raising financing,” said Gratton, who represents a group of about 50 of the country’s biggest miners. “They sort of have taken our sector for granted, just assumed that Canada is a mining powerhouse, and we are going to be fine, but we are not.”

The demand for electric vehicles has increased globally as nations work on ways to meet their climate goals. Canada is looking to build a low-carbon EV industry and in its last budget allocated $3.8 billion to boost the critical minerals sector.

It was a move that Gratton lauded at the time. However, 12 months on, the sector hasn’t benefitted as expected. He said that none of the $1.6 billion so far allocated under the government’s Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) will benefit an advanced mining project nearing construction.

 • 

Voisey’s Bay mine — one of the world’s largest nickel deposits

 — in Newfoundland and Labrador. 

E3 Lithium Ltd. received $27 million from the SIF last year, but the money was to support the company’s pilot lithium plant. The Alberta-based company is still years away from construction.

BHP Group Ltd. received $100 million from the fund in January, but that was meant for the development of its potash mine in Saskatchewan. The remaining announcements were mostly linked to auto and battery companies such as Umicore SA, Stellantis NV and General Motors Co.

“If these car companies think that we are going to be able to supply them on the track that we are on now, they are mistaken, so we have got to do something to turn that around,” said Gratton.

The federal government announced $14 million in six early-stage Canadian mining projects focused on producing metals such as nickel, lithium and rare-earth groups earlier this month. Gratton described the amount as “peanuts” when compared to the millions each miner will require to eventually build the mine.

Gratton’s main concern is that Canada’s production of metals such as cobalt and nickel — both of which are used in EVs — have decreased in the past decade. He said the government needs to take steps to change the trend.

Natural Resources minister Jonathan Wilkinson told the Financial Post March 7 that the government has a “comprehensive strategy” to focus on all parts of the EV value chain. “Getting to where we need to get to in terms of the volumes of minerals we are going to need in 2035 is a challenge ,there is no question about that,” he said.

“We are going to have to accelerate the work we are doing and we are going to have to ensure that we are being as efficient as we possibly can in all parts of the value chain, that very much includes existing mines, new mines and finding ways to actually extract value from what is perceived as waste now,” Wilkinson added.

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Gratton isn’t suggesting that the government hasn’t taken any positive steps. He said that the decision to double the mineral exploration tax credit for some critical minerals and its investment in geoscience and research and development in mining were significant.

“All of that is going to help contribute with new discoveries, but if those discoveries can’t become mines, because we can’t attract investment into Canada, because companies are choosing to invest elsewhere where it’s more attractive, we are going to have all these discoveries going nowhere,” said Gratton. “The strategy will fail.”

• Email: nkarim@postmedia.com | Twitter: naimonthefield

Trudeau’s Pipeline Scandal

Shameless spin can’t excuse the burgeoning boondoggle and ‘global warming machine’ called TMX.

Andrew Nikiforuk 

Today

TheTyee.ca

Vancouverites protesting in 2018 after Trudeau pledged $4.5 billion to buy Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. The public cost has leapt to $30.9 billion. 

Photo by Darryl Dyck via the Canadian Press.

Well, the transfer of billions of dollars from ordinary Canadians to wealthy oil companies continues unabated.

The cost of the obscenely over-budget Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, as The Tyee predicted last fall, has increased again by a whopping 44 per cent from $21.4 billion to now $30.9 billion.

Brace yourself. The costs will likely go higher because the twinning of the 980-kilometre-long pipeline, which will transport bitumen from Edmonton to Burnaby, is only 80 per cent complete.


The Trans Mountain Corp., of course, blamed the cost overruns on the usual suspects: global inflation, supply chain challenges and get this, “challenging terrain and geography.”

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Back in 2019 even the Canada Investment Development Corp. which oversees the Trans Mountain Corp., recognized that the costs for a highly risky pipeline expansion could be a runaway train due to “difficult terrain” and “risks of cost overruns.”

Robyn Allan, the brilliant independent economist who predicted this sorry debacle, wasn’t impressed by the corporation’s latest revelations:

“This is nothing short of a disaster and it continues to shock me that Ottawa can present a boondoggle as good for the economy, and a global warming machine as something Canadians should be happy to pay for,” said Allan, who headed the Insurance Corp. of British Columbia.

If you’ve lost track of the cost overruns, consider this brief chronology:

In 2013 Kinder Morgan first promised to twin the pipeline for $5.4 billion. When project costs escalated, it bailed and sold to the Canadian government in 2018.

Trudeau then promised to build the project for $7.4 billion. That figure, as Allan warned, soon ballooned to $12.6 billion in 2020. Last year it climbed to $21.4 billion. It now stands at $30.9 billion and counting.

“All the while Alberta’s oil producers capture the financial gain through subsidized tolls without any accountability or apology,” noted Allan.

The Canadian Taxpayer Federation, a group whose financial support and membership are murky but presents itself in the media as defender of the public purse, is supposed to raise hell about such blatant fiascos. Yet is has hardly said boo about this particular hemorrhaging of public funds.

But Allan has spoken doggedly. She repeatedly warned that the controversial mega-project was never financially viable and that’s the real reason why Kinder Morgan, an indebted Texas company, shrewdly sold the project to the Trudeau government which did not do its due diligence.

She also argued that if bitumen companies such as Suncor and Cenovus wanted to expand the pipeline then they should have shouldered the risk and financed it themselves. Where’s free enterprise when you need it?

But why would bitumen miners do that if a gullible government not only buys and constructs the damn expansion for you, but offers to subsidize tolls, setting them so low that no reasonable cost recovery can take place in our lifetimes?

Allan isn’t the only one who has warned about the project’s failings.

The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis also concluded last year that Canadians would never see a return on their billions because the tolls have been set too low to ever recover costs.

The Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer was just as blunt in its 2022 report. Given escalating costs, it concluded that “the government’s 2018 decision to acquire, expand, operate and eventually divest of the Trans Mountain assets will result in a net loss for the federal government.”

Last year an exasperated Allan wrote another detailed report on rising losses for taxpayers. It was published by West Coast Environmental Law.

“I knew there would be a further jump in construction costs, and let’s be clear, the main reason for this outrageous increase is gross project mismanagement from Trans Mountain, CDEV and the federal government,” Allan told The Tyee.

“An almost 45 per cent jump is staggering when you consider that the project was well underway and hence costs should have been relatively locked in when Trans Mountain announced last year they had skyrocketed to $21.4 billion,” she said.

In making its bad news announcement on March 10 (a Friday of course), the Trans Mountain Corp. tried to soften the blow by offering “an economic impact assessment” by the accounting firm Ernst & Young LLP.

Before we open the glowing five-page report, readers should know that Ernst & Young is one of the Big Four firms who do accounting for governments and corporations around the world.

You should also know that it was recently the accountant for three major firms: NMC Healthcare, United Arab Emirates’ largest private health-care provider; Luckin Coffee Inc., China’s largest coffee chain; and Wirecard, a German payments company. Despite glowing reports from Ernst & Young, all three companies exploded in major financial scandals.


What’s at Stake with the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion?

READ MORE

The British High Court of Justice, which awarded $11 million to an Ernst & Young company whistleblower in a related lawsuit in 2020, noted that EY’s conduct put the firm “in breach of the principles of integrity, objectivity and professional behaviour.”

Last year the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission fined the company $100 million for more fraudulent behaviour.

“It’s simply outrageous that the very professionals responsible for catching cheating by clients cheated on ethics exams of all things,” said the SEC director of the enforcement division, Gurbir S. Grewal. “And it’s equally shocking that Ernst & Young hindered our investigation of this misconduct.”

The U.S. National Whistleblower Center recently concluded that the globe’s Big Four auditors including Ernst & Young had “little incentive to stay competitive by demonstrating effective auditing abilities.”

So that’s a bit of background on the accountant Trans Mountain hired to produce an “independent” report.


The Trans Mountain Boondoggle: Taxpayers Lose Billions, Oil Companies Win

READ MORE

The report defies belief. It tells you that the spending of $30 billion worth of tax dollars has paid for lots of wages, created jobs and contributed to the GDP. Therefore, we should all be happy.

Stunningly, the report does not mention the history of persistent cost overruns or lack of cost controls. Apparently there are no accounting issues when a government promises that it will build a pipeline for $7.4 billion and then ends up spending more than $30 billion on the sucker.

No private firm would consider such shoddy budgeting a glorious achievement for spending on wages and jobs.

Tellingly the EY report makes no mention of multibillion liabilities in Canada bitumen mines.

The pipeline will expand mining in the tarsands and thereby accelerate the production of toxic mining waste stored in more than 300 square kilometres of tailing ponds that have been leaking into groundwater and the Athabasca River for decades.

Cleaning up this deadly waste and other infrastructure will officially cost $33 billion and other credible calculations put the real figure closer to $130 billion. But industry has only set aside $1 billion for the job as of September 2022.


Canada’s Dirty $20-Billion Pipeline Bailout

READ MORE

Why wouldn’t Ernst & Young mention the pipeline’s connection to that inconvenient liability?

“The EY report is nothing short of silly,” concludes Allan. “It is telling us that if a project goes from $5.4 billion to $30.9 billion somehow this is better for the economy. They should be ashamed.”

The last word, here, should go to Allan. Let’s remember that she warned us that Kinder Morgan wasn’t an honourable player. She warned us that the buyout was scandalous and that the government overpaid for rusty old infrastructure only worth a billion dollars. She also warned us that the tolls had been set too low by so-called regulators. She warned us about rampant cost overruns and other lousy accounting by the Canadian government.

So here’s Allan’s bottom line, and don’t say you weren’t told. “Trans Mountain is not profitable or commercially viable so by definition it cannot have a positive impact and represents a huge taxpayer-funded economic drain.

“It doesn’t matter how many consultants Ottawa pays to spin a different story. The truth is there is no manner by which this project is a benefit to Canadians or the Canadian economy.”

 

Tyee contributing editor Andrew Nikiforuk is an award-winning journalist whose books and articles focus on epidemics, the energy industry, nature and more.

Canada Soccer officials defend controversial deal with Canadian Soccer Business

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General secretary Earl Cochrane grilled Monday about finances by Heritage Committee

Neil Davidson · The Canadian Press · Posted: Mar 20, 2023 

Canada Soccer general secretary Earl Cochrane on Monday said talks were underway to "modernize” its controversial agreement with Canadian Soccer Business. He also acknowledged the governing body had erred in cuts this year to the women's national team program. (David Lipnowski/Ho-Canada Soccer/Canadian Press/File)

Canada Soccer defended its controversial deal with Canadian Soccer Business on Monday under questioning on Parliament Hill by the Heritage Committee.

But Canada Soccer general secretary Earl Cochrane said talks were underway to "modernize" the agreement.

Canada Soccer board member Paul-Claude Berube said the governing body, back in 2017 when negotiations with the CSB started, was "spending hand over fist" to the tune of $1 million a year just to broadcast national team games.

"We needed income to ensure we that could continue developing soccer across Canada," Berube told the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage. "And this was one of the approaches that was approved by the board of directors."

The agreement, which allows the CSB to oversee and retain funds from marketing and broadcasting rights in exchange for an annual payment to Canada Soccer, has come under fire. Critics say terms of the deal do not reflect or reward the recent success of both national teams.

Conservative MP Kevin Waugh said the CSB deal has "absolutely handcuffed" Canada Soccer.

Berube, who said the agreement was unanimously approved by the board, said Canada Soccer receives $3 million a year under the CSB deal.

Money from the broadcasting and sponsorship right has also gone to help fund the men's Canadian Premier League.

WATCH | Canadian women's soccer players take equality fight to Parliament Hill: 

Members of Canada’s gold-medal winning women’s soccer team told MPs they’re being asked to do more with less and aren’t being compensated, or treated, the same as members of the men’s team.

Cochrane said efforts are underway to rework the CSB deal, acknowledging that "today the unilateral term option and limited ability for us to share in upside revenue are drawbacks of the agreement."

• Jonathan Osorio says relationship with Canada Soccer can be mended, but it will take time

"But we hope to resolve those issues shortly," he said.

'We were wrong'

Cochrane passed on most of the CSB questions to Berube who, unlike Cochrane, was part of the board when the agreement was struck.

Cochrane also acknowledged that the governing body had erred in cuts this year to the women's team program.

"Recently Canada Soccer made some funding decisions for the operations of the women's team that it thought would have minimal impact. We were wrong," he said. "Those decisions were made with good intentions of controlling spending. But we should not have made those decisions that negatively impacted the women's team."

• Canadian women's soccer team tells MPs their program is being asked to do more with less

• 'We can make history' on gender equity, says Hamilton coach after Canada Soccer leadership change

Cochrane said Canada Soccer was in talks with the women's team technical staff to give them what they need ahead of this summer's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

Canada Soccer was also represented Monday by board director Stephanie J. Geosits. All three officials appeared via video conference.

Former Canada Soccer president Nick Bontis was invited to appear but was unable to attend.

"Everybody around this table wanted Mr. Bontis," said Waugh.

The committee moved to require Bontis, Canada Soccer chief financial officer Sean Heffernan and CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani, a Vancouver native who is a former president of Canada Soccer, to appear before a future hearing.

WATCH | 'We don't trust Canada Soccer:' Christine Sinclair: 

Addressing a heritage committee hearing looking into safe sports, Women's Team Canada captain Christine Sinclair describes a meeting she and her teammates had with executives of Canada Soccer to negotiate their compensation.

Bontis resigned last month after provincial and territorial governing bodies, in a letter, asked him to step down.

National team players, regardless of their gender identity, will be paid the same amount for their work in representing our country.— Canada Soccer general secretary Earl Cochrane

Committee questioning ranged from the exact date the CSB deal had been approved by the Canada Soccer board to whether the governing body was dealing with any sexual misconduct allegations [none presently, according to Cochrane] and whether it had a "slush fund" like Hockey Canada ["absolutely no slush fund," said Cochrane].

Gender equality

Cochrane repeated that Canada Soccer's offer to the national teams involved equal match fees and splitting competition prize money between them.

"Simply put, national team players, regardless of their gender identity, will be paid the same amount for their work in representing our country." Cochrane said.

He said the proposed deal would make the Canadian women the second highest-paid team in the world, behind only the U.S.

Cochrane also revealed that Canada may be getting more games to host at the 2026 World Cup given the recent match schedule expansion of the 48-team tournament that is being co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the U.S.

• OPINION
  Canadian women soccer players defiant in wake of shameful treatment by Canada Soccer

The initial plan was to have Canada host 10 of the 80 matches. Now with the total number of matches up to 104, Cochrane said Canada could host as many as 15 matches.

"It is unknown what [financially] Canada Soccer will receive from those games," Cochrane added.

Monday's hearing came 11 days after testimony by captain Christine Sinclair and teammates Janine Beckie, Sophie Schmidt and Quinn, who goes by one name.

The players, who have made a combined 732 appearances for Canada at the senior level, told the parliamentary committee that the Canadian women's team has essentially been treated as an afterthought compared to the men's side.

Variety of roles

Sinclair, the world's all-time international leading goal-scorer among men and women with 190 goals, painted a picture of an obdurate governing body unwilling to share financial information – and favouring its men's team.

Cochrane was named general secretary last July after serving as acting general secretary since January 2022 after Peter Montopoli stepped down to become chief operating officer for Canada FIFA World Cup 2026.

Cochrane has had a variety of roles with the governing body over two stints dating back to 2001.

As general secretary, Cochrane is the "operational leader of Canada Soccer" working with the president — an elected position — and the board of directors. Charmaine Crooks has been elevated to acting president from vice-president pending elections in May.

The sixth-ranked women's team, which formed the Canadian Soccer Players' Association in 2016, has been without a labour deal since the last one expired at the end of 2021. They have struck an agreement in principle with Canada Soccer on compensation for 2022 but say other issues have yet to be resolved.

• More soccer coverage

The 53rd-ranked men, who organized last summer as the Canada Men's National Soccer Team Players Association, are working on their first formal labour agreement.

Both teams have resorted to job action over their dissatisfaction at the labour impasse.

The men boycotted a planned friendly against Panama last June in Vancouver. And the women's team briefly downed tools before last month's SheBelieves Cup before being forced back onto the pitch by threats of legal action from Canada Soccer.

The Heritage Committee has already taken Hockey Canada to task as part of its Safe Sport in Canada research.

Nordstrom Canada to begin liquidation Tuesday after receiving court's permission

The Canadian Press
Updated March 20, 2023 

TORONTO -

The liquidation sales at Nordstrom stores across Canada will begin Tuesday.

A spokesperson for the department store chain confirmed the impending sales period Monday in an email to The Canadian Press, just after the Ontario Superior Court of Justice gave the U.S. retailer's Canadian branch permission to start selling off its merchandise.

At a hearing at Osgoode Hall in Toronto, lawyer Jeremy Dacks, who represented Nordstrom, said the company has "worked hard to achieve a consensual path forward" with landlords, suppliers and a court-appointed monitor to find an orderly way to wind down the business.

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The monitor, Alvarez & Marsal Canada, suggested five potential third-party liquidators and Nordstrom was approached by another five. The company decided to go with a joint venture comprised of Hilco Merchant Retail Solutions ULC and Gordon Brothers Canada, which were involved in the liquidation of Target, Sears and Forever 21 in Canada, Dacks said.

They will oversee the sale of merchandise, furniture, fixtures and equipment, but not goods from third parties, which removed products this past weekend, Dacks said. He added that all sales will be final and no returns will be allowed.

Lawyers for Nordstrom landlords Cadillac Fairview, Ivanhoe Cambridge, Oxford Properties Ltd. and First Capital Realty testified Monday that they were pleased with how "smoothly" and "organized" the process has gone so far.

In approving Dacks' liquidation request, Chief Justice Geoffrey Morawetz agreed, saying Nordstrom is facing a "difficult time, but this process is unfolding in a very cooperative manner."

Nordstrom required court approval to begin the liquidation because it is winding down its Canadian operations under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act, which helps insolvent businesses restructure or end operations in an orderly fashion.

Nordstrom will close its six Canadian department store locations and seven Nordstrom Rack shops, which sell designer goods at discount prices.

When Nordstrom announced the move in early March, it said it expected the Canadian stores to close by late June and 2,500 workers to lose their jobs.

The company initiated the exit from the market because chief executive Erik Nordstrom said, "despite our best efforts, we do not see a realistic path to profitability for the Canadian business."

Nordstrom, an upscale department store chain that primarily sells designer apparel, shoes and accessories, first set its sights on Canada in 2012, opening its first store in Calgary at CF Chinook Centre in September 2014.


Its Canadian presence grew in the years since with massive stores that took up hundreds of thousands of square feet at CF Rideau Centre in Ottawa, CF Pacific Centre in Vancouver, Yorkdale Shopping Centre and CF Sherway Gardens in Toronto.

Then came Nordstrom Rack, which made its Canadian debut in 2018 at Vaughan Mills, a mall north of Toronto. At the time, Nordstrom said as many as 15 more Rack locations could follow.

Nordstrom promised each Rack would deliver savings of up to 70 per cent on apparel, accessories, home, beauty and travel items from 38 of the top 50 brands sold in its Canadian department stores.

Nordstrom had trouble with profitability because of its selection of products and the COVID-19 pandemic, said Tamara Szames, executive director and industry adviser of Canadian retail at the NPD Group research firm, a day after Nordstrom announced its exit.

"You would hear a lot of Canadian saying that the assortment wasn't the same in Canada that it was in the U.S.," she said.

She noticed Nordstrom started to shift its product mix away from some luxury brands around 2018 and saw it as a sign that the retailer was struggling to maintain its original vision and integrity.

The pandemic made matters worse because many stores were forced to temporarily close their doors to quell the virus and shoppers were less likely to need some of the items Nordstrom sells like dressy apparel because events had been cancelled.

Despite stores reopening and many sectors rebounding, Szames said the apparel business is the only industry NPD Group tracks that has yet to recover from the health crisis.

"The consumer has really been holding back in terms of spending within that industry."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 20, 2023.

People enter a Nordstrom department store at Sherway Gardens in Toronto on Thursday, March 9, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

Canadian Banks' AT1s join selloff after Credit Suisse rescue

Esteban Duarte, Bloomberg News

Canadian financial institutions’ regulator moved to reassure investors as the country’s riskiest bank debt joined a global selloff after the value of some Credit Suisse Group AG bonds was wiped out in the bank’s takeover by UBS Group AG. 

Canada’s “capital regime preserves creditor hierarchy which helps to maintain financial stability,” the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions said in statement on its website. 

Prices of Canadian limited recourse capital notes, known as LRCNs, fell between 2 cents and 5 cents on the dollar Monday before OSFI’s announcement, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named. That has widened the spread on the notes by over 60 basis points compared with Friday’s levels, the people said. Specific levels vary depending on the security.

The bonds are another form of so-called additional tier 1 securities, issued by financial institutions and designed to act as a shock absorber in the system. They can be converted to equity to bolster a bank’s capital if it runs into trouble. 

Over the weekend, Swiss regulators triggered a complete writedown of 16 billion francs (US$17.2 billion) of Credit Suisse’s AT1 bonds as part of the rescue plan for the venerable bank. While it wasn’t a surprise that the bonds were likely to take a loss, some investors in the instruments were shocked to be wiped out when Credit Suisse’s shareholders were not.

Under Canada’s capital regime “additional tier 1 and tier 2 capital instruments to be converted into common shares in a manner that respects the hierarchy of claims in liquidation,” said OSFI, referring to a situation in which a bank would reach non-viability status. “Such a conversion ensures that additional tier 1 and tier 2 holders are entitled to a more favorable economic outcome than existing common shareholders who would be the first to suffer losses.”

 “Our view is that we don’t expect LRCNs would be wiped out before common equity,” said Furaz Ahmad, a Toronto-based corporate debt strategist at BMO Capital Markets. “OSFI has said that they would convert to common equity, since that is more consistent with traditional insolvency norms and respects the expectations of all stakeholders.”

Earlier Monday, European authorities sought to restore investor confidence in banks’ AT1s by publicly stating that they should only face losses after shareholders are fully written down. AT1s from UBS Group and Deutsche Bank AG fell by more than 10 cents earlier on Monday. 

Owner of Old Montreal building that caught fire is a lawyer who pleaded guilty to tax evasion

"The investigation showed that, for the 2012 and 2013 tax years, Mr. Benamor failed to report income totalling $469,591 from 21 drafts cashed in a personal bank account and not declared as income. These amounts came from a fraudulent scheme."

Author of the article:

Paul Cherry • Montreal Gazette
Published Mar 20, 2023

The owner of the burned out building in Old Montreal slowly being taken apart as police search for potentially more victims of last week’s five-alarm blaze is a lawyer who pleaded guilty to tax evasion two years ago and is currently practising with what the Quebec Bar describes as “limitations.”

Emile-Haim Benamor, 60, is listed as the owner of the building at the corner of Place D’Youville and du Port St. He is a defence lawyer currently listed on the bar’s website as “licensed to practice with limitations.”

Firefighters continue to investigate the scene of the fire in Old Montreal on Monday March 20, 2023. PHOTO BY DAVE SIDAWAY /Montreal Gazette

Benamor did not return a call from The Montreal Gazette on Monday requesting an interview about the fire. The bar also did not reply to a request to explain why he is practising with limitations.

The limitations might be due to how, in 2021, Benamor pleaded guilty to tax evasion at the Montreal courthouse. The case was brought against him by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
According to a statement issued by the CRA following Benamor’s guilty plea, “the investigation showed that, for the 2012 and 2013 tax years, Mr. Benamor failed to report income totalling $469,591 from 21 drafts cashed in a personal bank account and not declared as income. These amounts came from a fraudulent scheme. The CRA’s evidence does not show that at the time the drafts were cashed, Mr. Benamor was aware that the origin of the funds came from such a scheme.”

The attorney previously practised at Montreal’s Youth courthouse and, in 2013, he was the subject of a Quebec Court of Appeal decision that reversed the convictions of two teenagers who pleaded guilty to an armed robbery. The convictions were overturned because the youths said they felt Benamor pressured them into pleading guilty right away.

The appellate court decision describes how one of the teens was approached by Benamor at the Youth courthouse the first day he was supposed to appear before a judge. The youth pleaded not guilty during his first court appearance and was told he would hear from his lawyer before the case returned to court two months later for what was supposed to be a formality hearing.

When that day arrived, the teen showed up in court having not heard from Benamor beforehand. Instead, the lawyer met him at the courthouse that day and ushered him into a small meeting room. Benamor told the youth to plead guilty to the armed robbery that day. The teenager said he had no intention of pleading guilty and wanted to see the police report on the robbery first.

The teen also said his mother was trying to find a parking spot outside the Youth courthouse and asked Benamor to wait for her before anything was decided.

“The appellant repeatedly reiterated his desire not to plead guilty and said he wanted to consult the police report. The lawyer repeated that he must plead guilty in order to take advantage of the inexperience of the prosecution lawyer and obtain a reduced sentence,” the Court of Appeal wrote.

“Even though the conversation was short-lived, the lawyer grew impatient and walked out of the office telling (the teen) to wait for him in the courtroom until his mother returned. The appellant claimed to have been in a state of shock and felt jostled. When his mother arrived, the lawyer met with her. She asked him why the appellant must plead guilty, to which the lawyer replied that he is an accomplice because of his presence at the scene of the offence and that ‘there was nothing to be done’.

“The lawyer told the appellant to answer ‘yes’ to all the questions in order to avoid the making the judge angry, which he repeated to (the teen) just before pleading guilty. The (teen) says he was ‘very scared.’ He therefore answered ‘yes’ to all the questions and admitted his guilt, although he did not agree with the facts as alleged (in court) and would have liked to defend himself.”

When he was later asked to supply a sample of his DNA, the teen couldn’t locate Benamor at the courthouse and expressed his concerns to a social worker. The social worker told the teen he should find a new lawyer.

The boy’s mother gave a statement for the appeal that confirmed what her son recounted. She said her son ultimately refused to sign the probation order Benmor had arranged for because he did not want to plead guilty.

The other teen charged in the armed robbery said he experienced the same pressure to plead guilty right away.

When Benamor provided a statement for the appeal, he said he believed both teens would have been convicted if they went to trial. He also said he made an agreement with the prosecution for lenient sentences in exchange for the guilty pleas.

The Court of Appeal ordered a new trial because the statements from the teens and the mother were “sufficiently reliable and its impact on the issues at issue is significant enough to declare it admissible as evidence. On the other hand, (Benamor’s) statement, whose description of the events is somewhat less detailed, is not enough to rule them out.”

In 2008, Benamor was mentioned in a document filed in court when leaders of the Rizzuto organization pleaded guilty in Project Colisée, a major investigation into the Montreal Mafia that led to dozens of arrests in 2006.

A small section of the 400-page document summarized an investigation into a hit and run that occurred in Laval on Sept. 24, 2003, at the Des Laurentides exit of Highway 440.

A Ferrari struck another vehicle and then sped away. The Sûreté du Québec constable who investigated the hit and run found part of a bumper that fell off the Ferrari at the scene and proceeded to track down the luxury car.

The investigation led the SQ to a car leasing company in Town of Mount Royal. According to the document, the owner of the leasing company said it had rented the Ferrari the day of the hit and run “and did not want to give any more details.”

As the SQ did more sleuthing, they learned the Ferrari was actually owned by a numbered company in the name of Carmelo (Mini-me) Cannistraro, a man who ran a multi-million-dollar bookmaking operation for the Rizzuto organization.

Cannistraro, who ended up paying a $250,000 fine in Project Colisée, denied owning the Ferrari but, according to the document, Montreal Mafia leader Francesco (Chit) Del Balso, now 52, who was also convicted in Colisée, met with the SQ a short time later and said he would “settle this.”

Later that same day, Benamor called the SQ and said he would be bringing in a client the following day.

According to the court document: “On Sept. 30, 2003, Benamor and his client Mike Lapolla came to the police station in order to plead guilty on behalf of Lapolla. The latter admitted having been the driver of the Ferrari and having committed the hit-and-run on Sept. 24, 2003, but he refused to sign any written statement. According to (the SQ investigator), Lapolla did not seem to know the details of the accident and the time of the event he gave did not correspond to the facts.”

Despite this, Lapolla was issued a ticket and lost nine demerit points. The document makes no mention of any wrongdoing on Benamor’s part.

Project Colisée revealed Lapolla, who was later killed in 2005, was tied to the Rizzuto organization. But phone conversations recorded during the investigation revealed that Lorenzo Giordano, another leader in the Rizzuto organization who was charged in Colisée, was the person who was actually behind the wheel of the Ferrari when it crashed.

During one conversation recorded by the police, Del Balso and Giordano, who was murdered in 2016, discussed the Ferrari 550 Marinero hours before the hit and run. They discussed how the car would be registered the following day.

During another conversation with a woman, Del Balso said the Ferrari was a gift to Giordano from him and Cannistaro.

Later that night, just before 11 p.m. “during a telephone conversation between Del Balso and Giordano, the latter said he ‘smashed up the car.’ (Giordano) said he was okay and that the car was parked at his home. He was worried about the transfer, from the sale. He said he hit a small vehicle. Del Balso asked him about the people involved in the accident and asked about the possibility that they called the police. Giordano said he just left the scene. Del Balso asked if Giordano had put the vehicle inside. Giordano told Del Balso to simply ensure that the sale was not recorded.”

pcherry@postmedia.com

B.C. parent launches class-action lawsuit against makers of Fortnite video game

Posted: Mar. 20, 2023

 
THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/MARTHA IRVINE
A child plays the video game "Fortnite" in Chicago, Saturday, Oct.6, 2018. A Vancouver parent has launched a proposed class-action lawsuit against the makers of Fortnite, saying the popular video game is designed to be "as addictive as possible" for children.

Original Story posted by The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER — A Vancouver parent has launched a proposed class-action lawsuit against the makers of Fortnite, saying the popular video game is designed to be “as addictive as possible” for children.

In the lawsuit filed in B.C. Supreme Court on Friday, the plaintiff identified only as A.B. says her son downloaded Fortnite in 2018 and “developed an adverse dependence on the game.”

The statement of claim says the game incorporates a number of intentional design choices such as offering rewards for completing challenges and making frequent updates, which encourages players to return r

The statement says Fortnite creator Epic Games enriches itself by making content and customization options purchasable via an in-game currency, which are purchased with real cash.

The class-action lawsuit would still need approval from the court and none of the allegations have been proven in court.

The plaintiff is seeking damages alleging the game breaches the B.C. Business Practices and Consumer Protection Act, as well as for “unjust enrichment” and medical expenses for psychological or physical injuries, among other claims.

The lawsuit would cover all persons affected by Fortnite in Canada except Quebec, where in February Epic lost its attempt to appeal the court’s decision there to authorize a similar class-action suit.

This petition asks Canada to grant asylum to transgender people from the U.S. Could it work?

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Activist says trans, non-binary people considering seeking

refuge amid rising tide of anti-LGBTQ bills

Nick Logan, Jason Vermes · CBC News · Posted: Mar 16, 2023 4:01 PM MDT | Last Updated: March 17

Trans rights activists are shown inside the Oklahoma state capitol in Oklahoma City on Feb. 6, protesting Gov. Kevin Stitt's plan to ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth. (Sue Ogrocki/The Associated Press)

Tens of thousands of Canadians are joining a call for the Canadian government to help transgender and non-binary people fearing the outcome of anti-LGBTQ legislation gaining ground in the United States and other countries.

Cait Glasson, an activist in Waterloo, Ont., launched an online petition to the House of Commons, asking the federal government to extend the right to claim asylum "by reason of eliminationist laws in their home countries, whatever country that may be."

She said friends in the U.S. are already preparing for the possibility that they will have no choice but to leave the country.

"I know a lot of people who are getting their passports updated, making sure their ID is up to date," Glasson said in an interview with CBC Radio's Day 6.

"They're making plans to be able to move fast if they need to. And that, I think, scares me more than anything."

Cait Glasson is an LGBTQ activist in Waterloo, Ont. She started a petition calling on the Canadian government to accept asylum claims from trans and non-binary people in the U.S. and U.K. affected by laws targeting gender identity. (Baz Kanold)

Laws and bills targeting LGBTQ rights at the state level in the U.S. have already reached record numbers in 2023. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is tracking more than 400 anti-LGBTQ bills across the country, including restrictions on accessing gender-affirming health-care services, criminalizing transgender people's use of public bathrooms and bans on minors at drag performances.

Other bills aim to ban books about sexual orientation and gender diversity in libraries, or limit the use of chosen pronouns in schools. The ACLU warns years of progress is at risk of being undone.

"Over the course of the last few years, we have seen a race to the bottom in state houses across the country attempting to restrict trans people across nearly every area of our life," said Gillian Branstetter, a communications strategist for the ACLU.

"I think, taken as a whole, it is an effort to undo much of the legal progress that trans people have made, not just in the last decade, but in the last decades, and further entrench a very rigid and archaic understanding of gender."

LISTEN | Why Cait Glasson launched a petition for trans asylum seekers:

Day 65:36A petition to allow trans and non-binary Americans to seek asylum in Canada is gaining support

Demand for action

Glasson's petition has garnered more than 135,000 signatures since it was started on Jan. 26 — the third highest number of signatures, behind two petitions regarding firearms legislation, since the federal government initiated e-petitions in 2015.

Mike Morrice, the Green Party MP for Ontario's Kitchener Centre, authorized the e-petition and will present it to Parliament once it closes. He said he's surprised at how much attention it has received but that it speaks to Canadians having a "sense of wanting to be a safe haven."

He told CBC News the petition is a means of pressing the federal government to recognize what's happening with anti-transgender and anti-LGBTQ legislation in the U.S. and other countries. He wants the government to ensure there is a means for transgender and non-binary people to seek refuge, if needed — especially young people from states limiting gender-affirming care.

Morrice acknowledges Canada has a history of welcoming people from around the world, fleeing persecution based on their sexual orientation or gender identity, and that citizens of the U.S and the U.K. can claim asylum here. 

Green Party MP for Kitchener Centre Mike Morrice rises in the House of Commons in this November 2021 file photo. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

But even though American and British citizens are able to travel to Canada visa-free, unlike people fleeing a number of countries with repressive anti-LGBTQ laws, it's not as easy for them to successfully apply for protection.

"[The U.S. and U.K. are] deemed to be safe countries," Aleks Dughman Manzur, director of programming and advocacy at Rainbow Refugee in Vancouver, told CBC Radio's The Early Edition last week. 

He said there is a high threshold to prove "a well-founded fear of persecution." Anyone seeking asylum would also have to prove they are "facing an imminent risk or cumulative amount of discrimination" and cannot seek safety within their home country, he said.

• How antisemitic tropes are being used to target the LGBTQ community

• Tennessee governor signs law restricting drag performances in public

Some Democrat-led states are taking steps to protect transgender and non-binary people, especially young people. This month, for example, Minnesota Gov.Tim Walz signed an executive order to protect the rights of LGBTQ people in the state. A bill tabled by Minnesota's first openly transgender lawmaker also aims to make the state a "trans refuge state." 

NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan, who supports the reasons for the petition, said she's not sure travelling to different regions within a home country will be feasible for everyone. There are also uncertainties about whether that's a viable long-term option.

"These are ongoing concerns," she said. "If they [go] to yet another state, maybe the laws there will also change."

Morrice is concerned restrictive laws could also be introduced at the federal level in the U.S., either by members of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives or by a future president.

"We start seeing this erosion of human rights in one state and then to another," he said. "We've also seen quotes from a former U.S. president, for example, who's saying that if he were to take office that he would consider [similar measures] at the national level."

WATCH | What's behind the war on drag performances?:

Drag performances, especially all ages events, have become a target for the extreme right across the U.S., with performers and show organizers facing violent threats, online harassment and in some cases even attacks.

Claims from U.S. nationals often rejected

CBC News reached out to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to request data on the number of asylum claims made by people from the U.S. and U.K., and how many were accepted or denied. 

In a statement, a spokesperson said IRCC "does not systematically track information on refugees' sexual orientation or gender identity in order to respect the privacy of refugees."

The Immigration and Refugee Board's (IRB) website does track claims by country of alleged persecution, though it does not specify types of persecution or reasons for rejecting applications. In 2022, the IRB rejected 186 applications from the U.S.; in 2021, there were 339 claims rejected. 

With the rising tide of anti-transgender hate and anti-LGBTQ bills in the U.S. and elsewhere, there is a need for a specific program to allow people to quickly resettle in Canada, regardless of where they're from, according to Kimahli Powell, CEO of the Toronto- and New York-based Rainbow Railroad.

• Quebec government funding group that promotes anti-trans views

• Calgary city council passes safety bylaws after protests at library drag events

He pointed to a federal government program that allowed up to 250 human rights defenders, humanitarian workers and journalists to resettle in Canada each year.

That approach could "address some of the fears and concerns that everyone who signed that petition are feeling," said Powell, who said his organization has noticed a spike in requests from inside the U.S.

Since the beginning of 2022, Rainbow Railroad has received approximately 300 inquiries from U.S. nationals asking for the organization's assistance, including requests for support to either leave the U.S. or relocate elsewhere in the country. 

Kimahli Powell is with the organization Rainbow Railroad. Since the beginning of 2022, Rainbow Railroad has received approximately 300 inquiries from U.S. nationals asking for the organization's assistance. (CBC)

Support from parliament

The petition will remain open for signatures until May 26, after which Morrice will present it to the House of Commons. The government will have 45 days to respond. 

Both Morrice and Kwan are supportive of measures that could extend the right to claim asylum to transgender and non-binary people fleeing increasingly restrictive laws, though it remains to be seen how many other parliamentarians would get on board if any motion to change Canada's asylum policy were brought to the floor of the House of Commons. 

CBC News requested an interview with Immigration Minister Sean Fraser, but a spokesperson said he was unavailable. Tom Kmiec, the Conservative Party's critic for immigration, citizenship and refugees, and Bloc Québécois immigration critic, Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, did not reply to CBC News's requests in time for publication.

Glasson acknowledges that accepting asylum claims from countries like the U.S. and U.K. is politically challenging. But she hopes that the petition will push the federal government to take the safety concerns of trans and non-binary people in those countries more seriously.

"What I'm hoping is that they go into this with a presumptive maybe. That they go in with the idea that this might be a real thing," she said.

"I'm not saying it should be taken automatically. I'm saying, you know, give people a chance to make their case."