Southern Alberta farmers look to soil moisture levels as spring seeding nears
Quinn Campbell 
GLOBAL NEWS

3/16/2021

© Global News A photo of Gary Stanford working in his field near Magrath, Alta.

Gary Stanford farms near Magrath, Alta. He is keeping a close eye on his fields as the warm weather has many farmers in the area eager to get in the field.

He said soil moisture levels are good in the southwestern part of the province, but frost is still in the ground.

"It's still very wet, it sticks together very good and the ground is still very cold," Stanford said.

He said he is still about three to four weeks away from seeding, but seeing the moisture in the soil is a promising sight.

Read more: 2020 harvest begins in southern Alberta

"We had a lot of snow in October and November -- south of Lethbridge, towards the Montana border -- and so we had a lot of good moisture go in the ground when the ground was warm last fall," Stanford said.

It's a different story in other areas of the province.

A map on the Alberta government's website shows precipitation accumulations from mid-December to mid-March. Pink indicates very dry conditions.

"It depends where you are, but for southern Alberta, its nice to have soil moisture," said Ralph Wright with the agro-meteorological applications and modelling unit at Alberta Agriculture and Forestry.

"It's like money in the bank, but typically you don't have a lot of soil moisture this time of year."

Winter precipitation only accounts for roughly 20-25 per cent of the annual moisture received in the dry areas shown on the map. With the more rainy months ahead, Wright said it means farmers are more dependent on a rainy spring.

"April is when you start seeing the moisture coming back a little bit, and then May and June are your wettest months -- with June being the wettest -- and then July comes around and someone turns the taps off it seems like, and it gets hot," he said.

Read more: Alberta farmers seeding and hoping to get last year’s crop off

Frost is another big indicator in seeding. Wright said it can cause damage to crops seeded too early.

There is a 25 per cent chance, on average, that you will see -3 C after May 10, and another 25 per cent chance, on average, that you will see -1 C after May 22.

Stanford said it is important for farmers to get their crop in early, but in southern Alberta, patience is key.

"We want to seed as soon as we can, and I think most farmers do, but you only get one chance at it," he said.

"We seed one time in Canada so we've got to be careful about our risk -- Mother Nature is a big player

Alberta and Ottawa put $13M into Indigenous housing projects across the province

CBC/Radio-Canada 

© Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation Cameron Alexis, the CEO of Tribal Chiefs Ventures, pictured above, says the project will help Indigenous people find affordable homes.

The provincial and federal governments are committing $13.1 million for Indigenous housing projects in several cities and towns across Alberta.

In Edmonton, a 34-unit building will be purchased for Indigenous affordable housing. While in Calgary, Lac Ste. Anne and Victor Lake, Alta., which is near Grande Cache, 36 senior housing units will be built.

The province says all of the affordable housing units will be designed, delivered and owned by Indigenous peoples.

"This means that over 100 Indigenous families across the province of Alberta will have a new place to call home," said Ahmed Hussen, the Minister responsible for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

"We're committed to addressing the barriers faced by Indigenous communities every single day and it starts [with] ensuring that the solutions for the community are provided by the community."

He adds that the project will create around 100 jobs.

"Our targeted investment will not only stimulate the economy and create well-paying jobs where they are needed the most, they will also ensure the needs of Indigenous families … are met," he said.

Cameron Alexis, the CEO of Tribal Chiefs Ventures, says this initiative will help Indigenous people find alternate housing solutions.

"Just recently we visited the downtown core of Edmonton and it is really painful to see our people on the streets. When we saw that, our chiefs signalled that we have to do something," he said.

"Collectively, we worked hard with the respective governments to do our part."

Alexis says the project is just the "beginning.

Edmonton to see new affordable housing project with funding from province, federal government

Ashley Joannou 2 hrs ago

Indigenous Relations Minister Rick Wilson, right, dances a Métis jig with Seniors and Housing Minister Josephine Pon, centre, and Métis Nation of Alberta President Audrey Poitras, left, during a tour of a Métis Capital Housing Corporation affordable housing project at 13027 133 St., in Edmonton Wednesday Sept. 2, 2020. Photo by David Bloom

A 34-unit building in northwest Edmonton will be purchased and turned into affordable housing in part with funding from the federal and provincial governments.

A total of $13.1 million in grants, provided through the Indigenous Housing Capital Program, will go towards that project as well as building 12 seniors housing units each in Calgary, Lac Ste. Anne and Victor Lake, near Grande Cache.

The four Indigenous-owned projects were announced by Alberta Seniors and Housing Minister Josephine Pon and Federal Families, Children and Social Development Minister Ahmed Hussen Tuesday as well as representatives from Tribal Chiefs Ventures Inc. which will own the Edmonton building.

“We know that every Canadian deserves a safe and affordable place to call home but far too many are forced to make the impossible choice between paying rent and buying groceries,” Hussen said.

The Edmonton project received $6 million of the funding. The Calgary units received $2.3 million and will be owned by the Aboriginal Friendship Centre of Calgary. Victor Lake Cooperative and The Evergreens Foundation received $2.2 million for their 12 units and Lac Ste. Anne Metis Community Association and Communitas Group received $2.6 million for their 12 units

Okimaw Vernon Watchmaker the chair of Tribal Chiefs Ventures Inc. said he was hoping for a groundbreaking of the Edmonton building in June, depending on COVID-19 restrictions.

“I’m looking forward to the first of many more commitments towards addressing long standing issues of affordable housing for TCVI nations within Treaty Six territory,” he said.

First Nations governments in the areas also contributed 10 to 50 per cent equity to the projects, Pon’s press secretary Natalie Tomczak said in an email.

“Some of these projects will set rents at 30 per cent of income, while others will be a mixed market model, in which some units are rented for market rates, which helps subsidize lower rents in other units,” she said.

The projects are expected to create about 100 jobs.

The money for the grants, split 50/50 between the federal and provincial governments, comes as part of 10-year bilateral housing agreement between the two.

The Albertan Government Is Very Upset About a Netflix Film About Bigfoot

The animated film, 'Bigfoot Family', is too mean to the oil industry, says the provincially funded defender of the oil industry.

By Mack Lamoureux
TORONTO, CA

3/15/2021

PREMIER OF ALBERTA, JASON KENNEY, LEFT. HIS ENEMIES IN THE BIGFOOT FAMILY, RIGHT. PHOTO VIA CP IMAGES AND SCREENSHOT.

Alberta is upset with the Netflix children’s film Bigfoot Family, saying it’s “brainwashing our kids with anti-oil and gas propaganda.”

The provincially funded Alberta War Room—set up to counter anti-oil messaging and “defend” the oil industry—deemed the animated film about sasquatches to be full of “misinformation

The film’s premise is that the titular Bigfoot family (a sequel to the popular Son of Bigfoot) saves a wilderness preserve in Alaska from an oil company that wants to ravage the lands for profits. By all accounts, it has all the schlock you would expect from a kid’s movie including over-the-top villains.

In a blog post called “Tell the Truth Netflix,” the Albertan War Room, officially known as the Canadian Energy Centre (CEC), outlined why that is not cool.

“It even shows oil being extracted by blowing up a valley using glowing red bombs that look like something out of an action movie,” says the blog. The blog post does not make note of the plan that some in the Albertan oil industry had in the 1960s to use underground nuclear explosions to extract that sweet, sweet black gold.


What the blog does do is ask people to send a pre-written email to a Netflix communication employee about some good things the oil industry has done, including the interesting math that “since 2012, Canadian oil sands producers have spent $13 billion with Indigenous-owed businesses, including a record $21.1 billion in 2018.” It also demands that Netflix creates pro-oil-industry films and television shows.

“Children are the future, and they deserve the truth,” reads the blog.

Pundits and social media users unsurprisingly dunked on the campaign. In a statement to CBC News, Canadian Energy Centre CEO Tom Olsen said it launched the campaign after a parent flagged the film, and that more than 1,000 parents had sent letters to Netflix. According to the CBC, Olsen makes $195,000 a year.

Alberta’s War Room has been an embarrassment for the United Conservative Party government since it was first announced in 2019. The CEC originally received a budget of $30,000,000 (which after many, many embarrassments was recently cut by 90 percent).

The ineptitude started at the very beginning with accusations of cronyism after it hired Olsen, a failed UCP candidate, as CEO, and got two scandals for the price of one after ripping off not one but two logos from software companies. The CEC now just uses its name as a logo.

The CEC has been widely criticized as being ineffective, lacking transparency, and being a big ol’ waste of money. To date its biggest campaigns to defend the oil industry’s honour are demanding space in small-town papers so it can counter editorials making fun of the CEC, having to apologize for tweeting out incorrect information, and now attempting to cancel a Netflix show about an environmental Bigfoot family.

 Follow Mack Lamoureux on Twitter.

UCP MODELS ITSELF AFTER THE GOP

Alberta energy minister defends 'war room' petition against children's Bigfoot movie

EDMONTON — Alberta’s energy minister is defending her government’s attack on a children’s movie about Bigfoot that she says is "quite offensive" and carries an inaccurate anti-oil message.

IT'S ABOUT ALASKA NOT ALBERTA!

THE WAR ROOM NEEDS A GEOGRAPHY LESSON

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Sonya Savage also says it’s critical the government push back constantly against what it sees as false narratives that cast Alberta’s wellspring industry in a negative light.

“Not everybody is going to agree with every single tactic of the Canadian Energy Centre. I don’t either,” Savage told a committee examining the Energy Department's budget on Tuesday.

“But I did find that the comments that I’ve heard in that cartoon were quite offensive. And the comments have to be countered somewhere.

“And there’s no question whatsoever that we have to find a way to counter the kinds of campaigns and the kind of narrative and the significant misinformation that is targeted at our energy sector.”

Savage was referring to a petition campaign recently launched by the energy centre, informally called the war room, against the animated movie “Bigfoot Family," which can be viewed on the streaming giant Netflix.

The film features talking animals and a domesticated Bigfoot character battling an oil magnate who is seeking to blow up an Alaskan wildlife preserve to gain easier access to petroleum.

The war room is urging followers to send Netflix messages that say the movie is “brainwashing our kids with anti-oil and gas propaganda.”

The Sasquatch debate spilled onto the floor during question period.

Opposition NDP Leader Rachel Notley said the United Conservative government is making the province a laughingstock. Premier Jason Kenney accused Notley of supporting those who would deride Alberta’s big-ticket industry.

“Which investors in Zurich do you think were swayed by your brave stand against a child’s cartoon character?” Notley asked Kenney.

“I know the NDP hates oil and gas. They’ve always despised this province’s largest industry and I’m sure they’re cheering on the propaganda in that Netflix story, but we’re correcting the record as we should,” Kenney countered.

HERE IS THE RECORD CORRECTED THE NDP IN ALBERTA WAS STARTED BY OIL CHEMICAL AND ATOMIC WORKERS UNION ORGANIZER NEIL REIMER 

Notley replied: “More people laughing at you is not a win.”

The fuss over the film has prompted a renewed debate between the UCP and the NDP over the war room's goals and purpose.

The centre was started in late 2019 to fulfil a campaign promise by Kenney to challenge what he called misleading and inaccurate statements designed to put the energy sector in a critical light and thereby buttress public support against megaprojects such as pipelines.

The war room was given a $30-million annual budget and immediately stumbled into several high-profile gaffes. It was found to be using another company’s logo and its staff had referred to themselves as reporters when speaking with sources.

It also attacked, and later apologized, for a series of tweets about the New York Times, saying the newspaper had been “called out for anti-Semitism countless times” and had a “very dodgy” track record.

The war room's budget was cut last year as the COVID-19 pandemic took a wrecking ball to the economy. The centre's budget for the current fiscal year is $10 million and is forecast to be $12 million next year.

The NDP has repeatedly criticized the war room as a high-profile embarrassment and a waste of tax dollars.

NDP energy critic Kathleen Ganley, noting the popularity of the Bigfoot movie is rising, renewed that argument with Savage before the committee on Tuesday.

“It was getting very little notice, in fact, until such time as the war room came along and suddenly it shot up to be on the list of Top-10, viewed-in-Canada movies on Netflix,” said Ganley.

“The war room seems to be having what I would argue is the opposite effect of the effect that it is intended to have.”

UCP member Peter Guthrie, also on the committee, said the Netflix bump could be interpreted as testimony to the reach and effectiveness of the war room.

“They (opponents) claim that the CEC doesn’t work. But next they highlight that the CEC had the ability to take obscure movies created to present misinformation about the energy sector and boost these obscure movies to the top of the charts,” said Guthrie.

“I think that’s pretty awesome if they have that kind of ability.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 16, 2021.

Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press

Canadian Lobbyists Accuse Netflix’s ‘Bigfoot Family’ Of ‘Peddling Lies’ About Oil And Gas

By ALEX DUDOK DE WIT | 03/16/2021 1
Canadian Lobbyists Accuse Netflix's 'Bigfoot Family' Of 'Peddling Lies' About Oil And Gas (cartoonbrew.com)

In its ongoing campaign to quash “misinformation” about the fossil fuel industry, the Canadian Energy Centre (CEC) has set its sights on Netflix. The organization, which is backed by the government of Alberta, has specifically taken issue with the cg feature Bigfoot Family.

The family film puts a spin on the legend of Bigfoot. The story pits the creature and his son against Xtract, a fictional energy company which has designs on Alaska’s oil reserves. While protesting against the company, Bigfoot goes missing.

The CEC has slammed the film in a petition titled “Tell the truth Netflix!” Addressed to Lindsey Scully, Netflix Canada’s head of communications, it calls on the streamer “to tell the true story of Canada’s peerless oil and gas industry, and not contribute to misinformation targeting your youngest, most vulnerable and impressionable viewers.” It does not make more specific requests.


The petition is hosted on a site called Support Canadian Energy, which is described as “a Canadian Energy Centre project.” Text accompanying the petition adds that the film “peddles lies about the energy sector,” singling out a scene in which oil is extracted “by blowing up a valley using glowing red bombs.”

At the time of writing, more than 2,900 people have signed. CEC CEO Tom Olsen told CBC News that a concerned parent drew the organization’s attention to the film. He said more than 1,000 Canadians have sent emails to Netflix Canada to show their concern. CBC requested comment from Netflix Canada, which did not immediately respond.

The CEC was set up in 2019 by Alberta premier Jason Kenney, leader of the United Conservative Party, with the mandate to promote the country’s energy production. Nicknamed the Energy War Room, it launched with a budget of CAD$30 millino (USD$24.1), which was subsequently trimmed during the pandemic.

Bigfoot Family is a Belgian-French co-production directed by Ben Stassen and Jeremy Degruson. The film, which played at Annecy Festival last year, ranked #1 on Netflix’s movie list in territories including the U.S. and Canada after launching last month. It is a sequel to 2017’s box-office hit The Son of Bigfoot.

Bigfoot Family | Netflix Official Site

https://www.netflix.com/title/81315367

Bigfoot’s now a big deal. So when he goes missing, his shy but tech-savvy teen son must take on an evil CEO to save his family and a wildlife preserve. Starring: Jules Wojciechowski, Roger Craig Smith, Grant George Watch all you want.

• Director: Jérémie Degruson, Ben Stassen

• Content Rating: TV-Y7

Bigfoot Family | Netflix Official Site

https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/81315367

Bigfoot Family. 2021 | TV-Y7 | 1h 28m | Family Comedies. Bigfoot’s now a big deal. So when he goes missing, his shy but tech-savvy teen son must take on an evil CEO to save his family and a wildlife preserve. Starring: Jules Wojciechowski, Roger Craig Smith, Grant George.

• Director: Jérémie Degruson, Ben Stassen

• Content Ratin

Canada wastes 35M tonnes of food a year. This man is turning some of it into apple flour

A dehydrator and a spice grinder are all Joe Roth needs to turn 400,000 pounds of leftover fruit, commonly sold as pig mash, into flour.

Apple flour, as Roth calls it, can be used instead of sugar, giving a sweet, tangy flavour to anything from spice mixes to apple fritters. The Creston, B.C., owner of Kickin’ Joes Spice, a spice company that relies primarily on local ingredients, stumbled onto the idea during a fortuitous culinary experiment.

“The idea came from taking apples, and with the dehydrator, I’m able to take (them) down to a super dry state,” he said. “I thought if I can take (the apples) down to an ultra-dry state, I should be able to grind them and then … you’d basically have apple flour.”

It’s an elegant, partial solution to an endemic problem. Roughly 35 million tonnes of food are wasted in Canada each year, generating about 56.5 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, according to a 2019 report by Second Harvest, an organization that redistributes otherwise wasted food to food banks and charities.

About 24 per cent of that waste — 660,000 tonnes — is created before food even leaves the farm. That can be because of anything: blemishes, low demand or labour shortages during harvest, like those that plagued farmers last fall due to pandemic-related travel restrictions.

That’s why Roth, who lives surrounded by farmers and orchardists in B.C.’s Kootenay region, had no trouble finding thousands of pounds of extra apples to make his flour. An orchardist in the region who makes apple cider was happy to give Roth the apple mash left behind after the cider was pressed instead of feeding it to pigs.

“He put (the bulk mash) aside for me daily, and I would bring it to my commercial kitchen and run it through the dehydrator” to see how much could be recovered, Roth explained. By the end of last summer, he had made roughly 700 pounds of apple flour and was selling it at farmers markets and to local bakeries.

“We mix (the flour) with our apples when we do our apple fritters,” said Nicole Blackmore, a baker at the Creston Valley Bakery. “Then we mix it with the dough, and it just makes it burst with flavour.”

She also uses the flour when clients place special orders for sugarless cakes and other baked goods, preferring it to imported alternatives like stevia. Roth adds the flour is essentially dehydrated apple sauce and would make an ideal food for small children.

Roth’s entrepreneurial approach is a shift in the world of food waste reduction and food recovery. Many food recovery programs focus on redistributing excess food to charities and food banks; critics argue that approach does little to deal with the root causes of food insecurity.

“Food waste is a product of a dysfunctional food system … but it is (often) presented as an answer to food insecurity, which is a function of … broken social safety nets,” Graham Riches, professor of social work at the University of British Columbia, told Canada's National Observer in a November interview. Ending food insecurity will take implementing policies that ensure people can earn enough or access adequate social supports to eat well, he explained.

Meanwhile, business that transform food waste into food like apple flour can help alleviate the environmental impact of excess food — and tap into a growing market for sustainable local foods, Roth said.

“There’s squash flour, there’s pumpkin flour. There’s more food that goes to waste in this valley than is consumed at times,” he said. “I think it’s got great potential.”

Marc Fawcett-Atkinson / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada's National Observer

CANADA

Proposed bill banning plastic waste exports misses ‘heart of the problem,’ MPs told

Environmental groups say a bill aiming to ban Canadian plastic waste from being sent abroad to poor countries is missing the wording needed to properly tackle the issue.

Bill C-204, sponsored by Conservative MP Scot Davidson, seeks to halt only the export of plastic waste labelled “for final disposal.”

“The biggest global problem which Mr. Davidson and others hope to address with this bill will not be addressed, because the bill currently only looks at exports for final disposal,” James Puckett, executive director of the Basel Action Network, told the environment parliamentary committee Monday. “The bill currently does not address the heart of the problem, which is exports for recycling.”

As noted by the Basel Action Network and other organizations, Canadian plastic is often mislabelled as recyclable — when it’s in fact contaminated — and gets shipped to countries that lack the proper infrastructure to effectively recycle mixed or contaminated plastic waste.

The result is waste being dumped on farmland or set on fire.

Davidson’s private member’s bill in its current form would not deal with this issue, however he says he welcomes amendments.

“I'm open to working with this committee and following along with amendments that the committee looks at,” Davidson said. “This is a chance for us, again, as parliamentarians to have Canada take a leadership role.”

Canada produces an estimated 3.3 million tonnes of plastic waste annually, according to a 2019 study produced by Deloitte and Cheminfo Services Inc. for Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Puckett estimates Canada exports about 1,000 metric tonnes of plastic waste per month to developing countries.

China used to be the top importer of plastic waste until 2018 when it banned plastic waste imports, which made Canada and others pivot to Malaysia, the Philippines and other destinations.

However, they’ve also pushed back. Last year, Malaysia sent back 150 shipping containers of plastic waste to countries including Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, saying it won’t be the "garbage dump" of the world.

Environmental groups and some MPs of the environment committee also take issue with the fact Canada has yet to ratify an amendment to strengthen a United Nations treaty called the Basel Convention that restricts the international hazardous waste trade.

The amendment, which came into force Jan. 1, 2021, categorizes any non-hazardous plastic waste that is not recyclable, or is “difficult” to recycle, as waste that needs “special consideration,” requiring that countries first obtain prior informed consent from a receiving country before exporting the waste.

All of the European Union and more than 60 other countries have ratified the change.

The U.S. is one of only two countries never to ratify the Basel Convention. Since it’s not bound by these restrictions, Canada was able to make a bilateral deal last year to ship its plastic waste down south. Once Canadian waste enters the U.S., it is no longer tracked, and so it’s then able to be resold to overseas companies.

Unless Bill C-204 changes its wording and deals with the U.S. “loophole,” MPs and environmental organizations say it won’t be effective.

The bill passed at second reading in the House of Commons last fall with 178 votes from the Conservatives, Bloc Québécois, NDP, Greens and Independents.

Liberals voted against.

The environment committee will reconvene to further discuss the bill Wednesday.

Yasmine Ghania, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, National Observer

Alberta mayors disappointed motion to reverse centralization of EMS dispatch defeated

Phil Heidenreich 

GLOBAL NEWS

3/16/2021

Four Alberta mayors issued a joint statement Monday voicing their disappointment that the latest attempt to reverse a decision to centralize their 911 dispatch centres had failed.

RIGHT WING GOVT RUNS TO LIMIT GOVERNMENT BUT INSTEAD THEY GROW IT AND CENTRALIZE IT TO SAVE PENNIES, THEY DID THIS UNDER KLEIN IT DIDN'T WORK THEN WHEN IT CAME TO AHS

© Global News Nearly two months ago, Alberta health minister decided not to block the consolidation of EMS dispatch services, but on Tuesday, three municipalities in the province announced they have pitched a plan to keep the service local.

The mayors of Calgary, Red Deer, Lethbridge and Wood Buffalo have spent months fiercely voicing their opposition to the province's move, which would transfer 911 calls from the municipalities to a single, provincial dispatch centre.

Yet a motion from Lethbridge-West MLA Shannon Phillips to scrap the changes was unable to pass the Alberta legislature Monday.

"We strongly dispute the effectiveness of this consolidated system, and we are disappointed that the issue did not receive majority support in the Legislative Assembly," Red Deer Mayor Tara Veer said in a news release.


"We are asking all members of the Legislative Assembly to continue to do what is best for Albertans in the name of health and safety and hear the concerns of communities across our province."

The mayors who oppose the changes have argued the move could harm the effectiveness of emergency dispatch services in their communities.

Fort McMurray defies Alberta EMS dispatch consolidation

Last month, Wood Buffalo councillors unanimously passed a motion that calls for the municipality's emergency communications centre to no longer transfer 911 calls to a provincial dispatch centre run by Alberta Health Services.


Days later, a judge granted an interim injunction ordering Wood Buffalo to resume transferring emergency medical calls to a provincial dispatch centre.

READ MORE: Judge grants interim injunction to Alberta government in EMS dispatch dispute

"Since the consolidation of EMS dispatch, each region has experienced significant issues, in varying degrees, with the consolidated service," the mayors' joint statement read.

Video: Mayor Nenshi concerned about consolidating EMS dispatch as province pushes forward with plan

Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi said the province never made the evidence publicly available that further centralizing emergency dispatch services will benefit the citizens of municipalities affected by the changes, "which should have been a massive red flag that they were unprepared to implement their plan."


"This is totally unacceptable, and is clearly a matter of life of death. I continue to call on the government of Alberta to reverse this decision," he said.

Lethbridge Mayor Chris Spearman said he believes the debate about dispatch services is "a non-partisan issue."

"It is about recognizing the importance of community safety and preserving the effectiveness of emergency services," he said.

"We are disappointed in the outcome of the decision."

READ MORE: Wood Buffalo council passes motion to defy Alberta's consolidation of EMS dispatch services

Wood Buffalo Mayor Don Scott noted his municipality was not mentioned in the motion because of a current court application regarding the issue.

"We continue to support the intent of the MLA's motion, and we stand shoulder to shoulder in support of our like-minded fellow municipalities," he said.

The mayors called for a third-party review of the EMS dispatch system "to provide recommendations to improve Alberta's emergency services."

Video: Alberta mayors ask for investigation into EMS dispatch

Phillips said her motion was intended to push the government to listen to municipal leaders and to return control of emergency dispatch to local communities.

"This scheme was thoroughly studied and rejected by both PC and NDP health ministers, and the Wildrose Party was also harshly critical of it in Opposition," she said in a statement issued Tuesday.

"I was extremely disappointed to see UCP MLAs in Red Deer, Calgary and Fort McMurray submit to Jason Kenney's centralization of control of EMS dispatch and vote against the interests of their communities."

A spokesperson for Alberta Health told Global News on Tuesday that the NDP is trying to politicize this issue.

"AHS has dispatched ambulances successfully for 60 per cent of Albertans (and the vast majority of the land area of the province) since 2009, including Edmonton and area," Steve Buick said.

"Integrating ambulance dispatch with the health system in the remaining four cities aligns them with EMS best practices in other provinces and countries, from B.C. to the U.K. and Australia."

Alberta Health said the health minister met with the four mayors to hear their concerns before the changeover, and followed up with a letter answering them in detail.


"The dispatch changeover happened nearly two months ago and it's working well.

"AHS has reviewed and responded to all the specific concerns raised by the four cities, and assured us that the changeover has not impacted performance," Buick said.

Alberta Health added response times are posted on the AHS website, the province said, which show response times in Edmonton (where AHS has handled dispatch since 2009), were consistently shorter than in Calgary prior to the changeover.

A process has been established so that Alberta Health and AHS can work with the four municipalities "to continue to improve EMS services."

READ MORE: Alberta health minister moves forward with changes to EMS dispatch despite opposition from mayors, first responders

In October, Health Minister Tyler Shandro decided not to block AHS' plan to further consolidate EMS dispatch services despite vocal opposition from mayors who pleaded with him to intervene.

In the summer, AHS made the decision to further consolidate EMS dispatch services based on recommendations from the Health Quality Council of Alberta in 2013 and the AHS Performance Review by Ernst and Young in 2019.





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As EMS dispatch changes in Alberta come into effect, mayors ask government to reconsider







In a letter addressed to the mayors in October, Shandro said "the plain fact is that dispatch and overall response times are similar across the province," adding that the consolidation effort was not driven by cost savings.

"It will result in savings of several million dollars a year, but not one dollar will be removed from the EMS budget," he wrote in his letter. "Every dollar AHS saves will be reinvested directly back into improving ground-ambulance services.

"There's no good reason to keep spending $9 million a year on these contracts. That's $9 million that should be invested in improving service - not in redundant dispatch."

The changes took effect in January.

Albertans will be able to say no to coal during consultations: energy minister

EDMONTON — Alberta's energy minister has promised people will be able to say "no" to coal mining in the Rocky Mountains during upcoming consultations.

BUT UCP WILL NOT ACCEPT NO FOR AN ANWSER

© Provided by The Canadian Press

"Albertans will tell us how they want to see coal development — if they want to see coal development — and, if they want to see coal development, where it will be," Sonya Savage said Tuesday.

NOT IF BUT HOW 

AS THE RED QUEEN SAID "THE SENTENCE BEFORE THE TRIAL"

Savage was responding to questions from NDP Opposition critic Kathleen Ganley during a meeting of the standing committee on resource stewardship.

The United Conservative government has promised consultations will begin March 29. They were announced in February in response to public outcry over the government's decision to revoke a policy that had protected the summits and eastern slopes of the Rockies from surface coal mines since 1976.

Exploration leases on thousands of hectares were sold on formerly protected so-called Category 2 land. Those leases remain active, although new sales have been halted.

No details about the consultations have been released. Critics have wondered if the consultations will give Albertans the option of telling the government not just under what circumstances they would accept mines, but whether they want them at all.

The land in question includes the headwaters for much of the province's drinking water.

Savage said Tuesday that details are to be released shortly. She suggested their scope will be broad.

"We're going to hear the views of Albertans," Savage said. "We're going to listen to them before we take any next steps with respect to what can or can't be developed on Category 2 lands.

"You're trying to suggest that ... those leases are going to stay after the coal consultations and that coal mining will be permitted in Category 2 lands, which is as far from the truth as possible," Savage told Ganley.

Savage also promised talks with area First Nations.

"There will definitely be government-to-government direct consultations with Indigenous communities," she said. "That will run parallel with consultation that will start on the 29th."

If the government wanted to assure Albertans its mind was really open on the issue, it could start by stopping any further work on exploration leases already sold, said Katie Morrison of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society.

"I would have more confidence if they cancelled the exploration permits ... pending the outcome of these consultations," she said in an email.

"If they really have no predetermined outcomes, then companies should not be able to continue to damage these landscapes and incur costs that could be subject to compensation from Albertans later."

Morrison said the further along coal companies get, the harder it will be to implement land-use plans and the more expensive it will be to reclaim damage caused by exploration activities such as drilling and road-building.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 16, 2021.

— Follow Bob Weber on Twitter at @row1960

Bob Weber, The Canadian Press

Top female officer quits Canadian Forces,

 says she's 'sickened' by reports of sexual misconduct

Murray Brewster, Kristen Everson

CBC 3/16/2021

© Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press Governor General David Johnston presents then-Major Eleanor Taylor with the Meritorious Service Medal in Ottawa on June 22, 2012.

One of the most prominent women in the Canadian military has resigned, saying she is "disgusted" by ongoing reports of sexual misconduct in the Armed Forces and dismayed that it has taken this long for the problem to come to the fore.

Lt.-Col. Eleanor Taylor, the deputy commander of the 36th Brigade Group and a distinguished veteran of combat in Afghanistan, delivered a scathing resignation letter to senior military leaders — a letter that has been circulating around army headquarters in Ottawa.

"I am sickened by ongoing investigations of sexual misconduct among our key leaders," Taylor wrote in the letter, which was posted to Facebook on Tuesday.


"Unfortunately, I am not surprised. I am also certain that the scope of the problem has yet to be exposed. Throughout my career, I have observed insidious and inappropriate use of power for sexual exploitation."

The letter was first reported on by Postmedia. CBC News has confirmed its contents and has obtained a copy of an internal note Taylor sent to explain her departure.

The country's two most senior military leaders — former chief of the defence staff Gen. Jonathan Vance and his replacement, Admiral Art McDonald — are under investigation by the military's National Investigation Service over separate allegations of sexual misconduct.

The fact that two high-ranking officers are both facing claims of inappropriate behaviour involving female subordinates has rocked the Department of National Defence to its foundations.

Video: Civilian employee alleges sexual misconduct within Dept. of Nat’l Defence (Global News)

 

Taylor, who retired from the regular force but serves in the reserves, is considered a important role model for young women in uniform.

"Some senior leaders are unwilling or (perhaps unable) to recognize that their behaviour is harmful both to the victim and to the team," Taylor wrote in her letter.

"Some recognize the harm but believe they can keep their behaviour secret. Perhaps worst of all are those in authority, who should know better, but lack the courage and tools to confront the systemic issue."
A 'damaging cycle of silence'

The scourge of sexual misconduct, Taylor wrote, has been accepted for far too long by everyone — including Taylor herself — as an unchanging aspect of military life.

"I have been both a victim of, and participant in, this damaging cycle of silence, and I am proud of neither," she wrote.

"I am not encouraged that we are 'investigating our top officers.' I am disgusted that it has taken us so long to do so."

She wrote that while she's grateful for her service in the military — and had even considered staying in order to effect change from within — she can no longer defend the institution.

"I have spent the past decade speaking publicly and passionately about the gains women have made in the CAF," Taylor wrote.

"While I remain fiercely proud of parts of our organization, on the issue of addressing harmful sexual behaviour, we have lost all credibility."

Honour of the Crown at stake as Yukon fails to consult on mining application, says Nation

For the second time in eight years, the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun is challenging the Yukon government in court over a land-use plan.

“This kind of litigation isn’t good for anybody and it’s really disappointing that, now twice, two successive Yukon governments have approached land-use planning in a way that has resulted in judicial action being the only recourse available to the First Nation,” said Nuri G. Frame, legal counsel for Na-Cho Nyäk Dun.

On March 15, the First Nation filed a petition in the Supreme Court of Yukon challenging the Yukon government’s decision to approve Metallic Minerals Corporation’s (MMC) application for quartz mining in the Beaver River land-use area. The Nation is arguing that no development should be allowed until the Beaver River land-use plan is approved. MMC’s project is located entirely in Na-Cho Nyäk Dun’s traditional territory and entirely within the Beaver River land-use area.

The Nation is also arguing that the Yukon government “breached its duties … flowing from the honour of the Crown” to consult through a number of existing agreements, including Sect. 35 of Canada’s Constitution.

In 2014, the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun joined two other Yukon First Nations and two environmental groups in challenging the Yukon government for making significant changes to the Peel Watershed land-use plan at a time when they were only allowed to make modifications. The matter went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada where, in 2017, a unanimous decision favoured the First Nations. The judge commented that “Yukon’s conduct was not becoming of the honour of the Crown.”

There are similarities between the two cases, says Frame. Neither time has the Yukon government acted diligently or in a spirit of reconciliation. It has not implemented the treaty promises outlined in the Na-Cho Nyäk Dun’s final treaty agreement. Chapter 11 of that agreement includes the “promise to engage in regional land use planning for the whole of the (Nation’s) traditional territory,” as stated in the court petition on the MMC application.

The most recent court petition outlines numerous times when Chief Simon Mervyn or band officials contacted Yukon’s Mineral Resources Branch or Energy, Mines and Resources Minister Ranj Pillai, by telephone or correspondence, requesting either “deep consultations” with the community on MMC’s application or for the approval to be delayed until the Beaver River land-use plan is completed, likely within the next 12 to 24 months.

The Nation was told that consultation was “not feasible.” The petition claims that “simply put, from the outset of its engagement” with the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun concerning the MMC project, “Yukon was intent on approving the application and issuing the decision.”

Frame points out that in September 2020, while coronavirus pandemic measures were in place, numerous safe-distancing community consultations took place regarding an amendment to an application for a different project. The community input resulted in that application being denied.

“It reinforces why we are so concerned here. The Yukon government came and had a conversation about a similar project with the people and heard a really clear message about why this was a concern. But they wouldn't come up and have a conversation about this project. I don't know if it's because they didn't want to hear the message or what the motivation was for refusing to consult,” said Frame.

Lack of consultation is also in direct opposition to recommendations that came from the Yukon Mineral Development Strategy panel. The panel’s final report, released in December 2020, outlined seven guiding principles and six strategic priorities on how the government, First Nations and the mining industry can move forward in a “clear development pathway.”

The panel highlighted “the principles of reconciliation enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the recommendations of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission” which focus on meaningful consultation and respectful relationships.

The panel’s recommendations are clear, said Frame, and the Yukon government’s action “is totally inconsistent with the duty to consult which exists in Canadian law flowing from the honour of the Crown. But it’s impossible to satisfy that objective of free, prior and informed consent for mineral development if the public government making the authorization won’t even engage with the community who need to be informed and whose consent should be given.”

The three-member panel had representation from the Yukon government, the Yukon First Nations, and the mineral industry.

April 20 has been set for the case management conference. At that time decisions will be made as to how the case will move forward both generally and specifically, says Frame. Na-Cho Nyäk Dun is also asking for an interim injunction against both the Yukon government and MMC. But, in the meantime, the expectation is that since the Yukon government’s decision has been challenged, MMC will not be undertaking any work in the Nation’s traditional territory.

“Na-Cho Nyäk Dun perspective is that this is an urgent matter and they want to see this move forward to a hearing as quickly as possible. This isn’t something that can or should have any delay associated with it. The (Nation) has been asking for months and months to have this decision paused while the broader land-use planning exercises that are underway in the watershed continue,” said Frame.

“Everybody benefits from that. Uncertainty doesn't do anybody any good. It's not good for government. It's not good for the First Nation. It's not good for industry. So I think the sooner we get this in front of a judge and the quicker we get this resolved, the better it will be for all parties involved.”

Windspeaker.com

By Shari Narine, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com, Windspeaker.com