North Atlantic right whale population has steadied, scientists say


CBC
Mon, October 23, 2023 



The population of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales appears to have levelled off after a decade of steep decline, according to updated data released this morning by Canadian and American scientists.

Every fall, the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium releases its best population estimate of the world's most threatened large whale.

Scientists in the consortium said today that the 2021 estimate of 340 North Atlantic right whales in existence has been recalculated to 365 primarily because of the number of calves born that year.

The estimate for 2022 is 356.

While the results are positive, the whales are still imperilled by ship strikes and fishing gear entanglement, says Phillip Hamilton, a senior scientist at the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium.

"The slowing down of the decline is sort of the first good news that we've had in a long time," Hamilton said. "That is the significance. It really has to be tempered by the truth that it is still in decline and there are a lot of sub-lethal injuries."

Annual meeting in Halifax this week

Nearly 500 scientists from around the world will gather in person and virtually to discuss the whales at the consortium's annual meeting being held in Halifax this week.

A New England Aquarium analysis detected 32 "human-caused injuries" to right whales in 2023, including six fishing gear entanglements with attached gear, 24 entanglement injuries with no attached gear and two vessel strikes.

One entangled whale, named Argo, was freed off Georgia. It was carrying lobster traps and rope from southwestern Nova Scotia.


This graph shows data on the North Atlantic right whale from 1990 to 2022. (New England Aquarium)

"It's one of the first times in a little while, that I'm aware of, that lobster gear has been implicated in Canadian waters," Hamilton said. "I think it points to the problem of managing this species because they move around a lot."

Some of these injuries later kill the whales or prevent them from breeding, he said.

There have been two documented deaths in 2023; one by ship strike, the other was an orphaned calf.

No North Atlantic right whale deaths in Canada since 2019

There have been none in Atlantic Canadian waters, where sightings now trigger strict fishery closures.

The shutdowns — and lower ship speed limits — were imposed after a total of 21 right whales died in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 2017 and 2019.

A visual or acoustic detection of a right whale today halts fishing in a 2,000-square-kilometre area for all non-tended fixed gear, such as crab and lobster pots, for 15 days.

A whale detection during days nine to 15 in the area brings a halt to the rest of the season in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In the Bay of Fundy, Roseway Basin and Grand Manan Basin, the closure is extended by 15 days.

There have been no whale deaths reported in Canada since 2019.

Sean Brillant, a senior conservation biologist with the Canadian Wildlife Federation, said the absence of documented deaths suggests measures in Canada are making a difference.

'Tremendous effort' to reduce detectable deaths

But Brillant is cautious.

"The fact we haven't found any is definitely a good sign," he said. "But we have a long ways to go. We can't take our foot off that pedal now."

Hamilton said whales are still being entangled in the Gulf.

"We see a whale come in there without the injury and within weeks or a month they get the injury," he said. "So, it's certainly not perfect, but it has reduced the number of detectable deaths and it's been a tremendous effort."

The discovery of Argo entangled in gear from Lobster Fishing Area 33 was unexpected because the whales are not believed to be in the Scotian Shelf during the winter commercial season. The entanglement could have been an example of ghost gear — fishing gear that is damaged, lost or abandoned in the ocean.

It was not the only unusual event involving the whales this year.

'These animals really are everywhere'

They arrived in the Gulf of St. Lawrence later than usual and then showed up in places where they've never been seen before — shallow waters around Prince Edward Island and western Cape Breton.

"These animals really are everywhere," said Brillant. "There's not a lot of them, but they're everywhere. And all the more reason we need a full court press to solve the problem of the injuries we're causing them."


Four North Atlantic right whales were spotted in the Bay of Fundy earlier this year. (Quoddy Link Marine/Facebook )

Right whale numbers have been estimated since 1990. During the first six years of that decade, the population was estimated below 300 individuals before rebounding in the 2000s and peaking in 2011 at closer to 500.

The flattening of the downward trend recently has been attributed to improved calving years — outside human control. There were 18 born in 2021 and 15 in 2022. That fell to 11 calves in 2023, well below the 24 average in the 2000s.

The birth rate alarms scientists like Hamilton.

"More than 40 adult females between the age of 10 and 20 have yet to birth their first calf when the average first calving was 10 years old in previous decades," he said.

Yes, the moon is indeed 40 million years older than we once thought

CBC
Mon, October 23, 2023 a


Roughly 4.5 billion years ago, our solar system formed from a chaotic swirling cloud of gas, dust and debris. And as our planet formed, it's believed that something roughly the size of Mars slammed into it. The rocks that remained from that impact came together to form our moon.

But just when that happened has been uncertain.

Now, a new study published in Geochemical Perspectives Letters that used advanced analysis of crystals from a moon rock collected during the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, has confirmed that the moon formed roughly 4.46 billion years ago. That makes it roughly 40 million years older than once believed.

This moon rock — called 72255 — has been analyzed many times. In fact, a 2021 study led by Bidong Zhang and co-authored by Audrey Bouvier — both of whom were students at Western University in London, Ont. — was the first to come up with this age.

However, there was some skepticism at the time.

In order to date moon rocks, scientists look at zircons contained within them. These crystals — the first solids to form after the moon's magma ocean cooled — are excellent geological timekeepers, or chronometers, partially due to their durability. Additionally, they contain radioactive uranium, which in turn decays into lead. Scientists know how long it takes for this to occur.

"But they're not perfect," said Philipp Heck of the crystals.

Heck is the curator of meteoritics and polar studies at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and senior author of the new study.

"There can be crystal defects in zircons that can actually occur because of radioactive decay."

While the 2021 study used ion microprobe dating, which can see within roughly 10 microns (one micron is 1/1000 of a millimetre), they needed to delve even deeper to confirm that date, down to the nanoscale, or 1000 times smaller.


This sample of crystal from a moon rock collected during the Apollo 17 mission shows where it was analyzed in 2021, down to 10 microns. (Jenniker Greer)

So Heck, lead author Jenniker Greer and co-authors turned to a method called atom probe tomography (APT) which can analyze the atoms contained within the crystal.

"We take several tiny slivers from that crystal at different locations throughout the crystal, and then we use atom probe tomography to analyze it," Heck explained. "What it does, basically, is shape the sample into a very sharp tip. And that gets put in a vacuum. A current is applied, and then we hit it with a UV laser, and then … evaporate it atom by atom."

They found that the lead isotopes left over from the radioactive decay were roughly 4.46 billion years old.

"We can now say this grain is really 4.46 billion years old," Heck said. "This age is now unambiguous."

Just a part of the puzzle

Chris Herd, a planetary geologist and curator of the University of Alberta's Meteorite Collection Museum, finds the new results intriguing.

"The results, as shown in the paper, they corroborate the original age that they got. So that excites me," he said. "I'm always interested in that sort of advanced application of methods to samples that were collected, you know, 51 years ago. Because that's the whole purpose of sample return."

Herd has a deep interest in these sorts of missions. He is a sample scientist for NASA's Mars Perseverance rover mission. The rover is busy on the surface of the red planet analyzing it, but also collecting samples as part of a yet undated return mission.

He believes it provides an impetus to return to the moon.

"That's a big driver for going back and getting samples from a different part. There's lots of emphasis on the south pole," he said. "If you were to go and get something from the surface, you're gonna get a grab bag of a bunch of different things.'


This image from the atom probe tomography analysis sample shows down to 200 nanometres in the moon rock collected during the Apollo 17 mission. (Jenniker Greer)

Meanwhile, Heck said that just because the analysis shows the sample age to be 4.46 billion years old, it doesn't mean it's the oldest there is.

"Ours is the oldest directly dated zircon currently," he said. "Even with the rocks that we have now from the Apollo program, I am convinced there is older stuff in there. We just haven't found that yet."

He said it will be interesting when we collect more moon rocks from other locations, which may provide a fuller picture of the moon's evolution and history, including more about its magma ocean.

And, he said, learning more about the moon is critical in understanding our own planet.

"We have to always improve the chronology because there's so much tied to it. It's anchored in the lunar chronology. It's also anchored in the habitability of Earth," he said. "The habitability of Earth only happened after the moon formed. And obviously, the moon had a big impact — no pun intended — on Earth dynamics."

Saltwater influx tests communities near Mississippi’s mouth


Isa Meyers
Mon, October 23, 2023 

Salt water from the Gulf of Mexico is steadily creeping up the Mississippi River in Louisiana, prompting urgent efforts by officials to maintain tap water quality for people in the region.

The reason: Droughts across the Midwest have slowed the river’s flow, and as a result, a “wedge” of higher-salinity water is encroaching farther upstream. The river, in turn, is a primary source of water for many parts of the state, including New Orleans. With some experts attributing the problem partly to climate change, many Louisianians worry about their future water supply.

“Long term, we can’t continue like this,” says Stephen Murphy, an assistant professor of environmental health sciences at Tulane University. “We can’t keep putting Band-Aids on this.”

What is the problem, and is climate change a factor?

For the second year in a row, droughts in Mississippi basin states such as Missouri, Nebraska, and Kansas have weakened the river’s flow. In essence, that creates room for salt water to flow upstream in Louisiana, where the river bottom is lower than the Gulf of Mexico’s surface level. A wedge of salt water, mostly near the bottom of the riverbed due to its density, is traveling north; it reached 64 miles upstream by mid-October.

Other contributors besides climate change can affect saltwater intrusion, such as how the river is dredged, seasonal variability, and other weather patterns such as El Niño. And instances of saltwater intrusion have occurred in Louisiana before.

But after back-to-back years of unusually low flow in the river, the world’s hottest summer to date, and abnormal precipitation across America, scientists say climate change is likely playing a role.

“If I had to put my money on it, I would say climate change is part of this,” says Nicole Gasparini, an earth and environmental sciences professor at Tulane University.

The river’s flow has recently been about 170,000 cubic feet per second, barely twice the lowest ever recorded. (Flows can exceed 2 million cubic feet per second at their strongest.)

How long might it last?

State officials suggest saltwater intrusion could last through next year.

“The bottom line is there’s not a whole lot of relief in sight,” at least not soon, says Barry Keim, a climatologist at Louisiana State University. The roughly 10 inches of precipitation across the Mississippi and Ohio river valleys needed to push the wedge downriver could take months.

What are the effects on people?

In addition to affecting drinking water, saltwater intrusion can corrode pipes and pose a problem for agriculture, as irrigation water for many farmers comes from the Mississippi. The shipping industry – including barges laden with grain – is also affected by narrowing channels for navigation.

Plaquemines Parish, which is located south of New Orleans and is the site of the Mississippi River delta basin, issued a drinking water advisory in June. Officials supplied bottled water until the advisory was lifted on Oct. 18. As of Sept. 27, President Joe Biden has declared a state of emergency covering four Louisiana parishes. His statement said water supplies for 20% of the state’s population are at risk.

While the saltwater wedge has not yet reached New Orleans, the state’s most populous city, the Army Corps of Engineers has been tracking the risk that this could occur. The Corps predicts the wedge has the potential to move another 50 miles upstream – past New Orleans. But recent efforts by the Corps to slow the saltwater wedge, coupled with slightly stronger river flows than expected, have reduced the immediate threat.

How are officials trying to help?

The Corps has been sending fresh water by barge to water treatment facilities along the river to reduce tap water salinity. Longer term, building a pipeline that starts a few miles upriver could be one way to safeguard key water treatment facilities.

In July, the Corps built a sill in the Mississippi at river mile 64, which brought the bottom of the river up nearly 35 feet, and Corps engineers are currently working to expand the sill. Sills act as underwater levees that can block or slow the saltwater wedge from moving upstream. A “notch” in the sill allows oceangoing vessels to pass. The Corps has also built sills in Louisiana in 1988, 1999, 2012, and 2022.

“The magic number we kind of look for in the river is a flow rate of 300,000 cubic feet per second,” says Matt Roe, a spokesperson for the Corps. “And that’s enough to push the wedge further back out of the river. But also when the river hits above that rate, it does erode out and wash the sill away.”

Audit finds overspending, inefficiency, lack of salary oversight at MUN

A new report from Newfoundland and Labrador's auditor general highlights widespread spending issues at Memorial University.


CBC
Mon, October 23, 2023 

 (Jeremy Eaton/CBC)

A scathing report from Newfoundland and Labrador's auditor general has found widespread inefficiency and overspending at Memorial University, and highlights spending and salary concerns.

Among the findings in the 80-page report, released by Auditor General Denise Hanrahan on Monday, were compensation policies that were either outdated or non-existent between April 2019 and December 2022. The report also says a lack of oversight has led to higher salaries compared with most other Canadian universities.

In her report, Hanrahan said the university has paid significantly higher compensation to 90 per cent of surveyed employees in executive and management positions — sometimes doubling that of an equivalent role in the provincial government.

For example, the report highlighted a $143,000 difference between the salary of a campus vice-president and an assistant deputy minister in government.

"It's the same work, but upwards of double the pay," Hanrahan told CBC News on Monday.

WATCH | How many vice-presidents does MUN have?

The report shows Memorial also has the highest administrative salaries per student in Canada at $2,369 per student. The next closest university, according to the report, had an administrative cost of $1,994 per student. Administrative costs at the university were $893 higher than the average for all other universities compared.

Compensation and benefits are also a key part of the report. Hanrahan said the university paid out for benefits significantly more than government, citing one executive leave entitlement package that could grant 95 days of annual leave — or over 37 per cent of the year.

"Certainly if one in three days of a year you could be off getting paid, you would think that would have a pretty significant impact," she said.

Lack of organizational roots

Hanrahan's report highlighted a general lack of an organizational chart within the university.

According to the report, in 36 positions sampled, 35 — or about 97 per cent — didn't have a position description. There were no position descriptions for the seven vice-president positions and none for 28 of the 29 management positions.

Auditors were unsuccessful when they asked for detailed information.

"The Department of Human Resources was unable to provide this data as their systems were not designed to document the roles and responsibilities of staff," the report said. "As a result, we could not determine the exact number of staff performing specific functions within the university."

Hanrahan wrote that the lack of knowledge around specific position descriptions led to numerous instances where the same work was being done by multiple portfolios.

For example, the school's communications is the responsibility of the vice-president of advancement and external relations, but Hanrahan found 14 senior communications positions reported in other vice-president's portfolios.

The report says problems with a lack of defined roles have been identified before but noted recommendations made by Memorial's Office of Internal Audit in February 2020 and in June 2021 remain outstanding.


Auditor General Denise Hanrahan's report notes a lack of organizational structure, leading to inefficiency. (Patrick Butler/Radio-Canada)

The university's Harlow Campus, in the United Kingdom, didn't have an organizational tree at all, says the report, and there are no signs the university's board of regents received detailed updates on the campus's financial activities.

"The Harlow campus was included in the financial updates presented two to three times a year to the board of regents, but this was a single line of highly summarized information without analysis or discussion," the report says.

Hanrahan said these financial updates were expected three times per year, but the audit found there were a total of five one- to two-page reports over 45 months.

Spending and gifts

The report also outlines a lack of policy for university-hosted events and things like scholarships, which the auditor general says led to donations that could be considered excessive, including almost $50,000 paid out in special allowances for deans and directors to host events attended solely by university staff, like retirement functions or Christmas parties.

It also highlighted spending that ultimately never panned out, like $65,000 spent to hire a consultant — who was a board member of the Harlow Campus — who didn't leave a final report.

MUN also spent $1.1 million on employee recruitment firms. One-third of people hired by the firms no longer work with the university, the report said.

Hanrahan said the audit also found an instance in which the university paid $2 million to license a management software package, called Navigate, that was inefficient and underused. An internal audit recommended it only be renewed for one year before being phased out, the report said.

But in December 2021, MUN renewed the software license for five years — costing $377,356 per year. Hanrahan said that licence has now been terminated.


Former Memorial University president Vianne Timmons is a key figure in Hanrahan's audit, noted for spending decisions that appear to lack oversight. (Sherry Vivian/CBC)

Hanrahan also listed questionable spending involving former university president Vianne Timmons, including:

$1,792 on custom chocolates in December 2020, which were used as gifts.


$2,700 on a new desk and chair for the president's home. Hanrahan said the desk was returned when Timmons left as president, but the chair was not.


$600 on a limousine when a rental car wasn't available in August 2021.

"It's the public sector, and I don't think anybody anticipates their tax dollars are getting spent to buy Christmas presents," Hanrahan said, referring to the chocolates.

The auditor general said the university also couldn't provide a policy that shows how its non-operating funds, which includes $190 million from the provincial government, are monitored.

Hanrahan said the audit found that how the provincial money was spent was often the responsibility of Timmons, but there are no traces of any oversight.

"We even asked the vice-presidents who was responsible. They couldn't tell us who was responsible for oversight of that $190 million, which is about a third of their budget of the whole university," she said.

During question period Monday, Education Minister Krista-Lynn Howell said the province will need time to read through the report and and work with the university on instituting accountability. The province will have to be careful to respect MUN's autonomy, she added.

Opposition House leader Barry Petten responded that the government should have already read the report, which it received on Friday.

MUN accepts recommendations

Hanrahan's report includes eight recommendations, including the evaluation of oversight functions, a review of compensation policies across the entire organization and the implementation of measures to prevent conflicts of interest.

"These are fixable things, so we were very particular in the wording that we used for our eight recommendations to the institution," Hanrahan said. "We really believe there are concrete actions that can be done, and can be done pretty quickly, to deal with some of these issues."


From left: MUN vice-president of finance and administration Lisa Browne, president and vice-chancellor Neil Bose and Board of Regents Chair Glenn Barnes spoke on Monday, saying the university accepts Hanrahan's recommendations. (Terry Roberts/CBC)

Speaking at a news conference on Monday, MUN's president Neil Bose says he accepts the recommendations and is maintaining a commitment to openness and transparency.

"There are lessons to learn from the auditor's findings. As I noted, changes already implemented are improving our operations and supporting our academic mission," said Bose, who is also vice-chancellor.

"We will make changes that improve the way in which we operate."

Parliamentary committee to look at federal worker health insurance 'fiasco'

CBC
Mon, October 23, 2023 at 8:31 a.m. MDT·1 min read


A federal government committee intends to look into how a change to the Public Service Health Care Plan is causing issues for public service workers.

The standing committee on government operations and estimates adopted a motion last week to examine what is described as the "Canada Life fiasco."

On July 1, the country's largest health-care plan switched providers to Canada Life Assurance Company, bringing more than 1.7 million federal public servants, retirees and their dependents with them.

Since, CBC has heard from a number of families negatively affected by the switch.

In a news release issued by the committee, it said it intends to look at:

Quality of insurance coverage.


Efficiency and effectiveness of new insurance plan, particularly online claims and telephone service.


Mechanisms used by Public Services and Procurement Canada to award the contract.


Measures that will be put in place to "restore the situation."

By adopting the motion, the committee is agreeing to "devote at least one meeting to carrying out this study," and share its findings with the House of Commons.

A list of witnesses was supposed to have been given to the committee clerk on Friday.

B.C. aims to attract more skilled workers with laws to fast-track professional immigrants


CBC
Mon, October 23, 2023 


Premier David Eby and Workforce Development Minister Andrew Mercier introduced a new bill Monday that aims to deliver on a promise ensuring new arrivals to British Columbia can put their training and abilities to work as quickly as possible.

If passed, Bill 38, the International Credentials Recognition Act, will remove barriers such as redundant language testing and requirements for work experience in Canada for 29 professions, including engineers, lawyers, teachers and social workers.

"We cannot leave people with experience on the sidelines," said Eby, who announced the bill at a news conference Monday morning.

The promise to further allow and vastly speed up the employment of immigrants with foreign training has been a priority for Eby since he became premier in November 2022.

'Navigating through a maze'

"Too often, artificial barriers to working in their fields limit new immigrants from contributing right away to help build our province to the full extent of their abilities," Eby wrote in his mandate letter to Mercier last December.

The goal of the legislation is to attract more skilled workers to B.C. from around the world while also bolstering the province's economy. The professions listed in the bill are represented by 18 regulatory authorities.

The legislation will remove redundant language testing, set caps for maximum processing times, and require credential-assessment information be available online.

WATCH | Social worker from Hong Kong describes arduous path to a job in B.C.:

Alice Wong, a social worker who trained in Hong Kong, told the news conference that it was only through perseverance that she was able to find work in her field in B.C.

"Like navigating through a maze," is how she described her journey to employment in the province.

"My story is not unique … there are many other internationally trained social workers who face similar obstacles," she said. "I felt very alone in my journey."

Current wait times unclear: minister

Mercier said work with the regulatory authorities in devising the bill revealed there is little data to show how long it currently takes for a professional not trained in Canada to gain employment here, or how far along the process people go before they give up.

A report from Mercier's office made public earlier this month looked at five regulatory bodies and what process they had for recognizing applicants originating from abroad.

One of them, the Engineer and Geoscientists of B.C., said it took up to six months to review applications.

The new provincial act will require regulators to record data over the time between becoming accredited and becoming employed.

"So, we will know exactly where the lag times are," said Mercier.

If passed, a new superintendent responsible for promoting fair credential recognition will be appointed. The act will come into force in summer 2024.

Shortly after taking office, Eby announced expanded measures that would bring more doctors to the province under a program that allows internationally educated family physicians to become licensed to work in B.C.

The Practice Ready Assessment program will triple from 32 seats to 96 seats by March 2024.

Gymnast Felix Dolci 1st Canadian in 60 years to win men's all-around final at Pan Am Games


CBC
Mon, October 23, 2023 


Not even a fall on his final apparatus could bump Felix Dolci off the medal podium on Monday.

The rising Canadian gymnastics star had built enough of a lead in the men's all-around competition before horizontal (high) bar to hold off Diogo Soares of Brazil and win Canada's 10th gold medal at the Pan Am Games in Santiago, Chile.

The 21-year-old native of Laval, Que., scored over 14 points in four of six apparatus and totalled 82.531, with silver medallist Soares close behind with 81.865. Donnell Whittenburg of the United States earned bronze (81.764).

Dolci, who qualified seventh for the final, is the first Canadian to win the event at Pan Ams since Wilhelm Weiler in 1963.

William Émard of Laval placed 16th in the 24-man field.

Earlier this month, Dolci and Emard helped Canada end a 15-year drought and qualify a men's team for the Paris Olympics next summer.
'I'm expecting a successful year'

On Saturday, Rene Cournoyer, Zachary Clay, Dolci and Émard captured team silver behind the United States.

"I'm expecting a successful year for myself in 2023 in all the international competitions I'll be attempting," Dolci told International Gymnast Online in January. "The best way for me to reach such goals would be by staying healthy and keep pushing in the same direction I've been going since [2022] worlds.

"I'm ready to work like I've never worked before in order to be where I've never been before in my career."

Dolci made an impact 14 months ago at the Commonwealth Games, earning silver in the team event and floor exercise while placing fourth in individual all-around.

A year earlier, he brought home vault silver and bronze in team, all-around and floor from the 2021 Pan Am Championships.

In 2018, he represented Canada at the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he was the first Canadian to win a gymnastics medal (silver in rings).

The following year, Dolci became the most decorated athlete in Canada Games history in 2018, compiling 11 medals over two appearances.
Golden hat trick for Mac Neil

As expected, Canada continues to dominate in the pool on the women's side.

It's a golden hat trick for 2020 Olympic triple medallist Maggie Mac Neil of London, Ont. She broke her second record in two days at these Games, winning the women's 100-metre freestyle in 53.64 seconds. She went 56.94 in the 100 butterfly on Monday after helping Canada's relay women to victory in Saturday's 4x100 free.

In Monday's race, Stephanie Balduccini of Brazil collected silver in 54.13, while American Catie DeLoof (54.50) took bronze. Mary-Sophie Harvey of Trois-Rivières, Que., was fourth (54.64) after posting a winning time of 1:58.08 in Sunday's 200 free.

Sydney Pickrem of Halifax and Winnipeg's Kelsey Wog finished one-two in the women's 200 breaststroke on Monday, posting times of 2:23.39 and 2:23.49.

Pickrem is fresh off her victory in the 200 individual medley eight days ago at the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup in Athens. In July, the 26-year-old withdrew from the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan due for personal reasons.

Two years ago, Pickrem won Olympic bronze in Tokyo with the women's 4x100 medley relay team.

Canada's chief accessibility officer 'furious' after Air Canada forgets her wheelchair


CBC
Mon, October 23, 2023 


Canada's chief accessibility officer is taking airlines to task for failing to treat wheelchair users with respect after Air Canada forgot last week to bring her wheelchair on a cross-country flight.

Stephanie Cadieux said that when she flew from Toronto to Vancouver on Friday, she discovered that her wheelchair had been left behind.

She posted about the incident on X, formerly Twitter. Her posting received overwhelming support — almost 650 retweets and more than 2,500 likes.

"This was immensely frustrating and dehumanizing — and I was furious," she later said in a post on her LinkedIn account. "The tweet has been widely viewed and shared. Air Canada responded and my chair has been returned to me."

A statement from Air Canada said the chair was returned Saturday morning.

Cadieux said that while her chair was swiftly and safely returned to her by the airline, her "job title as chief accessibility officer should not influence the experience" she has when she flies.

"While I'm glad I've been able to draw attention to this issue, I don't want the continued focus to be on my experience," she said.

"Not surprisingly to me, many of the responses to my tweet were from people sharing that the same thing had happened to them, with no quick resolution."

Cadieux said everyone who uses an airline should get the same level of service, regardless of job title.

Airlines have to do better: Cadieux

Cadieux said she travels a lot for work and over the past year her wheelchair has been damaged in transit several times.

"I've heard and continue to hear countless stories about lost or severely damaged chairs and enough is enough," she said.

Cadieux said airlines do not provide appropriate care and attention to essential equipment like wheelchairs, and leave disabled travellers to fight alone when things go wrong.

"I want everyone to understand that when a person's wheelchair is lost, so is their independence, safety, mobility and dignity," she said. "Airlines have to take responsibility and they have to do better."

Federal Minister of Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities Kamal Khera said on social media the situation "is completely unacceptable."

"Persons with disabilities deserve equal rights and access while boarding planes or using public transit," she said.

An Air Canada statement emailed to CBC News said the airline has apologized to Cadieux and the company recognizes "mobility devices are vital to their users"

Air Canada says it's working to improve accessibility

"As part of our investigation into how this serious service lapse occurred, we are also looking for additional measures we can implement to prevent such situations in the future," the statement said.

The statement said the airline carries more than 700,000 travellers requiring wheelchairs or mobility devices in a normal year and "the vast, vast majority … travelled without issue."

The airline said that in the summer, it began rolling out a three-year accessibility plan for customers and employees. Under the plan, the airline is creating an advisory panel of customers with disabilities and is purchasing equipment to improve accessibility.

"We know, particularly as technology and societal expectations change, that our policies must continually evolve and we are fully committed to further refining our approach, including through training, to better support customers requiring mobility assistance and to increase accessibility," the airline said.

RCMP probe of SNC-Lavalin affair faced hurdles but commissioner 'comfortable' with end result


CBC
Mon, October 23, 2023 


The head of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police says that while the Mounties' investigation of the SNC-Lavalin affair was made more challenging by a lack of access to cabinet confidences, he's "very comfortable" with the decision not to pursue criminal charges.

"I wouldn't say justice didn't play out," Commissioner Mike Duheme told CBC News Monday.

"But I would say that when you don't have access to all the information, it's sometimes challenging."

The commissioner and the lead investigator on the case, Staff Sgt. Frédéric Pincince, showed up Monday afternoon to testify before a parliamentary committee on why the RCMP did not lay charges in the aftermath of the political scandal that sent Parliament Hill into a frenzy four years ago.

But the access to information, privacy and ethics committee was quickly adjourned before Duheme was able to make his opening remarks — leading the Conservative side of the room to accuse Liberal committee members of trying to censor the RCMP. The NDP and Bloc committee members voted alongside the Liberals to adjourn the meeting.

The RCMP was assessing whether Prime Minister Justin Trudeau broke the law when he tried to influence his then-justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to overrule a decision by the director of public prosecutions to not grant a deferred prosecution agreement to Quebec-based engineering firm SNC-Lavalin.

Wilson-Raybould was shuffled out of justice and eventually kicked out of the Liberal caucus.

A 2019 report by the ethics commissioner at the time, Mario Dion, found Trudeau violated the Conflict of Interest Act.

Duheme and Pincince were invited to appear before the committee after advocacy group Democracy Watch published a trove of documents last week it said shows the Mounties' review of the case was stymied by a lack of access to confidential cabinet materials.


Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Veterans Affairs Minister Jodie Wilson-Raybould attend a swearing in ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on Monday, Jan. 14, 2019. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

The documents showed the force had requested special permission to talk to witnesses about events covered by cabinet confidence.

The Trudeau government issued a broad waiver to allow Wilson-Raybould to testify before a parliamentary committee about the SNC-Lavalin affair back in 2019.

But that order-in-council did not extend to any communications between Wilson-Raybould and the director of public prosecutions on SNC-Lavalin while she was justice minister.

According to a February 2021 RCMP report, the force sought to expand that waiver as part of its investigation but was denied.

"We always prefer to have as much information as possible for us to make fulsome assessment of the situation," said Pincince on Monday.

"So of course, without some additional information, sometimes we have to come to some conclusion based on the information that's available to us. And this is exactly what happened in this situation."

RCMP weighed Wilson-Raybould's comments

Duheme, who was head of federal policing at the time of the scandal, said investigators also weighed Wilson-Raybould's own words during an appearance before a parliamentary committee, when she characterized the situation as inappropriate rather than illegal.

He also said Dion was required to suspend his examination if he found evidence of criminal wrongdoing, and didn't.

"And he had access to more information than we had," he said.

"So when you put all those factors together, plus the analysis that Fred and his team had done, I'm very comfortable with the end result that we were at, based on the information that we had."

Committee ends early in heated fight

Democracy Watch co-founder Duff Conacher said it's troubling to see Liberal, Bloc and NDP MPs end a hearing aimed at questioning the top Mountie.

"The RCMP made several very questionable decisions during their very superficial, and much-delayed, examination of the Trudeau cabinet's SNC-Lavalin scandal, and they need to be questioned so the public can know exactly who made the decisions and how and why they made them," he said.

Before Monday's committee meeting got underway, Liberal MP Mona Fortier argued the chair invited the RCMP Wednesday but didn't alert committee members until late Friday.

"This was terribly last-minute," she said in French.

After the motion to adjourn the meeting passed, members yelled at each other from across the room.

"Disgusting," said one voice.

Outside the hearing, Conservative ethics critic Michael Barrett called it "absolutely unacceptable."

He said he has a motion on notice to study the RCMP's response to the SNC-Lavalin affair, which he hopes will be discussed Wednesday.

Bloc MP René Villemure said the proper procedure wasn't followed.

"I think Mr. Barrett's motion is a very good motion, it should be debated, I'm in favour of it but I'd like to have the sufficient time to prepare questions, which would mean a respectful use of Mr. Duheme's time," he said.

More Canadians struggling with monthly mortgage payment: Angus Reid survey

The Canadian Press
Mon, October 23, 2023 



TORONTO — A new survey suggests the number of Canadians struggling with their monthly mortgage payment is on the rise, along with worries of potentially higher payments when it comes time to renew with their lender.

Around 15 per cent of borrowers say they find the financial aspect of their mortgage "very difficult," up from 11 per cent in June and eight per cent in March, according to data released on Monday by the Angus Reid Institute.

Despite expectations the Bank of Canada will hold its key interest rate steady at five per cent when it announces its next decision Wednesday, 79 per cent of survey respondents are worried or very worried they will face higher payments when it comes time to renew their mortgage.

Those with variable-rate mortgages were less likely than respondents with fixed-rate mortgages to find their monthly payments easy to handle at the moment, but those with variable-rate loans were also less likely to be "very worried" about what their next mortgage renewal might bring compared to those with fixed-rate mortgages.

The pessimism comes as no surprise, said James Laird, co-CEO of Ratehub.ca and president of CanWise Financial.

But whether or not the Bank of Canada holds steady this week, it likely won't ease the concerns of most borrowers yet, he said.

"If it went up an extra 25 basis points, or let's say, that happens in the next six months, it's not that big of a change," said Laird.

"What is probably more interesting is going to be the commentary, as opposed to the actual rate decision. The bank will sometimes give us a good peek into what they're thinking and what they're planning in different scenarios in the months ahead."

The central bank held its key interest rate steady last month but left the door open to more rate hikes, citing concerns about the persistence of underlying price pressures.

The September consumer price index report helped ease some worries about the annual inflation rate, which slowed to 3.8 per cent.

The Angus Reid data also shows around half of respondents feel they are in a worse financial position than they were last year, while 35 per cent expect to be in a worse position a year from now.

The online survey was conducted from Oct. 9-13 among a representative randomized sample of 1,878 Canadian adults who are members of Angus Reid Forum. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, the company said.

Laird said that while households are "definitely strained," most Canadians are still making their mortgage payments, unless they have suffered a recent job loss. But he said that means "other important parts of the financial picture" for household budgets, such as savings, are taking a hit.

"I don't want to say it's easy, but it's possible," he said.

"The first dollar in every household budget does go to that shelter payment, whether it's a rent payment or a mortgage payment. So what's happening is things are being squeezed out of the budget. The payments are being made on time still, there's just less money for other very important things like RRSPs and RESPs."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2023.

Sammy Hudes, The Canadian Press