CITY OF OTTAWA
Discretionary power used to OK SNC-Lavalin's LRT bid rare, experts confirm

CBC March 5, 2020

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Discretionary power used to OK SNC-Lavalin's LRT bid rare, experts confirmMore


The procurement experts involved in the bidding process that saw SNC-Lavalin win a $1.6-billion LRT contract to extend Ottawa's Trillium Line say they don't know of another case where a discretionary power has been used to waive a bidder through the technical scoring evaluation, CBC learned in a background briefing Thursday.

CBC began reporting a year ago that SNC-Lavalin won the contract to extend the Trillium Line into Riverside South, even though the firm twice failed to meet the minimum 70 per cent score in the technical evaluation. Eventually, the city revealed that it had used a discretionary power to allow a proponent to stay in the bidding process — a power that councillors didn't even know existed when they voted to approve the project.

It appears that the use of that discretionary power is highly unusual. The experts who were part of in the Trillium Line Stage 2 bid, and who have been involved of dozens of procurements, said they can't recall another instance where the clause was used in a similar way.
Score deemed close enough

That was one of the revelations from a short background briefing offered by subject experts involved in the bid to members of council and the media.

The experts agreed to answer questions related to the unprecedented release of hundreds of pages of formerly confidential bid documents, on the condition they not be named. The same experts will appear at Monday's finance and economic development committee, where their comments will be on the record.

Despite refusing to speak for attribution, the experts' comments provided glimpses into how the project was awarded to a company that the city's own technical evaluation team recommended be dropped from the competition.

For example, the experts said that because technical evaluation was by its nature more subjective than financial scoring, they felt that the fact SNC-Lavalin only missed the minimum score by three percentage points was a good enough reason to waive the normal requirements.

City of Ottawa

Mention of electric train system akin to typo

Nor did the experts seem overly concerned by the apparent holes in the technical bid, such as a lack of detail about a signalling and train control system, or the fact that an elevator was placed in the middle of a platform at Carling station.

As for references to equipment typical of electric train systems, such as an overhead catenary or traction-power substations — the Trillium Line is diesel, and would therefore have no need for such features — the experts likened the slip-up to a typo that didn't necessarily detract from the overall quality of the bid.

During the briefing, CBC also asked about the issue of apparent conflict of interest.

As previously reported, Norton Rose Fulbright was hired by the city to oversee the legal aspects of the procurement, even though the law firm routinely represents SNC-Lavalin in deals worth billions of dollars. The law firm didn't represent the Montreal-based engineering giant in the city's procurement process, and the city waived any conflict of interest concerns for the firm.

Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press

However, one of the lawyers who authored the legal opinions that ultimately led to the city's use of its discretionary power to waive SNC-Lavalin's poor technical score had personally worked for the giant company — and had not been screened for a conflict of interest.

Norton Rose Fulbright lawyer Stephen Nattrass is cited in SNC-Lavalin criminal proceedings, and was part of legal team that oversaw the company's sale of AltaLink, a deal worth $7.2 billion.

He was also one of the three Norton Rose Fulbright lawyers who wrote the legal opinions in October 2018 about allowing SNC-Lavalin to move ahead in the bidding process

Because Nattrass was part of the team that the city asked to give a legal opinion, and not someone directly involved in the evaluation process, he was not screened by the fairness commissioner.

ONTARIO
Defends Nixing Basic Income After Study Shows Trial's Benefits

FORD NATION IDEOLOGY TRUMPS FACTS

Emma Paling HuffPost Canada March 5, 2020


Ontario Minister of Children, Community and Social Services Todd Smith is seen at Queen's Park in Toronto on May 27, 2019. (Photo: Chris Young/Canadian Press)More

TORONTO — Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government says it has no regrets about cancelling a basic income pilot project even though a recent study found it vastly improved people’s health and helped many find better jobs.

“One of the first campaign promises your government broke was to complete the basic income pilot,” Green party Leader Mike Schreiner told Premier Doug Ford in the legislature Thursday.

“Without citing any evidence, you told us that it wasn’t working because it was preventing people from getting a job. Well, we now have the first in-depth study of the basic income pilot, and lo and behold, the premier was off the mark. Three quarters of those who were working continued to do so. One quarter of low-wage workers moved to higher-paying jobs,” he said.

He asked Ford if he would revive the pilot.

Todd Smith, the minister of children, community and social services, answered on Ford’s behalf.

“No,” he said.

“A research project that only included 4,000 individuals is not an adequate solution to solving the problem in a province where we have far too many people living on social assistance … What we’re doing is actually taking action to ensure that people can get back to work.”

Watch HuffPost Canada’s video series about people on Ontario’s basic income pilot.
Ontario's Basic Income Was 'A Blessing' To These Small Business Owners

Smith’s predecessor, Minister Lisa MacLeod, cancelled the pilot early in 2018. At the time, she said the project was “broken” and was discouraging people from finding work.

The pilot, launched by Ontario’s previous Liberal government, provided income to people living on social assistance or in low-wage jobs. Single participants who lived on less than $34,000 could get up to $16,989 per year. Couples with a combined income under $48,000 could get as much as $24,027.

Participants who were working saw their payments reduced by 50 per cent of their income.

According to a survey of more than 200 participants, published by McMaster University on Wednesday, there was “a slight reduction” in the number of people employed once the basic income was put into place.

About a quarter of employed people left their jobs, while one-fifth of the unemployed people found work. Forty-one per cent of those who left work did so to go to school. And almost all of the people who left their jobs had been precariously employed.

The results show “exactly the opposite” of what the PCs said was happening, Wayne Lewchuk, a professor emeritus in McMaster’s school of labour studies and department of economics, told HuffPost Canada.

“If anything, the basic income pilot could be viewed as an employment policy,” he said.

“Because what it really did was provide people with a foundation and a base to improve their general health, improve their mental health, improve their outlook on life. And all of those things make people more employable, not less.”

Nearly 80 per cent of participants said that basic income made them “somewhat more motivated” or “much more motivated” to look for work, the McMaster study found.
Recipients said their health improved

Participants also reported better physical and mental health, improved relationships and fewer trips to food banks, doctors’ offices and emergency rooms.

“One common pattern was for recipients to report moving from low paying dead-end jobs to jobs with better working conditions and with improved long-term opportunities,” the study said.

“The pilot was nothing short of successful,” researchers concluded. “The results ... dispel some of the fears of the opponents of basic income including that it will lead to a wholesale abandonment of paid employment.”

One young man, who said that he had tried to kill himself three times in a five-year period before the pilot, enrolled in university.

“In a way, you could say basic income saved my life,” he said.

Others reported that they could afford basic necessities — like a bed or a warm winter coat — for the first time.

“The desperate situation that some people were in before basic income was implemented, frankly, is a bit embarrassing in a country like Canada,” Lewchuk said.

“Some of these people were really struggling or just barely holding on … Receiving basic income, it was like the sun was shining again.”

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MORE ON BASIC INCOME...

What Is Ontario’s Basic Income Pilot Project?

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.

Pentagon push to boost cybersecurity could affect Canadian suppliers

CBC March 5, 2020

The Pentagon has been engaged in a quiet, deliberate effort to plug all of the cyber-holes in its high-tech systems and among its defence contractors — an operation that will soon spill across the border into Canada.

Ellen Lord, the U.S. undersecretary of defence for acquisition and sustainment, said today cybersecurity has been one of her biggest concerns since being appointed by the Trump administration two and a half years ago.

Increasingly, major defence contractors have found themselves targeted by hackers from China and Russia who have stolen troves of sensitive data on new and existing weapons systems.

"Bottom line is, I don't think the average American citizen understands that we're at cyberwar every day," Lord told the Conference of Defence Associations Institute's annual meeting in Ottawa today.

The burden of keeping data secure is being placed on the companies themselves, she added.

After consulting with the National Security Agency (NSA), the U.S. electronic spy service and the military's Cyber Command, the Pentagon rolled out a new program in January aimed at forcing defence contractors to deal with points of vulnerability.

"We have written new cyber security standards that we are putting in all of our new contracts," said Lord. "We are looking at the defence industrial base and how they need to address cyber security and how we as a government can hold them accountable."

The initiative includes a cyber security "certification and accreditation" system, similar to the International Organization for Standardization.

Lord said it's not a one-size fits all solution and that companies looking to do business with the Pentagon will have to meet one of five levels of certification, depending upon the contract.

The defence industrial complexes of Canada, Britain and Australia are tightly stitched into the U.S. system. Lord said allies are looking at a similar measures which she hopes to see coordinated with American efforts.

"This is something we're talking with Canada about, with allies and partners, because a lot of us are doing the same thing," she said.

The problems with existing systems — software already in the field — is being dealt with aggressively. Contractors who are responsible for maintaining complex systems on warships and aircraft are being told by the Pentagon to close their potential security gaps.

"We are going to start shutting equipment down if they are not brought up to standard because every day we see [intelligence], we see how much has been compromised," Lord said.

Troy Crosby, head of the Canadian Department of National Defence's materiel branch, said Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada has launched a "cyber secure program" and there's a hope that the two countries can find a way to align their efforts.

Some analysts and critics in the U.S. have argued that contractors — even those that make cyber security a priority — will find the cost of meeting uniform standards prohibitive.

Beyond that, many major contractors have complex supply chains with many smaller companies that also would be required to spend substantial sums of money to keep up with evolving threats.

NEW BRUNSWICK
House of Nazareth backtracks on amount homeless will pay for place at shelter

CBC March 5, 20201 Comment
House of Nazareth officials held a news conference Thursday to backtrack on the fees they intend to charge people staying at the emergency shelter in Moncton and to chastise critics of their plan.

Jean Dubé, House of Nazareth executive director, and Nicolas Parisi, president of the board of directors, faced reporters, a handful of Moncton city staff and some front-line workers to explain how the fee structure will be set up.

Contrary to what Dubé told CBC News last week, anyone receiving income assistance from the province who also has money deducted by Social Development for a "shelter fee" will not be charged to stay at the emergency shelter.

Last Friday, Dubé said the "objective" was that residents would pay $300 a month, and he explained that residents on social assistance would have to pay starting on day one.

Shane Magee/CBC

But on Thursday, Dubé changed that, saying fees will not be charged during the first month of a person's stay, and residents will be given $144 toward a deposit if they move into more permanent housing.

"Once you've stayed more than a month, you will be charged accordingly, and if you have no money, you will not pay," he said.

Dubé also said a resident could be charged up to $300, but the total would be no more than 30 per cent of that person's income.

Some people staying at House of Nazareth receive pension money worth thousands of dollars a month, and they will have to pay the maximum amount, he said.

Dubé said that instead of charging rent to someone on social assistance who receives the basic amount of $537 per month from the government, he will ask the Department of Social Development to give the shelter $144 from that person's monthly cheque.

Jean Bertin, a spokesperson for Social Development, confirmed in an email that once the shelter starts charging residents, the "shelter fee" will no longer be deducted from their social assistance cheques.

He said the amount the province has been deducting for the shelter fee is 25 per cent of the total monthly cheque, which for some recipients means $144 deducted from a $576 cheque.

Shane Magee/CBC

Bertin said the shelter will be responsible for collecting any fees, but if a resident wants to sign over a portion of the social assistance money to go straight to House of Nazareth, that would be possible.

"This practice is already in place for other shelters, landlords and public utilities, for example," said Bertin.

'It's shameful, it's an insult'

Dubé shared his feelings about those who criticized House of Nazareth's plans to charge fees. Critics included residents and Charles Burrell, the Humanity Project founder who operated an emergency shelter last winter, and Trevor Goodwin, the senior director at YMCA ReConnect.

"I find that very unprofessional, and its shameful," Dubé said of the criticism.

He said organizations should be working together to combat homelessness, not fighting among themselves.

Dubé said he wouldn't name names, but added: "You know who you are."

House of Nazareth opened its new shelter, which can accommodate 115 people, earlier this winter.

Dubé has maintained since he first announced charging people to stay there that the fees are in the Albert Street shelter's business plan.

But he said the 15-year business plan would not be made public because it cost "several" thousand dollars and he didn't want another organization to use it.

"It's our plan, we paid for it, it's private and we're going to keep it to the board of directors."

Parisi said the fee plan was shared with the province and the federal government, but not with the City of Moncton because, "the contribution that we received from the city is thin."

The federal and provincial governments helped finance the purchase of the shelter building.

The city declined to comment but said the House of Nazareth asked for and received grants of $25,000 for 2019, 2020 and 2021.

Morneau says Ottawa will announce support for those quarantined due to COVID-19

The Canadian Press March 6, 2020



The federal government will provide financial help for quarantined Canadians over novel coronavirus concerns, and pad its budget contingency should the economic hit be prolonged and deep, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said Friday.

Details about those plans will be coming shortly, Morneau said, who also noted federal officials are mulling measures to insulate the economy from the effects of the outbreak that has now spread to more than 75 countries around the world.

The disease known as COVID-19 has roiled financial markets, spurring the Bank of Canada to take a deeper cut to its trend-setting interest rate this week than it originally envisioned. It has caused sharp declines in trade with China, a drop in oil prices, upended travel plans, and sickened dozens of Canadians and hundreds of thousands more globally.

The full effect COVID-19 will have on the national economy will depend on the depth and geographical spread of the coronavirus outbreak in Canada, Morneau said in a breakfast speech to the Canadian Club of Toronto.

Speaking afterwards, Morneau said the government has the fiscal wiggle room to help businesses through any challenges, as well as workers who may have to be away from work for any period of time.

He said the upcoming budget will have a "greater provision for risk" in the economy, and help with immediate health issues, while trying to decrease the federal debt as a percentage of the national economy, known as the debt-to-GDP ratio.

"In crafting a budget, we're going to need to balance all of those things — as we always do," Morneau told reporters.

"What I can tell you is we will maintain our fiscal firepower to deal with potential challenges down the road while ensuring that we are also dealing with the issues immediately."

In November, the government reduced the cushion for this fiscal year to $1.5 billion because data through two-thirds of the fiscal year suggested risk "as a whole has been reduced." The fall economic update had a $3 billion cushion in its projections for the new fiscal year that starts April 1.

The figure is projected revenues the government sets aside annually as a shock absorber if the money doesn't materialize due to an economic downturn. If untapped, it can go to pay down the federal debt.

The number counts against the deficit, which is projected to be $28.1 billion before accounting for any new spending promises.

CIBC chief economist Avery Shenfeld, in a note following Morneau's speech, suggested the finance minister shouldn't be tempted to cut spending or raise taxes to hit a deficit target. He added a one-time bump in federal health transfers to provinces may be in order to cover any increased costs from COVID-19, as well as direct fiscal stimulus to prod consumer spending, which the economy relies upon.

Morneau said the fiscal response here would account for domestic conditions and may look different than in other countries.

The federal NDP's health critic said Morneau's comment amounted to "announcing that you will announce something" in the face of immediate needs.

"People who can't afford to take a sick day need help right now," Don Davies said in a statement.

The Opposition Conservatives questioned how much the Liberals could muster in spending. Pat Kelly, the party's associate finance critic, said the Liberals failed to prepare for a downturn by running deep deficits during better economic times.

"Now the cupboard is bare as Canada's economy faces both a domestic economic crisis of capital flight, project cancellations and supply disruptions due to the illegal blockades, and the prospect of a global downturn triggered by the coronavirus," he said in a statement.

The blockades cancelled train service and prompted temporary layoffs as demonstrators across the country showed support for Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs who oppose construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline through their territory in British Columbia.

Morneau said he sees the issues around the blockades as being "largely resolved," but added, "will things happen again? I can't predict."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 6, 2020.

Tara Deschamps and Jordan Press, The Canadian Press

SASKATCHEWAN 

NDP accuses Premier Moe of interference and intimidation in school division teacher transfers

CBC March 5, 2020

The Saskatchewan NDP says Premier Scott Moe's attendance and advocacy regarding teacher transfers at a school board meeting in his community last June was "wholly inappropriate."

In June 2019, the Saskatchewan Rivers School Division, based in Prince Albert, held a closed-door meeting. The meeting was attended by MLAs, including Moe who is the MLA for Rosthern-Shellbrook.

On Thursday, NDP education critic Carla Beck said emails the party received through a Freedom of Information request showed the premier was pressuring the school board to overturn its decision.

Moe denied he was attempting to pressure the board. He said the issue resulted in the most feedback he had received from constituents during his time as an MLA and that is why he wanted to hear from the SRSD.

Beck said Moe's role in the meeting amounted to political interference in a human resources matter.

"I do think that that intimidation by the premier was wholly inappropriate in this case."

Beck said she drew that conclusion from what was in the redacted emails and the fact the premier "holds the purse strings" for school divisions.

In response to the allegations, Moe said he would not apologize for taking part in the meeting and said he was performing his role as the area MLA.

"The premier believes he is also the MLA for Rosthern-Shellbrook," Moe said during question period Thursday.

Moe said he could not recall if he said he was there in his role as an MLA but said it was not unusual for him to attend meetings.

"I can't recall exactly how they reacted. I expressed my point on behalf of the constituents. They expressed, I believe, that they weren't going to change this policy."

When asked if he raised potential consequences for not changing the decision Moe said, "absolutely not."

The board ultimately transferred the four teachers.

Redacted emails reveal little detail

One of the emails written following the June meeting was from Robert Bratvold, the director of education for the school division. He wrote, "a much more urgent topic is the Premier's position on [redacted]."

A second email written after the meeting from another official said, "we had a very interesting meeting with the premier and MLAs for our area. We could tell the premier was anxious to get through the agenda and move on to the [redacted]."

The email ended, "don't stress over this. Think of the civil rights mantra 'we shall overcome.' Tomorrow is another day."

Bratvold said Thursday that because the meeting was closed he was not going to comment on the discussions. He also did not say if he was intimidated by the premier but said, "it's a really rare thing for me to feel intimidated or pressured."

Bratvold said the board has "open, honest and frank" discussions with MLAs and "sometimes we see things differently."

He said it is common for the board to meet with MLAs at least once a year.

"Our MLAs do a really good job of making clear they are there as MLAs representing their constituents," Bratvold said.

MOHAWK CEDE TERRITORY

Cabinet approves $240M Mohawk settlement for 132-year-old land claim

The Canadian Press March 5, 2020


OTTAWA — The federal cabinet has approved an agreement that will see Canada pay nearly $240 million in compensation to the Mohawks of Akwesasne to settle a land claim.

The agreement is the result of decades of negotiations between the Mohawks of Akwesasne and the federal government over an 8,000-hectare parcel of land in the most westerly portion of southern Quebec, on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River.

The territory is known in the province as Dundee, but is recognized by local Indigenous residents by its traditional name of Tsikaristisere.

In 1981, the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne filed a claim asking for the land to be returned , asserting that an alleged surrender of the land in 1888 was invalid because they never intended to surrender it.

The Mohawks have long maintained they intended to gradually reclaim the land rather than permanently hand it over to the federal government.

In 2015, the federal government offered a global settlement of just under $240 million in compensation and offered to give the community the right to have up to 18,282 acres of land added to the Akwesasne reserve, if the First Nation buys parcels on the open market.

A referendum was held in December 2018 among Mohawks of Akwesasne to decide whether to accept the offer and 80 per cent of those who participated voted in favour.

On Feb. 29, cabinet authorized Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett to sign the settlement agreement on behalf of the government of Canada.

Through the settlement agreement with Ottawa, once they receive the money, the Mohawks of Akwesasne effectively renounce their claim to disputed land and confirm that the 1888 surrender was valid.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 5, 2020.

ONTARIO
Teachers' unions move ahead with job action despite new government offer
The Canadian Press March 5, 2020

TORONTO — Ontario's premier ramped up criticisms of the province's teachers on Thursday, demanding they resume regular work even as major unions forged ahead with widespread strikes.

Doug Ford targetted all four major teachers' unions during debate at the provincial legislature, which took place as educators marched around the building.

The unions representing Ontario's French-language and English Catholic teachers both held provincewide strikes on Thursday. Public high school teachers at nine boards also walked off the job as part of a series of rotating, one-day strikes.

The walkouts came two days after the Progressive Conservative government tabled proposals meant to address two long-standing union demands. Education Minister Stephen Lecce offered to increase average high school class sizes from 22 last year to 23 next year — instead of the government's original target of 28 — and allow an opt-out for e-learning courses the Tories previously said would be mandatory.

Ford said Thursday the moves should have paved the way to deals with the unions, but because it hasn't yet resulted in progress, it shows the real issue keeping the parties from an agreement is teachers' pay.

"My message to the unions is that the party is over with the taxpayers money," Ford said. "Pack your bags and get back into the classroom."

The teachers' unions have said they would not sign a deal that included class size increases and mandatory online learning — two of the cost-cutting measures the government said were necessary to balance the books.

The province has offered teachers a one per cent pay increase, while the unions are asking for closer to two per cent.

Lecce said Thursday the government has made "reasonable moves" at the table that would effectively freeze class sizes, offer a parental opt out for online learning, and a commitment to full-day kindergarten.

"It's time for the unions to get off the lawn and get back to the table," he said.

Meanwhile, teachers with the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation and Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association carried banners and signs around the legislature Thursday morning, calling on the government to bargain in good faith.

OSSTF President Harvey Bischof said the government's latest offer would still result in the loss of nearly 1,800 teacher jobs and thousands of course offerings.

He said the government presented its latest position with "no flexibility", leading the union to conclude they could not return to talks.

"They clearly laid out, essentially, take it or leave it proposals that cut off any avenue to a deal," he said. "There are several aspects of what we were talking about they had established as essentially bottom lines with no flexibility."

Bischof said he believes parents continue to support the teachers in the tense contract talks, despite the new government position on class size and e-learning.

"I'm not concerned that the public will suddenly decide that they want to support cuts to the quality of their children's education," he said. "(Lecce is) still talking about cutting thousands and thousands of course options out of the system."

OSSTF currently has no dates scheduled to return to the bargaining table. Nor does the association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens, the union representing French-language teachers.

OECTA was in talks with the government Thursday and did not immediately provide comment.

The Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario said it will escalate its job action toward the end of the month in light of the fact that no talks are currently scheduled with the government.

The union did not provide details on what form that escalation would take, but said it would not occur until March 23. It said more details would be released on Monday.

"We will do what it takes to stop the minister's rhetoric and get his negotiating team to come to the table with proposals that will result in a fair deal for students, student learning and educators," ETFO President Sam Hammond said in a statement.



NDP education critic Marit Stiles said the government needs to get back to the bargaining table.

"The minister keeps negotiating at a podium and a microphone and he should be at the bargaining table with education workers," she said.

Interim Liberal Leader John Fraser questioned whether the apparent change in government position is actually a concession at all.

"It still looks like they're making class sizes larger," he said. "It's unclear if the commitment they've made runs the length of the contract. It's one thing to say it, it's another thing to sit down at the table and say 'here are the words'."

Green party Leader Mike Schreiner said even a class size increase from 22 to 23 students will result in teacher layoffs and hurt students.

"The government has created chaos in our education system," he said. "I respect parents, teachers, students, education workers, for standing up and speaking out against it."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 5, 2020.

Shawn Jeffords, The Canadian Press

Plant-based? Compostable? What you need to know about bioplastics

CBC March 5, 2020

Plastics are an integral part of our lives, but they also pose some big environmental problems.

They generate a lot of waste, most of which isn't recycled. A recent study from Environment and Climate Change Canada found that even in our country, only nine per cent of plastics are recycled — the rest is either incinerated, landfilled or ends up in the environment, where it can harm wildlife such as whales, turtles or seabirds. Those are some of the reasons the federal government plans to ban many single-use plastics by 2021.

But the plastic problem is global. As of 2015, humankind had produced 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic, one study estimated, of which 70 per cent had already become waste.

Plastic production and its disposal by incineration also generates greenhouse gas emissions linked to climate change. A 2019 study from the Center for International Environmental Law estimates that if plastics production grows at its current rate, emissions from plastics could reach 1.2 gigatonnes per year by 2030, equivalent to the emissions of 295 new 500-megawatt coal-fired power plants.

"Bioplastics" aim to curb both those environmental impacts.

They're one of the solutions touted by Canadian supermarkets who say they've taken steps to reduce the massive amounts of plastic waste they generate, after a CBC Marketplace report found they've been slow to act. Marketplace will share their update on plastic waste in supermarkets Friday.

In the meantime, here's what you need to know about bioplastics.

'Bioplastic' can mean 3 different things.

Plastics are moldable materials that are typically made from long chains of smaller molecules joined together, which is why their names often start with the prefix "poly" — for example polystyrene or polyethylene.

Traditionally, they've been made from fossil fuels and take a very long time to break down in the environment — sometimes hundreds of years.

Bioplastics are plastics that can be:


Biodegradable, meaning they can be broken down by microbes into natural substances such as water, carbon dioxide and compost under certain conditions.


Both biobased and biodegradable (some examples in the first bullet point fall into this category).

Craig Chivers/CBC

Many bioplastics aren't biodegradable. And some are chemically identical to regular plastics.

The only difference between biopolyethylene or bio-PET (used in Coke's "PlantBottle") and regular polyethylene or PET is they use a raw ingredient from plants (ethanol) instead of fossil fuels to make the same material.

Those kinds of plastics are known as "drop-in" plastics because they can be dropped in as direct replacements for traditional plastics and mixed with them in any quantity (the PlantBottle originally included 30 per cent plant-based ingredients and 70 per cent regular PET that still represents 7 per cent of the company's bottles sold around the world. Coca-Cola has since also made a 100 per cent bio-PET version).

Because they're identical, they take just as long as traditional plastics to break down.

Plastics made mostly or entirely from fossil fuels can be called 'biobased' and 'bioplastics', respectively.

To be labelled a "biobased" product in the U.S. under Department of Agriculture rules (Canada has no equivalent rules), it only need contain a minimum of 25 per cent carbon from biological as opposed to fossil sources — that is, up to 75 per cent of the carbon can come from fossil fuel sources.

In fact, a plastic that is made 100 per cent from fossil fuels can still be considered a bioplastic if it's biodegradable.

For example, a plastic called PBAT (polybutylene adipate terephthalate), sold by chemical company BASF under the name "ecoflex," is a completely fossil fuel-derived plastic that's certified compostable and biodegradable — and is therefore considered a bioplastic.

The Coca-Cola Company

Bioplastics can help reduce carbon emissions. But not always a lot.

Bio-based bioplastics typically generate fewer carbon emissions over their life cycle compared to traditional plastics. That's because growing plants suck in and store carbon, which is released later if the bioplastics are burned or decomposed.

"You're not adding extra carbon dioxide to the atmosphere," said Amar Mohanty, distinguished research chair in sustainable biomaterials at the University of Guelph, who has been developing and researching bioplastic and biobased materials for more than 30 years.

In practice, things are more complicated than that because energy is used to grow crops and for transportation, manufacturing, processing and distribution — and that may generate emissions.

How big the difference in emissions is between the two can vary a lot depending on the types of biobased ingredients used, how they were grown, how locally the bioplastic was manufactured, what happened to it at the end of its useful life and exactly what plastics are being compared.

For example, one study found the bioplastic PHA, made from corn leaves, stalks and husks, generates 80 per cent fewer emissions per kilogram over its lifetime, compared to fossil-derived PET or polystyrene.

John Schultz/Quad-City Times/Associated Press

But a 2018 study by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre found that in Europe there would be no real difference in lifetime emissions between traditional PET bottles and those made from bioplastics. That's largely because regular PET is manufactured in Europe, while bio-PET is mostly manufactured in the U.S. and lots of emissions would be generated during transport.

As mentioned, some bio-based plastics are not biodegradable and can remain for hundreds of years. Some researchers have argued burying such plastics at their end of life is one way to store carbon captured by plants and keep it from getting into the atmosphere.

Compostable plastics often end their life in places where they don't break down.

A benefit of degradable or compostable plastics is that they can theoretically reduce harm to wildlife and ecosystems caused by traditional plastics and reduce the need for landfill space, which is a problem in some countries. That's because they can be broken down completely into carbon dioxide, water and compost under certain conditions without leaving behind microplastics. Mohanty describes it as "natural recycling."

That said, even popular compostable plastics such as PLA (polylactic acid), which is used to make drinking cups, clamshell containers and plastic cutlery, are not accepted by most municipal and commercial composting programs in Canada and are typically sent to landfill, where one study estimated they would take more than a century to break down and another found they would release the potent greenhouse gas methane during decomposition.

Nor do they necessarily break down in a timely fashion in places like the ocean (where they pose the biggest threat to wildlife) or the soil. Ecoflex, PLA, and two other kinds of biodegradable plastics all survived a year in either seawater or freshwater without breaking down, a 2017 University of Bayreuth study showed. A 2019 University of Plymouth study found that "compostable" bags buried in soil were still there after 27 months, and "biodegradable" bags could still hold groceries after three months in the ocean.

David Donnelly/CBC

Bioplastics are often recyclable, but often aren't recycled.

As might be expected, bio-based versions of recyclable plastics such as bio-PET are recyclable with the regular, fossil-fuel based versions of the same plastic.

PLA is also theoretically recyclable. It's not currently accepted by most recycling programs, but that may change in the future.

Bioplastics could potentially have environmental drawbacks.

A number of studies have calculated that huge net emissions are generated if rainforests, peatlands, savannahs or grasslands are converted to agriculture in order to grow crops to produce bioplastics.

But bioplastics are only a tiny fraction of plastic in the world today.

In 2019, land used to grow crops for bioplastics represented just 0.016 per cent of farmland, according to an estimate by European Bioplastics, which represents the bioplastics industry in Europe.

They're just one per cent of the 359 million tonnes of plastic produced around the world each year, estimates European Bioplastics.

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Princess Anne kidnap attempt: Boxer who intervened sells medal to pay for funeral

Sky News March 4, 2020

The George Medal awarded to a former heavyweight boxer for rushing to Princess Anne's aid during an attempted armed kidnapping has been sold to help his family pay for his funeral.

Ronnie Russell, 72, sold the medal to a private collector in the UK for £50,000, well above the expected sale price of £20,000.

Mr Russell said: "For something I thought that I would never sell, I never believed it would sell for this amount.

"I am absolutely blown away with this price and it gives me opportunities to do things that I never thought we could."

The medal was sold along with related items including a letter from 10 Downing Street informing Mr Russell of the award, a telegram from the Princess Royal, and a letter from the Metropolitan Police commissioner.

Mr Russell won the accolade for his bravery in 1974, having intervened when Ian Ball tried to take the royal hostage at gunpoint in central London on 20 March that year.

Anne and her then husband Mark Phillips were heading to Buckingham Palace from a charity event on Pall Mall when their car was forced to stop by Ball's Ford Escort, who jumped out and opened fire with a pistol.

The couple were unharmed during the incident, but Anne's personal detective and chauffeur were both shot - as was a police constable and a journalist.

Mr Russell, who measured 6ft 2in and 17 stone, saw the violence unfolding and intervened by punching Ball and then acting as the princess' human shield.

At the time, the then 28-year-old fighter - who boxed at the same Bethnal Green club as the Kray twins - had been driving back home to Kent via Pall Mall and thought he had come across a road rage incident.

His decision to intervene may have been crucial, as Anne and Captain Phillips were only being guarded by one royal protection officer on the night.

Security procedures surrounding the Royal Family have since been overhauled.

Ball was eventually restrained and arrested, and later charged with attempted murder, wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and attempting to kidnap Anne.

He pleaded guilty to two attempted murder charges and the kidnapping charge before an Old Bailey judge sent him to a psychiatric hospital, where he remains under the Mental Health Act at Broadmoor.

His aim had been to kidnap Anne and place a £3m ransom on her head.

Anne famously discussed the incident during an appearance on chat show Parkinson in 1984, saying she was "scrupulously polite" to Ball because she thought it would "silly to be rude at that stage".

Mr Russell, a married father-of-two from Medway in Kent, was honoured by the Queen on 26 November 1974, who had said at the time: "The medal is from the Queen, but I want to thank you as Anne's mother".

He admits he feels like he's "betraying" the monarch by selling his medal but told ITV's This Morning on Tuesday that he did not want to leave his family in a situation where they would have to pay for his funeral.

He said his health had deteriorated after suffering several strokes.

He added: "I feel very sad about it. I was honoured receiving it, but I have been forced into the situation."

Mr Russell, who lives in Bristol, says he will always be proud of having been awarded the medal as he "honestly thought that I was going to die" when he came to the couple's aid on Pall Mall.

He recalled: "I still believe that the life of a member of the Royal Family is much more important than mine. I just stood rigid and braced myself, waiting for the shot I expected to come and hit me in the back."