Alberta tech companies blossom during pandemic's economic drought

© Helcim/Supplied Calgary company, Helcim had a strong year despite the economic challenges of the pandemic.

Alberta tech companies are finding ways to thrive in the middle of the economic desert caused by COVID-19.

At a time when many other businesses are suffering, this sector has found a way to harness the pandemic to grow the industry.

"It has been beneficial to us because a lot of companies recognize that they had either outdated systems or systems that didn't support remote working or [were] looking to streamline processes that normally take place in an office," said Vince O'Gorman, the CEO of Vog App Developers.


Calgary companies Vog and Helcim Inc. were each able to grow their workforce by about 40 per cent during the pandemic.

"There's a big shift ... and we benefit from that digitization," Nicolas Beique, Helcim's founder, said.

Calgary Economic Development has seen huge successes from the tech industry during the pandemic, including the $1.1 billion investment deal scored by Benevity.

"It feels like it's their day in the spotlight for sure," said Mary Moran, president of CED.

"We're still at what I would call the dawn of our development in our tech ecosystem. But we really have ambitious goals to grow it to 10 times the size it is today."

CED projects that Calgary businesses will spend $7.5 billion on digital transformations between 2019 and 2022 — and that tech sector hiring will double the pace of the rest of Alberta's economy.

Jobs, Economy and Innovation Minister, Doug Schweitzer's office said while a specific breakdown is difficult, tech companies in their analysis appeared to be weathering the pandemic better than other sectors.

The minister's office says Calgary and Edmonton both broke records for venture capital investments in 2020.

"The tech sector in Alberta has fortunately seen continued momentum and we expect that they will see even greater investment in 2021," Schweitzer's office said.
Federal, provincial aid critical during 2020

Visionstate Corp. saw their sanitation "internet of things" services skyrocket.

"I almost hate to say this, but the fact is, is that because our technology is focused on cleaning, the pandemic has made it more relevant than ever prior to the pandemic," CEO John Putters said.

The first months of the pandemic presented challenges as spending hit a standstill. All the companies CBC News spoke to said they used the federal emergency programs for at least one month.

"I think that we would have been seriously challenged to get through those periods without the financing and I would say it was probably critical to our existence moving forward," Putters said.

The federal department of finance says that as of December, $6.8 billion was provided to Alberta businesses through the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy. While a further breakdown of aid by sector was unavailable, the department said 277 small and medium sized businesses in the province also received grants through the Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP), which supports technology innovation projects.

The provincial government had 726 applications from professional, scientific and technical services businesses for its Small and Medium Enterprise Relaunch Grant as of December, representing four per cent of total applications.

In addition, millions more are being deployed to tech companies through other Alberta government programs intended to support small business innovation.

Calgary's gaming community has also seen benefits from the pandemic.

"We're seeing a lot of interesting projects kind of pop up that may not have happened before," Mike Lohaus, president of the Calgary Game Developers Association, said.

The association is trying to find ways to showcase the new games to attract investments and attention to Calgary developers. However, the members have found funding hard to come by.
A fragile future for tech

The tech CEOs fear this newfound success is precarious.

"Alberta's got nothing but growth potential ahead of it. I think it's gone through so many difficult economic periods that with the tech sector being so new and growing, there isn't that much of a foundation to it. People are building foundations at this point," Beique said.

And as companies find success, U.S. firms are watching for talent and businesses to poach.

"There needs to be more tax incentive, more encouragement to employ people here, not lose the dream to other companies that are out of the U.S.," said O'Gorman.

"The market is still pretty fragile for tech."

Each agreed that while the current support from the province is helpful, a closer look needs to be taken at how those dollars could be more effective. And they said more competitive tax incentives or credits for companies and investors is needed.

"When they're making IT grants or investments ... make those investments directly into businesses," Beique said. "There's been a lot of push for different accelerators and incubators and things like that. But unfortunately, those middlemen don't always translate into giving the cash needed to small tech companies."

Putters is equally concerned about the U.S. having the capacity to offer better incentives.

"That sort of frightens me because we have a lot of very smart people and you certainly hate to see them go leave the province looking for opportunities elsewhere," he said.

"It requires investment into education and the right programs."

The companies are working to build on the momentum established during the pandemic, but is wary that without proper support Alberta's tech industry will fall short of its full potential.

Wikipedia unveils 'code of conduct' to stem misinformation

Wikipedia on Tuesday unveiled a "universal code of conduct" aimed at stemming abuse, misinformation and manipulation on the global online encyclopedia.

© Lionel BONAVENTURE / AFP Wikipedia celebrated its 20th anniversary on January 15, having become among the world's top 15 websites with an estimated 1.7 billion visitors per month.

The new code was released by the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that administers Wikipedia, expanding on its existing policies to create a set of community standards to combat "negative behavior," according to a statement.


The new policy aims to thwart efforts to distort and manipulate content on Wikipedia, the largest online encyclopedia which is managed largely by volunteers using "crowdsourced" information.

"Our new universal code of conduct was developed for the new internet era, on the premise that we want our contributor communities to be positive, safe and healthy environments for everyone involved," said Katherine Maher, chief executive of the foundation.

"This code will be a binding document for anyone that participates in our projects providing a consistent enforcement process for dealing with harassment, abuse of power and deliberate attempts to manipulate facts."

The 1,600-word code was developed with input from some 1,500 Wikipedia volunteers representing five continents and 30 languages, and includes clear definitions of harassment and unacceptable behavior.

The code includes language aimed at preventing the abuse of power and influence to intimidate others, and the deliberate introduction of false or inaccurate content.

The move comes after Wikipedia celebrated its 20th anniversary on January 15, having become among the world's top 15 websites with an estimated 1.7 billion visitors per month.

The move comes amid heightened pressure on internet platforms to stem manipulation and disinformation campaigns which may be used for political ends or to promote discord or violence.

Canada backs Enbridge Line 3 pipeline project as opposition mounts in Minnesota

Canada’s federal government is voicing its support for Calgary-based Enbridge’s Line 3 project in northern Minnesota as opposition to the pipeline’s construction intensifies.

Canadian Ambassador to the United States Kirsten Hillman has “underscored” to both federal and state-level U.S. officials the importance to both nations of “energy security and the free flow of resources over our shared border,” according to the office of Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan.

“We support the Line 3 Replacement Project," O’Regan’s press secretary Ian Cameron told Canada’s National Observer, noting that construction was complete on the Canadian side of the border. “We look forward to working with the secretary of energy in the U.S. on this and other issues, once they are confirmed.”

The comments come as the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden makes fighting the climate crisis a top priority, already moving swiftly to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline, over Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s objections. Opponents of Line 3 want Biden to follow up that decision with another that yanks a water permit for the pipeline.

It means Trudeau’s cabinet is on the opposite side politically as some of the more progressive politicians in the U.S., such as Rep. Ilhan Omar, who represents Minnesota's fifth district and is the whip for the Congressional Progressive Caucus. On Jan. 30, Omar met with Indigenous leaders organizing against Line 3.

“We owe it to future generations, to the Indigenous communities we've signed treaties with and to every living being on this planet to stop building fossil fuel infrastructure,” Omar said. Her visit was followed by the release of an open letter in the Star Tribune, the largest newspaper in Minnesota, that was signed by famous music acts like Bon Iver and Pearl Jam.

Enbridge is in the process of building a bigger Line 3, its 1960s-era pipeline that travels 1,660 kilometres from Edmonton, Alta., across the Canada-U.S. border, through Minnesota to the western edge of Lake Superior, where it feeds Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline and its Great Lakes pipeline network.

After many decades of use, Line 3 has been deteriorating and its capacity has dropped. Enbridge is replacing it with a wider pipe that it says will carry much more oil — 760,000 barrels per day of light, medium and heavy crude — to refineries in the Midwest and Eastern Canada.

In December, the company started construction on the pipeline segment in Minnesota after finishing construction on other segments on the Canadian side and in Wisconsin and North Dakota.

The new pipeline would “improve the integrity of the pipeline network, reduce the transportation of oil by rail and on public roads, and increase environmental safety," said Cameron.

Trudeau spoke with U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris on Monday, and while the prime minister’s readout of the conversation did not mention any specific pipeline by name, it said he underlined “the importance of strengthening North American energy security.”

The pipeline has faced mounting opposition from critics who point out that new fossil fuel infrastructure will delay the energy transition needed to slow the climate crisis. The pipeline also traverses ecologically sensitive lands, and opponents say it would “threaten drinking water for millions” and trample Indigenous rights.

The Red Lake Band of Chippewa, the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, the Sierra Club and Honor the Earth have filed a lawsuit asking for an injunction to stop construction. There is also an opposition camp near Park Rapids, Minn.

“These projects are not really viable,” said Lindsey Bacigal, director of communications at Indigenous Climate Action. “If it gets to the point where it gets cancelled, I think it’s really symbolic and representative of the fact that pipelines are being replaced with better and cleaner sources of energy.”

Bacigal said there has been cross-border social media and other forms of digital support for Honor the Earth and other Indigenous climate opposition in the absence of more support on the ground due to health restrictions from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

She said the Canadian federal government’s support for Line 3 means “multiple members of government are really just doubling down on the oil industry.”

Line 3 opponents want Biden to revoke a key federal permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Nov. 23, 2020 covering impact on waters from construction during the Line 3 replacement project. The corps said it had determined the project was in the public interest and was also “compliant with all federal laws and regulations.”

Enbridge says the work is necessary for safety reasons, and the company also notes the project passed six years’ worth of permit and regulatory reviews, including dozens of public comment meetings and an Obama-era consent decree.

“Enbridge has demonstrated ongoing respect for tribal sovereignty,” said Enbridge spokesperson Juli Kellner. She said Line 3 was routed outside of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Reservation and through the reservation of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa “as the result of negotiations with tribal leadership.”

“The project is already providing significant economic benefits in Minnesota for counties, small businesses, Native American communities, and union members,” said Kellner.

Enbridge has spent $180 million on the project “specifically with tribal nations, communities and contractors,” Kellner added, and 300 Indigenous men and women are working on the project, or nine per cent of its workforce.

Bacigal said that kind of approach highlights how Indigenous communities are put into paradoxical situations when it comes to fossil fuel infrastructure.

“We have to choose between something that can maybe help to prop up our economy, but then is going to violate the lands and the waters and can have these long-term impacts,” she said.

Carl Meyer / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada’s National Observer

Carl Meyer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, National Observer

BC First Nation,  National Farmers Union renew calls to stop Site C DAM


The West Moberly First Nation as well as the National Farmers Union have renewed calls for the province to discontinue building the Site C dam.

The call from West Moberly comes with a request for the government to release the dam’s latest construction progress reports as well as a report prepared by special advisor Peter Milburn.

Chief Roland Willson says the province's failure to sit down and talk with West Moberly about the escalating costs and safety concerns about the estimated $10.7-billion project could lead to further legal action.

“Our position hasn’t changed. We’re still willing to sit down and speak with B.C. about alternatives to Site C, trying to get them off of destroying the valley,” Willson said.

“They don’t have to destroy this valley, infringing our treaty rights. All of this will be for naught. We could have avoided all of this if we sat down and had real discussions on how to meet energy needs.”

West Moberly is currently suing the Province, BC Hydro, and Canada over the project, alleging Site C has violated its rights under Treaty 8. A 120-day Supreme Court trial is expected to start in March 2022.

The province has turned to two international experts to review the latest findings from Milburn's review.

Willson said he’s baffled why the Province continues to support a project that was also put before the BC Utilities Commission for review.

“When you look at what the BCUC said, they could have scrapped the project and came away clean,” Willson said of the government. “Maybe it’s a thing of pride with them now, maybe they don’t want to admit they were wrong.”

The NFU meanwhile began a letter writing campaign last month, asking farmers and citizens to voice their concerns about the project.

Bess Legault, a Peace region farmer and the NFU's women’s president, said COVID-19 has exposed a need for local food security. She said the alluvial soils and microclimate of the Peace Valley has the capacity to feed more than one million people a year, indefinitely.

“There is still time for the provincial government to course correct away from Site C in favour of a thriving and climate-compatible agricultural future in the Peace Region,” said Legault.

In November, the NFU passed a resolution calling on the Province to stop the project, citing geotechnical issues, Treaty 8 rights violations, and the loss of farmland as primary concerns.

The NFU is proposing a collaborative strategy with colleges and universities to form a co-operative in the Peace and advance organic farming and climate-adaptive agriculture. Legault co-ordinates a community food network in the region called the Northern Co-Hort.

As of Monday, there were 989 workers reported at the Site C camp.

Email Tom Summer at tsummer@ahnfsj.ca.

Tom Summer, Local Journalism Initiative, Alaska Highway News

INDIA & BELARUS FACE MASS UPRISINGS

Nutrien says India's low potash prices 'settled at the highest levels of government'

The overseas marketing arm of Saskatchewan’s two largest potash producers takes a critical view of a deal between India and the Belarusian Potash Company (BPC).

Canpotex Ltd., which is co-owned by Mosaic Co. and Nutrien Ltd., says it won't follow the lead of a potash deal between India and Belarus that falls "significantly below current market levels."

Nutrien is backing Canpotex's move to avoid following those prices in potential sales to India, according to a Monday news release.

BPC's agreement with India "was settled at the highest government level with limited commercial involvement,” said Ken Seitz, the head of Nutrien's potash operations, all of which are in Saskatchewan.

The deal with India is for $247 per tonne, which is $17 above the 2020 price of $230 per tonne, Scotiabank analyst Ben Isaacson wrote in a Friday note. Suppliers were seeking a price increase of $40 to $50, according to the note.

Nutrien potash sales to North America are filled through April, on top of offshore sales with Canpotex, a Monday news release said. Significantly, none of those offshore commitments include shipments to India or China, it added.

"This contract price in no way reflects the market based pricing in the current key offshore potash markets which, like other fertilizers, is being supported by strong global crop fundamentals," Seitz said in a prepared statement.

As a commodity, potash prices can range widely, noted University of Saskatchewan professor Brooke Dobni, who studies the industry. Companies like Nutrien may try to manage supply to account for lower prices, he said.

If there are lower prices, "there's going to be less profits coming in for people in Saskatchewan," he said.

Potash suppliers K+S and Uralkali also issued press releases stating they wouldn't follow those prices, Isaacson said. Releasing those statements makes it unlikely that suppliers like Nutrien would "then go and accept a price increase of a few dollars more," he said in a Monday note, but added "it's not a slam dunk case."

He went on to say that there's little harm in "the producers aggressively posturing in a supplier's market, where most producers are sold out over the next couple of months."

However, any pushback from suppliers may be blunted, with the spot price in Southeast Asia in the mid-$240s, he said. China has only paid more than that target once in the past decade — and it was higher by $5, he noted.

"(Despite) the gamesmanship," BMO analyst Joel Jackson wrote in a Monday note, he expects the companies to eventually settle at the Indian price.

"We’ve seen this movie before in which major suppliers issue public statements indicating a contract price settlement from a competitor is too low, though the history is against the suppliers."

Nick Pearce, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The StarPhoenix

Donald Trump is following the Confederate script for a 'Lost Cause' battle for cultural validation: historian

History News Network
February 02, 2021


Donald Trump Jr. and Donald Trump (Shutterstock)

President Donald Trump has answered speculation about what he would do after his electoral defeat. His actions were his words of provocation. As pragmatist philosophers have pointed out, including William James, choices of words are important actions. Trump's script is akin to the story of the southern Lost Cause after the Civil War, when the defeated Confederacy turned military loss into cultural victory, as historian Karen Cox has observed.
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The ridicule, fear, and anger circulating across the political spectrum are all valuable for Trump.

To the ridicule, he presents a stern face ready to wear this scorn with pride; and he presents supreme confidence despite limited evidence for electoral foul play and despite court decisions repeatedly denying his efforts to overturn the election.
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He has been inviting fear—over whether he would actually leave the White House with ominous rumors of a possible coup now enacted. Trump's brash and elusive approaches resemble those of French President Charles de Gaulle and US President Richard Nixon who cultivated madmen reputations. They would each keep all around them guessing, so no one could tell what he might do.




The anger in Trump supporters has been useful in its focused energy, but even this could die away without a storyline, a cause to keep the pot boiling.

The efforts in Trump's lost cause after defeat in the 2020 election include a narrative already appealing to many of his supporters, in a region where he is very popular. In the eleven states of the former Confederacy, Trump won in a landslide. Compared to Joseph Biden's 7-million-vote margin nationally, Trump gained more than 3 million more votes than the former Vice President and a dominating 82% of the electoral vote in the south.

When the Confederates lost the Civil War, they left the battlefield and took to a contest for the hearts and minds of the American people. The Richmond journalist Edward Pollard, who coined the phrase "The Lost Cause" in a book of that name in 1867, called it "the War of Ideas." Fully conceding military defeat and the "restoration of the union," he presented a "Southern History… approved by the most distinguished Confederate leaders." Pollard called his work "a (severely just) account of the war" designed "to satisfy curiosity … and to form public opinion." And that it did, serving as the opening salvo on the culture front with Lost Cause stories, paintings, and prints, and later movies and political movements, most prominently Gone With the Wind (the novel of 1936 made into a movie in 1939) and southern resistance to integration in the 1950s and 1960s.

On the surface, the Lost Cause narrative presented the softer side of the Confederacy, with depictions of the genteel Old South before the war and the tactical brilliance of dashing Confederate commanders during the war. In addition to its sentimentality, this new regional identity constructed from the ruins of defeat an idealized social hierarchy, with southern gentlemen equally at home driving their slaves and riding their horses. The glove of gentility covered a stern fist of racial power, with African Americans bluntly and often brutally denied their rights.

Although Trump lacks military service, he presents himself with a similar mix of sentimentality and toughness. At rallies, he has a chummy rapport with his supporters while delivering blistering attacks on all who step between him and "making America great again." Trump's response to the election makes little sense unless considering his similar effort to wage culture war in the wake of defeat. With the insurrectionists on Capitol Hill lauded by many Americans while the rest of the country reels in horror, get ready for Lost Cause 2.0, Trump style.

Dateline: 1865. The straggling end of the war matched the bitterness of the conflict. Large Union armies pursued starving southern soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia until their surrender April 9 at Appomattox Courthouse in central Virginia. The Army of Tennessee, pursued further east, surrendered in North Carolina April 26. The Florida capital, Tallahassee, surrendered on May 10. Out west, slave owners in Texas kept news of Union victory and emancipation from their slaves until June 19, which began the Juneteenth tradition in celebration of African American liberation. Eighteen days after the December 6 ratification of the 13th Amendment formalizing the end of slavery, the Ku Klux Klan formed, on Christmas Eve, in backlash to their freedom. This secret society began as a repurposed cause for Confederate guerilla warfare. General Robert E. Lee spoke bluntly to his loyal troops, acknowledging that they were "compelled to yield" and now should "return to their homes." Trump was not as explicit, still not conceding even while asking his armed supporters to "Go home in peace," and offering a benediction for their cause, his cause: "We love you. You're very special." Even the stern speech of Marse Robert did not prevent the KKK from redirecting their militancy from battlefields to terrorist attacks on their enemies: freed slaves, Union soldiers, and politicians who supported them.

With Lincoln assassinated on April 15th of 1865 and many in his Republican Party ready to bring transformative changes to southern society, the prostrate movement for the defeated Confederacy was ripe for new ways to understand their bleak situation. Pollard told the story of the south with the now-familiar theory that, within the national union, "each state retains its sovereignty." And he simply assumed African American status as chattel. He coldly called emancipation "spoliation" with the people freed cited as "property taken away," mere dollars lost to white southerners. In the last weeks of the war, the desperate Confederacy even started to enlist slaves as soldiers. In a backhanded acknowledgement of African American humanity, Pollard observed with yawning and painful understatement, "whites had much greater interest in the issue …compared to Negro troops."

Pollard's explanation for Confederate defeat provided an outline for Trump's post-election efforts. Pollard downplayed the larger armies and greater resources of the north. Instead, the south lost because of "mal-administration" and "the general demoralization of the people." Pollard's points anticipate the narrative of Trump's response to the November 2020 results.

Lost Cause 2.0, Chapter 1, Blame Disastrous Mal-Administration: In the 2020 election, although the massive voting apparatus worked remarkably well, even with the pandemic raging, there were a few mistakes. Their rarity has not been Trump's focus. Attention on problems is the Lost Cause strategy, even after the problems have been corrected or shown to be exaggerated, even by Trump supporters. For example, a handful of early voting ballots in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, less than ten in each state, were indeed discarded without counting. When informed that the few found in a Wisconsin river were blank, without any voter choice, Trump used these examples and others as reason to call voting systems "a whole big scam," and he continued in the same vein after the election, including with unsubstantiated claims that in Georgia, "ballots were dropped mysteriously, … dead people voted, … and 3,000 pounds of ballots … [were] shredded." His most ardent supporters maintain his cause; the videos by the president's attorney, "Rudy Giuliani's Common Sense," display presumed evidence of fraud by election workers. The comment of Maricopa, Arizona, Board of Supervisors Chairman Clint Hickman, a Republican, has been typical of the national response: the charges are a "slap in the face" to elections officials.


Lost Cause 2.0, Chapter 2, After the Contest, Boost the Morale of Supporters: David Brooks has already predicted that the 45th President will become a "national narrator," with his same message of nationalism and populist outrage against elites. And because people are reliably human, Trump will be able to pick out problems, all carefully selected to encourage neglect or ridicule of potential progress his opponents might make in race relations, environmental problems, distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine, efforts for peace, and other ways to deal with our considerable problems. As James observed, the great power of the human mind is "the art of knowing what to overlook" in order to keep focused on particular purposes.



Trump can offer a sly version of this human ability to focus attention. His decisive purpose will be to spin a narrative about the Tough Guy Camelot of his years in office, at least the first three-and-a-half years before the "Chinese virus" set the US on is heels. The coast could then be clear to present the pandemic demoralizing the people who took a wrong turn in electing Joe "Bidden," as one Trump supporter calls the next president, in prediction that he will do the bidding of progressive "socialist" Democrats. With that lost cause narrative, Trump has already expressed his readiness to run for president again, and he has rehearsed his slogan, "Make American Great Again Again."

The south lost the Civil War but won the peace. In a similar way, Trump declared, "I don't think about losing." In fact, after the near loss in 2016, as with the actual loss in 2020, he added, "it isn't losing" because with his ability to command public attention, "we've totally won." Trump also shares with the Lost Cause narrative selections from events to present them in the most favorable light. Pollard and his followers broadcast the fake news of the nineteenth century, but with selections from experience telling likely stories for those eager to explain the carnage of Civil War and justify its losses.

Trump also tells likely stories for those seeking to understand their cultural losses. For many feeling displaced by structural changes in the economy and by changes to improve race relations and reduce environmental destruction, Trump was not only persuasive; his blunt talk registered like a rifle shot. While his talents for connecting with many out of power has been impressive, his policies have brought them, at most, short-term benefits. Immigration restrictions and dismantled regulations have done little to address long-term dilemmas for his largest group of supporters.

The original Lost Cause offers lessons for Trump supporters. Violent curbs on African American rights did little to uplift white southerners grieving their loss. If Trump continues his own Lost Cause appeals, he can only offer his followers similar limited gains. He may continue to make bold claims, but supporters and detractors alike can devote less attention to Citizen Trump and more attention to the structural problems that enabled him to gain a hearing.


Paul J. Croce is Professor of History and Director of American Studies at Stetson University, author of Young William James Thinking (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018), and recent past president of the William James Society. He writes for the Public Classroom and his recent essays have appeared in Civil American, History News Network, the Huffington Post, Origins, Public Seminar, and the Washington Post.

Biden top consumer pick torches Amazon for 'cheating its workers'

Ray Hartmann RAW STORY
February 02, 2021


Progressives concerned about whether President Joe Biden will be aggressive enough for consumers got an encouraging glimpse today when his nominee to run the Consumers Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) carved up corporate giant Amazon.

Rohit Chopra, awaiting Senate confirmation for the CFPB post, made no effort to appear diplomatic in response to the news that Amazon will pay more than $61.7 million to settle a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation. The company owed the money "to Flex drivers from whom it withheld the full amount of customer tips," as reported by The Los Angeles Times.

Chopra, currently an FTC commissioner, was a little harsher than the media:

"Today, the FTC is sanctioning Amazon.com for expanding its business empire by cheating its workers," he wrote. "In total, Amazon stole nearly one-third of drivers' tips to pad its own bottom line

"This theft did not go unnoticed by Amazon's drivers, many of whom expressed anger and confusion to the company. But rather than coming clean, Amazon took elaborate steps to mislead its drivers and conceal its theft, sending them canned responses that repeated the company's lies. The complaint charges that Amazon executives chose not to alter the practice, instead, viewing drivers' complaints as a "PR risk," which they sought to contain"

In a closing comment which might provide insight into Chopra's philosophy as he takes over the CFPB, he wrote:

"Companies should succeed only when they compete, not when they cheat or abuse their power. While Amazon.com is one of the largest, most powerful, and most feared firms in the world, the company cannot be above the law. Regulators and enforcers in the United States and around the globe can no longer turn a blind eye."

The 38-year-old Chopra, a protégé of Senator Elizabeth Warren, also took to Twitter to express his indignation:

Chopra can be expected to provide a 180-degree turn for in consumer protection from Biden's predecessor. As the Washington Post reported, "The (CFPB), the watchdog created after the 2008 financial meltdown and largely muzzled in the Trump era, is poised to start barking again.


"The agency will focus first on enforcing legal protections for distressed renters, student borrowers and others facing growing debt that its previous leadership has been lax about imposing during the pandemic.

"But the CFPB — which President Biden has tapped 38-year-old Rohit Chopra to lead — is also likely to take an unprecedentedly tough line against industry giants it finds engaging in abusive practices, former agency officials advising the Biden team say."

That was before Chopra unloaded on Amazon. But the Post did include this prediction about his upcoming tenure:


"Under a Director Chopra, I think you'll see the agency looking at industry practices in a broader way, seeking systemic changes in matters harming consumers, not just one-off fraud cases," said Hudson Cook attorney Lucy Morris, who worked with Chopra as the CFPB's then-deputy enforcement director."

For perspective about what the shift means, there was this:

"Over the course of the Trump presidency, the agency wrangled $2.3 billion in consumer relief, a steep drop from the $10.7 billion during its first five full years in operation under the Obama administration. And the agency shifted its crosshairs notably — from big-money actions against major companies including American Express, Citibank, Corinthian Colleges, JPMorgan Chase, Sprint and Wells Fargo, to smaller-dollar rulings against more fringe firms.

"When you're only going after last-dollar scammers and small, fly-by-night companies, you're not sending a message to the big banks, big debt collectors, and big credit bureaus that there's a sheriff in town," said Ed Mierzwinski, senior director of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group's federal consumer program. "As soon as he's confirmed, Rohit will bring a renewed sense of urgency."

SEE Amazon Will Pay Gig Workers $61.7 Million for Stealing Their Tips

Spymaster hiding in Canada alleged to have stolen $4.5B from Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in new lawsuit

The Saudi dissident and former spymaster who’s been living quietly in Toronto since 2017, is alleged to have embezzled nearly $4.5 billion from Kingdom of Saudi Arabia coffers, according to a new lawsuit filed in the Ontario Superior Court.

© Provided by National Post Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman speaks virtually to a financial conference on January 28, 2021.

It is the latest legal salvo in the ongoing battle between Saad Aljabri and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman. Earlier this year, Aljabri launched a lawsuit in the United States against the crown prince for allegedly sending assassins to Canada to murder him, much as he’s believed to have done with the execution of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

The team of mercenaries, known as the Tiger Squad, were turned away by Canadian border officers. Aljabri claims the assassination plot and the other actions taken against him — including tracking his whereabouts and accusations of corruption — are all part of a strategy to haul him back to the Kingdom and silence him.

This time the legal battle is in Canadian courts. It was filed in late January by Tahakom Investment Company, which is owned by the sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. That, in turn, is chaired by Mohammed bin Salman.

The Ontario lawsuit claims between 2008 and 2017, Aljabri masterminded an “international scheme” involving 21 conspirators across 13 countries to defraud the plaintiff companies of billions of dollars, fled to Canada, and “launched a public relations campaign, including litigation against his former government, to deflect attention from his theft.”

The lawsuit says when a number of companies established by Aljabri were consolidated — which includes some of the companies listed among the plaintiffs — into the Tahakom Investment Company in 2018, Ernst & Young and Deloitte international auditing firms found irregularities with the books.

Saudi crown prince denies sending 'Tiger Squad' assassins to Canada

Children of ex-Saudi intelligence official living in Canada disappear amid Saudi efforts to force him home

None of the allegations have been proven in court. Statements of defence have also not been filed. The Aljabri family could not be reached for comment by the National Post. But Saad Aljabri’s son, Khalid Aljabri, who’s also named as a defendant in the Ontario suit, retweeted a statement on Twitter from a campaign to help track down the Aljabri children who vanished in Saudi Arabia last March, that said it is part of a “campaign of harassment and misinformation” against the family.

“The family welcomes the opportunity to face off against (Mohammed bin Salman) in neutral judicial forums in Canada and the United States,” the statement said.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of 10 companies under the Tahakom umbrella, alleges that Aljabri set up companies that were supposed to be for anti-terrorism activities, using his high-ranked position within the Saudi government. The court documents say he then appropriated funds allocated by the Saudi government before secreting them away in a variety of jurisdictions, such as the British Virgin Islands and Turkey, and also purchased luxury homes in various nations and locations, and disbursed money to friends and family.

The lawsuit details a network of 17 companies, all but one formed between 2006 and 2016, with shareholders loyal to Aljabri. The corporations are registered in a variety of places, including at least four companies with offices in Vancouver and Toronto. The lawsuit details properties in Toronto and Montreal, five luxury condominiums in Boston, a penthouse suite in Washington, D.C., and numerous properties in Saudi Arabia owned by Aljabri or his family members, or purchased through these corporate entities.

“While (Aljabri’s) hands were hidden, his fingerprints are everywhere,” the lawsuit says.

© Aljabri family Saad Aljabri.

Until 2015, Aljabri was a high-ranking intelligence official in Saudi Arabia, and a key figure in the relationship between Western and Saudi intelligence agencies. He was the right-hand man of Mohammed bin Nayef, the nephew of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. Bin Nayef was deposed in 2017 in favour of Mohammed bin Salman.

This, according to a source close to the Aljabri family, made him a target of the new regime. Purges followed the rise of Mohammed bin Salman to Crown Prince, and Aljabri and most of his family fled the country. Two of his adult children, Omar and Sarah, remained behind in what has been called a “hostage situation.” Both of them vanished last March following a round of arrests that saw bin Nayef put behind bars — he’s accused of plotting a coup.

The whereabouts of Omar and Sarah remain unknown, nearly a year after their disappearance.

Allegations of corruption have long been a part of Saudi Arabia’s campaign to get Aljabri returned to the Kingdom; in 2017, Saudi Arabia attempted to have INTERPOL arrest Aljabri on corruption charges, but, according to the lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C., by Aljabri, INTERPOL determined it was a politically motivated request.

Bin Nayef, while not named as a defendant in the Canadian lawsuit, is mentioned as an associate of Aljabri’s who is alleged to have participated in the misappropriation of funds.

Progressives Back AOC, Warning Cruz and Other Republicans 'Pose a Threat'

Progressive Democrats rallied behind Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York after she described GOP Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and other Republicans that objected to President Joe Biden's win as "abusers."

© Tom Williams-Pool/Getty Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) described many of her Republican colleagues as "abusers" on Monday. In this photo, Ocasio-Cortez speaks during a hearing of the House Oversight and Reform Committee on August 24, 2020 in Washington, D.C.

During an Instagram live-stream on Monday, Ocasio-Cortez called out Cruz and other Republicans who objected to the certification of Biden's victory, arguing that their actions contributed to the violent insurrection by supporters of former President Donald Trump against the U.S. Capitol on January 6. She accused Cruz and other Republican lawmakers of being eager to "move on" without discussing accountability.

The progressive Democrat has repeatedly singled out Cruz and blasted Republicans who joined with him in objecting, saying they should no longer serve in Congress.

"These are the tactics of abusers. Or rather, these are the tactics that abusers use," Ocasio-Cortez said during the video. "What they're asking for when they say, 'Can we just move on?' ... is, 'Can you just—can we just forget this happened so that I can do it again, without recourse?... Can you just forget about this so that we can, you know, do it again?'"

Other progressive Democrats quickly rallied behind Ocasio-Cortez, sharing a similar perspective and praising her for publicly discussing the trauma she and other members of Congress suffered during the attack by the pro-Trump mob.

"I shared @AOC's concern about being locked in the same room as my Republican colleagues on January 6th. They had incited an insurrection, and were live-tweeting our whereabouts," freshmen Representative Mondaire Jones, a New York Democrat, tweeted on Tuesday. "Some of them continue to pose a threat to everyone who works in the Capitol. They must be expelled."


I shared @AOC’s concern about being locked in the same room as my Republican colleagues on January 6th.

They had incited an insurrection, and were live-tweeting our whereabouts.

Some of them continue to pose a threat to everyone who works in the Capitol. They must be expelled. pic.twitter.com/YCLBizX5ab— Mondaire Jones (@MondaireJones) February 2, 2021

Former Democratic presidential hopeful Julián Castro, who previously served in former President Barack Obama's Cabinet, thanked Ocasio-Cortez for sharing her experience.

"Thank you for sharing your experience, @AOC. So many lives were put at risk because lawmakers fanned the flames of violent extremists—and law enforcement failed to take the threat seriously," Castro tweeted. "We can't 'move on' from this attack until those responsible are held accountable."


Thank you for sharing your experience, @AOC.

So many lives were put at risk because lawmakers fanned the flames of violent extremists—and law enforcement failed to take the threat seriously.

We can’t “move on” from this attack until those responsible are held accountable. https://t.co/LHqj0zpEeT— Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) February 2, 2021

Representative Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, took aim at Ocasio-Cortez's critics.

"Y'all stop invalidating @AOC's experiences because you aren't hearing about the experiences of other members," she wrote in a Monday evening tweet. "Everyone deals with trauma differently, her stories are validating for so many of us with similar experiences and she is showing people that vulnerability is strength."


Y’all stop invalidating @AOC’s experiences because you aren’t hearing about the experiences of other members.

Everyone deals with trauma differently, her stories are validating for so many of us with similar experiences and she is showing people that vulnerability is strength.— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 2, 2021

In an interview with MSNBC, Representative Katie Porter, a California Democrat, recounted just how terrified Ocasio-Cortez was as they hid together on January 6. Porter said she told her colleague: "'I'm a mom. I'm calm. I have everything we need. We can live for like a month in this office.'" Ocasio-Cortez replied, "'I hope I get to be a mom, I hope I don't die today,'" Porter said.

The New York congresswoman strongly criticized Republicans for saying that Democrats should just "move on" while dismissing efforts to hold Trump and other GOP lawmakers accountable.

"So many of the people who helped perpetrate and who take no responsibility for what happened in the Capitol are trying to tell us all to move on... forget about what happened... [and] that it wasn't a big deal... without any accountability, without any truth-telling or without actually confronting the extreme damage, physical harm, loss of life and trauma that was inflicted on not just me as a person, not just other people as individuals, but as on all of us as a collective, and on many other people," Ocasio-Cortez said in her Monday evening live-stream.

Just 10 Republican House members joined with their Democratic colleagues in voting to impeach Trump a second time a week after the violent attack against the Capitol. The Article of Impeachment accuses Trump of inciting the riot. Ahead of the mob attack, Trump urged supporters at a nearby rally to march to the legislative building and "fight like hell" to keep him in office. The Senate will begin Trump's second impeachment trial next week, but it currently appears that there are not enough GOP senators willing to vote to convict the former president.

Newsweek reached out to Cruz's press representatives for comment but they did not immediately respond.

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SpaceX's Starship prototype again explodes on landing attempt after successful launch


The latest prototype of SpaceX's next-generation Starship rocket launched successfully on Tuesday but exploded on impact during an attempted landing.

Starship prototype Serial Number 9, or SN9, aimed to fly as high as 10 kilometers, or about 32,800 feet altitude.

While the rocket flew successfully, it hit the ground explosively on its return, just as the SN8 flight did in December.

"We had, again, another great flight up ... we've just got to work on that landing a little bit," SpaceX principal integration engineer John Insprucker said.

The latest prototype of SpaceX's next-generation Starship rocket launched successfully on Tuesday but exploded on impact during an attempted landing after a development test flight.

Starship prototype Serial Number 9, or SN9, aimed to fly as high as 10 kilometers, or about 32,800 feet altitude. The flight was similar to the one SpaceX conducted in December, when it launched prototype SN8 on the highest and longest flight to date.

While the rocket flew successfully, it hit the ground explosively on its return, just as the SN8 flight did in December.

"We had, again, another great flight up ... we've just got to work on that landing a little bit," SpaceX principal integration engineer John Insprucker said on the company's webcast of the flight.

The rocket prototypes are built of stainless steel, representing the early versions of the rocket that CEO Elon Musk unveiled last year. The company is developing Starship with the goal of launching cargo and as many as a 100 people at a time on missions to the moon and Mars.

© Provided by CNBC Starship prototype SN9 launches.

Musk pivoted the company's attention to Starship in May, after SpaceX successfully launched its first astronaut mission. He's deemed Starship the company's top priority, declaring last year in an email obtained by CNBC that the development program must accelerate "dramatically and immediately."

Although Starship SN9 suffered the same explosive fate as SN8 two months ago, SpaceX views the test flight as a step forward in the rocket's development. SN10, likely the next to attempt a launch-and-landing, was already in place when SN9 took to the skies.

"So all told, another great [flight] -- and a reminder, this is a test flight, the second time we've launched starship in this configuration," Insprucker said. "We've got a lot of good data, and [achieved] the primary objective to demonstrate control of the vehicle and the subsonic 

reentry."

© Provided by CNBC Starship prototype rockets SN9 (right) and SN10 on launchpads at the company's development facility in Boca Chica, Texas.

Despite SpaceX's optimism about SN9's flight test, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement to CNBC that it is leading an "investigation of today's landing mishap."

"Although this was an uncrewed test flight, the investigation will identify the root cause of today's mishap and possible opportunities to further enhance safety as the program develops," the FAA said.

The SN9 launch attempt was delayed for about a week as SpaceX worked to get the FAA's permission to launch. Its SN8 flight violated the company's existing Starship license, The Verge first reported and the FAA later confirmed. In a statement to CNBC, the FAA noted that SpaceX "proceeded with the launch without demonstration that the public risk from far field blast overpressure was within the regulatory criteria." The phrase "far field blast overpressure" refers to the effects of an explosion, such as the crash landings of SN8 and SN9.

Musk previously said that Starship could potentially fly people in 2020, but he's since acknowledged that the rocket still has many milestones, including "hundreds of missions," to go before that happens.

Multiple prototypes are being built simultaneously at SpaceX's growing facility in Boca Chica, Texas, with its SN10 rocket already rolled out to a second launchpad nearby. While SpaceX's fleet of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets are partially reusable, Musk's goal is to make Starship fully reusable — envisioning a rocket that is more akin to a commercial airplane, with short turnaround times between flights where the only major cost is fuel.

© Provided by CNBC Starship prototype SN9 stands on the launchpad at sunset at SpaceX's development facility in Boca Chica, Texas.