Severe wildfires could affect community watersheds, says forest service researcher

VANCOUVER — There is more to learn about the consequences of intensifying wildfires on community watersheds across Canada, but a large, severe fire followed by heavy precipitation could seriously affect drinking water, says a wildfire research scientist with the Canadian Forest Service

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© THE CANADIAN PRESS/Penticton Herald-Mark Brett The Thomas Creek Fire, 1.5 km east of Skaha Lake, is shown near Okanagan Falls, B.C. in this recent photo. A new wildfire in British Columbia has forced the evacuation of nearly 80 properties, while residents of hundreds more homes around the south Okanagan lakeside community of Okanagan Falls have been ordered to be ready to go on short notice.

An intense fire can burn through vegetation and soil that serve to absorb and more evenly distribute precipitation or melting snow, and also naturally filter sediment and toxins before the water evenreaches a community's drinking-water source, François-Nicolas Robinne said in an interview from Edmonton.

"This kind of sponge effect that the forest has, that the vegetation has, goes away. So you have more water running off earlier in the season," he said.

In a worst-case scenario that could lead to flash floods and flowing debris and it's likely to affect how much drinking water is available to a community and when, said Robinne, with drought compounding the potential impact of wildfire.

"You already have less water, it's already stretched pretty thin, and you have suddenly this huge input of water, but of pretty bad water quality, usually, after a large and severe fire," said Robinne, adding any drinking water would be treated to Canadian standards but it's costly to purify water polluted by wildfire.

It could be "mayhem" to go though a cycle of drought, wildfires, heavy rains and drought again, said Robinne, "because the pressure on the water resource would become so high that I can't even imagine what it would mean in terms of water supply for communities."

Water supply downstream is generally expected to be affected when about 20 per cent of a watershed is burned. That threshold has been met in nine B.C. community watersheds so far this year, said Robinne, with two of those burning up entirely.

Canada needs more data and analysis of the historical and ongoing effects of wildfires on watersheds, said Robinne, noting his work at the forest service involves looking at drinking water intakes and fire risk around communities countrywide.

In the long term, the most intense scorching may resemble "some form of desertification," he said. "We're not there yet, but it's definitely a cause for concern."

In general, Robinne suggests that communities in fire-prone areas undertake fuel management, or reducing the vegetation susceptible to fire in their watershed.

Communities may also consider updating older drinking water treatment systems to ensure water quality in the event their source is affected by wildfire, he said.

British Columbia government mapping shows the eight-kilometre square Brenda Creek fire burning out of control west of Peachland overlaps with that community's watershed. It shows numerous other "wildfires of note," which are either highly visible or pose a threat to public safety, are burning in or very close to other watersheds.

All of Vancouver Island, the south coast and stretches of the southern Interior are classified as drought level four out of five, with many municipalities and regions implementing measures to conserve water through the rest of the summer.

Environment Canada has also issued heat warnings that stretch from parts of Vancouver Island to the south coast and across the southern Interior, as well as the inner central and north coast all the way up to B.C.'s boundary with Yukon.

The hot, dry conditions have helped fuel more than 1,250 wildfires sparked since the start of B.C.'s fire season on April 1, charring over 4,500 square kilometres of land. The 10-year average is 658 fires and about 1,060 square kilometres burned over the same time period, officials with the BC Wildfire Service said last week.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 31, 2021.

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press

Canada takes centre stage in a dramatic month of global weather disasters

Dennis Mersereau 

July was a month to remember here in Canada and around the world. From fires and floods to extreme heat and a barrage of tornadoes, the remarkable pace of disasters over the past few weeks left entire communities devastated. Here’s a look back at some of the intense weather events we witnessed in July.

JULY BEGAN ON THE HEELS OF A HISTORIC HEAT WAVE

Extreme heat is a slow-motion disaster. Raging floods and imposing tornadoes illustrate their power with gripping visuals, but a long spell of overwhelming heat exacts a silent toll. Each hot afternoon bleeds into a stifling night that provides no relief for those who can’t escape the sweltering air’s clutch.

Western Canada’s long tangle with the heat began in late June with a mammoth ridge of high pressure that built over western North America. Dozens of communities in British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon shattered their all-time high temperature records.

© Provided by The Weather Network

Day after day of unprecedented heat resulted in hundreds, if not thousands, of deaths among those who suffered heat-related illnesses. The B.C. Coroners Service reported on July 26 that the heat may have claimed more than 800 lives in the province.

The high-impact, long-duration heat event that began in late June continued through the rest of July. Excessive temperatures started out the month in B.C. before shifting east and roasting the Prairies for weeks on end. Some towns on the southern Prairies saw above-seasonal temperatures on all but a handful of days in July.

NO COMMUNITY HIT HARDER THAN LYTTON, B.C.

Lytton, B.C., felt the heat and its tragic aftermath harder than anyone else in the country. The small town along the Fraser River in south-central B.C. broke Canada’s all-time hottest temperature record three days in a row in the closing days of June.

 "Wildfire devastates Lytton, B.C., dangerous hot and dry conditions continue for the region"

The thermometer in Lytton read 49.6°C on June 29, setting a new Canadian high temperature record. This new record is several degrees hotter than the hottest temperature ever recorded in the desert getaway of Las Vegas, Nevada.

By June 30, a fast-moving wildfire razed 90 per cent of all buildings in Lytton.

JUNE’S EXTREME HEAT HELPED FUEL JULY’S EXTENSIVE FIRES

The devastating blaze that tore through Lytton at the culmination of the West’s unparalleled heat wave was just one of hundreds of fires that burned across Interior B.C., the Prairies, and the U.S. Northwest in July.

© Provided by The Weather Network

July began with a widespread drought that stretched from Vancouver Island all the way to northwestern Ontario. The situation was particularly dire in Interior B.C. and the southern Prairies. Southern Manitoba maxed out the Canadian Drought Monitor’s scale for measuring drought conditions.

The heat made a bad situation even worse. Several days and nights of unprecedented warmth, followed by weeks of above-seasonal temperatures and little precipitation, intensified the drought and made a tinderbox of vegetation across the region.

By the end of July, more than 1,200 fires had been reported in B.C. alone, with nearly 400,000 hectares of land burned in the province. Even more fires were reported throughout the Prairies and northwestern Ontario, including a large complex of fires northeast of Winnipeg. Several fires near Red Lake, Ontario, each consumed tens of thousands of hectares of land.

CHOKING WILDFIRE SMOKE SPREAD EAST

Hundreds of fires burning simultaneously across B.C., the U.S. Northwest, and the Prairies sent a prolific amount of smoke pouring into the atmosphere. The jet stream helped spread these plumes of smoke thousands of kilometres downwind from the blazes, reaching as far as Atlantic Canada to the east and Texas and North Carolina to the south.

Not only did the smoke obscure the midsummer sun, but winds pushed much of that smoke down to the surface and resulted in long periods of dangerous air quality for much of the country.

© Provided by The Weather Network

Southern Ontario endured several days of thick smoke in mid-July, causing the region’s air quality to plummet to its worst level in two decades. Air quality issues reached deep into the United States, as well, where New York City experienced exceptionally poor air quality by modern standards.

Canada and the U.S. weren’t the only areas struggling with fires and dense smoke in July. A similar weather pattern played out in northern Russia, where a historic wildfire season in Siberia has led to a thick pall of smoke blanketing much of eastern Asia.
THE EAST SAW A TROPICAL STORM AND TWISTERS

July started out with Hurricane Elsa down in the Caribbean Sea. Elsa set two records with its formation, first as the earliest fifth-named storm on record, and then as the earliest hurricane ever seen in the tropical Atlantic.

© Provided by The Weather Network

The Maritimes had to deal with Hurricane Elsa’s remnants on July 9-10. It’s uncommon for tropical cyclones or their remnants to track over Atlantic Canada this early in the season. But Elsa took advantage of a favourable environment and aimed for Nova Scotia and New Brunswick after drenching the eastern U.S. Miramichi, N.B., saw 92 mm of rain by the end of the storm.

Elsa was just one of many storms in Eastern Canada this month. Plenty of low-pressure systems swept over the eastern half of the country in July as a result of a wavy jet stream.

Active weather is the result of a delicate balancing act between extremes. The powerful upper-level ridge that brought Western Canada its hot and dry conditions allowed for one round of stormy weather after the next to traverse Eastern Canada. Many of the thunderstorms turned severe in the warm and soupy airmass parked over the region, and some of those storms produced tornadoes.

'The roof is gone,' homeowner emerges from basement after tornado

Ontario witnessed 10 of the 12 tornadoes that touched down in the country this July, bringing the province’s total to 14 (and the national total to 36) for the year. This puts the province ahead of the number of tornadoes reported in Oklahoma so far in 2021, another testament to the power of the persistent ridges that have built over the western half of North America.

Nearly half of Ontario’s tornadoes this year touched down in the July 15th outbreak across cottage country. The Northern Tornadoes Project confirmed six EF-2 tornadoes that day, becoming the region’s most significant tornado outbreak since the infamous event on May 31, 1985.

Three of the tornadoes on July 15th touched down around Lake Simcoe. Farther north, one twister struck east of Huntsville, and two more touched down in Algonquin Provincial Park. The most significant tornado on July 15th carved a 12 km path through neighbourhoods just southeast of Barrie.

A survey of the damage near Barrie revealed EF-2 damage, with maximum sustained winds reaching 210 km/h at the tornado’s strongest point. More than 100 homes were damaged and 11 people were injured.
DEVASTATING FLOODS HIT COMMUNITIES AROUND THE WORLD

The droughts affecting Canada and Siberia stand in stark contrast to the intense flooding that impacted communities around the globe. July witnessed several heavy rainstorms bubble up over areas ill-equipped to handle a sudden deluge.

© Provided by The Weather Network

July’s worst flooding affected western Europe around the middle of the month. Intense floods killed more than 150 people as the waters swept through communities in Germany, Belgium, and neighbouring nations. A stalled low-pressure system led to several months’ worth of rain falling in a short period of time.

Floodwaters rushing down the Ahr River almost entirely destroyed the town of Altenahr, Germany. The community is nestled in a valley at the bend of a river, leaving it exceptionally vulnerable to a flash flood of this magnitude.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel toured hard-hit towns and said that the damage was “terrifying,” adding that “the German language can barely describe the devastation that's taken place,” as reported by Reuters.

Flooding was also a serious issue in urban areas where rain fell faster than storm sewers could handle the runoff. New York City and Zhengzhou, China, are a world apart from one another, but they were both affected by drenching afternoon thunderstorms that produced notable flash flooding in each city.


Heavy rain associated with Tropical Storm Elsa flooded parts of New York City’s renowned subway system on the afternoon of July 8. The storm dropped more than 50 mm of rain in a short period of time, flooding stations and tunnels as commuters waded through chest-deep water to reach the exits.

A more harrowing situation played out a few weeks later in Zhengzhou, China, a city of more than 10 million people that sits about 600 km southwest of Beijing. A deep reserve of tropical moisture, combined with winds flowing up the side of nearby mountains, produced a rainstorm that dropped more than 600 mm of rain in one day, much of which fell in just a few hours.

The onslaught of water quickly overwhelmed natural and human-made drainage systems. The floods inundated parts of Zhengzhou’s subway system with chest-deep water, and heartbreaking footage emerged of countless water rescues within the city and its surrounding communities. More than 20 people died in the floods.

Thumbnail image courtesy 2 Rivers Remix Society/Facebook

Dangerous B.C. air quality is among the worst on the planet
Isabella O'Malley
WEATHERNETWORK

The air quality across British Columbia has reached dangerous levels and The Weather Network meteorologist Kevin MacKay warns that “we are in for quite a weekend.” According to the Government of British Columbia, there are over 200 wildfires burning as of Friday afternoon, which are largely causing the dangerous air quality conditions.

B.C. dealing with the widespread effects of drought
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An upper level low sitting off Canada’s west coast and the current position of the jet stream are creating stagnant conditions over southern B.C. and are allowing the wildfire smoke to stay concentrated over the region the fires are burning in.

© Provided by The Weather Network

There is also high pressure over the Pacific Ocean and Saskatachewan, which is essentially bookending the smoke over the Rocky Mountains and further intensifying the poor air quality conditions. All of these atmospheric conditions will contribute to dangerous air quality this long weekend.

“I’ve had an intense headache for 24 hrs... smoke is in the house. Can’t avoid it. There is ashfall daily on my back deck and cars. It really got bad the last few days when you know smoke is coming into the house through the vents,” says Jaclyn Whittal, a meteorologist at The Weather Network who is currently in the Okanagan Valley.

© Provided by The Weather NetworkWildfire smoke blocking out the sunlight in the Okanagan Valley. (Jaclyn Whittal)

Video: B.C continues to battle wildfires and poor air quality but help is on the way (The Weather Network)

The poor air quality in B.C. is currently amongst the worst in the world, with Vernon reaching a rating of 309 and Castlegar reaching a staggering 583.

Some of the most dangerous components in wildfire smoke are carbon monoxide and microscopic, ultrafine particles called PM 2.5, which are 2.5 microns in diameter or smaller and cause health complications when they enter the lungs or bloodstream.

“Individuals may experience symptoms such as increased coughing, throat irritation, headaches or shortness of breath. Children, seniors, and those with cardiovascular or lung disease, such as asthma, are especially at risk. If your home is not air-conditioned, be sure the house doesn't get too warm when doors and windows are closed to keep out smoke,” Environment Canada states.© Provided by The Weather Network

MacKay says that the Okanagan Valley is an area where conditions will be particularly dangerous over the next five days.

“[The air quality] is now surpassing the worst air quality from last summer. This could be the worst air quality in years, if not on record for some areas across southern B.C.”

VIDEO

Worst air quality on the planet engulfs BC (msn.com)

CORPORATE WELFARE BUMS

ArcelorMittal Dofasco getting $400M from Ottawa to cut greenhouse gas emissions

Saira Peesker

CBC

© Provided by cbc.ca The federal government is investing $400 million to cut emissions at ArcelorMittal Dofasco.

The federal government has announced $400 million for a project at ArcelorMittal Dofasco that the company says will help it cut carbon emissions by more than half.

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, along with Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne and Minister of Labour Filomena Tassi, made the announcement at the Hamilton steelmaker on Friday.

The government said its investment is part of a $1.765-billion project to phase out coal-fired steelmaking and is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to three million tonnes per year by 2030. The goal is to have the project completed by 2028.


"This is a historic day for Hamilton," said Tassi, MP for Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas, who worked at Dofasco in the summers while she was a student. "A transformational day."

Dofasco intends to use the funds to transition to electric arc furnaces, which use scrap metal, electricity and natural gas to make steel, as opposed to blast furnaces, which use coal and iron ore. Officials said the retrofit would create 2,500 construction jobs and "secure" thousands of jobs at Dofasco "for years to come."

Champagne said the new furnaces will keep the company on the leading edge as the world transitions away from fossil fuels, help Canada become a global leader in clean steel and keep steelmaking jobs in Hamilton. He also described the funds "largely repayable."

"A green recovery… is what the markets are looking for, what customers are demanding and what we as a government want to support," he said. "The world's steel industry emits seven per cent of global emissions, equal to the global aviation, shipping and chemical [industries'] emissions combined, so… we needed to take action."
Ontario funding talks ongoing

The project depends on funding from the provincial government as well, according to Tony Valeri, ArcelorMittal Dofasco's vice-president of corporate affairs. Those discussions are ongoing and have been "positive," he said, adding he expects they'll continue.

Aditya Mittal, CEO of ArcelorMittal, said he looks forward to the provincial government "stepping up."

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced $420 million for a similar project at Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.

At the time, Trudeau teased a similar announcement would soon be made in Hamilton.

The funding announced in Hamilton comes from the Strategic Innovation Fund and its Net Zero Accelerator.

The government said the combined reductions in greenhouse gases from both projects will lower emissions by up to six million tonnes a year.

That's the equivalent of taking 1.8 million vehicles off the road, "almost the number of passenger vehicles in Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver combined," according to the release.

'New era of steelmaking'

Mittal, CEO of ArcelorMittal, said the announcement marks the "beginning of a new era of steelmaking in Hamilton that will result in a 60 per cent drop in CO2 emissions within the next seven years."

Bianca Caramento, acting general manager of Mohawk College's Centre for Climate Change Management, said the project puts Hamilton well on its way to meeting its emission-reduction targets.

She said the city aims to reduce emissions by 50 per cent by 2030, so completing this project by 2028 would be hugely impactful.

"The three-million-tonne reduction annually would nearly be a 30 per cent reduction of Hamilton's emissions overall," she said. "It's one piece of the puzzle, but a very big piece."

Of Hamilton's 11 million tonnes of current annual greenhouse gas emissions, AcelorMittal Dofasco contributes 4.8 tonnes, she said.

In advance of the announcement, company spokesperson Marie Verdun called decarbonized steelmaking "central to ArcelorMittal's long-term strategy." She pointed out the company has already started efforts on this front in its European operations.

ArcelorMittal Dofasco says the new furnaces could later be used for a transition to hydrogen fuel, a process that can produce net-zero emissions — depending on the provenance of the hydrogen and electricity used — and leaves only water vapour as a byproduct. Champagne said Dofasco could be the first plant in the world that will be enabled for hydrogen.

"The fact that they have adopted a technology that will be able to accommodate hydrogen in the future is very forward-looking," said Caramento.
'Tremendous improvement' for air quality

The company's phaseout of coal will also mean "a tremendous improvement" for local air quality, said Bruce Newbold, chair of Clean Air Hamilton and a professor of geography at McMaster University.

"Not only does it mean a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, it will also mean a reduction in other air pollutants," he told CBC Hamilton on Friday.

"A very large proportion of Hamilton's air emissions are associated with industry and the burning of fossil fuels, including coal.... We can expect to see improvements in the level of pollutants such as sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter."

ENBRIDGE SAYS 'F U'

Line 3 pipeline to be in service by end of year, despite legal challenges: Enbridge

CALGARY — Enbridge Inc.'s Line 3 pipeline replacement is on track to be in service by the end of the year despite ongoing protests and recent court challenges, the Calgary-based company said Friday

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© Provided by The Canadian Press

The $9.3-billion project — which is expected to add about 370,000 barrel per day of crude oil export capacity from Western Canada into the U.S. — was handed a victory last month by the Minnesota Court of Appeals, which affirmed the approvals granted by independent regulators that allowed construction on the Minnesota leg to begin last December.

However, Indigenous and environmental groups opposed to the project have appealed to the Minnesota Supreme Court, asking it to overturn the lower court's ruling. The Minnesota Supreme Court has until mid-September to decide whether or not to hear the case.

In a conference call with analysts Friday, Enbridge chief executive Al Monaco said in spite of the recent legal challenges, Line 3 remains on schedule and is now 80 per cent complete.

"Construction-wise, we're tracking to schedule," Monaco said. "We're moving along well and continue to work on water crossings. All that to say, we're on track for a Q4 in service."

The Line 3 replacement will carry oil from Alberta to Enbridge's terminal in Superior, Wisconsin. The Minnesota leg of the project — the last section remaining to be completed — has been met by protests along the route, with more than 500 demonstrators having been arrested or issued citations since December.

Opponents of the project — including Indigenous groups the White Earth Band of Ojibwe and the Red Lake Band of Chippewa, as well as environmental groups like the Sierra Club and Honor the Earth — say the Line 3 expansion will accelerate climate change and also poses a risk of oil spills in environmentally sensitive areas.

The Line 3 expansion is a critical project for Canada's energy sector, which has been hamstrung by a lack of pipeline infrastructure in recent years. An IHS Markit report from December found that delays in the expansion of the export pipeline capacity have contributed to lower prices in Western Canada, representing a loss of $17 billion for the crude oil industry over the last five years.

In June, TC Energy Corp. cancelled its Keystone XL Pipeline project, leaving Enbridge's Line 3 project and the Trans Mountain Pipeline project (owned by the federal government) as Canada's main pipeline projects. The Trans Mountain pipeline project is expected to be in service by December 2022.

Video: Building pipelines for diversity success (USA TODAY)

Between the two projects, the total export addition of nearly one million bpd is expected to account for Western Canada's oil export needs at least through the first half of the decade

"Our understanding of the market here in Western Canada is there's a significant amount of heavy crude waiting to come to market from producers that hasn't been started up yet," Monaco said. "There are some very close-to-completion brownfield projects with producers that would come to market very quickly, with sufficient egress."

Enbridge said Friday its net income attributable to common shareholders dropped 15 per cent in the second quarter despite rebounding demand for energy as economies recover from COVID-19.

The Calgary-based energy company said it earned $1.39 billion or 69 cents per share in the three months ended June 30, compared with $1.65 billion or 82 cents per share a year earlier.

The decrease was partly attributable to reduced foreign currency gains.

Adjusted profits were $1.36 billion or 67 cents per share, 10 cents per share above forecasts by financial data firm Refinitiv and up from $1.13 billion or 56 cents per share in the second quarter of 2020.

Revenues surged nearly 38 per cent to $10.9 billion from almost $8 billion in the prior year quarter.

Enbridge reaffirmed its 2021 financial guidance for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of between $13.9 billion and $14.3 billion and distributable cash flow of $4.70 to $5 per share.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 30, 2021.

With files from The Associated Press

Companies in this story: (TSX:ENB)

Amanda Stephenson, The Canadian Press

GOOD FOR THEM HE IS A WHINER

US fencer Alen Hadzic confronts teammates wearing pink masks in apparent protest of his inclusion on team

Josh Peter, USA TODAY

TOKYO — Alen Hadzic, the U.S. fencer under investigation for sexual misconduct, said he confronted two of his teammates who on Friday wore pink face masks in an apparent protest of Hadzic being allowed to participate in the Olympics.

Hadzic, the alternate on the U.S. men’s epee team, wore a black mask during introductions while his teammates wore the pink masks.

"They never asked me for my side of the story," Hadzic told USA TODAY Sports. "They never asked for evidence or how I felt."

Hadzic, 29, was temporarily suspended in June by the U.S. Center for SafeSport after three women told investigators he committed sexual misconduct against them between 2013 and 2015, according to documents obtained by USA TODAY Sports.

© Elsa, Getty Images U.S. fencers Jacob Hoyle, left, and Curtis McDowald.

An arbitrator overturned the temporary suspension last month, allowing Hadzic to join the U.S. Olympic fencing team. Hadzic has denied the allegations.

On Friday, Hadzic said, he and the three other U.S. men’s epee fencers were waiting to be introduced before their match against Japan when teammate Curtis McDowald handed out masks — a black one for Hadzic and pinks masks for the three other fencers.

"I just remember thinking it would be kind of silly if I stood out there with a black mask and I asked them if they had an extra (pink) one, and they go, 'Oh, no,' " Hadzic said.

Jackie Dubrovich, a member of the U.S. fencing team, wrote on her Instagram story: "Performative activism does not address the issue at hand here. ... Female athletes were not protected and our safety was deemed unimportant."

After the U.S. team lost its match to Japan, Hadzic said, someone sent him a photo of him wearing a black mask and standing alongside his three teammates wearing pink masks.

"It wasn’t really until I saw that picture from the outside view that I realized what was going on," he said.

Hadzic said he was unable to track down McDowald, but that he confronted his two other epee teammates, Jake Hoyle and Yeisser Ramirez.

"I just told (Hoyle) I was frankly embarrassed to be his teammate," Hadzic said. "I was embarrassed to stand up there with him."

Of Ramirez, Hadzic said, "I chewed him out over it. I told him it wasn’t cool."

The three teammates and USA Fencing did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

COACHING IS ABUSE

'This is exactly what we’ve been trying to tell the world': Canadian women's rugby team opens up

Wes Gilbertson
POSTMEDIA

JULY 30,2021

TOKYO — They were feeling a lot of things. Disheartened. Frustrated. Hurt.

© Provided by National Post Ghislaine Landry of Team Canada leads her team as they take the field before the Women's pool B match between Team Canada and Team Fiji during the Rugby Sevens on day six of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Tokyo Stadium on July 29, 2021 in Chofu, Tokyo, Japan.

They weren’t surprised, though.

Ghislaine Landry, the captain of Canada’s women’s rugby sevens squad, stressed that Friday’s series of insulting and insensitive tweets by a since-fired national-program coach are proof of exactly what they were trying to shine a light on during the lead-up to these Tokyo Olympics.

“We didn’t expect there to be more examples when we were here, but it’s insight into what the players have been dealing with privately, that we couldn’t speak about before,” Landry said.

Added teammate Britt Benn: “This is exactly what we’ve been trying to tell the world.”

Canada’s rugby sevens athletes wrapped their stay at Tokyo 2020 with a 24-10 victory over Kenya in the ninth-place game, a disappointing result for a group that believed it could contend for gold.

Shortly after they were eliminated from medal contention Friday, missing out on the quarterfinals by the slimmest of margins, they were slammed on Twitter by Jamie Cudmore, a former player turned coach of Rugby Canada’s national development academy.

As part of a series of since-deleted posts, Cudmore wrote: “I think someone should decolonize 9th place tomorrow,” a clear reference to statements the rugby sevens had made during a pre-competition press conference in Tokyo about the importance of representation and equality. During that media session, they wore matching ‘BIPOC Lives Matter’ shirts and orange masks that read ‘Every Child Matters.’ (BIPOC is an acronym for Black, Indigenous and People of Colour.)

Cudmore, who was also serving as an assistant coach for the men’s XVs, was swiftly dismissed, with Rugby Canada saying “the decision comes as a result of a review of recent social media postings which were unacceptable and in breach of organization policy.”

Canadian rugby coach fired following tweets criticizing Olympic women’s team

This incident comes only months after the team came forward to file a series of complaints about their now-former coach, John Tait. While an independent investigation ruled the alleged conduct didn’t fall into Rugby Canada’s definition of bullying and harassment, Tait opted to resign.

As about her reaction to Cudmore’s tweets, Pamphinette Buisa replied: “It was relieving, to be honest. Because I think that’s a prime opportunity for people to believe us. When we decided to make the complaint nine months ago, people were asking us, ‘Why? What happened, your results?’ And there was no real regard for our mind, our spirit and if we’re OK.

“I think that was an insight, a slim insight, of what’s been going on for years. And I’m glad that we didn’t have to respond. The world responded for us. We led with love. We showed up. That was our clap-back, just to show up (Saturday) and play.”

Former team captain Jen Kish weighed in Saturday, saying on Twitter that there are current members of the Olympic team “who have contributed to the very same environment that they have gone public with regards to John Tait” and adding “there are players in the program who have used their position to push their agenda by intimidating and bulling (sic) other players to a very frightning (sic) extreme point.”

Those comments by Kish came after Saturday’s mixed-zone availability in Tokyo.

‘We are more than athletes’: Canada’s Olympic rugby women open up about representation, Indigenous issues

“Nine months ago, when we decided to do this, we knew it was a risk,” Landry said after the win over Kenya in the ninth-place game. “We knew what it might do to our Olympic plans. We had that discussion as a group and we decided to go ahead anyway. When we got here, we knew that was part of our story. We’ve been through a lot in the last little while and what’s happened off the field is very much part of our story.” 

Canada players before they faced Kenya, July 31, 2021.

REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

There were questions at that pre-Games presser about whether their focus was in the right place, and they know those will follow after their poor performance on the pitch.

The Canadians finished pool play with a 1-2 record, then hoped for some help from a rival to keep their wildcard hopes alive. If New Zealand could beat Russia by 34 points, they’d sneak into the quarters. The final score in that matchup? 33-0.

“It’s definitely been an emotional rollercoaster,” Benn said Saturday after her last appearance with the national side. “Obviously, we’re heartbroken that we’re not advancing to quarterfinals by a point and representing our country at a podium finish, but there are so many things that this team has to be proud of in the past nine months. You guys can read between the lines on that one. This was my last game as a sevens players and I couldn’t be prouder to be part of such a resilient, respectful and inspiring group.Yea

“I think (Canadians) know our story and they see an inspiring group of women and they know that their daughters will be protected. In the future in this program, they’ll thrive in a healthy environment. And in three years time, when it’s their chance to step on the Olympic field, they’ll be ready.”

Landry hopes that will be the legacy of this squad, even if they’re returning home without the shiny souvenir they were after.

“Through our stories being shared, we’re getting messages of so many similar stories and that’s what breaks my heart and it’s a big reason why we’re still speaking to it is because there are a lot of people that haven’t been able to speak up,” she said. “There are people that have left the game because of it, not just rugby but all over the place in sport. It’s way too commonplace. If we can be a tiny little part of that change or help one athlete in the future, we’re proud to do it.”

An ocean menace: study finds ghost gear capturing species at risk and lobster

© Provided by The Canadian Press

HALIFAX — Lost and discarded fishing gear dumped off the southwestern coast of Nova Scotia — site of Canada's most lucrative lobster fishery — is trapping species at risk and hurting the lobster industry, a new scientific study says.

Researchers at Dalhousie University in Halifax determined the abandoned traps, ropes, hooks and other equipment are costing the lobster industry nearly $200,000 annually in lost catches.

"When it starts impacting the bottom line of one of the most important industries in Nova Scotia ... it becomes apparent that we need to do something about it," the study's co-author, associate professor Tony Walker, said in an interview Friday.

"We can actually make more money if we clean up our act."

In 2019, the landed value of Nova Scotia lobsters was $880 million — more than half of the Canada's overall total.

While the scourge of so-called ghost gear is a global problem, the study is described as the first of its kind to provide a preliminary assessment of its environmental and economic impacts.

The findings are based on what researchers found last summer and fall when five fishing boats were used to haul in more than seven tonnes of lost, discarded and abandoned gear. The vessels conducted 60 trips, covering 1,500 square kilometres.

Lobster traps made up the 66 per cent of the gear pulled to the surface. Other gear included cables, ropes, marker buoys and other marine debris.

The researchers calculated that the traps, often referred to as lobster pots, could be responsible for up to $176,000 in annual commercial losses because many of them continue to catch bottom-feeders long after they have been left behind.

"There's probably way more gear out there than this study suggests," said Walker, who is with Dalhousie's School for Resource and Environmental Studies. "Those economic losses are only going to increase."

As well, untended traps are continuing to indiscriminately capture other creatures, including groundfish considered species at risk.

"You get fish and crab in the lobster pots all the time," Walker said, noting that the traps are supposed to be checked every 24 hours to allow for the release of so-called bycatch — the species other than market-sized lobster.

But if the traps are abandoned, an ugly cycle begins.

"If the (trapped creatures) die in place, then they themselves become fresh bait for other creatures to enter the trap. As long as the trap stays intact, that (cycle) can keep on going," Walker said. "Those (traps) older than four years old and still intact, continued to catch bycatch."

As a result, determining how many creatures have been captured by a derelict trap can be difficult.

"Our estimate of the diversity of species and the total number trapped is a massive underestimate," the Walker said."It's important that policy changes should be made."

Of the 15 different live species released from retrieved traps, five were species-at-risk: a wolffish, a cod, a cusk and two sculpins.

"It adds weight to the negative environmental impact," the researcher said. "These are federally protected species, and they're dying unnecessarily."

Walker said said fishers are typically reluctant to bring any traps to shore other than their own because they could face allegations of poaching.

Last week, Ottawa announced that its Ghost Gear Fund has been used to remove 224 tonnes of old gear from Canadian and international waters over the past two years. In all, 159 tonnes of gear has been pulled from the Atlantic and 65 tonnes from the Pacific coast.

Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan also announced that a new online system will make it easier for commercial harvesters to report the loss of fishing gear and its exact location — as required by law.

"Not only will the ... system make it easier for harvesters to be part of the solution, it will help them recover their valuable gear, " Jordan said in a statement. "This is good for industry and good for our environment.” Recreational fishers and the general public will be able to use the system at a later date, the department said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 30, 2021.

Michael MacDonald, The Canadian Press

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

CEO, Speaker worked closely to pass tainted energy bil

© Provided by The Canadian Press


CLEVELAND (AP) — One was a millionaire CEO of a large publicly traded utility looking for 11th-hour help to save two nuclear power plants that hung like millstones around the neck of his company’s bottom line.

The other was a former House speaker seeking to fully restore his political power after more than a decade on the sidelines.

They shared similarities as well, both large men in size and personality, skilled at glad-handing and cajoling, and, when necessary, dealing with those who stood in their way.

Today, they share tattered careers and future worries as prosecutors continue to investigate former FirstEnergy Corp. CEO Chuck Jones’ involvement in a $60 million bribery scheme secretly funded by the company to win a $1 billion legislative bailout for the plants and potentially hundreds of millions more in annual revenue guarantees for its three Ohio electric companies.

Former House Speaker Larry Householder, who shepherded the bailout bill through the Legislature with FirstEnergy money, is now a political pariah facing a federal racketeering charge.

Jones was fired in October along with two senior vice presidents. Householder lost his speakership and later his House seat.

“This is likely the largest bribery, money laundering scheme ever perpetrated against the people of the state of Ohio,” then-U.S. Attorney David DeVillers said when the scheme was revealed last year. “This was bribery, plain and simple. This was a quid pro quo. This was pay to play.”

Prosecutors have accused Householder of benefiting from the scheme, using nearly a half million dollars of secret FirstEnergy money on his 2018 House reelection campaign, toward his Florida home and on legal fees.

Householder appears to have readily embraced a plan audacious in both size and scope that worked to near perfection until the FBI and federal prosecutors intervened.

The courtship between the two men appears to have begun in earnest in 2017 when Householder, newly returned to his House seat, accompanied FirstEnergy executives on a company plane to President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January.

Householder was selected speaker in January 2019 thanks to supportive legislators elected the previous year using millions in hidden FirstEnergy dollars. The campaign help was funneled through dark money groups not required to disclose their donors.

The nuclear bailout and revenue guarantee was approved by the Legislature that July and was immediately signed into law. Around $38 million in FirstEnergy money was spent to keep a referendum sought by opponents of the bill off the ballot.

The Legislature has since repealed the nuclear plant portion of the legislation while FirstEnergy agreed to no longer collect the revenue guarantee in a settlement with Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.

The scheme was disassembled further last week when Jones’ successor at FirstEnergy signed a “statement of facts” laying out in granular detail Jones’ and Householder’s roles as the company sought to avoid prosecution on a federal conspiracy charge.

The statement of facts signed by FirstEnergy CEO and President Steven Strah was attached to an agreement that called for the company to pay $230 million in penalties and abide by a long list of provisions that, if adhered to, would make the criminal charge go away in three years.

FirstEnergy officials, including Strah, have said the company has taken numerous reform measures in the last year, including a review of its political donations, political giving and use of dark money groups.

The document narrates how Jones and unidentified “Executive 2,” one of two senior vice presidents also fired, interacted with Householder to get the deal done.

Soon after the inauguration trip, FirstEnergy made four $250,000 payments to a dark money group Householder controlled.

The company prior to Householder becoming speaker, tried through three pieces of legislation in 2017 to bail out the nuclear plants. The company in March 2018 announced its intention to close the two plants as soon as 2020 while the company’s wholly owned subsidiary that operated them filed for bankruptcy the same month.

The statement of facts shows how Jones and “Executive 2” kept tabs on Householder.

On the day after the 2018 general election, Jones texted Householder asking, “How did your candidates do?”

Householder responded, “I literally need 1 more vote for Speaker.”

Jones said he'd make it happen.

On the day Householder’s colleagues selected him speaker, Householder texted Jones saying, “thank you for everything, it was historical.”

On April 23, 2019, a day when opponents testified against the bailout bill at a House committee hearing, Executive 2 texted Jones to tell him the session was lengthy and went as expected. “Tell (Householder) to put his big boy pants on. Ha.”

The bill that was eventually passed gave the nuclear plants $150 million a year for six years. The statement of facts showed FirstEnergy executives were lobbying for 10 years of subsidies along with the revenue guarantee.

The Legislature approved the bailout bill the following month, Jones in a text to other FirstEnergy executives said: “We made a bbiiiiiiig bet and it paid off. Actually 2 big bets. Congrats to you and the entire team!”

On Sept. 4, 2019, as bailout opponents began gearing up for a petition drive to get a referendum on the ballot, Executive 2 told Jones in a text that he would be taking steps to convince another Ohio public official to call the bailout bill a tax that couldn’t be subject to a ballot referendum.

“We should check with (Householder) to make sure he’s on board before we step in,” Jones responded. "He seemed pretty confident in his referendum strategy and plans to pass it as a tax in a new bill if they get enough signatures.”

Federal authorities have said FirstEnergy spent around $38 million on a dirty-tricks campaign that included spurious ads claiming China and other “foreign entities were taking over Ohio’s electric grid.”

The last substantive interactions between Householder and FirstEnergy executives that have been made public occurred in early 2020, when the company provided $2 million to his dark money group to finance a failed effort for passing at a constitutional amendment to change legislative term limits and potentially allow him to remain in power another 16 years.

Jones and Householder have vehemently denied any wrongdoing.

___

This story has been corrected to show that Larry Householder was not a former legislator at the time he began talks with Chuck Jones. Householder had recently been elected to the House in 2016.

Mark Gillispie, The Associated Press

UPDATED

Albertans protest ending mandatory COVID-19 isolation, masking and testing changes

Emily Mertz 

VIDEO Albertans protest ending mandatory COVID-19 isolation, masking and testing changes

© Global News A rally at the Alberta legislature opposing the government's plans to lift COVID-19 isolation requirements, masking rules and change testing. July 30, 2021.

Medical professionals helped organize two rallies Friday at noon showing opposition to the Alberta government's plan to lift mandatory isolation rules, scale back contact tracing and COVID-19 testing.

Demonstrations took place at the McDougall Centre in Calgary and the Alberta legislature in Edmonton.

Read more: Alberta to adjust COVID-19 masking, isolation, testing rules over next month

"I'm just appalled with what the government is doing," Emily Devereux said.


"They're leaving so many people behind… Suddenly we don't have the power of data… We can't even make the call for ourselves.

"I live with my sister and she has two young children who are both under 12 and can't get vaccinated. So our household is still not safe and we're still going to have to live in somewhat isolation until who knows when

Edmonton protest over province’s decision to drop even more COVID-19 restrictions


On Wednesday, Alberta Health announced that effective July 29, close contacts will no longer be notified of exposure by contact tracers nor will they be legally required to isolate – although it still recommended.

Further measures will be eliminated Aug. 16: people who test positive for COVID-19 will not be mandated to isolate at that time, but it is still strongly recommended. Isolation hotels will also close as quarantine supports end.

Also on Aug. 16, provincial mandatory masking orders will be lifted. Some masking in acute care or continuing care facilities may still be required.


"No more masks on transit, isolation of positive COVID-19 cases come Aug. 16 in Alberta"


"I just maybe got enough courage to start doing a couple things and now that we're not going to have the power of testing or contact tracing and people can legally walk around -- even if they are able to get a COVID test -- and are positive," Devereux said.

"Suddenly, I can't have confidence in knowing that I can navigate the world again, which is really frustrating and scary."

Read more: Canada’s top doctors say Alberta’s COVID-19 plan could have ripple effects across the country

Albert Nobbs co-organized the rallies with Dr. Joe Vipond, an emergency room physician based in Calgary, and spoke in Edmonton about his frustration.

"I'm here on behalf of frankly, my fellow citizens, just due to our concerns over the government's recent decisions and the course that they've set for not only us; but for our students, our health-care systems, our education systems and all the institutions that will inevitably suffer if we go ahead with Aug. 16 and September after that," he said.

"I couldn't understand it," Nobbs said, referring to the announced changes.

"We're setting world precedent here, especially in the developed world, of just completely dropping our guard.

"We're exposing a whole demographic -- our children and the unvaccinated -- to Delta (variant). This thing will explore every corner of our province.

Read more: Amid pushback, Alberta health minister defends plan to ease COVID-19 isolation, masking, testing rules

"This isn't a risk that we should be taking," he said. "This isn't a risk we should be allowing them to take for us."

In Edmonton, all the demonstrators appeared to be wearing masks and most were spread out.

Video: Calgary E.R. doctor fears kids will pay for Alberta’s plan to drop most COVID-19 restrictions

"The reality is, what that's going to end up, is two things: we're not going to have transparency as to how the virus is ripping through communities, and pretty much anybody who's vulnerable is going to be infected," Vipond said at the rally in Calgary.

"And that's going to include some of the double-vaxxed, because the things we're learning about Delta is that you are not 100 per cent protected by the vaccine and that means people are going to be sick."

Read more: Alberta taking ‘risky gamble’ by ending COVID isolation: Canadian Paediatric Society

Video: Albertans protest ending mandatory COVID-19 isolation, masking and testing changes (Global News)

While some Albertans may not require ER or hospital care, there's still a risk for long COVID, Vipond said, even in those with mild symptoms.


"Basically, public health has decided not to value the health of the public."

Vipond stressed every child under 12 is vulnerable and questioned why Alberta is lifting all requirements when no other jurisdiction is doing the same.

"We're doing this two weeks before schools open for the fall. What is going on? This government has lost the moral authority to govern," Vipond said. "(Dr.) Deena Hinshaw has lost the moral authority to be our public health leader.

"We want resignations from Dr. Hinshaw, Premier Kenney, Minister Shandro and we want to negotiate a return to sane public health policy."

Effective Aug. 31, COVID-19 testing will no longer be available through assessment centres. It will be available in primary care settings including doctors’ offices or in acute care and hospital settings.

In a letter to the minister of health dated July 30, the Edmonton Zone Medical Staff Association said community physicians were not consulted about this testing change.

"This government has frequently, and without consultation, changed processes during the pandemic that impact community physicians. This is another example.


"Large system changes require collaboration within the system to review the risks, logistics and possible solutions to determine optimal decisions.

"Announcing system changes in news releases as the single source for community physicians to be informed is not acceptable for delivering seamless health services," the letter to the minister reads.

With one in four adults and all children under 12 still unvaccinated and variant spread, EZMSA said COVID-19 is still a risk and "removing supports is premature."

Read more: Canada facing the start of a Delta-driven 4th wave, top doctors warn

The group also said physicians' offices are not an appropriate location for testing.


"We must not expose other patients to COVID-19. Many patients in our offices are ineligible for vaccination or at risk of incomplete vaccine protection due to age or medical conditions.

"Our community physicians are backlogged, recovering from a larger workload due to the delay in care the pandemic has caused," wrote Dr. Cheryl Mack, vice president of EZMSA.

"It is premature to push such risk on to community offices that do not have the same level of capacity, support, and funding as assessment centres. The assessment centres must continue for the foreseeable future. Periodic reassessment that includes consultation with community physicians must be done before transitioning this service to the broader health system."

Video: Health Minister Tyler Shandro defends plan to drop most of Alberta’s COVID-19 rules

Health Minister Tyler Shandro was asked about pushback to the government's approach on Thursday.

“This is a plan that is based on the science and based on the data,” he said July 29.

“We know that people will continue to have that anxiety but this was work that was done by public health based on the science, based on the data.”

The changes are being made, in part, to better manage public health resources, Dr. Deena Hinshaw explained on Wednesday.


“COVID is not over… COVID will not be eliminated. We need to learn to live with it.

“COVID is not the only threat that we’re facing,” she said.

Video: How should Alberta parents of kids under 12 handle COVID-19 going forward?

Opposition NDP leader Rachel Notley said Friday's rallies were a demonstration of Albertans' concern and outrage with the government's latest pandemic decision.


"People are dumbfounded, they are shocked.

"Today, we heard from medical experts across the country, including Canada's top public health officer, warning against the reckless decision taken by this government with respect to abandoning all remaining COVID protocols," Notley said.

"We join with the folks here today to beg the government to reverse their decision and to maintain the practices that they have in place.

"Albertans have a right to know if cases are growing. They have a right to know how the government is dealing with that.


"And they have a right to know that people who are infected are not walking around making the problem worse."

In a statement, a spokesperson for the minister of health said Friday that science has guided the plans.

"Dr. Hinshaw's recommendations are informed by science, not politics," Brett Boyden said. "Attempts to sully her reputation by the leader of the Opposition and others are repugnant.

"Dr. Hinshaw deserves to be commended for her efforts to lead Alberta out of the pandemic and has the full support of Alberta's government."

Video: Canada may experience 4th COVID-19 wave driven by Delta variant: Dr. Tam

Theresa Tam, the country’s chief public health officer, urged people to continue isolating, get tested for COVID-19 and inform their close contacts even if it is no longer required.

“I firmly believe that quarantine and isolation can help prevent the spread of COVID-19, especially in light of the spread of the Delta variant,” she said Friday during a news briefing in Ottawa.

Vaccination rates in Alberta have begun to lag. About 75 per cent of those eligible have received at least one dose of vaccine and 64 per cent are fully immunized.

“The bottom line is get vaccinated. There’s still a ways to go in Alberta.”

EZMSA COVID Announcement by Emily Mertz on Scribd

VIDEO

Alberta parents concerned as province lifts COVID-19 protocols weeks before school resumes (msn.com)

Duration: 02:06 

It's a decision some parents are baffled by: students in Alberta will head back to school with virtually no COVID-19 measures in place. Morgan Black reports. Global News

'They're putting our kids at risk': Albertans protest government's COVID-19 policy changes

About 200 people took to the Alberta legislature grounds Friday to protest the provincial government’s decision to end mandatory COVID-19 isolation and masking rules and scale back contact tracing and testing.

Provided by Edmonton Journal Wren Brayall, left, 4, and her sister Juliette Brayall, 7, joined approximately 200 people at a rally near the Alberta legislature on Friday, July 30, 2021, to protest the Alberta government's lifting of pandemic restrictions.

Sarah Bugden , Kellen Taniguchi 

People of all ages wearing face masks, including members of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, attended the peaceful noon rally. A second demonstration, led by physician Joe Vipond, took place at the McDougall Centre in Calgary.

Albert Nobbs, the organizer of the Edmonton protest, said the rest of the world is looking at the province as an experiment and watching closely with curiosity and horror.

“Our administration is gambling the results of this situation for the sake of their own political interest, and it doesn’t make any sense,” said Nobbs. “They’re putting our kids at risk, they’re putting our system at risk, they’re putting our public servants at risk and we have to say no, this is not something we will allow you to do.”

Starting Aug. 16, Albertans who test positive for COVID-19 will no longer be legally required to isolate . As of Thursday, close contacts of COVID-19 cases were no longer required to quarantine.

Provincial contact tracers will no longer call close contacts, or do routine asymptomatic testing for close contacts. Masking will no longer be required in schools, but is recommended if there are outbreaks.

Provincial masking orders on transit, in taxis or ride sharing will expire on Aug. 16 as well.

Testing assessment centres close Aug. 31. After that, testing will only be at places like doctors’ offices for people with severe symptoms.

Alberta is the first province to take these steps. Health Minister Tyler Shandro defended the province’s plan on Thursday, the day after it was announced, saying it is based on science and data and calling it “the inevitable next step.”

Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, urged people to continue isolating, get tested for COVID-19 and inform their close contacts even if it is no longer required.

“I firmly believe that quarantine and isolation can help prevent the spread of COVID-19, especially in light of the spread of the Delta variant,” Tam said Friday during a news briefing in Ottawa.

In a letter to Shandro dated Friday, the Edmonton Zone Medical Staff Association said “removing supports is premature” since one-in-four adults and all children under 12 remain unvaccinated and the Delta variant — the dominant strain in Alberta — has been shown to reduce the efficiency of vaccines.

VIDEO

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/they-re-putting-our-kids-at-risk-albertans-protest-government-s-covid-19-policy-changes/ar-AAMLCgI?ocid=msedgntp

The letter also called on the government to keep assessment centres in place, saying that community physicians were not consulted but instead found out through the government’s news release.

“Our community physicians are backlogged, recovering from a larger workload due to the delay in care the pandemic has caused,” wrote Dr. Cheryl Mack, vice-president of the EZMSA.

Paul Boucher, president of the Alberta Medical Association, wrote a letter to members Friday, saying he, too, has shared concerns with Shandro, including the move to vaccinations in doctors’ offices and the metrics the province is focusing on.

“It appears that there is an over-reliance on hospitalizations and ICU admissions as the primary indicators. I am worried that this will lag too far behind spread of the virus in the community. By the time patients land in hospital or ICU, community care may be overrun,” Boucher wrote.

When it comes to vaccination rates per capita, the province continues to lag all others, with the exception of Saskatchewan. About 76 per cent of eligible Albertans have received at least one dose of vaccine and 65 per cent are fully immunized.

Chris Hubick was among the hundreds of protesters on the legislature grounds where he was seen donning a sign that said: “1.96 million still vulnerable #FireTheUCP,” referencing the fact that only 55 per cent of Alberta’s total population has been fully vaccinated.

With the Delta variant spreading throughout the province, Hubick said he isn’t as comfortable going out anymore and he encourages people to continue wearing masks to lower Alberta’s COVID-19 numbers.

“My wife and I have been held up for a year and a half now trying to be responsible and we’re looking forward to getting back out into the world,” he said. “Just from our own health perspective, we would prefer masking because it seems like such a little thing which has such a big safety impact.”

Tam pointed out that there are hundreds of thousands of unvaccinated people in Alberta, creating potential for large COVID-19 clusters and outbreaks.

“The bottom line is get vaccinated. There’s still a ways to go in Alberta.”

With files from The Canadian Press

© Larry Wong Approximately 200 people attended a rally near the Alberta legislature on Friday, July 30, 2021, to protest the Alberta government’s lifting of pandemic restrictions.

Removal of Alberta's remaining COVID-19 protocols sparks outrage among physicians
CBC/Radio-Canada 

© Google Meet/CBC Dr. Gabriel Fabreau, a general internal medicine physician in Calgary, said the removal of Alberta's remaining COVID-19 protocols increases the risk posed by the delta variant of the virus.

Many Alberta doctors are reacting with surprise and disappointment to the province's plan to relax its COVID-19 surveillance and management system despite an increase in case numbers, the positivity rate and R-value, and vaccination rates that are lagging behind other provinces.

As of Thursday, quarantine for close contacts became no longer mandatory but just recommended. Contact tracers will no longer notify close contacts, but they will continue to investigate cases in high-risk settings such as continuing care facilities. Asymptomatic testing will no longer be recommended.

On Aug. 16, a further scaling down of the rules is planned:

You will no longer be required to isolate if you test positive for COVID-19, but isolation will still be strongly recommended.

Isolation hotels and quarantine supports will no longer be available.
Testing will be available for symptomatic people only when needed to help direct patient care decisions.

After Aug. 31, testing for COVID-19 will be available only for patients whose symptoms are severe enough to need care in hospitals or physicians' clinics.
Masking won't be required in schools.

Masks will no longer be required on public transit and in most continuing care facilities.

Dr. Neeja Bakshi, who has worked on the COVID unit at Edmonton's Royal Alexandra Hospital through the pandemic, says she's worried the changes will have terrible results.

"The medical community is being completely gaslighted right now," she said. "The idea that in two weeks time we can just be done with this when we know we're not is so irresponsible."

Bakshi said she believes abandoning testing, isolating and contact tracing will lead to preventable deaths.

"Take all that away — if the first time we know you have COVID is when we're intubating you, that's a problem," she said

.

© CBC

 Members of Alberta's medical community unhappy with the government's plan to relax COVID-19 measures demonstrate in Calgary at the McDougall Centre on Friday. There was also a protest at the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton.

Demonstrations in Calgary, Edmonton

Members of the medical community unhappy with the province's plan staged demonstrations at the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton and outside the provincial offices in Calgary's McDougall Centre at noon on Friday.

Speaking at the rally in Calgary, Dr. Joe Vipond, an ER physician and co-founder of the Masks4Canada advocacy group, called on Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta's chief medical officer of health, to resign.

"Like everybody, I wanted to believe that Dr. Hinshaw had our best interests at heart," he said.

"But if you sign your name on a document that says I'm going to expose every Albertan, including all of our children, to unknown risks, I'm afraid she needs to resign. I don't know what else."

Vipond says the province is facing a moment of history and officials will have to answer for their decisions.

"The scary thing is, we haven't had a single public health officer resign in response to this. We haven't had a single MLA resign as a cause of this," he said, adding that he's come to believe there are "layers and layers and layers of badness" driving policy decisions.

"So all I can think of is we come out, we say that this is not right, you're not going to do this in my province."


Dr. Gabriel Fabreau, who also treats COVID-19 patients and teaches general internal medicine at the University of Calgary, said the more infectious delta variant is still a threat.

"Dismantling our testing or surveillance infrastructure and depending on hospitalizations as only indicators — that leaves us blind and defenceless," he said.

Fabreau said he expects the delta variant will rip through vulnerable communities.

"I'm worried," he said.

Fabreau said he's concerned that allowing the virus to spread unchecked could open the door to new variants.

"If we are the province that lets her rip, we are increasing the risk of the 'Alberta' variant. Do we really want that?"
Health minister said decision not political

Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro said he stands by the decision to scale back public health measures, which he noted was not politically driven but was put forward by Hinshaw.

"We have many different opinions in the medical community, and that's to be expected and that's encouraged," he said.

On Thursday, Dr. Daniel Gregson, an infectious disease specialist with the University of Calgary, said the government's decision to end mandated isolation is irresponsible.

"The message we're sending is that if you have an infection with COVID, or think you might have an infection with COVID, you can do whatever you want," he said. "I would not agree with that."

Gregson said a fourth wave is inevitable, primarily among young and healthy individuals.

"We are going to see a bump in our hospitalizations. The question is, how much?"

Dr. Howard Njoo, Canada's deputy public health officer, said that as rules change from one jurisdiction to another, provinces might need to consider taking steps to protect their own people.

"I think everyone is alive to the fact that there could be ... knock-on effects to the other provinces and territories — with travel within Canada, you know, with residents of one province going to another province. Obviously, in this case, we're looking at Alberta," he said.

"The other provinces and territories will need to do and recognize what in their context might be most appropriate for their residents and to protect ... their public health and health-care system within their own provinces."

Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada's chief public health officer, said it's up to provinces to decide on their own health measures, but she still strongly encouraged people in Alberta who contract COVID-19 to self-isolate, even if it's not mandated by the province.

"I would ask that any individual who is diagnosed with COVID-19, or you think you may have it, please isolate, please get your test and inform your close contacts," she said.

Dr. Sarah Fortune, chair of the department of immunology and infectious diseases at Harvard University's T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston told CBC's Radio Active that she believes Alberta's plan is a good one.

"I think Alberta is taking reasonable steps in the face of having done a good job of bringing the viral numbers down and in the face of good vaccine coverage," she said.

"I don't think the people of Alberta, where you've achieved upwards of 70 per cent vaccine coverage, need to think that they're going to become the next Louisiana, where vaccine coverage is much lower."

Fortune cautioned that the global community is not out of the woods yet, however, and said the playing field can always shift as new, dangerous variants emerge.

But she said that since the long-running pandemic has exacted such a toll on society, it's important to take steps like those being carried out now in Alberta.

"In fact, it's very important for us as people to take advantage of your successes, the successes of your public health system, and live a little," Fortune said.

© Scott Neufeld/CBC Members of the medical community unhappy with the province's plan to scale down COVID-19 measures staged demonstrations at the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton, pictured here, and outside the provincial offices in Calgary's McDougall Centre at noon on Friday.

With files from Radio Active and the CBC's Jennifer Lee.