ANOTHER STUPID FIREWALL ALBERTA

Braid: Group with MLA backing wants Alberta to flout federal laws, claim sovereignty

Many will dismiss yet another angry SOUTHERN Alberta  group as absurd and irrelevant.  NOPE JUST MORE OF THE SAME

I never do, having witnessed the incandescent fury of earlier Alberta-first causes   LIKE THE WESTERN CANADA CONCEPT

Author of the article:Don Braid • Calgary Herald
Publishing date:Sep 28, 2021 • 

Rob Anderson, former Wildrose MLA, on November 26, 2014.

 PHOTO BY RYAN JACKSON /Edmonton Journal

Alberta should be a “sovereign” province within Canada, says Rob Anderson, former Airdrie MLA and Wildrose original.

Without such action the province will soon be both “a have-not and a has-been,” Anderson said Tuesday, as he and others launched what they call the “Free Alberta Strategy.”

The timing is odd for a call to declare federal laws invalid in Alberta if they conflict with provincial rights.

Aren’t we the province that needs pandemic help from other provinces, and even military aid from Ottawa?

Anderson says that’s the way Canada is supposed to work — a rare example — and Alberta would continue to be a good citizen within Canada, while being sovereign within its borders.

The group wants passage of the “Alberta Sovereignty Act, granting the Alberta Legislature absolute discretion to refuse any provincial enforcement of federal legislation or judicial decisions that, in its view, interfere with provincial areas of jurisdiction or constitute an attack on the interests of Albertans.”

If Ottawa cried foul, the group says, so what? The new Alberta police force would simply be directed to ignore enforcement of federal actions.

Maybe there would be a constitutional crisis, Anderson adds, but Canada needs a hot one from time to time.

Many will dismiss yet another angry Alberta group as absurd and irrelevant. I never do, having witnessed the incandescent fury of earlier Alberta-first causes.

This feeling could rise again powerfully when the pandemic finally eases and we survey the economic and social damage.

But on Free Alberta’s first day in the open, there was an odd twist. It seemed on the surface to be as much anti-Kenney as anti-Ottawa.

Notably, UCP MLAs Angela Pitt and Jason Stephan were there to fully back the project.

Pitt is the deputy legislature Speaker who has often clashed with Premier Jason Kenney, and Red Deer MLA Stephan was demoted from Treasury Board for travelling last Christmas.

Lingering in some invisible corner of Zoom, without speaking, was legislature Speaker Nathan Cooper, said to be an “interested observer.”

He signed a letter against government COVID-19 policy and later had to apologize, because Speakers don’t generally do that.

Also appearing were Independent MLAs who were ejected from Premier Jason Kenney’s caucus — Todd Loewen from Grande Prairie and Medicine Hat’s Drew Barnes, an eternal pebble in Kenney’s shoe.

Are these folks trying to raise a challenger to Kenney’s leadership? With a vote on his performance coming in spring, we are entitled to wonder.

Speaker of the House Nathan Cooper takes part in the first session of the 30th Alberta Legislature, in Edmonton Wednesday, May 22, 2019. PHOTO BY DAVID BLOOM

The group will certainly support the vote to abolish equalization, which will appear on Alberta’s civic ballot Oct. 18.

There are doubts about whether it will pass, though — this is a referendum on abolition of equalization right across Canada, not a demand to improve the program for Alberta.

But it’s a passing matter to Free Alberta types. Sovereignty is their goal.

And “sovereign” is an intentionally loaded word. It was the essence of two Quebec referendums, both of which failed.

But in recent years Quebec has slowly assumed many powers without objection from Ottawa.

The classic was passage by the National Assembly of a resolution asserting Quebec’s absolute power to reject pipelines crossing its territory.

Although such a motion is clearly unconstitutional, Ottawa didn’t say a word.

Anderson hates that Quebec motion but sees the tactic as a great example for Alberta.

“This is about the right and the power to govern yourself,” he says. “The ultimate sovereign power in the province of Alberta is going to be, under this strategy, the legislature — much like the National Assembly in Quebec.

“What we’re proposing is really not much different than what Quebec has done . . . Ottawa can pass whatever bills they want but if what Ottawa passes is not in line with what the government of Alberta says on the subject,” then the legislature would be supreme.

Many Albertans will like this plan. Federal leaders should not ignore it.

They need to offer real solutions for a province that is expected to wind down its major industry. So far, damn all.

Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Herald

Braid: Alberta needs Saskatchewan-style straight talk on COVID-19

Calling a terrible thing by its name, instead of wrapping it in bureaucratic garble, is the essence of great crisis leadership

Author of the article:Don Braid • Calgary Herald
Publishing date:Sep 30, 2021 •

Saskatchewan's provincial chief medical health officer Dr. Saqib Shahab speaks during an update on COVID-19 at the Legislative Building in Regina, Wednesday, March 11, 2020. 

PHOTO BY THE CANADIAN PRESS/MICHAEL BELL

Many Albertans want a new government. How about Saskatchewan’s?

Premier Scott Moe’s province has a COVID-19 problem nearly as dangerous as Alberta’s.

But there is a clarity of purpose in Saskatchewan, a readiness to speak plain that’s entirely unlike the muffled, overblown messages we get from Premier Jason Kenney and the UCP.

By straining to respect each tic of opinion on everything from vaccines to masks, the UCP ends up leading nobody. Many Albertans have simply stopped trusting and believing.

Saskatchewan folks can be ornery on vaccines but generally have their heads screwed on straight, no surprise from Canada’s most underrated and overachieving province.

Moe has just accepted the resignation of a caucus member because she purported to be vaccinated when she wasn’t.

His Saskatchewan Party, which is conservative in the Brad Wall tradition, presents a solid front on vaccination to show the public they really believe in it.

So, out went MLA Nadine Wilson, who had earlier worn a sticker saying “I got my COVID-19 vaccine.”

In Alberta, we have no idea of the vaccination count in Kenney’s caucus. Vaccination is a personal choice to be respected, they say, a privacy and freedom thing.

Yet their government daily begs people to get the shots. The behaviour belies the messages. A Nadine Wilson might get high fives from those people.

Our chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, is taking a few days off. So, let us turn to the Saskatchewan CMOH for more straight talk.

“We will not only not have Thanksgiving at this rate,” said Dr. Saqib Shahab. “We will likely not have Christmas and New Year at this rate.

“It will be a fall and winter of misery at the current rate.”

That is an appalling message nobody wants to hear. It makes your heart sink. That could very well be our future, too.

But his message, although frightening and likely true, is so powerful that it could actually change behaviour.

Shahab added that Saskatchewan will face an “untenable situation” if health measures and vaccination don’t curb rising infections.

“We are having a mass casualty event every day now for the foreseeable future.”

Thirty-four Albertans died of COVID on Tuesday, another 20 on Wednesday. That really is a mass casualty event. But it was barely recognized here as another signpost of singular tragedy.

Calling a terrible thing by its name, instead of wrapping it in bureaucratic garble, is the essence of great crisis leadership.

I’ve watched Hinshaw for many months now, and once admired her calm guidance.

But she made a terrible mistake by endorsing Open for Summer. She might regain some authority now by sounding more like Dr. Shahab, and less like a spokeswoman for the all-powerful, entirely secret cabinet committee that makes the decisions

.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta chief medical officer of health, leaves her final regularly scheduled COVID-19 update during a press conference at the Federal Building in Edmonton, on Tuesday, June 29, 2021. 

PHOTO BY IAN KUCERAK/POSTMEDIA

This whole problem — the abrupt shifts, the ambiguity, the defence of “rights” that can properly be suspended in genuine crisis — goes right to the core of the UCP.

Tracy Allard, the ex-minister ejected by Kenney for her Hawaii travels, reflected much of this in a long, heartfelt letter to her northern constituents.

While vigorously urging people to get their shots, she does so “while respecting the individual’s right to choose.”

People do have that right in law, no question. But their choice in this crisis is not worthy of government respect when the unvaccinated are depriving others of essential non-COVID hospital care.

On Thursday, the government announced that all public service employees will have to be vaccinated by the end of November.

The premier talked at length about how other provinces and countries have had problems as bad as Alberta’s.

One good move, another ambiguous message. We need a straight talk injection from Saskatchewan.

Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Herald

Twitter: @DonBraid

Facebook: Don Braid Politics

NOT AS BLUE AS SASKATCHEWAN

The Conservative vote in Alberta shrank. Here's why

Thu., September 30, 2021,

More than 365,000 Albertans who voted for the Conservative Party in 2019 parked their vote elsewhere or didn't vote at all in the 2021 election. (Tijana Martin/The Canadian Press - image credit)

Sheila Juhlin has called Alberta home for most of her life. She's voted Conservative in nearly every federal election for decades, but this time she hesitated.

Juhlin reflected on her priorities: the economy, electoral reform, better representation in Parliament for the West.

"Do I just keep doing what I've always been doing? Is it going to do anything for Alberta?" she said.

"They say that continuing the same behaviour and expecting different results is a sign of insanity."

She walked into the voting booth and checked the box beside the Maverick Party candidate.

More than 365,000 other Albertans who voted for the Conservative Party in 2019 also parked their vote elsewhere or didn't vote at all this time.

The Tories took a whopping 69 per cent of the vote in the province in the 2019 election. In last week's results they dropped 14 points, down to 55 per cent.

Andrew Kurjata/CBC

Drop in support for Tories

The NDP and Liberals gained 7.5 per cent and almost two per cent, respectively. The People's Party of Canada jumped five per cent. The Maverick Party, in its first election, took just over one per cent of the popular vote.

The drop in support only cost Conservatives three additional seats this election — they hold 30 of 34 seats in Alberta, while the Liberals and NDP each have two — but analysts say it sends a message that what once worked for the party in Alberta may not work anymore.

"There's absolutely a discussion that needs to be had about the collapse in support," Michael Solberg, a director at New West Public Affairs, told CBC News.

"I think the real concern is how you bring back those [conservative voters] into the big tent fold."

The Conservatives bled support to both sides of the political spectrum. The Liberals, NDP, PPC and Mavericks sucked up 263,000 more collective Alberta votes than in the previous election, while voter turnout fell nearly five percentage points, from 69.2 per cent to 64.5 per cent.

"It seems funny to think that there'd be a lot of Conservative/NDP switchers in Alberta, but it seems that there probably was some movement between the Conservatives, the NDP and the Liberals," said Janet Brown of Janet Brown Opinion Research.

She pointed out that disenchanted Conservative voters are usually more likely to stay home than change their vote, but this election was different.

"[They] might have lost some votes on the far right to the Maverick Party or to the People's Party. I think the bigger concern for Erin O'Toole, though, is probably not the votes that went that way. It's the votes that went to centrist parties, despite his efforts to have a more centrist message."

Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press

Ambivalence on O'Toole

O'Toole hasn't enjoyed strong popularity in Alberta.

In the spring, research conducted for CBC News showed that only 11 per cent of respondents said they were highly impressed with the Conservative leader — lower than the approval for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau or NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh. The bulk were ambivalent on O'Toole, giving him a middle-of-the-road rating.

His position in favour of a carbon tax and his murky communication on firearms regulations during the election puzzled many right-leaning Alberta voters. On the left, while this CPC platform was more progressive than the last one, reviews of its climate plan weren't as favourable as the other parties.

"The Tories federally have a branding issue at the moment. I don't think they know entirely what they are or who they represent," Solberg said.

And their opponents tried to fill in those identity gaps for voters by tying the federal Conservatives to their provincial cousins, who are grappling with their own issues.

Jason Franson/The Canadian Press

The Kenney factor

Multiple election attack ads were launched, connecting O'Toole to Alberta Premier Jason Kenney.

If the latter — who endorsed O'Toole — can't get a handle on COVID-19, how could you trust the former to be any different, they argued.

The CPC leader praised Kenney's handling of the pandemic shortly before Alberta plunged into the most strenuous wave yet. The premier's popularity is also the lowest in the country.

"I think it would be naive to say that the falters of the United Conservative government here did not lead to some angst, both on the far right ... and that more progressive vote," Solberg said.

And Brown agrees.

"Perhaps it's the fortunes of the provincial conservatives that have driven down the federal Conservative vote."

Conservatives still won ridings with huge margins, margins the other parties combined couldn't touch. Polling analysts have estimated that the CPC could drop 25-30 per cent beneath its 2019 vote share without it costing more than a handful of seats.

But there's a shift happening in the province that researchers say would be wise to note.

Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press

Weighing the trade off

"We do have an unusual situation in Alberta, for all kinds of reasons. The NDP vote went up by more than the Liberal vote went up by. Yes, there's the loss with the Conservatives. There's also the gain for the NDP," said Lori Williams, a political scientist at Mount Royal University.

"There was a greater motivation for NDP and Liberal voters to come out and vote in this last election in Alberta."

And the PPC clawed votes from the other flank, taking more than seven per cent of the vote and finishing second in several Alberta ridings.

"This is the age-old tradeoff for the Conservatives. How do you keep the far right happy but attract more centrist voters? And in the end, I think it was probably an OK trade-off for Erin O'Toole," Brown said.

The leader of the Conservative Party would be ill fated to ignore Alberta and the voices here. We see what the result is when that happens. - Michael Solberg, New West Public Affairs

The balance for the leader, should he remain in that job, is keeping Alberta onside while courting votes in seat-rich provinces, a strategy that won't be without sacrifices in the Prairies, according to these experts.

Solberg says the party needs to address long-standing regional and ideological fissures.

"The leader of the Conservative Party would be ill fated to ignore Alberta and the voices here. We see what the result is when that happens."

And Juhlin says that's the reason her vote shifted this election.

"The way they're doing things isn't meeting the needs of everybody," Juhlin concluded. "It's the way to send a message saying this standard is not good enough."

Environment minister restores federal assessment of Alberta coal mine expansion

Bob Weber
The Canadian Press
Published Oct. 1, 2021 4

Federal Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson has reinstated his decision to subject a thermal coal mine expansion in Alberta to a federal review after a court ordered him to rethink it.

Wilkinson said the Alberta First Nation whose objections led to the court order concerning the Vista mine project have now withdrawn their concerns.

“We consulted very extensively with Ermineskin (First Nation) and Ermineskin has actually sent us a letter essentially withdrawing their objection to us going through the designation process,” he said from Milan, where he is attending a climate conference.

Wilkinson repeated his pre-election warning that new thermal coal projects will have to surmount a high bar for approval.

“In a world that must reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the first most important step that we can take ... is to phase out the use of thermal coal,” he said.

“We will not be looking for new thermal coal mines to be developed in Canada.”

Coalspur Mines is seeking to expand its existing surface mine near Hinton in north central Alberta. The expansion would make Vista the largest thermal coal mine in North America. The company also plans an underground test mine on the site.

A federal environmental review is required when a mine expands its footprint by 50 per cent or more, or if it plans to produce more than 5,000 tonnes of coal a day. In the early stages of its development, Vista would come in just under those thresholds and the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada ruled in 2019 that Ottawa wouldn't get involved.

But in 2020 Wilkinson decided that the footprint was close enough and that production would eventually exceed the level triggering a federal review. He revoked the agency's decision and ordered a joint federal-provincial process, considered to be a more rigorous than a purely provincial assessment.

That decision was challenged in Federal Court by Coalspur and Ermineskin First Nation.

Ermineskin supports the project for its economic benefits and argued its treaty rights were violated when Wilkinson failed to consult with them. Court agreed with Ermineskin and ordered Wilkinson to reconsider.

Since then, the agency has met with 44 First Nations, including Ermineskin.

“The agency documented and included the feedback from Indigenous groups consulted during the reconsideration process to ensure their views were included in the analysis provided to the minister,” said a statement from agency spokesman Stephane Perrault.

A spokesman for Ermineskin was not immediately available to comment.

Coalspur's application to Federal Court was thrown out after the Ermineskin ruling. A spokesmanfor the companywasn't immediately available to say if that application would be refiled.

Wilkinson's latest decision is based on reasons similar to those he initially cited.

He said Ottawa's involvement is justified by the size of the planned expansion and its potential threats to areas of federal jurisdiction, such as contamination of waterways and habitat loss for species at risk. He also said the expansion would affect the treaty rights of other First Nations who oppose the project.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2021.

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Amazon Workers in Canada Are Getting Organized

BYMITCHELL THOMPSON

JACOBIN

10.03.2021

Amazon tripled its profits during the pandemic while its workers experienced sickness and stress. Workers at the company are fighting back by launching a unionization drive that could reshape Canada’s labor movement.
The Teamsters’ union has began organizing Amazon workers in at least nine of its fourteen Canadian facilities. (Watchara Phomicinda / MediaNews Group / the Press-Enterprise via Getty Images)

For most people, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a disaster. By all accounts it has exacerbated income inequality, imperiled workers forced to put up with unsafe conditions to keep their jobs, and increased the ranks of the working poor, unable to afford housing and food. The hardship has, however, not been evenly distributed.

Amazon is one of the many companies that has done well during the pandemic. In April, the Financial Times reported that the multinational conglomerate had recorded two successive quarters of over $100 billion in sales. The company’s profits have more than tripled over the course of the last year and a half.

Having weathered the pandemic, Amazon now faces a new threat. The Teamsters’ union has launched organizing drives in at least nine of its fourteen Canadian facilities. If successful, these unionization drives would mark a watershed moment for organized labor in North America. To date, no attempt to unionize an Amazon warehouse has been successful in Canada or the United States.

Success in Canada may point to a way forward for more than just Amazon’s twenty-five thousand Canadian workers. Amazon is totemic of a form of capitalism that is dependent on exploiting precarious, underpaid yet “essential” workers. Striking a blow against the behemoth could lead to a rise in organizing campaigns in other key industries.

Several Teamsters members and Amazon workers spoke with Jacobin’s Mitchell Thompson to shed light on Amazon workplace conditions and the aim of union organizers.

The Nisku Vote

The Teamsters are organizing “Fulfillment Centers” in Alberta, British Columbia, and across Ontario, from Kitchener and Cambridge to Milton and the Greater Toronto Area. So far, the most successful drive has been at the YEG 1 fulfillment center in Nisku, Alberta. There, Local 362 filed for a vote to certify union membership on September 14, confident it has the support of at least 40 percent of the facility’s nearly eight hundred workers.

The Nisku facility opened officially in the summer of 2020, with the promise that it would offer opportunities to workers negatively impacted by low oil prices and production cuts. In just over a year, the Nisku warehouse has been the site of over a hundred COVID-19 infections.

Because the warehouse was deemed a critical industry by the government it was exempted from closure. This was despite the fact that for nearly five months, from November 14, 2020 to March 20, 2021, the workplace was listed officially as “in outbreak.” Workers bore the risk, throughout this time, without a sustained pay raise.

Amazon has recently announced a paltry pay increase for some Canadian fulfillment center workers. The company will increase workers’ pay to a starting salary of between $17 and $21.65 an hour. This may be an attempt to get in front of the Teamsters’ organizing drives. Even so, as the union notes, $17 per hour is well below the average unionized warehouse wage and the increase comes with no promise to change workplace conditions.

A change in workplace conditions is a sticking point for many Amazon workers. Local 362 spokesperson Christopher Monette told Jacobin that “we hear that workplace conditions are brutal — they’re brutal on the body.” Monette adds that workers are shocked by the fact that they are forced to endure such appalling working conditions whilst their bosses rake in record profits:


When Amazon workers at Nisku look at their working conditions, where there have been so many COVID-19 cases and look at the incredible wealth this company generated through the pandemic, there is an obvious disconnect.

Amazon is well known for putting profit ahead of workers’ health. Before COVID-19, its productivity monitor — measuring the intervals between scanning stock or “Time Off Task” (TOT) — forced workers to put speed before all else. The cost of not keeping up to pace is workplace discipline or termination. Research into working conditions at the company has linked the speed at which Amazon’s management requires employees to work with countless injuries in the United States. Amazon has acknowledged that this system continued across Canada throughout the pandemic.

According to Monette, the company expects its Nisku workers to scan a new item at least every nine to twelve seconds.

If they fall behind, their wages can be affected, and their job security is put into question. We’re seeing young, fit workers with lower back pain that they should not be having because they’re struggling to keep up with these unreasonable standards.

“The Real Danger Comes From the Nature of the Work”

Workers at other Amazon facilities across Canada told Jacobin conditions are just as hazardous as those found in the United States. “The real danger comes from the nature of the work,” explained one Ontario Amazon picker. “Managers keep a very tough target of the number of units we stow per hour and keep pressuring workers to meet the target,” she added.

“They’re asked to do more than what they’re humanly capable of doing,” said James Killey, an organizer with Teamsters Local 879 near Hamilton. “They’re watched all the time. Penalized if they get hurt. They count days off as most companies do and when they’re up for review, that goes against them.”

“They suck blood,” the Ontario picker remarked.

Nobody can take these long hours of continuous lifting, stowing, and picking. I have seen people literally crying when things go beyond their control. Another worker told me that he was so scared to go high on aisles with the pit machine, she used to cry out of fear.

 Managers keep pushing.

In both 2019 and 2020, data from Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board indicated that the company’s injury rate in the province increased sharply from its rate in 2017. This was due in large part to “overexertion” and sprains. Across Canada, the Toronto Star found, many of Amazon’s facilities had injury rates above the company’s US average.

“Social distancing while we’re supposed to be picking the products is not happening,” an Amazon worker told Ricochet. “Because there’s a time limit on what we’re supposed to be picking, we can’t be standing around waiting for people to get out of the way.”

“There’s a general atmosphere of fear and anxiety,” another worker told Jacobin. “In your contract, it says you can be fired whenever.”

A Wave of Unionization

If successful, these unionization drives could result in the first unionized Amazon facilities in North America. Late last year, Amazon fought off a drive in Alabama using a campaign of union-busting and intimidation of staff. In a conciliatory letter to shareholders intended for broad circulation, former CEO and now executive chair of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, told shareholders he doesn’t “take comfort” in the defeat of the union drive.

In the letter, Bezos emphasized the company’s brighter side: “We terminate the employment of less than 2.6 percent of employees due to their inability to perform their jobs.” The executive and space travel hobbyist also noticed that 42 percent of injuries at Amazon are musculoskeletal disorders and conceded that something had to be done about it. Instead of letting workers slow down, however, Bezos’s letter suggested using “sophisticated algorithms” to “rotate employees among jobs that use different muscle-tendon groups” before they develop disorders.

More recently, the same Amazon management claimed that a union at its facilities would overrepresent the “voices of a select few.”

But neither union-busting nor Bezos and his “sophisticated algorithms” have stopped Amazon workers from organizing in Canada. “We’ve had thousands of conversations with thousands of Amazon workers across this country. They’re stopping to chat with union organizers, they’re taking those leaflets,” Monette says. “When they see Teamsters organizers outside their facilities for the first time their reactions are, ‘Oh finally a union — where have you been?’’’

Worker Power

Amazon’s profits don’t come from the sky, from the charm of Jeff Bezos, or the intestinal fortitude of its current CEO Andy Jassy. Throughout 2020, Amazon’s workers moved billions of dollars’ worth of goods with their hands. Worked to the bone, they delivered enormous revenue to the company’s owners. Without these workers, nothing would be moved and no orders “fulfilled.”

It is not because their workers are insufficiently productive that Amazon is able to keep wages low and working conditions grim. Amazon is able to neglect its workers because its management is confident that they will always show up the next day to move their goods and deliver their profits.

It’s true that tight margins and just-in-time production can be used to weaken worker power. But it is also the case that these on-a-dime production methods can also maximize the impact of even a short-term refusal to work.

A union can provide Amazon’s workers with the power to grind the companies production to a halt, and demand what is owed to them. This could empower other more precarious and low-wage “essential workers” — long neglected by the official labor movement — to stand up for themselves and assert their rights. “The general momentum that the campaign has is indicative of how COVID-19 has changed workers’ perceptions,” Monette says.

During the Alabama drive, Thomas A. Stefanik of Torkin Manes LLP, one of Canada’s largest corporate law firms, warned that Canadian employers “should be very wary of what happened at Amazon.” Stefanik can read the writing on the wall. Looking to the future, he advised that bosses batten down the hatches to prepare for impending worker militancy:

Although employers are generally engaged almost full time now combatting pandemic-related issues, now may be the best time to seek assistance and advice in preparing for a post-pandemic union organizing campaign.

Just weeks prior to the announcement of the Teamster union drive, one of Canada’s largest newspapers asked whether a “wave of unionization” is sweeping retail and other low-wage sectors. Last week, workers in Alberta, Canada’s least labor-friendly province, put the grocery chain Real Canadian Superstore on notice. Members of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union voted 97 percent in favor of strike action.

In January, the Toronto Star reported that union density rose through 2020. This increase is due to both job losses at nonunion workplaces and to prominent union drives by mistreated “essential workers” in health care, retail, and food service.

If Amazon workers exercise their right to unionize, other workers will take note. Because of the company’s profile and reputation, a union win at an Amazon warehouse will signal to other workers that they can also fight, and win, against their bosses. Amazon workers choosing to come together to demand dignity, respect, and proper wages will be a win for everyone.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mitchell Thompson is a writer, researcher, and occasional radio producer in Toronto.

Batteries of the Future Set to be Cheaper and Better – Thanks to Sugar

By Good News Network
-Oct 1, 2021


Simply by adding sugar, researchers from the Monash Energy Institute have created a longer-lasting, lighter, more sustainable rival to the lithium-ion batteries that are essential for aviation, electric vehicles, and submarines.

The Monash team, assisted by CSIRO, report that using a glucose-based additive on the positive electrode they have managed to stabilize lithium-sulfur battery technology, long touted as the basis for the next generation of batteries.

“In less than a decade, this technology could lead to vehicles including electric buses and trucks that can travel from Melbourne to Sydney without recharging. It could also enable innovation in delivery and agricultural drones where light weight is paramount,” says lead author Professor Mainak Majumder, from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Associate Director of the Monash Energy Institute.


In theory, lithium-sulfur batteries could store two to five times more energy than lithium-ion batteries of the same weight. The problem has been that, in use the electrodes deteriorated rapidly, and the batteries broke down.

There were two reasons for this—the positive sulfur electrode suffered from substantial expansion and contraction weakening it and making it inaccessible to lithium, and the negative lithium electrode became contaminated by sulfur compounds.

Last year the Monash team demonstrated they could open the structure of the sulfur electrode to accommodate expansion and make it more accessible to lithium.

Now, by incorporating sugar into the web-like architecture of the electrode they have stabilized the sulfur, preventing it from moving and blanketing the lithium electrode.

Test-cell prototypes constructed by the team have been shown to have a charge-discharge life of at least 1000 cycles, while still holding far more capacity than equivalent lithium-ion batteries.

“So each charge lasts longer, extending the battery’s life,” says first author and PhD student Yingyi Huang. “And manufacturing the batteries doesn’t require exotic, toxic, and expensive materials.”

MORE: To Replace Lithium Batteries For Grid Storage ‘Gravitricity’ Uses Gravity

Yingyi and her colleagues were inspired by a 1988 geochemistry report that describes how sugar-based substances resist degradations in geological sediments by forming strong bonds with sulfides.

RELATED: Biodegradable Algae Solar Panels Clean The Air While Growing Green Energy

Dr Mahdokht Shaibani, second author of the paper, published in Nature Communications, and Monash researcher, says, “While many of the challenges on the cathode side of the battery has been solved by our team, there is still need for further innovation into the protection of the lithium metal anode to enable large-scale uptake of this promising technology—innovations that may be right around the corner.”

Source: Monash University

Iron battery breakthrough could eat lithium’s lunch
Bloomberg News | October 1, 2021 | 

Image: SB Energy

The world’s electric grids are creaking under the pressure of volatile fossil-fuel prices and the imperative of weaning the world off polluting energy sources. A solution may be at hand, thanks to an innovative battery that’s a cheaper alternative to lithium-ion technology.


SB Energy Corp., a U.S. renewable-energy firm that’s an arm of Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp., is making a record purchase of the batteries manufactured by ESS Inc. The Oregon company says it has new technology that can store renewable energy for longer and help overcome some of the reliability problems that have caused blackouts in California and record-high energy prices in Europe.

The units, which rely on something called “iron-flow chemistry,” will be used in utility-scale solar projects dotted across the U.S., allowing those power plants to provide electricity for hours after the sun sets. SB Energy will buy enough batteries over the next five years to power 50,000 American homes for a day.

“Long-duration energy storage, like this iron-flow battery, are key to adding more renewables to the grid,” said Venkat Viswanathan, a battery expert and associate professor of mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.

ESS was founded in 2011 by Craig Evans, now president, and Julia Song, the chief technology officer. They recognized that while lithium-ion batteries will play a key role in electrification of transport, longer duration grid-scale energy storage needed a different battery. That’s because while the price of lithium-ion batteries has declined 90% over the last decade, their ingredients, which sometimes include expensive metals such as cobalt and nickel, limit how low the price can fall.

The deal for 2 gigawatt-hours of batteries is worth at least $300 million, according to ESS. Rich Hossfeld, chief executive officer of SB Energy, said the genius of the units lies in their simplicity.

“The battery is made of iron salt and water,” said Hossfeld. “Unlike lithium-ion batteries, iron flow batteries are really cheap to manufacture.”

Every battery has four components: two electrodes between which charged particles shuffle as the battery is charged and discharged, electrolyte that allows the particles to flow smoothly and a separator that prevents the two electrodes from forming a short circuit.

Flow batteries, however, look nothing like the battery inside smartphones or electric cars. That’s because the electrolyte needs to be physically moved using pumps as the battery charges or discharges. That makes these batteries large, with ESS’s main product sold inside a shipping container.

What they take up in space, they can make up in cost. Lithium-ion batteries for grid-scale storage can cost as much as $350 per kilowatt-hour. But ESS says its battery could cost $200 per kWh or less by 2025.

Crucially, adding storage capacity to cover longer interruptions at a solar or wind plant may not require purchasing an entirely new battery. Flow batteries require only extra electrolyte, which in ESS’s case can cost as little as $20 per kilowatt hour.

“This is a big, big deal,” said Eric Toone, science lead at Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which has invested in ESS. “We’ve been talking about flow batteries forever and ever and now it’s actually happening.”

The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration built a flow battery as early as 1980. Because these batteries used water, they presented a much safer option for space applications than lithium-ion batteries developed around that time, which were infamous for catching on fire. Hossfeld says he’s been able to get permits for ESS batteries, even in wildfire-prone California, that wouldn’t have been given to lithium-ion versions.

Still, there was a problem with iron flow batteries. During charging, the battery can produce a small amount of hydrogen, which is a symptom of reactions that, left unchecked, shorten the battery’s life. ESS’s main innovation, said Song, was a way of keeping any hydrogen produced within the system and thus hugely extending its life.

“As soon as you close the loop on hydrogen, you suddenly turn a lab prototype into a commercially viable battery option,” said Viswanathan. ESS’s iron-flow battery can endure more than 20 years of daily use without losing much performance, said Hossfeld.

At the company’s factory near Portland, yellow robots cover plastic sheets with chemicals and glue them together to form the battery cores. Inside the shipping containers, vats full of electrolyte feed into each electrode through pumps — allowing the battery to do its job of absorbing renewable power when the sun shines and releasing it when it gets dark.

It’s a promising first step. ESS’s battery is a cheap solution that can currently provide about 12 hours of storage, but utilities will eventually need batteries that can last much longer as more renewables are added to the grid. Earlier this month, for example, the lack of storage contributed to a record spike in power prices across the U.K. when wind speeds remained low for weeks. Startups such as Form Energy Inc. are also using iron, an abundant and cheap material, to build newer forms of batteries that could beat ESS on price.

So far, ESS has commercially deployed 8 megawatt-hours of iron flow batteries. Last week, after a six-month evaluation, Spanish utility Enel Green Power SpA signed a single deal for ESS to build an equivalent amount. SB Energy’s Hossfeld, who also sits on ESS’s board, said the company would likely buy still more battery capacity from ESS in the next five years.

Even as its order books fill up, ESS faces a challenging road ahead. Bringing new batteries to market is notoriously difficult and the sector is littered with failed startups. Crucially, lithium-ion technology got a head start and customers are more familiar with its pros and cons. ESS will have to prove that its batteries can meet the rigorous demands of power plant operators.

The new order should help ESS as it looks to go public within weeks through a special-purpose acquisition company at a valuation of $1.07 billion. The listing will net the company $465 million, which it plans to use to scale up its operations.

(By Akshat Rathi, with assistance from Tom Metcalf)

ESS Inc signs 2GWh iron flow battery deal with Softbank’s SB Energy

ByAndy Colthorpe
October 1, 2021

An ESS Inc Energy Warehouse being lowered into place. Image: ESS Inc via Twitter.

A framework agreement for the deployment of 2GWh of iron electrolyte flow batteries has been signed between manufacturer ESS Inc and SB Energy, the clean energy arm of Japanese telecoms giant Softbank.

SB Energy will use the long-duration battery energy storage systems (BESS) at utility-scale solar projects that it has under development in the US, in Texas and California. ESS Inc said the first order in the 2GWh deal, which runs to 2026, has already been delivered to an SB Energy project site in California, for commissioning during October.

The agreement appears to mark a significant step up for the Oregon-headquartered long-duration battery storage company, which was founded in 2011. It also appears to be the biggest flow battery deal of any kind seen so far.

After years of lab development and pilot deployments, ESS Inc has been working more recently to turn its unique, proprietary technology offering into a commercial offering and towards the beginning of this year launched a grid-scale product based on its iron and saltwater electrolyte battery chemistry.

The non-toxic, non-degrading battery chemistry is designed to be environmentally sustainable and last many years in the field. It is configurable to offer from four hours up to 12 hours of storage and ESS Inc said that in addition to using abundant materials, it is low-cost.

In 2019, former CEO and co-founder Craig Evans told this site that the batteries can “cycle tens of thousands of times,” and do so with “zero capacity fade”. Evans was speaking then on the occasion of a US$30 million Series C funding round closing, with SB Energy among investors participating. Other investors in the company have included the Bill Gates-founded Breakthrough Energy Ventures.

SB Energy: ‘US-made clean energy technology aligns with Biden policy aims’

While the specific projects SB Energy intends to equip with the iron flow batteries have not been revealed in a press release issued yesterday, it did point out that the developer owns 1.7GW of solar PV capacity across five utility-scale projects in Texas and California, already in operation or under construction. It has a further multi-gigawatt pipeline of solar and storage projects in development in the US for execution in the next few years.

“ESS’s unique ability to manufacture and ship batteries using iron, salt, and water is a game-changer, enabling SB Energy to offer our customers safe, sustainable and low-cost energy storage today,” SB Energy’s co-chief executive officer Rich Hossfeld said.

“Long-duration storage is absolutely critical to providing flexible, affordable renewable energy at scale and aligns perfectly with the Biden administration’s ambitious clean energy initiatives,” Hossfeld, who is also an ESS Inc board member, added, while also highlighting that ESS Inc will be capable of manufacturing its battery systems in the US.

ESS Inc claimed an industry first in 2019 by launching a 10-year battery insurance plan through Munich Re which covered its Energy Warehouse 50kW-70kW / 400kWh-600kWh product but has since been expanded to include the 3MW Energy Center product.

The company is currently targeting a listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) through combination with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) ACON 2 Acquisition Corp. The deal will value the combined company at just over a billion dollars and will release around US$465 million in net proceeds.

ACON 2 shareholders are set to vote on the merger in the next few days.

In terms of other recent deployments, Energy-Storage.news reported just a few days ago that 17 Energy Warehouse systems totalling 8.5MWh are being sold to Enel Green Power España for installation across solar farms in Spain. Again, ESS Inc has said that that deal is for a wider engagement with Enel Green Power across various European Union territories.

“The energy transition will require massive amounts of storage capacity in the coming years and we are focused on scaling up our manufacturing capacity to help meet that demand,” ESS Inc CEO Eric Dresselhuys said.

China roundup: Tesla supplier CATL to buy Canada’s Millennial Lithium

Rita Liao@ritacyliao / 10:03 AM MDT•October 2, 2021

Image Credits: CATL

Hello and welcome back to TechCrunch’s China roundup, a digest of recent events shaping the Chinese tech landscape and what they mean to people in the rest of the world.

China’s anti-competition tech crackdown continues to redefine the dynamics among the country’s internet giants, leading to collaboration between Alibaba and Tencent in the payments race. In the meantime, China’s tech giants are expanding fearlessly around the world. TikTok became the first internet firm from China to have topped 1 billion overseas users, and Tesla’s battery supplier CATL is on course to buy a Canadian lithium company to lock up critical battery components.
Lithium race

China’s battery-making giant Contemporary Amperex Technology, known as CATL, has made some big moves to shore up its lithium supply that is critical for electric car production. The firm has agreed to acquire Vancouver, Canada-based Millennial Lithium in an all-stock cash deal valued at CAD$377 million, or $297 million, according to an announcement made by Millennial Lithium on Wednesday.

The deal is set to secure the critical metal lithium for CATL, one of the world’s largest automotive battery makers. Millennial Lithium’s main exploration activity takes place in Argentina, which, along with Chile and Bolivia, forms the “lithium triangle” that holds most of the world’s lithium resources.

CATL has been riding the EV boom in recent years, with its revenues spiking from 5.7 billion yuan ($880 million) in 2015 to over 50 billion yuan in 2020. It struck a major partnership with Tesla earlier this year to supply lithium-ion batteries to the American EV maker from 2022 to 2025, which will no doubt further boost its revenues.

The Millennial investment is just one piece of CATL’s gigantic investment empire. A few weeks ago, news came that it had bought 8.5% in Australian lithium miner Pilbara Minerals. It also holds an 8% stake in another Canadian lithium firm, Neo Lithium.

China tightens political control of internet giants

Sun., October 3, 2021,

BEIJING (AP) — The ruling Communist Party is tightening political control over China’s internet giants and tapping their wealth to pay for its ambitions to reduce reliance on U.S. and European technology.

Anti-monopoly and data security crackdowns starting in late 2020 have shaken the industry, which flourished for two decades with little regulation. Investor jitters have knocked more than $1.3 trillion off the total market value of e-commerce platform Alibaba, games and social media operator Tencent and other tech giants.

The party says anti-monopoly enforcement will be a priority through 2025. It says competition will help create jobs and raise living standards.

President Xi Jinping’s government seems likely to stay the course even if economic growth suffers, say businesspeople, lawyers and economists. “These companies are world leaders in their sectors in innovation, and yet the leadership is willing to squash them all,” said Mark Williams, chief Asia economist for Capital Economics.

The crackdown reflects Xi’s public emphasis on reviving the party’s “original mission” of leading economic and social development, said Steve Tsang, a Chinese politics specialist at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. He said it could also help Xi politically if, as expected, he pursues a third five-year term as party leader.

Chinese leaders don't want to reimpose direct control of the economy but want private sector companies to align with ruling party plans, said Lester Ross, head of the Beijing office of law firm WilmerHale.

“What they are worried about is companies getting too big and too independent of the party," said Ross.

Chinese internet companies and their billionaire founders, including Alibaba Group’s Jack Ma and Tencent Holdings' Pony Ma, are among the biggest global success stories of the past two decades. Alibaba is the biggest e-commerce company, while Tencent operates the popular WeChat messaging service.

But party plans emphasize robots, chips and other hardware, so these companies are rushing to show their loyalty by shifting billions of dollars into those.

The ruling party's campaign is prompting warnings the world might decouple, or split into separate markets with incompatible technology. Products from China wouldn't function in the United States or Europe, and vice versa. Innovation and efficiency would suffer.

U.S. curbs on Chinese access to telecom and other technology haven't helped.

Alibaba said it will invest $28 billion to develop operating system software, processor chips and network technology. The company has pledged $1 billion to nurture 100,000 developers and tech startups over the next three years.

Last year, Tencent promised to invest $70 billion in digital infrastructure. Meituan, an e-commerce, delivery and service platform, raised $10 billion to develop self-driving vehicles and robots.

Chinese officials recognize the campaign imposes an economic cost but are unwilling to speak up, said Tsang. “Who is going to stand up and say to Xi Jinping, your policy is going to be harmful to China?”

Investors, many burned by the drop in technology shares, are keeping their money on the sidelines. Tencent's market capitalization of $575 billion is down $350 billion from its February peak, a decline equal to more than the total value of Nike Inc. or Pfizer Inc.

CEO Masayoshi Son of Japan’s Softbank Group — an early investor in Alibaba — said on Aug. 11 he will put off new China deals. Softbank invested $11 billion in ride-hailing service Didi Global, whose share price has fallen by one-third since its U.S. stock market debut on July 30.

The crackdown began in November when Beijing ordered Ant Group, which grew out of Alibaba’s Alipay online payments service, to postpone its stock market debut in Hong Kong and Shanghai. The company, which offers online savings and investment services, was told to scale back its plans and to install bank-style systems to vet borrowers and manage lending risks. Industry analysts cut forecasts of Ant’s expected stock market value.

Meanwhile, Xi’s government is tightening control over data gathered by private companies about the public — especially at Alibaba and Tencent, which have hundreds of millions of users. China’s leaders see information about its 1.4 billion people as a tool for gaining insight into the public and economy — and a potential security risk in private hands.

A law that takes effect Nov. 1 establishes security standards, prohibits companies from disclosing information without customer permission and tells them to limit how much they collect. Unlike data protection laws in Western countries, the Chinese rules say nothing about limiting government or ruling party access to personal information.

Beijing also is accused of using its stockpile of data about the public in a campaign of repression against Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim minorities in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang.

"Very lax” until a few months ago, China has become “one of the most active and forceful jurisdictions in regulating the digital economy,” wrote Angela Zhang, an anti-monopoly expert at the University of Hong Kong law school, in a paper this month.

In April, Alibaba was fined 18.3 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) for offenses that included prohibiting vendors that wanted to use its platforms from dealing with Alibaba’s competitors.

Units of Alibaba, Tencent, live-streaming site Kuaishou, microblogging platform Sina Weibo and social media site Xiaohongshu also have been fined for distributing sexually suggestive stickers or short videos of children. Tencent’s music service was ordered to end exclusive contracts with providers.

Beijing is also using the crackdown to narrow China’s politically sensitive wealth gap by pushing tech giants to share their wealth with employees and consumers.

Didi, Meituan and other delivery and ride-hailing businesses were ordered in May to cut fees charged to drivers and improve their benefits and security. Meituan CEO Wang Xing promised to donate $2.3 billion to environmental and social initiatives. Tencent’s Ma pledged $2 billion to charity.

Alibaba has promised to spend 100 billion yuan ($15.5 billion) on job creation, rural development and other initiatives to support Xi's “common prosperity” campaign.

Such income redistribution plans are “reminiscent of the mass mobilization and populist strategies” of the 1950s and '60s under then-leader Mao Zedong, Zhang wrote.

___

Soo reported from Singapore.

Joe Mcdonald And Zen Soo, The Associated Press

New Hamilton project aims to put up paradise and tear down parking lots

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At Barton and Fullerton, concrete, asphalt and rubble have been replaced with gardens and trees

Kathy Renwald · CBC News · Posted: Oct 02, 2021

Stephen Colville-Reeves steadies an oak tree planted beside the building he owns. His company, Amaprop, has been a financial supporter of the Green Venture Depave Paradise project. (Kathy Renwald)

Take a slow tour of Barton Street East and you will notice gardens showcasing native trees and perennials, with inviting places to sit.

At the corner of Barton and Gibson a stone path leads to a picnic table, where a mural on the EduDeo Ministries building is the backdrop for a rain garden.

At Barton and Fullerton columnar beech trees anchor a garden planted with perennials and ornamental grasses.

These gardens have replaced concrete, asphalt and rubble. They have turned waste places into pockets of paradise. The gardens are possible because of the Depave Paradise project spearheaded by Green Venture Hamilton.

• WHAT ON EARTH?
  Why Indigenous architecture is 'a positive force that supports nature'

 

The simple philosophy is this: dig up hard surfaces, replace bad soil with good, and plant layers of green comprised of trees, shrubs and perennials.

It's an idea that has many benefits. More trees are added to the city's tree canopy, hot areas turn to cool retreats, and rainwater is absorbed into the ground instead of pouring into the overworked sewer system. And no price can be put on creating beauty in neighbourhoods with many challenges.

While the idea is simple, depaving is complex. Many partners must be onboard. The gardens are on boulevards owned by the city. Business owners bordering the gardens need to agree to the project. But they do more than agree, they often support the gardens with their own money.

The money comes from a handful of government agencies. Local businesses like NVK Nurseries, Millgrove Garden Supplies and Budget Bin donate product. And there are many others supporting the effort.

The project is led by landscape architect Adele Pierre. "I do a range of work, the profession is very broad, but this is where my heart is," Pierre says as she watches a tree planting at the garden she designed at Barton and Westinghouse Avenue.

Stephen Colville-Reeves, a director with Barton Village BIA, is renovating the building he owns bordering the garden. He supports the depave projects with both money and muscle. Joining a group of volunteers he is finessing a tree into a planting hole where it should thrive for years to come.

"We know the environmental benefits of these gardens, but I believe we are also planting hope and optimism at the same time," Colville-Reeves says.

Landscape Architect Adele Pierre says these small gardens with so many environmental and social benefits are the most satisfying aspect of her work. (Kathy Renwald)

'You never know what you'll find when you start removing paving'

Since 2012 Green Venture credits their depave gardens for absorbing billions of litres of stormwater at sites that would have normally sent that water into overloaded storm sewers.

"You never know what you'll find when you start removing paving," Pierre says. "We dug up one site and found just a thin layer of plywood covering an entrance to a basement. Cars had been parking on it."

This weekend work begins at the newest Green Venture depave project in front of the Good Shepherd Venture Centre on Cannon Street East. Once again, the big dig pulls together a wide range of community partners and volunteers.

That sort of grassroots cooperation is a symbol of the work going on to green Hamilton, particularly neighbourhoods that are deficient in parks and open space.

Environment Hamilton, a partner in depave projects, has a massive free tree giveaway coming up for anyone living in Hamilton. Native trees in one to two gallon pots must be ordered by Monday Oct. 4. A separate giveaway for Ward 1 residents has an ordering deadline of Friday Oct. 1.

The selection of trees from small species to big ranges from serviceberry and redbud trees to majestic shade trees like sugar maple and red oak.

All the information is here at: environmenthamilton.org/trees_please

Work on a new depave garden on Barton Street East at Westinghouse Avenue started with hand removal of paving and then the arrival of soil, trees and plants. The change from paved surface to garden absorbs rain water, provides shade, pollinator habitat, and beauty to the neighbourhood. (Kathy Renwald)