Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation wants return of mask mandates, expanded PCR testing

Yesterday 
The Canadian Press


REGINA — The Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation wants the province to bring back a mask mandate because Canada's chief public health officer says COVID-19 cases are rising across the country.

The federation says it wants the Saskatchewan Party government to reinstate public health measures, including isolation requirements and increased case reporting to the public.

It also wants expanded PCR lab testing for teachers and all school staff who deal directly with students.

Lab testing in the province is currently limited to priority populations, including people with chronic illness, Indigenous communities with no access to rapid tests, international travellers from areas of concern and health-care workers.

Federation president Patrick Maze says the provincial government has a responsibility to keep students and staff safe.

Last week, the province's chief medical health officer acknowledged COVID-19 cases are increasing in Saskatchewan, but said masking would remain a personal choice, and added that children are less likely to experience severe outcomes from the virus.

"Learning to live with COVID-19 must mean learning to take appropriate and reasonable measures when the situation calls for them," Maze said in a statement Tuesday.

"The government’s decisions have left us with very limited data available to assess the risk in our communities. Absenteeism is unusually high for teaching staff and students, and there is a lack of available substitute teachers.”

The latest wastewater data from the University of Saskatchewan shows COVID-19 viral levels are up over 740 per cent in Saskatoon and 250 per cent in North Battleford.

Earlier Tuesday, Canada's chief public health officer said as public health measures have lifted across the country, there are indicators of COVID-19 increasing, driven by the highly contagious sub-lineage of the Omicron variant known as BA.2.

Dr. Theresa Tam said hospitalizations are also on the rise and advised everyone to get vaccinated, wear a mask and improve ventilation to limit the spread.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 12, 2022.

The Canadian Press

COVID 19 SIXTH WAVE
Surge capacity forces Saskatoon hospital to expand ER into waiting room

Yasmine Ghania, Sam Maciag - CBC

The waiting room at St. Paul's Hospital in Saskatoon was turned into an extension of the emergency department on Monday due to overcapacity.

The waiting room was turned into patient care cubicles on Monday at 6 a.m. CST, according to the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN).

"We spoke with registered nurses from St Paul's Hospital yesterday and they shared with us that this is the worst they've ever seen it," SUN president Tracy Zambory said Tuesday in an interview with Sam Maciag, host of CBC Saskatchewan News at 6.

"It's wide open in front of windows. There's no privacy. Imagine if your loved one comes in there with a heart attack and has to be treated in the waiting room," Zambory said, insisting that nurses' top concern is patient safety.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) confirmed hospitals across Saskatchewan, including those in Saskatoon and Regina, are experiencing capacity challenges, especially in the emergency departments.

"There were three spaces created for patients in the waiting room at St. Paul's Hospital Emergency Department, which required moving some of the waiting room chairs from the dedicated waiting room," wrote Graham Blue, executive director of acute care in Saskatoon hospitals, in a prepared statement.

"This was to try to achieve some capacity for the sickest patients to receive care in the Emergency Department proper."

Twenty-five visits (out of 85) to the adjacent ambulatory care department had to be rescheduled, according to Blue. The department provides several services including wound care, minor treatments and procedures.


© Submitted to CBCThere were three spaces created for patients in the waiting room at St. Paul’s Hospital Emergency Department on Monday, according to the Saskatchewan Health Authority.

CBC News could not verify the source of the above photo, which was submitted to CBC, but multiple sources within the health-care system have confirmed it depicts the St. Paul's waiting room being used for patient care on Monday.

The waiting room appeared to be back to normal operations when CBC visited it early Tuesday afternoon.

As of 5 p.m. CST, 21 patients in St. Paul's emergency department were admitted without having a bed, according to the Saskatoon Health Region Current Capacity Report, which is updated online every five minutes.

"There's going to be pressure on the hospitals to think about who they can discharge. People then get discharged before they should to try to get rid of this flow that's stuck in the emergency room," Zambory said.

Zambory has a clear message for Saskatchewan residents.

"Don't get sick. Don't get hurt. Put your kids in bubble wrap because you can't be going to an emergency room in this province right now because the chances are you're going to have to sit and wait for it," she said.
Nurses burned out

Zambory said union members are overwhelmed by the relentless health-care pressures.

"It's taking such a toll on their mental health. They're leaving every day crying," Zambory said.

"They can't keep the stress up. They are not unbreakable. And they are starting to break under the pressure of this."


© Matt Duguid/CBC

Tracy Zambory, president of the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses, says union members are incredibly overwhelmed by the relentless healthcare pressures.

Zambory is calling on the provincial government to reinstate the indoor mask mandate. This comes as Canada's Chief Public Health Officer of Canada Dr. Theresa Tam confirmed Tuesday that the country is in a sixth wave of COVID.

Saskatoon has seen a massive increase in the viral load detected in its wastewater.

On Monday, researchers from the University of Saskatchewan released their latest report, showing a 742 per cent increase in viral load taken from sewage samples in Saskatoon compared to the previous week.

The amount of viral load in wastewater also increased in Prince Albert and North Battleford. In Regina, the latest similar study from the University of Regina simply says the levels "remain high."

The NDP's health critic says the Opposition is concerned by what ER capacity issues mean for the health system as a whole.

"Our emergency departments, we know that they are the canary in the coal mine for the whole health-care system," said Vicki Mowat on Tuesday. "There simply are not the beds available to allow for people to leave the emergency department, which puts additional pressures throughout the whole system."

Health Minister Paul Merriman said the government is not considering mask mandates at this time.

"Our hospital capacity is increasing for other reasons, not just COVID related, but also general admissions. We've opened up our hospitals where we had them somewhat tightened up in the fall. We're opening it up for other admissions and other surgeries, which also obviously increases our capacity too," said Merriman on Tuesday.

"The hospitals should be running very close to 100 per cent. There are some areas, certainly in Saskatoon, where they're exceeding 100 per cent. And that's why we're trying to load level across the system."

Lab official fears new normal of health staff absences if COVID not controlled

Michael Gorman - Yesterday 

CBC


The head of Nova Scotia Health's central zone microbiology lab says hundreds of health-care workers off the job due to COVID-19 could become the new normal if the current outbreak isn't brought under control.


© CBC News

Dr. Todd Hatchette, seen in this file photo, is concerned hundreds of health-care workers off the job due to COVID-19 could become the new normal.

Dr. Todd Hatchette made the comments during an appearance at the legislature's health committee on Tuesday. Most recent data show an average of 1,000 PCR positive tests each day. This week, almost 600 health-care workers at the health authority are off the job for COVID-related reasons.

"I think the state of health-care has been tenuous because the number of people that are in it to support it has always been just enough," Hatchette told reporters.

"Now, if you add a number of people who are going to be absent, you have to account for that so that you can maintain the services that are needed."
'There is no silver bullet'

The interim CEO for Nova Scotia Health, Karen Oldfield, said if this is going to be the new normal then steps need to be taken to account for that. Oldfield said that means overstaffing to ensure service delivery.

But that's easier said than done in a system that, at the best of times, does not have enough doctors, nurses and other health-care professionals. The province bolstered the new health-care professional recruitment office with $9.8 million and 33 staff in the most recent budget.

"We have to turn over every single stone and we're going to have to go to retired folks, we're going to have to increase the recruitment efforts," Oldfield told reporters.

"There is no silver bullet. We have to do every possible thing that we can think of to get people back into the system."

The province has a backlog of more than 27,000 surgical cases and services were recently reduced again in the central zone due to COVID. Oldfield said the system is focusing on doing as many day surgeries as possible until it's able to ramp up capacity and resume doing more cases that require hospital stays for patients.

Several weeks ago, when surgeries were back close to 100 per cent, the system did 1,400 surgeries — 90 per cent of pre-pandemic levels — said Oldfield.

"The system is very resilient," she said.

She paid tribute to staff who keep coming to work each day and doing everything they can to deliver care in trying times.

"It can't get a whole lot worse. We're going to go forward and we're going to do the best we can in terms of the resources that we have."

Boosters improve immunity

Hatchette said that unless community spread can be stopped and infections reduced, cases will continue to stay high and, in turn, put pressure on the health-care system. People can help by wearing masks, distancing where appropriate and getting COVID-19 boosters, he said. Only about 64 per cent of Nova Scotians have a third shot.

"Getting your booster shot is actually a very effective way of increasing your body's own immunity to the Omicron virus."

With positivity rates continuing to hover around 30 per cent, Hatchette said he doesn't think this wave has peaked yet.

"That is the highest numbers we've seen. It is still creeping up. It is concerning that it's just an indicator of ongoing, unmitigated spread in the community."

Although some medical professionals and others have called for the province to restore the mask mandate for public places, Premier Tim Houston has resisted those calls, saying people know what they need to do and don't need a mandate from the government to know how to protect themselves and others.

Hatchette wouldn't offer comment on whether masks should be mandatory again, but said his own view is that everyone should wear one if they're going to be in a social situation where they're close to other people.

"It is something that can be done, should be done and there are behavioural scientists that suggest that mandates are an effective way to do that. I know that the public appetite for that is very low, as is the political appetite."

Oldfield would not comment on whether the government is doing enough to preserve the health-care system during the ongoing wave of the pandemic. The only public places where mask mandates remain in Nova Scotia are hospitals, schools and Province House.

Female firefighters urge City of Leduc to release results of department investigation

Madeleine Cummings - Monday
cbc.ca

Two women who have alleged they were harassed while working for Leduc Fire Services are urging the city to release the results of an external investigation into the department.

Christa Steele and Mindy Smith have applied for a class-action lawsuit against the City of Leduc, alleging decades of systemic harassment, bullying, discrimination, abuse and sexual assault.

Leduc fire chief George Clancy, who is not named in their statement of claim, resigned last month. At the time, city manager Derek Prohar told CBC News that Clancy had made a personal decision to leave.

Steele showed CBC an email Prohar sent to staff on March 29 in which he said that as a result of an investigation, two fire services employees were no longer working for the city.

Megan Wright, a firefighter and paramedic, resigned during last week's council meeting, alleging she too had been harassed.

None of the women's allegations have been proven in court.

At Monday's meeting, Steele and Wright urged the mayor and city council to release the results of an independent workplace investigation that Veritas Solutions conducted for the city.

Steele's daughter, Anika, and her friends, Carlie Timmons and Payton May, also spoke at the meeting, asking the mayor and council members about the integrity of the process of reporting abuse allegations to authorities.

Steele said retired detectives spent months listening to dozens of firefighters' stories and reviewing hundreds of documents.

"People who have seen the reports say they are explosive and very detailed," she told council.

"I was, in fact, contacted by police on the basis that this conduct at the fire department is likely criminal in nature."

Steele said she and Smith asked the city's human resources department to see the investigation results, but they were denied.

CBC has also asked for the report but a city spokesperson said it contains personal information and would not be made public.

Wright, who also asked for the report to be made public at last week's meeting, told council on Monday that freedom of information requests to obtain it have been denied.

Among the more than a dozen questions Wright posed to council on Monday was a request to see the contract the city signed with Veritas Solutions. She also asked why the city has decided to hire another external firm to review the organization.


© Peter Evans/CBCChrista Steele speaks to CBC after filing a civil suit against the city of Leduc.

'We hear you'

After the women spoke, Mayor Bob Young said, "We hear you. It's time for real and lasting change."

He said the city launched a third-party investigation last year after allegations were first brought to the city manager.

Young said the investigation report, which was delivered to the city in January, examined specific allegations and identified "areas of concern" but did not make recommendations.

He said council has been regularly updated on its findings, and in response to the report, there will be a national search for a new fire chief.

He said the city wants another company to review the organization to create "an action plan to ensure a holistic culture change."

Young said fire services employees will be able to receive additional mental health counselling and that the city's administration has committed to increase communication.

"The issue has been and continues to be a top priority," he said.

After the meeting, Steele told CBC she and other women will continue to fight for a fire department that safe for employees.

"Hopefully the city starts listening but I don't think they liked what was in the report," she said.

P3 PUBLIC PENSIONS FUND PRIVATIZATION
CPP Investments and Tata Realty and Infrastructure form joint venture in India

Yesterday 


TORONTO — The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Tata Realty and Infrastructure Ltd. have announced a joint venture to develop and own commercial office space in India.

Under the deal, the Canadian pension fund manager will make an equity commitment of about $438 million.

The total equity value of the joint venture will be about $866 million.

The joint venture will begin with two assets, Intellion Park Chennai and Intellion Edge Gurgaon, which are owned and managed by Tata Realty and Infrastructure.

It will also pursue developments in several key cities in India, including Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai.

Tata Realty and Infrastructure is a subsidiary of Tata Sons, a real estate development company in India.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 12, 2022.

The Canadian Press

CANADA
Federal rule on oil and gas projects ‘does not stand up to the facts’
Yesterday 7:36 a.m.

Last week, Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault announced the approval of the deepwater oil project Bay du Nord with 137 conditions, including a requirement the project achieves net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

That same day, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) announced the requirement would also apply to all future oil and gas developments.

Those opposed to all new fossil fuel developments were quick to point out that calling any oil and gas project net-zero is misleading. Even if companies could make their products without any emissions, which so far none have, all oil and gas produce emissions when burned.

So-called Scope 3, or tailpipe emissions, are not accounted for in the government’s calculations, therefore the very definition of net-zero “does not stand up to the facts,” Angela Carter, an associate professor at the University of Waterloo and a member of the Newfoundland and Labrador government’s Net-Zero Advisory Council, told Canada’s National Observer.

She noted N.L., along with Canada as a whole, is not on track to meet its climate targets, and new oil and gas development will further hinder those goals.

Although the operation of Bay du Nord will emit less carbon than its oilsands counterparts during production, once that oil is burned, the emissions are all the same, she noted.

Bay du Nord will be operated by Norwegian energy giant Equinor and its partner company Husky, and includes numerous exploration and discovery licences, the creation of a floating oil production station and the drilling of up to 40 wells in the Flemish Pass Basin. It won final approval April 6.

Carter said moving the project forward makes any climate commitments a “farce” and noted the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report stressed the need for no new fossil fuel projects.

The lion’s share of emissions from any project, no matter how clean it is during the production stage, are released when oil is burned. Canada’s National Observer columnist Barry Saxifrage did the calculations — on average, Scope 1 and 2 emissions (which happen during production) emit 65 kilograms of carbon dioxide (kgCO2) per barrel of oil, whereas Scope 3 emissions average 430 kgCO2/barrel, or around 87 per cent of the total emissions that come from oil.

He also did the math specifically for Bay du Nord. Equinor plans to extract 200,000 barrels a day from the project, which would add 30 million tonnes of CO2 (MtCO2) to the atmosphere each year it’s burned. During production, the offshore project will emit carbon dioxide at about one-eighth the rate of Suncor's proposed Base Mine expansion in northern Alberta at the Scope 1 stage, which Guilbeault recently called out for being too high.

Nonetheless, the federal government justifies approving Bay du Nord by promising Equinor will be required to track its progress in cleaning up emissions and eventually reach net-zero during the extraction phase.

Oliver Anderson, director of communications for ECCC, pointed to the new rules that require oil and gas projects undergoing environmental assessment to be net-zero by 2050 as a major step forward for the approval process.

He said Bay du Nord will have significantly less impact on the environment than current oil and gas projects, and referenced stats from the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada that peg Bay du Nord's emissions at eight to nine kilograms of GHG per barrel compared to a typical oilsands project, which emits 80 kilograms of GHG per barrel.

When asked about Scope 3 emissions, Anderson said cutting back on pollution from the production of oil and gas will still have a big impact, since 25 per cent of Canada’s emissions come from the production of oil and gas.

“Consumption emissions are usually accounted for separately. We usually count those in all the other areas of our emissions profiles — transportation, electricity,” he said.

“And so the government, at the same time, is doing a lot and investing a ton and will continue to transition into cleaner energy.”

However, if the oil is exported, it won’t be counted in Canada’s emissions data at all.

The specifics of how Bay du Nord will reach net-zero are still up in the air, but Anderson said carbon capture and reducing methane leakage are both good examples of how that could be achieved.

The controversial carbon capture investment tax credit was the biggest-ticket climate item from last week’s budget, with the Liberals putting $2.6 billion over five years toward projects that store carbon dioxide underground or in concrete. In March, over 30,000 people called on the federal government to stop funding carbon capture, noting that “despite decades of investments, current (carbon capture) capacity is just .001 per cent of global emissions.”

Environmental groups such as the Climate Action Network said they were hoping for more money towards a just transition away from oil and gas and tangible emission cuts for the sector.

“This budget is a failed attempt to respond to the urgency of the moment. The climate and energy security crises require a vision and a transition plan that prioritize the needs of people and communities everywhere,” said Eddy Pérez of Climate Action Network Canada.

“... Minister Freeland has announced that Canada still intends to keep the fossil fuel industry in the driver’s seat by giving them expensive tax credits instead of using those funds to invest in a safe, sustainable future.”

Again, Carter stressed the most recent IPCC report, which said transitioning to renewable energy such as solar and wind is essential in reducing emissions. On the same day as the Bay du Nord approval, it was announced the N.L. onshore wind farm ban would be lifted, and that the potential for offshore wind was on the table. Wind potential in the province has been called “remarkable” — it has some of the strongest winds in North America.

“We know based on the analysis from the IPCC ... that there's simply no room in the carbon budget for any more new projects,” said Carter.

“So I don't know how, I don't know why it is that we somehow get to defy science.”

Cloe Logan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada's National Observer

THE REALITY IS THAT CCS IS NOT GREEN NOR CLEAN IT IS GOING TO BE USED TO FRACK OLD DRY WELLS SUCH AS IN THE BAKAN SHIELD IN SASKATCHEWAN
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-myth-of-carbon-capture-and-storage.html

ALSO SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=CCS

Hardly Anyone Is Feeding Their Dog Safely, a US Study Suggests


(Sally Anscombe/DigitalVision/Getty Images)

DAVID NIELD
13 APRIL 2022

A new study has found that only a small fraction of dog owners are aware of the official guidelines for safely handling their pet's food – in this case the guidelines set by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the US.

These guidelines cover how pet food should be stored and served, how food bowls should be cleaned and maintained, and how to report problems with food and treats. The problem is, not enough people are aware of these simple tips to help avoid pets and owners from getting sick.

That's not just the responsibility of dog owners but also of the FDA, the researchers say: they're calling for these guidelines to be more widely publicized, and to be followed up with some rigorous scientific research to demonstrate their benefits.

"Pet feeding involves interplay between the pet, the owner, and the food," writes the team from North Carolina State University.

"This interaction creates the opportunity for mutual exchange of microbial contaminants from food or water, dishes, and the food storage or preparation environment, which can cause health consequences for both humans and pets."

The research involved surveys of 417 dog owners and swabs on 68 dog food dishes. Less than 5 percent of respondents knew that there were any guidelines to follow; when told that such guidelines existed, only 8 percent knew that the FDA website was the place to go in order to find them.

On the positive side, several of the official guidelines were widely followed by the survey group: 86 percent check their dog food for visible damage, and 91 percent know not to use the dog bowl as a scooping utensil. Almost all (97 percent) of the dog owners reported that they didn't feed their pooches raw food.

Other FDA recommendations are less well followed. The researchers found that only 12 percent of dog owners wash their pets' bowls every day, and only 22 percent wash their hands with soap and hot water before handling pet food. A mere 13 percent clean the food-scooping utensil with soap and hot water after it's been used.

As the researchers point out, we tend to overestimate how hygienic we are, and some of that bias could be present in this study too. In summary, based on this sample, dog owners could be doing a lot more to minimize bacterial build up and the risk of infection.

"Exposure to contaminated dog food can have implications for canine and human health," write the researchers. "For example, there have been multiple outbreaks of both humans and dogs becoming ill after exposure to dog food contaminated with pathogenic bacteria.

"These risks may be amplified in households with children and/or immunocompromised individuals, which were over a third of respondents' households."

The team also measured the differences that enforcing the FDA guidelines made, reporting "significant decreases" in contamination on the bowls. However, only 8 percent of those involved in the study said they would keep up with all of the protocols in the long term.

Previous research suggests that pet food dishes are common among household surfaces that are contaminated with bacteria; the spread of drug-resistant E. coli bacteria is just one of the problems that can develop as a result.

While this research used a relatively small sample size and didn't go into too much detail in terms of bacterial analysis, it's clear that more could be done by both dog owners and health bodies to make sure both pets and humans are kept as safe as possible.

"Future studies should further examine contamination with specific pathogenic bacterial species and consider the contamination risk of other microbiological agents or toxins," write the researchers.

The research has been published in PLOS One.

An Atacama Super-Quake We Never Knew About Sent Humans Into Hiding For 1,000 Years

A gigantic tsunami-unleashing earthquake that struck northern Chile 3,800 years ago wreaked such devastation on coastal populations, it took 1,000 years for humans to return to the shore, scientists say.


© José Pablo Domínguez/Unsplash The Atacama Desert.

Peter Dockrill - Yesterday 

ScienceAlert

The ancient super-quake would have had a magnitude of around 9.5, and was so powerful it generated a tsunami that hurled boulders hundreds of meters inland in New Zealand, which is thousands of miles – and an entire ocean – away.

The discovery is evidenced by uplifted land structures (aka littoral deposits) and samples of marine rocks, shells, and sea life washed far ashore by tsunami waves into the higher stretches of Chile's Atacama Desert. It serves as a grim warning of the destructive potential of major tsunamigenic earthquakes that may have previously escaped our notice.

"We found evidence of marine sediments and a lot of beasties that would have been living quietly in the sea before being thrown inland," says geologist and tsunami specialist James Goff from the University of New South Wales, Australia.

"And we found all these very high up and a long way inland so it could not have been a storm that put them there."


Tsunami deposits visible in a trench. (University of Southampton)

The research team, led by anthropologist Diego Salazar from the University of Chile, conducted several years of research in the Atacama Desert region, which is particularly vulnerable to megathrust earthquakes due to its proximity to the convergence of the Nazca and South American tectonic plates, with the former being subducted under the latter.

This phenomenon and its seismic backlash is what led to the most powerful earthquake on record, the 1960 Valdivia earthquake in southern Chile; thousands of years prior, it seems the same tectonic tensions led to an equally diabolical yet undocumented precursor in the north of the country.

"It had been thought that there could not be an event of that size in the north of the country simply because you could not get a long enough rupture," says Goff.

"But we have now found evidence of a rupture that's about one thousand kilometers long just off the Atacama Desert coast, and that is massive."

In their investigations, the researchers used radiocarbon dating to get a sense of the age of the littoral deposits, which stretch over some 600 kilometers (about 370 miles) of Chile's coastline.

Readings from several of the deposit sites suggest the existence of a "tectonic event that would have uplifted littoral deposits all along the study region, generated a paleotsunami, and triggered social disruption at a regional scale," the researchers write in their paper.

Collapsed stone structure. (Gabriel Easton)

At the time of the event, the people living in this part of the world were hunter-gatherer communities. Archaeological evidence suggests the tsunami wave generated by the quake toppled their stone structures – and not just once, but twice, with a strong current of tsunami backwash wreaking havoc as it flowed back out to the sea.

The effects on any people lucky enough to have survived the immediate disaster were long-lasting, with evidence suggesting the area remained uninhabited by human populations for as long as 1,000 years, despite people living on this stretch of coastline for nearly 10 millennia before the crisis.

"The local population there were left with nothing," says Goff. "Our archaeological work found that a huge social upheaval followed as communities moved inland beyond the reach of tsunamis."

With time and the passing of dozens of generations, the local people's boldness (or perhaps forgetfulness) grew, and people eventually made their way back to the ocean about 1,000 years later.

"The abandonment of previously occupied areas and changes in the mobility patterns and spatial arrangements of settlements and cemeteries were probably resilience strategies developed by hunter-gatherer societies," the researchers write.

"However, knowledge of these giant events and their consequences seems to wane over the passage of time."

Aside from filling the gaps in our historical understanding of this gigantic event – an earthquake about as powerful as anything known to humanity – the research is a cautionary note about the risks similarly powerful megathrust quakes might pose in the future, the researchers say.

"While this had a major impact on people in Chile, the South Pacific islands were uninhabited when they took a pummeling from the tsunami 3,800 years ago," Goff says.

"But they are all well-populated now, and many are popular tourist destinations, so when such an event occurs next time the consequences could be catastrophic unless we learn from these findings."

The findings are reported in Science Advances.

MANCHIN VISITS ONLY REPUBLICAN WANNABE PROVINCE IN CANADA

U.S. senator backs Alberta premier in energy security partnership


CALGARY — A high-profile United States senator is backing Alberta Premier Jason Kenney in pushing for more North American oil to supplant Russian supplies during the invasion of Ukraine.

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a key Democratic vote in the evenly divided Senate, says it's vital for the U.S. and Canada to be partners in energy security to support global demand.

Kenney says Manchin's visit to Alberta helps raise the profile of the province's resources and fosters greater collaboration between the two countries.

Both politicians expressed disappointment at the termination of the Keystone XL pipeline project, which was cancelled by U.S. President Joe Biden last year on his first day in the White House.

Manchin says he's unsure whether there's a possibility the project could be resurrected, but adds it would be foolish if it wasn't.

Earlier, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the decision on the pipeline's fate lies with the U.S.

He also said his Liberal government will continue to advocate for Canada as an energy partner for the south, with traditional and renewable resources.

The Canadian Press

SEE 

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2022/04/energy-environment-facing-high-gas.html

Prime minister visits Edmonton, criticizes Alberta's response to opioid crisis


© Provided by The Canadian Press


EDMONTON — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau criticized the Alberta government Tuesday for not addressing the opioid epidemic in ways that have proven to be effective elsewhere.

“As a government, we've continued to push for safe consumption sites," Trudeau said at the old Mercer Warehouse, where he promoted his Liberal government's budget plan to relax tax laws for small businesses.

Alberta's United Conservative Party government has focused on a recovery-oriented strategy. Access to opioid dependency programs and drug-use sites has been limited.

"It's unfortunate to see Alberta going in the opposite direction, away from a science-based and harm reduction approach. We know that municipal leaders, like here in Edmonton, are serious about supporting people through this terrible tragedy."

A council committee on Monday voted to ask the city's administration to explore the issue of decriminalizing simple possession of illegal drugs and provide recommendations by early next year.

Alberta last year recorded its deadliest year for drug overdoses since it began collecting data in 2016. Government figures show 171 people died in November and 178 in December — the highest single-month numbers ever — for a total of 1,758 fatalities in 2021.

In a post on Twitter, the press secretary for Mike Ellis, Alberta'smental health and addictions associate minister, referred to another tweet about Trudeau's comments as "a joke."

"People can recover, it is shameful he can’t recognize that," said Eric Engler in the tweet

Earlier in the day, Trudeau shook hands with entrepreneurs at the warehouse, which is home to StartUp Edmonton, a workspace and incubator for small-business owners.

The business owners Trudeau spoke to included a man using machine learning to help construction companies fill job openings faster and another man hoping to create a crypto currency brokerage.

Trudeau explained Ottawa's aim to cut taxes for small businesses and highlighted a recently announced billion-dollar plan to create an independent federal innovation and investment agency.

"Canada has some of the best scientists, thinkers, entrepreneurs and innovators in the world," Trudeau said. "But in order to bring those great ideas to market and help their businesses grow, they need support for research, development and mostly commercialization."

The Liberal government's proposal would allow companies to take advantage of Canada’s low small-business tax rate for longer and until their taxable capital reached $50 million — an increase from a previous $15-million limit.

Calgary's lone Liberal member of Parliament, George Chahal, joined Trudeau alongside community business leaders.

Trudeau also met with members of the local Ukrainian and Afghan communities and visited a nature-based solutions lab to highlight investments in green technologies.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 12, 2022.

— With files from Daniela Germano in Edmonton and Alanna Smith in Calgary

___

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

Fakiha Baig, The Canadian Press

Edmonton takes step toward decriminalizing simple possession of illegal drugs

Kim Smith - Monday

At a committee meeting Monday morning, Edmonton city councillors voted in favour of asking administration to explore the issue of decriminalizing simple possession of illegal drugs and provide recommendations by early 2023.


© Provided by Global NewsAt a committee meeting Monday morning, Edmonton city councillors voted in favour of asking administration to explore the issue of decriminalizing simple possession of illegal drugs and provide recommendations by early 2023.

Mayor Amarjeet Sohi put forward the motion and councillors Tim Cartmell, Michael Janz, Karen Tang and Jo-Anne Wright all voted in favour. The motion will still need to go before a city council meeting.

"Having a comprehensive plan, including decriminalizing of simple possession, is a tool that we want to explore," Sohi told reporters following the committee meeting.

"This is a long-term strategy because it involves a comprehensive application process. It would require a lot of advocacy work that we would have to undertake with local authorities here as well as with the federal government and coordinating our efforts with other municipalities. So it's going to take some time for us to figure it out."

Read more:

There are growing calls for drug decriminalization. Could it solve Canada’s opioid crisis?

As a crisis of opioid-related overdoses and deaths rages on in Canada, advocates have long been saying that decriminalization would help to reduce stigma associated with drug use and help save lives.

In Edmonton last year, a record-breaking 666 people died from drug poisoning, according to Sohi.

"People aren't scared to tell me about their cannabis use, imagine if people weren't scared to tell me, as a physician, about their drug use and wanted to have an open and honest conversation?" Dr. Ginetta Salvalaggio, with the Edmonton Zone Medical Staff Association's opioid poisoning committee, told city councillors.

"That would be a game-changer," she said.

Darren McGeown, owner of Arcadia Brewing Co., spoke in favour of Edmonton decriminalizing possession of illegal drugs. He said as a business owner, he needs to be voicing his support for harm-reduction strategies to help tackle the drug crisis.

"I feel as a business owner, I have a duty to create a stronger community. A strong community outside creates a strong community inside Arcadia," McGeown told Global News.

"These drug poisonings are happening all over the city. This isn't just a downtown Edmonton situation. I think more businesses involved, the stronger voice we have."

Edmonton is the latest Canadian jurisdiction to explore the issue.

READ MORE: Jurisdictions pushing to decriminalize small amounts of drugs as overdose deaths soar

Under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, jurisdictions can ask the federal government for exemptions to allow people to have small amounts of substances such as cocaine, heroin and fentanyl.

Vancouver formally asked for that in May 2021.

British Columbia was the first province to make its own request, in November 2021. Toronto followed in January.

With files from The Canadian Press.