UNJUST TRANSITION BIDEN GREEN JOBS KAPUT
Ford is reportedly planning to cut 8,000 jobs to help fund its EV plans


Engadget

Steve Dent
·Contributing Reporter
Thu, July 21, 2022 

Ford is reportedly planning to cut up to 8,000 jobs over the coming weeks in an effort to fund its plans to build EVs, according to Bloomberg. The layoffs would occur at its Ford Blue unit, recently created to develop vehicles with internal combustion engines (ICE), and would affect other salaried positions in the company. The bulk of cuts are expected to occur in the US.

In March, Ford CEO Jim Farley restructured the company, dividing it into the Ford Blue and Model E divisions, with the latter dedicated to electric cars and pickups like the Mach E and F150 Lightning. As part of that, he announced plans to cut $3 billion in costs by 2026, with the aim of transforming Ford Blue into "the profit and cash engine" for the entire company.

"As part of this, we have laid out clear targets to lower our cost structure to ensure we are lean and fully competitive with the best in the industry," Ford's CCO Mark Truby told Bloomberg in a statement, without revealing more details about the cuts. Ford currently employees around 31,000 salaried US workers.

In March, the automaker announced plans to boost electric vehicle spending to $50 billion and plan to build two million EVs by 2026. The company sold just 27,140 EVs stateside last year, but got a significant 76.6 percent boost last month as shipping commenced for the F-150 Lightning.

WHITE, BLUE OR PINK 

NO MATTER THE COLOR OF YOUR COLLAR 

WE ARE ALL PROLETARIANS NOW

• In March, the company created electric vehicle and internal combustion businesses, Model e and Ford Blue, respectively, to compete and win against both new EV competitors and established automakers.

• The major portion of the job cut is likely to happen in the U.S., where the auto major has about 31,000 salaried workers.

• The report noted that Ford CEO, Jim Farley, hinted in February that leaner staff is a key to boosting profits.

• "We have too many people," Farley said at a Wolfe Research auto conference in February. "This management team firmly believes that our ICE and BEV portfolios are under-earning."

Ford will cut thousands of jobs as it eyes transition to electric vehicles



Gino Spocchia
Thu, July 21, 2022 

Ford will cut 8,000 jobs in in the coming weeks in a bid to reduce costs and bolster investment in electric vehicles, a report has said.

The Detroit-based company has not confirmed the cuts, which were first revealed on Wednesday by Bloomberg, and could still change.

According to the report, about 8,000 jobs could be cut from the newly created Ford Blue unit working on the company’s internal combustion engine operations.

Cuts, which could begin before the end of the summer, will also reportedly occur in other areas of the motor business and among salaried employees.

Ford will reportedly use the savings to invest further in electric vehicles, aiming to produce more than 2 million a year by 2026. The company is expected to tell its investors of its plans on Thursday.

TR Red, a spokesperson for Ford, said in a statement to Reuters that the company was committed to “reshaping our work and modernising our organisation”, but would not confirm the cuts.

“We remain focused on reshaping our work and modernising our organization across all automotive business units and across the company,” Mr Reid said. “As part of this, we have laid out clear targets to lower our cost structure to ensure we are lean and fully competitive with the best in the industry”.

Ford’s chief executive officer Jim Farley said earlier this year the company needed to find $50bn in profits from the sale of diesel engine vehicles – and via the innovation of the Ford Blue unit – to fund further investment in electric vehicles, of which only 27,140 were sold by Ford in the US last year.

In July, Ford reported selling 76.6 per cent more electric vehicles than a year ago with 4,353 units sold in June alone, according motor news site CBT News.

So far this year, electric vehicle sales in the US have been twice the amount of last year, but as The New York Times reported last week, the figure is still only around five per cent of the overall sales market.

Additional reporting by Reuters

NO NEED TO CUT JOBS WHEN FORD CAN AFFORD NOT TO GIVE AWAY DIVIDENDS AND SHARE BUY BACKS (USED TO PUMP UP CEO SHARE PRICES)

https://ycharts.com/companies/F/stock_buyback

Ford Motor Stock Buybacks (Quarterly) - YCharts 

Stock buybacks are when companies buy back their own stock, removing it from the marketplace. Stock buybacks increase the value of the remaining shares ...

https://www.barrons.com/articles/ford-gm-stock-dividends-51655389524

Ford and GM Diverge on Dividend Policies. Here's Why and What It ... 

Jun 17, 2022 ... Ford reinstated its dividend last fall after suspending it more than two years ago when ... Neither company has been buying back much stock.

https://www.barrons.com/articles/ford-rivian-stock-price-stake-sale-51652256380

Ford Sells 8 Million Rivian Shares. It Still Holds 94M ... - Barron's 

May 11, 2022 ... Ford sold 8 million shares of Rivian worth about $214 million on Monday. That leaves the auto maker with about 94 million shares of the ...

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4503372-is-ford-wasting-money-on-dividends-heres-the-verdict

Is Ford Wasting Money On Dividends? Here's The Verdict (NYSE:F) 

Apr 25, 2022 ... Ford, famously, focuses on dividends and not buybacks. The company did not allocate funds for share repurchases in 2020 and 2021. Ford spent ...

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-08/bill-ford-acquires-2-million-shares-with-stock-near-20-year-high

Bill Ford Acquires 2 Million Shares of Automaker With Stock Near 20 ... 

Dec 8, 2021 ... Ford Motor Co. Chair Bill Ford acquired almost 2 million shares of his company for about $20.5 million through the exercise of stock options ...

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/ford-stock-rallies-after-move-to-buyback-up-to-5-billion-of-higher-yield-debt-2021-11-04

Ford stock rallies after move to buyback up to $5 billion of higher ... 

Nov 4, 2021 ... Shares of Ford Motor Co. F, +1.11% rallied 1.9% in premarket trading Thursday, after the auto maker said it launched a tender offer to ...

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/04/ford-to-repurchase-up-to-5-billion-in-junk-bonds-as-it-restructures-its-balance-sheet.html

Ford to repurchase up to $5 billion in junk bonds as it restructures its ... 

Nov 4, 2021 ... Ford is buying back much of the $8 billion in bonds the company issued at the start the coronavirus pandemic at lofty yields of between 8.5% and ...

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/ford-stock-rallies-after-move-to-buyback-up-to-5-billion-of-higher-yield-debt-2021-11-04

Ford stock rallies after move to buyback up to $5 billion of higher ... 

Nov 4, 2021 ... Shares of Ford Motor Co. F, +1.11% rallied 1.9% in premarket trading Thursday, after the auto maker said it launched a tender offer to ...

https://money.cnn.com/2000/09/14/companies/ford_buyback

Ford approves $5 billion share repurchase, surprising analysts 

Sep 14, 2000 ... Ford Motor Co. said Thursday it is buying back up to $5 billion of company stock, settling fears by some analysts and investors that its ...

Ford reportedly preparing to slash 8,000

 jobs to help fund EV transition

Jamie L. LaReau, Detroit Free Press

Thu, July 21, 2022 

Ford Motor Co. is getting ready to eliminate up to 8,000 jobs in the coming weeks to help fund its push into electric vehicles, according to a news report.

Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources familiar with the plan, said Wednesday the cuts will come largely in the newly created Ford Blue unit that produces gasoline-powered vehicles, as well as "other salaried operations throughout the company." The plan has reportedly not yet been finalized, so details may change.

The news comes on the heels of Michigan giving the automaker a $100 million tax-funded incentive package in June as part of a plan to create new jobs in the state. The Bloomberg report does not mention how many jobs might be cut in Michigan.

Ford spokesman Mark Truby told the Detroit Free Press that he could not confirm the Bloomberg report.

Ford CEO Jim Farley set a plan to build 2 million electric vehicles a year by 2026.

Ford CEO Jim Farley has said he plans to slash $3 billion in costs by 2026 and that he wants to turn Ford Blue into “the profit and cash engine for the entire enterprise.” In March, Farley restructured the automaker to create two businesses: the “Model e” unit to develop EVs and “Ford Blue” to focus on internal combustion engine vehicles such as the popular F-150 pickup, the Mustang and the Bronco SUV.

More: In big shift for Ford, 2 longtime execs to retire, 1 former Amazon exec joins team

More: Ford's plan to cut $3B in waste will funnel money from gas vehicles to fund electric, tech

More: Ford CEO says automaker needs 'totally different talent' to meet goals. Here's why

Bloomberg reported that the job cuts are expected to hit a variety of operational functions among Ford’s white-collar workforce and they may come in phases, but are likely to begin this summer. The majority of the cuts are expected to be in the U.S. where Ford employs about 31,000 salaried workers.

Ford declined to comment on "speculation" about its business. Spokesman T.R. Reid said in an email to the Free Press, "As we’ve said lots of times, to deliver our Ford+ transformation and lead an exciting and disruptive new era of electric and connected vehicles, we’re reshaping our work and modernizing our organization across all of the automotive business units and the entire company. We’ve laid out clear targets for our cost structure so that we’re lean and fully competitive with the best in the industry."

In March, Farley boosted Ford's spending on EVs to $50 billion, up from $30 billion through 2026. He set a plan to build 2 million EVs a year by 2026. Last year, Ford sold 27,140 EVs.

Ford's crosstown rival, General Motors, is investing $35 billion in EV and self-driving car technology by mid decade with the goal to sell one million EVs in the U.S. by that time.

Farley has said workforce reduction is a key to boosting profits, which have eroded on its Mustang Mach-E and other plug-in models because of the automaker's increased costs for commodities and warranties.

“We have too many people,” Farley said at a Wolfe Research auto conference in February. “This management team firmly believes that our ICE and BEV portfolios are under-earning.”

More: Michigan Assembly Plant manager who oversees Bronco, Ranger no longer with Ford

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ford reportedly preparing to slash 8,000 jobs to help EV transition

Amazon's Rivian-made electric vans are now delivering in some US cities

Jon Fingas
·Reporter
Thu, July 21, 2022 

Amazon


Don't be surprised if one of Rivian's electric vans delivers your next Amazon order. Amazon has revealed that Rivian's custom-made EVs are now delivering packages across the US. You'll find them in numerous cities that include Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City, Nashville, Phoenix, San Diego, Seattle and St. Louis. The company expects the vans to serve over 100 cities by the end of 2022, and still hopes to field 100,000 vehicles by 2030.

Amazon's rollout hasn't gone as smoothly as originally expected. It first started testing Rivian's van in Los Angeles early last year, and hoped to use them in as many as 16 cities by the end of 2021. The expansion was relatively slow, however, with San Francisco as the most notable addition.


The Rivian cargo carrier is meant to help Amazon reach its goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2040, but it also represents a technological upgrade. The bespoke vans are focused on safety, with greater visibility and a host of driver aids that include automatic emergency braking and highway assistance. They unsurprisingly make use of Alexa to help drivers check the weather and otherwise improve their rides.

The deployment could be important the finances of both companies. Amazon had a 20 percent stake in Rivian as of late 2021 — it stands to benefit when its automotive partner does. It's also no secret that Rivian is cutting costs to pursue sustainable growth. It needs as much business as it can get, and a wider Amazon rollout could help its bottom line.

Rivian CEO eyes expansion into broader range of commercial electric vehicles

Reuters
Paul Lienert
Publishing date:Jul 21, 2022 • 

Rivian Automotive Inc is planning a broader range of electric commercial vehicles in a variety of shapes and sizes, and expects to be building millions of EVs a year at multiple plants after 2030, Chief Executive R.J. Scaringe said.


Speaking with Reuters ahead of Thursday’s formal unveiling with Amazon of the large EDV-700 delivery van, Scaringe said “there will be a host of other applications in the commercial space” based on the so-called RCV platform that underpins the Amazon van that Rivian is building in Normal, Illinois.

“We’re thinking about many other aspects of the commercial space outside of last-mile delivery (including) cargo and work vans,” Scaringe said. “We’ve had a whole host of discussions with other customers.” He didn’t identify the other potential customers.

Scaringe’s vision for Rivian mirrors that of Elon Musk for Tesla Inc, which also struggled in its first decade and a half before revenue and profits started to surge. Musk has said he expects Tesla to build 20 million EVs annually by 2030.

Rivian has struggled to meet production targets for its R1T pickup and R1S utility vehicle, and recently said it had delayed some programs – including the overseas launch of the R1S – and could trim head count in order to reduce costs.

The California startup reported it had more than $16 billion in cash at the end of the first quarter, but analysts have said the current cash burn rate could rapidly deplete that.

In the interview, Scaringe said Rivian also is planning a smaller family of commercial vehicles, which could share some components with the company’s upcoming R2 electric crossover, due to start production in 2025 at a new $5 billion Georgia plant.

That series will be built on a new platform with “a smaller footprint, a smaller form factor” than the EDV-700 that’s being shipped to Amazon, he said.

Scaringe said he still expects Rivian to be building 1 million EVs a year by 2030, “and we hope to be building a lot more than that as we get out into the 2030s.”

“That’s going to require multiple vehicles, different platforms and sizes. And ultimately multiple plants above and beyond what we have in Normal and what’s been announced in Atlanta. There will be additional facilities that will allow us to go into these different markets and scale up.”

Amazon is Rivian’s largest shareholder, with a 20% stake. It has ordered 100,000 delivery vans through 2025.

A top Amazon executive said Rivian won’t be the e-commerce giant’s only vehicle supplier, citing existing deals with Stellantis and Mercedes-Benz.

“Given our scale and the vehicle needs we’re going to have over the next 10 years, we will certainly have more than one partner,” said Udit Madan, Amazon’s vice president of transportation.

Madan said the company is testing 15 different types of electric commercial vehicles from different suppliers, “from delivery vehicles to e-bikes and e-rickshaws.”

 (Reporting by Paul Lienert in Detroit; editing by Ben Klayman and Jonathan Oatis)

Europe's heatwave reaches Poland, Greece as it moves eastwards, brings wildfires

By Renee Maltezou and Federico Maccioni

© Reuters/LOUIZA VRADI Wildfires near Athens

ATHENS/MILAN (Reuters) - The vast heatwave covering swathes of Europe moved steadily eastwards on Thursday, forcing countries including Italy, Poland and Slovenia to issue their highest heatwave alerts as firefighters battled wildfires across the continent.

Since temperatures in southern Europe began to soar earlier this month, the heatwave has caused hundreds of deaths and sparked wildfires that have burned tens of thousands of hectares of land in countries including Spain, Portugal and France. Britain and France both saw record high temperatures on Tuesday.

© Reuters/COSTAS BALTAS Wildfires near Athens

The extreme heatwave is part of a global patternof rising temperatures, widely attributed by scientists andclimatologists to climate change caused by human activity. It is forecast to dump searing heat on much of China into late August.

Greece, which contained a huge wildfire that raged near Athens for two days and was fanned by high winds, urged Europe to do more to tackle climate change.

"The climate crisis is now evident across Europe, with particular intensity in the wider Mediterranean region. The cocktail of high temperatures, gusty winds and heavy drought inevitably leads to wildfires," government spokesman Giannis Oikonomou said on Thursday.

"Europe must act in a coordinated and rapid manner to reverse the climate crisis," Oikonomou told reporters. "The solution cannot be given at a national level, because the problem is transnational and huge."

Greek fire fighters had tackled 390 forest fires in one week, about 50-70 blazes a day, he said. According to the meteorological station in Penteli outside Athens, where the fire broke out on Tuesday, winds reached 113 km per hour (70 mph) at one point.

Fuelled by climate change, wildfires are increasing in frequency and intensity in many countries, spreading smoke that contains noxious gases, chemicals and particulate matter and that can be damaging to health.

MORE WILDFIRES

In Poland, the authorities issued heat warnings for many parts of the country, with temperatures as high as 36.7 Celsius (98 Fahrenheit) measured in the western town of Kornik. In the northern port city of Gdansk, many residents and tourists headed for local beaches to cool down.

A large wildfire fire broke out near the southern town of Brzesko, the Onet news website reported. Firefighters told Onet that more than 50 hectares (120 acres) of fields had already burned, and that the fire was moving towards a forest.

Temperatures in Poland are expected to ease on the weekend.

In Italy, blazes in Tuscany and Friuli Venezia Giulia continued to rage but did not appear to have spread, Italian news agency ANSA reported. New wildfires were spotted in the mountains near Bologna and bordering the A9 highway, north of Milan, it said.

Fourteen cities, including Rome and Milan, were placed on the country's highest heatwave alert on Thursday, with the number set to increase to 16 on Friday, the health ministry said.

ANSA also reported that a fire that began in northern Italy near Carso has spread across the border to Slovenia, damaging an area of over 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres).

On the Slovenian side, 400 people from three villages had to be evacuated because of the blaze, Slovenian news outlets said.

Wildfires continued to burn in Portugal and Spain.

Sitting in a large sports hall filled with cots and plastic chairs, Fernando Gimenez, 68, shed tears as he spoke about leaving his home in central Spain, west of Madrid.

Gimenez was one of thousands of residents evacuated from the village of El Hoyo de Pinares because of a wildfire.

"I don’t know what I will find. Burnt trees. Nothing. I can’t even think about it," Gimenez told Reuters. "I feel kind of emptiness inside," he added.

The Spanish Red Cross has organized temporary accommodation for him and hundreds of evacuees.

"We work a lot with them on psychological support, because leaving their home behind without knowing what is happening, it's hard," said a Red Cross team leader, Belen Lopez.

(Reporting Reuters bureaus; Writing by Raissa Kasolowsky; Editing by Frances Kerry)f emptiness inside," he added.

The Spanish Red Cross has organized temporary accommodation for him and hundreds of evacuees.

"We work a lot with them on psychological support, because leaving their home behind without knowing what is happening, it's hard," said a Red Cross team leader, Belen Lopez.

(Reporting Reuters bureaus; Writing by Raissa Kasolowsky; Editing by Frances Kerry)

Climate alarm as Europe wildfires rage

Wed, 20 July 2022 


Emergency services have battled wildfires across swathes of southern Europe amid mass evacuations, as warnings sounded in London after Britain's hottest day that the fight against climate change needed to be stepped up.

Hundreds fled in central Italy as gas tanks exploded in a forest fire near the Tuscan town of Lucca. Similar numbers fled in Greece as a blaze fuelled by strong winds raged in mountains north of Athens.

Greek authorities said later in the day that the blaze had been tamed.

A brutal heatwave with spikes well above 40C settled over southern Europe last week, part of a global pattern of rising temperatures, widely attributed by scientists and climatologists to human activity.

It is forecast to dump searing heat on much of China into late August. It is also expected to expose about 100 million Americans to temperatures above 38C on Wednesday and set records in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas.

While the record heat last week around parts of the Mediterranean has eased, mercury readings have begun heading up again in Portugal, Spain and Italy.

Armando Silva, Civil Protection commander in Portugal's northern region, said rising temperatures and strong winds would make it harder to fight the country's largest wildfire centred on the municipality of Murca.

It has burned 10,000-12,000 hectares since Sunday and about 800 firefighters and six water planes have been deployed to tackle it.

In Spain, where emergency crews were fighting fires in five regions, national weather service AEMET also forecast higher temperatures.

Wildfires burned in several areas of Italy, including one that threatened to leave part of the northeastern city of Trieste without power and water, and 14 metropolitan areas including Rome, Milan and Florence were due to be put on the country's highest heatwave alert on Thursday.

Forecasters there said temperatures were expected to hit 40C across the north and centre this week.

That mark was topped in Britain for the first time on Tuesday. At least 13 people died while swimming to cool off.

The chief of science and technology at Britain's Met Office, Stephen Belcher, said that unless emissions were reduced, the country might experience similar heatwaves every three years.

Treasury minister Simon Clarke said Tuesday's "remarkable, unprecedented" record served as "a reminder ... of the importance of tackling climate change".

British engineers raced on Wednesday to fix train tracks that buckled in the heat after firefighters worked through the night to damp down wildfires.

The shift in climate is leading to more wildfires and will force France and the European Union to take "structural decisions...in the years to come", President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday.

In southern Europe, far larger wildfires continued to rage.

In Italy, emergency crews in Tuscany battled the Lucca wildfire, which forced about 500 people to leave as flames reached villages overnight and caused liquefied gas tanks to explode, the region's governor, Eugenio Giani, tweeted.

Another fire close to the border with Croatia and Slovenia forced state-owned shipbuilder Fincantieri to close down its plant in the port city of Monfalcone.

In Greece, thick smoke darkened the sky over Mount Penteli, north of Athens, where close to 500 firefighters managed to stem the spread of a wildfire that forced the evacuation of nine settlements and a hospital.

In France, where firefighters in the southwestern Gironde region have been battling since July 12 to contain huge forest fires, Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau said more money needed to be invested to tackle such threats.

Lula courts Brazil's farmers ahead of vote, angering environmentalists


Reuters
Ricardo Brito and Lisandra Paraguassu
Publishing date:Jul 21, 2022 •

BRASILIA — Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is luring allies from Brazil’s powerhouse farm sector to his presidential campaign, looking to fracture his rival’s base in a move that risks tensions with his own environmentalist supporters.

Agribusiness made big strides under Lula’s 2003-2010 government, but right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro has made a powerful connection with rural interests, vowing to push Brazil’s farming frontier deeper into the Amazon rainforest.

In contrast, Lula has promised “net zero deforestation” in Brazil within four years, bringing his rhetoric in line with greener thinking in Latin America’s leftist circles.

Still, in the capital Brasilia last week, Lula raised eyebrows by shoring up relationships with traditional farming interests, endorsing a Senate run by lawmaker Neri Geller, vice-president of the congressional farm caucus, and meeting with Senator Carlos Favaro, who also has strong agribusiness ties.

Geller, who was farm minister under Lula’s chosen successor Dilma Rousseff, told Reuters he saw more farm industry allies coming out for him, including Brazil’s “Soy King” Blairo Maggi, another ex-farm minister criticized as an apologist for deforestation.

Despite Lula’s double-digit lead over Bolsonaro ahead of the October election, many big names in agribusiness remain shy about talks with the leftist leader. Several farm industry leaders declined to answer Reuters’ questions about their conversations with the Lula campaign.

After meeting with Lula, Geller and Favaro took heat from a farm lobby group in their home state Mato Grosso, highlighting the hazards of breaking with Bolsonaro in farm country.

Lula also got blowback from the left over the meetings. Green advocates distrust Geller for trying to loosen environmental licensing and Favaro for pushing a bill to buy time for farmers and ranchers accused of invading public lands.

Lula’s former Environment Minister Marina Silva told newspaper Folha de S.Paulo that alliances with lawmakers such as Geller and Favaro would “maintain the country’s status as environmental pariah.”

Another former environment minister, Izabella Teixeira, who has helped to put together Lula’s government program, took a more pragmatic view.

“First you have to win the election, and these are arrangements that make the election viable,” she told Reuters. “Another thing will be politics after the election.” (Reporting by Ricardo Brito and Lisandra Paraguassu Writing by Ana Mano Editing by Brad Haynes and Jane Merriman)

Public hearings set for proposed realignment of federal ridings in Alberta


A commission creating new electoral ridings in Alberta is set to travel across the province this fall to hear from Albertans on their proposed redistricting.

Calgarians vote at Sunnyside School in the 2021 federal election last September.

The federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for Alberta is planning to host 24 in-person hearings across the province starting in September to hear from residents about concerns or comments they may have in regards to proposed electoral ridings that they released last month . Justice Bruce McDonald, commission chair, said they began looking at the ridings in February and have heard from members of the public throughout their process.

“We’ve been getting lots of comments and requests to make presentations at one or more of the on-site hearings,” said McDonald. “Once we have all these submissions in, we then, in the month of October and November, we’ll consider it all and we’ll make changes to our proposal and then turn it into our report to Parliament.”

The commission has proposed the creation of three new ridings in Alberta to adjust for population growth. One of those new ridings would be Calgary McKnight, which would be in the city’s northeast, while another new riding would be created by grouping together Airdrie and Chestermere. Each of Calgary’s remaining electoral ridings would be adjusted to keep populations close to the benchmark quota of 115,206 residents.

A third new riding, Spruce Grove-Leduc, has been proposed outside of Edmonton while several ridings within the capital would be overhauled or adjusted to ensure each riding remains within the City of Edmonton boundaries.

To get further input on their proposal, McDonald’s three-member commission will travel to northern Alberta first to start consultations in Grande Prairie in Sept. 6. They will then travel to Peace River, Fort McMurray, St. Paul, Lloydminster and Medicine Hat before they hold several sessions in Edmonton. They will continue to travel across Alberta for several weeks, including three hearings in Calgary on Sept. 19 and 20. If there is interest, there will be a virtual hearing in October.

McDonald said after the public consultations are complete, they will submit a report to Parliament before Alberta MPs are given a chance for input before a final edition is submitted, leading the way for new electoral ridings ahead of the next election.


Proposed boundaries of Calgary federal ridings, including the new Calgary McKnight riding. A portion of the proposed Airdrie-Chestermere riding is also shown.

“You’d be surprised how many times you get suggestions about the names,” said McDonald. “Some of these suggestions were very good and they’ll be incorporated. We’re just waiting to hear from more.”

McDonald stressed that the movement of boundaries occurs every 10 years and that it is done without politics involved. The boundaries are adjusted to accommodate for population growth and movement as well as to ensure communities of interest are intact and represented.

He said the commission does not have access to polling data when they make their suggestions and that there is a commission for each province.

Edmonton Journal 

Wednesday's letters: Alberta taxpayers shouldn't pay for papal visit

The more I consider the egregious spending behind the papal visit, the more infuriated I end up. Consider the $20 million contributed by the province, for a goodwill tour by a religious figure. Regardless of what religious institution he represents, this should not be taxpayer-funded. If the Catholic Church, and even its Alberta-based congregations, would like to raise money, fine.


Pope Francis recites the Angelus noon prayer from the window of his studio overlooking St.Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, July 3, 2022.

What message does this send to the population of Alberta when health-care funding is cut, and mental health care is all but unaffordable? The recent NDP freedom of information request revealed record numbers of instances without ambulances available. That we can spend tens of millions of dollars to have the representative of an institution that has covered up child abuse for decades, if not longer, is disgusting. This isn’t even taking into account the cultural genocide committed against the Indigenous peoples of Canada.

This is a complete misspending of public funds, at best, and a complete moral misstep.

Brad Lawson, Edmonton

Wangersky: Scheer's shift shows how politicians change their stripes

Russell Wangersky - Regina Leader-Post

Andrew Scheer, outgoing leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, poses in his constituency office in Regina, Saskatchewan on August 18, 2020. 

BRANDON HARDER/ Regina Leader-Post


These are the personal observations of one single Canadian voter — that’s all.

Whether you agree or disagree is fine with me.

A couple of elections ago, the Conservative Party had a new leader, a guy I knew little about, except for the fact that he was from Saskatchewan and had been Speaker of the House of Commons.

It’s a job that takes a reasonable amount of fairness and balance, so I thought I’d follow the guy — Regina MP Andrew Scheer — on Twitter and see what he was about.

Not everybody is a fan of Twitter, but I find that the format is useful as starting point — the limited space per tweet means you can get a glimpse of politicians’ direction and follow up on their policies afterwards.

And, back in 2017, I thought Scheer was electable — his Twitter feed then, and his attendant policies, seemed centre-right enough to garner broad-based support. He was measured. Balanced. Reasonable.

For some reason, I didn’t stop following Scheer on Twitter after he left the Conservative leadership and came close to politically vanishing.

His tweets either dried up or seemed inconsequential enough that I can’t remember a single one … until the latest Conservative leadership campaign, when a different version of Andrew Scheer appeared.

I’m having trouble reconciling the Andrew Scheer whose Twitter feed I’m still following now with the Andrew Scheer who I followed when he was the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.

In other words, would the real Andrew Scheer please stand up?

Scheer is only one example of a dramatic swing in style — but he’s the example that occurred to me when his account tweeted out a solid red background with silhouetted black barbed wire and a prison camp tower with the slogan “SOCIALISM: IDEAS SO GOOD THAT THEY HAVE TO BE MANDATORY.”

(I’m not even going to go into the weeds on the peculiarity of a politician — representing a riding in the province that is the home of Canadian socialized medicine — equating access to health care for all to being inmates of a prison camp.)

His Twitter feed now is anchored by a pinned tweet on Internet legislation that says, “I’m not sure how long the government will let this video stay up.” (It’s scaremongering that — spoiler alert — has been untouched by the evil government on Scheer’s Twitter feed for more than a month.)

The tone of his Twitter feed is completely different than it was.

Like I said, these are the views of one Canadian voter, and not even a voter from Scheer’s riding of Regina-Qu’Appelle.

But I would say this — I felt the 2017 edition of Andrew Scheer was electable as a national candidate. The Andrew Scheer of 2022? Not so much. (Obviously, his own riding, where he took 62 per cent of the vote in the 2021 federal election, feels differently.)

There are, of course, a couple of ways to look at this change.

One might be that Scheer, when campaigning to be prime minister, was merely masquerading as a centre-right candidate because that’s what was considered electable, and his views were actually different from his onstage persona.

Another explanation is that that Scheer has a nose for which way the wind is blowing inside his own party and his own province, and is trying on a new set of ideological clothes to better suit what he thinks that audience wants.

Or maybe it’s more baldly political and strategic — maybe Scheer feels that by hitching his wagon to the Pierre Poilievre campaign (Scheer now retweets plenty of Poilievre’s hot takes in addition to being a steadfast Poilievre supporter), he can find a more influential position within the party he used to run.

All three are understandable, I suppose, but each are also unsettling for their own reasons.

Maybe that’s why I tire of so many politicians — of all political stripes — so quickly.

I can’t help but wonder — if Canada had elected Andrew Scheer to be prime minister all those years ago (something that certainly could have happened) which one would we have gotten?

Russell Wangersky is the editor in chief of the Regina Leader-Post and the Saskatoon StarPhoenix. He can be reached at rwangersky@postmedia.com.

MEDICAL MARIJUANA/CBD OIL

Moscow says US must respect Russian law in Griner case

JIM HEINTZ

Thu, July 21, 2022 

MOSCOW (AP) — The spokesperson for Russia's Foreign Ministry lashed out Thursday at the United States characterizing basketball star Brittney Griner's jailing on drug charges as “wrongful detention,” saying it shows disrespect for Russian law.

Griner has been jailed since she was arrested in mid-February at a Moscow airport after vape canisters containing cannabis oil were found in her luggage. The Phoenix Mercury standout and two-time Olympic gold medalist acknowledged in court this month that she had the canisters, but said she had no intent to break the law.

She faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. Her trial is scheduled to resume Tuesday.

The State Department in May designated Griner as wrongfully detained, moving her case under the supervision of its special presidential envoy for hostage affairs - effectively, the government’s chief hostage negotiator.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday that the legalization of cannabis for medical and recreational use in parts of the U.S. has no bearing on what happens in Russia.

“If a U.S. citizen was taken in connection with the fact that she was smuggling drugs, and she does not deny this, then this should be commensurate with our Russian, local laws, and not with those adopted in San Francisco, New York and Washington,” Zakharova said.

“You understand, if drugs are legalized in the United States, in a number of states, and this is done for a long time, and now the whole country will become drug-addicted, this does not mean that all other countries are following the same path,” she added.

Russian media have persistently speculated that Griner could be exchanged for prominent Russian arms trader Viktor Bout, who is imprisoned in the United States, and that Paul Whelan, an American imprisoned in Russia for espionage, may also figure in an exchange.

U.S. officials have not commented on the prospects for such a trade. Russian officials have said no exchange could be discussed until the conclusion of the legal proceedings against Griner. It is unclear how long the trial will last, but a court has authorized Griner's detention until Dec. 20.

Chinese boy leaves in a huff after pointing out factual errors in planetarium’s educational video



Rebecca Moon
Thu, July 21, 2022 

While exploring a planetarium in China, an 8-year-old boy was outraged to discover that an educational video about the Long March rockets contained numerous inaccuracies.

On Saturday, Yan Hongsen and his father visited a planetarium in Lhasa, Tibet, an autonomous region of China. When approaching an educational film that was being played for visitors, Yan noticed that it contained numerous factual errors.

In a video that has gone viral on Weibo, Yan is seen angrily pointing out that the educational film had misidentified the Long March 3 rocket as the Long March 5.

“What are they showing here! How can they caption this as Long March 5? This is Long March 3!” the boy angrily said.

The video clip has garnered over 4.3 million views and 48,000 likes since being uploaded on Monday.

Yan’s father explained that the 8-year-old has been a space enthusiast since he was 4 years old after watching “the launch of the Venezuelan Remote Sensing Satellite-2 at the Jiuquan satellite launch center.” He often makes cardboard rocket models and purportedly teaches online classes for other space enthusiasts.

“He became interested in space science as a result of the rocket launch. And because of space science, he fell in love with astronomy and military affairs,” Yan’s father told South China Morning Post. “It’s a strength of his that he can study in his spare time, even while eating, going to the bathroom, in the car or on the bus.”

After the video went viral across Chinese social media, the planetarium explained that they had received the feedback and would take the advice “seriously.” They also thanked Yan for his corrections and stated that the mistakes would be revised immediately.

Why Nikon and Canon have given up on DSLRs


Steve Dent/Engadget


Steve Dent
·Contributing Reporter

Tue, July 19, 2022

The biggest news in the camera industry this month is that Nikon is reportedly halting development of new SLR cameras, marking the end of a 63-year run. From now on, it will focus exclusively on mirrorless Z mount models like the Z6, Z50 and recently-launched Z9 flagship.

This is a seismic industry change, as Nikon has a storied history with SLRs going back to the iconic Nikon F launched in 1959. But it’s not the only company going in this direction: Canon already confirmed that the EOS-1DX Mark III will be its final flagship DSLR, and Sony moved to selling only mirrorless cameras last year.

Until recently, reflex cameras were regarded as a better option than mirrorless for action photography, so what happened? Simply put, mirrorless models improved so dramatically over the past couple of years that they rendered DSLRs moot.

A lot of pro photographers are holding onto their DSLRs, and the main reason is speed. As we explained several years ago in our Upscaled series, reflex cameras have dedicated autofocus sensors under the mirror. They’re extremely fast, so they allow for high burst shooting speeds with accurate focus on each shot. Canon’s 1DX III, for example, can shoot at up to 16 fps with AF and auto exposure enabled.

Many serious shooters still prefer an optical viewfinder, too. They want a subject view they can trust and believe that a physical view via a prism and mirror is superior to an artificial electronic display. The drawback, of course, is that you can’t see the image when you shoot it because the mirror lifts up to block the display.

The last big thing is battery life and handling: Flagship DSLRs have heavy bodies and big grips that make for stable shooting platforms, particularly with the massive telephoto lenses used by sports and wildlife photographers. They’re also covered with dials and buttons for easier handling. And the optical viewfinder obviously doesn’t drain the battery, so DSLRs can shoot many more photos on a charge.

That’s been true even until recently, but the latest mirrorless cameras have allayed most of those concerns. The most important change has been the introduction of stacked sensors. Those have much faster readout speeds that allow for rapid burst shooting and more accurate autofocus. They also produce less rolling shutter in electronic mode, reducing skew in photos and wobble in video.

Canon’s EOS R3 is a great example of that. It’s a bit slower than the 1DX Mark III DSLR in mechanical shutter mode but far faster with the electronic shutter, and delivers more resolution. Sony’s A1 is even more impressive, letting you fire off 50-megapixel RAW frames at 30 frames per second.

Perhaps the most vivid display of stacked sensor power is Nikon’s new flagship Z9. It lets you shoot RAW 46-megapixel images at 20 fps with the electronic shutter and doesn’t even have a mechanical shutter. By comparison, Nikon’s flagship D6 DSLR can handle 14 RAW images per second, but at 21 megapixels, they’re less than half the resolution.

The viewfinder issue is also largely resolved. Not long ago, mirrorless EVFs tended to be laggy, low resolution and choppy, while sharing a problematic issue with DSLRS – the viewfinder would black out when you took the picture. Now, all three of the above models have sharp and fast OLED display switch smooth refresh rates of at least 120Hz and up to 240Hz. And all offer blackout-free shooting in most conditions. All that arguably gives professionals a view superior to an optical viewfinder.

Finally, cameras like Nikon’s Z9 and the Canon R3 are just as substantial as their DSLR counterparts and match them control for control. And if you want a professional camera that isn’t huge, Sony offers small, great-handling cameras like the A1 and A9.

Battery life is still an issue for mirrorless cameras next to DSLRs, though. The Nikon D6 can shoot a colossal 3,580 shots on a charge, while the Z9 is CIPA rated for just 770 – and that’s very high for a mirrorless camera. For the time being, mirrorless will always be at a disadvantage, but the situation is improving.

All told, with those key improvements in stacked sensors, improved EVFs and better handling, mirrorless models can now go toe to toe with DSLR cameras. In nearly every other category, however, they’re actually superior.

Take autofocus. Though DSLRs have fast dedicated phase-detect AF sensors, mirrorless models have many more phase-detect pixels directly on the main sensor. In Canon’s case, every single pixel is used for AF. That allows for quicker and more accurate autofocus, in theory.

With their hybrid phase- and contrast-detect pixels directly on the sensor, modern mirrorless cameras also win on AI smarts. Most can do subject, face and eye detection with humans, birds, animals, cars and more. That’s particularly useful for action photography to track fast moving subjects – an area that has traditionally been dominated by reflex cameras. And with the latest processors and stacked sensors, these features are finally good enough to use in real-world pro shooting.

As mentioned, some of the best mirrorless cameras now eliminate the viewfinder blackout that plagues DSLRs. And the stacked sensors also heavily reduce rolling shutter that can result in wonky, distorted photos. They’re now good enough to allow shooting of fast-moving subjects, with the advantage of being silent if you’re working at a golf tournament, for example.

Perhaps the biggest benefit is video. Photographers in many different areas are being asked to do that on top of photos, whether they do weddings or work for major news and sporting agencies.

DSLRs like Canon’s 5D helped prompt the trend to shooting high-quality video with consumer cameras and recent models like the 1DX III can handle video well. However, by and large, mirrorless models are superior. Nikon’s Z9, the Canon R3 and Sony A1 can stand up to most cinema cameras, making them true double threats. That’s thanks to the incredible video autofocus systems, resolutions up to 8K, RAW video capture, top-notch audio capabilities and more.

On top of all that, most mirrorless cameras (unlike DSLRs) have in-body stabilization so you don’t need to worry about having that feature on the lens. And speaking lenses, those designed for mirrorless cameras tend to be smaller, lighter and optically superior, because the back is closer to the sensor.

Then there’s the issue of price and cost. Mirrorless cameras are less complex than DSLRs, so they tend to be cheaper. Nikon’s Z9, for instance, costs $1,000 less than the D6, and the Canon EOS R3 is $500 cheaper than the 1DX Mark III.

Finally, with the decline of the camera market kicked off by smartphones, it doesn’t make a lot of sense for manufacturers to build both DSLRs and mirrorless cameras. Now, they appear to be concentrating on one technology in the interests of profitability.

Wrap-up

Photographers may feel sad that DSLRs appear to be coming to the end of their road, particularly if they just bought one. Don’t panic yet, though – while Nikon and Canon appear to have stopped designing new DSLRs and lenses, they’ll continue to manufacture and sell existing models.

The key thing driving this is that mirrorless has not just caught up to, but will soon blow past reflex mirror tech. For example, Sony recently unveiled new sensors that can gather double the light of current stacked sensors, paving the way for fast shooting, even in low light. And you can expect much faster image processors, better EVFs and smarter AF systems in the near future.

In other words, future mirrorless tech could make you forget that digital cameras ever had mirrors inside. Then, we may only ever see them in their original glory – with a roll of film inside.