THE 1%
New research reveals Canada's richest athletes with surprise at top
Postmedia News - Yesterday 

© Provided by Toronto SunMario Lemieux (left) and Wayne Gretzky

New research has revealed who Canada’s richest athletes are in terms of net worth.

While a pair of hockey legends are right near the top, the richest Canadian athlete is a bit of a surprise.

OLBG.com , a sports betting community platform, analyzed data surrounding Canada’s most successful athletes to find out who was the most well off. It wasn’t a shock to see Hockey Hall of Fame members and all-time greats Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, but rally driver Peter J. Thomson, with a net worth of $11 billion Canadian, came out on top, according to the research.

That said, most of Thomson’s wealth has nothing to do with sports, but instead from his businesses. Thomson is the son of the late Ken Thomson, who at the time of his death in 2006, was the richest man in Canada and the ninth richest in the world.

Peter Thomson, 56, has been rally racing since 1986 and has won a number of races.

Gretzky’s net worth of $320 million mostly comes from his off-ice ventures, as only a little over $60 million came from his NHL playing days.

Gretzky built his status through hockey, however, even after his retirement he’s continued to build his career with many other investments and business ventures both within and outside the hockey world.

Fellow icon Lemieux’s net worth of $193 million placed him third and, like Gretzky, most of the money didn’t come from his playing career. Lemieux owns the Pittsburgh Penguins, the franchise he starred for.


© Katie Stratman

Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto (19) reacts after a call in the third inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Great American Ball Park April 22, 2022.

Baseball star Joey Votto, of the Cincinnati Reds, who was recently lost for the season due to injury, placed fourth, with a net worth of $140 million. Votto signed a 10-year, $240-million contract with the Reds in 2014.

Two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash, now the head coach of the Brooklyn Nets, placed fifth with a net worth of $122 million. Nash made nearly $190 million in salary as a player, according to Basketball-reference.com .

Rounding out the list was Sidney Crosby, another Penguins icon, with a net worth of $96 million; Chris Pronger, the dominant defenceman who has a net worth of $84 million; Fellow hockey players Jarome Iginla and Joe Thornton ($77 million apiece) and Formula One driver Lance Stroll ($64 million).

The findings showed a lack of equality, as a majority of the mentions were white males. There was only 1 POC and no women were included in the top 10. An investigation by CBC Sports reveals there is a prevalent issue among Canadian sports. They looked at 400 top positions at 56 universities and only 10% of the positions were held by POC.

Richard Moffat, CEO at OLBG.com said in a release: “It’s interesting to see athletes building their businesses both during and after their athletic careers. This research shows how being a sports personality is a real catalyst for wealth in Canada.”

OLBC.com says the methodology involved using Sportrac’s database “to look at the top rankings of the highest paid athletes for the most popular sports leagues and country specific (retired and active). We then supplemented this with other sources to identify top Canadian athletes all time where this data was no longer available on Sportrac. We used Celebritynetworth, Wealthy Gorilla and Bloomberg to identify athletes’ net worth and ensure we didn’t miss any important athletes.”

They said data was collected between July 28 and Aug. 3.

Bell Media plans workplace review as Lisa LaFlamme exit ripples through CTV newsroom

Yesterday 12:41 p.m.
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TORONTO — The parent company of CTV News says it will launch a workplace review conducted by an independent party amid criticism of Lisa LaFlamme's dismissal from her role as chief anchor.


© Provided by The Canadian Press

Bell Media said in a statement Friday it "regrets" the way in which LaFlamme's departure was handled, as it "may have left viewers with the wrong impression" that her storied career wasn't valued.

On Monday, LaFlamme released a video statement saying she was "blindsided" after finding out in June that Bell Media was ending her contract at CTV National News. She said she kept the news under wraps until the details were finalized.

The dismissal, which Bell described as a "business decision," raised questions among media observers about whether sexism and ageism played a role in the shakeup.

Bell Media said Friday it takes allegations of discrimination "very seriously" and is moving forward with a third-party internal workplace review in the newsroom over the coming weeks.

The company did not respond to questions about whether a firm has been chosen to conduct the review.

"In a news organization, making a change at the anchor desk is always a difficult decision. We knew that many viewers and members of the CTV family would be disappointed that Lisa LaFlamme would be leaving her position," Bell Media's statement said.

"CTV regrets that the way in which the news of her departure has been communicated may have left viewers with the wrong impression about how CTV regards Lisa and her remarkable career."

LaFlamme's departure and her replacement were announced on the same day Monday, frustrating viewers who felt LaFlamme should have had a proper sign-off and career retrospective after 35 years with the company.

In a town hall meeting with staff on Thursday, two key Bell Media executives offered their perspectives on the events that transpired in recent weeks.

Karine Moses, senior vice-president of content development and news for Bell Media, said LaFlamme rejected the opportunity to bid farewell on air.

In an audio recording of the meeting obtained by The Canadian Press, Moses told employees that LaFlamme wasn't simply ousted from the company.

She "was offered many options to come back and to do many things, which she declined, and I respect that," Moses said, without detailing the other job opportunities Bell Media presented to LaFlamme.

Moses was asked by one staff member to explain why leadership felt LaFlamme didn't fit into their future business plan, or whether age and hair colour played a role in their decision. LaFlamme is 58 and had chosen to maintain a more natural grey hair colour during the pandemic.

"It's a very, I would say, personal question," Moses responded.

"I don't think the intent of this meeting is to discuss the discussion that happened with somebody else. The intent of this meeting is to discuss what we want to do as a team," Moses responded.

Pressed further about whether LaFlamme's age or gender was an issue, Moses denied the suggestion.

"Not at all," she said. "Seriously, I'm a woman. I've been here for 25 years, and do you really think I would fire a woman because she's a woman?"

The same staff member pointed out that Moses used the word "fired" to describe LaFlamme's exit.

Moses responds with, "That's not what I'm saying, but you know what I mean," and a moderator quickly moved on to another question.

Michael Melling, vice president of Bell Media's news division, told staff he had no intention of speaking publicly or participating in media interviews about the recent events.

He said anonymous sources have been spreading erroneous information that was "said without context or manipulated." He did not specify what he considered inaccurate.

Melling added that in the coming weeks he intends to hold "a number of small team meetings," to discuss the future of the flagship newscast, promising to share audience figures and trends as well as financial data.

"I want you guys to see the bigger picture," he said.

One CTV staff member raised concerns that incoming top anchor Omar Sachedina, who begins his new job as lead anchor on Sept. 5, has seen "a lot of damage" to his reputation from how Bell Media mishandled the transition.

"I think the public consensus is, right now, it looks like Omar stabbed Lisa in the back," the employee said.

Moses, who earlier in the meeting acknowledged CTV shouldn't have announced Sachedina's appointment on the same day as LaFlamme's departure, said "it might take time" for the new face of the brand to build trust with viewers. She added that she's confident CTV News will "turn the corner."

Addressing employee concerns about low morale in the newsroom, she said "it should not be like that."

"We should feel good about where we work," she said.

"So if you guys have any ideas ... on why the morale is not good, I would like to know because we need to fix that."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 19, 2022.

David Friend, The Canadian Press

Canada's golden crop isn't built for heat. Canola breeders hope to fix that

Jaela Bernstien - CBC

Canola is the golden crop of the prairies — both in terms of colour and profitability. But the signature export of Western Canada isn't adapted to long periods of heat, as farmers saw last year when extreme heat and drought cut canola yields drastically.

As climate change alters growing conditions, Canadian researchers are working with farmers to breed canola for a future of extremes, in the hopes of growing more heat tolerant varieties for the future.

Canola, sometimes called the Cinderella crop in reference to its success story in Canada, contributes more than $29 billion to the economy every year.

An abbreviation of the words Canada and oil, canola is a specific group of rapeseed varieties bred for cooking oil and animal feed. But before it made its way to North America, rapeseed was grown in Asia for thousands of years. Production in Canada only ramped up during the Second World War, to answer a critical shortage of lubricant oil for marine engines.

Climate change interrupts a Cinderella story

It wasn't until the 1960s that plant breeders in Saskatchewan and Manitoba developed

varieties that produced quality, edible oil. After that, it was a quick ascent to success.

But the industry took a hit when, in the summer of 2021, Western Canada was enveloped in heat and drought. Most of Canada's canola is grown in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Due to extreme heat and drought, production fell to the lowest level since 2007 and canola yields dropped by 40 per cent, according to a report by Statistics Canada.

"2021 was ugly," said Dean Roberts, a small grains farmer who grows canola, wheat, barley, peas, lentils and flax in Coleville, in west central Saskatchewan.

Roberts, who spoke to CBC News while out for a drive scouting his fields, said last year the heat cut his canola yields in half, if not more.

"It was too hot and too dry for too long," said Roberts, who is a board member of the Canadian Canola Growers Association and a director of the board for SaskCanola.

"We can take a certain amount of heat and a certain amount of drought, but that was too much of everything."

Heat vs canola: A two-pronged attack

Heat doesn't just hurt canola by drying out the soil. The cool-season crop also suffers if there are long stretches of high temperatures during the flowering season, which is typically late June and early July in Western Canada.

Malcolm Morrison, a research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada who specializes in oilseeds, said heat during flowering harms canola's pollen vitality, as well as its ability to self-pollinate and, ultimately, fertilization.

"Canola is not a tropical crop," Morrison said.

While sometimes the plants can recover after a few hot days by producing new branches with flowers, that will delay maturity — a problem for Western Canada's shorter growing season.

Heat can also make the flowers abort or fail to form seed pods — which means no oilseeds.

"You really get a two-pronged attack from the weather; you run out of moisture and the flowers abort, so you lose yield on both sides of that equation," Roberts said.

While his crops have fared better in 2022, Roberts knows the future will be unpredictable.

Greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans are contributing to more frequent and more intense heat waves, and Canada is no exception.

Roberts said he doesn't think any canola variety on the market right now could withstand a repeat of 2021.

"I think it's up to the plant breeders now to go back to their genetics and start chasing some of that heat tolerance as it gets to be more prevalent."

That's exactly what a team of plant breeders at the University of Manitoba are hoping to do.

Breeding plants for 20 years in the future

Rob Duncan, a professor at the University of Manitoba and a canola breeder, has been working on developing heat-tolerant varieties of canola, along with Chad Koscielny, North American canola breeding lead at Coteva Agriscience.

"You always have to be looking forward," Duncan said. "You are essentially predicting how the varieties you produce now [are] going to adapt in 10 or 20 years or the long-term future."

Duncan said they've had some promising results through selective breeding — mixing certain varieties of canola to create hybrids with better tolerance for heat.


© Austin Grabish/CBC

Canola is stored in bins pictured on a farm near Starbuck, Manitoba.

While the new varieties aren't ready for the commercial market yet, Koscielny said the goal is to help farmers be better prepared if there's a repeat of the 2021 heat dome.

"These hybrids have the potential to expand potential acres of canola, and minimize the impact of extreme environmental events," he said.

Morrison said he has faith that the scientific community will come up with viable solutions as growing conditions shift.

"We have to make our crops more agile," he said. "I think that one of the best ways of doing this is to have active plant breeding programs."

The difficult thing for farmers is climate change doesn't just make things hotter, but more unpredictable, Morrison said.

"If we could say that, oh, boy, we're always going to be able to plant our crop April 5 [from now on], but we can't because one of the things with climate change is that there's an increase in fluctuation."

Canola farmers no stranger to innovation

If breeders can develop a more heat-tolerant variety, it wouldn't be the first time that research helped canola farmers adapt to harsh elements on the prairies.

Roberts recalls how, on older varieties of canola, the pods would fall and shatter in a big windstorm. Breeding programs responded by developing more durable varieties.

He said heat will be the next challenge. "We're going to need more robust varieties in the future. I don't know if we're there right now."

Duncan agreed, and said farmers may also have to think about diversifying their portfolio, so to speak, by planting a combination of varieties of canola on their fields, some with tolerance to flooding, other with tolerance to heat.

He said breeding is just one part of the climate adaptation puzzle, and that farming strategies including no-till farming and irrigation are also part of the equation.

While Roberts acknowledges that's true, he said farmers are already doing everything they can on the ground.

"We've been dealing with climate change longer than the general public," he said. "We are tied very directly to our land and the weather."

"The genetics are where the biggest move is going to have to come from."

Our planet is changing. So is our journalism. This story is part of a CBC News initiative entitled "Our Changing Planet" to show and explain the effects of climate change. Keep up with the latest news on our Climate and Environment page.

Michelle O'Bonsawin nominated to Supreme Court, making her first Indigenous justice

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau nominated Ontario judge Michelle O'Bonsawin to the Supreme Court of Canada on Friday, making her the first Indigenous person poised to sit on the country's highest bench.

O'Bonsawin comes to the court after spending five years as a judge at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Ottawa, where she was also the first Indigenous woman to hold that position.

Before that, she spent eight years serving as the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group's general counsel. She has also taught law at the University of Ottawa, and earlier worked in legal services for the RCMP and Canada Post.

Born in Hanmer, Ont., just outside Sudbury, O'Bonsawin identifies as a bilingual Franco-Ontarian and an Abenaki member of the Odanak First Nation, according to a biography released by the Prime Minister's Office.

The First Nation's elected chief, Richard O'Bomsawin, said news of her appointment has made him proud.

"She's definitely an inspiration to the nation. She's definitely an inspiration to other up-and-coming native people," he said in an interview. "She's truly showed native people that anything is possible. We just have to keep struggling and trying."

O'Bomsawin said he knows the newest Supreme Court justice personally, describing her as "a really good person" who put in a lot of hard work and deserves the opportunity. He and O'Bonsawin belong to the same family but are not closely related, he added.

Praise from O'Bonsawin's appointment came from outside her home community as well.

"Canada's top court has always been missing an individual to interpret Canadian laws through an Indigenous lens — but not anymore," Elmer St. Pierre, the national chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, said in a statement Friday.

"Indigenous people have long faced discrimination, racism and prejudice in Canada’s justice system, leading to the overrepresentation of our people in courts and prisons. Governments must continue to ensure Indigenous voices help create laws, interpret and enforce them."

The congress said it is "thrilled" about the decision — the same word used by the Canadian Bar Association, which said O'Bonsawin will be a "great asset" for the court.

Murray Sinclair, a former senator and former chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, said in a statement O'Bonsawin will be an "important voice" on the court.

Sinclair said he advised O'Bonsawin on her application for the job and described her as "immensely qualified" for the position.

"It is long past due that the court has a seat for an Indigenous justice, one who has seen firsthand the impact of colonialism on Indigenous communities," he said. "The court is made stronger, and our decisions are better, when there are diverse perspectives where they are needed most."

RoseAnne Archibald, the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, tweeted that O'Bonsawin's nomination is "an important appointment at a critical time" and congratulated the incoming justice for making "#HERstory."

O'Bonsawin will fill the vacancy left by Justice Michael Moldaver, who is set to retire Sept. 1 a few months before he turns 75, the court's mandatory retirement age.

Last year, Justice Mahmud Jamal became the first person of colour to join the Supreme Court's ranks.

Related video: Michelle O'Bonsawin becomes 1st Indigenous person nominated to Supreme Court of Canada

Duration 2:01  View on Watch

The requirement for English-French bilingualism has been cited as a factor that previously complicated efforts to find Indigenous candidates for the court amid long-standing criticism about diversity on the bench.

Drew Lafond, president of the Indigenous Bar Association, said despite three seats being set aside for Quebec judges, the court has also never reserved a spot for somebody to represent Canada's population of Indigenous Peoples.

The process that led to O'Bonsawin's nomination was the first to include Indigenous representation on the Trudeau-era Independent Advisory Board for Supreme Court of Canada Judicial Appointments. Lafond's association successfully nominated lawyer David Nahwegahbow to join the committee earlier this year.

When it comes to matters that affect Indigenous Peoples, "it's very difficult to have confidence in the ability of the court to pronounce on those issues when you don't have any individuals at the court who spent their lives working in Indigenous laws, customs or traditions," Lafond said. "Hopefully with Michelle's appointment we can begin to change that."

Polsia Carrozza and Brooke Wakegijig, both executive members of the Indigenous Law Students Governance at O'Bonsawin's alma mater, the University of Ottawa, said they were excited — though not surprised, since her name's been "floating around for a while," as Carrozza put it — when they heard news of the nomination Friday morning.

"The worry with these kinds of big appointments is, 'are they just ticking a box? Is this a diversity hire?' That’s always the fear, that she’s just there for Justin Trudeau to say that he did this and he gets to put that on his track record," said Carrozza.

But the incoming justice is "unbelievably qualified" and her nomination is a much-needed first step, said Carrozza, who is Métis and a third-year student in the same French common law program that O'Bonsawin graduated from. "It’s taken a long time for Indigenous people in general, but especially Indigenous women, to be taken seriously and to be trusted in positions of authority."

Wakegijig, a second-year law student from Wiikwemkoong First Nation in northern Ontario, said she feels a little cynical about how dramatically things will change with one Indigenous voice at the table.

Still, she's enthusiastic about the experience O'Bonsawin brings to the court.

"It's a good day for Indigenous women, and women in general, and it's a good day for people who experience mental health issues that are involved with the law, and Indigenous peoples involved in the criminal justice system."

Before O'Bonsawin begins in the new role, the House of Commons justice committee is expected to meet next Wednesday to hear from the justice minister and the chairperson of the independent advisory board for Supreme Court appointments. O'Bonsawin will then appear before the committee and members of the Senate for a question-and-answer session.

The hearing is not expected to prove controversial, with Canadian Supreme Court nominees rarely facing the same dramatic scrutiny as their counterparts in the United States. Conservative justice critic Rob Moore issued a statement on Friday congratulating her on her nomination.

O'Bonsawin's biography says she has "developed a thorough understanding of legal issues related to mental health" and "performed significant research regarding the use of Gladue principles in the forensic mental-health system."

She successfully defended a PhD thesis at the University of Ottawa earlier this year about the application of Gladue principles, which outline ways for judges to consider the unique experiences of Indigenous Peoples.

In an online post last year, the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice quoted O'Bonsawin, one of its board members, saying that her role model is former Supreme Court chief justice Beverley McLachlin.

A required questionnaire posted by the Department of Justice upon her appointment to the Ontario Superior Court elaborated on her experience with mental-health law.

"I would like to ensure that the stigma associated with mental health is reduced and one day completely eliminated. This applies not only to the general population but also to the judiciary," O'Bonsawin wrote.

"Quickly identifying mental-health problems at the start of any legal proceeding would help individuals more quickly access the appropriate treatment they need to improve their mental health and to become productive members of society."

She also wrote about her appreciation for the situation faced by Indigenous Peoples and described being discriminated against and made fun of as a young Indigenous girl growing up off-reserve.

She said her experience as a francophone Indigenous woman, as a mother and as a professional in the mental health and Indigenous law fields is "a clear example of the rich diversity that makes our country so special to me and my family."

Answering a question about the appropriate role of a judge in a constitutional democracy, O'Bonsawin wrote that judges must interpret the constitution as a living document and "demonstrate great skill in striking the delicate balance between the needs of the public and the rights of the individual."

She said judges must be politically neutral, without external influence and always keep in mind that decisions "may help protect vulnerable populations, those that cannot speak for themselves and are often exploited."

In a video posted to the University of Ottawa website, O'Bonsawin described wanting to become a lawyer as early as the age of nine and pushing back when a high-school guidance counsellor said it might not be in the cards for someone from a small northern Ontario community.

"No, this is what I'm going to do," she told him then. "Watch me."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 19, 2022.

Marie-Danielle Smith, The Canadian Press

Friday's letters: UCP the party of incompetence, chaos

Edmonton Journal - Yesterday


The UCP (United Conservative Party) is currently choosing a new leader. I believe that they should also consider a new name for the party. They have arbitrarily ripped up agreements with cities, picked a fight with doctors and health-care workers during a pandemic, wasted millions of dollars on a “war room” that is a laughingstock and a further billion-plus on a pipeline to nowhere, targeted post-secondary institutions that are vital to Alberta’s future and refused to listen to teachers and school boards in the creation of a new curriculum that is deeply flawed.

They are ignoring concerns of rural municipalities about the creation of a provincial police force. Some leadership candidates are suggesting that Alberta should abandon the rule of law and behave as if we’re “sovereign.” I suggest a more appropriate name for this party would be the ICP (Incompetent Chaos Party).

Harry Wagner, Edmonton

© Provided by Edmonton Journal

Candidates, left to right, Todd Loewen, Danielle Smith, Rajan Sawhney, Rebecca Schulz, Leela Aheer, Travis Toews, and Brian Jean, attend the United Conservative Party of Alberta leadership candidate's debate in Medicine Hat, Alta., Wednesday, July 27, 2022.

Defence lawyers to refuse serious crime files over Legal Aid Alberta funding

Katarina Szulc - CBC News -Yesterday 

Alberta's four major defence lawyer associations say they will be refusing serious files for legal aid starting Sept.1, until the province improves funding.

Four major defence lawyer associations in Alberta are preparing to take job action over what they say is a lack of funding to Legal Aid Alberta.

Serious crime files include all homicides, sexual offences, firearms offences, and dangerous offender proceedings.

The move comes after the associations — the Criminal Defence Lawyers Association, the Criminal Trial Lawyers Association, the Southern Alberta Defence Lawyers' Association and the Red Deer Criminal Lawyers Association — called for increased legal aid funding and expanded eligibility so more people can access legal aid.

Legal Aid Alberta (LAA) is a non-profit organisation that provides legal services to Albertans in family, domestic violence, child welfare, immigration and criminal defence cases.

Danielle Boisvert, president of the Criminal Trial Lawyers Association, said defence lawyers have become disincentivized from taking on such cases.

"[Lawyers] feel that they're being undervalued, when they could go to the province next door and make significantly more for the same type of work. It causes a brain drain out of Alberta," Boisvert said in an interview Thursday.

Legal Aid Alberta revenue from province

Roster counsel earn a base rate of $92.40 per hour in Alberta, while those in British Columbia and Ontario earn $113.39 and $109.14, respectively. Roster lawyers have their own practice and/or work for a private law firm.

The rate discrepancies increase for lawyers in higher compensation tiers.

Boisvert also explained the issue has created a discrepancy in equity between the Crown and defence.

"We lose people to the Crown prosecutor's office and it creates an imbalance in experience and knowledge between the two adversarial parties," she said.

"If you have a Crown office full of senior experienced counsel, and defence roster lawyers who are all very junior, it's not an equal playing field and that has an impact on justice directly."

Justice Minister Tyler Shandro said in a written statement that Legal Aid Alberta has sufficient funding to meet demand for their services.

"There have not been any instances of eligible Albertans not accessing services due to insufficient funding," the statement read.

Shandro added that increases to the legal aid tariff have to be done as part of the fall budget submission.

"LAA and my ministry will work together to start this comprehensive process and we invite your input into this process," the statement went on to say.

Earlier this month, Joseph Dow, Shandro's press secretary, said Alberta offers more legal aid services than other jurisdictions and that since 2015, the government has increased funding to LAA by 47 per cent.

According to figures from LAA's annual reports, provincial government funding did increase by 47 per cent between the 2015-16 fiscal year and 2018-19, but decreased for the next two years.

"As soon as the UCP government got back into power the funding was cut, and it was under-delivered. So the 47 per cent is a spike because of that infusion that happened in the first year or two of the governance agreement," Boisvert said.

"And after that it's been underfunded, underfunded, underfunded for the last three years in a row."

Boisvert said she hopes this action prompts the government to act soon and implement changes.

"We would like to see an immediate response from the government. All of the federal prosecutors in Canada have come to support us …We hope that this government listens not just to us, but to all the other organisations that have echoed our concerns and echoed the need for immediate action," she said.

Opinion: It's past time to fix health-care closures and short-staffing in Alberta

Chris Gallaway - Edmonton Journal


Recent announcements of an urgent-care hours reduction in Airdrie, the temporary emergency department closure in Hardisty, and the obstetrics closure in Fort Saskatchewan are just the latest examples of the bed and unit closures which are rampant throughout our health-care system this summer.


The ambulance emergency bay entrance at the Misericordia Community Hospital in Edmonton, Thursday Aug. 4, 2022.

Short-staffing and burnout are everywhere. This has led to service reductions in surgery, acute care, urgent care and emergency departments currently happening at over 35 facilities across the province. This, while tens of thousands more Albertans have lost their family doctor, EMS red alerts are occurring hundreds of times per month, and families have been left lining up in parking lots outside of emergency rooms.

If this isn’t a health-care crisis, I don’t know what is. Our health-care system is struggling under the strain of a seventh wave of the pandemic and a series of other crises. Yet, where is our provincial government? Such an urgent situation should precipitate an urgent response. A response that includes strong provincial leadership with a plan to retain the health-care workers that we have, to recruit workers into the system, and train those we will need for the future.

Instead, we have a government that is missing in action. And a UCP leadership race to select our new premier where the seven candidates have so far offered almost nothing in terms of health-care solutions, beyond blaming the federal government. Because the truth is, what’s happening to our public health-care system isn’t an accident. We have a government that is intent on breaking our public system in order to justify privatizing more and more of it. Watching the system struggle and wait lists continue to grow serves their agenda well.

Which is why at every turn, this government has prioritized privatization over improving patient care — with recent announcements privatizing surgeries, community labs, ophthalmology, seniors care, home care, and even a scheme to send Alberta surgeons along with their patients to private for-profit facilities out of province. Their agenda of privatization is clear. It is full steam ahead. And it will only worsen the dire staffing situation facing our public system.

Albertans should be very concerned. If there was ever a time to fight for our treasured public health-care system, it’s right now. Because while our system is clearly struggling, it isn’t beyond repair. There are short- and longer-term solutions to our staffing issues worth fighting for.

Nurses across the country have also been calling on premiers to adopt policy changes aimed to retain nurses and bring others back into the system. For months, the Health Sciences Association of Alberta has been calling for specific retention strategies to address our EMS crisis, including simple policy changes such as all paramedics being offered permanent full-time jobs instead of being forced into 89-day rotating casual contracts with no benefits or job security.

And there are solutions to the various crises which have been adding further pressure onto our health-care system. For instance, responding to the ongoing drug poisoning crisis with a harm reduction approach would reduce the strain on our EMS and emergency departments. We could listen to calls to take proactive measures to reduce the impact of heat waves, of monkeypox, and of future waves of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We could finally implement the demand for paid sick days for all Alberta workers.

Yet all of these calls for action have been ignored. Which only means we need to get louder. Because even with this stubborn, ideological provincial government, all hope is not lost.

The recent response to the government’s cruel and short-sighted decision to cut the Insulin Pump Benefits Program demonstrated this. Following massive public outcry, the government announced a reversal of their plans to terminate the program and have even opened consultations on improving benefits. This happened because thousands and thousands of grassroots Albertans spoke up, rallied, wrote to their MLAs, shared their stories and fought back.

Albertans made it clear that in this province we look out for each other’s health, regardless of ability to pay.

With the next provincial election on the horizon, we need to make supporting our public health-care system a bigger issue than ever before. Albertans need to make it clear to every political party that we demand better. We did it for insulin pumps and can do the same for our public health-care system.

Chris Gallaway is the executive director of Friends of Medicare.

'Betrayal': 10 years in prison for Calgary man in multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme

CALGARY — A Calgary man who bilked his clients out of millions of dollars in a Ponzi scheme was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay $3.1 million in restitution for what the judge called a "deliberate and large-scale" fraud.


© Provided by The Canadian Press

Arnold Breitkreutz, 74, was convicted in June of fraud over $5000 for what the Crown called a multimillion-dollar scheme in which investors believed they were putting money into safe first mortgages.

Court heard the money from his company, Base Financial, was instead loaned to an oil-and-gas promoter and used in a risky oil play in Texas that was secured against oil-and-gas leases and equipment.

The Crown recommended a sentence of between 10 and 12 years to send a message to others who might try a similar scheme.

Queen's Bench Justice Colin Feasby said Breitkreutz's actions warranted a significant sentence.

"His fraud was deliberate, large-scale and profoundly and adversely affected the lives of many victims," said Feasby, noting the 29 victim impact statements the court received.

"These conditions were also provoked by the profound sense of betrayal experienced by many of the victims. Many of the victims had, over time, come to know and trust Mr. Breitkreutz, and some considered him to be a friend," the judge said.

"The stark realization that he had defrauded them hit many of the victims hard."

There were 107 victims between May 1, 2014, and Sept. 30, 2015, who provided Breitkreutz with more than $21.4 million.

Feasby said Base Financial had been operating since the 1980s and the scale of fraud could be much higher. He said the scheme was complicated enough to fool many individuals who were retirees and planning to enjoy their sunset years.

"One of the most insidious effects of Mr. Breitkreutz's fraud on the victims was that it robbed them of their faith and trust in others," said Feasby.

"The victims ... blame themselves for being stupid, or foolish or greedy. They are none of these things."

Feasby rejected an argument that the sentence should be more lenient because of Breitkreutz's advanced age and the fact he lost his own money along with that of his clients when the Ponzi scheme collapsed.

"I accept that Mr. Breitkreutz did not enjoy the flamboyant lifestyle common to many fraudsters," Feasby said.

"So far as the court can determine Mr. Breitkreutz lost the victim's money finding providence in unauthorized investments and then playing a shell game for years and perhaps decades to try and avoid reckoning."

Breitkreutz showed little emotion after the sentence. Earlier this week, he issued a brief apology to his victims.

"I can feel your loss and for that I'm unbelievably and indescribably sorry. It was not my intention when I accepted your money,'' he said.

"I put your money in the same place that I put my own. Nonetheless, I feel for you deeply, as much as I can and I'm sorry."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 19, 2022.

Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press

Two years after Trudeau promised a made-in-Canada COVID vaccine, the country is still waiting

John Paul Tasker - CBC

In the early days of the pandemic, the federal government announced a multi-million-dollar funding agreement with the National Research Council (NRC) to expand a vaccine facility in Montreal — a site Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said would pump out Canadian-made COVID-19 shots by November 2020.

Two years after the prime minister made that pledge, the NRC facility still hasn't produced a single vial of a COVID-19 vaccine.

A spokesperson for the NRC, the federal entity dedicated to research and development, told CBC News its vaccine facility recently secured the necessary Health Canada approvals. But the NRC still offered no target date for when the biologics manufacturing centre (BMC) will be operational.

"The inspection by Health Canada took place in late July 2022 and the facility has been rated as compliant," the NRC spokesperson said.

The spokesperson referred questions about vaccine production to Novavax, the Maryland-based company that was tapped by Ottawa to make COVID-19 shots at the facility.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Novavax said the company "continues to work with the NRC to complete the tech transfer of our COVID-19 vaccine" and it anticipates "integrating supply from this facility into our vaccine program" at an unspecified later date.

While announcing a $44-million investment for the NRC facility in April 2020, Trudeau said expanding this site and others would put Canada "at the forefront of scientific research" and give the country the "infrastructure to prepare vials for individual doses as soon as a vaccine becomes available."

In August of that year, the government pumped an additional $126 million into the NRC's Royalmount site, a federal investment that Trudeau said would "enable the preliminary production of 250,000 doses of vaccine per month starting in November 2020."

But when November 2020 came, Trudeau conceded there wouldn't be any shots rolling off the line as planned. The project's initial timeline was derailed by construction delays and a failed deal with a Chinese vaccine maker.

In February 2021, as Canada was grappling with limited vaccine supply, Trudeau claimed that the NRC's facility would finish construction sometime that summer — and that shots would soon follow.

"We expect the facility to be up and running by mid-2021," Trudeau said.

In an interview with CBC News at the time, Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne compared building this sort of facility from the ground up on such a constrained timeline to the U.S. mission to put a man on the moon.

"This is like the Apollo project," Champagne said. "Normally, it would take two to three years to do this, to get a production facility up and running."

With Pfizer and Moderna facing insatiable demand for their products at this early stage of the immunization campaign, Trudeau's announcement and Champagne's optimism were welcome news for Canadians concerned about a dearth of shots.

Asked to comment Friday, Champagne's office said he wasn't available for an interview.

Trudeau also announced in February 2021 the government's partnership with Novavax, a company that, before COVID-19, had never actually brought a vaccine to market.

This U.S. outfit, Trudeau said, would churn out tens of millions of its shots at the Montreal site. "This is a major step forward to get vaccines made in Canada, for Canadians," he said.

Related video: Canada still without vaccine plant despite federal promises

Duration 2:00  View on Watch

Dr. Earl Brown is a professor emeritus at the University of Ottawa's school of medicine and an expert in virology and microbiology. He said the government's timeline for starting production was "completely unrealistic."

"These things are just really complicated to build. There's just so much regulation — it's extreme. So I think it was crazily optimistic," he said.

"You need two years, at a minimum, to build any new facility. I didn't believe any of those numbers when I first heard them."

Brown said another major vaccine production project in Canada — a $925-million expansion of French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi's Toronto campus — has a five-year timeline, with production expected to start sometime in 2027.

An optimistic timeline

"The leading vaccine producer in the world gave themselves five years and they do this all the time," Brown said, adding that the government should have anticipated that a relatively untested company like Novavax would need more time.

Once a world-leader in vaccine development and production, Canada's manufacturing capability has been hollowed out after decades of cuts and mismanagement. The government has said little lately about the NRC facility it once touted as a solution to the country's vaccine woes.

The NRC quietly announced in June 2021 that the site had finished construction on time — an impressive achievement that came just ten months after the first shovels hit the ground.

But in the world of biomanufacturing, construction is just one of many hurdles an entity must clear before it can start churning out sensitive products like a COVID-19 vaccine or another therapeutic.

Such a company must satisfy a series of industry and regulatory requirements before vaccines or biologics can be manufactured safely.

'Were they too ambitious?'

Marc-André Gagnon, an associate professor at Carleton University and an expert on the pharmaceutical industry, said the government made its promise to build the NRC site during an "emergency situation" and the 2021 production start date was likely its best-case scenario.

"They had to be ambitious. The question is, were they too ambitious? Some voices say that they were. We didn't know in 2020 when vaccines would be available but we probably knew that a facility like this wouldn't be ready before the end of 2021, for sure," he told CBC News.

Gagnon said that, despite the delays, Royalmount is a welcome addition to Canada's manufacturing landscape. He said a developed country like Canada needs a publicly owned — and domestic — source of vaccines to avoid the mad scramble that defined the early COVID-19 vaccine procurement process.

"Canada used to be a hub for vaccine manufacturing. We were world-class. We need biomanufacturing capacity for the next thing, the next pandemic," he said.

"And let me emphasize this — we need more public manufacturing capacity to discipline the private market a little bit and avoid predatory pricing."


© Ian Christie/CBC

The NDP's Don Davies

NDP MP Don Davies, the party's health critic, agreed that some sort of public option for vaccine production is prudent but the government's handling of the NRC facility has been "a major failure."

He said it suggests Ottawa has a "serious credibility issue."

"We are two years plus into this pandemic and we still aren't producing a single dose of a vaccine in this country. It's a policy fail, an accountability fail and a credibility fail," he said in an interview with CBC News.

"The prime minister said publicly in August 2020 that we'd be producing vaccines at the Montreal facility. That was either highly irresponsible, or incompetent, or it was deceptive. I don't know which of the three it is but Canadians know — we had a direct, clear promise from the prime minister about vaccines being produced here in Canada at a time when we were all on pins and needles.

"He was either misinformed or he was misleading. He has a duty to come clean with Canadians."

Conservative MP Michael Barrett, the party's health critic, was equally scathing in his assessment of the government's vaccine track record.

In a statement, Barrett said the "Trudeau Liberals spent millions of dollars on their promises to produce vaccines domestically, and after two years they have missed every deadline with nothing to show for it."

Guterres calls on Russia not to disconnect Zaporiyia nuclear plant from Ukrainian power grid

Daniel Stewart - Yesterday 10:04 a.m.


United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Friday called on Russian authorities not to disconnect the Zaporiyia nuclear plant from the national power grid after senior Russian officials threatened in recent days to shut down two of its reactors.

"Zaporiyia electricity is Ukrainian electricity, and it is necessary, especially during the winter for the Ukrainian people, and this principle must be fully respected," Guterres said during a visit to the Ukrainian port of Odessa, where he oversaw the resumption of Ukrainian grain exports, one of the most important diplomatic achievements of the Russia-Ukraine war since its outbreak in late February.

Guterres was responding to threats made by the commander of Russia's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defense troops, Igor Kirillov, who warned on Thursday that Russian forces could shut down reactors 5 and 6 at the nuclear power plant, "leading to the shutdown of the plant," if fighting in the vicinity persisted.

Kiev and Moscow accuse each other of initiating these hostilities, as well as deliberately attacking the plant's facilities.

However, as he has done on other occasions, the UN Secretary General has called for the withdrawal of all armed elements both from inside the plant, under Russian control, and from the surrounding area. "The only certainty is that if the plant were to be demilitarized, as we have proposed, this problem would have been solved," he said.

Guterres also referred to the difficult talks on the arrival in Zaporiyia of a team of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations nuclear agency, currently paralyzed by security issues and on the route to follow.

Russia has offered to transfer the experts but, as the Kremlin itself recognizes, this is a delicate issue given that Ukraine could interpret Russian management as an affront, as the plant is located in territory occupied by Moscow. The IAEA has expressed its interest in carrying out this visit as soon as possible -- Moscow expects it to take place at the beginning of September -- but the UN General Secretariat has expressed its doubts in view of the intensity of the clashes.

In this regard, the UN Secretary General has insisted that the agency has the power as an "autonomous organization with a very clear mandate", the ability to decide on the conditions of the mission, before stressing that the General Secretariat has the capacity to "support the development of the mission", especially in terms of security, on a journey from Kiev to Zaporiyia.

"Decisions on this issue are IAEA decisions, with the consent of the parties, obviously, and with the consent of the Ukrainian government as well," he reiterated.