‘We didn’t have Gavin anymore’: The aftermath of a workplace injury

Morgan Black 

GLOBAL NEWS

JUNE 6,2021

The first five days of Gavin Zima's new job were uneventful. The sixth day — February 12, 2014 — changed everything

.

© Morgan Black/Global News 

Maryann Reinke holds a photograph of her son, Gavin Zima, on May 17 2021

The young man, with a loving family and so much promise, died that day. While he lived another seven years, the life that he had previously lived was over.

As the opening line of his obituary from this past April so painfully and honestly pointed out: “Gavin Paul Zima, 33, of Edmonton, Alta., took his own life to end his chronic pain and suffering after struggling with multiple injuries in a crippling work accident that left him with a broken body and mind for the past eight years.”

Zima is one of thousands of Canadians that suffer workplace injuries. The public usually hears about the large, dramatic accidents and we sometimes know about the workers who are killed.

But many of those that are injured suffer in silence and anonymity, their lives altered forever.

That was Zima’s story.

Early years

MaryAnn Reinke was 10 months pregnant when Zima was born on Aug. 20, 1987. She said her son took his time entering the world, but moved quickly through the rest of his milestones.

"He was such a happy kid. Nothing bothered him. He was naturally bright and strong," she said from her Spruce Grove home. "He's six years old, playing with his siblings and he's almost beating them at a hockey game!"

Adored by his older brothers and sister, his family said Zima had a heart of gold — and a particular love for his two dogs, Gav and Beagrr. Reinke said he treated the pair like his own children.

Zima graduated with honours from Unity Composite High School in Unity, Sask. After graduation, he went into sprinkler systems and installation.

Read more: Families frustrated with justice process in Alberta workplace deaths

"He was so hard-working. He was extremely well-respected," she said. "Even though he was busy, he still made time for me. You know, 'Mom do you need anything before I go? Can I help you?'"

"He was just so determined," Reinke said. "He made goals and he stuck to them. My neighbours would come up to me and say, 'How do you get your teenager up at 6 a.m. every morning? I can't get mine off the couch.'"

Zima received his Alberta Journeyman certification in sprinkler systems and installation, but after eight years in the field, he was ready for a new challenge.

Devastating crash

Zima had travelled to Saskatchewan from Edmonton to work as a pipeline inspector. He was early in the trade, but a quick learner.

"As much as my company liked me... Gavin was the real rock star," his older brother Sheldon Hildebrand said. "I was really excited to see how he was going to excel... he was already so good a few days into the job."

At the end of a snowy shift in February 2014, Zima was driving down Highway 1 in Saskatchewan when a blizzard hit.

"They were going 30 km/h with their hazard lights on," Hildebrand explained. "There was a (Chevrolet) Suburban on the side of the road and Gavin hit its mirror."

Hildebrand said Zima wanted to check if anyone in the vehicle needed help.

In an unmailed letter written to AISH in 2019, Zima detailed what happened next.

"I was first hit from behind by a tow truck travelling 100 kilometers an hour, which caused my initial injuries," Zima wrote.

"I was then carried several hundred feet by first responders to an ambulance where I was loaded onto a stretcher."

Video: Mother of Gavin Zima, injured on the job, reads firsthand account of incident that plagued him for years

As the paramedics began to load Zima onto the stretcher, a semi-trailer lost control and hit his stretcher, launching him several hundred feet away.

"The semi-trailer jackknifed and broke the ambulance in half. It broke the pelvises of both paramedics," Zima wrote.

"A second ambulance arrived and those paramedics went to retrieve my body, thinking I was dead, only to find me still conscious."

Zima was in hospital for two weeks. A broken sternum, legs and vertebrae made the 26-year-old feel like a stranger in his own body. He would later be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and generalized anxiety disorder.

Reinke said her son was unable to enter a vehicle or travel for long periods of time due to high levels of anxiety.

Workplace accidents

Hours after the crash, Zima applied for support through the Workers Compensation Board (WCB) and worked to heal his body and mind.

While his case was complicated by the cross-provincial nature of his employment, turning to the WCB for support is done by thousands of Canadians every year.

Zima was one of thousands of people injured on the job left with long-term effects. In Alberta, 18,000 workers are currently receiving ongoing benefits and services for workplace injury claims registered at least five years ago.

In total, WCB Alberta has received more than 600,000 claims over the past five years.

Of those 18,000 workers, about 60 per cent are receiving wage loss payments such as a pension. The remainder receive only non-wage benefits like ongoing medical treatment, medications and tools like hearing aids.

In 2020, fewer than 30 per cent of workers who reported claims missed time from work due to their injuries. The average lost-time claim is about 60 days.

Zima’s accident initially left him in a wheelchair with numerous braces due to a broken leg and back. Over time he progressed to a walker, then crutches and finally a cane.

Read more: Olympic cauldron lit for Day of Mourning for workers killed on the job

Reinke said Zima was cleared by WCB as ready to return to work about two years after the accident -- he had a job lined up as a warehouse manager in Saskatchewan once he recovered from his PTSD -- but she said he was far from ready.

Changes in Gavin

As his prognosis became clearer, Zima realized some of his injuries would require long-term, even life-long care.

"The doctor told him: 'You will always have a cane. You will always be in pain. It's chronic pain,'" Hildebrand said.

"Afterwards, he lived in my mom's basement. He was scared to get in the car. He couldn't move until noon when his pain pills kicked in."

"He had to sell his truck because he couldn't drive it anymore. He lost total use of his right leg," Reinke said. "He couldn't even go and get a coffee for himself."

Still suffering, Reinke said her son made her hide all of the photographs of him from before the accident.

"I had placed the photographs so he could see them better," she said. "He said, 'You know, this just hurts me.'"

Once an eternal optimist, his mom said the "loving, caring and fun" Zima receded into himself.

"I kind of didn't want to talk to Gavin after because it made me sad about who he was... before and after," Hildebrand said.

"The accident took him away. We didn't have Gavin anymore," Reinke said.

Final years

"At one point he said, 'I don't want this pain and I don't want this fight anymore.' Then, for two years after he didn't talk about it," Reikne said.

Reinke said she created the most positive and loving environment possible for her son as he battled depression and chronic pain under her roof.

Gavin died by suicide on April 12 in Spruce Grove. He was 33 years old.

"I'm so sorry mom, I tried my hardest to keep going — to take care of you and the dogs longer. I just can't do it," Zima's last note to Reinke read. "I love you more than words can ever express."

"Sure, he's a strong, tough guy — but he's not on the inside. It broke him," Reinke said.

Where to get help

If you or someone you know is in crisis and needs help, resources are available. In case of an emergency, please call 911 for immediate help.

The Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention, Depression Hurts and Kids Help Phone 1-800-668-6868 all offer ways of getting help if you, or someone you know, may be suffering from mental health issues.

WANT SOME CHEESE WITH THAT WHINE Trudeau's comments 'unfair' about Church and residential schools: Toronto archbishop

The archbishop of Toronto expressed "great sorrow" Sunday for the abuse that took place at Canada's residential schools, though he insisted the prime minister was “unfair” in his calls for the Catholic Church to take more responsibility

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Cardinal Thomas Collins also said it was "very important" when Pope Francis held a moment of silent prayer Sunday in honour of Canadian Indigenous children who died at residential schools and the families who mourn them, despite the pontiff not offering an apology for the Church's participation in the schools.

Collins expressed sadness for the rampant suffering endured at the institutions, both in an interview with The Canadian Press and in remarks delivered at a service in Toronto.

He said the Church as a whole has also owned up to its role in the system and chastised Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for seeking further action.

"I would think that Mr. Trudeau and his government ... should join with us and with the Indigenous people in our journey together," Collins said in a telephone interview. "We want to work together. These types of sharp comments, which are not based on real fact, are most unfortunate."

As the Pope addressed his congregation Sunday in the heart of Vatican City, Collins was inviting his own assembly from Toronto's St. Michael's Cathedral Basilica to bow their heads and honour those who died in Canadian residential schools.

The system targeted Indigenous children for decades, and some 150,000 First Nations, Metis and Inuit children were forcibly sent to the institutions where many suffered abuse and even death.

The issue was propelled back into the national spotlight 10 days ago when the Tk'emlups te Secwepemc First Nation in British Columbia announced that the remains of 215 Indigenous children are believed to be buried at an unmarked site at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. Ground-penetrating radar confirmed the findings, the First Nation said.

Pope Francis said he is following news of the findings "with pain" after leading the Angelus prayer on Sunday. "I join the Canadian bishops and the entire Catholic Church in Canada in expressing my closeness to the Canadian people traumatized by the shocking news," he said.

He did not mention Trudeau's call for him to apologize for the Catholic Church's role in Canadian residential schools, which came at a Friday news conference. Saskatchewan's Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations is also demanding an apology from the Pope, saying it is the right thing to do.

"This was genocide, and it should be acknowledged as such by the perpetrators, the Church, the Government, and the RCMP," the organization representing 74 of the province's First Nations said in a release Sunday.

In response to Trudeau, Collins pointed out that Pope Benedict XVI apologized in 2009 to a delegation from Canada's Assembly of First Nations for the abuse experienced by children in residential schools. Benedict called the children's treatment "deplorable" in the same address.

Collins also noted the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, who ran the Kamloops residential school, apologized in 1991.

Trudeau also said Friday he was "deeply disappointed" with the Church's position on releasing residential school records.

"We’re still seeing resistance from the Church, possibly from the Church in Canada," he said.

Collins called those remarks "unhelpful," noting that as far as he understands, the Oblates are releasing whatever documentation they have.

"But I totally agree that everything should be made known," he said, adding that any information that may be withheld should be released. "This whole residential school system was a terrible thing ... we have to repent of that and be deeply careful to ensure it never happens again."

Lawyer Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond said she appreciates what seems to be a "heartfelt commitment" from the Cardinal to provide unmitigated access to records that would help family members identify residential school victims, especially those from the school in Kamloops.

But those in power have "taken positions contrary to the words expressed today," Turpel-Lafond, the director of the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre at the University of British Columbia, said in an email Sunday.

She, too, called on "the highest authority in the Church" to apologize and direct that all records and archival material be released without exceptions.

"Leaving First Nations in limbo to engage with the dozens of church congregations, past and present, does not reflect a fulsome human rights approach," she said. "Canada needs to do better."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 6, 2021.

Sarah Smellie, The Canadian Press


Video: Trudeau calls for apology from the Catholic Church for role in residential schools (cbc.ca)

Pope Calls For Reconciliation, Healing Over Kamloops Residential School Discovery

 cbc.ca

Cardinal says PM's calls for church to release residential school documents 'uninformed'

Duration: 08:22 

Archbishop of Toronto Cardinal Thomas Collins told CBC's chief political correspondent, Rosemary Barton, that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's comments calling on the Catholic Church to release records from its former residential schools were extremely 'unhelpful' and 'uninformed.'

Hundreds in convoy to Kamloops to show support for Indigenous Canadians

Darrian Matassa-Fung 1 day ago

© Global News A convoy consisting of more than 100 semi-trucks arrived in Kamloops on Saturday.

Horns were blaring on Saturday with truckers on a journey from Kelowna to Kamloops.

An Okanagan trucker organized a massive convoy to the site where 215 bodies of children were found at a former residential school.

West Kelowna trucker Mike Otto said when he heard the news of the horrific discovery -- he had to do something.


Ceremonies held across B.C. to honour children found in unmarked burial sites

Video: Conservative MP for Kamloops calls for action to support Indigenous communities (cbc.ca)


"I decided I needed to do something on Facebook, on Monday,” said Otto.

“And it just took off from there."

Read more: ‘This is just the tip of the iceberg’: Blood Tribe remembers 215 children found in Kamloops

The convoy arrived in Kamloops Saturday afternoon with hundreds of vehicles honking their horns in support.

Corinne Derickson, an indigenous woman who says her grandparents lived at residential schools, jumped at the opportunity to help organize the convoy.

“When Mike reached out to me to ride shotgun in the truck I was like hell yes," she said. "I want to be a part of this and bring attention, spotlight the truth. The truth needs to be revealed.”

The truckers left the Okanagan in the morning, growing with the addition of convoys from across B.C.

A few convoys came from the Lower Mainland, as well as others from across B.C.’s Interior.

Read more: First Nation works with SMU anthropologist to search site of former Shubenacadie Residential School

Otto says the support shown blew him away.

“It's unbelievable. Just putting out the call to everyone to coordinate this. It happened within a matter of hours,” said Otto.

“It's unbelievable just to see the support from the community and the truck drivers.”

The convoy also consisted of motorcycles, school buses and regular cars to make for hundreds of people coming together at the former residential school site.

Video: Dr. Kisha Supernant details the extensive work involved in investigating burial sites at residential schools

Statue of Egerton Ryerson toppled after hundreds rally in downtown Toronto

CBC/Radio-Canada 

© Evan Mitsui/CBC

 A statue of Egerton Ryerson, one of the architects of the residential school system, lies on the grounds of the university that bears his name after being toppled on Sunday.

The statue of Egerton Ryerson, considered one of the architects of the residential school system in Canada, was toppled and vandalized Sunday evening following a demonstration in downtown Toronto.

The act occurred at Ryerson University after an afternoon demonstration that was held in response to an announcement by the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation on May 27 that preliminary findings from a survey conducted by a specialist in ground-penetrating radar indicated the remains of what could be 215 children buried on the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C.

Since then, there have been calls from Indigenous professors and students to change the university's name and remove Ryerson's statue from campus for his role in the creation of Canada's residential school system.

It is not known how the statue was brought down, but a video posted to Twitter shows what appears to be a rope tied to the figure and people cheering as it comes tumbling down. CBC News has not verified the contents of the video or confirmed who filmed it.

Toronto police say they are aware of the incident and will investigate.

'It's a little bit of justice'

Craig St. Denis, who was at the campus where crowds gathered after the statue came down, said its toppling "marks the beginning of healing for an entire nation.

"It's important this statue has come down so we can raise awareness to what has been going on since the 1800s and the incorporation of the residential school system," said St. Denis, a Cree whose grandfather was in the residential school system.

Dishanie Fernando, a student at Sheridan College in Oakville, west of Toronto, said the statue should have come down a long time ago.

"The statue represents racism, the statue represent oppression. It should have been taken down a long time ago voluntarily by the Ryerson University. However, that did not happen."

"It's a little bit of justice I suppose for the Indigenous people, but not enough. It's just the beginning," Fernando said.

The university did not immediately respond to requests for comment by CBC News Sunday evening.

Earlier Sunday, hundreds of people rallied in Toronto in honour of the 215 children whose remains are believed to be buried at the Kamloops Indian Residential school site, based on the survey's preliminary findings.

In a tweet before the demonstration, Toronto police urged calm.

"While we appreciate that recent events have had a traumatic impact, we cannot tolerate acts of vandalism/violence. Officers will be on site to ensure the safety of everyone involved and will investigate/enforce as necessary."

At the afternoon rally, people listened to speakers at the Ontario Legislature, then walked east to the university where the statue is located. There was drumming and singing, and at that point, the statue was still standing.

Last week, the statue was vandalized and splattered with red paint. At the foot of the statue, people have placed hundreds of pairs of shoes to commemorate the children whose lives were lost at the Kamloops Indian Residential School.

Following the Kamloops discovery, Indigenous students at the university called on fellow students, faculty and alumni to stop using the name Ryerson in their email signatures, correspondence and on their resumes, urging them instead to call the school X University.

© Evan Mitsui/CBC Demonstrators strike the head of a toppled statue of Egerton Ryerson, one of the architects of Canada's residential school system, on Sunday evening.

In a statement posted to Twitter before the statue was felled, the university said: "We share in the grief and sorrow of our community at the discovery of the remains of 215 Indigenous children near Kamloops, and acknowledge that further and ongoing reconciliation is of vital importance."

It also said a task force created to examine Ryerson's legacy and collect feedback from community members is committed to delivering a final report, including recommendations regarding the statue and name of the university, before the fall semester.

Air Canada says senior executives to voluntarily return 2020 bonuses

MONTREAL — Air Canada says its senior executives have chosen to return their 2020 bonuses in response to "public disappointment."

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The airline company says in a news release the president and CEO, as well as executive vice-presidents of Air Canada, have volunteered to return their bonuses and share appreciation units.

Former president and CEO Calin Rovinescu, who retired in February 2021, says he will also donate his share to the Air Canada Foundation.

The statement does not include middle managers, whose bonuses made up more than $8 million of the $10-million bonus program, among those who are volunteering their bonuses.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland signalled her displeasure Wednesday over the multi-million dollar packages handed out to the airline's executives as the company negotiated a federal bailout, calling the bonuses "inappropriate."

The airline last Monday disclosed its annual proxy circular to shareholders that gave the bonuses to people the investor document called instrumental in the airline's survival over the past year as air travel plunged during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Air Canada's leadership team is completely focused on Air Canada's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and preparations to welcome back furloughed colleagues and travelling customers as soon as possible," Sunday's statement says.

"The airline looks forward to continuing to work with all stakeholders, notably the Government of Canada on many fronts, including the safe re-start of our industry."

In April, the airline and government agreed to a $5.9 billion loan package that includes money to help refund passenger tickets, but also capped executive compensation at $1 million until 12 months after the loan is fully repaid.

The government also paid $500 million for a six per cent stake in the country's biggest airline, which Freeland said was done to ensure taxpayers could benefit once Air Canada's revenue rises when regular travel resumes.

In early 2020, senior executives and 3,200 management employees voluntarily agreed to total reductions of $11.5 million in their base salaries, subject to compensation through share appreciation units that might allow employees to recover some of the forgone salary if the share price rises higher in December 2022 than December 2020, the company says.

Freeland and Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said Canadians "are right to expect responsible corporate behaviour — particularly with respect to executive compensation — from companies receiving government financial support during the pandemic."

"While this situation could have been entirely avoided by Air Canada, we acknowledge this step in the right direction by the top five executives to repay 2020 bonuses and share appreciation units they received," they said in a joint statement Sunday night.

Video: Ottawa blasts Air Canada for $10M in senior executive bonuses (cbc.ca)
Duration 2:07

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 6, 2021.

The Canadian Press

Pride fund launched to provide bursaries to LGBTQ2S+ students in Edmonton, Northern Alberta

Lauren Boothby 

The Edmonton Community Foundation has a new bursary aiming to reduce financial barriers for LGBTQ2S+ post-secondary students in Edmonton and Northern Alberta.

© Provided by Edmonton Journal People dance and wave rainbow flags in front of street preachers at the corner of 104 Street and Jasper Avenue, in Edmonton Friday June 4, 2021. Photo by David Bloom

University of Alberta graduate Shane Scott launched the Shane Scott Pride Fund last week at the beginning of Pride Month. Scott hopes to raise at least $10,000 in order to set up an annual bursary of $400 to help alleviate some student debt.


He said having a scholarship program dedicated to queer youth recognizes the experiences and difficulties they face.

“To have these types of awards in the community is a signal, I think for many people, that your experiences are valid and real, and that they do matter,” he said.

A 2018 poll from Forum Research found LGBTQS+ students are more likely to have higher student debt on graduation, take on a second job to pay off their debt, change their career path because of student debt, and have higher additional debt.

Scott said there’s a few reasons why this could be.

“Similar to my story — feeling the need to leave home. For me that was a journey of self discovery, but for some people that’s a choice of safety, or they’re being kicked out of their home either while they’re still in high school or when they’re going to university,” he said in an interview.

“Often that also means they’re losing financial support from the families, don’t have the safety net that other students may have, and so they end up taking on more debt … also credit card debt, and having to rely on less-than-ideal financing sources.”

On top of these difficulties, there’s discrimination and bullying, which can harm their mental health and impact job searches after their school is complete.

“The community, it’s not homogenous. And I think there’s also other barriers, including racism, ongoing settler (colonialism), transphobia — that has kind of further implications. Particularly when it comes to experience trying to get work,” he said.

Multiple bursaries, or a higher amount for a single award, can be given out if more funds are raised.

To qualify for the Shane Scott Pride Awards, students need to self-identify as an LGBTQ2S+ person, be planning on or currently attending a post-secondary institution in Canada, be an active member in the community and show financial need.

Preference will be given to youth involved in student government or advocacy and who have overcome adversity.

June is Pride Month in Canada.

lboothby@postmedia.com

@laurby

What's happening in Fairy Creek? An explainer on the fight over B.C.'s old-growth forests
Reuters

Since August 2020 protesters have been blockading logging roads near the Fairy Creek drainage on western Vancouver Island. The dispute has reignited a debate on whether there should be a moratorium on logging Canada’s ancient forests.

© Provided by National Post Protesters stand on debris of a cutblock as Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers arrest those manning the Waterfall camp blockade against old growth timber logging in the Fairy Creek area of Vancouver Island, near Port Renfrew, B.C., on May 24, 2021.

Where is Fairy Creek?

The Fairy Creek watershed is part of Tree Farm Licence 46, a 59,000-hectare timber harvesting tenure held by private logging company Teal Jones, near Port Renfrew on the southwestern side of Vancouver Island.

Since last year blockades have spread out to other sites within the license area, including the Caycuse watershed, but Fairy Creek remains a catch-all term for the protests.

What is at stake?

Protesters say they are trying to save the last intact watershed outside of a park or protected area on southern Vancouver Island, home to 1,000-year-old yellow cedars.

In British Columbia’s coastal region trees older than 250 years are defined as old growth. Old-growth forests support a greater diversity of plant and wildlife, including endangered marbled murrelet birds and northern goshawks.

'We do not welcome interference': When First Nations break with environmentalists

Of the 13 million hectares of old-growth forest left in B.C., the majority consists of high-alpine trees unsuitable for logging. The remaining valley-bottom trees are the crux of the conflict between the forestry industry and conservationists.

There are 3.6 million hectares of old-growth forest available for logging on public lands in B.C. and 50,000 hectares, an area more than eight times the size of Manhattan, are cut every year.

Why is old-growth so valuable to industry?

Old-growth trees yield “tight clear wood” without knots, favored for products like shingles and decking. The industry argues logging smaller second-growth trees alone would be uneconomical.

In 2019 the forestry sector contributed $13 billion, roughly 5 per cent, to provincial GDP, according to lobby group the B.C. Council of Forest Industries (COFI). Of that, $3.5 billion came from old-growth logging.

What has been happening?

Protesters set up their first camp last August, after an environmentalist using satellite imagery spotted a new logging road being built near the headwaters of Fairy Creek.

Since then other blockades have been set up in the area to protect stands of old-growth trees.

The B.C. Supreme Court granted Teal Jones an injunction in April, and police moved in to start breaking up camps and making arrests in May.

Activists remain camped in the forest and there has been an explosion in support on social media, with hundreds of new protesters joining the demonstrations.

Who is involved?

The blockades are being coordinated by environmental activists calling themselves the Rainforest Flying Squad.

Teal Jones is a private company based in Surrey, near Vancouver. The company, the world’s largest maker of cedar guitar heads, says although the Fairy Creek watershed is almost 1,200 hectares, only about 200 hectares are available for harvest.

The Pacheedaht First Nation, within whose territory Fairy Creek lies, is divided on the issue. The First Nation owns three sawmills and has signed a revenue-sharing agreement with the province for logging activities in its territory.

Alberta NDP's Notley promises to make Alberta green energy powerhouse

EDMONTON — Alberta Opposition Leader Rachel Notley says if elected in 2023, her NDP will work to make the province a powerhouse in renewable energy.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Notley says that includes moving Alberta’s electricity grid to net-zero emissions by the year 2035.

She says an NDP government will also develop geothermal energy, hydrogen fuel and manufacturing of carbon fibre from bitumen.

Notley made the comments in a speech at the Alberta NDP 2021 convention, held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The party, led by Notley, won the 2015 election but lost to the United Conservatives in 2019, and is looking to win back government two years from now.

Notley says Premier Jason Kenney has failed on all fronts to confront the pandemic by introducing half measures that have failed to keep people safe from COVID-19.

And she says photos this week of Kenney and his inner circle appearing to violate health rules while dining on the patio roof of a building near the legislature grounds show Kenney is in it for himself.

“He’s no leader,” said Notley Sunday in the online speech.

“Those photos (are) showing the premier and his most senior ministers huddled around a table, on top of his private Sky Palace patio, not a care in the world. No masks, no distancing, no rules. Just whiskey, waiters, and white linen tablecloths.

“They reveal the real Jason Kenney: a man who refuses to let his own rules prevent him from living his best life – a life that you and I can’t have yet.”

Kenney has insisted the dinner was within public health rules because it was under the 10-person limit on outdoor social gatherings. But he has not addressed apparent violations of masking and distancing rules.

Two of his United Conservative backbench members and two cabinet ministers have criticized the event for breaking health rules.

Notley also received 98.2 per cent approval from NDP members in the party's leadership review.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 6, 2021.

Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press

Rural councillors say Kenney needs to start listening to Albertans

Michelle Bellefontaine

CBC JUNE 5,2021

© Facebook Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley campaigned with Cam Gardner (far right) when Gardner ran for the NDP in Livingstone-McLeod in the 2019 provincial election.

Rural Alberta politicians say the Premier Jason Kenney and his governing United Conservative Party need to start listening to and caring about the issues faced by ordinary Albertans.

"Listen. Listen to what people have to say," said Bill Tonita, a councillor with Strathona County council. "We are at a time right now where it doesn't seem to matter what the issue is, our government is not listening."

Tonita, Gabrielle Blatz-Morgan, councillor with the city of Wetaskiwin, Cam Gardner, councillor with the Municipal District of Ranchlands, and Karen Shaw, councillor with Sturgeon County, participated in a panel discussion Saturday at the 2021 Alberta NDP virtual convention.

Lethbridge-West MLA Shannon Phillips asked the councillors what their constituents would tell Kenney if they could talk to him face to face.

"They would say start doing the right thing for Alberta rather than for your party," Shaw said.

Blatz-Morgan said Kenney needs to take care of issues like the access to physicians and the new curriculum without turning them into political issues.

"I would definitely tell him it's time to start caring about the people that you serve," she said.

The Alberta NDP has started focusing on rural areas to get ready for the next provincial vote in 2023. Party organizers are setting up new constituency associations and reactivating old ones that have gone dormant.

They are also reaching out to people with progressive views, and hosting Zoom calls to discuss issues like physician shortages, a lack of high-speed internet, and coal mining in the Rocky Mountains.

The party lost all of its rural seats to the UCP in the 2019 election. But the NDP now sees an opportunity now that recent polls suggest both Kenney and the UCP have plunged in popularity.

Gardner, who ran as an NDP candidate in 2019, said the way to get elected in rural Alberta is look to for common ground in the issues most people are concerned about.

"Everyone wants doctors," Gardner said. "Everyone wants a curriculum that says that the earth is round, it actually circles the sun and that fossils aren't here to trick us."

Gardner said people in rural areas no longer trust Kenney and his government. Shaw suggested authenticity is also an issue.

"Putting on a plaid shirt does not make you rural," she said.

Double donations

The 2021 convention is the first for the NDP since it was forced out of government two years ago.

The NDP usually holds conventions every two years but last year's event was cancelled due to COVID-19.

The party has been on an upswing in the past year. In addition to rosy polling numbers, the NDP out-raised the governing party by about $15,000 in 2020, and more than doubled the UCP's donation totals in the first quarter of 2021.

Provincial secretary Brandon Stevens told the convention that the NDP attracted 12,000 new donors last year.

On Sunday, the delegates will hear a speech from party leader Rachel Notley, as well as vote on her leadership.

Notley received 97.8 per cent support from delegates in her last review at the 2016 NDP convention.

Video: Kenney has to choose between two unsavoury options, says political scientist (cbc.ca)

Pressure mounts on UNC in Nikole Hannah-Jones tenure dispute

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — The pressure on trustees at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to grant tenure to investigative journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones continued to mount Friday as a major funding partner joined the call to change her status and a sought-after chemistry professor decided not to join the faculty over the dispute.

In addition, The Baltimore Sun published an editorial in which it drew a parallel between Hannah-Jones and the Tulsa race massacre of 1921, describing it in a headline as “the whitewashing of American history,” a reference to The 1619 Project led by Hannah-Jones. Some believe conservative criticism of this project is at the heart of the decision by the UNC Board of Trustees to deny her tenure at the school of journalism and media.

Hannah-Jones, who won a Pulitzer Prize for her work on The 1619 Project for the New York Times Magazine, accepted a five-year contract to join the journalism school’s faculty as the Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism. A trustee who vets submissions for tenure postponed consideration of Hannah-Jones’ application in January because of questions about her non-academic background, the head of the board of trustees said last month.

The school said little about why tenure wasn't offered, but then a prominent donor revealed that he had emailed university leaders challenging her work as “highly contentious and highly controversial” before the process was halted.

The foundation that endows the Knight chair encouraged the trustees to reconsider. Last week, Hannah-Jones issued a statement saying she had retained attorneys from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund as she considers legal action against the school. Dozens of members of the journalism school’s faculty have demanded an explanation.

Student leaders have joined faculty in demanding that trustees reconsider her tenure. A letter signed by professional athletes, writers and academics also assailed the university, saying the trustees “failed to uphold the first order values of academic freedom and the free exchange of ideas.”

A two-page ad appearing in The News & Observer of Raleigh last month featured 1,619 alumni and students at UNC-Chapel Hill who offered their support of Hannah-Jones and called on the school to grant the tenure request.

Dr. Richard Besser, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, asked in a letter to Board of Trustees Chairman Richard Stevens for assurances that Hannah-Jones “is being treated fairly and equitably in decisions regarding her appointment.” The letter was first reported by NC Policy Watch.

Besser cited what he called growing evidence showing the role that structural racism and discrimination play in health disparities for people of color in the U.S. It is in that context, he wrote, that he asked for reconsideration of tenure for Hannah-Jones.

“To honor our commitment to ethical conduct and practices, we ask that the UNC Board help us understand the steps it is taking to ensure that Ms. Hannah-Jones is treated fairly and equitably in decisions regarding her appointment,” Besser wrote.

While not directly addressing the tenure situation, university spokeswoman Joanne Peters Denny said in a statement that the school shares the foundation's commitment to addressing health and racial inequity, and considers the foundation's investment “critical to our ongoing work to solve the greatest public health challenges of our time.”

The chemistry department at UNC also revealed this week that Lisa Jones, an associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, withdrew her candidacy to come to Chapel Hill, citing the trustees' decision on Hannah-Jones.

“Hearing of the delay of Nikole Hannah-Jones’ tenure decision led me to reconsider whether the environment at the University of North Carolina would be conducive to the achievement of my academic aspirations, which include promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion,” Jones said in a statement Thursday. “While I have never met Ms. Hannah-Jones, as a faculty member of color, I stand in solidarity with her and could not in good conscience accept a position at UNC.”

Hannah-Jones responded to Jones' decision on Twitter, saying that “the solidarity shown me by Black women in particular during this crucible is something I will never forget.”

The school declined to comment on Jones' decision specifically, saying in a response that UNC is "committed to creating and sustaining an inclusive community of students, faculty and staff. We are dedicated to building a diverse learning environment with the highest caliber faculty and we remain committed to that mission.”

In an editorial Friday, the Sun pointed to the country's history of racism and how some people are made uncomfortable by it while others want to act as if it doesn't exist, a reference to The 1619 Project.

“There’s no guarantee that there will be a new vote on Ms. Hannah-Jones tenure, and it’s unclear when the board may take up the issue. ... But the public pressure has made it clear that history and truth still matter to many in this country,” the editorial said.

Tom Foreman Jr., The Associated Press

THE SONICS Legendary Tacoma Band 1964 1967 Full Album

BLUES MAGOOS PSYCHEDALIC LOLLIPOP 1966

 

US intel report on UFOs: No evidence of aliens, but ...


Video: U.S. intel report on UFOs inconclusive (NBC News)
Duration 1:09


WASHINGTON (AP) — Whatever or whoever they are, they’re still out there. U.S. intelligence is after them, but its upcoming report won't deliver any full or final truth about UFOs.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The tantalizing prospect of top government intel finally weighing in — after decades of conspiracy theories, TV shows, movies and winking jokes by presidents — will instead yield a more mundane reality that’s not likely to change many minds on any side of the issue.

Investigators have found no evidence the sightings are linked to aliens — but can’t deny a link either. Two officials briefed on the report due to Congress later this month say the U.S. government cannot give a definitive explanation of aerial phenomena spotted by military pilots.

The report also doesn’t rule out that what pilots have seen may be new technologies developed by other countries. One of the officials said there is no indication the unexplained phenomena are from secret U.S. programs.

The officials were not authorized to discuss the information publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Findings of the report were first published by The New York Times.

The report examines multiple unexplained sightings from recent years that in some cases have been captured on video of pilots exclaiming about objects flying in front of them.

Congress in December required the Director of National Intelligence to summarize and report on the U.S. government’s knowledge of unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAPs — better known to the public as unidentified flying objects or UFOs. The effort has included a Defense Department UAP task force established last year. The expected public release of an unclassified version of the report this month will amount to a status report, not the final word, according to one official.

A Pentagon spokeswoman, Sue Gough, declined Friday to comment on news stories about the intelligence report. She said the Pentagon's UAP task force is “actively working with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on the report, and DNI will provide the findings to Congress.”

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, when asked about the report, said of the question at first, “It’s always a little wacky on Fridays.” But she added, “I will say that we take reports of incursions into our airspace by any aircraft — identified or unidentified — very seriously and investigate each one.”

The Pentagon and Central Intelligence Agency have for decades looked into reports of aircraft or other objects in the sky flying at inexplicable speeds or trajectories.

The U.S. government takes unidentified aerial phenomena seriously given the potential national security risk of an adversary flying novel technology over a military base or another sensitive site, or the prospect of a Russian or Chinese development exceeding current U.S. capabilities. This also is seen by the U.S. military as a security and safety issue, given that in many cases the pilots who reported seeing unexplained aerial phenomena were conducting combat training flights.

The report's lack of firm conclusions will likely disappoint people anticipating the report, given many Americans' long-standing fascination with UFOs and the prospect of aliens having reached humankind. A recent story on CBS' “60 Minutes" further bolstered interest in the government report.

Luis Elizondo, former head of the Pentagon’s Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, said the one official's claim that there was no indicated link to secret U.S. programs would be significant. But he called on the government to be fully transparent.

"I think that our tax dollars paid for information and data involving UFOs," Elizondo said. “And I think it is the U.S. government’s obligation to provide those results to the American people.”

But skeptics caution that the videos and reported sightings have plausible Earth-bound explanations. Mick West, an author, investigator and longtime skeptic of UFO sightings, said he supported the military looking into any possible incursion of U.S. airspace, especially by an adversary.

“People are conflating this issue with the idea that these UFOs demonstrate amazing physics and possibly even aliens,” West said. “The idea that this is some kind of secret warp drive or it’s defying physics as we know it, there really isn’t any good evidence for that.”

The Pentagon last year announced a task force to investigate the issue, and the Navy in recent years created a protocol for its pilots to report any possible sightings. And lawmakers in recent years have pushed for more public disclosure.

“There’s a stigma on Capitol Hill,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., told “60 Minutes” in May. “I mean, some of my colleagues are very interested in this topic and some kind of, you know, giggle when you bring it up. But I don’t think we can allow the stigma to keep us from having an answer to a very fundamental question.”

Nomaan Merchant And Robert Burns, The Associated Press

CANADA 

IN THE NATIONS CAPITOL CITY

Resumption of evictions during COVID-19 risks worsening of homelessness, affordable housing crisis

Bruce Deachman 
OTTAWA CITIZEN

JUNE 5,2021

© Provided by Ottawa Citizen Dustin Munro is one of the residents of 249 and 253 Des Peres Blancs that have received eviction notices.

The lifting of Ontario’s temporary pause on residential evictions this week could create a “devastating” housing crisis in Ottawa by tossing thousands of residents from their homes, Somerset Ward Coun. Catherine McKenney says.

“If you think about the people who simply fell behind (on paying their rent), they can catch up and find a way to work with their landlord. But, if you haven’t been able to pay anything because you’ve lost your job and have no income — let’s say it’s about three per cent, or 3,000 households that can pay nothing — that’s 3,000 households that we could find unhoused in Ottawa if they were all evicted.

“That would be devastating for the city, and there’s nothing we could do; we could not absorb that number of households.”

© Errol McGihon Catherine McKenney, the Ottawa city councillor for Somerset ward.

McKenney, who is council liaison for housing and homelessness and sits on the board of directors of Ottawa Community Housing, says the eviction moratorium gave some stability to people who lost their jobs or faced other financial hardships because of the pandemic and allowed them time to recover without worrying about homelessness. During the pandemic’s second wave, she says, the city estimated that between three and six per cent of roughly 108,000 renter households in Ottawa were either behind on rent or hadn’t been able to pay any rent at all.

The issue, McKenney adds, is typically less dire with landlords who have only a few tenants and tend to develop closer relationships with them. Far more problematic are companies with thousands of units and little or no connection with renters.

“They’re the ones trotting off to Landlord and Tenant Board to get people evicted, when in fact there’s nowhere for (tenants) to go.”

Ontario announced in January a suspension of most residential evictions while the province remained under a state of emergency and a stay-at-home order. But on Tuesday this past week, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing confirmed that the temporary measure would expire along with Ontario’s stay-at-home order and that evictions would resume.

During the time that evictions were suspended, however, Landlord and Tenant Board’s hearings into applications continued so the resolution of disputes wouldn’t be delayed. And, according to Ottawa-Centre NDP MPP Joel Harden, residential evictions didn’t entirely cease. Those that were already “in the pipeline,” he said, continued.

“The government has to understand, inasmuch as they may be getting complaints from big landlords who are frustrated that evictions aren’t happening fast enough, now is not the time to be throwing people out on the street,” Harden said.

“You can’t get blood from a stone. What are people to do when so many people have been thrown out of work and the CERB benefits have ended, and folks on income security programs like OBSP or OW … Those are woefully inadequate to pay for the increased costs of living.

“This government,” he added, “hasn’t done anything at all, beyond episodic eviction relief, for tenants.”

On Thursday, Bill 276: Supporting Recovery and Competitiveness Act, 2021, was passed at Queen’s Park. A section of the bill, which now requires only royal assent to become law, prohibits anyone from photographing or recording a hearing, including a Landlord Tenant Board hearing, or disseminating recordings. Offenders facing fines of up to $25,000

.

Joel Harden, NDP MPP for the Ottawa Centre riding.

“Sometimes,” Harden said, “these sittings happen in between two-and-a-half to five minutes. Sometimes there are language barriers or issues with respect to people’s access to the internet, so many tenant advocates and tenant unions have sat in on and recorded these proceedings when, in their opinion, there’s been a very unfair procedure, and then released that on social media. But the government has instituted a bill to prevent that, and I think this shows, sadly, who the Ford government cares about in this pandemic.

“Recording a legal proceeding should not be understood as a criminal or unsavoury act,” Harden added, “but the Ford government is treating it as such, and I think it’s because the corporate landlords in Ontario are frustrated.”

William Blake of the Ontario Landlords Association agrees that tenant evictions are largely being driven by big corporate landlords. The OLA, he said, represents “tens of thousands” of small and medium-size landlords that he estimates constitute about 80 per cent of Ontario’s residential rental market.

“You’re going to have some people saying it’s great to end the moratorium,” Blake said, “but, among our members, there’s no happiness in evicting someone.”

Blake notes, however, that many smaller landlords who rely on rental income for their survival have no choice.

“Most are working-class landlords renting to working-class tenants, and we all have relatives who are renting as well. The vast majority of out members don’t want to evict somebody. However, just to get a hearing if someone decides not to pay rent can take over six months.

“It’s a terrible situation for both the tenants and landlords.”

Rather than ratcheting confrontation between the two sides, Blake says the OLA has been lobbying the province for more than a year for the sort of system being used in British Columbia, where low- and medium-income tenants can receive $500 per month, sent directly to their landlords.

“The B.C. government said airlines get bailouts, everybody gets bailouts, so let’s try to help landlords and tenants. It was a really good solution and it helped a lot of people.”

Blake said the OLA met with Premier Doug Ford and Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark to pitch the idea, but to no avail.

“Unfortunately, the Ford government didn’t come in and play the role they should have to help both sides. They have simply failed to do it, and it’s a total failure of policy. These evictions are not the solution.”

One Ottawa tenant who is greatly concerned about these recent developments is Dustin Munro, one of a dozen renters in a pair of Vanier apartment buildings who in late March received letters from a potential buyer of the building, threatening eviction if they didn’t agree to move. The letter, Munro said, cites pending renovations, or possibly demolition, as the reason behind the demand.

But the 53-year-old Munro, an ODSP recipient and seasonal street-sweeper on Sparks Street who lost his job because of the COVID-19 pandemic, worries he won’t be able to move back or be able to find a similar affordable apartment — he currently pays about $660 for his bachelor apartment — when the dust settles.

Furthermore, he wonders how he was supposed to look for a new apartment while respecting the stay-at-home order. “Why is it that I can’t even go buy a pair of running shoes, but these guys who want to buy the property don’t seem to have to obey the rules? But they put us at risk by making us go look at new apartments.”

Munro sent emails to the three provincial parties, city and federal public health officials and others, asking for help, but says he hasn’t received much beyond lip service.

“Doug Ford sent a reply saying thanks for letting me know what you think, and the federal NDP sent me a reply saying, yes, it’s too bad you have to go through that demoviction stuff, but unfortunately we can’t help you because it’s a provincial jurisdiction.”

Munro is considering purchasing a used camper trailer in case he finds himself homeless, but says he hopes he can simply avoid being evicted. He recently reached out to the Ottawa chapter of ACORN, a national organization that advocates for residents of low- and moderate-income neighbourhoods.

© Errol McGihon Dustin Munro, left, Jude Belanger, middle, and Warren Cole are residents of 249 and 253 Des Peres Blancs who have received eviction notices.

According to Norma-Jean Quibell, co-chair of ACORN’S Ottawa West Nepean chapter, sternly worded letters threatening eviction and other high-pressure tactics have become more common during the pandemic as landlords — typically corporate ones — have tried to circumvent the restriction on evictions. The practice, she says, only worsens tenants’ anxiety.

“One of the things a lot of our tenants report is that, when their landlords do come around and start harassing them or giving them notices or trying to get them to go to the landlord tenant board, it creates a great amount of stress during an already stressful period. People have their kids at home, people have lost jobs, people are barely scraping by, and this adds a whole new level of stress.

“We’re seeing a lot of tenants going through a very stressful time because they’ve been having trouble with making ends meet. Many have lost jobs or had reduced hours, and landlords have still been handing out eviction notices because a lot of these tenants don’t know their rights, so they think they’re being evicted right away. So right now it’s a concern that a lot of low-income families are going to end up homeless because of the situation.

“This is going to cause a lot of problems,” she added. “A lot of tenants are going to have issues, they’re going to fall into rent arrears. This is going to increase the current housing crisis in Ottawa.”

Quibell adds that ACORN isn’t interested in fighting landlords. The group would like to see the province step in with assistance, similar to how it helped small businesses with loans and grants to pay their rent.

“We would like to see something similar for low-income people. Sometimes these people don’t qualify for CERB or EI, so there’s a big gap there, and people are falling through the cracks.”

ACORN and McKenney support the idea of a rent bank, a municipal project where those behind in rent payments can apply for loans or grants to help them stay in their homes. “We’ve seen something similar in Toronto and we would like to see it here in Ottawa,” Quibell said. “Something has to happen here. We want the ban to stay in place. We want the provincial government to step in to help these low-income people, these vulnerable people, because we know that that’s adding to the problem.”

McKenney notes that about 20,000 households in Ottawa pay more than 50 per cent of net income for rent, with a further 16,000 above the generally accepted affordability threshold of 30 per cent.

“So those renters are at serious risk of falling into homelessness, and they often do.

“For me, one of the frustrating things is that we don’t have the resources we need just to help people pay their rent. But at some point we’re going to have to, so we can decide to do it now, or we can wait until more people are homeless, but at some point we have to stop people from falling into homelessness.”

DEFUNDING POLICE WORKS FOR THE COMMUNITY

CALGARY

'It's a relief': $1 million from police to Alpha House’s DOAP teams will benefit the most vulnerable

Alanna Smith 

After struggling to secure consistent funding in the past, a $1 million reallocation from the police budget to a downtown outreach program run by Calgary’s Alpha House Society comes as a “relief” as their efforts are needed now more than ever.

Jacqueline Jerran, right, and Chelsey Cascadden, full-time DOAP members, help a homeless person outside Alpha House in Calgary on Thursday, August 15, 2019.

The Downtown Outreach Addictions Partnership (DOAP) program , which deploys mobile-response teams to support people living on the streets or struggling with substance use, is using the money to add two additional teams to its fleet, bringing the total to six. One will be Indigenous-focused and the other will run overnight.

In total, Alpha House is receiving $1,065,135 as part of a $16-million package from the Calgary Police Service and the City of Calgary to reform crisis response after calls for change echoed through Calgary’s streets last summer .

Shaundra Bruvall, a spokesperson for Alpha House, said adding two teams should help reduce wait times in the city, especially during the overnight hours.

The agency’s staff transport vulnerable individuals to supports across the city and work as a “conduit” to the homeless service sector. They also respond to overdoses, public intoxication and concerns from locals and businesses — reducing the need for police or emergency services.

“We know that some of the people we serve just have a bit more distrust toward members of authority. They might just be a bit more wary or more antagonistic if it was a cop that was showing up or a bylaw or peace officer,” said Bruvall.

“Having it being a civilian, and particularly a program that most of the people that we serve do recognize and do know, already puts that interaction off on a better footing.”

Last year, the DOAP team conducted 20,759 transports and served 3,685 unique clients. More than 1,400 referrals came from the police and EMS.

Team members also handed out more than 6,800 harm reduction supplies for safer consumption, 300 naloxone kits that can reverse overdoses and more than 1,600 bagged lunches.

Bruvall said the organization went through a “rough patch” in recent years, during which Alpha House had to rely on community support to make up gaps in DOAP program funding . But the additional $1-million backing means the program will be “safe” for the next year.

“It’s just a relief,” she said. “The DOAP team is just such a massive program, and connected with so many different organizations in the city, that it (was) just really disheartening and sad when we were looking down the road and thinking, ‘this team can’t operate.'”

Funding will be used to support all six teams, including vehicles, insurance, staffing and necessary supplies to help Calgary’s most vulnerable.

Police Chief Mark Neufeld said partnerships with programs like DOAP help keep people out of crisis and reduce repeat calls for service from the same individuals. He said It’s “proactive” work.

—With files from Madeline Smith

Turkey plagued by 'sea snot' outbreak

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey’s president promised Saturday to rescue the Marmara Sea from an outbreak of “sea snot” that is alarming marine biologists and environmentalists.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

A huge mass of marine mucilage, a thick, slimy substance made up of compounds released by marine organisms, has bloomed in Turkey's Marmara, as well as in the adjoining Black and Aegean Seas.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said untreated waste dumped into the Marmara Sea and climate change had caused the sea snot bloom. Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city with some 16 million residents, and five other provinces, factories and industrial hubs border the sea.

Marine mucilage has reached unprecedented levels this year in Turkey. It is visible above the water as a slimy gray sheet along the shores of Istanbul and neighboring provinces. Underwater videos showed suffocated coral covered with sea snot.

Erdogan said he instructed the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization to coordinate with relevant institutions, municipalities and universities. Teams are inspecting waste water and solid waste facilities, along with other potential sources of pollution, he said.

“We will save our seas from this mucilage calamity, leading with the Marmara Sea,” Erdogan said. “We must take this step without delay.”

Marine experts say that human waste and industrial pollution is choking Turkey’s seas. They say the rise in water temperatures from climate change is contributing to the problem.

VIDEO

Turkey plagued by 'sea snot' outbreak (Sky News)

The Associated Press

Pipeline foes gear up for large northern Minnesota protests

SOLWAY, Minn. (AP) — Environmental and tribal groups opposed to Enbridge Energy’s ongoing effort to replace its aging Line 3 crude oil pipeline are planning large protests in northern Minnesota as the Canadian-based company gears up for a final construction push

.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Organizers say they expect hundreds of people to participate in the “Treaty People Gathering” on Monday, which they are billing as the largest show of resistance yet to the project. They plan to march to the headwaters of the Mississippi River, one of the water crossings for the pipeline, where they will deliver speeches and participate in organized civil disobedience.

Opponents of the project have say they will do whatever it takes to block completion of the project, including risk being arrested. Among those they say will be on hand Monday will be actors Jane Fonda, Catherine Keener, Rosanna Arquette and Taylor Schilling, as well as environmentalist and author Bill McKibben.

Line 3 carries Canadian crude from Alberta. It clips a corner of North Dakota on its way across northern Minnesota to Enbridge’s terminal in Superior, Wisconsin. The Canadian and Wisconsin replacement segments are already carrying oil. The Minnesota segment is about 60% complete.

Project opponents say the replacement pipeline, which would carry Canadian tar sands oil and regular crude, would worsen climate change and risk spills in sensitive areas where Native Americans harvest wild rice, hunt, fish, gather medicinal plants and claim treaty rights.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz told Minnesota Public Radio News that he doesn't plan to deploy the National Guard during the event, saying he doesn't expect protesters to "interfere with lawful construction or lawful practices.”

The Associated Press

THESE THINGS TOO SHALL PASS

U.S. Treasury's Yellen tells G7 to keep spending, says inflation will pass

© Reuters/POOL G7 finance ministers meet in London

LONDON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urged other rich nations on Saturday to keep up spending to support their economies even as the COVID-19 pandemic wanes, and said U.S. inflation this year would be elevated but transitory.

Yellen told a news conference after G7 finance ministers met in London that they needed to invest in a fight against climate change and inequality, even after putting their economies "back on track" from the enormous hit of the pandemic.

Her comments placed a different emphasis on fiscal support than the joint statement by the G7 finance ministers, which also stressed the need to ensure long-term sustainability of public finances once the recovery takes hold.

"Most countries have fiscal space, and have the ability to put in place, fiscal policies that will continue promoting recovery and deal with some of the long run challenges that all of us face when it comes to climate change and inclusive and sustainable growth, and we urge countries to do that," she said.

Last week, U.S. President Joe Biden's administration put forward a $6 trillion budget plan that opponents said will fuel higher inflation - something that Yellen on Saturday said was unlikely to be permanent.

She hailed an agreement to pursue a global minimum tax of at least 15% on corporations as a return to multilateralism that would help to stabilize tax systems, while preserving national authority to set tax rates and policies.

"I really consider this a historic achievement, and it shows that multilateral collaboration can be successful," Yellen told reporters.

The United States was still pursuing a 21% minimum for the overseas earnings of U.S. companies even though the G7 agreed on at least 15%, she said.

"We haven't demanded or expressed the view that it's necessary for us to have the same level globally, but we do hope that countries will be ambitious and that the agreement is at least 15%. So we've yet to set the final rate," Yellen said.

Treasury officials have said they believe a higher U.S. tax rate will create incentives for other countries to push higher, otherwise they would miss out on potential revenue from American companies in their territory.

Not all countries would need to sign on to the global corporate tax deal for it to work, Yellen said, as it would allow countries to additionally tax overseas income of companies operating via tax havens, negating that advantage.

"It doesn't require absolute agreement across the board. It has a way of bringing hold-outs into it," she said, adding that she hoped to secure the backing of G20 countries that represent a "very large share" of global GDP at a meeting in July.

KEEPING AN EYE ON INFLATION

Yellen said inflation will remain elevated at 3% on a year-over-year basis until about the end of 2021.

"I personally believe that this represents transitory factors," she said. Production bottlenecks had caused elevated prices in some industries, such as motor vehicles, while other prices, such as airline fares, were rebounding back to more normal levels, she added.

"We'll watch this very carefully, keep an eye on it and try to address issues that arise if it turns out to be necessary," Yellen said.

There is still slack in the labor market, she said, because of people who had lost jobs permanently, and it will take a while to reabsorb those workers into the economy.

"So we shouldn't expect this process to be complete in a month or two," Yellen said. "And while we're seeing some inflation, I don't believe it's permanent."

Yellen said the G7 finance ministers agreed to ambitious commitments to de-carbonize their economies and mobilize public and private finance for action to combat climate change.

"To facilitate the mobilization of private climate finance, the G7 also agreed to take action to improve the availability of consistent, comparable, and decision-useful climate-related financial information to market participants," Yellen said in prepared remarks.

(Reputing by Andy Bruce in London and David Lawder in Washington; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

Canada to tax tech giants as planned despite framework G7 tax deal, says Freeland

Canada is proceeding with its plan to tax technology giants next year even as the world's wealthiest democracies proposed a new global tax framework that includes plans to impose a levee on the firms, federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said Saturday.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Her remarks came following a meeting of G7 finance ministers, who hammered out details of the possible global taxation plan during talks held in London.

The Group of Seven wealthy democracies agreed to support a global minimum corporate tax of at least 15 per cent to deter multinational companies from avoiding taxes by stashing profits in low-rate countries. They also endorsed proposals to make the world's biggest companies — including U.S.-based tech giants — pay taxes in countries where they have lots of sales but no physical headquarters.

Freeland said Ottawa will still unilaterally impose its own digital services tax starting Jan. 1, 2022. Similar measures are already in place in Britain, France and Italy.

But Freeland noted countries would repeal their taxation plans following a transition to the new global system, she said after the meeting.

"We've shown today that it is possible to end the global race to the bottom on taxation and this world's leading liberal democracies are able to work together in the common interest," Freeland said in a media call from London.

"Multinational companies need to pay their fair share of taxes. Jurisdiction shopping allows them to avoid doing that."

Freeland wouldn't say if any Canadian companies would face the proposed new tax formula, but said some domestic firms would be subject to next year's digital tax.

Other G7 finance ministers said the framework agreement is not the end of the story. Instead, they said, is meant to propel long-standing discussions among a wider group of countries and signal that taxation changes are necessary.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the proposal "provides tremendous momentum" for reaching a global deal that "would end the race-to-the-bottom in corporate taxation and ensure fairness for the middle class and working people in the U.S. and around the world."

Nations have been grappling for years with the question of how to deter companies from legally avoiding paying taxes by using accounting and legal schemes to assign their profits to subsidiaries in tax havens — typically small countries that entice companies with low or zero taxes, even though the firms do little actual business there.

International discussions on tax issues gained momentum after U.S. President Joe Biden backed the idea of a global minimum of at least 15 per cent — and possibly higher — on corporate profits.

The meeting of finance ministers came ahead of an annual summit of G7 leaders scheduled to take place from June 11-13 in Cornwall, England. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is planning to attend.

The endorsement from the G7 could help build momentum for a deal in wider talks among more than 135 countries being held in Paris, as well as a Group of 20 finance ministers meeting in Venice in July.

"We understand that this whole idea works only if we get the broadest possible group of countries to sign on and for that to happen they need to have a say as well," said Freeland, who is also deputy prime minister.

The framework proposes allocating taxing rights to countries on at least 20 per cent of profit exceeding a 10 per cent margin for the largest and most profitable multinational enterprises. That's something Canada doesn't currently have.

It also commits to a global minimum tax of at least 15 per cent to be levied on a country by country basis.

The framework could force some of the world's biggest companies, including U.S.-based tech giants like Facebook, Google, Apple and Microsoft, to pay taxes in countries where they generate significant revenue but have no physical headquarters.

The U.S. considers those national taxes to be unfair trade measures that improperly single out American firms.

Facebook vice-president for global affairs Nick Clegg said the deal is a big step toward increasing business certainty and raising public confidence in the global tax system, but acknowledged it could cost the company.

"We want the international tax reform process to succeed and recognize this could mean Facebook paying more tax, and in different places," Clegg said on Twitter.

Freeland said it's important to Canada that a minimum floor be established for corporate taxes.

"We're a relatively high-tax country. We need to be because we have a high level of public services and that means that a corporate tax race to the bottom really hurts us," she said.

Conservative finance critic Ed Fast said the party strongly disagrees with Canada's decision to sign on to a global minimum tax.

"We strongly support efforts to make multinational tax avoiders like Facebook and Google pay their fair share, but that doesn't mean giving up sovereignty over our tax system," he said in a statement. "Canadians, and Canadians alone, determine our nation's domestic tax policy and rates."

Britain’s Treasury chief Rishi Sunak, the meeting’s host, said the deal would reform the global tax system to make it fit for the digital age and to ensure "the right companies pay the right tax in the right places."

The global minimum tax rate was backed by U.S. President Joe Biden, who originally pushed for a minimum tax rate of 21 per cent. Biden is proposing a 21 per cent U.S. tax rate on companies' overseas earnings, an increase from the 10.5 to 13.125 per cent enacted under former president Donald Trump. Freeland credited Yellen with proposing a compromise position.

Freeland also said she had a bilateral meeting with Yellin where they discussed Buy America policies, softwood lumber, the Line 5 pipeline, carbon pricing and climate action.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 5, 2021.

— With files from The Associated Press

Ross Marowits, The Canadian Press

Tech giants and tax havens targeted by historic G7 deal

LONDON (Reuters) -The United States, Britain and other large, rich nations reached a landmark deal on Saturday to squeeze more money out of multinational companies such as Amazon and Google and reduce their incentive to shift profits to low-tax offshore havens.

Hundreds of billions of dollars could flow into the coffers of governments left cash-strapped by the COVID-19 pandemic after the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies agreed to back a minimum global corporate tax rate of at least 15%.

Facebook said it expected it would have to pay more tax, in more countries, as a result of the deal, which comes after eight years of talks that gained fresh impetus in recent months after proposals from U.S. President Joe Biden's new administration.

"G7 finance ministers have reached a historic agreement to reform the global tax system to make it fit for the global digital age," British finance minister Rishi Sunak said after chairing a two-day meeting in London.

The meeting, hosted at an ornate 19th-century mansion near Buckingham Palace in central London, was the first time finance ministers have met face-to-face since the start of the pandemic.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the "significant, unprecedented commitment" would end what she called a race to the bottom on global taxation.

German finance minister Olaf Scholz said the deal was "bad news for tax havens around the world".

Yellen also saw the G7 meeting as marking a return to multilateralism under Biden and a contrast to the approach of U.S. President Donald Trump, who alienated many U.S. allies.

"What I've seen during my time at this G7 is deep collaboration and a desire to coordinate and address a much broader range of global problems," she said.

Ministers also agreed to move towards making companies declare their environmental impact in a more standard way so investors can decided more easily whether to fund them, a key goal for Britain.

TAXING TIMES

Current global tax rules date back to the 1920s and struggle with multinational tech giants that sell services remotely and attribute much of their profits to intellectual property held in low-tax jurisdictions.

Nick Clegg, Facebook's vice-president for global affairs and a former British deputy prime minister, said: "We want the international tax reform process to succeed and recognise this could mean Facebook paying more tax, and in different places."

But Italy, which will seek wider international backing for the plans at a meeting of the G20 in Venice next month, said the proposals were not just aimed at U.S. firms.

Yellen said European countries would scrap existing digital services taxes which the United States says discriminate against U.S. businesses as the new global rules go into effect.

"There is broad agreement that these two things go hand in hand," she said.

Key details remain to be negotiated over the coming months. Saturday's agreement says only "the largest and most profitable multinational enterprises" would be affected.

European countries had been concerned that this could exclude Amazon - which has lower profit margins than most tech companies - but Yellen said she expected it would be included.

How tax revenues will be split is not finalised either, and any deal will also need to pass the U.S. Congress.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said he would push for a higher minimum tax, calling 15% "a starting point".

Some campaign groups also condemned what they saw as a lack of ambition. "They are setting the bar so low that companies can just step over it," Oxfam's head of inequality policy, Max Lawson, said.

But Irish finance minister Paschal Donohoe, whose country is potentially affected because of its 12.5% tax rate, said any global deal also needed to take account of smaller nations.

The G7 includes the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada.

(Additional reporting by Andy Bruce, David Lawder, Padraic Halpin, Thomas Escritt, Giulia Segreti, Sabahatjahan Contractor and Mathieu RosemainEditing by Alexander Smith and David Holmes)

INSURER WILL NOT RENEW TRANSMOUNTAIN PIPELINE POLICY

CALGARY — An insurance provider for the Trans Mountain pipeline said it will not renew its policy with the company when it expires in August.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Argo Group International Holdings Ltd., an international underwriter based in Bermuda, said the project no longer fits the company's risk appetite.

"We currently insure the Trans Mountain pipeline, but do not intend to renew when the policy expires in August 2021," spokesman David Snowden said.

"This type of project is not currently within Argo's risk appetite."

The decision by Argo Group comes after the operator for Trans Mountain received regulatory approval to protect the identity of its insurers.

Trans Mountain had argued that identifying its insurers could make it harder to get insurance at a reasonable price and prejudice its competitive position.

Underwriters such as Zurich Insurance Group AG have also dropped Trans Mountain as a possible client amid pressure from environmental and Indigenous groups opposed to the government-owned pipeline.

Environmental groups, such as the Sunrise Project, have been petitioning insurance providers to refuse coverage for Trans Mountain as a means to prevent its ability to operate.

In a statement, Trans Mountain said it currently has all the required insurance in place.

"Trans Mountain is committed to providing the Canada Energy Regulator with full information about our financial resourcing and ensuring Canadians know that we are sufficiently insured," said a company spokeswoman.

Construction for the pipeline's expansion project is ongoing and the company said it is on track to be completed by the end of 2022.

The federal government purchased the existing line in 2018 from Texas-based Kinder Morgan for $4.5 billion when the company threatened to walk away because of resistance to the project from the British Columbia government, environmentalists and some Indigenous groups.

The expansion will more than double the pipeline's capacity from approximately 300,000 barrels per day to 890,000 barrels per day.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 3, 2021.

The Canadian Pres