Alberta NDP leadership candidates accuse Naheed Nenshi of anti-union statements

CBC
Thu, May 9, 2024

Former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi, the presumed front-runner in the race for the leadership of the Alberta NDP, is facing questions about a five-year-old letter his opponents say signals he is anti-union. (CBC News - image credit)


A letter written five years ago by Naheed Nenshi, the presumed front-runner in the race to lead the Alberta NDP, is being held up by some of his opponents as evidence the former Calgary mayor is anti-union.

The letter was written on Dec. 20, 2019, and addressed to Jason Copping, the province's labour and immigration minister at the time.

In it, then-mayor Nenshi cites the hollowing-out of Calgary's downtown core driven by a severe downturn in the oil sector, and the resultant loss of property-tax revenue. He asks the province to consider changing city union contracts and freezing wages, to help the city's efforts to "do more with less."


"Many of the city's employees covered by collective agreements will see a 1.5 per cent wage increase in 2020. This represents an approximately $31 million increase to the base operational budget," the letter says.

"Against this backdrop, I am asking your government to consider and review what actions, if any, could allow for the altering of existing and pending collective agreements that would enable council to consider a 2020 wage freeze."

The letter goes on to acknowledge the request would be "an extraordinary measure," but says it can be "demonstrably justified given the current economic crisis facing the city and the potential impacts on homeowners and small businesses."

'It's about basic fairness'

Nenshi's rivals for the NDP leadership were quick to take to social media to condemn the candidate's apparent willingness to tear up collective agreements with city workers.

Leadership candidate and Calgary MLA Kathleen Ganleyposted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that she believes everyone "should respect the deals they've made and the rights of others. It's about basic fairness."

"I am deeply disturbed by the letter from former Mayor Nenshi that attempts to squirm out of a deal that he made with city workers," Ganley wrote.

Gil McGowan, a candidate for the NDP leadership and the president of the Alberta Federation of Labour,wrote on X, "No New Democrat I know would have ever signed a letter like that. This is serious."

"At the least, this raises red flags about Naheed's judgment. At worst, it suggests that when push comes to shove, he can't be counted on to take the side of workers," McGowan wrote.

"That's a pretty serious concern to be raised about someone who is running to lead what is, or at least was, the workers' party."

In a statement issued on Thursday, Nenshi described the letter as political gamesmanship.

"Some members of city council were advocating to unilaterally tear up city contracts and roll back wages — something I could never support. In the end, I got them back to doing some more analysis and asking the province if they would ever even consider these changes. I knew full well that the province wouldn't," reads Nenshi's post to X.

He says that even if the provincial government considered the amendments, city council would not have acted upon it automatically.

"There would have been another series of battles around the council table, which I was confident of winning after we passed our budget."

In an interview with The Canadian Press, Nenshi said he never believed in the letter, and did it "because council asked me to do it."

In a later section of the letter, the then-mayor asks the minister to exempt municipalities from the "successor rights" provisions of the province's Labour Relations Code. Successor rights are intended to protect certified union workers from being decertified if the business they work for is sold.

"It may be that some services currently delivered by municipalities could be more efficiently delivered by the private sector, creating savings that could be passed on to citizens. However the successorship rights of municipal unions can impede these efforts," reads the letter.

His Thursday statement posted to social media also addressed the issue of successorship, saying that it "was about a desire for some members of council to privatize city golf courses and waste collection — issues I strenuously objected to and eventually turned back their efforts on."

Nenshi also told CP that he didn't undermine labour laws as mayor and "won't do it as premier."

Accusation 'laughable'

Jeromy Farkas, a former Calgary city councillor who ran in the race to succeed Nenshi as mayor, calls any accusation that his former council colleague is anti-union "laughable."

"FACT: He and [Calgary city council] took a 2.5 per cent pay cut at the same time as employees received a 4 per cent increase," Farkas wrote inan X post.

"Love or hate him, this is a guy who unrelentingly supported unionized city workers."

One of Nenshi's competitors in the NDP leadership race says the membership will ultimately decide what the political impact of this action is when they vote for a new party leader.

In an interview with CBC News, Sarah Hoffman — NDP leadership candidate and MLA for Edmonton-Glenora since 2015 — says that Nenshi "asking to break a deal that was negotiated in good faith" is problematic.

"I think this is a question of integrity," said Hoffman. "Saying that you only signed something because somebody told you to … if you're going to put your signature on something, you should stand by it."

Provincial NDP north of 85,000 members, sources say

CBC News has learned that the total Alberta NDP membership has reached over 85,000 members, according to NDP sources.

That's more than five times the size of the membership earlier this year, which was around 16,500 members.

Some say the resurfacing of the letter is an effort to pile on the front-runner.

Keith McLaughlin, partner at New West Public Affairs and former chief of staff to various NDP ministers when Rachel Notley was premier, doesn't believe this situation will greatly impact the leadership race.

"This leadership race is not about who is the most pro-union candidate," he told CBC News.

"If we want to be litigating things that people were doing from 2018 or 2017 or 2016, there's decisions that others made in this leadership race that could be brought up, too."

Alberta NDP leadership candidates, from left, Sarah Hoffman, Kathleen Ganley, Naheed Nenshi, Gil McGowan and Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse take part in the party's first leaders' debate in Lethbridge on April 25.

Alberta NDP leadership candidates, from left, Sarah Hoffman, Kathleen Ganley, Naheed Nenshi, Gil McGowan and Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse take part in the party's first leaders' debate in Lethbridge on April 25. (Ose Irete/CBC)

However, while McLaughlin characterizes this as a "don't throw stones when you live in a glass house" issue, he also believes Nenshi's competitors offer fair criticisms.

"That letter goes into a level of detail that is more than, say, what was maybe necessary if you were just following council directions."

The political strategist says Nenshi's response in the coming days of the leadership race will be an important part of how this 2019 letter is litigated in the court of public opinion.

"I don't believe that it should just be hand-waved away.… But I also don't believe that this is an indictment of Naheed Nenshi's true character, either, or true belief on this matter."

"It could just get this leadership race to be a little bit muddier."

The dispute turns up the temperature in a race that has been relatively quiet. A second official party leadership debate is scheduled for Saturday in Calgary.

NDP members are able to vote starting June 3, and the party is to announce its new leader June 22.

 

Alberta amending tax rules to offer $5,000 incentive to out-of-province workers

Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press

The Alberta government has introduced legislation that would direct $10 million from this year's budget toward luring more workers to the province.

The funds for the Alberta is Calling Attraction Bonus are aimed at bringing skilled tradespeople from elsewhere in Canada.

During the last election campaign, the United Conservative Party promised to offer at least $1,200 to newcomers who move to the province to work in high-demand jobs such as health care and trades.

Premier Danielle Smith’s government now says instead it will amend the Alberta Personal Income Tax Act to introduce the Alberta is Calling Attraction Bonus to allow for a $5,000 refundable tax credit. 

Matt Jones, the minister for jobs, economy and trade, said the government determined the number should better reflect the true cost of relocation.

"In doing the work behind this program we determined the average moving costs for a Canadian, say from Ontario, to relocate to Alberta was around $5,000,” Jones told a news conference Tuesday.

"To me that (original $1,200) was not enough of a benefit to attract or motivate a moving decision, so we of course moved that benefit up to what is $5,000 tax-free."

The program, first announced by former premier Jason Kenney in 2022, initially targeted Canadians living in Toronto and Vancouver.

Last year, it focused on Atlantic Canada and parts of Ontario to bring in workers, primarily in the staff-starved hotel and restaurant industries.

Jones said Alberta is facing shortages of skilled tradespeople across the board, but said the priorities are electricians, pipefitters, heavy-duty mechanics, welders and crane operators. 

He said he would like to deal with shortages in construction as well.

"Albertans need homes, they need schools, they need hospitals and they need jobs,” he said.

“We've got tens of billions of dollars in capital investment that we have successfully won, and we must be able to deliver.”

Jones defended not using Alberta is Calling to attract health-care workers for now. 

He said all provinces are facing health-care worker shortages and the provinces are trying to collaborate on solutions to benefit everyone.

He noted there are already incentive programs in place to attract doctors and cover the bridging and upgrading of nurses, such as those from the Philippines. 

He said Alberta is Calling is open to revision.

"If this program is a success, we would look at leveraging it to other areas where we're facing labour shortages — and certainly health care and child care are two prime examples,” Jones said.

Opposition NDP heath critic Luanne Metz said the government is taking its eye off the ball and needs to focus on fixing the health-staffing shortages.

“Smith campaigned on recruiting health-care workers and yet, at the first opportunity, the UCP has broken their promise and will not be using this tool to address the staffing shortages in health care and in child care,” said Metz in a statement.

“This province desperately needs health-care workers to ensure Albertans get the surgeries and care they need," she added.

“And child-care operators are struggling to recruit early-learning and child-care workers. 

“Today’s legislation won’t do anything to recruit these staff.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 12, 2024.

EXCLUSIVE: Alberta premier talks book-balancing, says Feds should 'stay in their lane'

Jordan Fleguel, BNN Bloomberg

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says Justin Trudeau’s federal Liberals  “working against” her administration is the biggest impediment to her long-term goals for the province.

In an interview with BNN Bloomberg’s Amanda Lang airing Friday, Smith said Alberta has been able to work collaboratively with the federal government “on some things,” but criticized Ottawa for overstepping with certain environmental policies.

“The policies that keep on coming out of thin air from Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault are not constructive,” she said, pointing to the proposed oil and gas emissions cap and plans to create a net-zero electrical grid by 2035.

“This is not the way that you build a vast country like Canada. This is not the way that you build national unity. I think that there are ways that we can collaborate with the federal government, but they've got to stay in their own lane.”

Smith said that while she’s struggled to find common ground with Guilbeault, she has developed good relationships with other cabinet members, including Innovation, Science and Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne.

“Champagne is such a champion of industry, no matter where they're located, whether it's in Quebec or Ontario or Alberta, and I just wish that more of that attitude was pervasive in all of the departments of government,” she said.

Smith said she’ll continue to oppose any of Guilbeault’s “devastating” policies she believes are aimed at completely phasing out fossil fuels and shutting down the industry’s production.

“We're going to fight back against that,” Smith said, “he's got no constitutional authority to do that.”

Smith said she recognizes the need to reduce emissions and ultimately achieve a net-zero target, but argued it will take more time to successfully reach that goal than the federal government suggests.

“We've aligned around the target of being net zero by 2050; I think that's achievable. Our big companies are working along those lines… but it does take time,” she said.

Smith said she also recognizes that investors across the world are shifting their capital towards credible plans to reduce emissions, and added that Alberta’s big industry players understand that too.

“But we also need a cost-effective supply of energy in order to maintain living standards,” she said. “We can't sacrifice reliability or affordability, we've got to do all three.”

Balancing the books

Smith said one of her biggest long-term goals is to achieve a provincial net debt of zero while running balanced budgets as premier, which she said was the number one promise she made to Albertans when campaigning for the job.

She said that in recent years, Alberta’s government revenues have failed to keep up with inflation and population growth – an issue Smith said will need to be adjusted for in budgets going forward.

An income tax cut promised by Smith in her election campaign was initially set to take effect next year but was pushed back until 2026 by the provincial government last month. Smith cited lower-than-anticipated revenues from the oil and gas sector as the main reason for the delay.

Smith said in a televised address to Albertans on Feb. 21 that the cuts “will have to wait a year and be phased in responsibly.”

The tax measure was officially introduced in Alberta's 2024 budget and will include a new bracket on the first $60,000 of personal income. It will save Albertans an estimated maximum of $760 a year.

Smith said she’s challenging her ministers to find budget savings this year in order to deliver the cut on schedule without going into a deficit to pay for it. The cut is expected to cost the government $1.4 billion annually.

“I'm hoping that Albertans are seeing that we're taking a measured approach because we know that we have to do it all, but you can't necessarily do it all at once,” she said.

“We've got to pace some of the decisions that we're making.”

Reviving the Heritage Savings Trust Fund

Smith said another one of her goals is to revive Alberta’s Heritage Savings Trust Fund, which has seen its founding vision “stall” in recent decades.

The fund was established in 1976 with the goal of saving and investing a portion of the province’s resource revenues in order to strengthen and diversify Alberta’s economy for current and future generations.

Smith said the fund started with around $12 billion worth of deposits, but provincial governments over the years have taken money out of the fund to pay for operating costs and other expenses.

She said her United Conservative Party’s commitment to keeping investment income in the fund has seen it grow to more than $20 billion in assets, and the fund is set to reach $25 billion by the end of this year.

“As it grows, it's really going to be able to sustain its own growth, and I've seen some projections that we could quite easily make it to $200 (billion) to $250 (billion) by 2050 just by keeping the investment income in the fund,” Smith said.

“That decision’s already been made, and if we can also have surpluses and we put a certain portion into savings, it'll just accelerate that growth.”

Smith said that when it comes to growing revenues in the province, Alberta has done well to attract diversified business investment with tax credits and incentives, which has led to significant increases in international and interprovincial migration.

“We want to make sure that it keeps going because as you attract businesses, you also attract the different supply chains to be able to support them, and you attract the workers, which generates additional personal income tax revenue,” she added.

“I think that we're finally beginning to see some important diversification in the economy.”  

Smith’s full interview on Taking Stock with Amanda Lang will air on Friday, March 15 at 6 p.m. on BNN Bloomberg, 9 p.m. on CP24 and 10:30 p.m. on CTV News Channel.

Canada to crack down on profit making from short-term rentals -The Toronto Star

Reuters
Sun, November 19, 2023


(Reuters) - Canada's Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will announce a narrowly focused fall fiscal update on Tuesday to include a measure designed to make it less lucrative for people to use their properties as short-term rentals, Canadian newspaper The Toronto Star reported on Sunday.

Property owners in areas that already restrict short-term rentals will no long be able to claim their rental expenses against the income they make, a senior federal official told the newspaper.

The finance ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comment.

Earlier this month, The Bank of Canada said the era of super-low interest rates was likely over and warned businesses and households to plan for higher borrowing costs than they have been used to in recent years.

The government has also announced plans to convert six federal properties into 2,800 new homes by March and is accelerating a process to identify more public buildings for home conversion as the country grapples with a housing shortage.

Housing supply has failed to keep up with Canada's immigration-fueled population growth, and affordability worsened during the coronavirus pandemic when housing prices soared due to high demand amid low borrowing costs.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation as well as the Bank of Canada have said the country's housing crunch needs to be solved by increasing supply.

(Reporting by Urvi Dugar in Bengaluru; Editing by Chris Reese)

Canada to launch subsidies for carbon capture, clean tech - source

FUNDING BIG OIL INC. IN ALBERTA

Steve Scherer
Updated Mon, November 20, 2023 

FILE PHOTO: Canada's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland attends the Canada-CARICOM Summit in Ottawa


By Steve Scherer

OTTAWA (Reuters) -Canada's government will present legislation this month to start paying subsidies for carbon capture and net-zero energy projects, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters, part of a plan to worth around $20 billion over five years.

A long delay in state support for carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) projects and for equipment used to produce low-carbon energy prompted industry lobbies to warn in September that some C$50 billion ($36 billion) worth of investments were at risk if the government did not act soon.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will announce the investment tax credit (ITC) funding when she presents the so-called Fall Economic Statement (FES) to parliament on Tuesday afternoon, the source added.

It will be included in the FES legislation to be sent to parliament later this month, the source said. Previous budget documents estimated all five of the ITC programs together would funnel an estimated C$27 billion ($19.7 billion) during their first five years in operation.

The government will concurrently introduce to parliament the labor provisions that will be tied to most of the ITCs. They require investors pay workers the prevailing union wage and provide apprenticeship opportunities in order to collect the maximum subsidy.

Canada is lagging the U.S. on the incentives seen as necessary to spur investment in new, low-carbon technologies. Washington has been offering massive incentives to clean tech companies under the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) for well over a year.

President Joe Biden has lauded the $430 billion IRA passed in August, 2022, as an economic powerhouse. Bank of America estimates it has already spurred $132 billion of investment across more than 270 new clean energy projects.

CCUS are seen as vital to cutting emissions from Alberta's oil sands without slashing production. Canada is the world's fourth-largest oil producer.

The transition to a low-carbon economy is a cornerstone of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's economic policy and ITCs are key to help the government meet its goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.

There is "a global race for capital and investments in these sorts of projects," the source said. "The government is trying to provide certainty to investors."

The finance ministry does not comment on fiscal documents before their publication, a spokesperson said.

The CCUS were first announced in the spring of 2021, and the clean tech ITCs were announced a year later - both before the IRA was launched - but Canada is only now launching the legislation needed to get the money flowing.

Freeland will also provide a timeline for the other promised ITCs, with public consultations for two of the three remaining programs starting this year and legislation for all of them put forward by the end of next year, said the source who was not authorized to speak on the record.

Funding for ITCs for machinery and other tools needed to build green technologies, and for producing hydrogen, is likely to be presented in the spring of 2024, with clean electricity ITCs coming in the fall, the source said.

The FES will also offer C$15 billion in 10-year loans for new rental housing construction, a C$1-billion fund dedicated to getting more affordable housing built, and new mortgage rules for lenders dealing with homeowners at risk, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp reported on Monday citing a source.

The Toronto Star reported on Sunday that the FES would include a measure to crack down on profit making from short-term rentals.

The fiscal statement will put forward additional reforms to the Competition Act, the source told Reuters, in a bid to address affordability issues. The changes will be more broad than those announced earlier this year, and will address things like predatory pricing, the source said.

($1 = 1.3718 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Steve SchererEditing by Denny Thomas, Lincoln Feast and Christina Fincher)

Trudeau’s Spending Plans Are Squeezed by Soaring Debt Payments

Erik Hertzberg
Mon, November 20, 2023 







(Bloomberg) -- With his government deeply unpopular and an election due in the next two years, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau may be tempted to spend money. The bond market is getting in the way.

Trudeau’s administration is being squeezed by rising debt payments and slowing revenue growth — a challenge for a leader who, in eight years of governing, has never had to contend with an environment in which borrowing was expensive.

Interest costs have risen substantially since Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland drafted her March budget. The economy is weakening and the path to a so-called soft landing has narrowed. Canada’s central bank is warning that its policy rate, already at a 22-year high, may stay elevated for a while, given the current level of inflation.

This combination is a new problem for Trudeau, whose Liberals swept to power in 2015 promising to spend on social programs and infrastructure after years of austerity under Stephen Harper’s Conservatives. Interest charges on federal debt were C$28.2 billion ($20.5 billion) in the first eight months of this year, up 35% from the same period in 2022, and the pressure is rising to cut back on other spending.

“The federal government needs to reduce its level of program spending, that’s clear,” Randall Bartlett, senior director of Canadian economics at Desjardins Securities, said in an interview. Federal program expenses are expected to equal about 16% of gross domestic product this year — well above the long-term average. “We are at the mercy of international bond markets, and things can turn very quickly.”

Canada is one of only two countries in the Group of Seven with triple-A ratings from both S&P Global Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service. Freeland and Trudeau often laud that fact. “We are a government that has always exercised fiscal restraint,” the prime minister said Friday. “We have the best debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7.” Bartlett said in a Nov. 17 report that it’s unlikely Canada will fall from the highest credit rating.

But the government’s updated fiscal and economic projections, which Freeland will release Tuesday afternoon in Ottawa, will have to factor in the cost of new industrial subsidies, wage settlements for public-sector workers and new measures to spur housing construction. Combined with a slowing economy, that means there’s upside risk to the government’s forecast of a C$40.1 billion deficit this fiscal year.

The political timing is tough. The Liberals are slumping in opinion polls against their Conservative opponents, who have hammered the government on fiscal matters by accusing of them of stoking inflation with deficits.

Meanwhile, Trudeau’s minority government is being propped up in Parliament by a deal with the left-leaning New Democratic Party, which wants to spend. The parties’ supply and confidence agreement, by which the NDP agreed to help the Liberals pass legislation, includes a provision that the government should pass a national drug-coverage plan this year.

But the economic circumstances are throwing Trudeau’s progressive priorities into doubt. Canada’s government debt and deficit may be far below that of the US, but its borrowing costs are still driven by the US and global markets. Freeland’s spring budget projected a 10-year bond yield of 3% this year. Over the past two months, it’s averaged almost 4%.

Even as yields have eased in recent weeks — the 10-year benchmark closed Friday at a yield of about 3.68% — the base case isn’t for a return to rock-bottom financing costs.

“There is such thing as a debt ceiling, but you don’t know it until you hit it.” Rebekah Young, an economist at Bank of Nova Scotia, said by phone. “It could get to be more of a punishing environment if they overstep that line more than markets are comfortable with.”

Most economists agree Freeland and Trudeau didn’t reduce spending quickly enough as the economy burst back to life in 2021 and 2022. A majority of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg say the federal government’s spending and immigration programs are complicating the central bank’s fight to bring price pressures to heel. Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem urged federal and provincial governments last month to start “rowing in the same direction” in the inflation fight.

Government revenue growth — which had been better than expected this year — is set to slow with the economy. Economists say Canada’s GDP will expand just 0.7% next year in real terms, and will decline on a per-capita basis.

Of course, there’s a huge amount of uncertainty in that forecast. If higher rates lead to a full-blown recession, the government will need ample fiscal room to support the country’s heavily indebted households.

In the last year, transfers from government represented 19% of Canadian household income, the highest level since 1994 outside the Covid-19 crisis.

The largest federal outlays happened during the pandemic: Total spending rose to C$623.8 billion in fiscal year 2020-21, as income replacement programs were rolled out for businesses and households as the economy was shuttered multiple times. Those expenditures pushed Canada’s debt to GDP ratio above 45% for the first time since 2000.

Asked about Freeland’s budget update Friday, Trudeau signaled no change in tack.

The document, the prime minister told reporters, will be “a demonstration that we know how to continue to be fiscally responsible while we make investments that are going to grow the economy and support Canadians.”

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

The Guardian view on inflation: stop hitting homebuyers and squeeze the super-rich

Interest rates are too blunt an instrument for an economy so finely balanced. It’s time to use taxes

CANADIAN NDP & BERNIE SANDERS SAY THIS TOO

Editorial
Wed 16 Aug 2023

“The plan is working,” is how Rishi Sunak greeted Wednesday’s news of a fall in the rate of inflation. “If we stick to the plan I’ve set out, we’ll get it done.”

Up to a point, prime minister. Mr Sunak’s “plan” is really nothing of the sort. It is an aspiration to halve the rate by which prices are rising rather than, as is commonly assumed, for prices to fall. And he wants to do this without a hand raised by any of his ministers. It is not the business secretary, Kemi Badenoch, who controls oil and gas prices, but traders in commodity markets – and rather than watching Whitehall, they have their eyes peeled for moves by Vladimir Putin or Opec. It is not Jeremy Hunt at the Treasury who sets interest rates, but Andrew Bailey and his colleagues at the Bank of England. And the people of Threadneedle Street may be alarmed by core inflation, which strips out volatile items such as food and fuel, remaining stubbornly high. With only four months before his self-imposed deadline, this looks like one life goal the man in No 10 will miss.

Before then, expect more economic pain. The Bank looks likely to raise rates again next month, and beyond that financial markets expect even more increases. Given the data showing the jobs market cooling down and production starting to drop, the economy seems to be slowing. Good luck to any minister fighting an election against that backdrop.

Famously, Mr Sunak has a background in economics and finance, and possesses a keen sense of logic. In which case he should be able to spot the economic silliness of what he is trying to do. Relying on one tool – the key interest rate – which is in the hands of an institution celebrating 25 years of operational independence is no way to bring down inflation in a hurry. Monetary policy works with “long and variable lags” on the economy, as Milton Friedman observed. And in the UK, most of the pain from rates will be concentrated on that minority of the population paying down mortgages. Meanwhile, the evidence grows that the greatest inflationary pressure comes from those at the top of society. Last month, the Institute for Fiscal Studies revealed that it was City workers and those in the energy sector who were taking the outsize pay rises, while those outside London in manufacturing, hospitality and education are seeing their incomes shrink.

While “greedflation” is a word that attracts controversy, there is clear evidence that some corporations are using this burst of inflation to boost their profit margins. Again, that will feed into rising prices much more quickly than a pay demand by refuse collectors of some local authority. So why should ordinary households be made poorer when a few groups operating at the top of the economy are driving so much of the price pressure?

The obvious solution to this would be for the Bank to ease off on interest rate rises and for the government to tax high earners. It is usually said of taxes on the rich that they don’t raise much money, but the objective here would be to dampen inflationary demand. The cash it would yield could go towards investing in green energy, so as to make the UK less reliant on rollercoaster fossil fuel prices. Higher taxes are unpopular – when they are on you. When they’re on someone else, on the other hand, they can be quite acceptable. If Mr Sunak is appalled by the idea of taxing his former workmates in the City, perhaps one of his opponents might take it up. Did someone mention the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves?

UCP KILLS RENEWABLES IN ALBERTA

Renewable energy workers say Alberta's pause will wipe out season of work

video has surfaced of Rob Anderson, executive director of Smith's office, describing the renewable industry as a scam.

The Canadian Press
Wed, August 9, 2023



Alberta's decision to pause approvals of new renewable energy projects is putting the lives of thousands of workers on hold, an industry group says.

"You're asking people to put a pause on their lives," said Luisa Da Silva, director of Iron and Earth, a group that assists fossil fuel employees transition to the renewables industry. "You're asking people not to work."

A week ago, Alberta's United Conservative government announced it had directed the province's utilities regulator not to approve any more renewable energy projects, citing what it says are rural and environmental concerns. The Alberta Utilities Commission is to hold an inquiry, reporting in February.

The move stranded dozens of proposed projects worth billions of dollars in a province that had, until then, been an industry leader in Canada. The pause was widely criticized by economists and companies whose projects are suddenly in limbo.

Industry was not consulted before the move.

Alberta government figures suggest about 10,000 people work in solar and wind installation. Although that figure is dwarfed by fossil fuel employment, jobs in renewables are estimated to be growing at about 10 per cent a year, while oil and gas jobs have been declining for years.

In early 2022, there were 3,425 unfilled positions in the industry.

"I don't know what their thinking is," Da Silva said. "But I don't think it's fair to ask people to not work and to basically shut down the industry for six months."

Da Silva said the effect of the pause is likely to last much longer, as both the pause itself and the uncertainty of its result will affect planning for next year's construction season and beyond. It comes as other jurisdictions in Canada and the United States are ramping up their renewable energy.

"What's going to stop workers from going where the jobs are?" Da Silva asked. "Not much."

Sam Blackett, spokesman for Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, defended the pause.

"We can't have an affordable and reliable power grid in this province without a reliable base energy source," he said. "Today that reliable source is natural gas.

"Wind and solar power have an important supporting role to play … but only if developed in a manner that is affordable, reliable, environmentally sustainable and preserves Albertans' most precious natural landscapes and prime agricultural land."

Meanwhile, video has surfaced of Rob Anderson, executive director of Smith's office, describing the renewable industry as a scam.

The video was made for The Western Standard, a conservative news outlet, on Nov. 4, 2021, before Smith re-entered politics and was still a lobbyist for an influential business group. The video was hosted by Bruce McAllister, who now heads Smith's Calgary office.

"All this is, is a scam," Anderson said. "This isn't about the environment."

Anderson accuses foreign companies of profiteering off government programs and despoiling Alberta's landscape.

"We have one of the most beautiful, pristine landscapes in the world, especially the eastern slopes (of the Rockies)," he said. "These things (windmills) are butt-ugly."

Asked if Anderson still held those views, Blackett neither disavowed nor denied them.

Nagwan Al-Guneid, the Opposition NDP's utilities critic, said major corporations that use and supply renewable power would be surprised to hear it called a scam.

"This is a multibillion-dollar industry that has created thousands of jobs," she said. "It is insulting to Albertans and to businesses and leaders who have been working in this industry for the last few years."

Al-Guneid said legitimate concerns over land use and reclamation could easily be handled without the pause and called on the government to rescind it.

"What are we doing?" she asked. "Since when does a government shut down a booming industry?"

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 9, 2023.

Bob Weber, The Canadian Press

As extreme heat gets worse, expert calls for access to cooling as a human right

The Canadian Press
Fri, July 7, 2023 



TORONTO — As summer heat waves intensifyand advocates sound the alarm on the lack of protections for the most vulnerable populations, one extreme weather expert is calling for access to cooling to be treated as a human right.

Much of Ontario experienced a multi-day heat event this week, with the humidex reaching up to 40 C in some areas. The planet's average temperature hit new records in the last few days, rising to an unofficial high of 17.18 C on Tuesday and Wednesday, breaking Monday's short-lived record of 17.01 C, according to the University of Maine's Climate Reanalyzer.

Blair Feltmate, head of the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo, has sought to bring attention to the need for greater heat adaptation as Canada is set to experience higher daily temperatures and longer heat waves under climate change.

Feltmate's research projects that between 2050 and 2080, almost all major Canadian cities will see an increase in maximum daily temperature between 3 C and 5 C, and the number of summer days above 30 Cwill double, triple, or quadruple in some cases.

In Toronto, that looks like maximum daily temperatures increasing to around 38 C, and the number of days exceeding 30 C rising from 15 to 16 days per summer up to 60.

"We need to think of access to cooling as a fundamental human right because if we don't make that provision literally people are going to die, Canadians are going to die, not just in the hundreds but potentially into the thousands," said Feltmate. He pointed to extreme heat events that led to more than 600 deaths in B.C. in 2021 and more than 80 deaths in Quebec City in 2018.

"As hot as it is now, and (Wednesday) set a new global record for the planet in terms of overall temperature, things are going to get hotter going forward."

Feltmate said there are approximately 500,000 people in the Greater Toronto Area who live in apartment buildings that are at least 40 years old and eight storeys or higher. If a major heat wave happened to coincide with an extended electricity outage, residents of those buildings could be without air conditioning, fans, elevator access or even water flow.

"The results could be lethal," he said.

Avoiding those deadly situations requires immediate steps to reduce heat stress. Feltmate said that could look like backup electricity generation for a couple of days for all apartment buildings, or subsidies for small,portable air conditioners,similar to a new B.C. program offering such ACs to low-income households.

Awnings over windows, window glazing to limit direct sunlight, trees and vines planted in and around buildings to provide shade can all reduce the impact of heat on residential buildings, Feltmate said.

Improving insulation and airtightness can also cut heating and cooling costs, he said.

Municipalities should play a large part in improving cooling access, he said, in particular to mitigate the "heat-island effect," in which urban areas are significantly warmer than surrounding areas. Dark and tarred buildings, roads and other infrastructure absorb and retain more heat from the sun than natural landscapes, contributing to warming between 3 and 5 C.

The heat-island effect could be combated with white, "cool" roofs or more trees and vegetation, among other design considerations.

But these actions require a combined response from all levels of government, particularly on the federal level, Feltmate said, as cities and towns would be better equipped to make such changes if directed by Ottawa.

Last week, Canada released its new national climate adaptation strategy, which will tie future federal infrastructure transfers to the provinces to projects that incorporate adaptation efforts.

One of the targets is for 80 per cent of health regions to have a plan to protect people from extreme heat by 2026, something officials said could include making sure there are adequate cooling centres available during heat waves. Another is the elimination of all heat-related deaths by 2040.

Some municipalities are getting ahead of the curve. Hamilton is poised to become one of Canada's first municipalities to require landlords install air conditioning to ensure indoor temperatures don't exceed 26 C, after an "adequate temperature" bylaw was passed by council in May.

Changes can't come fast enough for people most vulnerable to extreme heat, such as those who live and work outside and are already bearing the brunt of climate change, advocates say.

Chris Ramsaroop, an organizer with advocacy group Justice for Migrant Workers, called on Ontario to enact immediate emergency measures to protect the province's farm workers from the heat, including sheltering and cooling periods, access to free water, shade requirements and shutting down farms in extreme crisis events.

He said many of those workers, who fear threat of deportation for speaking out, are facing hot working conditions in greenhouses and are experiencing headaches and near-fainting due to the heat, but have been expected to keep up theregular pace of work.

"It's imperative the province enact steps and measures to protect all workers who have to endure this heat," said Ramsaroop.

In a statement, provincial Labour Minister Monte McNaughton called Ontario's farm workers "heroes" who are protected by health and safety laws, "regardless of their passport."

"As we experience increasing heat waves and the hazards of forest fire smoke, and a changing nature of outdoor work, we will not hesitate to take further action to protect those who put food on the table for families across our province," he said. The Ministry of Labour added it conducts inspections to ensure employers are meeting health and safety standards and urged workers who feel unsafe to report their concerns.

In response to this week's heat alert, Toronto activated its Heat Relief Network, which includes cooling locations such as libraries, community centres, private malls and municipal pools.

However, community worker and longtime advocate for the homeless, Diana Chan McNally, said many of those spaces are inappropriate for people experiencing homelessness, who may be subjected to harassment.

"Having an unhoused adult, for example, cool off in a children's splash pad is obviously going to set off some alarm bells," she said, criticizing the city for not having dedicated emergency cooling centres as it did in the past.

The City of Toronto said it "recognizes the need for additional services to help meet the complex needs of those living outdoors during heat warnings but the city continues to face significant financial pressures."

Chan McNally said emergency weather will come in all seasons, so there needs to be a shift from thinking of seasonal spaces in the summer or winter to year-round, 24-7 dedicated emergency weather spaces.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 7, 2023.

Tyler Griffin, The Canadian Press

If you’re not terrified, ‘you’re not paying attention’: Politicians, activist urge action amid record-breaking temperatures

Local Journalism Initiative
Fri, July 7, 2023 

This week, average global temperatures are smashing records left and right, which “should fill everyone with anxiety,” says Green Party deputy leader Jonathan Pedneault.

The previous record of 16.92 C from 2016 was surpassed on Monday, which clocked 17.01 C. Tuesday was hotter still at 17.18 C, and The Associated Press reports that Wednesday could continue this upward trend.

The heat records come as 334 fires across Canada are burning out of control, in part exacerbated by a changing climate.

In June, the federal government warned this year’s wildfire season may be especially severe, and that prediction has come to fruition as forest fires have caused tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes over the last month.

“The fire season here has been devastating to so many communities and people who struggled with asthma and other lung conditions,” Pedneault told Canada’s National Observer in a phone interview.

“It's a public emergency, it's a health emergency, and yet we have a government that continues as though all of this was reversible and as though we were going to meet the urgency of the time with the half-assed measures that they have in place,” Pedneault said.

The federal government recently released its final climate adaptation strategy, which includes $1.6 billion over five years to put measures in place to reduce the risk of climate-related disasters; protect human health, nature and biodiversity; build resilient infrastructure; and support both the economy and workers.

At a time when we need drastic action to change our economic system and adapt our communities, the Liberal government continues to “subsidize Big Oil and praise Big Oil for their wonderful contribution to the building of their so-called green economy,” said Pedneault.

One of the main drivers of climate change is the burning of fossil fuels, like coal, oil and gas. The fires that are destroying the homes, livelihoods and health of Canadians are intrinsically linked to the continued expansion of oil and gas production, said Canadian climate activist Tzeporah Berman in a phone interview with Canada’s National Observer.

“If you're not terrified right now and angry, you're not paying attention,” said Berman, who is the international program director with Stand.earth and chair of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative.

“But it's also so frustrating,” she added. “Because we have the ability to address this crisis … we have the technology and capabilities to create a cheaper, safer and cleaner future,” said Berman, pointing to the reduced cost of renewable energy sources like wind and solar that can reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.

“But the oil companies are holding us back from the policies that will save lives in the future,” said Berman.

“It's not a tragedy, it's a scandal.”

Canada’s oil and gas production is forecast to increase between now and 2030. To keep global temperature rise from exceeding 1.5 C (at which point, there will be irreversible consequences for both humans and the environment), the world’s greenhouse gas emissions must peak before 2025 at the latest and be reduced by 43 per cent by 2030, according to research by the world’s leading climate scientists with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

In 2022, the federal government approved a major offshore oil project off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, which has since been postponed partly due to cost increases in the oil sector.

Constructive criticism is part of the process and when it comes to climate change, “we always need to do more,” said Manitoba MP Terry Duguid. He says his government is “working very hard,” certainly harder than any previous administration.

“We are the only government, I think, in our history as a country that has taken climate change and emissions reduction seriously, and it’s working,” said Duguid, parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Alongside the newly announced National Adaptation Plan, Duguid pointed to his government “investing billions in emissions reductions and building … the clean energy economy.”

“We always need to do more, but we've got a plan, and we are on track with that plan to meet our emissions reductions by 2030 on to net zero by 2050,” he said. The climate plan is “evergreen” and “being adjusted all the time to meet the changing landscape,” Duguid added.

The federal government is banking on a suite of proposed investment tax credits to usher Canada into a low-carbon economy. Over the next 11 years, more than $80 billion is earmarked for these tax credits, which target clean electricity, hydrogen, carbon capture, critical mineral extraction and manufacturing of clean technology related to electric vehicles, nuclear and energy storage.

While it's easy to become desensitized to constant reports of record-breaking heat, it's impossible to ignore the “extremely scary” impacts of climate change: from hurricane Fiona’s destruction to flooding in B.C. to severe wildfires across the nation to the deadly heat dome that killed more than 600 people in B.C. two summers ago, said NDP MP Laurel Collins.

“It's really the inaction of governments that has put us on a path where we are going to see these occurrences more and more,” said Collins.

“Those over 600 people who died in B.C. from the heat dome … the vast majority of them were low-income folks, seniors who do not have cooling options in their homes,” said Collins, pointing to the need for widespread building retrofits, including programs for low-income people and apartment buildings.

Berman urged Canadians “who are choking from smoke” and watching fires sweep across the country to hold our elected officials accountable and demand the government “stand up to the influence of the fossil fuel industry, who are making this crisis worse.”

“We don't currently have a plan. The government at a provincial and federal level has bought into the oil industry's delusion that we can continue to expand production while introducing some technologies to reduce emissions,” said Berman.

Carbon capture technology is a key part of the federal government’s plan to reduce emissions produced from oil production, and it has proposed a tax credit worth an estimated $18 billion over the next decade to help companies adopt this technology. It does not address the vast majority of emissions that are produced when fossil fuels are burned, and environmentalists warn the costly technology could lock in fossil fuel production at a time when all the science points to a speedy phaseout.

“Even if you've never done it before, we need people to be writing and calling their MLAs and MPs, telling them it's a priority that we stop expanding oil and gas,” said Berman.

— With files from The Associated Press

Natasha Bulowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada's National Observer

What to expect from Alberta Premier Smith's mostly-familiar cabinet
Story by Lisa Johnson • Sunday, June 11, 2023

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith poses for a picture with members of her cabinet on Friday, June 9, 2023, at Government House in Edmonton.

© Provided by Edmonton Journal

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s cabinet may be full of familiar faces, but it signals she will focus on her fight with Ottawa and that new fringe candidates don’t control her government, experts say.

University of Calgary political science professor Lisa Young told Postmedia the appointment of Brian Jean to the energy file and Rebecca Schulz to the environment ministry suggest Albertans can expect the newly-elected UCP government to focus on the province’s fight against federal energy policies.

Smith has long called Ottawa’s looming emissions goals “unachievable,” including the potential 42 per cent emissions cap on the oil and gas industry by 2030 and goal to get to a net zero power grid by 2035.

“She’s gearing up for that fight,” said Young, adding that being combative with Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on energy and environment policy is the one thing that everyone in an often-divided UCP caucus can agree on.

Young noted both Jean and Schulz played the role of surrogates during the election campaign, often attacking NDP policy at news conferences in place of Smith. Jean and Schulz also came the closest to winning the UCP leadership last fall after Travis Toews didn’t seek re-election in May. They came in third and fourth, respectively.

Schulz’s history includes negotiating a $3.8-billion child-care deal with Ottawa, while Jean, from Fort McMurray, is known for fighting hard for local oil and gas sector interests.

“(Smith has) decided to make them essentially a team to fight Ottawa. I think we’re gonna see the good cop bad cop routine,” said Young.

Rural voices will have a seat at the table in prominent portfolios, too, including Drumheller-Stettler’s Nate Horner, who was appointed to finance.

‘It’s a career ender’: LaGrange gets challenging health file

Adriana LaGrange, who has represented Red Deer-North since 2019, will move to health from education after facing criticism on heated issues from funding for children with disabilities to a controversial K-6 curriculum.

Lori Williams, political scientist at Mount Royal University, called it questionable, and noted LaGrange will have a lot of work to do to repair relationships with health care workers.

“There is money to be spent, but that relationship with healthcare workers — the ability to recruit or to attract healthcare workers — has been materially damaged by their treatment under the UCP government.”

“I wonder if this was a sign of weakness that (Smith) couldn’t get anybody else to take it, because it’s a career ender,” Williams said.

Shifting LaGrange to health may raise the eyebrows, particularly for those with concerns about her staunchly pro-life position, but it is a nod to UCP voters outside of the province’s big cities, Young said.

“The biggest issues in health care aren’t in Calgary and Edmonton, arguably. They’re in Red Deer and Lethbridge and in all of the smaller centres where the emergency rooms are closed more often than they’re open,” said Young.

For its part, United Nurses of Alberta president Heather Smith focused on the importance of front-line workers being heard in a news release Friday, but also noted that LaGrange will understand the “enormous pressure and challenges the nurse staffing shortage has put on hospitals like the Red Deer Regional Hospital.”

‘It was about assuring people’: new candidates shut out

None of the 12 newly-elected UCP representatives will sit on the front benches when the legislature convenes in October.

Smith’s cabinet of 25, down from 27, represents more than half of the UCP’s elected caucus of 49. However, the legislature will need to elect a speaker, who cannot vote, and Lacombe-Ponoka member-elect Jennifer Johnson, who ran under the UCP banner, is expected to sit as an independent after transphobic comments from her became public.

Peter Singh, along with newcomers Myles McDougall and Eric Bouchard, are the only Calgary MLAs to be shut out of executive council.

Young noted that McDougall and Bouchard appeared to win their nominations with some support from right-wing third party advertiser Take Back Alberta, credited with helping take down former premier Jason Kenney.

At the same time, Jason Nixon is back at the executive council table after being shut out by Smith in October.

“He had a Take Back Alberta target on him,” said Young, referring to the bitter battle in Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre that saw Nixon’s rival disqualified by the UCP.

“It was about assuring people in and outside of Alberta that the Take Back Alberta folks, about whom a fair bit of publicly has been generated , aren’t the ones influencing her government,” said Williams.

With such a large cabinet, Smith might be able to avoid a vote of confidence, and reduce the risk of the party splintering, Young said.

“They kind of have to vote with you once they’re in cabinet,” said Young, noting parliamentary secretary roles, which also come with a pay bump, have yet to be handed out.

lijohnson@postmedia.com

twitter.com/reportrix

ON THE GROUND
In Alberta’s Rocky Mountains, an Australian-owned coal mine is quietly forging ahead

Grande Cache locals were surprised to hear Mine 14 — exempt from Alberta's pause on coal mining in the Rockies — is poised to start digging

A view of Grande Cache, Alta., from Grande Mountain, the location of a planned new coal mine. The mine, first approved more than a decade ago, is exempt from the Alberta government's pause on coal mining in the Rocky Mountains.

LONG READ 

By Trina Moyles

Photography by Darrel Comeau
May 25, 2023 

Raymond Hill has been traversing the wilderness on Grande Mountain near Grande Cache, Alta., on horseback for more than 40 years. He regularly encounters elk, moose and grizzly bears out on the trails. In the summer, he casts lines into the Smoky River for trout and walleye. “It’s a nice place to enjoy, or to sit by a fire and get some peace and quiet,” Hill says.

But a new coal mine on the eastern slopes of the Rockies means that peace on Grande Mountain may soon be threatened.

An underground coal mining project named Summit Mine 14 has been quietly resurrected by Valory Resources, an Australian mining company, leaving many residents with questions about how the project got the green light, and whether it will truly benefit the community.

Locals near Grande Cache worry a new coal mine will impact a burgeoning ecotourism industry, including Jules Desrochers’ camping and horseback-riding business, located downstream of the planned mine.

Grande Cache was a town purpose-built for coal in the 1960s. But as the community’s fortunes rose — and fell — with coal’s boom-and-bust cycles over the years, many residents are leery of once again betting their futures on coal. And despite the company’s promises of economic benefits, local business owners suggest a burgeoning local ecotourism industry may be at odds with more coal development, and are raising questions about the mine’s environmental impacts.

“I am not anti-industry. I work in the oil and gas industry. But I think it’s important that people be able to be heard about why we don’t want this in our backyard.”Jules Desrochers

“It’s going to be like putting a coal mine on the ridge overlooking Jasper,” Hill, the president of the Grande Cache Saddle Club, says. “But it’s ‘Jasper, without the rules.’ ”

Jules Desrochers’ leased ranch is located downstream of the proposed mine. He’s worried about the risks of contamination and runoff into the stream, which flows into Grande Cache Lake. Desrochers, a member of the Métis Nation of Alberta, runs Elk Ridge Quarter Horses, where, along with his wife, they offer camping and horseback-riding.

 

The proposed coal mine will be located on Grande Mountain, pictured here, not far from the headwaters of the Smoky River.

“There are so many potential impacts on air quality, water quality, wildlife, grizzly bears, goats, sheep — everything is living on that mountain,” Desrochers says.

“I just don’t see this as something that is publicly and environmentally safe at all. I am not anti-industry. I work in the oil and gas industry. But I think it’s important that people be able to be heard about why we don’t want this in our backyard.”
Grande Cache community members say they’ve been left in the dark about coal mine plans

The site of the proposed coal mine, not far from the headwaters of the Smoky River, is dense with conifers and serves as habitat for big horned sheep and elk. This wilderness is part of the eastern slopes ecosystem that was at the centre of intense outcry when the provincial government moved to open much of it to coal mining in 2020.

The area around the Mine 14 coal project is habitat for grizzly bears, bighorn sheep and caribou.

The Summit Coal Mine 14 project will be located four kilometres northeast of Grande Cache on Grande Mountain, a forested peak popular with hikers, horseback riders and snowmobilers. Mine 14 would create a footprint of 53.5 hectares on the mountain and would puncture the surface with 91 drill holes, ultimately creating an underground footprint of 512 hectares. The company aims to produce 3,562 tonnes of coal per day for nine years, transporting it in trucks to a coal processing plant at the nearby HR Milner Generating Station, where it will then be shipped by rail for export to Asia and used in steelmaking.

MAP © Mapbox © OpenStreetMap Improve this map

Though the Alberta government ultimately reversed its decision to open the eastern slopes to coal mining in response to public backlash, Mine 14 slipped through the cracks, according to conservation advocates. Mining the eastern slopes remains an issue in the Alberta election, with the NDP promising to put an end to it outright. What an NDP win and all-out ban could mean for Mine 14 is not yet clear.

“Last spring, Alberta had a very robust, detailed conversation about the future of coal mining in the eastern slopes and our headwaters. Albertans very clearly articulated that they did not want new coal development,” Tara Russell, the Northern Alberta program director at the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society Northern Alberta, says. “It feels like that was ignored.”

According to Russell, Mine 14 “came out of nowhere.”

Grande Mountain, where Valory Resources wants to build a new coal mine, is visible from Grande Cache and is popular with hikers. The Alberta government stopped new coal projects on the eastern slopes in 2022 but made an exemption for Mine 14 because it was in “advanced” planning stages.

The underground mine plan has been around for years, with little fanfare. It was first proposed in 2008 by Milner Power and received approvals a few years later. For over a decade, Mine 14 has remained undeveloped — many forgot about it entirely.

Then in March 2022, Mine 14 was listed by the Government of Alberta as one of the four “advanced” projects allowed to proceed despite a moratorium on coal development in Alberta’s eastern slopes. Two of those projects, Grassy Mountain and Tent Mountain, have since been halted. A proposed expansion to the Vista coal mine near Hinton has been stalled by a federal review.

Mine 14, however, forged ahead. The same day the Alberta government announced the exemption, Valory Resources met with town councillors of the Municipal District of Greenview to pitch a business proposal for Mine 14. (Tyler Olsen, the reeve for the Municipal District of Greenview, declined an interview about Mine 14 and Valory Resources did not respond to requests for an interview.) The company’s initial plan had mining operations beginning by October of last year.

Grande Cache was purpose-built for coal and already has a functioning coal processing plant, located on the banks of the Smoky River. Coal from Mine 14 would primarily be shipped to Asia for use in steelmaking.

Hill, along with the members of the Saddle Club board, only learned the project was moving forward last June. That month, the group received a letter from Valory Resources subsidiary Summit Coal Inc., informing them that they’d be building a 6.5-kilometre access road through a corner of their lease. Alarmed, the group wrote back to Summit Coal stating they did not consent to Mine 14, and requesting a stakeholder consultation meeting by late August.

They never heard back.

Earlier this year, the saddle club received a second letter stating, “Summit Coal has now decided to proceed with this project.” Shocked, Hill phoned the company and told them about the letter the Saddle Club had sent months earlier. According to Hill, after initially saying they “couldn’t find it,” a representative found the letter and assured Hill it would get “to the right department.”

“That’s the last I heard of that,” Hill says.

 
Local Indigenous groups requested federal review of proposed coal mine

The perceived lack of information around Mine 14 has Hill and other members of the Saddle Club worried. Tina Tippe is one of them. Tippe, a retired X-ray technologist and Grande Cache resident since 1977, says the project will be visible from town, and trucks carrying coal will likely spread coal dust through the region.

Hill shares that concern. He knows well how big an impact the dust can have. He used to work at another local coal mine, the Grande Cache mine, currently owned by CST Coal Inc., which has experienced enormous instability since it opened in 1969. “All of our trucks we brought in back and forth were full of dust and coal falling off of them,” Hill says. “I don’t know how they’re going to control that.”

CST Coal Inc. opened in Grande Cache in 1969 and has been hit hard by the volatile boom-and-bust nature of the coal industry, leaving some locals wary of staking their future on another coal mine.

The Aseniwuche Winewak Nation is also concerned about coal dust, which has been linked to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), including bronchitis and emphysema, among other issues. Last summer, the Nation filed a petition for review of Mine 14 under the federal Impact Assessment Act, citing health concerns of coal dust, water contamination, potential effects on fish and species at risk and disruption of land-based, traditional practices of Indigenous Peoples.

A month later, four more nations — the Emineskin Cree Nation, Cadotte Lake Métis Nation, Duncan’s First Nation and Whitefish Lake First Nation #128 — followed suit, each requesting a federal review.

Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault denied the requests for the review of Mine 14 late last year, saying consultation with Indigenous Peoples would be taken care of through other channels, like provincial legislation and other federal approvals.

For its part, the company behind Mine 14 says it intends to engage and consult Indigenous communities “for mutual benefit including jobs, contracts and direct ownership through investment.”

Aseniwuche Winewak Nation isn’t convinced the mine is to its benefit.

“Do we want mining as a community? Do we want to see this mine developed the way it’s proposed? My answer is no,” David MacPhee, president of the Nation, says. “Our experience with mines … has been very harsh to our community.”
‘We’d prefer to see no coal mines operating’: Aseniwuche Winewak Nation

Members of the Aseniwuche Winewak Nation identify as Cree, Stoney, Iroquois, Beaver, Shuswap and Saulteaux. “We are not Treaty,” MacPhee says. “When Treaty 8 was signed to the north of us in 1899, we were never included.” In 1907, the Aseniwuche Winewak were evicted from Jasper National Park and relocated to the territory to the north. Without Treaty Rights, the Aseniwuche Winewak Nation has historically lacked access to services and consultation processes with government and industry.

When the town of Grande Cache was built in the 1960s, life changed drastically for the Aseniwuche Winewak Nation. Initially, MacPhee says, they weren’t consulted on development projects and sacred burial sites were lost. “Our community was not acknowledged as a community,” MacPhee says.

The Aseniwuche Winewak Nation was first formally consulted on Mine 14 in 2009 by Maxim Power. While the Nation supported the project at the time, MacPhee says those consultations are now 14 years old and the project has since changed ownership.

Jules Desrochers’ camping and horseback-riding business is one of several ecotourism ventures that will be impacted by the mine, which would be located upstream. Residents say they haven’t had adequate opportunities to provide feedback about the plan.

“In our heart of hearts, we’ve always said, ‘we’d prefer to see no coal mines operating,’ ” he says, adding coal mining has long disrupted traditional ways of life for Indigenous people.

He points to the cost of cumulative effects of resource development on their traditional territories due to logging, oil and gas, and coal mining.

“People trap and hunt. People gather medicines. People go there for mental health. People go there to teach to pass on their traditions. People go there to pray,” MacPhee says.

“In terms of disruption, yes, there is a definite disruption,” he says. “Some of the mining projects we have seen to date, that are potentially 50 years old, have never been reclaimed yet.”
New Grande Cache coal mine located in area important for at-risk caribou, fish and grizzly bears

Mine 14’s lease is home to diverse species, including Canada lynx, wolverine, mountain goats and sheep, and at-risk fish and grizzly bears. Adjacent to the proposed mine is caribou habitat, a threatened species in Alberta, and protected under the federal Species At Risk Act.

“This is an area of steep slopes, sensitive and rich wildlife populations that already have been feeling the effects of all the industrial impacts in the area,” Carolyn Campbell, conservation director of the Alberta Wilderness Association, says. “It’s very concerning that there’s momentum for yet another coal mine.”

Aseniwuche Winewak Nation is concerned about coal dust. Last summer, the Nation filed a petition for a federal review of the Mine 14 proposal, citing health concerns, water contamination, potential effects on fish and species at risk and disruption of land-based, traditional practices of Indigenous Peoples. It was rejected.

Mine 14 also straddles the boundary of two caribou management subregions in Alberta: the Upper Smoky and the Berland. The Alberta government committed to releasing plans for these areas to manage and limit the cumulative impacts on caribou, and other species, including grizzlies and at-risk fish, but one of these plans is now months overdue.

“This was one of the mines that was allowed to proceed when it seems like this should have been paused while those important overarching cumulative effects decisions were made,” Campbell says.

The company behind Mine 14 says the project will have a limited impact on the environment, citing its use of existing infrastructure like a coal processing plant and railways, its underground operations and its intention to recycle water and materials “where practical.”

She’s also concerned about the implications of coal wastewater given two recent incidents from CST Coal’s mine site near Grande Cache. In late 2022, approximately 107,000 litres of coal washwater was released from its containment area, followed by a second release in early March of 1.1 million litres into the Smoky River. Selenium affluent is highly toxic and has the potential to cause deformities and reproductive failures in fish.

Valory Resources says the Mine 14 project doesn’t pose any risk for selenium leaching, as it’s an underground mine as opposed to an open-pit or surface mine, and “mine water will not be released into the natural drainage courses.”

Valory Resources says Mine 14 won’t leak selenium into waterways, but residents remain concerned about the risks of having a mine upstream.

A spokesperson for the Alberta Energy Regulator told The Narwhal they were unable to provide further details as to the cause of the spills, but added the regulator will “continue to ensure the company is meeting all public safety and environmental requirements to respond to the incidents.”

But environmental groups and concerned citizens, including Desrochers and the Saddle Club, are not convinced.

“We don’t know enough about what caused those releases,” Campbell says. “The Alberta Energy Regulator investigation is still going on. But these accidents and spills keep happening, and there’s not enough transparency about [the regulator’s] inspection and audit results.”
Grande Cache ‘pushing for long-term sustainable tourism industry’

Like any new mine, there is the potential for economic benefits. And the proponents of Mine 14 say the project has other benefits, too. Since the mine will produce metallurgical coal for steelmaking, the company bills it as “necessary to achieve Canada’s goals of making the clean energy transition and developing a new, green economy,” noting steel is necessary for clean energy infrastructure like wind turbines.

But the future of coal in steelmaking is up for debate and local benefits of the mine remain unclear. The company has said the mine will bring 600 direct and indirect jobs to the community and provide money through royalty payments, taxes and other avenues.

The Grande Cache Chamber of Commerce couldn’t comment on the potential economic benefits of Mine 14. “The Chamber itself doesn’t really have much information about the mine,” Rick Bambrick, president of the Chamber of Commerce, says.

“If and when they start up, they’re going to have a facility for 400 people to do the construction. We’re sort of waiting for the [municipal district] to announce that they’ve picked a place for these construction workers to operate from,” Bambrick says.

Proponents of Mine 14 say the coal project will bring jobs to the region, but business owners like Desrochers are concerned those jobs won’t benefit the community in the long term.

The idea of a worker’s camp has some residents, including Hall and Tippe of the Saddle Club, concerned. “There’s a possibility that they’re going to bring in transient workers from out of town, out of country, who will do their seven-day shifts, then go home,” Tippe says. In its submission to the federal government, the company behind Mine 14 says it will ensure “local suppliers, contractors and job-seekers are supported and prioritized,” but not everyone is convinced.

“With Mine 14, the [company] has no intention of bringing in long-term residents, or people that are going to buy homes,” Desrochers says. “Hotel owners will maybe see a little increased business at the beginning. But in the long term? No, it’s not going to be there.”

 

Desrochers says Grande Cache has been “pushing for a long-term sustainable tourism industry” — and he worries that isn’t compatible with another coal mine.

He’s tired of the long-standing narrative of Grande Cache being a one-resource town that depends solely on coal production. “We have other industry here. We have a thriving forest. We have oil and gas. The community has been pushing for a long-term sustainable tourism industry,” Desrochers says.

“Every time the mine north of us is closed, everybody thinks that the lights are going to turn off in Grande Cache. But people still live here, whether that mine is running or not.”

PUBLISHED BY

Trina MoylesTrina Moyles is an award-winning Canadian writer, journalist and photographer whose work is inspired by rural communities