CANADA

Ranks of long-term unemployed swell even as economy added 84,000 jobs in October

OTTAWA — Nearly one-quarter of unemployed Canadians have been without work for six months or more, with Statistics Canada reporting a spike in their numbers in October even as the economy eked out another month of overall job growth.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Almost 450,000 were considered long-term unemployed last month, meaning they had been without a job for 27 weeks or more, with their ranks swelling by 79,000 in September and then 151,000 more in October.

Those unemployed long-term now make up 24.8 per cent of Canada's total, who numbered 1.8 million in October as the wave of short-term layoffs in March in April extended into the fall.

The jumps in September and October are the sharpest over more than 40 years of comparable data, and have pushed long-term unemployment beyond what it was just over a decade ago during the global financial crisis.

More men than women have been out of work for an extended period, and younger workers make up a larger share of the ranks of the country's long-term unemployed than they did in the last recession.

Counting those who want to work but didn't look for a job, a group not included in official unemployment figures, there are about 1.27 million Canadians who have been jobless for at least half a year, down from the 1.3 million in September.

"And they will continue to come down," said Mikal Skuterud, a labour economist from the University of Waterloo, who has closely tracked long-term joblessness during the pandemic.

The worry, he said, is the drop down is not going be as sharp as the rise that it might resemble Nike's famous swoosh logo.

The longer those people are out of work, the more difficult it will be for them to find a new job. Those that do are likely to earn less than before.

Some older workers may simply decide to retire. Younger workers who just got their first job or had just established themselves in the workforce, will have to find new work as part of a reshuffling that could take years to play out.

"These kind of shocks have long-term, maybe even scarring, permanent effects," Skuterud said. "Some segment of the workforce in Canada might be lost permanently."

Video: Calgary unemployment rate hits 15.6% amid COVID-19 pandemic and downturn (Global News) https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/topstories/ranks-of-long-term-unemployed-swell-even-as-economy-added-84-000-jobs-in-october/ar-BB1aKyRK?ocid=msedgntp


Policymakers are hoping to avoid that.

The federal Liberals have vowed to create one million jobs, with recently reshuffled infrastructure spending accounting for 60,000 of that. As for the remainder, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would only say Friday the government "looking at the investments we need to make in order to do that."

"We have been there for Canadians and we will continue to because many, many Canadians have lost their jobs because of COVID-19. and are continuing to struggle," he said.

Leah Nord, senior director of workforce strategies for the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said governments need to roll out skills training programs, given the jobless figures, and do so soon.

"Lifelong learning, upskilling and reskilling were important before the pandemic, but the pandemic I would say has really accelerated the need for this," she said.

The pace of job growth slowed in October as the economy added 83,600 jobs in the month. Overall gains were the smallest since economies were allowed to reopen earlier this year, noted TD senior economist Sri Thanabalasingam.

The unemployment rate was little changed at 8.9 per cent compared with nine per cent in September.

That would have risen to 11.3 per cent had it included in calculations the 540,000 Canadians who wanted to work but didn't search for a job.

Most of the gains were in full-time work, with core-aged women benefiting the most to bring their unemployment rate to 6.6 per cent, the lowest among the major demographic groups tracked by Statistics Canada.

Overall gains might have been higher if not for a drop of 48,000 jobs in the accommodation and food services industry, largely in Quebec, Statistics Canada said.

"We saw Canadian employment growth ease off the gas, but thankfully, it didn't go fully in reverse," said Brendon Bernard, an economist with job-posting site Indeed. "What happened really was a tug-of-war between sectors."

More Canadians were also working at home in October, coinciding with a rise in case counts of COVID-19, which prompted new rounds of restrictions in Ontario and Quebec.

Trudeau warned Friday about rolling back public health restrictions too quickly and potentially forcing widespread lockdowns anew like in the U.K., which would set back the pace of an economic recovery.

Employment readings are destined to ebb and flow over the coming months as governments try to to contain the pandemic, CIBC senior economist Royce Mendes said in a note.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2020.

Jordan Press, The Canadian Press

Blue wave or not, a green wave is sweeping the Canadian oilpatch

Geoffrey Morgan 

CALGARY – In a sign of the changing environment in the oilpatch, North America’s largest pipeline company Enbridge Inc. set new net-zero emissions targets Friday and outlined how the company sees the global energy transition from carbon-based energy to renewables playing out over the next few decades.

© Provided by Financial Post “We’re going to need all sources of supply to meet demand until at least 2040 and very likely beyond,” said Enbridge president Al Monaco.

Enbridge’s target of net-zero emissions by 2050 aligns the Calgary-based pipeline and utilities giant with the country’s three largest oil producers Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., Suncor Energy Inc. and Cenovus Energy Inc., along with European oil majors Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Total SA and BP Plc. — all of whom have adopted net-zero targets.

“Sustainability is integral to our ability to safely and reliably deliver the energy people need and want,” said Al Monaco, president of Enbridge . “How well we perform as a steward of our environment, a safe operator of essential energy infrastructure, and as a diverse and inclusive employer is inextricably linked to our business success and our ability to create long-term value for all stakeholders.”

The move comes as the Canadian oilpatch is facing extreme pressure from influential pension funds and fund managers to reduce its carbon footprint, the federal government’s stringent environmental policy measures, and companies’ fears of being excluded from ESG-indexes which are attracting billions of dollars from a growing number of eco-conscious retail and institutional investors.

“We expect energy companies to focus on this aspect of ESG more closely given increasing institutional interest. It is by addressing all components of ESG that the Canadian energy industry can move away from its international reputation as “dirty” or higher GHG oil and increase the understanding of practical initiatives that lower carbon intensity and help improve the livelihood of those in local communities,” wrote Dennis Fong, an analyst with The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, in a note in October.

The industry is also watching a changing political landscape in its biggest market south of the border, with the possible election of former vice-president Joe Biden as the next president of the country. Renewable energy and transitioning away from oil are key planks of the Democrat challenger’s economic policy.

Republican President Donald Trump had officially withdrawn from the Paris Agreement, but as Biden appears poised to win the election, he has vowed America will rejoin the global climate change accord in “77 days.”

The Canadian industry is embarking on its own green wave, regardless of new environmental policy measures that may be implemented by a possible new U.S. administration.

This week, the governments of Canada and Alberta signed a deal on methane emissions reduction targets, wherein the federal government accepted the oil-producing province’s target of reducing methane emissions 45 per cent below 2014 levels by 2025. Alberta also recently outlined a natural gas strategy to facilitate the global energy transition.

The moves by Enbridge and upstream producers Canadian Natural and Suncor to set net-zero targets and reduce emissions are an encouraging sign across the oil and gas value chain, said Pembina Institute’s Benjamin Israel.

“I think Enbridge announcing a net zero target is a great response, especially given the growing stringent requirements from investors, governments and society,” said Israel, a fossil fuels analyst, adding that as the industry makes these pledges, they could go a step further by reducing the emissions intensity of the oil and gas flowing through the pipelines.

Enbridge ships the bulk of Canadian oil exports to U.S. refineries primarily in the Midwest, and has faced delays and challenges on a number of pipelines projects, including its Line 3 replacement project in Minnesota, and its Line 5 tunnel project in Michigan, amid opposition from environmental and local groups

.

© Brent Lewin/Bloomberg Enbridge sees opportunity in such emerging areas as renewable natural gas.

In a move to reduce environmental scrutiny surrounding its operations, the midstream company set a target of net-zero emissions by 2050 and also pledged to reduce its emissions by 35 per cent by 2030. At the same time the company intends to diversify its board by appointing women to at least 40 per cent of board positions and have visible minorities represent 20 per cent of positions by 2025.

In an investor call Friday, Al Monaco said the company continues to see opportunities in offshore wind projects, in solar projects and also in emerging fields such as renewable natural gas and hydrogen projects.

“Global energy demand will rise in the next two decades, driven by population growth and an increasing middle class and urbanization,” Monaco said, noting that energy demand in developing countries is expected to rise by at least 35 per cent.

“We’re going to need all sources of supply to meet demand until at least 2040 and very likely beyond,” Monaco said, adding that hydrocarbon-based energy would still be in demand in 2040 given growing energy demand and natural gas, in particular, “will dominate global energy.”

“Some people call this the bridge (fuel) but in our view it’s an awfully long bridge,” Monaco said.

The company’s most recent sustainability report shows that Enbridge emitted 6.5 million tonnes of CO2 in 2019 from its operations, including natural gas combustion. The company also counted just shy of seven million tonnes of CO2 emissions from electricity it purchased and consumed in the same year. All told, a 35 per cent reduction translates to a 4.71 million tonne CO2 emissions reduction for the company.

Enbridge plans to reduce its emissions intensity and overall emissions through a combination of replacing old equipment and changing how its existing equipment is powered by installing additional solar arrays, chief sustainability officer Pete Sheffield said.

The new targets, he said, are also tied to employee and executive bonus compensation across the organization.

Projects and operations such as cogeneration, carbon capture and sequestration, CO2 flooding, and wind farms are not only helping to improve the GHG intensity of the electrical grid (equivalent to removing over 4.5 million cars annually from the road), but they are also driving lower supply costs for producers at competitive rates of return, CIBC’s Fong wrote.

“Full adoption of ESG-based investing is becoming a major focus, and appropriate and fulsome disclosure standards are needed to improve both intra- and inter-industry comparability,” Fong said. “We believe the mass adoption of ESG-based portfolio management and appropriate carbon-related disclosure could provide better transparency for Western Canada’s role as a participant in the energy transition.”

Still, Pembina’s Israel said, the commitments by large companies show that government can adopt more stringent environmental policies, as companies are making pledges that are more stringent than existing government targets.

For example, Israel said the commitments by Enbridge take the company further than the United State’s own current emissions pledges. He likened the move to the way power companies in Alberta have shown they’ve been able to eliminate coal-fired emissions years earlier than the scheduled phase-out date of 2030.

“It is great that there is a willingness in the sector to go beyond current policies,” Israel said.

Pipeline company vows to reduce its GHG emissions by 35% by 2030, hit zero by 2050

CALGARY — Enbridge Inc., the operator of the largest crude oil pipeline network in North America, says it will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions intensity to net zero by 2050.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The Calgary-based company's pledge on Friday puts it in a growing club of parties making the 2050 pledge that includes the Canadian government, Vancouver-based miner Teck Resources Ltd., oilsands producer Cenovus Energy Inc. and international oil companies like Repsol, to name a few.

Enbridge is also aiming to reduce emission intensity by 35 per cent by 2030 compared with 2018.

"This isn't our first rodeo at ESG, we've set and met targets in the past," said Enbridge CEO Al Monaco on a conference call, adding the company considers its environmental, social, and governance initiatives to be "not a nice-to-have but a must-do."

"The new targets are about getting even better," he said.

He outlined four ways for the company to reduce its Scope 1 direct emissions from owned or controlled sources and Scope 2 indirect emissions from purchased energy and other products.

They include modernizing equipment, applying technology to reduce emissions and consumption, using lower carbon sources of fuel for pumps and compressors, self-powering facilities with solar arrays and investing in "nature-based offsets."

Enbridge also plans to track how its ongoing investments in low-carbon projects such as wind farms affect indirect Scope 3 emissions — which occur in the production and consumption of the oil and gas it handles — without making a specific target, Monaco added.

The announcement was greeted with skepticism by Keith Stewart, senior energy strategist for Greenpeace Canada, who suggested it is little more than "marketing."

"Investors want to see real decarbonization plans and until Enbridge accepts the challenge of becoming a 100 per cent renewable energy company, this is simply greenwashing," he said.

"Using solar energy to power the pumps that push oil and gas through your pipelines can't hide the fact that you're still selling fossil fuels." 

Institutional shareholder adviser Aequo, however, issued a press release commending Enbridge, noting it has been asking the company to more meaningfully embrace emission targets for the past two years.

“Setting a net zero target is an important step," said Francois Meloche, director of shareholder engagement.

Enbridge also unveiled diversity targets, aiming to grow the racial and ethnic part of its workforce to 28 per cent and the female portion to 40 per cent. It also wants to have 20 per cent racial and ethnic and 40 per cent female board membership by 2025.

On the call, Enbridge said it is weeks away from getting the final permits it needs to construct its Line 3 replacement oil pipeline through Minnesota, estimating construction time of six to nine months when they are in hand.

Presidential candidate Joe Biden has pledged to cancel the presidential permit for the rival Keystone XL pipeline if he is declared the winner but Vern Yu, Enbridge's president of liquids pipelines, said he's not worried Line 3 will be affected.

"We should remind you that under the prior (Obama) administration, where Mr. Biden was the vice-president, we were able to get all of our cross-border permits," he said on the call.

The company reported third-quarter net earnings of $990 million, up from $949 million in the same quarter last year, as cash from operations fell to $2.3 billion from $2.73 billion.

On an adjusted basis, Enbridge said it earned $961 million or 48 cents per share for the quarter, down from an adjusted profit of $1.12 billion or 56 cents per share a year earlier.

Analysts on average had expected a profit of 53 cents per share, according to financial data firm Refinitiv.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2020.

Companies in this story: (TSX:ENB, TSX:TECK, TSX:CVE)

Dan Healing, The Canadian Press

GREEN CAPITALI$M

Canadian cannabis, psychedelics industries cheer state measures in U.S. election

TORONTO — Canadian cannabis and psychedelics companies that have been eyeing the U.S. market have a few new reasons to celbrate.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Through U.S. election ballot questions, five states — Arizona, New Jersey, South Dakota, Mississippi and Montana — this week voted in favour of legalizing recreational or medical cannabis, while Oregon supported the sale of psilocybin mushrooms and Washington, D.C. decriminalized some psychedelic drugs.

Experts say the growing support for cannabis and psychedelic drugs in the United States could be a boon for its neighbours to the north.

“The size of the market dwarfs the overall opportunity in Canada,” said Omar Khan, Hill+Knowlton Strategies’ national cannabis sector lead.

“A lot of the players here have gone through ups and downs in the industry, learned what to do and not to do and are now able to perhaps apply some of those learnings to the U.S. market.”

On top of benefits from states that green-lit legalization, Khan said a Joe Biden and Kamala Harris White House could deliver more cannabis wins.

He pointed to the Safe Banking Act, a Democratic bill with some Republican support stalled in the U.S. Senate. It would allow financial institutions to work with cannabis companies without retribution and could pass under a new administration.

“If you're a Canadian company looking to get into retail down south, that's potentially a game-changer for you in terms of access to capital,” Khan said.

Biden and Harris could also be good for cannabis companies because they committed to decriminalizing pot and expunging criminal records related to its possession, he said.

"On the flip side, a Donald Trump victory would mean more status quo and I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing for cannabis companies because it just gives them that much more time and it allows capital to move back ... into Canadian companies," said Deepak Anand, the chief executive of Materia Ventures, which produces and distributes medical cannabis.

The U.S. election came as the Canadian cannabis sector is facing turmoil. The optimism that circled the industry two years ago, when cannabis was legalized in Canada, has largely dissipated.

Pot companies now are restructuring and laying off thousands of workers. Industry closures, mergers and acquisitions are materializing and many believe more are on their way.

A U.S. toehold could be a step to reversing those trends, said David Culver, Canopy Growth Corp.‘s head of U.S. government relations.

"There's a lot of eyes in Canada on the U.S. market, and we're excited about the possibilities there because it will have a very positive impact on my company and many others," he said.

He believes U.S. election developments signal the growing normalization of cannabis and indicate where policies can be pushed further forward, even during the pandemic.

For example, he said states facing ballooning budget deficits will be "looking under every rock" for tax revenue. Cannabis-friendly policies could create a cash injection while signalling that they are open for businesses in the sector.

When states are ready for cannabis, he said, Canopy has the "crystal ball" advantage because it knows how legalization works from its experience in Canada and can easily deploy strategies it used before.

Aurora Cannabis chief executive Miguel Martin agreed.

"This is the right moment to improve financial systems, address social injustices, and realize the potential benefits of sound, evidence-based cannabis public policy," he said in an email. "Aurora remains focused on and optimistic for the U.S. CBD market and long-term prospects for federal legalization."

It’s not just cannabis companies that stand to win through the U.S. election.

Companies working hard to normalize psychedelics and get them seen as potential aids in the fight against mental illness can reap rewards too, said Ronan Levy, Field Trip Health Ltd.'s chief executive.

His Toronto-based company, which has been exploring ketamine-enhanced psychotherapy, believes the psychedelic drug industry will grow and may become more significant than the cannabis sector.

Oregon's support for the growth, administration and sale of psilocybin mushrooms in licensed facilities is a “bellwether,” Levy said.

“We know for a fact that other states were looking to move forward with a ballot similar to Oregon, but got really sidelined by the pandemic ... I think this is really going to drive the industry forward.”

The U.S.’s large population and influence may also change consumer sentiment and hesitation around psychedelics, creating an opportunity for Canadian companies, he said.

“If you see the U.S. start to embrace psychedelic therapies, it's going to accelerate global acceptance of psychedelic therapies and really drive things forward for us.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2020.

Companies in this story: (TSX:WEED, TSX:ACB)

Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press

Taunted and harassed: Why an employee subjected to horrific cruelty can't sue her abusers under Ontario's new law

Howard Levitt 

MANAGEMENT LAWYER, EMPLOYMENT LAW

Can abused Canadian employees no longer sue their harassers?

© Provided by Financial Post

 If you suffer workplace caused mental distress, seek legal advice before applying for workers' compensation benefits as a constructive dismissal would likely result in higher damages.

Sprayed with Lysol and victimized by her coworkers, Jan Morningstar assumed she could sue her abusers without interference by government authorities. She was wrong. The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board’s mental distress regime stopped her in its tracks.

Until Jan. 1, 2018, Ontario’s workers’ compensation barred claims for mental stress not caused by a physical injury. The legislation was then amended to add claims for “mental stress arising out of and in the course of the worker’s employment,” e.g., caused by harassment and other culpable behaviour.

Workers believed these amendments were a victory. They should have watched what they wished for. Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal’s decision to bar Morningstar from suing her abusers shows how this legislative scheme has gone horribly wrong and can now strip harassed employees of their right to sue.

Howard Levitt: Bullying a chronic disease in Canada's health-care sector — but the courts are finally reining it in

Morningstar, a 60-year-old cancer survivor and housekeeper at Fallsview Hotel in Niagara Falls, Ont., was ridiculed by her coworkers for her cancer symptoms. They told her she had an unpleasant scent, sprayed her with Lysol, asked her about her use of feminine hygiene products and reportedly left towels and bathmats on her chair to suggest incontinence — outrageous conduct. Her employer apparently did little to stop this.

Morningstar suffered this blatantly demeaning conduct, being a single parent in need of her employment income, for as long as she could, but eventually quit.

Employees who have been harassed have historically been able to sue their employer for having created or permitted a toxic environment that caused mental distress and effectively cost them their job. The remedy for this is a constructive dismissal claim with a severance package and possibly additional damages for mental distress and even punitive and other damages. These damages are paid by the employer and/or the harassers and a concordant message sent that this is unacceptable and costly behaviour to indulge or permit in the workplace. A lesson to abusers.

However, that lesson is lost if workers’ compensation simply pays out mental distress benefits and the employee is barred from suing in court for dramatically greater damages. Worse, the benefits are paid not by the harasser or employer, but by the government. At most, the employer’s workers’ compensation premiums may go up.

Happily, decisions out of the WSIAT have generally still allowed employees to sue in court when they have been terminated to obtain a severance package and if applicable, punitive damages to punish offenders. But the key is that the employee has to have been terminated already or that something other than mental distress caused them to resign.

When the Fallsview Hotel argued that Morningstar should apply for workers’ compensation rather than sue, the WSIAT agreed and ruled that her claim for constructive dismissal was barred. It ruled that she could only pursue comparatively low-value chronic mental distress benefits through the workers’ compensation regime. In other words: no severance package, no punitive damages and no consequence for the hotel’s condonation of its employees’ horrific cruelty.

WSIAT’s decision deviated from prior decisions because Morningstar was pursuing a claim for constructive dismissal (a termination resulting from mental distress/toxic work environment) rather than a more typical wrongful dismissal action in which an employee is terminated rather than deciding to leave herself due to mental distress.

The critical finding was that her suit for constructive dismissal was “inextricably linked to the workplace injury,” i.e., mental distress caused by her coworkers which led her to quit. The WSIAT stated that “her employment was effectively terminated by the harassing and bullying conduct of co-workers and management which caused her mental distress to such a degree that she was forced to take sick leave and ultimately resign.”

The decision is not wrong in this respect — Morningstar quit because of mental distress caused in the workplace. But the result could be the death knell of any constructive dismissal action based on mental distress in the workplace.

This WSIAT decision also presents danger from a policy perspective. If this reasoning becomes the norm, employers will have a license to intentionally cause employees traumatic or chronic mental distress in order to drive them from their job, force them into the workers’ compensation scheme and bar them from more effective recourse in the courts. Surely this is not the intended result of adding the ability to claim mental distress benefits — to allow harassers off the hook.

For now, if you suffer workplace caused mental distress, seek legal advice before applying for workers’ compensation benefits as a constructive dismissal would likely result in higher damages. Note, however, that your suit could now be barred.

Employers who are sued by an employee for causing mental distress, should consider applying to have any claim barred in favour of a workers’ compensation application. First, however, remember your duty to protect employees from harassment. If an employee complains, and your investigative process (it’s best if it is internal) confirms it occurs, take swift action to hold the harassers accountable. Doing so can avoid the suit altogether or give you a strong defence.

And now on to questions I received recently.

Q: Can I be sued if I don’t give my two weeks’ notice?

A: You appear to be under the misapprehension that you can resign and only provide two weeks notice. Unless that’s specified in an employment contract, most employees have to provide far more than that.

The law is that an employee must provide the employer sufficient notice to employ a suitably trained replacement. That would generally take more than two weeks before such a person can be recruited and commence. If less notice is provided, the employer can sue for its damages, which is called a wrongful resignation action — the flip side of wrongful dismissal.

Damages could include recruitment fees, the overtime of other employees or items such as loss sales if the employee is in sales. From that would be subtracted the employees’ salary. Sometimes when I act for employers and employees resign immediately and sue for constructive dismissal, I respond with a wrongful resignation case.

Q: I received my severance. If I take up part-time work, will that mean I have to pay some of the money back to my ex-employer?

A: That would depend entirely on the terms of the severance settlement. Some require payments to be reduced or refunded if the employee obtains other employment. Other settlements do not.

Q: I am accused of breaching the confidentiality of my severance settlement and the employer wishes my severance back. Am I obliged to pay it?

A: There are two types of confidentiality agreements, one in which you agree to pay all the money back and another in which the damages for breach are unspecified. In the former case, pursuant to a decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal by Jan Wong against the Globe and Mail, Wong had to pay all of the money back for breaching the confidentiality of the settlement. If there is no specific penalty ascribed for the breach, the employer would have to prove its damages, if any.

Got a question about employment law during COVID-19? Write to me at levitt@levittllp.com.

Howard Levitt is senior partner of Levitt LLP, employment and labour lawyers. He practises employment law in eight provinces. He is the author of six books including the Law of Dismissal in Canada.

I'm really looking forward to working together': Prime Minister Justin Trudeau congratulates Biden on U.S. election win

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau congratulated president-elect Joe Biden on his win in the U.S. presidential election Saturday, as the Associated Press and CNN declares him the winner.

© Provided by National Post Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shakes hands with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden during a meeting in Trudeau's office on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, December 9, 2016.

“Our two countries are close friends, partners, and allies,” Trudeau tweeted in a message to Biden and vice-president-elect Kamala Harris. “We share a relationship that’s unique on the world stage. I’m really looking forward to working together and building on that with you both.”

Biden’s victory came after the Associated Press, CNN and NBC showed him winning Pennsylvania and gaining more than the 270 Electoral College votes needed to secure the presidency. Trump sought to undermine the outcome, baselessly accusing Democrats of trying to steal the election and claiming victory before the race was called.

Harris, 56, becomes the first Black and Indian-American woman to serve as vice president, a glimpse at a coming generational shift in the party.

Biden, 77, will become the oldest president-elect in U.S. history and the first to oust a sitting commander-in-chief after one term since Bill Clinton defeated George H.W. Bush in 1992.

With files from Bloomberg

Biden win sparks brief jubilation for Canada but choppy road still ahead

By David Ljunggren 

© Reuters/Chris Wattie FILE PHOTO: A woman watches as U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrive at the First Ministers’ meeting in Ottawa

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada allowed itself a moment of jubilation on Saturday after Joe Biden's victory in the U.S. presidential election marked the end of four often bruising years with Donald Trump, but the new president's agenda means that challenges lie ahead.

"I look forward to working with President-elect Biden, Vice President-elect Harris, their administration, and the United States Congress as we tackle the world's greatest challenges together," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said shortly after several networks declared Biden the winner.

Trudeau was one of the first world leaders to Tweet his congratulations to the president-elect.

Ottawa, traditionally a close U.S. ally, found itself pummeled by Trump, who called Trudeau "very dishonest and weak," slapped tariffs on Canadian metals exports and threatened to scrap a continental trade deal that underpins Canada's economic prosperity.

Canada's ruling center-left Liberals have generally had good relations with Democratic administrations in recent decades, but Biden's principal policies could pose major problems for Canada and Trudeau.

"A Biden victory would mean smoother relations with the United States ... It would be more respectful and that alone would be an improvement," said Roland Paris, a former foreign policy adviser to Trudeau.

"Having said that, the United States has not only become more inward looking, but has also become more protectionist."

Biden promises a "Buy America" push to spend $400 billion on U.S.-made goods. This could harm Canada since its economy is highly integrated with that of the United States, which takes 75% of all Canadian goods exports.

A similar U.S. provision in the wake of the 2007-2009 financial crisis sparked a clash with Ottawa, forcing Canada to go through a lengthy process to secure waivers allowing its companies to take part in U.S. federal procurement contracts. Biden was vice-president in the Obama administration for eight years starting in January 2009.

"(Canada) has to appeal to America's self-interest ... and make the case that the less competitive your procurement is, probably the more costly it might be," said Mark Agnew, head of international policy at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.

A mid-sized power devoted to multilateralism, Canada found itself isolated as Trump distanced himself from the United Nations, the World Health Organization, NATO and the World Trade Organization.

Canadian officials say they hope Biden will quickly start to repair the damage. In particular, Canada wants more U.S. cooperation as it bids to pressure China to change its policy on detaining foreigners.

In an incident Ottawa calls "hostage diplomacy," Beijing arrested two Canadian men in 2018, shortly after Vancouver police detained Huawei Technologies Co Ltd.'s Chinese Chief Financial Officer on a U.S. warrant.

ENVIRONMENT

Biden has outlined a $2 trillion plan of environmental investments and other measures that "would leave Canada basically in the dust," according to Keith Stewart, a climate and energy campaigner with Greenpeace Canada.

Canada, a major energy exporter with no chance of meeting its 2030 climate goals, may have to boost a price on carbon that is already unpopular in some parts of the country, and put more money into electric vehicles.

Biden is also looking at imposing a carbon adjustment tax on imports from nations deemed not to be doing enough to fight climate change.

"He is aiming for the moon with his green plan and we have to be along for the ride, we can't just go half way," said a Canadian government source, noting that the Democrats would first have to retake the Senate to implement the entire plan.

But Kergin, Paris and others predict Biden is likely to find his time dominated by domestic challenges such as the coronavirus pandemic and race relations.

"I think there's a danger in overestimating just how internationally focused a new Democratic administration would become," Gerry Butts, Trudeau's former chief adviser, told a Huffington Post Canada webcast.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Steve Scherer and Howard Goller)

JOE BIDEN WINS PRESIDENCY, DENIES TRUMP SECOND TERM

Six countries reported coronavirus on mink farms, WHO says

Live minks at a mink fur farm near Naestved, Denmark, on Nov 6, 2020.PHOTO: EPA-EFE

PUBLISHED6 HOURS AGO

COPENHAGEN (AFP) - Denmark and the US are among six countries that have reported new coronavirus cases linked to mink farms, the World Health Organisation said.

Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden are the other nations to have discovered Sars-CoV-2 in minks, WHO said in a statement on Friday (Nov 6).

Denmark has imposed strict measures on the north of the country after warning that a mutation of the virus had jumped from minks to humans and infected 12 people.


Copenhagen has warned the mutation could threaten the effectiveness of any future vaccine and has ordered the slaughter of all the estimated 15-17 million minks in the country.

Britain yesterday banned entry to all non-resident foreigners coming from Denmark after the mutation linked to mink farms was found in humans.

"This decision to act quickly follows on from health authorities in Denmark reporting widespread outbreaks of coronavirus in mink farms," British Transport Minister Grant Shapps said on Twitter.

Britain's transport department said all non-British nationals or resident travellers who have been in or transited through Denmark in the last 14 days would be denied entry.

Scientists say virus mutations are common and often harmless, and this one doesn't cause a more severe illness in humans.

But Danish health authorities have expressed concern this strain, known as "Cluster 5", is not inhibited by antibodies to the same degree as the normal virus, which they fear could threaten the efficacy of vaccines that are being developed across the globe.

"Initial observations suggest that the clinical presentation, severity and transmission among those infected are similar to that of other circulating Sars-CoV-2 viruses," the WHO statement said.

"However, this variant... the 'cluster 5' variant, had a combination of mutations, or changes that have not been previously observed. The implications of the identified changes in this variant are not yet well understood," WHO warned.

The UN agency said preliminary findings indicated this mink-associated variant has "moderately decreased sensitivity to neutralising antibodies".

WHO called for further studies to verify the preliminary findings and "to understand any potential implications of this finding in terms of diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines in development".

"Although the virus is believed to be ancestrally linked to bats, its origin and intermediate host(s) of Sars-CoV-2 have not yet been identified," WHO noted.

In June, Denmark registered the first case of coronavirus at a mink farm in the country's northwestern region. Early tests suggested that humans and animals were spreading the virus to each other.

The virus initially spread to two other farms and herds at all three were culled. But it failed to contain the spread of the virus between farms.

So far, 214 human cases of Covid-19 have been identified in Denmark with variants associated with farmed minks, including 12 cases with a unique variant, reported on Nov 5.

'It stops here': Danish mink farmer sees no future after mass cull

Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen,
Reuters•November 5, 2020



'It stops here': Danish mink farmer sees no future after mass cull
Hans Henrik Jeppesen interacts with one of his minks at his farm near Soroe

By Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen

SOROE, Denmark (Reuters) - Born and raised on a mink farm in eastern Denmark, Hans Henrik Jeppesen was about to take over the business from his father.

The plan is now in tatters, after the government announced this week that the country's entire mink population must be culled to prevent a mutated coronavirus from spreading in the animals and in humans.

The decision, described as a "black day" by the organisation representing a sector that exports $800 million worth of mink pelts annually, was particularly painful because Jeppesen's 36,000 minks are healthy and free from the virus.


"This is incredibly hard for me," the 34-year-old told Reuters at his farm in Soroe, some 60 km (37 miles) west of the capital Copenhagen. "This is my whole life."

He and his co-workers began culling the minks on Thursday, laying the dead, white-furred animals out in neat rows on metal trays. They have been given 10 days to complete the job.

Jeppesen said the industry, which employs 4,000 people in Denmark, would probably never recover from the blow. Some 17 million minks will be culled in total. Denmark is Europe's biggest producer and exporter of mink pelts.

"It stops here. We will never get the industry going again," he said.

Parts of northern Denmark, where most mink farms are located, faced new, tough lockdown measures to prevent human contagion with a mutated virus, which authorities said could be more resistant against future vaccines for people.

Jeppesen's farm is located far from the affected areas.

"We know that mink are extremely responsive to coronavirus, so I guess we just have to trust the authorities to make the right decision," he said.

He plans to sell the fur from the culled animals at auctions next year.

"Hopefully these last furs can cover our debt," said Jeppesen, who had just finished investing in equipment to keep the farm running for years to come.

He was close to completing a generational change from his father, who started the farm 40 years ago.

"This is in our blood. It's all we know," said the farmer, who got his first mink when he was a child.

Jeppesen, who has an agricultural education, has no plans for his future and does not know if he will stay on the farm.

"It will be mentally hard to stay here on the farm with all the animals gone."

Minks are seen at Hans Henrik Jeppesen's farm near Soroe

(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; Editing by Mike Collett-White)

Denmark to cull millions of minks over mutated coronavirus

Health authorities found coronavirus strains in humans and minks (above) that showed decreased sensitivity against antibodies.

 PHOTO: REUTERS

PUBLISHEDNOV 5, 2020, 12:19 AM SGT

COPENHAGEN (AFP) - Denmark, the world’s biggest producer of mink fur, said on Wednesday (Nov 4) it would cull all of the country’s minks after a mutated version of the new coronavirus was detected at mink farms and had spread to people.

The mutation “could pose a risk that future (coronavirus) vaccines won’t work the way they should,” Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told a press conference.

“It is necessary to cull all the minks.” Denmark’s police chief Thorkild Fogde said they would start the culling as “soon as possible,” but conceded that with 15 million to 17 million minks spread over 1,080 farms it was “a very large undertaking”.


The World Health Organisation said the novel coronavirus spreads primarily through human-to-human transmission, but that “there is evidence of transmission at the human-animal interface”.

Several animals – including dogs and cats – have tested positive for the virus and there have been reported cases at mink farms in the Netherlands and Spain, as well as in Denmark.

“In a few instances, the minks that were infected by humans have transmitted the virus to other people. These are the first reported cases of animal-to-human transmission,” the WHO said in a statement sent to AFP.

The novel coronavirus has been detected at 207 Danish mink farms, including some cases with a mutated version that has been confirmed to spread back to humans.

Health authorities have also concluded that the mutated virus “is not inhibited by antibodies to the same degree as the normal virus”.

“Studies have shown that the mutations may affect the current candidates for a Covid-19 vaccine,” Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said.

“It is a threat to the development of coronavirus vaccines. That is why it is important that we make a national effort,” he added.

While the majority of cases had been observed in the northern part of the Jutland region, all minks in the country would still be culled.

The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) is developing new technical guidance on animal health, including on testing and quarantine, the WHO said.

 

Minks are seen at Hans Henrik Jeppesen's farm near Soroe

(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; Editing by Mike Collett-White)

Coronavirus Denmark

Denmark finds 214 people with mink-related virus

New strain has mutations that could pose risk to future Covid-19 vaccines, say experts

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said seven municipalities in northern Denmark will face movement curbs across county lines

PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

PUBLISHED NOV 7, 2020 

COPENHAGEN • Denmark's State Serum Institute, which deals with infectious diseases, has found mink-related versions of the coronavirus in 214 people since June, according to a report on its website.

One strain of the mutated coronavirus, which has prompted Denmark to cull its entire herd of minks, has however been found only in 12 people and on five mink farms so far.

Denmark had announced strict new lockdown rules on Thursday in the north of the country after the authorities discovered a mutated coronavirus strain in minks bred in the region, prompting a nationwide cull that will devastate the large pelt industry.


The government said on Wednesday that it would cull all minks - up to 17 million - to prevent human contagion with a mutated coronavirus, which the authorities said could be more resistant to future vaccines.

Seven municipalities in northern Denmark, home to most of the country's mink farms, will face restrictions on movement across county lines, while restaurants and bars will be closed, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said.

Schools will be closed and all public transport will be shut until Dec 3, she said, encouraging residents in the region to stay within their municipality and get tested.

For Denmark's mink pelt industry, which racked up exports of around US$800 million (S$1 billion) last year and employs 4,000 people, the cull could amount to a death knell. The industry association for Danish breeders called the move a "black day for Denmark".

"Of course, we must not be the cause of a new pandemic. We do not know the professional basis for this assessment and risk... but the government's decision is a disaster for the industry and Denmark," association chairman Tage Pedersen said.

In its report, the institute said laboratory tests showed the new strain had mutations on its so-called spike protein, a part of the virus that invades and infects healthy cells.

That poses a risk to future Covid-19 vaccines, which are based on disabling the spike protein, the institute said.

Dr Ian Jones, a virology professor from Britain's University of Reading, said the virus would be expected to mutate in a new species.

"It must adapt to be able to use mink receptors to enter cells and so will modify the spike protein to enable this to happen efficiently," he explained.

"The danger is that the mutated virus could then spread back into man and evade any vaccine response which would have been designed to the original, non-mutated version of the spike protein, and not the mink-adapted version."

Dr James Wood, a professor of veterinary medicine from Cambridge University, cautioned that the true implication of the changes in the spike protein had not yet been fully assessed by scientists.

"It is too early to say that the change will cause either vaccines or immunity to fail," he said.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said yesterday it is now looking at biosecurity around mink farms across the world to prevent further "spillover events".

Dr Maria van Kerkhove, the WHO's technical lead for Covid-19, told a briefing in Geneva yesterday that transmission of the virus between animals and humans was "a concern", but added: "Mutations (in viruses) are normal. These type of changes in the virus are something we have been tracking since the beginning."

"We are working with regional offices... where there are mink farms, and looking at biosecurity and to prevent spillover events," Dr van Kerkhove said.

She said Denmark's decision to cull its minks was aimed at preventing the establishment of "a new animal reservoir for this virus".

Britain said it is removing Denmark from the government's travel corridor list. People arriving in Britain from Denmark now need to self-isolate.

"Passengers arriving into the UK from Denmark from 4am on Friday 6 November 2020 will need to self-isolate for 14 days by law before following domestic restrictions now in force," British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said in a statement.

Britain also removed Sweden and Germany from its travel corridor on Thursday.

REUTERS

About Europe's mink industry


COPENHAGEN • Denmark is Europe's largest exporter of mink pelts.

Here are some key facts about the industry in Denmark and elsewhere in Europe:

• The Netherlands, another major European Union exporter, accelerated a plan to phase out mink farming after two humans were infected with Covid-19 during the first coronavirus wave in May. More than 100 Dutch producers - with around 800,000 mother animals - have been ordered to close three years early by March next year, at a cost of €180 million (S$288 million) to the Dutch government. The coronavirus has been found at 69 Dutch mink farms. Dutch health experts are still working to determine to what extent the farms are a source of Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.

• France, which exported roughly €120 million worth of fur last year, has decided to outlaw mink farming from 2025.

• The authorities in Denmark said five cases of the new virus strain had been recorded on mink farms and 12 cases in humans, who are believed to have caught the illness from animals.

• Spain culled 93,000 animals at a farm in the Aragon region in July after an outbreak there.

• The European Union is one of the world's main sources of fur clothing, led by Denmark, Finland, Italy, Poland, Greece and the Netherlands. Exports are worth hundreds of millions of euros annually, according to the UN Comtrade database.

• Animal rights group Humane Society International - United Kingdom said China, Denmark and Poland are the largest mink producers globally, with 60 million minks killed annually for their fur.

MORE ON THIS TOPIC

Denmark to cull millions of minks over mutated coronavirus

Mink linked to human Covid-19 case prompts Dutch to screen farms

Spain to cull nearly 100,000 mink with coronavirus

Some key facts about the mink industry in Europe

REUTERS

Nasal Spray Prevents COVID Infection in Ferrets, Study Finds

Donald G. McNeil Jr.,
The New York Times•November 6, 2020

ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA - MARCH 30, 2018: A ferret in a vivarium of the Dom Farmatsii [Pharmacy House] scientific research and manufacturing association. 

(Photo by Peter Kovalev\TASS via Getty Images)

A masked pedestrian walks by triage tents set up outside the NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center in New York during the early months of the pandemic, April 8, 2020. (James Estrin/The New York Times)

A nasal spray that blocks the absorption of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has completely protected ferrets it was tested on, according to a small study released Thursday by an international team of scientists. The study, which was limited to animals and has not yet been peer-reviewed, was assessed by several health experts at the request of The New York Times.

If the spray, which the scientists described as nontoxic and stable, is proved to work in humans, it could provide a new way of fighting the pandemic. A daily spritz up the nose would act like a vaccine.

“Having something new that works against the coronavirus is exciting,” said Dr. Arturo Casadevall, the chairman of immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who was not involved in the study. “I could imagine this being part of the arsenal.”

The work has been underway for months by scientists from Columbia University Medical Center in New York, Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands and Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Columbia University Medical Center.

The team would require additional funding to pursue clinical trials in humans. Dr. Anne Moscona, a pediatrician and microbiologist at Columbia and co-author of the study, said they had applied for a patent on the product, and she hoped Columbia University would approach the federal government’s Operation Warp Speed or large pharmaceutical companies that are seeking new ways to combat the coronavirus.

The spray attacks the virus directly. It contains a lipopeptide, a cholesterol particle linked to a chain of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. This particular lipopeptide exactly matches a stretch of amino acids in the spike protein of the virus, which the pathogen uses to attach to a human airway or lung cell.

Before a virus can inject its RNA into a cell, the spike must effectively unzip, exposing two chains of amino acids, in order to fuse to the cell wall. As the spike zips back up to complete the process, the lipopeptide in the spray inserts itself, latching on to one of the spike’s amino acid chains and preventing the virus from attaching.

“It is like you are zipping a zipper but you put another zipper inside, so the two sides cannot meet,” said Matteo Porotto, a microbiologist at Columbia University and one of the paper’s authors.

The work was described in a paper posted to the preprint server bioRxiv Thursday morning, and has been submitted to the journal Science for peer review.

Dr. Peter J. Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, said the therapy looked “really promising.”

“What I’d like to know now is how easy it is to scale production,” he said.

In the study, the spray was given to six ferrets, which were then divided into pairs and placed in three cages. Into each cage also went two ferrets that had been given a placebo spray and one ferret that had been deliberately infected with SARS-CoV-2 a day or two earlier.

Ferrets are used by scientists studying flu, severe acute respiratory syndrome and other respiratory diseases because they can catch viruses through the nose much as humans do, although they also infect each other by contact with feces or by scratching and biting.

After 24 hours together, none of the sprayed ferrets caught the disease; all the placebo-group ferrets did.

“Virus replication was completely blocked,” the authors wrote.

The protective spray attaches to cells in the nose and lungs and lasts about 24 hours, Moscona said. “If it works this well in humans, you could sleep in a bed with someone infected or be with your infected kids and still be safe,” she said.

The amino acids come from a stretch of the spike protein in coronaviruses that rarely mutates. The scientists tested it against four different variants of the virus, including both the well-known “Wuhan” and “Italian” strains, and also against the coronaviruses that cause SARS and Middle East respiratory syndrome.

In cell cultures, it protected completely against all strains of the pandemic virus, fairly well against SARS and partially against MERS.

The lipoprotein can be inexpensively produced as a freeze-dried white powder that does not need refrigeration, Moscona said. A doctor or pharmacist could mix the powder with sugar and water to produce a nasal spray.

Other labs have designed antibodies and “mini-proteins” that also block the SARS-CoV-2 virus from entering cells, but these are chemically more complex and may need to be stored in cold temperatures.

Moscona and Porotto have been collaborating on similar “fusion inhibitor” peptides for 15 years, they said in a conference call. They have developed some against measles, Nipah, parainfluenza and other viruses.

But those products aroused little commercial interest, Porotto said, because an effective measles vaccine already exists and because the deadly Nipah virus only turns up occasionally in faraway places like Bangladesh and Malaysia.

Monoclonal antibodies to the new coronavirus have been shown to prevent infection as well as treat it, but they are expensive to make, require refrigeration and must be injected. Australian scientists have tested a nasal spray against COVID-19 in ferrets, but it works by enhancing the immune system, not by targeting the virus directly.

Because lipopeptides can be shipped as a dry powder, they could be used even in rural areas in poor countries that lack refrigeration, Moscona said.

Moscona, a pediatrician who usually works on parainfluenza and other viruses that infect children, said she was most interested in getting the product to poor countries that may never have access to the monoclonal antibodies and mRNA vaccines that Americans may soon have. But she has little experience in that arena, she said.

“I’ve always been a basic scientist,” she said. “I’ve never done drug development or taken anything to the FDA or anything like that.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

© 2020 The New York Times Company

This HAD to be made! Americans Assemble 

-2:12

3.1K

https://www.facebook.com/167198216817054/posts/1562281943975334/?vh=e

The all star Democratic Avengers lineup features Joe Biden as Captain America, Barack Obama as the Black Panther, President Trump as ubervillian Thanos, Stacey Abrams as Okoye, Kamala Harris as Falcon, Bernie Sanders as Doctor Strange, Cory Booker as Drax, Elizabeth Warren as Mantis, Beto O’Rourke as Star Lord, Pete Buttigieg as Spider-Man, AOC as Captain Marvel, Ilhan Omar as Shuri, Nancy Pelosi as Wasp, Michelle Obama as Gamora, Ayanna Pressley as Rescue, and we think Hillary Clinton as Valkyrie.

Watch it below:

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pic.twitter.com/krCSZXMfJh

— EDM BEN 10 🦍 (@_gh0stn) November 6, 2020

Also Read: Colbert Compares Trump to Thanos in 'Avengers: Endgame' RNC Parody (Video)