UCP DEFUNDS POLICE

Shrinking photo radar cash could mean steep cuts to Edmonton's police budget, traffic safety programs

© Provided by Edmonton Journal

Jessica Lamarre poses with two mobile photo radar trucks that with a bright wrap to make them more visible to motorists.

Lauren Boothby - Yesterday 
Edmonton Journal

Edmonton cannot afford to continue giving police $22.3 million each year, and run traffic safety programs meant to curb deaths and injuries, solely from its traffic safety automated enforcement reserve, according to a staff report heading to a council committee this month. City administration expects the reserve, funded using photo radar fines, will pull in $14.6 million less than budgeted from photo radar this year and end 2022 with a negative balance of $9.1 million.

With the province taking a larger share of revenues, lower traffic volumes amid the COVID-19 pandemic, fewer tickets overall, a moratorium on adding in new locations and equipment, and changes to make mobile automated enforcement more visible, Jessica Lamarre, director of safe mobility for the city, said it’s just not possible to financially sustain these programs with this reserve anymore.

“There’s no way to continue funding all those at the same rate over the next four years,” she said Thursday. “If they want to go forward with those priorities, then the funding source needs to be diversified.”

City council hasn’t decided what to do about the programs currently supported by this reserve.

Executive committee is scheduled to review the staff report and recommendations May 18 . The way Edmonton Police Service is funded will also be discussed at the same meeting — the staff report on this item hasn’t yet been released.

Postmedia reached out to Edmonton Police Services but did not receive a response by deadline.
Safe streets

Alberta government officials have dubbed photo radar a “cash cow” used to help 26 municipalities in the province feed their bottom lines.

The province increased its share of revenue to 49.9 per cent from 36.1 per cent in fall 2019. Responding by email to questions about how police may face cuts because of this change, Joseph Dow, spokesman for Justice Minister Tyler Shandro’s office, said policing is vital for Albertans’ safety and the province has maintained or increased funds for law enforcement and will continue putting resources there.

“Alberta’s Government is committed to keeping Albertans safe by continuing to provide more than a half billion dollars of policing-related funding. However, funding decisions for local policing is primarily a municipal responsibility,” he wrote.

If Edmonton continues without changes, funds in the photo radar reserve will drop to -$28 million in 2023, and -$101 million by 2026, staff project. Clawing back the $22.3 million in photo radar reserve money from the police’s overall budget of $384.8 million (in 2022) would still leave the reserve fund in the red: -$5.7 million by 2023 and -$11.8 million by 2026.

City staff would like to see stable funding for programs coming out of the safe mobility strategy, given how they were created with the community and through public feedback, said Lamarre.

For instance, another $2 million annually would fund the safe and livable community streets program, which adds street lamps and supports the new default 40 km/hr speed limits among other programs, and $3 million for safe crossings, which adds curb extension and signals, says the report. Another $1 million would go toward buying and maintaining photo radar equipment.

Coun. Ashley Salvador said traffic and street safety was a major concern she heard while campaigning. For instance, she says the street labs program has her support as communities can come up with innovative ways to solve issues with traffic in their neighbourhoods.

How to sustainably fund these initiatives — and possibly redirecting funds from police — is something Salvador said she looks forward to discussing at committee.

“People want to know that their communities are safe. They want to know that their kids can play outside without that type of risk in their neighbourhood,” she told Postmedia Thursday.

“I think there’s definitely a valid conversation to be had about sort of reallocating some of those (policing) dollars and making sure that there’s an equitable funding formula in place.”

Stephen Raitz, spokesman for Paths for People, says programs helping Edmonton toward Vision Zero — a goal to have no traffic-related fatalities or serious injuries by 2032 — need to be funded.

“Edmontonians want a safer transportation system where everybody gets home safely no matter the mode that they choose,” he said. “The Vision Zero street labs program for example — people want that so bad in their neighbourhoods. For the past two years, it’s been oversubscribed. There have been so many people interested in doing tactical, small-scale changes.”

Photo radar ticket trends since 2012 show the number of violations dropping as drivers changed their behaviour, which is a “positive outcome and achieves the ultimate purpose of automated enforcement,” the report states. There’s been a 10 per cent drop every year in violations at mobile automated enforcement sites and 15 per cent drop where there are intersection safety devices.

Some Alberta defence lawyers say they will no longer take Legal Aid cases over controversial contract

Several Edmonton defence lawyers say they will no longer take on Legal Aid clients over a contentious new contract.


Lawyer Simon Renouf, seen on May 4, 2022, is one of an unknown number of lawyers withdrawing from Legal Aid work over a contentious new contract.

Jonny Wakefield - Yesterday 

Edmonton Journal

Last year, Legal Aid Alberta introduced a new agreement for lawyers on its roster — who handle criminal, family law and other cases in which a person cannot afford to hire a lawyer at market rates.

Lawyers who have seen the contract, which took effect May 1, said it allows Legal Aid to terminate lawyers without notice or cause.

Simon Renouf, a defence lawyer in practice for 30 years, said he knows of between 40 and 50 Alberta lawyers who have refused to sign the agreement. He said the result will be fewer experienced lawyers able to defend needy clients.

A spokesperson for Legal Aid, however, said there would be no change in service if lawyers do walk away from the roster. Meanwhile the organization announced plans to “modernize” its fee framework for the first time in years.

“There’s going to be a trickle-down effect, in that more serious cases will go to more junior lawyers, because of Legal Aid’s unwillingness to negotiate with senior members of the bar,” Renouf said, adding the process left some lawyers feeling “that we were not being respected by Legal Aid.”
‘In the best interest’

Founded in 1973, Legal Aid is an non-profit organization funded by the federal and provincial governments, as well as interest from lawyers’ trust accounts. The organization is independent from government but answers to the minister of justice and the Law Society of Alberta.

It is different from a U.S.-style public defender system, in which the government directly employs defence lawyers.

Renouf said senior lawyers take on legal aid clients out of a sense of duty or because the case interests them. For new lawyers, legal aid cases are a steady source of work that can help raise their profile.

Deborah Hatch, an Edmonton defence lawyer, said the defence bar first learned of the new contract last spring. In December, Hatch and a dozen other senior defence lawyers sent a letter to Legal Aid suggesting changes to some of the language.

“The response we received back indicated that no terms would be negotiated and we’ll be sorry to see you go if you choose not to sign it,” she said

The provision allowing for causeless firing “is an appalling way to treat human beings,” she said. “I’ve never seen any kind of contract that would have that kind of a term in it.”

Andy Gregory, a spokesperson for Legal Aid, defended the new agreement.

“It’s been over a year, we consulted with and got support from leadership in the criminal and family bar … and we’re confident it’s in the best interest of the legal aid system and disadvantaged Albertans,” she said in an email.

Other defence lawyers who declined to sign the contract include Rory Ziv and Tom Engel — who said two other lawyers in his firm initially signed the contract but later withdrew over concerns with the new terms.

Legal Aid promises fee structure reform — but new funding up in air

On Thursday — days after new funding was announced for judges and Crown prosecutors — Legal Aid announced plans to simplify its fee tariff structure to ease “administrative burdens.”

It stopped short of committing to new funding, which is in the hands of the provincial government.

Ministry of Justice press secretary Joseph Dow said with the review underway, “it is too early to determine the final outcome.”

“We look forward to Legal Aid Alberta’s findings, which are expected this fall.”

Danielle Boisvert, president of the Criminal Trial Lawyers’ Association, hopes the overhaul will not only simplify the system, but increase the base pay for legal aid lawyers, “similar to what Crown prosecutors just received.” The Legal Aid tariff rate currently sits at $92.40, which critics say barely covers the costs of running an office.

Boisvert, who signed the new contract, said the CTLA debated the issue but ultimately took no position. She said going forward, the organization will focus on improving the fee structure, while acknowledging the concerns some lawyers have.

“We absolutely respect that there is a group of lawyers who wish to express their disappointment with the contract publicly,” she said.

Gregory said the organization’s roster sat at around 1,200 lawyers both before and after the May 1 contract. She said it was not possible to say how many lawyers left the roster since the agreement because new lawyers have been added and others who no longer practise have been removed.

She said the Legal Aid roster “grows by the week” and that 50 new lawyers have signed on in 2022.

“There’s absolutely no concern … that we would have any issues getting a lawyer for a client,” she said.

FUDDLE DUDDLE REDUX

Trudeau Is Accused Of Dropping An

 'F-Bomb' In Parliament & He Had The Sassiest Response

Helena Hanson - Yesterday
Narcity


Did Justin Trudeau swear in Parliament? That's the question on a lot of people's lips after the prime minister was accused of dropping an "F-bomb" during a heated exchange on Wednesday.

According to some Conservative Party members, Trudeau used a "six-letter F-word" during a heated exchange in the House of Commons on May 4.

Conservative House leader John Brassard described the alleged expletive as an "unparliamentary term" and said, "it wasn't fuddle-duddle."

He said that everybody who was in the two rows across from Trudeau heard him use the term.

Brassard said that the PM was being asked about military aircraft flying over Ottawa during the Freedom Convoy when he used the "F-bomb."

Trudeau responded that the question was "dangerously close to misinformation and disinformation designed to gin up fears and conspiracy theories," per Global News.

Speaking to reporters, Brassard went on to say that the prime minister has "shown this type of emotion in the past."

He referenced a time in 2011 when Trudeau (who was a Liberal MP in opposition at the time) called then-environment minister Peter Kent a "piece of sh*t" during another heated debate.

In response, after being asked about what happened by reporters, Trudeau channelled his father.

"What is the nature of your thoughts, gentlemen, when you move your lips in a particular way?" he said as he left the House of Commons.

It's similar to what his father — former PM Pierre Trudeau — said in 1971 when he himself was accused of mouthing a four-letter obscenity at the opposition benches.

At the time, he'd said, "What is the nature of your thoughts, gentlemen, when you say fuddle-duddle or something like that?"

According to reports, the Speaker has been formally asked to review whether unparliamentary language was used on Wednesday.

It was a chaotic question period overall, with shouting from both sides drowning out the Speaker on several occasions and MPs being warned that they "did cross a couple of lines."

In response to the drama, former Minister of Environment and Climate Change of Canada Catherine McKenna tweeted, "It has to be said that the atmosphere in the House of Commons [especially] during Question Period is too often appalling. Shouting, mocking, bullying, cheap antics."

She added, "It's a dysfunctional work place. And embarrassing for kids to watch. It needs to be fixed if we want good people to run."

Narcity has reached out to Justin Trudeau's office and the Conservative Party for comment.

This article’s cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.

THE CHAIR RULED THE HOUSE WAS TOO NOISY FOR HIM TO HEAR WHAT WAS SAID SUFFICE IT TO SAY HE REMINDED HOUSE MEMBERS OF THE PROPER DECORUM BY WHICH TO CONDUCT THEMSELVES WITH OUT USING OFFENSIVE OR UNPARLIAMENTARY LANGUAGE.

Xinjiang cotton found in Adidas, Puma and Hugo Boss tops, researchers say

Philip Oltermann 

in Berlin - Yesterday 

The Guardian


Researchers say they have found traces of Xinjiang cotton in shirts and T-shirts made by Adidas, Puma and Hugo Boss, appearing to contradict the German clothing companies’ promises to revise their supply chains after allegations of widespread forced labour in the Chinese region.

Recent reports have suggested more than half a million people from minority ethnic groups such as the Uyghurs have been coerced into picking cotton in Xinjiang, which provides more than 80% of China’s and a fifth of the global production of cotton.

The US banned cotton imports from the autonomous region in north-west China last year, a move also debated in the European parliament but not enacted by the European Commission. Nonetheless, several large western clothes brands and fashion brands vowed to no longer use Xinjiang cotton in the light of the revelations.

Hugo Boss said that as of October 2021 its new collections “have been verified in line with our global standards again”, and that it “does not tolerate forced labour”. Puma stated in 2020 it had “no direct or indirect business relationship with any manufacturer in Xinjiang”, while Adidas said the same year it had no contractual relationship with any Xinjiang supplier but had instructed its fabric suppliers not to source yarn from the region in the wake of reports about human rights violations.

However, researchers at the Agroisolab in Jülich and the Hochschule Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences, both in western Germany, say an isotope analysis has found traces of Xinjiang cotton in Puma and Adidas T-shirts, shirts by Hugo Boss and the German outdoor wear brand Jack Wolfskin, and a pullover by the fashion company Tom Tailor.

“The isotopic fingerprints in the cotton are unambiguous and can be differentiated from cotton sourced from other countries and even other Chinese regions,” Markus Boner of Agroisolab told the German public broadcaster NDR’s investigative programme STRG_F.

Isotope analysis is usually used by archaeologists or forensic scientists to trace the geographic origin of organic or non-organic substances.

The five German clothes brands have been contacted by the Guardian for a response to the findings, which STRG_F said it would share with the companies.

A spokesperson for Puma told the Guardian that “we strongly insist on the fact and reconfirm that Puma does not source any cotton from the Xinjiang region. We do reiterate that we do not have any relations – direct or indirect - with any cotton supplier in the Xinjiang region.

“Based on all the information we obtained through our investigations, and the traceability controls we put in place in our supply chain, we are confident that we do not source cotton from the Xinjiang region.”

A spokesperson for Adidas said the company “sources cotton exclusively from other countries and takes a variety of measures to ensure fair and safe working conditions in its supply chain”.

Asked by STRG_F’s researchers in advance of publication whether they could rule out that Xinjiang cotton was used in their products, Hugo Boss said it did not tolerate forced labour in its supply chains.

Jack Wolfskin did not directly answer a question about the use of Xinjiang cotton in its supply chain but said its cotton was certified. Tom Tailor did not reply to queries from the programme.

Speaking anonymously, one auditor investigating Chinese subcontractors told STRG_F it was practically impossible for western companies to thoroughly shed a light on their own supply chains as their access in China was restricted by the communist government of Xi Jinping.

“It is theoretically possible but highly unlikely that western businesses can say with certainty that there is no forced labour in their cotton supply chains in Xinjiang,” the auditor said.

Vast amount of water discovered hidden beneath Antarctica


By Katie Hunt, CNN - Yesterday
© Kerry Key, Columbia University


Hidden deep below the ice sheet that covers Antarctica, scientists have discovered a massive amount of water.

The groundwater system, found in deep sediments in West Antarctica likely to be the consistency of a wet sponge, reveals an unexplored part of the region and may have implications for how the frozen continent reacts to the climate crisis, according to new research.

"People have hypothesized that there could be deep groundwater in these sediments, but up to now, no one has done any detailed imaging," said the study's lead author, Chloe Gustafson, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, in a news statement.

"Antarctica contains 57 meters (187 feet) of sea level rise potential, so we want to make sure we are incorporating all of the processes that control how ice flows off of the continent and into the oceans. Groundwater is currently a missing process in our models of ice flow," she added via email.

The ice cap that covers Antarctica isn't a rigid whole. Researchers in Antarctica have discovered in recent years hundreds of interconnected liquid lakes and rivers cradled within the ice itself. But this is the first time the presence of large amounts of liquid water in below-ice sediments has been found.

The authors of this study, which published in the journal Science on Thursday, concentrated on the 60-mile-wide (96.6-kilometer-wide) Whillans Ice Stream, one of a half-dozen streams feeding the Ross Ice Shelf, the world's largest, at about the size of Canada's Yukon Territory.

Gustafson and her colleagues spent six weeks in 2018 mapping the sediments beneath the ice. The research team used geophysical instruments placed directly on the surface to execute a technique called magnetotelluric imaging.

The technique can detect the differing degrees of electromagnetic energy conducted by ice, sediment, bedrock fresh water and salt water and create a map from these different sources of information.

"We imaged from the ice bed to about five kilometers (3.1 miles) and even deeper," said coauthor Kerry Key, an associate professor of earth and environmental sciences at Columbia University, in a separate statement.

The researchers calculated that if they could squeeze the groundwater from the sediments in the 100 square kilometers (38.6 square miles) they mapped onto the surface, it would form a lake that ranged from 220 to 820 meters (722 to 2,690 feet) deep.

"The Empire State Building up to the antenna is about 420 meters (1,378 feet) tall," Gustafson, who did the research as a graduate student at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, said in the statement.

"At the shallow end, our water would go up the Empire State Building about halfway. At the deepest end, it's almost two Empire State Buildings stacked on top of each other. This is significant because subglacial lakes in this area are two to 15 meters (6.6 to 49 feet) deep. That's like one to four stories of the Empire State Building."
How did it get there?

The mapping revealed that the water got saltier with depth, which was a result of how the groundwater system formed.

Ocean water likely reached the area during a warm period 5,000 to 7,000 years ago, saturating the sediment with salty seawater. When the ice advanced, fresh meltwater produced by pressure from above and friction at the ice base was forced into the upper sediments. It probably continues to filter down and mix into the groundwater today, Key said.

The researchers said more work needed to be done understand the implications of the groundwater discovery, particularly in relation to climate crisis and rising sea levels.

It was possible that the slow draining of water from the ice into the sediment could prevent water from building up at the base of the ice -- acting as a brake for the ice's forward motion toward the sea.

However, if the surface ice cap were to thin, the reduction in pressure could allow this deep water to well up. This upward movement would lubricate the base of the ice and accelerate its flow.

"This finding highlights groundwater hydrology as a potentially critical piece in understanding the effect of water flow on Antarctic ice sheet dynamics," Winnie Chu, an assistant professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, wrote in a commentary on the research that was published in Science. She was not involved in the study.


© Kerry Key, Columbia University

The team check the data from a magnetotelluric station 

they used to map beneath the ice sheet.


© Kerry Key, Columbia University

The team of researchers spent six weeks in Antarctica.

CANADA

Hauling freight trains with electric locomotives is now starting to happen

Emily Chung

 Yesterday 
cbc.ca

Canada's railway giants, CN and CP, are testing battery and hydrogen locomotives in a move toward electric, zero-emissions freight rail. At least one smaller railway, Southern Railway of B.C., is working on hydrogen locomotive technology too. Here's a look at why they're electrifying and the technologies they're testing.

Though the transportation sector is the second-biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions after oil and gas, the Railway Association of Canada says rail generates only 3.5 per cent of transportation emissions.

Still, said Josipa Petrunic, president and CEO of the Canadian Urban Transit Research and Innovation Consortium, given Canada's ambitious greenhouse gas emissions targets, even those need to be eliminated. Rail companies are now facing pressure from both governments and shareholders to reduce emissions, she said, especially now that the price on carbon is expected to ratchet up over time — and, with it, the price of diesel that powers Canadian trains.

"They know they've got to cut this cost before it starts hitting their bottom line," said Petrunic, who co-authored a 2020 report on rail innovation in Canada.

Gord Lovegrove, associate professor of civil engineering at the University of British Columbia Okanagan, agreed that there is increased shareholder pressure on railways to address climate change.

"And that's why [electrification] is happening in advance of any federal regulation," he said.

But he noted that diesel-burning trains also generate a lot of other pollutants that are bad for human health. These include nitrogen oxides, fine particulate matter, as well as sulphur dioxide linked to acid rain.


© Mark Blinch/ReutersTrains are seen in the yard at the at the CN Rail Brampton Intermodal Terminal in Ontario 2019. Electrification has been touted as a solution to the noise and pollution from train yards in urban areas.

In urban areas, these pollutants and the noise generated by locomotives can be a huge nuisance near switching yards, which is where rail cars are stored, loaded, unloaded and hitched together. The small switcher locomotives that move cars around in those rail yards represent just a fraction of Canada's locomotive fleet, Lovegrove said, but can generate double or triple the emissions of a long-haul locomotive engine.

The B.C. government has started to charge fines for older, more polluting locomotives, he said. But it has promised to return the last three years of fines back to Southern Railway of B.C., if it retrofits its locomotives to include zero-emission technology.

"So not only are they realizing reduced fuel costs, reduced public complaints [but] they're getting money back to fund their business case," Lovegrove said.

In the longer term, given climate and pollution concerns, he said, rail companies need to electrify "because diesel is going to be regulated out of existence."

CN Rail, headquartered in Montreal, announced in November that it had purchased a Wabtec FLXdrive battery-electric heavy-haul freight locomotive. The company has set a target of reducing its greenhouse gas emission intensity by 29 per cent by 2030 compared to 2015 — and achieving net zero by 2050.

Janet Drysdale, CN Rail's vice-president of sustainability, said 85 per cent of the company's emissions are produced by its diesel-powered locomotives.

"So solving this locomotive issue is really critical for us."

The plan is to test it on a small, isolated piece of track near Wabtec's headquarters in Erie, Penn. The company has received funding from that state for the pilot.

This particular locomotive was tested in California in 2021. But Drysdale said because CN operates in Canada, one of the things that needs to be tested is how the battery is affected by cold.

Battery-electric locomotives have been tested in train yards, but the CN/Wabtec pilot will also do tests pulling freight on the main line.

CN said the electric locomotive, which will operate along with up to six other locomotives, could reduce emissions by up to 30 per cent on routes where the topography allows it to partially recharge the battery with regenerative braking. Regenerative braking recovers some of the energy used to slow down the vehicle and turns it into electricity.

In the future, Gina Trombley, executive vice-president and chief commercial officer for Wabtec, said the companies expect most of the recharging to happen via overhead catenary wires and pantographs, similar to those used by streetcars, during low-speed loading at locations such as grain terminals.

"In order to fully operationalize fully electric locomotives, you're going to have to find a way to charge on the move," she added.

Trombley said the CN project is still at the design stage, but the two companies think they'll have the locomotive running in the second half of 2023.

Calgary-based Canadian Pacific announced in December 2020 that it planned to develop North America's first hydrogen-powered line-haul freight locomotive. Nearly a year later, it said it was expanding the program from one to three locomotives after receiving a $15-million grant from the Alberta government. The fuel cells for the first locomotive were delivered by Vancouver-based Ballard Power Systems in January. Structures and logistics company ATCO Group announced this week that it had reached a deal to build two hydrogen production and refuelling stations, one in each of CP's rail yards in Calgary and Edmonton.

CP declined to be interviewed for this article, but in an interview on Ballard's website posted in September, Kyle Mulligan, chief engineer at CP, said initial trials are expected to run between Calgary and Lethbridge.

Kate Charlton, vice-president of investor relations at Ballard, said the company's fuel cells are already running passenger trams in China and being tested for passenger rail with Siemens in Germany. But ones required to haul freight are roughly double the size.

However, she said the fuel cells are similar in size to the diesel engine currently used to power the train's electric powertrain.

"So they basically pull the diesel engine out and replace it with a fuel cell," Charlton said.

She added that fuelling times should be similar.

Mulligan told Ballard that CP plans to roll out hydrogen fuelling infrastructure "coinciding with our existing diesel fuelling operation locations."

Charlton, who works closely with CP, said the company expects the hydrogen locomotives to be running in 2023.

Meanwhile, New Westminster-based Southern Railway of B.C., a short line railway, announced last year that it was converting one of its switcher locomotives from diesel-electric to hydrogen-electric, in partnership with fuel cell maker Loop Energy and hydrogen storage firm Hydrogen in Motion. The locomotive has been dubbed the "Green Goat." Lovegrove and his group are involved in the research and development for that project.

Lovegrove said the fuel cells and batteries are coming this summer and fall, and the system will be tested over the next year or two.

There are operational reasons why CP and CN think their projects make sense. For example, CN says it has an ideal testing ground near Wabtec's headquarters in Pennsylvania, and that state is providing some financial support.

CP's Mulligan said that the company chose hydrogen because "battery electric requires recharging that can take time that — from our current operation, which is diesel powered — we don't necessarily have a provision for," according to the Ballard interview.

However, it can roll out hydrogen fuelling at its Ogden solar farm, and there are natural gas refineries in the Edmonton area that can produce hydrogen.

Drysdale said there are only a small group of railways and suppliers in the industry. "So what we want to avoid is us all testing the same things, right?"

Across North America, different rail companies are testing different technologies for different applications and in different local conditions.

"All of this work ultimately is going to benefit all of us," Drysdale said.

Lovegrove said batteries "will be a constant throughout" — whether they're charged by hydrogen fuel cells or some other method.

However, he thinks hydrogen will be a key technology when hauling heavy loads over long distances.

Petrunic said she expects there to be a mix of battery-electric and hydrogen-electric locomotives.

"There's going to be those switch yard locomotives and several regional rail routes that may make sense mostly with battery alone," she said, "and then others where hydrogen is going to have to be the solution because [of] not only the range, but the availability of fuel."

She called both CN's and CP's projects "baby steps in the right direction."

"But," she added, "these baby steps are going to basically end there unless there is a very significant effort to build out both the electrical capacity across the country for this, as well as the hydrogen supply chain."

NAT GAS BLUE H2

ATCO to deliver on hydrogen production and refuelling facilities for CP locomotive program

Canadian Pacific Railway’s Hydrogen Locomotive Program is about to get a power boost.


© Provided by Calgary HeraldATCO Group has plans to build two new Hydrogen production and fuelling stations in Alberta for Canadian pacific Railway.

Josh Aldrich  

Yesterday 
Calgary Herald

ATCO Group announced Wednesday an agreement with the railway to build two hydrogen production and refuelling facilities in Alberta — one each in Edmonton and Calgary.

The project will not produce any carbon emissions from either the locomotive or at the point of production.

“We don’t talk about CO2 reduction because there is no CO2,” Bob Myles, executive vice-president for corporate development for ATCO, said in an interview with Postmedia.

CP began its Hydrogen Locomotive Program in December in an effort to lower its carbon footprint, using hydrogen fuel in place of diesel. The company currently has one locomotive running on hydrogen with another two in the works.

CP chief financial officer Nadeem Velani said at an investor conference in March that the Calgary-based program is still in the testing phase but the first hydrogen-powered line in North America pulling freight will soon be a reality.

“It’s still early days, but it’s moving on its own,” he said. “We did a test run. We think by the end of the year we could have a revenue service move with the hydrogen locomotive.”

The hydrogen will be created using water as opposed to natural gas, which often comes with some form of carbon capture utilization and storage component.

There may still be some carbon footprint from the operation of the two facilities, depending on the source of electricity. The Calgary facility will be powered in part by CP’s existing five megawatt solar power facility co-located at CP’s headquarters.

“The Calgary and Edmonton fuelling stations will be essential to bringing zero-emissions hydrogen locomotive propulsion into reality as part of CP’s commitment to sustainable and responsible operations,” Kyle Mulligan, CP assistant vice-president of operations technology, said in a news release.

CP is receiving $15 million through Emissions Reduction Alberta for the program.

Construction is expected to begin later this year, with production and supply of hydrogen to begin in 2023.

This is the tip of the iceberg for ATCO, which has invested heavily in hydrogen for four different applications. This includes blending hydrogen into natural gas distribution for utilities, industrial applications such as the recent partnership with Suncor to reduce emissions, heavy-haul transport through trucks and rail, and for exporting.

“We are strong believers in the future of hydrogen,” said Myles.

Last week, Premier Jason Kenney announced $50 million in provincial funds for a Clean Hydrogen Centre of Excellence while the private sector has made billions of dollars worth of investments into the sector in the past 12 months. Meanwhile, Suncor recently announced its intentions to divest its interests in other renewable energies to focus on hydrogen in its path to net-zero.

jaldrich@postmedia.com
Twitter: @JoshAldrich03

‘They’ve doubled’: Costs spiking for southern Alberta greenhouse operators

Yesterday
Eloise Therien / Global News


Like many Albertans, greenhouse operators are feeling the pinch of inflation and other rising expenses.

For Connie and Cullen Ng, who own Dan's Greenhouses in Lethbridge, the major increase in costs over the last year has been related to heating.

As a seasonal facility, they begin planting in the winter.

"They've doubled since last year," Cullen said.

"We just kind of have to budget it in, we just have to spend more money on everything."

But the company, which has accumulated many regular customers over 65 years in business, is hesitant to bump up prices on its plants, flowers and other items.

"Everything went up (in price), but we care more about supporting local -- local business," Connie explained. "We try to keep the price (for shoppers) as low as possible. So lots of stuff is the same price as last year."

Paul De Jonge, who owns Broxburn Vegetables & Cafe just outside the city, said he has seen at least a 10 to 20 per cent increase in overall costs this year.

"Electricity costs, we've seen a steady increase over the last year," he said. "Some of my shipping costs to bring in my plants from B.C., the costs doubled. So rather significant."

Whole Leaf, an indoor lettuce producer in Coaldale, has a co-generation facility in partnership with Signalta, which offsets its natural gas, electricity and carbon dioxide.

Despite this shielding them from those price increases, general manager Archie Mpofu said the facility is still feeling the pinch in other areas.

"We've seen about a 30 per cent increase in some of the inputs we use, including fertilizers and packaging supplies," Mpofu said.

"We're having challenges right now with just how much input costs have gone up in the past year."

Read more:
Albertans shocked twice by sky-high power bills caused by ‘estimated’ readings

Shipping to chains across Canada such as Wendy's, transportation has also proven to be a major expense.

"It's been a challenge because we are not able to pass all those costs to our customers, otherwise we'd have huge increases in produce prices," Mpofu said.

"We're just waiting it out and seeing how the economy can do better."

Immigrant professors say they need to “act white” in Canadian academia

The Canadian Press
Yesterday 

Racialized faculty members not only carry the emotional labour in an academic institution, but they also find themselves constantly needing to “transform themselves” in order to be accepted by their colleagues and students, according to a Black professor at Edmonton’s MacEwan University.

Speaking at the recent 24th Metropolis Canada Conference in Vancouver, Hellen Gateri, an associate professor at the university’s school of social work, was one of three immigrants working in academia who shared stories about the racism and discrimination faced while working at a Canadian university.

“Sometimes when we are in meetings with our colleagues, we are ignored,” Gateri said. “Our voices, the issues we bring forward, nobody takes them seriously.”

In addition, she receives “demeaning” comments, being asked to repeat herself or told that she’s not pronouncing a word correctly from both colleagues and students.

Gateri’s experiences are not isolated. According to the Equity Myth, a 2017 data-based study that highlights racialized and Indigenous faculty members’ experiences in Canadian universities, racialized scholars are overworked, their work less-valued and they are underpaid compared to their white colleagues.

Gateri recalled numerous instances where, prior to the start of a class, students would walk in, ask her if she’s teaching the class and then immediately stare at each other when she would tell them yes.

She highlighted that racialized and immigrant faculty members are viewed by their colleagues and students as threatening because they don’t make up the status quo.

“For me, being Black, when I complain or when I raise an issue, there’s always those that say because she’s Black, she’s hostile, she’s aggressive, she’s confrontational,” said Gateri.

“When we enter the academia, we have to prove that is where we belong.”

Teaching evaluations are one of the criteria used to evaluate performance, but Gateri says they carry subtle forms of microaggression and discrimination from students.

Rita Dhungel, who’s also an assistant professor in social work at MacEwan University, echoed this experience. Rather than evaluating her performance as an educator, Dhungel noted that it’s common for students to comment on her accent instead and how they have a hard time understanding her at times.

“I’m totally fine if they talk about my knowledge, about the contents,” she said. “But when they talk about accents or when I don’t know the location in Edmonton – c’mon. We’re new to communities.”

Dhungel says she has to put a lot of work into proving she belongs as an immigrant in academia.

Dhungel experiences microaggressive behaviours every single day—intentional or not—where her abilities and experiences are dismissed because of her accent.

One of the biggest challenges that she said she faces as an immigrant working in Canadian academia is the high expectations from students. She added that students tend to focus more on the local context of education, and often don’t seem interested in the international knowledge and experiences she offers as an immigrant.

Research conducted with 89 racialized faculty at ten Canadian universities as part of the larger study of racialization at the university in 2012 highlighted the emphasis of most Canadian universities on a Eurocentric curriculum. The study found that denial of racism is common, especially by “those who are influenced by a liberal ideology that unless there is the intention to be racist, it does not exist.”

Indeed, when Dhungel brings any forms of racism or discrimination she’s experienced in the classroom to the attention of her supervisor, she said that she’s asked, “Are you sure they meant that?”

The Equity Myth found that racialized and Indigenous scholars are hired less often, and are unlikely to be considered for promotions and tenure.

For Gateri, the comments in student evaluations add to this sense of pressure to do better and “act white” to be able to advance professionally.

She says training and promotion opportunities are not determined fairly and it is more difficult for racialized faculty to access professional networks, compared with white colleagues.

“We can network among ourselves and by meeting other people who are willing to support us, but sometimes, it’s very hard, even to network with our own colleagues who don’t like us and don’t want us to be in positions where we’re teaching,” she said.

Despite it all, Gateri perseveres. “I still believe there are people who see what other racialized people will go through, and they’re there to support us,” she said. “That’s where I stay positive and continue doing this work that I do everyday.”

Aaron Hemens, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, New Canadian Media

Charest, Poilievre spar over convoy, Huawei in raucous Conservative leadership debate

John Paul Tasker - Yesterday - 

The two frontrunners in the race for the Conservative Party's top job traded blows over their records in the first leadership debate of the campaign Thursday.

Making it clear who he thinks his main opponent is, Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre used much of his speaking time to attack former Quebec premier Jean Charest, a man he branded as a tax-hiking Liberal interloper.

Poilievre accused Charest of being too critical of the anti-vaccine mandate protest convoy that occupied much of downtown Ottawa earlier this year, saying he was proud to stand with "law-abiding" and "peaceful" truckers who were protesting COVID-19 restrictions.

"Charest learned about the trucker convoy on the CBC like other Liberals and he misrepresented them. He believes I should be censored, cancelled from this leadership," Poilievre said, referring to Charest's past remarks condemning the MP's warm embrace of the protesters as disqualifying.

"I don't share his Liberal viewpoint. The truckers have more integrity in their pinky finger than you had in your entire scandal-plagued cabinet," Poilievre said to Charest.

Charest said Poilievre's aggressive politics are tearing the party apart.

"I've been a Conservative all my life," Charest said. He said standing against the lawlessness that was on display in convoy protests in Ottawa, Windsor, Ont., and Coutts, Alta., doesn't make him any less of a Conservative.

In response to the charge that he's a closet Liberal, Charest offered a defence of fiscal conservatism and cited economic successes in Quebec on his watch. He said he lowered income taxes and championed natural resources development while running the province — two things he's promising to do at the federal level if he makes it to the Prime Minister's Office.

Poilievre attacks Charest over his Huawei ties

Charest said he was best placed to lead the national Conservative movement because he fought off the separatists in the 1995 referendum and won three elections as a federalist premier in a province starkly divided over the national question.

"I fought and won against the separatists. It's not this guy who's going to intimidate me," Charest said of Poilievre.


© Blair Gable/Reuters; Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press; Justin Tang/The Canadian Press; The Canadian Press; Chris Young/The Canadian Press;Scott AitchisonConservative leadership candidates Pierre Poilievre (top left), Leslyn Lewis (top centre), Jean Charest (top right), Roman Baber (bottom left), Patrick Brown (bottom centre) and Scott Aitchison.

Poilievre raised Charest's past lobbying work with Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications giant that has been singled out by Western intelligence agencies as an espionage threat.

"If we're going to unite this party, we have to come clean. Mr. Charest needs to come clean about how much money he got from Huawei," Poilievre said.

Charest tried to answer but the MP spoke over him repeatedly, asking "How much?" and "Just the number," before the moderators, lawyer Jamil Jivani and journalist Candice Malcolm, had to intervene to stop the cross-talk.

"This is not a student council," Charest shot back at Poilievre. "Is this the kind of country you want? Where people aren't allowed to talk?"

Charest never did say how much money he made from the Huawei contract.

The former premier defended his lobbying efforts, saying the previous Conservative government welcomed Huawei into Canada to help build out the country's 5G cellular network.

He also said he worked with the Canadian government to help secure the release of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, the two Canadians who were held captive by China for three years.

"If you want evidence of that, ask the wife of Michael Kovrig," he said. (Kovrig's former wife, Vina Nadjibulla, has said she is grateful for Charest's efforts to help free her ex-partner.)

Charest said he's the best candidate to take on Trudeau

Charest presented himself as the candidate best positioned to lead the party to victory in crucial battlegrounds like the Greater Toronto Area, Vancouver's Lower Mainland and Quebec, regions where he said his brand of conservatism will resonate. Charest said, of all the candidates on stage, he was the one who had the best shot of unseating Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the next federal election.

"If you're tired of losing in campaigns and you've had enough of handing over power to Trudeau, then you want a leader who will unite the party and elect a national Conservative government," Charest said, suggesting Poilievre's more avowedly right-wing approach to politics could be a liability for the party in a general election.

Poilievre pitched himself as the leadership hopeful who is unabashedly Conservative, a candidate who isn't afraid to stand up to the Liberals, the mainstream media and leftists, groups who he said are intent on silencing Conservatives.

He said he wants to put an end to "big bossy government," wind down vaccine mandates, tackle inflation through spending cuts, rein in the Bank of Canada and defund the CBC.

Poilievre said his top priorities are cutting taxes, fighting inflation and "empowering the working class."

"I'm running for prime minister to give you back control of your life by making Canada the freest country on earth," he said.

Poilievre, Lewis squabble over truckers, abortion

While Poilievre sought to present himself as the champion of anti-mandate activists, another contender in this race, Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis, said Poilievre only stood with the cause when it became a "popular" thing to do.

Lewis said Poilievre said nothing about COVID-19 measures like lockdowns and curfews in the House of Commons during earlier stages of the pandemic or out on the campaign trail when running for re-election last fall.

"You did not speak up until it was convenient," she said. "You did not speak for the truckers and you did not speak the loudest."

Independent Ontario MPP Roman Baber, who was turfed from the Ontario Progressive Conservative caucus last year over his opposition to public health measures, said he's the only candidate who stridently opposed COVID restrictions from the outset of this health crisis.

"We shouldn't be afraid of the media or the left-wing Twitter mob. We need to do right by Canadians. We failed to stand up for Canadians. The Conservative Party didn't stand up for them against lockdowns, passports and mandates. I'm uniquely positioned to speak to those voters," Baber said.

Baber, an immigrant born and raised in the former Soviet Union, said he's concerned Canada is becoming a communist country like the one his family left in the 1990s.

He said, under Trudeau, the CBC is like Pravda, the former state-run newspaper published by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. "I am committed to restoring Canada's democracy," he said.

Lewis, who is a social conservative candidate in this race, chastised Poilievre for his ambiguity on the issue of abortion, a topic that has become more salient in recent days as the U.S. Supreme Court appears poised to overturn a landmark ruling.

"He ran from the media in the last few days. He doesn't want to declare where he stands," Lewis said, referencing the Poilievre campaign's relative silence on the issue in the wake of reports the U.S. top court will strike down the Roe v. Wade decision.

"Is he pro-choice or pro-life? As a leader, we'll have to declare that. The media will hound him. He's going to deal with social conservative issues, which he has been running from this entire campaign."

While pressed by Lewis, Poilievre didn't say where he stood on the issue of abortion on the debate stage.

Aitchison pitches himself as a party unifier

Conservative MP Scott Aitchison, a former mayor of Huntsville, Ont., presented himself as unifier, a candidate more focused on bringing together a fractured party than engaging in name-calling and petty squabbles with his fellow candidates.

"Politics are increasingly divided and we've stopped respecting those we disagree with," he said.

"Until we can work together as a team, Canadians are not going to trust us. Here we are calling each other names. What Canadian is going to trust this lot? We've got to do better."

Aitchison said the Conservative Party must be reasonable and its leaders must stop peddling "conspiracy theories," an apparent reference to Lewis, who has raised red flags about the World Economic Forum and the World Health Organization's role in the pandemic.

"We don't want to scare voters away. Every time I hear another conspiracy theory I think, 'Well there goes another group of swing voters in the GTA that aren't going to come our way.'"

Aitchison said some COVID restrictions were necessary but he criticized the federal government's approach to health care. He said, if elected, he'd boost Ottawa's share of health spending to increase hospital capacity and avoid a repeat of pandemic-related lockdowns.

He also said he doesn't agree with the other candidates when they say they want to "burn down the CBC."

He said the public broadcaster tells important Canadian stories and brings the country together but it needs to be "refocused and reined in."

The Canada Strong and Free Network, the host of Thursday's debate, extended invitations to all of the party's six "verified" candidates.

All of them, with the exception of Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown, were on stage tonight. Brown declined to attend the event.

Conservatives could hit 500k members as leadership campaigns scramble for supporters

Alex Boutilier - Yesterday 

Global News
© Darren Calabrese/The Canadian Press file photo


The Conservative party is on pace to hit as many as half a million members as leadership candidates furiously scramble to sign up supporters, three sources tell Global News.

That number would almost double the roughly 269,000 eligible voters in the party's 2020 leadership contest, which saw Erin O’Toole narrowly upset Peter MacKay to lead the party.

Read more:
Six candidates make the final cut for Conservative leadership race

It is “far too early to speculate on the total number of memberships” expected to be sold during the leadership contest, party president Rob Batherson said in a statement to Global News. But Batherson said there is “a lot of interest” in joining the party.

“The Conservative Party of Canada appreciates the work of the leadership candidates and their campaigns in signing up members and are extremely grateful for the tireless efforts of our staff in processing and verifying the countless number of new memberships that arrive every day,” Batherson said.

One party source cautioned that, while the party is seeing considerable growth in its membership rolls during the latest leadership contest, the final number of eligible voters “could be more, could be less” than 500,000.

That’s because each leadership campaign will have the ability to scour the membership lists and challenge their rivals’ sign-ups. Campaigns have until June 3 to sign up their prospective supporters, and any last-minute surges or challenges could affect the final number.

Poilievre favourite to win Conservative leadership race: poll

While such a jump in membership numbers is good for both party coffers and their voter identification efforts, two sources said it will present logistical challenges for the party running the leadership contest.

The sources said the task of validating and getting mail-in ballots out to hundreds of thousands of new supporters will be significant for the party’s HQ, which has seen some high-profile staffing exits after Erin O’Toole’s ouster.

“If it’s that high, the party will have to delay the vote is my guess,” said one Conservative source, who agreed to discuss internal party issues with Global News on the condition the person not be named. The source suggested the party was “three to four weeks behind in processing” memberships.

“Just processing the memberships, and then mailing (ballots) out with enough time to get them back, that’s going to be real tough given how much the party is struggling (in processing memberships) before the surge.”

Read more
Conservatives ban pre-paid credit cards after Poilievre camp warns of membership ‘fraud’

While the party has been in the throes of another leadership contest since O’Toole’s unprecedented caucus revolt in February, the various candidate’s camps have been less focused on persuading existing members than signing up new supporters eligible to vote in the contest.

The campaigns keep their membership sales numbers a jealously guarded secret. But Global News previously reported that less than 48 hours after O’Toole’s ouster — and before the official start of the campaign — Conservative Party HQ was already seeing a surge in new member sign-ups.

The sheer volume of new membership sales have surprised party insiders. But because the campaigns are loath to brag about their membership sign-ups, it’s not clear if the numbers suggest a genuine spike in interest in the Conservative brand or a hostile takeover by a perceived outsider candidate — or some combination of both.

The contest's perceived frontrunner, Carleton MP and former cabinet minister Pierre Poilievre, has been drawing significant crowds at his events across the country. But sources close to Patrick Brown, the Brampton mayor and former Ontario PC leader, have said that their candidate is furiously working the phones to appeal to new party members.

Read more:
An inside look at Patrick Brown’s pitch for selling Conservative party memberships

Multiple stories about Brown’s private appeals to various ethnic communities have also leaked out to the press.

Jean Charest has also had considerable success in raising money — the campaign claimed to have surpassed the $1 million mark in early April — suggesting that despite lackluster crowds and a quiet campaign, the former Quebec premier does have deep pockets of support. He also has a team of experienced organizers, including former party executive director Janet Fryday Dorey, working the phones.

With other candidates from the social conservative wing disqualified from the race, Haldimand-Norfolk MP Leslyn Lewis will likely benefit from that faction’s significant organization and motivated voter pool.

The two other candidates vying for the leadership, Parry Sound-Muskoka MP Scott Aitchison and former Ontario PC MPP Roman Baber, have smaller profiles within the conservative movement. But five of the candidates will have the opportunity to debate each other Thursday evening, when the Canada Strong and Free Networking conference — formerly known as the Manning Centre conference — kicks off in Ottawa.

Read more:
Joel Etienne demands appeal to disqualification from Conservative leadership

It’s an unofficial leadership event, but an important one, with conservative faithful from across the country watching.

The next Conservative leader will be announced on Sept. 10.

Federal government must do more to fight spread of disinformation, polarization on social media: CSIS director

GUESS WHO DRAFTED THE LIBERALS SOCIAL MEDIA LEGISLATION

The spread of disinformation and polarization via social media is one of the biggest threats to social cohesion in Canada and the federal government needs to do more to fight it, says the head of Canada’s spy agency.


“Canada is an attractive target for foreign interference,” CSIS Director David Vigneault said in a recent speech.

“The use of social media and other online platforms as vectors of disinformation, misinformation, propaganda and hate spread by both individuals and states continues to increase and accelerate. This type of information manipulation and propaganda can have serious consequences,” Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) Director David Vigneault said during a speech to University of British Columbia students Wednesday.

“I do believe this is one of the most important questions about social cohesion in the country for the next number of years,” he added later.

Vigneault was responding to a question from a student who asked how CSIS is dealing with the spread of misinformation and increasing polarization on social media platforms, “specifically Meta and Twitter.”

Vigneault began by saying that one of the complex issues for government agencies such as his as well as the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) and the RCMP is figuring out “who should be looking at social media.”

Ultimately, he says CSIS’ work is “very targeted” and a “small approach” compared to the magnitude of the spread of disinformation online.

“We have the mandate and the authorities to look through social media, but it has to be targeted, it has to be specific,” he explained. “What would not be legitimate and what I would not want to see in a democracy is for the intelligence service to just to go out and monitor social media writ large.

“That would not work, and I can tell you, we would not have the resources and it would also not be effective.”

CSIS increasingly worried about violent online rhetoric

Chris Selley: Official Canadian panic over internet 'misinformation' will not end well

He says that’s where academia and researchers can step in and help Canada monitor and fight back against the spread of problematic discourse and foreign interference online, namely by doing widespread monitoring in a way that CSIS and other intelligence agencies can’t without a warrant.

But ultimately, he also thinks there is still more to be done by Ottawa to curb the rising threat of dangerous online discourse.

“I think the federal government needs to do more,” he told the audience, though he acknowledged that government’s role in regulating social media platforms is a “very contentious political issue” and raises “absolutely critical” questions.

“It’s very complex, and the more we talk about how best to address it, the less chances we’re going to have to find the wrong solution to it,” he added.

But Vigneault stopped short of saying what he thinks governments should do to better police and fight back against problematic rhetoric on online platforms.

During his speech, the CSIS director reiterated his concerns about the growth and threat of extremist ideological views, referred to as ideologically motivated violent extremism (IMVE), in Canada.

Canada divides IMVE into four categories: xenophobic (such as racially motivated attacks), anti-authority, gender-driven (such as the 2018 Toronto van attack) and other grievance-driven violence.

Speaking to parliamentarians last week, Vigneault said that almost half of the agency’s counterterrorism resources is now devoted to countering the threat posed by IMVEs.

“That is a staggering number when you think about it,” he said.

Vigneault also renewed his agency’s warnings in the face of increased attempts of foreign interference by hostile states, who often target Canada’s multicultural communities in an attempt to sow discord or spread misinformation and disinformation.

“Canada is an attractive target for foreign interference. Hostile activity by state actors also targets the fabric of Canada’s multicultural society, seeking to influence Canadian communities through threats, manipulation and coercion. Some of these communities are being exploited to advance the interests of the offending state,” he told students.

He specifically pointed a finger at China and its ruling Chinese Communist Party.

“In the last number of years, we have seen an increase in activities by China that has directed at our values our economic prosperity or democracy,” he said.

More specifically, he accused the CCP of using recent “national security” laws that force Chinese companies and individuals, as well as anyone or company established in China, to share information as requested with the government as a gun against the head of its own people and diaspora.

“It creates the environment for coercion, to force people anywhere in the world to collaborate with the intelligence services for the benefit of the Chinese Communist Party, often to the detriment of the individual involved or to the country that they are now they are living in,” he added.

Christopher Nardi - Yesterday