Strike, lockout notices loom over negotiations between City of Yellowknife, union

Mon, February 6, 2023 

YELLOWKNIFE — Unionized staff with the City of Yellowknife are gearing up for a strike, and the city is preparing to lock out employees as the two sides try to reach a new collective agreement.

The city and Union of Northern Workers, a component of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, are in mediation today and Tuesday to negotiate the new deal.

The union gave notice to the city Saturday saying if an agreement is not reached, the staff it represents will go on strike Wednesday.

The city responded by saying it would lock out staff at that time.

A work stoppage would include the closure of the public library, pool, community arena and dump to the public, although emergency services, including fire and ambulance, could continue.

Both the city and union say they are committed to the bargaining process and hope to negotiate an agreement.

The previous collective agreement expired at the end of 2021.

Collective bargaining between the city and union broke down late last year and the parties entered conciliation.

After the union rejected a final offer from the city, unionized employees voted to strike last month.

The city and union then agreed to re-enter mediated negotiations this week.

The city says it is disappointed with the strike notice from the union, saying it would result in reduced services.

The union, however, said the strike notice was a legal requirement, and the lockout notice "casts serious doubts" on the city's intentions to reach an agreement.

"Workers will not be intimidated by this surprise lockout notice," Lorraine Rousseau, regional executive vice president of Public Service Alliance Canada North, said in a statement.

"Workers don't want disruption in services. Workers deserve respect, to be valued and a fair deal."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 6, 2023.

Emily Blake, The Canadian Press

Third wave of French pension protests keeps pressure on Macron









Mon, February 6, 2023 
By Dominique Vidalon and Stephane Mahe

PARIS (Reuters) - Public transport, schools and refinery supplies in France were disrupted on Tuesday as trade unions led a third wave of nationwide strikes against President Emmanuel Macron's plans to make the French work longer before retirement.

Tuesday's multi-sector walkouts come a day after pension reform legislation began its bumpy passage through parliament, and are a test of Macron's ability to enact change without a working majority in the National Assembly.

The government says people must work two years longer - meaning for most until the age of 64 - in order to keep the budget of one of the industrial world's most generous pension systems in the black.

The French spend the largest number of years in retirement among OECD countries - a deeply cherished benefit that a substantial majority are reluctant to give up, polls show.

At the start of a protest march in Paris, union leaders Philippe Martinez of the hardleft CGT and Laurent Berger of the moderate CFDT stood side by side to denounce the pension reform.

"This reform will upend the lives of several generations. If the government stubbornly forges ahead, we will step up our protest with longer and harder actions," Martinez said.

Berger, whose union traditionally takes a more conciliatory stance, rejected sweeteners offered by the government, such as increasing the lowest pensions.

"These concessions are just patches. Increasing the legal retirement to 64 is the core of this reform and it is deeply unfair. It is a democratic folly for the government to turn a deaf ear to the protest," he said.

Strike participation appeared lower than a week earlier, data showed, but the government will be watching street protests to gauge how strong public opposition remains.

"We're worn out by work," pensioner Bernard Chevalier said at a protest in the Riviera city of Nice. "Retirement should be a second life, not a waiting room for death."

Labour Minister Olivier Dussopt dismissed opposition accusations that the government was in denial over the scale of public protests, and said change was needed.

"The pension system is loss-making and if we care about the system, we must save it," the minister told RMC radio.

'YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND'

Strike participation among teachers fell to 14% from 26% the previous week, while among workers at state-run energy giant EDF it was 30%, down from 40%.

TotalEnergies said deliveries of refined oil products from its sites had been suspended. Power production was down by some 4.3 gigawatts (GW) - roughly 6% of capacity.

The government says the reform will allow gross savings of more than 17 billion euros ($18 billion) per year by 2030.

Unions and leftwing opponents say the money can be found elsewhere, notably from the wealthy, and that workers need protecting.

"Those of you who support this reform don't understand how tough jobs are, what it's like to wake up with an aching back," Rachel Keke, the first cleaner in France to become a lawmaker, told a raucous debate in parliament on Monday.

"You don't understand what it's like to take medication to get through the work day. You don't understand because it's not a world you live in," the leftist lawmaker continued to applause from opposition benches.

Conservative opponents, whose support Macron needs for a working majority in the National Assembly, want concessions for those who start working young.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has offered to let some people who start work early also retire early - but Les Republicains lawmakers are divided over whether the proposed starting age of 20-21 is low enough.

(Reporting by Elizabeth Pineau, Dominique Vidalon, Tangi Salaun, Benjamin Mallet, Forrest Crellin and America Hernandez; writing by Richard Lough and Geert De Clercq; Editing by Janet Lawrence and Kylie MacLellan)

France hit by new strikes, protests over pension reform

Tue, 7 February 2023 
Fresh strikes hit trains, schools and refineries in France on Tuesday over an unpopular pension reform pushed by President Emmanuel Macron, with nationwide protests planned for later in the day.

A third day of union-backed demonstrations since January 19 is set to test momentum for the protest movement which has vowed to block Macron's bid to raise the retirement age.

"We are dealing with a president -- because he is at the heart of all this -- who, with his over-sized ego, wants to prove that he is capable of passing this reform," the head of the hardline CGT union, Philippe Martinez, told RTL radio.

Macron put raising the retirement age and encouraging the French to work more at the heart of his re-election campaign last year, but polls estimate that two-thirds of people are against the changes.

Lawmakers began debating the reform, which would see the age for a full pension raised from 62 to 64 and the mandatory number of years of work extended for a full pension, during a stormy session in parliament on Monday.

Last week's demonstrations brought out 1.3 million people across the country while a first round on January 19 saw 1.1 million, according to the police.

A security source told AFP that between 900,000 and 1.1 million people were expected on Tuesday.

The crowds so far have been the largest anti-government protests since 2010 during pension reform by right-wing former president Nicolas Sarkozy.

- 'Reform or bankruptcy' -

Trains and the Paris metro again faced "severe disruptions", while around one in five flights at Orly airport south of the capital were expected to be cancelled.

But the overall level of disruption, including in schools, was expected to be lower than on the previous two days.

Around half of long-distance trains were running, the state railway company said.

"It's ok, it's manageable," Sylvain Magnan, a 23-year-old told AFP at the main station in the city of Marseille on the Mediterranean. "I just took a later train."

Around one in two workers at oil refineries run by energy giant TotalEnergies had stopped work, the company said, but stocks at petrol stations are sufficiently high to handle any temporary pause in deliveries.

Macron's proposals would bring France closer into line with its European neighbours, most of which have retirement ages of 65 or more.

But the government has struggled to defend the overhaul as necessary or fair, given that the system is currently in balance and that low-skilled workers are said by many economists to bear the brunt of the changes.

"It's reform or bankruptcy," Public Accounts Minister Gabriel Attal said in parliament on Monday, leading to criticism from opponents that he was exaggerating.

Forecasts from the independent Pensions Advisory Council show the pensions system in deficit on average over the next 25 years.

- 'Unfair' -

The changes would lead to annual savings of around 18 billion euros ($19.5 billion) by 2030 -- mostly from pushing people to work for longer and abolishing some special retirement schemes.

France's spending on pensions is the third highest among industrialised countries relative to the size of its economy. The country is number one in terms of overall public spending, according to data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

In parliament, the government will need to rely on the right-wing Republicans opposition party to pass the draft legislation, without having to resort to controversial executive powers that dispense with the need for a vote.

Macron's allies are in a minority in the hung National Assembly after elections in June.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne on Sunday offered a key concession, saying people who started work aged 20 or 21 would be allowed to leave work a year earlier.

Republicans' head Eric Ciotti has promised his backing, in theory giving the government the numbers needed to pass the legislation.

But the left-wing opposition group and the far-right nationalist and Eurosceptic party of Marine Le Pen are staunchly opposed and have filed thousands of amendments.

Speaking in parliament on Monday, Le Pen said the government's reform "unfair" and "dictated by your desire to please the European Commission."

burs-adp/ah/jm

Legal sizes for lobsters could change to protect population

Mon, February 6, 2023 


PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The rules about the minimum and maximum sizes of lobsters that can be trapped off New England could soon become stricter, potentially bringing big changes to one of the most valuable seafood industries in the country.

Fishers are required to measure lobsters from eyes to tail and must throw back the crustaceans if they're too large or too small. The rules, which can vary slightly based on fishing grounds, are intended to maintain a breeding population of the lobsters in key areas such as the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank.

The regulatory Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is considering changing the standards by a fraction of an inch in some of the fishing grounds. The commission said it's considering the changes because of a worrisome lack of baby lobsters growing off New England.

The changes would arrive at a time when the lobster industry is experiencing record highs in both catch and value, and consumers are paying more for lobsters — already a premium product — than they were just a few years ago. The industry is also challenged by warming oceans and new fishing rules designed to protect rare whales.

Recent surveys that show declining levels of young lobsters are a concern for the future of the fishery, said Caitlin Starks, senior fishery management plan coordinator for the commission.

“Those numbers were declining,” Starks said. “The levels of new lobsters recruiting into the fishery were particularly low, and there was concern that was going to foreshadow decline.”

The commission is soliciting public comment on the proposal and plans to hold public hearings about it in March, Starks said. The changes would affect lobster fishers from Maine to the waters off southern New England, and the hearings will be held in those places, Starks said.

Changes could be implemented by fall 2024 if they are approved, Starks said.

Lobster fishing groups such as the Massachusetts Lobstermen's Association are following the developments, said Beth Casoni, executive director of the group. The association doesn't have a stance yet because the exact specifications of the proposed changes are still to come, she said.

“We're waiting to see what the preferred management options are,” Casoni said.

The size of the U.S. lobster catch has increased dramatically in the last 15 years. The catch in Maine, which is by far the largest producer of lobsters, is typically more than 100 million pounds (45 million kilograms) per year. Fishermen had never even eclipsed 80 million pounds (36 million kilograms) in a single year as recently as 2008.

But the population of lobsters off southern New England has crashed. And scientists who perform surveys of baby lobsters from eastern Canada to Long Island, New York, have found a below average number of them settling on the ocean bottom in areas such as the Gulf of Maine since 2012, the commission said in a statement.

“Given the economic importance of the lobster fishery to many coastal communities in New England, especially in Maine, potential reductions in landings could have vast socioeconomic impacts,” the statement said.

Canadian fishers harvest the same species of lobster and have their own measurement standards, which throws a wrinkle into efforts to manage the population.

The rationale for changing the U.S. measurement standards is that it gives lobsters more opportunity to reproduce, said Richard Wahle, a marine science professor at University of Maine who directs the Lobster Institute at the university. The change would also have ramifications such as marketing consequences for the U.S.-Canada trade, he said.

More restrictive measurement guidelines “would be consistent with the precautionary approach to hedge bets against poor year classes," Wahle said.

Patrick Whittle, The Associated Press

CRIMINAL CANNABIS CAPITALI$M

Ontario cannabis shop sales data circulating, provincial pot regulators investigate

Mon, February 6, 2023 



TORONTO — Ontario cannabis stores are seeing their sales data shared among competitors without approval for at least the second time in a year, sparking concerns for shops competing in an already intense industry.

Jennawae McLean, the co-founder of Kingston, Ont. cannabis store chain Calyx + Trichomes, said she reported to provincial cannabis regulators last week that a spreadsheet with sales data was being shared among retailers.

The data set she saw was a Excel file with sales figures for Hamilton stores but had hundreds of hidden cells, which could mean data affecting other locations is also available.

The file featured store names and sales figures for each category of product, including flower, edibles, vapes and accessories, McLean said.

While it's unclear how precise and complete the data was, its release can be dangerous for store owners, said McLean, who does not believe her stores' data was affected.

"If you are a store that's doing great and the numbers are accurate, you become a target for robbery or for other things like that," she said.

"But on the other side of things, it's damaging if you are a store that is pretending to be doing great and if your numbers are public and not that great, it sort of eliminates your leverage when negotiating."

Competition within the sector has been stiff since cannabis was legalized in 2018, but rivalries have been exacerbated in recent months because, by the OCS's count, the number of pot shops in Ontario soared to 1,460 last year.

With several stores steps away from one another, many are being pushed out of business or having to drop prices to keep up with nearby shops and the illicit market.

These stresses are heightened even more when store data is floating around the industry yet again.

Ontario cannabis stores previously saw other sales data “misappropriated, disclosed, and distributed unlawfully" after an OCS breach last spring.

The affected data included revenue, number of kilograms of cannabis sold, total units sold and sell-through rates for individual stores in Ontario, along with store names, license numbers and whether they are owned independently, by a corporation or by a franchisee, three sources with knowledge of the incident said at the time.

The Canadian Press is not identifying the sources because they were not authorized to share the data’s contents.

The Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS), which is the province's pot distributor, and the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), which regulates cannabis stores, said in emails to The Canadian Press that stores informed them last week that confidential sales data was circulating within the industry.

Both organizations said they launched internal investigations into the matter, but determined the data being shared was not theirs.

"The AGCO is closely monitoring this matter and will determine if it gives rise to any regulatory concerns relating to licensed retailers in Ontario," AGCO spokesperson Raymond Kahnert added.

While Ontario pot stores submit sales data to the OCS and AGCO, McLean said neither organization collects figures on accessories, which was included in the most recent document circulating.

However, such numbers are often available to point of sale and menu software companies that cannabis businesses use to facilitate transactions and keep track of inventory.

McLean said she canvassed many of the stores listed in the latest spreadsheet and learned they use several different software providers, leading her to believe the data was scraped from websites and compiled into a single document.

Scraping is when algorithms and technology are used to locate, collect and compile large quantities of data from websites.

The succession of data incidents is "a reality check for other mom and pops that this isn't just selling weed," McLean said.

"It's not like I can just go to my store and sell weed every day," she said.

"Now I have to go to my store and sell weed and worry about search engine optimization and worry about crawling and scraping and all this stuff that was not supposed to be a part of my romantic idea of selling weed."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 6, 2023.

Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press

Canadian government announces $46.5 million for deepsea research

Mon, February 6, 2023 

Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray

VANCOUVER — The federal government is investing more than $46 million over the next five years to see what’s under Canada’s oceans and then protect it.

Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray said understanding of the marine environment is "relatively meagre" given that oceans cover 70 per cent of the Earth's surface.

"It's imperative that Canada better understand our oceans in terms of how they're changing, how we can support their ecosystems and how we can sustainably manage resources," Murray told a Vancouver news conference at the International Marine Protected Areas Congress Monday.

She said the research will "solidify Canada's reputation as an ocean leader recognized around the world for (its) commitment to science, collaboration, technology and environmental sustainability."

The funding will come from the government's $3.5-billion Ocean Protection Plan.

Kate Moran, CEO of the University of Victoria’s Ocean Networks Canada, said the $46.5 million will be used to gather data about the deep ocean for scientific research, government decision-making and to support Canada's ocean industries.

Ocean Networks Canada will study currents, marine safety and incident response, ocean sound information to mitigate the harm of human noise on marine life and ocean monitoring for coastal communities, Moran said.

"This new funding strengthens important national priorities that make the connection between ocean science and communities a real one," she told the news conference.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 6, 2023.

Brieanna Charlebois, The Canadian Press

Mendicino: foreign-agent registry would need equity lens, could be part of 'tool box'

Mon, February 6, 2023 



OTTAWA — Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino says a registry to track foreign agents operating in Canada can only be implemented in lockstep with diverse communities.

"There is a historical context when it comes to some communities within this country and their relationship with [security] agencies and the law-enforcement community," Mendicino told the House committee on Canada-China relations Monday evening.

"We need agencies to be inclusive, diverse, culturally sensitive."

Two months ago, the Liberals said they will eventually consult the public on the possible creation of a foreign agent registry, to prevent outside interference in Canadian affairs.

But the government has yet to formally launch that consultation.

The United States and Australia have public registries that require people advocating for a foreign state to register their activities, under penalty of fines or jail time.

Mendicino told the committee that Ottawa has to be careful to not isolate communities who have felt under the microscope of security agencies. He also told reporters after his testimony that Ottawa is taking the idea to its own advisory panels before soliciting public input.

"I wouldn’t describe it as a hesitation; I think we need to be diligent and thoughtful and inclusive, when it comes to bringing all Canadians along in the modernization of the tools and the arsenal that we create for our national security and intelligence communities," he told the committee.

Mendicino also told MPs a foreign agent registry alone would not drastically alter Canada's ability to detect and confront national-security threats, and would only be launched as part of "a tool box" of other measures.

"While there is attention to looking at each of the examples of tools we might consult on, including the foreign-agent registry, I would discourage the members of this committee from quickly concluding that any one of these in isolation will work by itself," he said.

Conservative public-safety critic Raquel Dancho accused the Liberals of stalling on launching a registry.

"Anything that is stopping it would just be an excuse at this point. I think any government that's operating through legitimate diplomatic relations in Canada should welcome an official registry," she said in an interview between witness testimony.

"That should be sort of the cost of doing business in Canada through diplomatic relations."

Mendicino appeared at the committee based on a request last October from MPs to have senior officials testify on three allegedly illegal police stations operating in the Greater Toronto Area.

Since then, advocates from the Spain-based civil-rights group Safeguard Defenders have alleged China is running two other police stations in Canada, including one in Vancouver.

RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki told MPs that Mounties are only aware of four alleged police stations and that officers have attended the Toronto-area locations in uniforms to gather information and be seen.

She believes that has yielded tips from the public, and noted that at least one of the apparent police stations seemed to have operated in the backroom of a commercial business.

But officials declined to answer numerous questions from MPs about these so-called police stations, such as whether Canadians had alleged being harassed or detained by them.

"Anything that we've learned with respect to the alleged police stations themselves is not something I’m going to be able to comment on," RCMP Chief Supt. Matt Peggs testified.

Lucki noted that no one has been charged in connection with the stations, and suggested the public would be informed if that was the case.

Similarly, Mendicino said the public would be made aware if any diplomats had been ordered to leave Canada in relation to the issue.

THE ONLY NON TORY MP IN ALBERTA

Yet NDP foreign-affairs critic Heather McPherson questioned how police are handling tips from communities who allege they're being targeted by foreign countries.

The Edmonton MP said constituents who are Uyghur or originating from Hong Kong have reported being passed between the RCMP, local police and an RCMP-run hotline, and that local police seem unaware how to handle the reports.

"We’re hearing a very different story from people who are living in these communities," McPherson said.

Monday's meeting followed the appearance of a Chinese balloon that drifted over Canadian territory before it was spotted over the skies of Montana, leading opposition parties to ask why Ottawa didn't alert Canadians earlier.

Mendicino and senior officials would not share information about how they first learned about the incident and whether they would inform the public differently if a similar event occurred.

Meanwhile, Conservative foreign-affairs critic Michael Chong pressed the government to ban China state broadcaster CGTN from Canadian airwaves for broadcasting forced confessions.

He noted that the Liberals have directed the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to consider banning Russia Today, which the regulator opted to do shortly after.

"As a government, we endeavour to respect the independence of those bodies rather than to politicize those decisions," Mendicino responded.

Chong argued the entire meeting showed a lack of transparency from the government on matters of national security, and that this sows distrust.

Last November, the federal Liberals unveiled their Indo-Pacific strategy, which calls for stronger ties with countries other than China to counterbalance Beijing's approach to human rights and trade.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 6, 2023.

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press

Federal government not protecting Parliament Hill interpreters: tribunal

Mon, February 6, 2023



OTTAWA — The federal government has been found in breach of the labour code for failing to protect Parliament Hill interpreters from workplace injuries.

On Feb. 1, a health and safety officer with the federal Labour Program ruled in favour of the Canadian Association of Professional Employees. The union had argued the Translation Bureau was not adequately protecting employees who are working in hybrid settings.

“The employer did not ensure the protection of its employees with regard to health and safety by not ensuring that, during meetings with simultaneous interpretation, the work of interpretation would be done only when virtual participants wear a microphone that complies with ISO (regulatory) standards,” reads the French-language ruling.

Experts have told Parliament that the staff who translate meetings between English and French are being put at risk of injury because they are straining to hear some voices and are exposed to sudden, loud noises.

Last October, a parliamentary interpreter was sent to the hospital with acoustic shock during a Senate committee meeting in which the chair did not enforce rules requiring remote participants to wear headsets.

So many interpreters were placed on injury leave last year that the department hired contract workers to make up for the staff shortages.

The union filed a formal complaint a year ago, leading to a Jan. 30 inspection of the Translation Bureau’s offices and last week's ruling.

The tribunal gave Public Services and Procurement Canada until Monday to ensure committee witnesses are wearing the correct headset, and to report on steps taken by Feb. 15.

Meanwhile, the department has until March 1 to examine its equipment and report back to the tribunal.

“Random tests must be carried out in a real work situation by a qualified person, and the employer must implement the (resulting) recommendations in order to ensure that the system is safe for the auditory system of its employees,” reads a tribunal order, in French.

The department can appeal those orders within a month, but a spokeswoman suggested it will follow the ruling.

"In collaboration with its partners, the Translation Bureau will follow these instructions, which are in line with efforts already in place to protect interpreters," Stéfanie Hamel wrote in an email.

"The number of health and safety incidents linked to sound quality has increased since the pandemic made virtual and hybrid meetings commonplace."

The department said it's acknowledged the issue and taken steps such as making sure a technician is always present and reducing working hours for virtual sittings without affecting interpreters' pay.

House and Senate committee chairs are supposed to ensure that those attending virtually, including both testifying witnesses and participating parliamentarians, are using a headset with a microphone wand.

Both chambers also reimburse remote witnesses for the purchase of an appropriate headset.

Yet the union's vice-president for translation roles says the issue has persisted because committee chairs are still letting guests, MPs and Senators participate when they ignore the rules.

"We want the health and safety of our members, the interpreters, to be protected, by following the directives," André Picotte said in an interview.

He was concerned by the labour tribunal's decision to order tests during sittings instead of examining the issue without exposing staff to possible risks.

"We are afraid that there will still be incidents where the interpreters will be wounded and their hearing is affected, and that's not acceptable," said Picotte, who has been a Translation Bureau interpreter since 1987.

He said the issue isn't people sitting in the Senate or Commons chambers, and there are generally few problems with MPs or Senators joining the chamber proceedings virtually.

But he said an issue persists with committee meetings when people participate remotely. Some have testified with substandard earbuds or even laptop microphones.

A Translation Bureau statement from March 2022 notes that "interpreters have the directive to interrupt the service if the working conditions endanger their health."

But Picotte said the onus has to be on Translation Bureau officials and not individual interpreters.

"It is intimidating. Those interpreters work with the MPs, so telling them to their face that we'll cease the services can create friction," he said.

"It is embarrassing for the interpreters."

Last week, the House procedure committee issued a report calling for hybrid sittings of Parliament to continue, in part to help MPs balance parliamentary, family and constituency duties.

The report called on House administration to investigate how other parliaments have maintained a lower injury rate among interpreters, examine the safety supports available and find ways to better recruit and retain interpreters.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 6, 2023.

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press

First Nations, B.C. groups launch coalition to save Pacific salmon from extinction

Mon, February 6, 2023 



VANCOUVER — A leader with the First Nations Fisheries Council of B.C. says collaboration, not politics, will be the only thing that saves dwindling Pacific salmon populations.

Jordan Point says salmon runs in B.C. are collapsing and extinction is not an option.

The council is joining with the Lower Fraser Fisheries Alliance, the Pacific Salmon Foundation, the First Nations Summit and the Upper Fraser Fisheries Conservation Alliance to find solutions.

The coalition says Pacific salmon populations have declined by more than 90 per cent since the 1970s and warns that if the stock collapses, other species — like southern resident killer whales, whose diet is primarily salmon — are also at risk of extinction.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada has said many salmon stocks are declining to historic lows due to the effects of climate change, habitat loss and other threats.

Mike Meneer, CEO of the Pacific Salmon Foundation, says in a news release that the first step is to create a collaborative plan to rebuild wild stocks and help them adapt to climate change.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 6, 2023.

The Canadian Press

$28 billion may not be enough to fix Canada's ailing health-care system: Analyst

Mon, February 6, 2023 

Provinces say the federal government only pays 22 per cent of health care costs, a claim Ottawa rejects. (Chris Young/Canadian Press - image credit)

As Canadian premiers head to Ottawa hoping to secure an additional $28 billion in federal funding to resuscitate Canada's ailing health-care system, one analyst says money alone won't save the system.

"If you don't invest it in change as opposed to temporarily patching the crack, we will find ourselves in the same boat five years from now," said Steven Lewis, a health policy analyst and adjunct professor at Simon Fraser University.

"Is this primarily a money or capacity problem, or are we doing something fundamentally wrong with how we organize health care?"

On Tuesday, Canadian premiers are set to meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

They want Ottawa to increase the Canada Health Transfer to provinces by $28 billion, which they say would bring Ottawa's share of heath-care funding to 35 per cent from 22 per cent. Currently Ottawa transfers $45.2 billion to provinces for health care spending.

Ottawa says when tax points transferred to the provinces in 1977 are included, the federal share is closer to 38 per cent.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe told reporters prior to departing for Ottawa Sunday that the money is needed to help sustain initiatives in the provincial health-care system aimed at reducing surgery wait times and adding as many as 200 addictions treatment beds.

"I'm hoping to see a deal done, if not today, in the very near future," Moe said.

"I think the expectations that the public can have is that the investments that are being made today in province after province will be sustainable then into the future."

Money alone won't fix it: Lewis

But Lewis said Ottawa has upped its funding contributions for health care in the past with mixed results.

"Everyone agrees something needs to be improved. The question is whether the money is going to improve it a lot and there are some historical reasons to suggest money alone won't."

Ottawa added "enormous amounts of money" to federal health transfers between 2000 and 2004 with little long-term benefit Lewis said.

Government of Canada

Then in 2004, the provinces and Ottawa agreed on an annual six per cent escalator to transfer payments over 10 years, which also failed to fix the system, Lewis said.

"We still find ourselves with five to six million Canadians without a medical home or a regular source of primary care."

Lewis said Canada has more family doctors than ever before, but many have closed their costly practices and are instead working as hospitalists or in walk-in-clinics — which leaves patients without a primary physician.

If Ottawa agrees to the premier's funding request, it should come with conditions aimed at structural changes to the system, Lewis said.

He recommended moving to a "teams approach" for health care, which would bring several doctors and disciplines into one setting and give patients access to a full complement of care.

"Until we start looking at those systemic problems and figuring out how to improve the flow of patients through the system — and particularly how to serve people who are waiting a dangerously long period — then there may not be any long-term fix to this problem."

Nahanni Butte, N.W.T., explores potential for geothermal district heating

Mon, February 6, 2023

Nahɂą Dehé Dene Band Office in Nahanni Butte on June 11, 2022. The community is investigating the potential for geothermal district heating. (Liny Lamberink/CBC - image credit)

The small First Nation in Nahanni Butte, N.W.T., is exploring the potential for a district heating system powered by geothermal energy, thanks to studies that show high potential in the area.

Jason Collard is the CEO of Gonezu Energy. The company has been working with the Nahɂą Dehé Dene since 2020, with support from the Dehcho First Nations. The first phase was securing funding through the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program.

"The role that Gonezu energy is playing in this is to provide information to the Indigenous governments so that they are aware of the resources on their land," said Collard.

He said then those governments could make informed decisions if they decide to tap the resource.

"Based on previous studies there appears to be a high degree of geothermal favourability," said Collard of Nahanni Butte.

For the next phase, the group is working with Terrapin Geothermics Inc. to analyze and confirm the geothermal potential, and to design a district heating system.

Liny Lamberink/CBC

Geothermal energy in this context refers to the high temperatures found deep underground which can be tapped into directly for heat, or converted into energy.

Terrapin discovered that the Government of Northwest Territories was decommissioning and abandoning the oil wells in the Cameron Hills area, which lies southeast of Nahanni Butte. Using these wells would give the group an opportunity to test the geothermal potential.

"In the decommissioning of the wells they'll be going down to a certain depths that will allow them to do temperature logs and gamma logs that will paint a more accurate picture of the geothermal resource in the region," said Collard.

They plan to add temperature and gamma tools to the other logging activities that will be carried out before plugging and abandoning the wells.

'We can still do our part'

Kele Antoine is the chief of Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́ First Nation (LKFN) which is a part of the Dehcho First Nations. He said he supports his neighbouring community's plan.

"If we are sitting on the largest geothermal anomaly in Canada, we should at least be trying to see what we can do with it," said Antoine.

He said once that data is compiled, they'll decide on whether to proceed to a feasibility study. One of the biggest concerns is the cost of introducing geothermal energy to the region.

But Antoine said cost is a small-picture concern.

It's not just about powering a small community Antoine said, it's about "the opportunities that could come, the industry that can be attracted to something like this."

He said the more they learn about renewable energy and energy efficiency the more impact they can have on the environment, and climate change

"We can still do our part," he said.

Collard said the research study should take about a year to complete but the results of the study will benefit the regional Indigenous and community governments, and Indigenous community members in the region. Once that is done the findings of the research will be open-source and accessible to everyone.