Canada happenings thread#1 - miscellaneous (Great White North community)

[C C]

Indigenous leaders flag treaty obligation for COVID-19 vaccine delivery
https://globalnews.ca/news/7509671/covid...-delivery/

INTRO: With Canada’s first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine rolling out as early as next week, First Nations leaders say the federal government must prioritize vaccinating Indigenous people. Saskatchewan treaty commissioner Mary Culbertson said Canada is legally obligated to give Indigenous communities early access to the vaccine. “I do want to see our people prioritized because of treaty obligations,” Culbertson told Global News.

Treaty 6 has a clause that states the Crown must provide aid to Indigenous people during times of pestilence and famine. It was negotiated after European colonizers brought smallpox to Canada and decimated the buffalo population... (MORE)

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What Is Trench Fever? Canadian Doctors Report Increase of Rare, Wartime Illness Among Homeless Population
https://www.insideedition.com/what-is-tr...less-63639

INTRO: More and more homeless Canadians are being diagnosed with trench fever, a rare illness once common among soldiers in World War I, medical officials say. Now, doctors are blaming officials for allowing a preventable disease that is transmitted through the droppings of body lice to be possible in vulnerable communities. "It's a disease associated with wartime conditions and refugee camps and it's found in Canada,” Dr. Carl Boodman of Winnipeg, Manitoba told CBC News. “If we didn't have this degree of poverty in Canada, we wouldn't have this disease.”

The disease begins with body lice feces, which can cause itching to the point of leaving abrasions to the skin, Boodman said. Later symptoms include fever, shin pain and endocarditis, which can sometimes be fatal. Experts believe the condition is being spread through homeless shelters or encampments. Broodman explained that the bacteria from the body lice droppings can survive one week, and can pass from person to person if they are sharing clothing. He said he has personally treated several cases of trench fever within a couple months... (MORE)

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Saga over senator who posted anti-Indigenous letters continues in Senate
https://www.nationalnewswatch.com/2020/1...-senate-3/

INTRO: Lynn Beyak, the senator who posted derogatory letters about Indigenous people on her website, once again faces the prospect of expulsion from the Senate. The Senate’s ethics committee recommended in June that Beyak's one-year suspension from the upper house be lifted because she had taken anti-racism training and apologized for posting the letters.

But the Senate was still debating the committee's report when it broke for the summer. Sen. Mary Jane McCallum, a member of the Independent Senators Group, says the matter was "ended prematurely" with the prorogation of Parliament in August.

She says that has allowed "the quiet reinstatement" of Beyak as a senator in good standing, without her colleagues ever deciding whether that should happen. McCallum has now introduced a motion calling for Beyak's expulsion from the chamber... (MORE)

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Increase in claims of elder abuse fuels further study by B.C.’s advocate for seniors
https://www.nationalnewswatch.com/2020/1...r-seniors/

INTRO: B.C.'s seniors advocate says calls related to the abuse of elders have jumped, prompting a more thorough review of the problem. In her annual report monitoring seniors services, Isobel Mackenzie found calls to the seniors abuse and information line increased by 17 per cent between 2018 and 2019. The report says there were 5,558 calls to the seniors line, and 28 per cent of them were related to abuse.

However, the report says the advocate's office has identified a lack of effective tools for measuring the abuse and neglect of seniors, which caused the followup review with a report expected next year. The report covers everything from health care to transportation based on data from 2019-20. Mackenzie says there's a lack of awareness about what classifies as elder abuse, adding that people don't know where to report abuse and there's no way to track it... (MORE)

[C C]

Report: Canada Invited Chinese Army To Train In Cold Weather Conditions
https://dailycaller.com/2020/12/09/repor...onditions/

EXCERPTS: The government of Canada reportedly invited China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to train with Canadian Army troops in cold weather conditions, Rebel News reported Wednesday.

The information was unintentionally released in an access to information request (the Canadian equivalent of a Freedom of Information Act request) that redacted some sensitive material with a grey and not a black marker. The 34 pages of classified documents include a barrage of emails, memos and letters between the the Canadian Department of National Defense (DND) and the Department of Global Affairs.

[...] Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau sent 17 tons of personal protective equipment to China early in the coronavirus pandemic even though it meant Canadian medical facilities experienced shortages of the material... (MORE - details)

[Syne]

Look, if Canada is that eager to subjugated by someone, the US should have first dibs.

[C C]

Canadians now owe $1.71 for every dollar they have to spend, StatsCan says
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/debt-to...-1.5837463

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LILLEY: Trudeau breaks a promise with massive carbon tax hike
https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnist...n-tax-hike

INTRO: The Canadian economy has been battered and bruised over the last year as the country deals with the ravages of COVID-19. At every level, governments have been spending never before seen sums to keep businesses and workers afloat — and even that might not be enough. But have no fear, Justin Trudeau is coming to the rescue with just the thing to help, a giant increase in the carbon tax.

Trudeau announced on Friday his government will raise the carbon tax from the current level of $30 a tonne to $170 a tonne by 2030 with increases each and every year. Depending on whose price calculations you believe, that is between 36 and 40 cents to a litre of gas, never mind all the other price increases we will see.

Funny thing though, this is exactly what the Liberals said they would not do ahead of the last election... (MORE)
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For Albertans, Ottawa’s updated climate plan will be hard to accept
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/...to-accept/

INTRO: Ottawa’s pre-COVID-19 holiday surprise was an updated climate plan including a proposal to significantly hike the carbon tax in the next decade. Environmental groups described the plan as bold and brave. The federal government says a higher price on carbon will force everyone to use less energy and improve efficiency.

But in Alberta, which has an already weakened economy that relies much more than other provinces on oil and gas production and other heavy industries, the federal announcement on carbon pricing is a difficult pill to swallow. Many will view the plan to have a carbon price of $170 per tonne by 2030 as yet another hurdle to any kind of economic recovery.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday that some jurisdictions in Canada want to “make pollution free again.” But Alberta Environment Minister Jason Nixon shot back that “the Prime Minister continues to impose his ‘Ottawa knows best’ attitude on Alberta, at a time when Albertans can least afford it.” (MORE)

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Canada border official says information shared inappropriately with FBI in Huawei CFO case
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-12-12/Hu...index.html

INTRO: A Canadian border official who oversaw staff at Vancouver's airport when Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou was arrested two years ago testified on Friday she thought information-sharing between her agency and the federal police was inappropriate.

Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) Chief Nicole Goodman told the court that Meng's travel history should not have been shared with the FBI. She was reacting to communications shown in court between Canadian and U.S. agencies that did not establish a clear legal basis for such sharing.

Goodman testified in the British Columbia Supreme Court as part of Meng's U.S. extradition case. Meng was arrested on December 1, 2018, at Vancouver International Airport at the request of the United States, which has been seeking her extradition on fraud charges. Both Meng and Huawei have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Since then, Meng, the 48-year old daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, has been fighting the extradition from Vancouver, where she is under house arrest... (MORE)

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At least 200 mink dead after COVID-19 outbreak at B.C. fur farm
https://bc.ctvnews.ca/at-least-200-mink-...-1.5228399

INTRO: At least 200 mink are dead following a COVID-19 outbreak at a fur farm in B.C.'s Fraser Valley. [...] The 200 dead animals represent about 1.3 per cent of the roughly 15,000 mink on the farm, and it's unclear how many others may have caught the virus.

"The majority of the mink on the farm do not appear to be showing symptoms, and we understand (the) mortality rate has slowed in recent days," the ministry said in an emailed statement.

The government has refused to divulge the name of the farm, unlike a number of poultry plants and other B.C. businesses that have experienced outbreaks. On Friday, the ministry cited "public safety reasons" for the decision to keep the company name private.

Last weekend, the local health authority confirmed eight workers at the farm had tested positive for COVID-19. The property has since been placed under quarantine.

Dr. Jan Hajek, an infectious disease specialist from the University of British Columbia, told CTV News the transmission of coronavirus between humans and animals is "very concerning," noting mutations that were detected at a mink farm in Denmark.

While the virus already mutates going between humans, Hajek said bringing mink into the equation is an added concern. "The risk is that it replicates through these mink and then comes back to us as a new infection, or an alternative infection, perhaps similar to influenza where you have bird flu or swine flu," Hajek said... (MORE)

[Zinjanthropos]

Not surprised Trudeau and Liberals broke their promise but I am somewhat taken aback that they did so with only a minority government. Then again pollution is tough for opposition parties to rail against. Personally I feel that this tax makes it look like we’re one of the greatest environment damaging countries on Earth when we’re not even close. Much rather they get tough on the countries that are. Cash grab disguised as being environmentally friendly, a scheme to buy votes....does it ever stop?

Feel sorry for Albertans. Punishment for not voting Liberal last election. Always said that all Alberta had to do last election was vote Liberal when it was so obvious there wasn’t a party leader better than Trudeau who for all intents was the best of a bad lot. But they didn’t logic it out and things went from bad to worse for Alberta.

[C C]

A Canadian astronaut will be on the first crewed Artemis flight around the Moon
https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/new...is-mission

EXCERPT: On Wednesday morning, it was announced that one Canadian astronaut will have an integral part in NASA's first crewed flight to the Moon in nearly 50 years.

[...] CSA President Lisa Campbell and Minister Navdeep Bains announced that due to Canada's contribution of a new robotic Canadarm3 to the proposed Lunar Gateway Station, one Canadian astronaut will be included in the Artemis II mission. While Artemis I will be an uncrewed test flight, scheduled for sometime in 2022, Artemis II will be the first crewed flight in 2023.

"All eyes will look to the sky as one of our astronauts becomes the first Canadian to travel around the moon," Bains said during the announcement. "Canada will join the U.S. on the first crewed mission to the Moon since the Apollo missions. This will make Canada only the second country after the U.S. to have an astronaut in deep space." (MORE - details)

Building Canadarm3 for the Lunar Gateway

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/BKfpCto9ZMA

[C C]

Ontario ice cream company Chapman's to help with COVID-19 vaccine storage
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-...-1.5846089

EXCERPT: Ashley Chapman has always known that if a pandemic hit, his family's ice cream company would be part of the response. Now the Markdale, Ont., company has managed to secure two sub-zero freezers needed to store the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines to be distributed in the province's Grey County area.

"We moved pretty quickly a few weeks ago, as soon as we saw that the Pfizer vaccine was going to need temperatures of colder than - 70 C, and we started looking around for a unit that could do what we had wanted," Chapman, the vice-president of Chapman's Ice Cream, told As It Happens host Carol Off. "My parents are seniors. I live in this community. I live in this area. And anything I can do to protect the people that I love around me, I'm just going to do it." (MORE - details)

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Canadian official: People growing too much pot at home
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2020/12/17/...t-at-home/

EXCERPTS: Canadian health regulator on Thursday raised concerns about the large quantity of medical marijuana people were growing at home, after its data showed a significant jump in daily average production permitted by health care practitioners. While the practitioners can allow registered patients to grow limited amount at home for personal use, the regulator’s findings show that such authorizations rose to a staggering 36.2 grams by the end of March, compared with 25.2 grams in October 2018.

Meanwhile, average purchases by registered patients, who can buy pot from licensed producers and federal medical sellers, have stayed as low as 2 to 2.1 grams every month, data showed. [...] With no concrete limits on personal production, Health Canada is facing rising pressure to tackle the perceived abuse of the home-grow program. “Health Canada is concerned that high daily authorized amounts are, in a few instances, leading to abuse of the access to cannabis for medical purposes framework and are undermining the integrity of the system,” the regulator said... (MORE - details)

[Yazata]

A Canadian astronaut will be on the first crewed Artemis flight around the Moon
https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/new...is-mission

Reports are coming in that nasa is switching to using Maple Syrup and LOX as propellants for its SLS Moon rocket in order to ensure safe transportation of a Canadian astronaut around the Moon on Artemis 2.   

https://twitter.com/newsfromorbit/status...0816850953

This is what happens when you let Canadians loose in space:

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/KaOC9danxNo

[Syne]

Canadian official: People growing too much pot at home
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2020/12/17/...t-at-home/

EXCERPTS: Canadian health regulator on Thursday raised concerns about the large quantity of medical marijuana people were growing at home, after its data showed a significant jump in daily average production permitted by health care practitioners. While the practitioners can allow registered patients to grow limited amount at home for personal use, the regulator’s findings show that such authorizations rose to a staggering 36.2 grams by the end of March, compared with 25.2 grams in October 2018.

Meanwhile, average purchases by registered patients, who can buy pot from licensed producers and federal medical sellers, have stayed as low as 2 to 2.1 grams every month, data showed. [...] With no concrete limits on personal production, Health Canada is facing rising pressure to tackle the perceived abuse of the home-grow program. “Health Canada is concerned that high daily authorized amounts are, in a few instances, leading to abuse of the access to cannabis for medical purposes framework and are undermining the integrity of the system,” the regulator said... (MORE - details)

You have to be terribly naive to think that medical marijuana is anything but a stepping stone to recreational. And I wonder if Canada is all that concerned about the "integrity of the system" or actually more concerned about marijuana tax revenue.

[Zinjanthropos]

If you think COVID is a problem, take a look at this stat sheet from British Columbia. No lockdowns because of it though and makes you wonder what the pandemic is all about.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c...-1.5815835