The Edmonton Elks organization is parting ways with president Victor Cui, the board announced on Tuesday.
Author Archives: Steve
‘No transparency’: Premier Doug Ford faces questions over use of personal phone
‘No transparency’: Premier Doug Ford faces questions over use of personal phone
As Ontario Premier Doug Ford https://globalnews.ca/tag/premier-doug-ford sat down for a fireside chat at Toronto’s Empire Club https://globalnews.ca/tag/empire-club in June, he gestured to a bank of broadcast television cameras in the back of the room and briefly paused to consider what he was about to say.
“Is this live on TV?” Ford asked, before immediately dismissing his own concern. “It doesn’t matter,” he continued.
“I’m giving my cell number, everyone has it anyways.”
Ford then offered up a phone number, with a 647 area code, to a room full of lobbyists, business leaders and attendees with both private and public interests.
“It is the premier’s personal cell phone number,” a government document sent to Global News as part of an ongoing freedom of information appeal confirmed.
While Ford has made accessibility part of his personal brand, handing his phone number out to voters and CEOs alike, new questions are being raised about who has direct access to the premier, who serves as the ultimate decision-maker in Canada’s largest province.
Those questions have been given new weight after the stinging Greenbelt report from Ontario’s auditor general revealed who has direct and informal access to the Ford government.
Global News files freedom of information request
In an attempt to gain insight into the premier’s government-related phone calls, Global News requested a copy of the call log for Ford’s private cellphone number during a one-week period in November 2022.
The request, however, was denied by government officials on the basis that it was Ford’s personal number and had nothing to do with government business. |Read more https://globalnews.ca/news/9892929/doug-ford-faces-questions-personal-phone/|
#DougFord #transparency #PhoneNumber #GreenBelt #scandal #onpoli
After years of delays, Canada announces plan to adapt to climate change
After years of delays, Canada announces plan to adapt to climate change
Amid forest fires on an unheard of scale and heat waves gripping the northern hemisphere, Canada announced a National Adaptation Strategy https://www.canada.ca/en/services/environment/weather/climatechange/climate-plan/national-adaptation-strategy.html to tackle the effects of climate change. This comes after lagging attempts to implement adaptive measures to protect people from the worst effects of climate change.
After coming out of the hottest week on record https://public.wmo.int/en/media/news/preliminary-data-shows-hottest-week-record-unprecedented-sea-surface-temperatures-and, with temperatures in countries reaching the low to mid 40s https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/17/extreme-temperatures-recorded-across-northern-hemisphere, Canada has been struggling with the forest fires burning the most hectares of land https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/record-breaking-10-million-hectares-of-land-burned-in-canada-s-wildfires-1.6481870 in its history. The smoke from the wildfire blanketed Southern Ontario in early June https://thenarwhal.ca/wildfire-smoke-southern-ontario-2023/, owing to over a hundred fires in Quebec, 79 of which are still burning https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/79-wildfires-burning-in-northern-quebec-11-out-of-control-1.6483861. But now forest fires in the B.C. interior have contributed to the deteriorating air quality and have also led to the evacuation near communities like Pemberton and Gold Bridge.
The ongoing forest fires throughout Canada have now burned over 111,000 square kilometres of land as of July 20. Experts are calling it the worst wildfire season in the history of the continent https://rabble.ca/environment/2023-is-the-year-canada-went-up-in-smoke/. |Read more https://rabble.ca/environment/after-years-of-delays-canada-announces-plan-to-adapt-to-climate-change/|
Ottawa’s Record Rain Produces ‘Mayhem’ of Flooded Basements, Health Risks
Ottawa’s Record Rain Produces ‘Mayhem’ of Flooded Basements, Health Risks: After Ottawa “faced more than 77 millimetres of rainfall on Thursday,” CBC News reports, “videos of water gushing out of bathtubs and toilets gripped and revolted local social media users.” Now, repair crews are “seeing the aftermath: damaged flooring, furniture, and personal possessions after unsanitary water surged up to fill basements.”
“We’re not talking portions of basements—we’re talking entire basement,” Deven Raval, owner of PuroClean, told CBC. “Six to eight inches of water came in, which is quite severe… that’s a huge volume of water kicking back.”
That can only mean that “something went very wrong with the sewer systems in Ottawa,” he added.
“It’s widespread. It’s all over the place,” agreed Richard Green, CEO of the local franchise of Paul Davis restoration. “There’s varying degrees of damage. Some of them are pretty catastrophic, where there’s been a lot of water going into people’s houses and it’s upset their whole routine and their lives.”
Green said sewage water backing up into homes and basements isn’t just gross—it’s also a health risk.
Fury as Alberta cuts renewables during Canada’s worst fire season ever
Fury as Alberta cuts renewables during Canada’s worst fire season ever: A decision by Canada’s largest oil- and
gas-producing province to halt new wind and solar projects has prompted
disbelief among environmental groups and economists. The move comes as
the country struggles with its worst wildfire season on record, a situation that experts agree is worsened by the climate crisis and a reliance on fossil fuels.
Alberta last week announced
a six-month moratorium on large solar and wind projects so it can
review policies surrounding the projects’ construction and impact on the
power grid, as well as rules for their eventual decommissioning.
“This came as a complete shock
to the industry. And it’s really a broader shock to all industries in
Alberta, for a government to take such a drastic action without any
consultation,” said Jorden Dye, acting director of Business Renewables
Centre Canada.
Nearly
C$2bn worth of projects have been proposed in recent months in the
province, and Dye warns companies might look to other jurisdictions to
develop them.
The decision to freeze projects
is a “mistake”, the head of the Canadian Renewable Energy Association
said in a statement, warning the move will weaken investor confidence in
the province, which represents 75% of the country’s renewable growth since last year.