Concern mounting over ‘extensive’ Upper Highwood logging plans in Kananaskis

KANANASKIS COUNTRY – Thousands of Albertans are voicing opposition to a plan to clearcut about 2,000 football fields worth of forest in Kananaskis Country’s Upper Highwood set to begin this winter.

Conservationists and other concerned groups say Spray Lakes Sawmills’ (SLS) plan to harvest the 1,100-hectare plot – including a stretch along the Highwood River – threatens environment, wildlife habitat and recreation in the area.

“There’s a number of concerns. A lot of it has to do with implications on habitat itself,” said Amber Toner with Take a Stand for the Upper Highwood, an advocacy group formed in 2017 in response to another logging project in the area that saw 450 hectares removed.

“The logging is happening along 21 kilometres of the Highwood River and that river is home to some species like our at-risk native trout species here in Alberta. That area is also home to grizzly bears and so many other species that live there.” |Read more https://www.albertaprimetimes.com/beyond-local/concern-mounting-over-extensive-upper-highwood-logging-plans-in-kananaskis-7416151|

#kananaskis #environment #logging #ThreatenedSpecies #abpoli

Manitoba election: PCs on track to underspend $1B on health care, NDP critic says

The Manitoba NDP https://globalnews.ca/tag/manitoba-ndp claims that since the Progressive Conservatives came into power in 2016, they have underspent on health care by over $600 million.

At a press conference in Windsor Park, Health Minister Audrey Gordon’s constituency, NDP health critic Uzoma Asagwara https://globalnews.ca/tag/uzoma-asagwara said the Tories are on track to leave $1 billion in funding for health care on the table.

“Heather Stefanson, Audrey Gordon and this PC government broke our health-care system. They aren’t the ones who are going to be able to fix it,” they said.

NDP spokesperson Mark Rosner said an analysis of provincial budgets and actuals at the end of each fiscal year found $698 million left unspent by the Tory government. Using those figures, the New Democrats project that figure will balloon to $911 million by next year.

Asagwara, MLA for Union Station, said despite announcing millions of dollars in health-care spending in the lead-up to the election, the PCs should not be trusted.

“They have a pattern of making announcements and not following through on their own commitments,” they said.

“The PCs can only be trusted to one thing and that is break their promises to Manitobans and fail on health care.”

|Read more https://globalnews.ca/news/9895169/manitoba-election-pcs-underspend-health-care-ndp-critic/|

#UzomaAsagwara #ManitobaNDP #healthcare #conservatives #WitholdFunds #politics #mbpoli

KINSELLA: Dear Pierre, let’s talk conspiracies

All cards on the table, big guy: the country has had its fill, and then some, of Justin Trudeau. From coast to coast, old to young, male to female and all points in between: we want Justin to leave. Go cobble together a ghost-written memoir in time for the Christmas season, Lucky Sperm Club guy, and hit the WE lecture circuit. Go.

See, Pierre? We’re not necessarily against you. We know that, if Justin doesn’t leave of his own accord, you are the figurative bailiff: you’re the only guy with the wherewithal to move Justin and his sock collection onto the sidewalk on Sussex.

But, we’re not necessarily for you, either. The jury is still out on you.

Because of you.

For quite some time, the country has been saying: Trudeau, go. But the country has also been saying: Pierre? No.

There was a bunch of reasons why the country didn’t embrace you right away, most of which you’ve now addressed. You used to be pro-life, now you’re pro-choice. You used to dislike gay marriage, now you do. You used to be seemingly against a bunch of things – more immigration, Indigenous reconciliation – that you are now for.

You hung out with Covid-denier convoy types who occupied bridges and major Canadian cities, but not anymore. You used to talk a lot about vaccinations, but no longer. You used to wear glasses and look a bit nerdy. No more: you’ve ditched the glasses and started using Brian Lilley’s former trainer.
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It’s all good, Pierre. Except…conspiracies. They’re back, apparently. Like a stain on the rug in the sitting room, the WEF one is back. And everyone can see it.|Read more https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/kinsella-dear-pierre-lets-talk-conspiracies|

#PierrePoilievre #conspiracies #cdnpoli #conservatives #liar

COVID-19 activity showing early signs that it may be increasing, new PHAC data says

COVID-19 infections may be slowly starting to rise again in Canada, new data from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) suggests.

“There are signs of continued fluctuations in some COVID-19 activity indicators after a long period of gradual decline,” the agency’s online epidemiology update said on Tuesday.

“This may be an early sign of increases in activity.”

COVID-19 activity is still low to moderate across the provinces and territories, the update said.

Dr. Allison McGeer, an infectious diseases specialist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, said COVID-19 cases are on the rise in the U.S. and in other parts of the world.

“I think the solid evidence is that COVID is coming back (in Canada),” she said, noting that noticeable increased activity likely won’t happen for “another few weeks at least.”

Public health experts are using wastewater surveillance across the country and COVID-19 test positivity rates to determine the level of COVID-19 activity. |Read more https://www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/health/covid-19-activity-showing-early-signs-that-it-may-be-increasing-new-phac-data-says/article_08c81877-1d92-50d2-9482-4ce44d60a91f.html|

#politics #cdnpoli #health #covid #increasing