The Tilbury Times

Year: 2021

  • Canadian pianist wins one of the world’s most prestigious piano competitions

    A Canadian has won one of the world’s most prestigious piano competitions.
    The jury of the 18th Frederic Chopin international piano competition chose Bruce (Xiaoyu) Liu of Canada as the winner of the 40,000-euro ($57,000 Cdn) first prize in the 18th Frederic Chopin international piano competition that often launches pianists’ world careers.
    The announcement came just hours after Liu played as the last entrant among the 12 finalists, performing Chopin’s concerto in E minor, opus 11 with the orchestra at the packed National Philharmonic in Warsaw. His performance was met with huge applause.
    Liu is from Montreal. He graduated with great distinction from the Conservatoire de Montréal , where he studied with Richard Raymond, and later studied at the Université de Montréal, working with Dang Thai Son.
    Oh my God. I don’t know what to say, honestly, Liu said soon after learning he won.
    We have been dreaming with all these people here for this prestigious stage, the 24-year-old said in English.
    Being able to play Chopin in Warsaw is one of the best things you can imagine, of course, so I’m truly honoured for this award, of course, and for this jury’s trust and for all the warmth I have received in recent days, Liu said.

    Competition high this year

    Second prize and 30,000 euros ($43,000 Cdn) went to Alexander Gadjiev, representing Italy and Slovenia and to Kyohei Sorita of Japan, while the third prize of 20,000 euros ($28,000 Cdn) was awarded to Martin Garcia Garcia of Spain.
    High ranking in the renowned competition opens the world’s top concert halls to the pianists and pave the way to recordings with best known record companies.
    Held every five years, the competition was postponed from 2020 by the pandemic.
    Jury head Katarzyna Popowa-Zydron has said that apart from being excellent pianists, the participants should also show sensitivity and bring freshness to the music.
    I try to look for a rapport between the performer and Chopin, Popowa-Zydron said in an interview early in the competition.
    Music is a message from a person and [the musicians] should know what kind of person Chopin was.
    Bowing to their artistry, the 17-member jury allowed two more finalists this year than usual.
    Observers noted that the level of the competition was very high this year and said it’s difficult to pick a favourite to win.
    All the finalists are very outstanding artists, said Aleksander Laskowski, spokesperson for the Fryderyk Chopin Institute that organized the competition.

    Canadian a past silver medallist

    Among previous winners are Maurizio Pollini of Italy, Argentina’s Martha Argerich, Garrick Ohlsson from the United States, Poland’s Krystian Zimerman and Artur Blechacz, and Seong-Jin Cho of South Korea.
    Canadian Charles Richard-Hamelin won silver the last time the competition was held in 2015.
    Chopin, Poland’s best known and beloved classical music composer and pianist, was born in 1810 in Zelazowa Wola near Warsaw to a Polish mother and a French father. He left Poland at 19 to broaden his musical education in Vienna and then in Paris, where he settled, composing, giving concerts and teaching the piano.
    Chopin died on Oct. 17, 1849, in Paris and is buried at the Pere Lachaise cemetery. His heart is at the Holy Cross Church in Warsaw.
    The Associated Press with files from CBC

  • HRPS Looking for Help Identifying Suspicious Males

    By: Laura Steiner
    Halton Regional Police Service (HRPS) is looking for help identifying three suspicious males on two separate occasions.
    In the morning of October 15, between 10:55 and 11:35 am one male was seen in the driver’s seat of a mid-sized black four-door Mercedes with tinted windows parked on Clark Blvd near Hawthorne Village Public School.  He was allegedly taking photos of children.
    On October 18 at exactly the same time the suspect returned to the area and parked in the same spot with two other male passengers.  The driver offered candy to a child.  The vehicle drove away after being approached by school staff.  The descriptions are as follows:

    • Driver: a 21-year old male with short dark hair
    • Passenger 1: Described by eye witnesses as a white male wearing a black  shirt with a white snake-like pattern on the sleeves.
    • There is no description of the second passenger.

    Anyone with information on the three men including residents in the area with security or dashcam footage from October 15, and 18 are asked to contact Detective Mark Brewster in the 1 District Criminal Investigations Bureau at: 905-825-4747 ext. 2420.
    Parents are advised to remind their children of the dangers involved in interacting with strangers.  HRPS lists the following tips:

    • Be wary of those who are overly friendly, and offer you things like candy.  And never approach a stranger
    • Don’t enter a stranger’s vehicle
    • Remember details such as a description, vehicle, or license plate number if approached by a stranger
    • Use a safe password known only to family members
    • Encourage children walk, and play in groups.
    • Report suspicious activity to police

    Information can be submitted via Halton Crime Stoppers by calling: 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or through website.
     

  • Canada’s inflation rate jumps to new 18-year high of 4.4%

    Canada’s inflation rate rose to a new 18-year high of 4.4 per cent in September, with higher prices for transportation, shelter and food contributing the most to the jump in the cost of living.
    Statistics Canada said Wednesday that the transportation index, which includes gasoline, rose by more than nine per cent. Shelter costs have gone up by 4.8 per cent in the past year, while food prices are up by 3.9 per cent.
    Gasoline prices have risen by almost 33 per cent in the past year, the data agency said.
    Prices for just about every type of food went up sharply, especially meat, which rose at an annual pace of 9.5 per cent. That’s the fastest pace of increase in meat prices since 2015.
    CBC News

  • Meghani Issues new Instructions for indoor sports & recreation facilities

    By: Laura Steiner
    Halton Medical Officer of Health Dr. Hamidah Meghani has issued new instructions to indoor sports recreational fitness facilities.  The order comes as the province prepares to move out of the COVID-19 framework.
    The new orders ask businesses and organizations to implement policies that would ensure compliance with COVID-19 vaccinations no later than November 26, 2021 for those over the age of 12.  The rules will apply to anyone participating, coaching, training, instructing, or officiating sporting events.
    The requirements are being introduced in order to minimize the spread of COVID-19 outbreaks.  The region still expects compliance with masking, physical distancing, as well as other orders applicable to to the indoor sports, and recreational facilities.
    Ontario residents are expected to show proof of vaccination when entering a recreation or indoor sports facility, as well as restaurant.  An enhanced certificate is now available to download, and will be used starting Friday October 22.  Paper certificates will remain valid afterward in cooperation with valid identification.
    Ontario recorded an increase of 328 cases of COVID-19.  225 are either unvaccinated, or have an unknown vaccination status.  Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Friday that his government is finalizing plans to exit stage three.

  • The WHO hopes its new panel can determine the origin of COVID-19. Some experts are skeptical

    An “imbalanced” group of experts and China’s resistance to co-operate means the World Health Organization’s new panel is unlikely to determine whether the origin of COVID-19 can be found in nature or traced to a lab leak, some experts suggest.
    The WHO announced last week it had formed a new advisory group to to look into the origins of emerging and re-emerging pathogens of epidemic and pandemic potential, including COVID-19.
    Called the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO), the 26-member proposed panel includes four members who took part in a WHO-led team that spent four weeks in and around Wuhan earlier this year with Chinese scientists.
    Alina Chan, a Canadian molecular biologist at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, said she doesn’t have much faith in it.
    Based on the outcomes of the China-WHO joint study and the persistent lack of access to data and information in China, I’m not confident that the current list of SAGO members will make any headway into the origin of COVID-19, Chan, who also launched an open-source website to track COVID-19’s genetic evolution, told CBC News in an email.
    She was one of 18 scientists who signed a letter in May that was published in Science. It criticized the original panel’s report about the origin of COVID-19 for not giving proper consideration to the lab-leak theory.
    In an email to CBC News, Chan questioned the composition of the new panel, suggesting that some of the members from the original group who are on this new panel may carry biases.
    She said she was disappointed that WHO did not take the opportunity to start SAGO on a clean slate and to pick experts who are as uncontroversial as possible.
    Most of the international experts convened on the highly criticized initial joint study with China are back on SAGO, Chan said in an email to CBC News, “It will now be difficult to convince people that the new SAGO will be much different from the original joint study group.

    ‘Could have been a fresh start’

    This could have been a fresh start to a WHO investigation of the origin of COVID, but they picked a committee that is, in my opinion, imbalanced and lacking in strong expertise in biosecurity and bioengineering.
    Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law at Georgetown University who directs the World Health Organization Center on Global Health Law, also expressed skepticism about the panel’s potential success.
    This new committee is highly reliant on China to allow them access to its territory, its scientific samples and its people — independent scientists, whistle blowers, health care workers and others, he said in a phone interview with CBC News.
    “Trying to find the origins without China’s co-operation is going to be extremely difficult.… If the U.S. intelligence agencies couldn’t do it using covert methods, I don’t know how a WHO team of scientists can possibly do that.“
    Last March, an initial team of WHO investigators released a report that determined that it was likely to very likely, the coronavirus had a zoonotic source, meaning it was transmitted to humans by animals. The also concluded the idea that a laboratory incident was the source was extremely unlikely.
    But that report was subsequently criticized by the U.S., Canada , members of the scientific community and other governments for the lack of access granted to the investigators. WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also expressed concerns  about the investigation, that the assessment was not extensive enough and that further data and studies will be needed to reach more robust conclusions.

    ‘2 theories not given balanced consideration’

    The two theories were not given balanced consideration, the scientists wrote in their letter. Only four of the 313 pages of the report and its annexes addressed the possibility of a laboratory accident.
    We must take hypotheses about both natural and laboratory spillovers seriously until we have sufficient data.
    The lab-leak theory postulates that researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which does work with coronaviruses, may have been studying or even modifying such viruses to better understand them, and that a lab accident may have allowed the virus to escape.
    Initially dismissed as a conspiracy theory, the notion has since gained acceptance among some members of the scientific community that it’s an avenue at least worth exploring.
    Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine, said he still believes that a natural origin is most likely, but that both theories should be investigated.

    They feel it’s a witch hunt’

    Instead, too many people with political agendas have been allowed to level unfounded charges to the point where China is now unco-operative in any kind of an international investigation, likely because they feel it’s a witch hunt, Hotez said.
    And there’s been way too much emphasis on banging on the door of the Wuhan Institute, saying: ‘Show me your lab notebooks’ when we should realize by this point it’s not going to be productive and it’s not going to happen.
    In July, China said it would not accept the World Health Organization’s plan for the second phase of a study into the origins of COVID-19. Meanwhile, following WHO’s announcement, Chen Xu, China’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, said the conclusions of the first joint study were quite clear, adding that as international teams had been sent to China twice already.
    it is time to send teams to other places, the ambassador said.
    Arinjay Banerjee, a research scientist with VIDO-Intervac, a vaccine research facility at the University of Saskatchewan, said in any context, definitively determining the source of COVID-19 could be very challenging.
    He said he believes the anecdotal evidence certainly supports a zoonotic transmission, but it would be difficult to definitively prove.
    You have to get very lucky, he said. When it happens, it’s so transient, you just can’t pinpoint where it happened.
    For example, scientists were able to connect the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) to camels because the found the virus in camels, Banerjee said.
    “If the samples are lost, if the sample have been consumed or they’ve gone from the wet food markets, like how would you ever find out what happened?
    I would say it’s not like looking for a needle in the haystack. It’s like looking for a needle in a needle stack.
    With files from Reuters
    Mark Gollom· CBC News

  • Mayor says he can’t control what councillors say

    By: Alex Kurial, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Independent
    Chatham-Kent Mayor Darrin Canniff says he can’t interrupt councillor talking points based on subject matter, even when the discussion ventures into the factually incorrect.
    This on the heels of last week’s council meeting when Councillor Amy Finn used her time to list a slew of factually incorrect claims while speaking in opposition of a vaccine policy for council and staff. This included a belief that any vaccine mandate violates the Nuremburg Code.
    “Previously I confirmed with the Integrity Commissioner that I can’t stop councillors from saying things. They have the full ability to say what they want to say and I can’t step in and change that,” says Canniff.
    Canniff, who eventually told Finn to “wrap it up” says he “did step in because the limit of her five minutes (was up).” However it took about 12 minutes, over double this allotted time, for the mayor to intervene during the Oct. 4 meeting.
    “I’m always concerned about the truth. We want the truth going out, we want factual things going out,” says Canniff regarding councillors lending credibility to debunked theories and arguments. He says there’s immediate checks on false statements from staff such as Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Colby and General Manager of Health and Family Services April Reitdyk who provide a valuable service by “stepping in afterwards if there are misstatements to correct those.”
    Councillor Finn’s statements were rebuked by a number of staff, including Colby, following her drawn out speaking session.
    Canniff says there’s another important long-term check councillors must consider when making untrue claims. “Each councillor is going to have to stand on their own with what they’re saying and the public is going to have to assess that accordingly.”
    But as for himself, “I don’t have the ability to step in and say ‘you can’t speak’.”
    That is, until five minutes have been reached.

  • Ontario to tighten rules for temp agencies, firms that recruit foreign workers

    The Ontario government is set to bring in the province’s strictest-ever rules for companies that recruit temporary workers, including a system for shutting down temp agencies that exploit staff, CBC News has learned.
    Senior officials with the Ministry of Labour say the plans include mandatory licensing for temporary help agencies, giving the province the power to stop firms from operating if they violate employment standards.
    The government will also create a dedicated team of inspectors to root out illegal treatment of workers and recover unpaid wages.
    The announcement, to be made Monday morning, will be the first in a series of employment-related measures from the Ford government. Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development Monte McNaughton describes the moves as rebalancing the scales between vulnerable workers and big business.
    We’re going to shine the light on these bad actors in the industry, these temporary help agencies and recruiters that aren’t playing by the rules, McNaughton told CBC News in an interview ahead of his announcement.
    The changes will be part of upcoming legislation that will make Ontario’s protection of temp workers the strongest in Canada, he said.
    McNaughton said he particularly wants to stop firms that exploit temporary foreign workers by withholding their passports or paying them less than minimum wage.
    This is modern-day slavery, it’s unacceptable, he said, promising to really stand up for those women, immigrants, racialized communities, those from low-income communities and those workers that are being impacted by these unscrupulous things that are happening.

    Inspectors found $3.3 million in unpaid wages

    More than 2,000 temporary help agencies in Ontario place hundreds of thousands of workers in seasonal and short-term employment each year, in sectors ranging from tourism to office work to agriculture.
    Some temp firms — including some who recruit temporary foreign workers — have been caught failing to comply with Ontario employment law on paying workers minimum wage, overtime and vacation pay.
    In a Ministry of Labour enforcement campaign in 2020-21 concentrating on temp agencies supplying workers to retirement homes, farms, food processing plants and warehouses, inspectors found evidence of $3.3 million in unpaid wages.
    The measures to be unveiled by McNaughton on Monday include:

    • new penalties on temp firms that violate basic safety and employment standards;
    • new powers to force companies to repay illegal recruitment fees, including a requirement that they post a security bond;
    • a new vetting process that all temporary help agencies must go through before the province issues a licence to operate.The licensing requirement would take effect in 2023. McNaughton said the system will prevent companies that don’t follow the rules from undercutting the ones that do.
      Government officials say the measures will allow the province to levy penalties on recruitment firms that bring workers to Ontario, regardless of the jurisdiction where they are based.
      Temporary help agencies employed about 128,000 full-time workers in Ontario in 2019, according to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board.
      The boom in the use of temp agencies across the country can be seen in figures from Statistics Canada, which show a 34 per cent jump in their revenue in the four years between 2015 and 2019.
      The new rules for temp agencies are just some of the worker-protection measures coming soon from the Progressive Conservative government, McNaughton signaled at a major labour union gathering last week.
      We’ll be bringing forward legislation this month focused on protecting all workers, because enough is enough and we can do better, he said during a speech to the annual general meeting of the Provincial Building and Construction Trades Council, an umbrella group of unions.
      We’re going to be rebalancing the scales, McNaughton added in the speech.
      Tip them back to workers, he clarified in an interview. I think the pandemic has really highlighted how these big multibillion-dollar corporations, these elites, have taken advantage of people, and we need to ensure that we have a society where workers are protected.

      Ford rolled back labour reforms when elected

      The moves could be seen as an attempt by the province to change the perception that it favours business owners over working people.
      Premier Doug Ford came to power in 2018 on a promise to make Ontario open for business by eliminating what he referred to as red tape and stifling regulations — measures that labour advocates considered to be crucial protections for workers.
      One of his government’s first major moves was a sweeping rollback  of labour reforms brought in by the former Liberal government of Kathleen Wynne.
      Those reforms gave all Ontario workers a minimum of two paid sick days , forced employers to pay part-time and casual staff at the same rate as full-time workers  and made it easier for employees in some sectors to join unions.
      Under intense lobbying by the business community, the Progressive Conservatives scrapped the protections.
      The Ford government also froze Ontario’s minimum wage for two years. The hourly minimum wage went up 10 cents  on Oct. 1, to $14.35.
      Mike Crawley · CBC News

  • Ontario Residents Able to Download Enhanced COVID-19 Vaccine Certificates As of This Weekend

    By: Laura Steiner
    Verify Ontario is now available for download.  The app is for businesses to be able to scan the QR code associated with the enhanced vaccination certificate.  The app is designed to make it easier to check an individual’s vaccine status.
    “The enhanced vaccine certificates and Verify Ontario app will give our businesses further comfort in their ability to operate as we take further steps to protect people’s privacy,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said at his press conference Friday.  The enhanced vaccine certificate is scheduled to be implemented October 22, 2021.
    Residents can download their QR Code from the Provincial vaccine portal over the next few days based on their birth month

    • October 15, 12:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m.: All individuals born between January and April
    • October 16, 12:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m.: All individuals born between May and August
    • October 17, 12:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m.: All individuals born between September to December
    • Monday October 18 at 6 a.m., the portal opens regardless of a birthday.

    “Getting vaccinated is the single most important thing Ontarians can do to protect themselves,” Health Minister Christine Elliott said.  Residents can also have an enhanced vaccination certificate mailed to them by calling the Provincial Vaccine Contact Centre: 1-833-943-9300.  Businesses must accept both paper and electronic versions.
    Businesses and organizations are advised to download the app ahead of the October 22 deadline in order familiarize themselves with its features.  “The VerifyOntario app will support Ontario businesses, protect our hard-fought progress by making it quicker and easier to confirm if a person is fully vaccinated, while protecting their privacy,” Associate Minister of Digital Government Kaleed Rasheed said.
    The app is made in Ontario in cooperation with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE).  It will only read enhanced certificates from Quebec, British Columbia and Yukon Territory.  And it will work without the Internet.  Ontario implemented a vaccine passport September 22, 2021.  82% of residents over the age of 12 have been fully vaccinated with two doses.  “Proof of vaccination using the new vaccine certificate with QR code and Verify Ontario app are important tools to help stop the spread of virus while keep businesses and organizations open safely,” Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore said.
    Ontario recorded an increase of 496 new cases of COVID-19.  334 of those are in those who have not been fully vaccinated. There are 163 people in ICU, and of those 148 have unknown vaccination status.

  • Grassroots groups call on Parliament to Create Just Transition Act in first 100 days

    By: Natasha Bulowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada’s National Observer
    This week, grassroots organizations across the country are mobilizing to demand community-led just transition legislation within the first 100 days of Parliament as part of a “Climate Code Red” week of action.
    From Oct. 12 to 17, more than 50 events are happening in nine provinces to pressure politicians to take action to help Canada shift its economy away from fossil fuels through petition drives, canvassing, community gatherings, and webinars.
    “Prime Minister (Justin) Trudeau promised a just transition act, where is it?” asks Dylan Penner, a climate and social justice campaigner with the Council of Canadians, a non-profit, non-partisan national organization that advocates for things like fair trade, clean energy, clean water, and public services through collective action and grassroots organizing.
    Penner says this is a critical political moment with Parliament soon to resume and COP26, the United Nations climate talks, scheduled to begin in Glasgow, Scotland, later this month.
    On July 20, Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan launched a process to consult with several groups — including provinces and territories; First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities; and labour and non-governmental organizations — on how to best make the transition to a “low-carbon future for workers and their families.” The consultations were bumped when the federal election was called, and the deadline for submissions — originally Sept. 30 — has been delayed until further notice.
    A Natural Resources Canada spokesperson told Canada’s National Observer the department has received over 15,000 emails to date through the Just Transition website.
    The spokesperson would not comment on the timing of any just transition legislation, saying: “The details regarding any proposed legislation and the formation of the Just Transition Advisory Body will be determined following the conclusion of the ongoing consultations.”
    Starting this week, organizers and individuals are collecting signatures for “micro-petitions,” which they will then bring to their MPs — not just over the week of action, but in the coming months.
    “The hope is that questions around a just transition act are raised in the House and the government will have to respond,” says Penner.
    Twenty-five is the minimum number of signatures required to ask an MP to table a petition in Parliament and Penner says organizers will continue bringing these micro-petitions to their MPs throughout the first 100 days of Parliament to keep pressure on the government.
    “Micro-petitions and petitions guarantee time in the House to raise the issue in the petition, and in a minority Parliament, oftentimes, there is limited space. So, it’s really amazing when you have dedicated organizers ensuring guaranteed time to talk about very important issues,” says NDP MP Laurel Collins, who expects to receive petitions from her constituents in Victoria, B.C.
    Collins says she looks forward to working with organizers to push the government to implement timely, meaningful just transition legislation. Stopping “the delay that we’ve seen from this federal government” is one of the NDP’s priorities, she says, along with supporting workers in the transition away from fossil fuels, upholding Indigenous rights in the process, putting in place a plan to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and creating green jobs.
    In Kingston, Ont., Just Recovery Kingston, a non-partisan grassroots group of Kingston residents, has already delivered its first batch of petitions to Liberal MP Mark Gerretsen’s office, with over 250 signatures collected in total. Gerretsen’s staffers told organizers he would commit to bringing the petition forward in Parliament.
    Jeremy Milloy, an organizer with Just Recovery Kingston, said its team has been busy advocating for a transition from the fossil fuel economy, and at the local level, a huge focus is free transit.
    Last week, organizers covered bus stops all over the city to collect signatures, and spoke to Kingston’s Environment, Infrastructure and Transportation Policies Committee about how to effectively invest in the transit system and expand free transit.
    “Our mandate is: How can we help create a community where we take care of each other and take care of our land, air and water?” said Milloy. Focusing on quality, affordable, accessible transit and expanding access to community gardens is the first step.
    “It’s basically all part of a transition I see from an economic system based on exploitation and competition towards … a world that is sustainable over the long-term where we are taking care of each other, we’re taking care of the land, we’re educating, we’re caring for the sick, (and) being there for the elderly,” said Milloy, who said he believes social justice and climate action are inextricably linked.
    Petitions are also being gathered in the Prairies. For organizers like Laura Stewart, who is collecting signatures in Regina, Sask., this week of action presents an opportunity to concentrate the voices of folks who got lost in a sea of blue this election.
    “I hope that we’ll be able to convey to Parliament that it’s not just solid opposition out here, that there are strong supporters for really ambitious climate action right across the country,” she said.
    Along with getting an MP to take the petition to Parliament, Stewart hopes to start a conversation about what needs to be done to ensure a climate-safe future, how fast we need to act, and the difficulties associated with it.
    “In the rural areas, I think people are more aware of how big the changes are that we’re discussing in terms of phasing out fossil fuels. They have more of a sense of how huge a change that would be in their lives,” said Stewart.
    “And in urban areas, I think people have a stronger sense of how badly we just need to go ahead and do it anyway.”
    The Climate Code Red week of action also includes events to involve people with community organizations, educate and encourage conversation.
    At 2 p.m. ET on Saturday, climate activists, local and global labour organizers and current and former auto manufacturing workers will gather in Oshawa to support the week of action. The gathering is organized by Green Jobs Oshawa, a coalition of workers, community leaders and environmentalists dedicated to repurposing the Oshawa Assembly facility.
    In Oshawa, public ownership of important sectors of the economy is a key component of a just transition, according to Tony Leah, an organizer with Green Jobs Oshawa.
    “We think it’s so important to be urging the federal government to take actions that are in the interests of the people of Canada, and that (are) not be determined by what’s in the best interest of corporations,” said Leah.
    A free virtual conference about the role of pensions in working towards environmental justice​, organized by the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL), will take place on Friday and Saturday. The event will feature speakers like Seth Klein, author of A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency and a Canada’s National Observer columnist, and political theorist and activist Noam Chomsky.
    “What’s really important about this conference is really confronting climate in a different way,” said Patty Coates, president of the OFL. “We know that our pensions are invested in various areas, so we want to make sure the majority of that investment is in companies that care about the climate (and) will ensure that there’s a just transition for workers.”
    Penner says ensuring a just transition is informed by community-led work is critical because “we’ve seen the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers and others really trying to influence the direction just transition legislation may go so it serves profits instead of people in communities.”
    “So there’s the question of whether and when Trudeau will introduce a just transition act and there’s also a question of what’s going to be in it,” says Penner. “That’s why it’s so important for people and communities to articulate the priorities that are important to them and to define what’s in a just transition so it’s not left to corporations and the one per cent.”

  • U.S. to open border to fully vaccinated travelers starting Nov. 8

    The United States is set to reopen its borders to fully vaccinated travellers starting starting Nov. 8, and will apply to those travelling by air, land or passenger ferry.
    Air travellers will need to show proof of vaccination on arrival to the U.S., but will still need to show a pre-departure negative COVID-19 test taken within three days of travel prior to boarding.
    Non-essential travellers crossing at a land border will be required to show proof of vaccination, and by January the same policy will apply to those deemed essential travellers.
    The Canada-U.S. border has been closed for non-essential travel since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Canada opened its border to U.S. travellers in early August.
    More to come.
    Darren Major , Katie Simpson· CBC News