By: Jason Miller, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Toronto Star
The provincial body charged with investigating police has cleared a Peel officer of criminal wrongdoing for the shooting of a man who went on a “violent rampage” in Mississauga last May, seriously injuring several people.
In a written decision released Friday, Special Investigations Unit (SIU) director Joseph Martino said the man was suffering from a psychotic episode at the time of the “harrowing events,” during which he attacked and seriously wounded three residents of the Holden Crescent homes he had broken into the morning of May 2, 2020.
Martino wrote: “There are no reasonable grounds to believe that she and the other officers involved in the (man’s) apprehension acted other than lawfully.”
Police were called to the scene after reports of a homicide in the area when they confronted the man in the backyard of a semi-detached home at about 9:29 a.m.
A female Peel officer shot the man in the leg after he emerged from a garden shed holding a large serrated knife in his right hand and bleeding from lacerations to the neck.
The officer had reasonable grounds to preserve herself and her fellow officer from the potential of death or grievous bodily harm, Martino wrote.
“There can be no doubt that the (man) was intent on doing harm to the officers with the knife,” the SIU report said. “When he was not using it to cut himself, the man pointed it at the (subject officer) while yelling that the officer would have to shoot him. Retreat was not an option.”
As is her legal right, the female officer declined to be interviewed by the SIU and did not release her incident notes.
The SIU report said the man had been involved in a motor vehicle collision in the intersection of Cawthra and Burnhamthorpe Roads before embarking on a “violent rampage” through the Holden Crescent neighbourhood.
According to the report, the man broke into a home and attacked one of the homeowners with a knife, before next attacking the man’s wife, causing her serious injuries. She was able to escape and make her way to her son’s house and call police, telling them the man had “killed her husband.”
The SIU said the man’s rampage continued in the backyard of the adjoining home on Holden Crescent, where he attacked another civilian with a knife, causing serious injuries.
Police were told that the accused had entered a shed in the second home’s backyard. Two officers, including the female subject officer, went to the rear of the residence and attempted to open the shed door.
The man began to repeatedly shout words to the effect of, “They’re trying to kill me. You’re going to have to kill me,” the SIU report states.
After the man walked out the the shed, covered in blood and holding the knife, the male officer shot him with a Taser, but he remained standing.
The man told the officers he had escaped from a hospital where staff had tried to kill him and yelled that the officers had to kill him, the SIU report said. The officers walked backward away from the man while ordering him to drop the knife and stop his advance.
The man walked toward the female officer and she fired when he came within three metres, the reports said. She fired her weapon three times in rapid succession, hitting him in his right leg.
After the man was handcuffed, the officers then entered the shed where they found a maimed civilian on the ground, covered in blood and seriously injured.
Year: 2021
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SIU Clears Peel Officer in Mississauga Shooting
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Can companies make chocolate more sustainable?
By: Marc Fawcett-Atkinson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter National Observer
Sophia Carodenuto is looking for ways to make food more sustainable in an unusual place: The business practices used by the companies who control the world’s chocolate trade.
“On the one hand, you have the private sector driving deforestation” in cocoa-producing regions, said the professor at the University of Victoria. “(But) the private sector can also be the instigator of sustainable land use.”
Carodenuto — along with Janina Grabs, a postdoctoral researcher at ETH Zurich’s Environmental Policy Lab — wants to know how, and if, these businesses can drive widespread change to sustainable farming.
Each year, the world consumes about four million tonnes of cocoa, most of it grown by small farmers in West Africa. The beans then pass between middlemen along increasingly concentrated supply chains. By the time they reach supermarket shelves, over 60 per cent of the beans will have been controlled by three international commodity companies, she said.
That creates an “hourglass” structure, she said. There are lots of farmers at one end and plenty of chocolate consumers at the other, but they’re only linked by a few large companies. It’s a structure replicated across most commodity supply chains, from coffee to corn.
Often, the same trading companies will manage several commodities at once. For instance, the U.S.-based company Cargill trades cocoa, beef, seafood, and several other commodity crops.
That concentration gives those companies tremendous power over everything from farm-gate prices to farming techniques to the prices paid by consumers. For Carodenuto, that could be a way to encourage more sustainable cocoa farming practices.
“Thinking about how to reach these millions of smallholder farmers … traders are often a key entry point because they aggregate the commodity, and they have a relationship with the farmer — more so, often, than the (government),” she said.
This influence has long been recognized by the trader — and their critics. Over 20 years ago, widespread concern about the environmental and social impacts of industrial commodity farming spurred the creation of third-party certification systems like Rainforest Alliance, UTZ Certified, and Fairtrade. Commodity farmers — including cocoa farmers — need to meet specific environmental, social, and economic standards to be certified.
Historically, governments also played an important oversight role. Since the 1990s, however, their leverage has weakened as many have adopted free trade-oriented policies.
More recently, however, major cocoa producers and manufacturers have also started to develop their own sustainability certificates. Mondelez International, for instance, introduced its proprietary Cocoa Life scheme in 2012.
These efforts have the potential to be effective, she said. For instance, many farmers can’t afford to transition to more sustainable practices alone. Traders could arguably even have an “ethical” responsibility to offer financial and technical support to farmers they’re requiring to meet expensive sustainability requirements, she said.
But the impact of these corporate schemes remains unclear, Carodenuto said.
“What we’re seeing is that the large traders are really dictating a lot of these sustainability programs. There’s a move away from government-led sustainability approaches and more towards private sector (efforts),” she said. The private sector is often driving deforestation, she noted. With Grabs, she is looking at whether those private sector sustainability initiatives actually work.
“We’ve been looking at what are these sustainability approaches in practice? What are they actually trying to do? How do they compare to previous approaches? And we’ve found a huge gap in knowledge around what traders are actually doing,” she said.
And while they have tremendous influence over farmers and governments, there remain gaps in how effectively these large companies can trace the sustainability of their beans.
Most will draw some of their beans from sourcing areas where they have direct relationships with the farmers and more control over farming practices. The remainder — for some companies, up to 40 per cent — will come from smaller middlemen, eliminating the larger companies’ control over how the beans were grown.
“We’re looking at traders from this diversity of perspectives. You have these huge concentrated companies … but then you also have an important role for traders that are operating informally and under less public scrutiny. There’s a lot less transparency about what they’re doing — and those are some of the key players in terms of sustainability.”
Figuring out how to integrate those smaller players into sustainability initiatives is also key, she said.
With their research in its infancy, Carodenuto and Grabs have no answers yet. Finding them, however, is increasingly important if we want to make cocoa and other commodities more sustainable, they said.
“This relationship between farmers and their downstream partners is so important for sustainable supply chains,” said Carodenuto.
“This is where traders come in — they’re usually the ones who are the first point of contact with farmers. In other words, they provide a lot of hope for reaching out to millions of smallholders who need support in changing their farming practices.”
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Feds invest in improvements to John Tonelli Sports
By: Laura Steiner
The federal government is investing $558,655 in improving the John Tonelli Sports Centre. The announcement came February 25, 2021 via Zoom with local leaders, as well as Milton MP Adam van Koeverden, and Communities and Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna.
“Federal support to upgrade the John Tonelli Sports Centre in Milton will breathe new life into this vital community hub so new generations of kids can play, learn new skills and hang with friends,” McKenna said. The federal investment is through the Community, Culture and Recreation Infrastructure Stream (CCRIS). “This renovation will go a long way in supporting our healthy and active recovery from COVID-19 and in further supporting healthy active living right here at home!” Milton MP Adam Van Koeverden said.
The improvements include the replacement of spectator benches, and upgrades to the parking lot. The investment will also include facility access, and other amenities at Bronte Meadows’ Park. “On behalf of Town Council, I’d like to thank both the federal and provincial governments for the investment in this capital project, and for acknowledging the importance of municipal infrastructure to serve our community for generations to come,” Milton Mayor Gord Krantz said. The province of Ontario will contribute $365,499, and Town of Milton fund $372, 483 of the project. -
It’s not junk mail: Don’t throw out this post card
By: Clara Pasieka, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Source: Telegraph-Journal
Prepaid postcards have started arriving in households across New Brunswick courtesy of Canada Post.
Don’t toss them aside; the intent is to send them on to someone else.
Canada Post in sending every household a prepaid postcard, or approximately 13.5 million nationwide, the agency stated in a news release.
Joe Foster, a grandfather in Moncton, said he received his postcard this week and used it to write a message to his granddaughter, Anna-Marie.
Foster, who formerly worked for Canada Post for 35 years before retiring, said he “put it in the red Canada Post mailbox before suppertime yesterday.”
Foster does not live far from his granddaughter, but said he loves the idea of family and friends connecting with little messages and was glad to see the invitation to do so from Canada Post made available
“I know my granddaughter and her mom will be pleased to receive a personal postcard in their mailbox,” he said.
Murielle Redford, in Bouctouche, said she used the opportunity to get creative.
She received her postcard this week and put the names of 14 loved ones who live in Ontario and Quebec in a jar, then picked a name at random; that person would receive the postcard. It made the most sense to send it to someone not in New Brunswick because she can’t see them, she said.
She told her 14 loved ones by email what she was up to, but says which name she drew in the end is something she will keep a surprise until she hears the postcard has arrived.
She mailed her postcard Thursday and praised the initiative.
“Meaningful connection is vital for our emotional health, sense of community and overall well-being,” says Doug Ettinger, president and CEO of Canada Post in a news release. “Canada Post wants everyone to stay safe, but also stay in touch with the people who matter to them.”
The postcards, which come in six different designs, are part of the “Write Here Write Now” program, which Canada Post launched last September to encourage Canadians to use letter writing to create meaningful moments of connections.
But for the postcard initiative, they won’t require a stamp to do so.
Canada Post is encouraging participants to share videos and photos of them taking part using #WriteHereWriteNow.
Postcards can be mailed through any street letter box or community mailbox, or taken to a post office. -
Canadian research focuses on plant-based components for hydrogen fuel cells
By: Levon Sevunts
Researchers in Quebec are looking to develop ways for using a renewable byproduct of Canada’s pulp and paper industry as one of the main components for the production of hydrogen fuel cells.
The research led by Samaneh Shahgaldi, the newly appointed Canada Research Chair in Lignin-Based Fuel Cells at the University of Trois-Rivieres in Quebec, looks at replacing petroleum-based carbon components inside fuel cells with bio-based materials that are abundant in nature, cleaner and cheaper.
One of these materials is lignin, Shahgaldi told Radio Canada International.
“Lignin is an inexpensive, highly accessible, renewable source for production of carbon materials,” Shahgaldi said. “It’s the second most abundant polymer in the world.”
More than 150 billion tonnes of lignin are produced by plants each year and 1.5-1.8 billion tonnes by the pulp and paper and forestry industries, she said.
Shahgaldi’s research focuses on a type of fuel cells known as proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells, which are being developed mainly for transport and stationary applications. Fuel cells use hydrogen and air to create electricity through an electrochemical reaction.
The core component of a fuel cell is a device called membrane electrode assembly (MEA). It helps produce the electrochemical reaction needed to separate electrons. On the anode side of the MEA, hydrogen diffuses through the membrane and is met on the cathode end by an oxidant (oxygen or air) which bonds with the fuel and receives the electrons that were separated from the fuel.
Then catalysts on each side enable reactions and the membrane allows protons to pass through while keeping the gases separate to maintain cell potential and drawing current from the cell producing electricity.
And after nearly three decades of intensive research, PEM fuel cells have reached the early stage of commercial deployment, Shahgaldi said. But the remaining challenges include the need to lower production costs, she added.
Shahgaldi said she wants to replace the fuel cell carbon made with petrochemicals with carbon made of lignin.
“In terms of cost, lignin is more than 10 times cheaper than petroleum-based poly acrylonitrile,” Shahgaldi said.
“Therefore, this novel research is focused on developing innovative, low-cost lignin-based conductive carbon materials and advancing the exciting knowledge on engineering the properties for PEM fuel cell applications.”
PEM fuel cells offer a broad range of advantages, Shahgaldi said.
“If we use fuel cells in our engines – in our cars, buses, trucks and trains – we don’t have any contamination,” she said. “We don’t have any poisonous gases, the only byproduct that we have is pure water that is hundred times cleaner than the tap water.”
Fuel cells are already being used by companies such as Toyota and Alstom to power their vehicles and trains. And British Columbia-based Ballard Power Systems is a major manufacturer of fuel cell engines.
“I remember when I started fuel cell research in 2008, we just talked about a couple years more, a couple of years more,” Shahgaldi said. “But I can confidently tell you that we’re in the year that we can see it.” -
How the Comox Valley overhauled its food security approach in 2020
By: Cloe Logan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, National Observer
A Vancouver Island community has seen a dramatic shift in how it approaches food insecurity — and hopes the change is here to stay.
Maurita Prato, executive director of LUSH Valley Food Action Society and co-ordinator of the Comox Valley Food Policy Council, lives and works in the Comox Valley.
Prato and her team, with help from other community members, organizations and funders, were able to start a “Good Food Box” program, where healthy, free boxes were delivered directly to people’s homes at the beginning of the pandemic.
In the 1950s, 85 per cent of local food came from farmers on the island. Now, approximately 96 per cent of food is being imported into the Comox Valley, which LUSH wants to change. In spring 2020, 100 per cent of the food going into its boxes came from local farmers.
“We worked primarily with 12 different farms,” Prato said. “I think it’s a necessary local food distribution tool because we can support farmers (and) even when there is a potential glut in one specific crop, we can still distribute it to people.”
Canada’s National Observer spoke with her about the community’s response and its plans for 2021.
The Comox Valley Food Policy Council started pre-pandemic in 2019. How did it set the stage for emergency food efforts?
The food policy council consists of elected officials, a board director and a number of other representatives from across the food system. This group was in its infancy when COVID-19 hit. We had already done a community consultation and set some goals, which all focused on how to get more local food to people dealing with housing and food insecurity. We received three years of funding through the Vancouver Foundation to hire a food access manager to help. That was in January 2020, and one of the main projects was to start a food box and hot meal program.
And where are the meal programs at now?
The programs took off so well. Our area’s most vulnerable people didn’t have access to food support in March 2020 — the food bank was shut down. They didn’t even have access to water from community buildings. They were all closed, so we made water taps available in community gardens. Meals on Wheels also ended service, so restaurants immediately stepped up.
A chef who had been laid off started making 1,000 meals per week out of a kitchen in Courtenay. It was like this really interesting scramble, but like an incredibly rich sort of creative and innovative time where we just chopped through the red tape and got things going in a couple of weeks. By December 2020, we’d delivered 11,400 boxes of food to people. The program has changed a bit since then, and is now available through other organizations LUSH works with, such as Comox Valley Family Services. We’re working on redefining how to continue the program throughout 2021.
How did you see unlikely bodies or partners step up?
The school board got bus drivers who weren’t working at that time to drop off boxes. The education assistants who were also off the job helped pack boxes and started a phone line for people to call for food delivery.
You’ve seen this really amazing response throughout the pandemic. What has that shown you about the potential to tackle food insecurity in your area?
My real hope is that we develop a system with all of these community members and organizations where we continue to collaborate because it only worked and happened so quickly because of the range of people involved. I think it’s totally possible to continue, but it will take effort. There will likely be less money for emergency food support in 2021, so we need to look for funding to keep it going.
Do you think you’ve seen a permanent shift in your local food system?
We have been able to see how quickly we can mobilize and change during a state of crisis. But there’s a cautionary tale here: It requires a lot of effort to keep that momentum going. Just as easily as this system has been set up, it could fall apart and return to status quo.
We can’t let go of continuing to create these solutions, of feeling the pressure of food insecurity. Things like a food box, a hot meal program or one of our other programs shouldn’t be an emergency measure. These are solutions that we need ongoing in our world. The crisis of climate change certainly hasn’t gone anywhere, the gap between the rich and the poor is still there, and we have no idea what the long-term effects of a post-COVID recession will have on our food system. It’s a marathon — we have to keep going and stay aware. I hope we can move from an emergency model to a sustainability model this year. That’s the challenge.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. -
Slavery in N.B.: ‘This needs to be known’
By: Clara Pasieka, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Telegraph-Journal
“Black human beings were sold on our soil. It was in our own backyard,” said Clinton Davis, a member of Black in the Maritimes.
The organization has been working with the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick and has compiled bills of sale for Black people, and notices about Black slaves who had run away, escaping along the Petitcodiac or Saint John rivers, he said.
In one notice a Black boy named Sippeo is recorded as being sold for 15 pounds on July 8, 1797.
The archives also produced three documents related to the sale and purchase of slaves by a Charles Dixson in Westmorland County.
“It’s one thing to know slavery existed here, but it’s another thing to hold the evidence in your hands,” said Davis.
Seeing the hand-written note for a bill of sale for slaves was unnerving, giving him shivers, he said.
“Embarrassed about it or not, this needs to be known,” Davis said, adding it’s a part of Canadian history that should be widely shared.
“Descendants of these slaves might still be here. Black people deserve not to feel like outsiders. We were here,” said Davis.
Meredith J. Batt, the archivist at the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick who gathered the material for the group, said the archives have quite a collection of materials to support the history of Black people in New Brunswick. Some came as free Black loyalists, but many as servants or slaves, she said. The artifacts do not represent uncommon occurrences, she said.
“Some people prefer to believe this didn’t happen here,” she said.
Looking through the materials the group had been sent, “We felt the descriptions of runaway slaves were akin to what you might hear on a police radio,” said Davis, noting how slaves were described as “very Black” or other such characteristics.
The materials demonstrate that New Brunswick has a history of systemic racism, said Davis, something he wants to see discussed and taught in schools along with these materials.
Education Minister Dominic Cardy told the Times & Transcript he has had good meetings with groups such as Black Lives Matter Fredericton and Black Lives Matter Saint John who, along with other groups and individuals, recently called on the minister to include more Black history content in the school curriculum.
He has encouraged these groups to share materials they think would be useful to be included and is encouraging schools to add materials that arise to what they are currently teaching before the revised curriculum is developed.
When asked if there were elements in the current curriculum that directly address teaching that slavery existed in New Brunswick, Cardy said a lot of teachers have been doing this for decades, noting his own schooling in the Fredericton area included this.
Groups like Black in the Maritimes want to see this happen holistically, not ad hoc.
Cardy said many of the issues being raised would have a place in the new civics curriculum, but the timeline for when this will be completed is unclear as many resources are being tied up with keeping schools safe from COVID.
When asked if the words “history of systemic racism” will be specifically included when the curriculum is next revised, he said, “Absolutely.
“Looking at issues of how societies exhibit, exercise power over groups within their societies, or other groups outside of their countries or civilizations, those are all absolutely part of any conversation around civics in 2021,” he said. -
King man Offers Virus defence to the world
By: Mark Pavilons, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, King Weekly Sentinel
A Schomberg man has developed a mask that will kill almost every virus, and he wants one in the hands of every Canadian. He’d even love to see one on the face of every person around the globe.
Andre Milne, of Unicorn Aerospace, just released his prototype CuRVE mask, with patented respiratory virus elimination filtration. Tweaking commonplace parts, Milne has a product that can kill almost any virus, from Ebola to COVID.
The flexible silicone mask uses rigid copper screening to rid the air of contaminants. It’s comfortable and waterproof. When a person breathes in, viruses in the air are drawn through the filters and are trapped and ultimately killed by the copper mesh. Also, when a person breathes out, even if he has the virus, it will be eliminated shortly after exhalation.
Milne is confident his design will protect against viruses including SARS, MRSA, MERS, N1H1, along with COVID-19 and all of its variants.
“You’re purifying the air just by using it,” he stated.
Researchers have found that while viruses can live on hard surfaces for days, they last only hours when in contact with copper. It’s durable, and its anti-microbial qualities last forever.
The surprisingly soft and comfortable mask is worth every penny. The real hard cost, Milne says, is less than $4 per mask. If you do the math, everyone in Canada can get one for roughly $150 million, much less than the federal government has spent on typical PPE and other measures.
“I want to get it in the hands of every Canadian,” he said.
He stressed that his mask is vital, almost necessary today. What happens if we experience a 4th or even 5th wave of COVID? Will the economy be strong enough to survive?
The government, Milne said, can use the The Defence Production Act, which sets out measures and powers for the government to procure products and manufacturing related to defence supplies.
He pointed out that even if COVID has a lifespan of two weeks, if everyone in the country is using the CuRVE for 14 days, the airborne virus could be completely eliminated.
“It’s over, it’s done,” he said of the nasty pandemic.
He likens the mask to an airborne military defence system neutralizing the threat.
Further, future vaccinations and other health follow-up health measure could be curtailed.
He estimated the cost of “curing” the entire planet would be roughly $21 billion.
And Milne has no desire to profit from this device.
“Let’s get it done, and get it moving,” he said. “I don’t want a dime.”
He explained that the potential applications are huge. If you outfit your home heating, cooling and purification system with copper mesh, you’d be completely protected from deadly viruses.
He said he would be willing to extend the free patent to all government agencies and buildings. When it comes to commercial and residential HVAC companies, he would licence out the design, but insists that profits be used to help supply third world countries, who simply don’t have the financial means to produce or acquire the masks.
“We need to stop and hit pause, and stop profiting on this (COVID),” he said. “It’s not a game.”
Further, Milne would offer the technology to all countries around the world, if they also invoke legislative orders, similar to the Defence Production Act.
“We have to stand by our brothers and sisters who are in extreme or desperate need,” he said. “We can’t turn our backs on them.”
This, he said, is the core foundation of humanitarianism.
Milne also said there should be a government, even global standard of masks and filters, something along the lines of CSA approved ratings.
A Canadian literally has the best protection in his hands. And his only wish is that government leaders take the reins and run with it.
Milne developed this game-changing solution to the global pandemic during his engineering of a high altitude life support method for fighter pilots of an emergency ejection system Unicorn Aerospace is currently developing.
“I was incorporating the design principles of the U.S. Navy SEAL Draeger Rebreather system into the ejection system, and it struck me that the exact same principles of controlled chemical reactions in creating fresh air could be reversed to kill COVID-19.”
Milne’s engineering prowess just recently set a new world record for the U.S. Navy Special Forces 9mm bullet.
Milne will be issuing his free CuRVE patent licences to all the world’s governments through the Unicorn Aerospace social media account of @aeromilitarytec -
Peel Split on Developer-Driven GTA West Highway
By: Isaac Callan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Pointer
“We’ve been subject to these gravel guerrillas now for at least 50 years, trying to build more highways, more urban sprawl.”
Those were the words this week of Mississauga Ward 11 Councillor, George Carlson, who brought them down like a blunt hammer on the heads of builders determined to continue profiteering from the land.
“I can almost hear the old scotch and soda tinkling as the decision was made to add another highway and let the developers build more stuff north of Toronto. They haven’t even finished doing infill in Toronto.”
As the planet continues to reel from the catastrophic impacts of climate change, some Peel politicians have finally picked their heads from the sand, while others remain largely oblivious.
On Wednesday, after more than a year of silence, the City of Mississauga finally threw its considerable weight behind calls to cancel the proposed GTA West Corridor, also known as Highway 413.
Carlson’s comments underscored the frustration felt around the virtual council chamber.
It was better late than never in the eyes of environmentalists.
Meanwhile, many municipal leaders in Brampton and Caledon continue to claim support for environmentally friendly policies, as they walk the fence on a project that will devastate local watersheds, ecosystems and wildlife, while adding hundreds of thousands of tons of carbon emissions into the air above Peel.
Since the Progressive Conservatives, led by Premier Doug Ford, restarted the GTA West Highway’s Environmental Assessment (EA) in the first half of 2019, Mississauga has been largely silent. Presentations by the Province to Region of Peel councillors outlining the highway’s debatable benefits have been received unanimously. The City’s lobbying power at Queen’s Park has been used on other priorities but not to fight the planned 400-series transportation corridor.
A recent swell of opposition to the highway forced the issue back to the top of the agenda. After a request by Environmental Defence and Ecojustice to have the federal government complete a study of the environmental impacts of the proposed route, and even wrestle control of the project from Queen’s Park, opposition groups have received a new round of support.
Unlike their previous requests, which have fallen on deaf ears in Peel Region and only seen success in Halton and Orangeville, this recent campaign has bigger supporters with more clout at the provincial and federal level.
At a special council meeting on Wednesday, called to pass Mississauga’s 2021 budget, the City adopted a new and aggressive stance. Councillors voted unanimously to approve a lengthy motion, brought forward by Ward 5 Councillor Carolyn Parrish and seconded by Ward 8’s Matt Mahoney, explicitly opposing any construction activity relating to the GTA West Corridor.
“I find it interesting that the buzzword in today’s day and age is climate change action, environment and all of these things and then we kind of fly in the face of it,” Mahoney said, welcoming the strong position detailed in the lengthy motion. “With projects like this, [we] almost talk out of both sides. I am very pleased to second this motion.”
The GTA West Highway was scrapped by the Liberal government in 2018. The decision came after an expert panel came to the conclusion it would do almost nothing to solve the GTA’s congestion problems. The report was completely ignored by the PC government, which quickly restarted the environmental assessment process and began touting benefits of the corridor, including unsupported claims it will reduce traffic congestion.
Mississauga’s new stance — directly opposing the highway — is the clearest in the Region of Peel. To the north, Brampton and Caledon have both recently voiced concerns, but stopped well short of opposition.
In Brampton, Mayor Patrick Brown and Wards 2 and 6 Councillor Michael Palleschi have been pushing for a boulevard in place of the highway through Brampton. The concept, brought to life by a consultant, has come with few technical details, with no one able to explain how a highway would morph into a walkable, urban corridor and back again.
Brampton’s mayor has refused to condemn the highway, and, despite his claims to recognize a climate emergency, he’s bragged about being the one who put the GTA West Highway back on the table when he added it to the PC campaign platform ahead of the 2018 election, before his dramatic fall from provincial politics.
In its requests to the Provincial government, Brampton has asked for its boulevard design to be considered for a portion of the route without stating opposition to the highway. On Wednesday, Brampton also backed calls for the federal government to take over the route’s EA.
Bowing to growing pressure, the Town of Caledon has also backed the same calls. The move is a 180-degree turn from previous calls by Caledon council members who pushed for an expedited environmental assessment – currently being conducted by the provincial government – to get the project started even faster. A federal EA would have the power to override the provincial government and cancel the project should the environmental impact be deemed too great.
On Thursday, Mississauga brought its motion to the Region of Peel. Parrish and Brampton Wards 3 and 4 Councillor Martin Medeiros put the proposal on the floor, offering Brampton and Caledon councillors a chance to make a clear statement against the highway and in support of their own climate emergency declarations.
But they shied away. Spearheaded by Caledon Wards 3 and 4 Councillor Jennifer Innis and Mayor Allan Thompson, the issue was deferred to a later date. Stating concerns about rushing to a decision and the need to hear from more residents, a referral was proposed to revisit the idea of opposing the highway in a fortnight, once a staff report has been completed detailing the implications cancelling the highway would have on the Region’s long-term planning strategy.
“I do believe that a referral to start to bring back a fulsome report, simply with the history and the impacts, what impact would a decision to oppose have on the planning process [would be prudent],” Peel CAO Janice Baker said. “There has been extensive work done, some of which may very well have to be looked at or re-examined as a consequence of this.”
The vote resulted in a tie, with Chair Nando Iannicca voting in favour of the referral to break the deadlock. Iannicca said it may have been the first tie-breaking vote he has cast since being elected chair.
The delay means official positions in Peel are divergent.
Mississauga stands alone opposing the highway, while all three municipalities have recently passed motions expressing support for a federal EA. The Region itself does not have a current position, but the clerk noted Thursday that a 2012 motion “indicates a level of support for the GTA West Transportation Corridor.”
Mississauga’s vote on Wednesday was far less complex and more emphatic. Where several regional councillors, including Brown, Thompson and Innis, raised concerns about rushing the process on Thursday, Wednesday simply saw Mississauga representatives congratulating one another on their newly adopted stance, in support of the environment.
The wholehearted support for Mississauga’s new stance raises questions about timing. In October 2019, Mississauga’s 12 regional representatives unanimously accepted a presentation from the Province outlining the GTA West Corridor and its unfounded benefits, while there was no concerted outcry over the Province’s decision this summer to approve a route and speed up the environmental assessment.
As recently as January, Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie told The Pointer she did not think she could convince the Province to change its course. “I think they’re committed to the GTA West Corridor,” she said.
Asked this week what precipitated the change of heart and the unambiguous stance, Crombie admitted she and her councillors had been asleep at the wheel.
“I think there’s been a groundswell of momentum opposing the building of the highway,” she said at a Wednesday press conference. “I have to say I think we as a council have been a bit complacent, I think we thought it was a done deal; a fait accompli. But now there are so many questions arising from the building of this highway… I think that we saw that there were other voices who opposed it and we agreed we would join them, at least to undertake the full federal environmental assessment.”
Parrish shook her colleagues out of their slumber.
Mississauga’s new stance sits in harmony with its internal policies and publicly declared goals. Just over a year-and-a-half after declaring a climate emergency, the move is tangible evidence of council’s resolve to make good on a popular promise to help stop the degradation of the planet.
Parrish, who has made a career of taking on the establishment, led the way with her detailed motion.
“You can just see the vultures waiting to build completely along that belt rather than compact developments, which is what we should be looking for — complete communities.” -
Canada approves AstraZeneca vaccine
By: Lynn Desjardins
Canada’s health department has approved the AstraZeneca vaccine enabling health authorities to receive shipments within days and add it to vaccines already being administered from Pfizer and Moderna. Canada has pre-ordered 20 million doses and will get up to 1.9 million more AstraZeneca doses by the end of June 2021 through the global vaccine initiative called COVAX.
The AstraZeneca vaccine has an efficacy rate of 62 per cent which is lower than those of Pfizer and Moderna which are over 90 per cent. That means, someone getting the Pfizer or Moderna shot has an over 90 per cent chance of not getting COVID-19. While studies show that the AstraZeneca vaccine only provides a 62 per cent assurance of not contracting the disease, experiences of those who have already received it, show they are protected from severe illness, hospitalization and death. It is not clear yet what protection it provides against variants.AstraZeneca vaccine easier to store and administer
Health authorities say some vaccination is better than none and that the AstraZeneca vaccine will be easier to roll out and administer because it does not require the very low storage temperatures that do the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. This could especially benefit remote and northern communities in Canada.
There is also some question about how effective the AstraZeneca vaccines are for people 65 years old and older. Canada has a very large proportion of people in this age group. Because only 10 per cent of the people who took part in the company’s clinical studies, results are not conclusive. However, Canadian health officials again pointed to real world experiences, particularly in Scotland, that have shown the shots to be 95 per cent effective in preventing severe illness, hospitalization and death. They also point out that the goal for the efficacy of all vaccines is 50 per cent and the yearly influenza vaccination is only 64 or 54 per cent effective, yet it is recommended.Advice pending for those 65 and older
Canadian regulators will also study the effects of mixing different vaccines, that is to say administering one type of vaccine as a first dose and a different one for the second. For now Health Canada is recommending both doses be from the same product.
A final recommendation on whether to use the AstraZeneca vaccine on people 65 years or older will soon come from Canada National Advisory Committee on Immunization. This committee is mandated to make “recommendations for the use of vaccines currently or newly approved for use in humans in Canada, including the identification of groups at risk for vaccine-preventable diseases for whom vaccination should be targeted.”
Because health care in Canada is delivered by the provincial and territorial governments, it is they who will ultimately look at their own demographics and decide who will get which vaccine.AstraZeneca approval may slow disapproval
News of the approval of the AstraZeneca vaccine comes as a great relief to Canadians. While the Canadian government was quick off the mark in pre-ordering vaccines from seven pharmaceutical companies, deliveries ground to a near halt in January and most of February 2021. This was a result of production delays as companies expanded their facilities to enlarge production capabilities. Canada relies on suppliers outside the country.
The delays moved Canada to a position of 40th among countries in terms of per capita vaccinations. Public opinion surveys suggest this prompted dissatisfaction among Canadians and lowered the popularity of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. In the face of that, the prime minister promised the rate of vaccination would pick up dramatically and that all Canadians who want to be inoculated would be by the end of September 2021.Vaccine roll-out may have election implications
Trudeau’s Liberal Party governs with a minority of seats in the House of Commons and rules only with the support of other parties. Minority governments usually last less than two years in Canada. Should the Trudeau government soon fall or wish to seek re-election, efficacy of the vaccine roll-out could play a major role in its fortunes.
Trudeau held a news conference to cheer the approval of the Astra-Zeneca vaccine. He announced that within weeks, two million of these doses will arrive and, by the end of March, vaccines from all three companies will number 6.5 million doses with tens of thousands more arriving between April and June.