Tag: writing

Intense winter storms trigger floods and mudslides in California

This article was written by Ty Oneil and Jaimie Ding, and was published in the Globe & Mail on December 27, 2025.

Powerful winter storms brought the wettest Christmas season to Southern California in years, sending mud and debris sliding and half-filling homes with mud.

There was still a risk of more flash flooding and mudslides Friday despite slackening rain around Los Angeles, the National Weather Service warned.

“Still not quite out of the woods, but for the most part, the worst is over,” said Mike Wofford, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Los Angeles.

Firefighters rescued more than 100 people Thursday in Los Angeles County, with one helicopter pulling 21 people from stranded cars, officials said. L.A. police also responded to more than 350 traffic collisions, the mayor’s office said.

In Wrightwood, a 5,000-resident mountain town about 130 kilometres northeast of Los Angeles, relentless rain this week turned the roads to rivers and buried cars up to their windows in rocks, debris and mud.

Sherry Tocco’s neighbourhood was devastated, she said Friday. Several homes were destroyed, but her house was spared from mud and debris.

The river was raging and “then it just came through and destroyed, took everything with it,” she said.

A shed was washed down the road, and several others were strewn about. Firefighters helped her evacuate earlier this week and she slept in her car on Christmas Eve.

Most of the town lost power and many were buying fire starters, logs and propane, said Eric Faulkner, manager of Mountain Hardware.

“My phone’s been non-stop of, ‘Do you have this?’ or ‘Can you help me with that?’ ” Mr. Faulkner said outside the store while it rained Friday.

Manny Simpson, a Wrightwood resident of 14 years, said the storms were the worst he’s seen. His basement was flooded, but he was still counting himself lucky.

“I’ve seen some other houses and I feel good about what happened to me,” he said.

Fire officials rescued several people from trapped cars earlier this week when mud and debris cascaded down a road into town. There was one injury reported.

In the nearby mountain town of Lytle Creek, raging waters destroyed a bridge Wednesday, cutting off a neighbourhood, resident Travis Guenther said. By Friday morning, he said, water subsided enough for people to walk across the debris.

One home had as much as 122 centimetres of debris piled up inside after mud blew through the front door earlier this week, Mr. Guenther said.

“The guys are still trying to stay there but they can’t shut their doors,” he said. “They were stuck inside because there was a raging river on either side of them.”

Meanwhile, forecasters said a weekend storm could bring New York’s biggest snowfall in three years. Freezing rain was falling Friday in Lancaster, Penn., and in New York, an emergency was declared for much of the state ahead of widespread snowfall expected Friday night into Saturday morning.

In Connecticut, people were encouraged to avoid travel as a winter storm approached the Northeast on Friday.

The California storms brought the wettest Christmas season to downtown Los Angeles in 54 years, the National Weather Service said. The area recorded 7.6 centimetres of rain in three days, while areas in Ventura County saw up to 43 centimetres.

`Invest­ing in air con­di­tion­ing saves lives’

Study shows value of equip­ment in pro­tect­ing the vul­ner­able, includ­ing those in nurs­ing homes

This article was written by Kate Allen and was published in the Toronto Star on December 16, 2025.

Ontario’s decision to man­date air con­di­tion­ing in all nurs­ing home res­id­ents’ room saved dozens of lives, new research estim­ates — and could have saved more than 130 more had the require­ment come a dec­ade earlier.

The study shows how air con­di­tion­ing has become “life­sav­ing med­ical equip­ment,” experts say, and is rel­ev­ant well bey­ond nurs­ing homes as provinces, cit­ies and towns grapple with how to pro­tect vul­ner­able res­id­ents as heat waves intensify in the cli­mate crisis.

“Air con­di­tion­ing really is no longer a lux­ury for nurs­ing home res­id­ents, but a life­sav­ing tool,” said Gab­ri­elle Katz, a med­ical stu­dent at the Uni­versity of Toronto’s Temerty Fac­ulty of Medi­cine and an author of the study, which was pub­lished online Monday in JAMA Internal Medi­cine.

Res­id­ents of nurs­ing homes are par­tic­u­larly vul­ner­able to heat because they are more likely to have chronic dis­eases, cog­nit­ive impair­ments, lim­ited mobil­ity and other health issues.

But they also bene­fit from liv­ing in facil­it­ies that are staffed by health care pro­fes­sion­als and reg­u­lated by the gov­ern­ment — unlike older adults liv­ing in the com­munity, said Dr. Nathan Stall, a clini­cian sci­ent­ist and geri­at­rics lead at Sinai Health, and another of the study’s authors. In the U.S., older adults make up 39 per cent of all heat­related deaths.

“When you think about all the people who are liv­ing in build­ings or older homes that don’t have access to air con­di­tion­ing — it’s something that wor­ries me,” said Stall.

Stall cited a City of Toronto pilot pro­gram that dis­trib­uted roughly 500 air con­di­tion­ers to low­income seni­ors last sum­mer, and another in Port­land, Ore., that has installed more than 15,000.

The study is “con­crete evid­ence that shows that invest­ing in air con­di­tion­ing saves lives,” he said.

The research­ers looked at more than 73,000 deaths of people liv­ing in licensed Ontario nurs­ing homes, all of which occurred dur­ing warm months between 2010 and 2023. They examined whether those deaths happened on or soon after an extremely hot day, and whether or not the res­id­ence of the per­son who died had air con­di­tion­ing.

Before 2020, more than half of the province’s nurs­ing homes lacked air con­di­tion­ing in res­id­ents’ rooms. In July of that year — amid a blis­ter­ing heat wave, the COVID­19 pan­demic and pres­sure from advoc­ates — Premier Doug Ford’s Pro­gress­ive Con­ser­vat­ive gov­ern­ment announced that all nurs­ing homes would be required to cool res­id­ents’ rooms, and gave the facil­it­ies two years to com­ply.

That turned out to be a “tre­mend­ous suc­cess in pub­lic policy,” Stall said.

Res­id­ents in nurs­ing homes without air con­di­tion­ing had eight per cent higher odds of dying on extremely hot days com­pared to those who did have it, the study found.

The research­ers sim­u­lated what mor­tal­ity in nurs­ing homes would have looked like had Ontario never imple­men­ted the rule, and estim­ated that the air con­di­tion­ing man­date aver­ted 33 deaths that would have occurred on extreme heat days between 2021 and 2023.

They also sim­u­lated what mor­tal­ity would have looked like had the rule been rolled out in 2010 — and estim­ated there would have been 131 fewer deaths than actu­ally occurred.

Five years after Ontario announced the require­ment for nurs­ing homes, it remains the only province in Canada with such a rule, accord­ing to the study.

“That really calls into ques­tion the safety of other Cana­dian nurs­ing homes,” Katz said.

“I think our res­ults also raise con­cerns for other vul­ner­able pop­u­la­tions across Canada who don’t have access to air con­di­tion­ing,” Katz added, not­ing that renters and those liv­ing on low incomes or in older homes are more likely to lack cool­ing in their homes.

Dr. Sam­antha Green, fam­ily phys­i­cian at Unity Health Toronto who was not involved in the study, said the research was “incred­ible” at show­ing how effect­ive air con­di­tion­ing is as a health tool.

The num­ber of lives it saved, accord­ing to the data in the paper, is “on par with a lot of med­ical inter­ven­tions,” mak­ing it clear that air con­di­tion­ing is itself “life­sav­ing med­ical equip­ment,” Green said.

Research­ers found that res­id­ents in nurs­ing homes without air con­di­tion­ing had eight per cent higher odds of dying on extremely hot days com­pared to those who did have it

`Her stor­ies … con­tinue to give us hope’

Memorial ser­vice at U of T hon­ours Goodall’s leg­acy

About 1,500 people attended a memorial service in honour of renowned researcher Jane Goodall on Saturday afternoon at the University of Toronto.

This article was written by Daysha Loppie and was published in the Toronto Star on November 23, 2025.

“The world will never see another Jane Goodall,” Bella Lam, CEO of the Jane Goodall Insti­tute of Canada, told about 1,500 people gathered at a memorial ser­vice Sat­urday for the late Brit­ish con­ser­va­tion­ist and researcher.

Goodall, renowned for her work with chim­pan­zees, died in her sleep of nat­ural causes at age 91 last month. The 2 p.m. memorial, at Con­voc­a­tion Hall at the Uni­versity of Toronto, was held by the Cana­dian chapter of the global non­profit organ­iz­a­tion foun­ded in 1977.

The ser­vice opened with a cello per­form­ance of “Ave Maria,” fol­lowed by Lam’s intro­duct­ory remarks, which included a syn­op­sis of Goodall’s life from her birth in 1934 to her time study­ing wild­life in Africa, and her ground­break­ing dis­cov­ery that chim­pan­zees make and use tools. “It’s her stor­ies that brought all of us together here today,” said Lam. “It’s her stor­ies that con­tinue to give us hope.”

Lam also spoke about Goodall’s extens­ive list of achieve­ments, includ­ing the hon­or­ary doc­tor­ates she received from vari­ous Cana­dian post­sec­ond­ary insti­tu­tions, includ­ing Uni­versity of Toronto.

Co­founders Bangishimo and Amy Smoke of the Wil­low River Centre in Water­loo, which Goodall vis­ited just last year, took the stage to talk about how the con­ser­va­tion­ist’s work as a storyteller con­nec­ted to Indi­gen­ous ways of view­ing nature.

Mad­die Res­mer, who also worked at the Wil­low River Centre, said Goodall’s work was a reminder that “every being car­ries their own story.” The trio fin­ished their speech by singing a Mow­hak friend­ship song.

“I think (Goodall) would’ve loved this,” said media per­son­al­ity George Strou­m­boulo­poulos dur­ing his speech to the audi­ence.

He described Goodall as kind and mis­chiev­ous as he shared per­sonal anec­dotes. He spoke of their last con­ver­sa­tion together, where Goodall affirmed a young child’s dream to be a bio­lo­gist.

“People like Jane don’t just teach us things, they change us,” said Strou­m­boulo­poulos. “You will be etern­ally missed.”

Chloë Chang, a con­ver­sa­tion bio­lo­gist and cur­rent board mem­ber of Jane Goodall Insti­tute of Canada, said the Brit­ish envir­on­ment­al­ist’s impact on her life was immeas­ur­able. She met Goodall when she vis­ited Toronto before her death.

“I’ve never known a world without Jane,” said Chang. “I don’t think I ever will — because we all carry Jane.”

It’s a mes­sage that was echoed by Mer­win van Lawick, Goodall’s grand­son, in a video he recor­ded for the memorial ser­vice.

“You were a mes­sen­ger, dear beloved,” he added.

After­ward, Cana­dian singer and song­writer Jann Arden, accom­pan­ied by Gra­ham Pow­ell on gui­tar, took to the stage to per­form “Good Mother” and share her own per­sonal reflec­tions on Goodall’s life.

Lam closed out the memorial with mes­sages of grat­it­ude and a few final words.

“The last words belong to Jane,” said Lam “`Together, we can. Together, we will. Together we must — change the world.’”

Alberta, Ottawa pipeline talks could derail other projects, Eby says

This article was written by Justine Hunter and Emma Graney, and was published in the Globe & Mail on November 21, 2025.

A crude oil tanker is seen in Burrard inlet, heading to the Westridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby, B.C., on Wednesday.

British Columbia Premier David Eby said Thursday that his counterparts in Alberta and Saskatchewan are jeopardizing major economic development by engaging in what he called “secret” talks with Ottawa on oil pipelines through his province.

The pipeline fight escalated earlier in the day after Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe revealed he is involved in Alberta’s negotiations with Ottawa about a potential oil pipeline across northern B.C., which would mean allowing oil tankers to ply the waters off B.C.’s north coast, where they are currently banned.

The B.C. government has not been a party to those talks, and Mr. Eby said he learned about them through media reports.

Mr. Eby likened his two neighbouring premiers to unprepared tourists wandering into B.C.’s wilderness: “They’re going to have to be rescued at some point. I worry about the cost and the damage that they’re going to cause along the way,” he said in an interview.

The B.C. Premier said Alberta and Saskatchewan are jeopardizing multibillion-dollar investments in liquefied natural gas that have been negotiated with broad support from First Nations.

The talks between Alberta and Ottawa, first reported by The Globe and Mail on Wednesday, represent a change in relationship between the province and the federal government. Premier Danielle Smith has blamed the environmental policies of the previous Liberal government for throttling Alberta’s oil and gas sector. Prime Minister Mark Carney has pledged to continue pursuing Canada’s environmental goals while also boosting resource production and exports as he seeks to make Canada’s economy less reliant on the United States.

But a pipeline to B.C.’s north coast would endanger the oil tanker ban, a legislative achievement supported by both B.C.’s NDP government and Indigenous groups.

The B.C. NDP government signed a pact with the Coastal First Nations alliance earlier this month to fight any changes to the existing oil tanker ban. First Nations leaders say oil tankers would add a cumulative risk to the existing marine ecosystem in their territorial waters.

“They’re playing with fire in terms of the consequences for British Columbia and Canada in terms of these major projects,” Mr. Eby said. “Coastal First Nations have very clear and unambiguous rights in the region, rights they have exercised in the courts and are certainly willing to exercise again.”

British Columbia has offered an olive branch to Alberta, promising to back an oil expansion project that would increase the capacity of the Trans Mountain pipeline by 40 per cent. B.C. has also given a green light to the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority to dredge the Second Narrows waterway to allow tankers to load more oil at the Trans Mountain marine terminal in Burnaby, which is not covered by the ban.

Mr. Eby said those concessions were made “through gritted teeth.” B.C. argues there is less risk involved in optimizing the existing pipeline, but Alberta wants a new north coast pipeline as well, to support its goal to double oil production. B.C.’s northern ports also offer faster shipping times to Asia.

Ms. Smith rejected B.C.’s overtures on Thursday, saying Trans Mountain would not be enough of an incentive for her to sign on to any energy accord with Ottawa. She said her government wants the Trans Mountain optimization project to proceed – which will require significant new power supplied by B.C.

But she said Canada needs to build new pipelines and expand existing ones in all directions.

In addition to an exemption to the current ban on oil tankers on the B.C. north coast, Alberta is looking for a plan to move ahead with changes to industrial carbon pricing in support of scaling up carbon capture technology, and a lowering or removal of the industrial emissions cap.

Ms. Smith told reporters in Edmonton on Thursday that she is “still very hopeful” that an agreement of some kind can be reached soon. Players in the federal and Alberta governments have been expressing optimism that a deal is within reach and could be announced in time for next weekend’s United Conservative Party of Alberta convention.

The opposition of Coastal First Nations is a significant hurdle for Alberta’s aspirations, because of the constitutionally protected rights of Indigenous peoples set firm requirements for consultation and accommodation.

Marilyn Slett, president of the Coastal First Nations and elected Chief of the Heiltsuk Nation, told The Globe that Ottawa and Alberta cannot unilaterally strike a deal that involves B.C.’s coastal waters.

“Coastal First Nations have not been part of any discussions involving a pipeline MOU,” she said Thursday, referring to the memorandum of understanding that would result if the talks between Ottawa and Alberta succeed. “A political MOU does not override the Rights and Title of First Nations on B.C.’s North and Central Coast and Haida Gwaii, and we will vigorously defend our coastal waters and way of life against the catastrophic risk of oil spills.”

Alberta is currently assessing the technical questions on a proposal it is heading up for a new pipeline to the northwest B.C. coast, which it intends to submit to the Major Projects Office in the spring.

The province has also had “encouraging conversations” about a range of other proposals, Ms. Smith said. They include a pipeline through an economic corridor from Prince Rupert to Churchill, Man., exporting crude from Thunder Bay through the St. Lawrence Seaway, and transporting oil via the rail system to Sydney, N.S.

“The world is going to need more oil,” Ms. Smith said, and Alberta needs to secure a share of the growing market.

“I would say Premier Eby and I agree on a lot of things. One of them is that we agreed on dredging the Second Narrows to increase capacity, and we agree on expanding the Trans Mountain pipeline as well,” she said.

“I would like to see expansions in all directions.”

Contacted by The Globe, Mr. Carney’s office did not immediately respond to questions about Mr. Eby’s concerns or Saskatchewan’s involvement in the discussions.

Tribal nations in Alaska press for role in Canadian resources talks

  • This article was written by Nathan Vanderklippe and was published in the Globe & Mail on November 20, 2025.
The Red Chris mine expansion in northwestern British Columbia is among the projects designated by Prime Minister Mark Carney for fast-track approval.

A group of Alaska tribal nations has gone to the B.C. Supreme Court to demand a seat at the table in Canadian resource development – including a mine expansion that is among the nationbuilding projects Ottawa has selected as pivotal to economic development.

The Alaska groups argue that their historical use of what is now northwestern B.C. makes them Aboriginal peoples of Canada under the Constitution Act, saying that status should guarantee them the same rights to consultation as Canadian Indigenous groups.

The petition for judicial review, filed Wednesday, adds a potential new complication to Canadian plans to bolster a domestic economy buffeted by U.S. tariffs. Now, a different set of U.S. interests is seeking the ability to constrain those plans.

The Alaska legal challenge is part of an escalating effort by U.S. tribal groups to assert rights in Canada in the wake of the 2021 Desautel decision, in which Canada’s Supreme Court found that the Lakes Tribe in eastern Washington state should be considered Aboriginal peoples of Canada, given their historical use of land that is now B.C.

In the years since, several U.S. groups have used the decision to assert themselves in Canadian affairs.

The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, which includes the Lakes Tribe, has demanded the right to shape how its history is taught in B.C. schools. In northwestern Washington, the Lummi Nation says it should have a say in major infrastructure construction in the Vancouver area, including a port expansion and highway improvements.

Those claims have created conflict with Canadian Indigenous groups. Earlier this year, Osoyoos Indian Band Chief Clarence Louie warned that Canadian leaders must “wake up” to a creeping erosion of sovereignty as U.S. groups seek to advance claims.

In June, the province of British Columbia declared, in an order-in-council, that Alaska tribal groups cannot be a “participating Indigenous nation” in the review of six mining projects.

But “that itself is illegal” under the provincial Environmental Assessment Act, argues John Gailus, a B.C.-based lawyer acting for the Alaska tribes. The petition filed in B.C. seeks to have that order quashed, and asks the court to either find that several Alaskan tribes are participating Indigenous nations in a mining review − or force the province to make such a decision.

Those tribes have a legitimate expectation to consultation, Mr. Gailus said, because they fit the definition of Aboriginal peoples of Canada as defined by the Desautel decision.

But the Province of B.C. has not included them in formal consultation processes. Instead, it has provided notification of developments in the permitting process.

“We’re getting these notices but there’s nothing we can do about it. We are powerless,” said Esther Reese, president of the Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission, or SEITC, which counts 14 member tribes.

Ms. Reese is Tlingit, and her clan traces its lineage to the Stikine River, in whose watershed the Red Chris mine is partly situated. That gold and copper mine began production in 2015, yielding concentrate that is shipped to Asia for smelting. The mine is seeking to transition to underground mining, a change that could allow it to boost Canada’s copper output by 15 per cent according to Newmont Corp., its majority owner.

The Stikine flows from a region of Northern B.C. dubbed the Sacred Headwaters before crossing into Alaska, reaching saltwater not far from Wrangell, where Ms. Reese is tribal administrator.

In September, Red Chris was among the projects designated by Prime Minister Mark Carney for fast-track approval as part of a bid to bolster a Canadian economy battered by U.S. tariffs. Mr. Carney noted the participation of the Dease Lake, B.C.-based Tahltan Nation as a partner in Red Chris, calling the project “an important step in reconciliation and further developing the potential of Northern B.C.”

Canada’s prioritizing of the mine has made it a greater priority for groups in Alaska, Ms. Reese said.

“The fact they’re fast-tracking that mine and we don’t have a say makes this even more of an emergency for us,” she said. A catastrophic mine failure, she said, would jeopardize “our whole way of life. We’re salmon people.”

Earlier this year, Skeena-Wild Conservation Trust, an environmental advocacy group, found that mine tailings are seeping into the environment at a higher rate than predicted, raising risks to fish and to the dam’s structural stability.

Newmont, in response, said it had installed new seepage interception systems and was updating its dam safety review. The company declined to comment

Mining companies in B.C. have already reached out to tribal groups in Alaska through the SEITC, providing “ample opportunity to provide input into the assessment process” for several current projects, said Michael Goehring, president of the Mining Association of B.C. He accused SEITC of receiving funding for its legal action from “Earthjustice, a large pro-bono law firm based in the U.S. that is more interested in stopping BC mining than advancing an appropriate level of consultation for the Tribes.”

Earthjustice has worked closely with SEITC on other legal challenges, but Mr. Gailus said the group is not funding the current court application.

In a statement, the B.C. government said its environmental assessment office “will continue to fulfill its constitutional obligations by consulting with U.S. Tribes when there is a credible assertion of Aboriginal rights under the Canadian Constitution and a potential for these rights to be impacted by a proposed project.”

It’s not clear, however, who has the authority to declare that a U.S.-based group meets that criteria.

“Government has to make that decision,” Mr. Gailus said.

But, he added, the Alaska tribes under the SEITC are Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian, each of which is also an Indigenous group based in Canada.

“All three of those are Aboriginal peoples of Canada,” Mr. Gailus said. So do the Alaska groups “have a right to be consulted because they are Aboriginal peoples of Canada? We say yes.”

Less pomp in future big-project announcements, Hodgson says

This article was written by Jeffrey Jones and was published in the Globe & Mail on November 15, 2025.

Ottawa is ending its practice of announcing several large industrial developments with fanfare on a single day, and now expects its Major Projects Office will take on individual proposals at a more gradual pace, Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson says.

Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday unveiled the second batch of mining, energy and infrastructure projects that will be fasttracked for development, bringing the total number the new office is studying to 11.

“Now that the Major Projects Office is maturing, and now that the process is maturing, I think the likely outcome is we’ll let proponents bring projects forward and they’ll go in their normal course,” Mr. Hodgson said in an interview. “We won’t have to create an environment where we need to bring whole blocks of them at one time. My sense is we’ll start to see one every couple of months going forward.”

The six announced on Thursday are the Ksi Lisims liquefied natural gas project and North Coast Transmission Line in Northwest British Columbia; Ontario’s Crawford nickel project; New Brunswick’s Sisson Mine; Nouveau Monde Graphite’s Matawinie Mine in Quebec; and the Iqaluit Nukkiksautiit Hydro Project in Nunavut. They are at various stages of permitting and funding.

Mr. Hodgson spoke to The Globe and Mail from Timmins, Ont., not far from the site of the proposed US$2-billion Crawford Nickel Project, which is being developed by Canada Nickel Co.

The government created the MPO to streamline approvals and help access funding sources for projects deemed to be in the natural interest, as well as to determine what conditions might be required for a project to be exempted from various laws under the newly enacted and contentious Bill C-5, known as the Building Canada Act. None of the projects to date have yet to be designated in the national interest.

Mr. Hodgson said the role of the Calgarybased office, which is led by veteran energy executive Dawn Farrell, has not changed since it was established earlier this year as the centrepiece of the legislation.

It is aimed at bolstering domestic economic activity and security in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff war and shifting global trade ties, the government has said.

Mr. Carney set a target for the program to attract $500-billion in private capital over five years to create jobs as it seeks to redirect the economy from its reliance on the United States, Mr. Hodgson said.

The first tranche of five projects, announced in September, “enables” $60-billion of investment, and the most recent about $56-billion, he said.

“With that as the end goal, the question is, how do we get there? And Dawn and the MPO are thinking hard about how we do that. We have two sorts of categories: We have discrete projects and strategies of national interest, and she is thinking about what’s the right mix,” he said.

The strategies bring together several projects in a region, such as the Northwest Critical Conservation Corridor, which was also discussed in the announcement on Thursday.

The corridor will be tied together by BC Hydro’s North Coast Transmission Line and encompass upgrades to highways and telecommunications. It is aimed at bringing power to communities in the region as well as to the Ksi Lisims LNG project, gas pipelines and critical-minerals mines. It is also being designed to include an environmental-protection element.

The government’s Canada Infrastructure Bank is lending BC Hydro $139.5-million for the transmission project.

“I think you’ll see less of those overarching strategies because within them are many, many projects and you’ll see more individual projects get announced going forward,” Mr. Hodgson said.

The minister said the focus on designating critical-minerals developments as projects of national importance is aimed at breaking China’s stranglehold on the supply chains of many of those materials, including rare-earth minerals mining and processing.

Such materials targeted in the first two tranches of major projects include nickel, copper, graphite, tungsten and molybdenum, materials used in electric vehicles, batteries, renewable energy and steel alloys as well as defence applications.

At the recent G7 meeting in Toronto, he announced 26 new investments, partnerships and other measures aimed at critical-minerals development.

In last week’s federal budget, the Carney government announced a $2-billion critical-minerals sovereign fund in a push to finance mines and processing within Canada – both to feed domestic demand and to supply the United States.

The fund will bankroll loans, purchase equity stakes, and arrange price floors and supply agreements with mining companies.

What would you name city’s new elec­tric fer­ries?

Staff report sug­gests ask­ing pub­lic to help wel­come two new ves­sels set to arrive in 2026 and 2027

This article was written by Alyshah Hasham and was published in the Toronto Star on October 29, 2025.

Toronto­n­ians might be able to take an elec­tric ferry named Boaty McBoat­face to the island some time in 2027, accord­ing to a pro­gress report sub­mit­ted to the city’s exec­ut­ive com­mit­tee.

OK, the ferry prob­ably won’t be called Boaty McBoat­face, the name the Brit­ish pub­lic infam­ously chose for a little under­wa­ter research ship. But city staff are con­sid­er­ing “oppor­tun­it­ies for pub­lic engage­ment” on names for two new fer­ries expec­ted to arrive in the city, a ferry for vehicles and pas­sen­gers at the end of 2026 and a pas­sen­ger­only ferry in the spring of 2027.

“The approach aims to build pub­lic excite­ment for the arrival of the new fer­ries and foster com­munity pride as the ves­sels pre­pare and enter into ser­vice,” accord­ing to the report. The pub­lic has already weighed in on the interior design of the new fer­ries.

The ferry update released pub­licly on Tues­day assures city coun­cil­lors that the long­awaited elec­tric fer­ries and the new char­ging dock they require are on time and on budget.

That budget was sig­ni­fic­antly increased this year — to $141mil­lion — to accom­mod­ate the bal­loon­ing cost of the fer­ries and the need for a new, lar­ger dock with the capa­city to charge the boats — something city staff only real­ized would be needed in 2024, five years after coun­cil decided to order elec­tric fer­ries.

“I think this is one of the best recov­er­ies I’ve ever seen at the city, actu­ally,” said Coun. Paula Fletcher, who called the city’s over­sight of the need for ferry char­ging infra­struc­ture and a dock big enough to accom­mod­ate the big­ger boats a “colossal fail” earlier this year.

“Going from buy­ing fer­ries, not able to berth them, noth­ing to charge them, to where we are today — it is a suc­cess story,” she said.

The city is in urgent need of new fer­ries, given that the Trans­port­a­tion Safety Board found one city ferry was oper­at­ing with safety defi­cien­cies after it crashed into a dock in 2022. However, a staff review found no way to accel­er­ate the pro­cess given the sea­sonal clos­ure of the St. Lawrence Sea­way, as well as lim­its to shipyard capa­city and the need for spe­cial­ized work­ers and parts, the report said. The new ferry char­ging dock is also being con­struc­ted as quickly as pos­sible, and will be ready by the end of 2026, the report said.

Fletcher has been part of the reg­u­lar brief­ings on the project that involves engin­eers from Toronto Hydro and other city depart­ments includ­ing Cre­at­eTO. As of Sat­urday, respons­ib­il­ity for the fer­ries is being trans­ferred from parks and recre­ation to the fleet ser­vices divi­sion, which is in the pro­cess of staff­ing up to handle the four cur­rently oper­at­ing fer­ries and the new ones, the report said.

Once the fer­ries arrive at the Jack Layton Ferry Ter­minal from Damen Shipyards in Romania, the “ves­sel com­mis­sion­ing and train­ing” is expec­ted to take sev­eral months, the report notes. That is much longer than the four weeks ori­gin­ally estim­ated. The longer time frame includes fed­eral regis­tra­tion and inspec­tions, ensur­ing the fer­ries work with the new ter­minal elec­trical sys­tem, and extens­ive staff train­ing and safety drills.

When our desires des­troy lives else­where

This opinion was written by Shellene Drakestull and was published in the Toronto Star on October 22, 2025.

Over the week­end, I was dig­ging my fall decor out of my stor­age room. While doing that, I lugged out bins of Christ­mas dec­or­a­tions of all shapes and sizes. My 10 ­year ­old daugh­ter traipsed down­stairs and saw what I was doing.

“Mommy, can we get new dec­or­a­tions this year?” she asked, look­ing at the bins sur­round­ing me.

Each year she tries to con­vince me that we need more bells and baubles. This year she’s been cam­paign­ing for an inflat­able Santa for our front lawn because our cur­rent set up looks “tra­gic.”

Christ­mas comes but once a year, so is it neces­sary to buy new dec­or­a­tions when we already have a stor­age room full?

I can’t blame her for try­ing. Con­sump­tion, in gen­eral, is get­ting out of hand and all of us are to blame. While there are some people who are extremely con­ser­vat­ive when it comes to spend­ing, many of us do go over­board. From boxes upon boxes of hol­i­day decor to people own­ing tens of Stan­ley tum­blers or hun­dreds of dol­lars’ worth of beauty products, why do we feel it neces­sary to con­sume so much?

We often don’t think about the impacts our over­con­sump­tion has on our cli­mate or the people we share the planet with. I’m just as guilty because I’m selfish and some­times think more about what I want rather than how my spend­ing can neg­at­ively affect the world I live in.

For instance, my trusty cell­phone. I don’t go any­where without it. If I leave it at home, I’m lost — how will my fam­ily get in touch with me? How will I know where I’m sup­posed to be? How will I read my book or play some time­wast­ing game while I wait at physio­ther­apy?

This past sum­mer, my phone con­tract was up after two years. I had the option to buy out my old phone (that worked per­fectly fine) at a couple of hun­dred bucks or get a new phone for $0.

Guess what I chose?

At that point, I didn’t real­ize that my con­sump­tion — buy­ing something that I didn’t truly need — was impact­ing people in the Demo­cratic Repub­lic of Congo (DRC). Coltan, a rare min­eral that is needed for our cell­phones, is mined in the DRC, where a war is cur­rently raging and more than 6.9 mil­lion people have been dis­placed. Chil­dren the age of my daugh­ter are forced into dan­ger­ous mines to extract the min­eral.

The sale of coltan to west­ern tech com­pan­ies is fund­ing M23, a Rwandan­backed rebel para­mil­it­ary group. Accord­ing to Amnesty Inter­na­tional and the United Nations, M23 has raided hos­pit­als, com­mit­ted sexual viol­ence includ­ing gang rapes and killed inno­cent civil­ians.

We don’t hear a lot about how our desires can des­troy lives else­where. We buy fast fash­ion (I’m guilty, too) and ration­al­ize the suf­fer­ing of those who make our trendy clothes because we want what we want. The David Suzuki Found­a­tion found that glob­ally, “people con­sume 80 bil­lon new pieces of cloth­ing every year — a 400 per cent increase from 20 years ago.” The fast fash­ion industry is the second largest water con­sumer after agri­cul­ture.

The planet is strug­gling under the weight of our wants. We’ve been con­di­tioned to think that we need more — and we need it now.

My 13 ­year­ old daugh­ter recently got into thrift­ing. I love to see the joy she gets from rifling through the racks and racks of preloved items. While I appre­ci­ate her find­ing ways to sus­tain­ably shop, the over­con­sump­tion of second­hand clothes needs to be con­trolled. Weekly or monthly cloth­ing hauls aren’t nor­mal. We can only wear so many pieces of cloth­ing.

What’s nor­mal is con­sum­ing what we need and no more. Because our over­con­sump­tion is waste­ful and it’s hurt­ing all of us — from our neigh­bours, who are over­heat­ing in Octo­ber, to the people we’ve never met in Africa and Asia.

We all need to do bet­ter because some­times enough really is enough.

Coltan, a rare min­eral needed for the pro­duc­tion of cell­phones, is mined in the Demo­cratic Repub­lic of Congo, where a war is cur­rently raging and more than 6.9 mil­lion people have been dis­placed.

Did the White House just side with Canada in a treaty dispute?

This opinion was written by Lawrence Herman and was published in the Globe & Mail on October 9, 2025.

Enbridge’s Mackinaw facility services the company’s existing underwater Line 5 pipeline. Line 5 has been a bilateral problem for years because of Michigan’s concerns about the safety of the pipeline running under the Mackinac Strait.

Legal move in regard to the Enbridge Line 5 debate could bode well for the USMCA

International lawyer with Herman & Associates and a senior fellow at the C.D. Howe Institute

We have become inured to the disdain of the Trump White House for international treaties and agreements as it wages trade wars against the world. Tariffs have been applied willy-nilly, contrary to fundamental rules of the World Trade Organization, resulting in global chaos and supply chain unpredictability as we try to figure out the latest twists and turns in U.S. trade policy.

Yet, late last month, something happened that seems peculiarly at odds with all this. In a formal legal document, the Trump administration actually accepted its treaty obligations toward Canada. It happened in the Line 5 pipeline dispute, a case that’s been raging for years between Enbridge Inc. and the State of Michigan, and one that carries huge economic significance for Canada. There is at least some prospect that Mr. Trump’s newfound respect for international law could carry over into the renegotiation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), set to begin next year.

Line 5 has been a huge bilateral problem for years because of Michigan’s concerns about the safety of the pipeline running under the Mackinac Strait. It came to a head in 2020 when Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced her intention to revoke Enbridge’s 1953 easement for the pipeline under the strait, citing Enbridge’s “persistent and incurable violations of the easement’s terms and conditions” related to safety and maintenance.

Blocking Line 5 would have untold economic consequences for Canada, as the pipeline transports almost all the oil and gas sent from Alberta to Eastern Canada. It also delivers product to many parts of the American Midwest.

Enbridge filed a lawsuit against Michigan, arguing that the state has no basis for cancelling the easement, underscoring that the company has gone above and beyond taking all necessary steps to secure the line against leakage. It launched a replacement line project years back, approved by the Michigan Public Services Commission and the Michigan appeals court. But then the Whitmer government refused final approval on environmental grounds.

While there are many legal technicalities involved, when it comes down to it, the central factor in the dispute is the 1977 Canada-United States Pipelines Treaty. It guarantees unimpeded pipeline transit from Alberta to Ontario through the U.S. and was ratified by the U.S. government after getting Senate approval.

The treaty was originally pushed in the 1970s by the U.S. government itself because it wanted assurances of unimpeded oil transit from Alaska, along a possible route to a U.S. port through Canada without interference from British Columbia.

Supporting Enbridge in its case against Michigan, the Canadian government filed an intervenor brief in court arguing that the 1977 treaty is binding on the U.S. and overrides Michigan’s attempts at interference. Where was the U.S. federal government in all this?

The Biden administration kept on the sidelines to placate various American political interests. But, last month, confounding all predictions, the Trump administration stepped in and, in doing so, underscored the legally binding force of the pipeline treaty.

In its 33-page submission to the U.S. District Court on Sept. 19, the Justice Department said Michigan is attempting to override federal authority on interstate pipeline regulation and in foreign affairs because the U.S. is subject to its legal obligations under the 1977 treaty.

The federal submission directly confirms American obligations under the 1977 treaty, stating that the U.S. could be exposed to liability if found in breach of the treaty, and that therefore, there is a “significant public interest” in avoiding a bilateral dispute with Canada over Michigan’s conduct.

Given Donald Trump’s record, it still is hard to believe this has anything to do with some latediscovered respect for international law or for ratified American treaties. Rather, this seems to be more about MAGA politics and Mr. Trump’s attacks on Democratic governors around the country. Perhaps as significant is the influence of big oil.

Even so, one cannot dismiss the fact that the Trump administration has recognized in a legal filing that the U.S. is bound by a treaty with Canada. Without being naive, maybe this position could have some spillover effect on the USMCA negotiations.

While it is risky to overstate this or find solace in some newly expressed support for international agreements, the fact that the White House has stated in a court filing that the U.S. is treatybound cannot be totally discounted.

It offers Canada at least some political leverage in dealing with an unpredictable adversary in the impeding USMCA battles. It may be modest leverage – but with this White House crowd, every bit helps.

Fire-ravaged Saskatchewan village struggles

This article was written by Jeremy Simes and was published in the Globe & Mail on October 6, 2025.

Residents of Denare Beach are picking up the pieces after the fire destroyed half the community

Brittany Holmgren has lived in her hometown her entire life. Denare Beach is where she’s enjoyed the outdoors with friends, got her first job and started a family – but it’s also where she lost nearly everything.

In June, a wildfire tore through the northeast Saskatchewan village, located near the Manitoba boundary.

The 33-year-old mother’s home, along with her workplace, burned down.

“My house and my job are gone,” Ms. Holmgren said in an interview. “Everything was incinerated. There were people digging through their houses finding absolutely nothing. The windows on my car were melted down the side of my car.”

Ms. Holmgren is among many in the tight-knit village of 700 picking up the pieces after the fire destroyed half the community.

She and her two daughters, ages 4 and 7, moved in with Ms. Holmgren’s mother in nearby Flin Flon, Man. Her two dogs are

Denare Beach is situated in the Canadian Shield region, surrounded by the boreal forest and a lake popular for fishing and boating. Tourists flock to the village each summer, staying in cabins or resorts, doubling the population.

staying in her camper back in Denare Beach because it’s not suitable for the pets to stay at her mom’s.

“My dogs don’t get along with other dogs. It’s just been hectic,” Ms. Holmgren said. “I’m 33 years old and I don’t want to live with my mom.”

The home of her daughters’ father was also scorched, she added.

“The four-year-old is taking it a little harder than my seven-yearold, but she’s just been so strong.”

Denare Beach is situated in the Canadian Shield region, surrounded by the boreal forest and a lake popular for fishing and boating. Tourists flock to the village each summer, staying in cabins or resorts, doubling the population.

But for those who live in Denare Beach year-round, finding a new home has been onerous.

Ms. Holmgren said she’s seen rentals go for $1,000 a month plus utilities, which is high for the market. She had paid $800 a month for a four-bedroom house with a double garage.

“Everyone is skyrocketing their prices,” she said.

Jennifer Hysert also lost her home and business in the fire. She said her family is living in a camper that’s inside a warehouse in Flin Flon until they can rebuild.

Ms. Hysert said while residents have pushed through to get their community cleaned up quickly, some are “jacking up” rent prices or charging more for other essentials.

“When 500 people go homeless, it’s not easy to find accommodations for everybody,” she said.

Village councillor Karen Thomson said she’s aware that prices for everything are going up.

“It’s unfortunate,” Ms. Thomson said. “People may look at [it as] an opportunity that insurance is paying for it. It’s not something I agree with but that’s what happens.”

Meanwhile, the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency has begun placing temporary trailers in Denare Beach and nearby Creighton to house residents. Some were expected to move in at the start of this month.

The agency says rents start at $680 a month for individual units. For multifamily units, it’s $1,360 to $1,700 a month.

“The temporary housing units are expected to support the needs of the displaced individuals and families as they rebuild,” it says in a statement.

Ms. Holmgren said the temporary trailers don’t appeal to her. The trailers can be split into two separate units, or a family can live in the entire trailer for a higher price.

There will also only be two trailers in Denare Beach, with most to be placed in nearby Creighton. “It’s just really hard to figure out where you want to be and what you want to do, especially with such limited options,” Ms. Holmgren said. Ms. Thomson said the trailers in her village have been rented out and she’s heard residents are pleased with them.

“We want people to be comfortable,” she said.

Ms. Thomson said the village will need financial support owing to an expected decrease in tax and utility revenues. She and other councillors met Premier Scott Moe late last month to discuss ideas, but the meeting came as a surprise and left local officials feeling “ill-prepared for meaningful conversation,” she said.

Mr. Moe, whose government has been criticized by residents for a lack of preparation to fight the blaze, did not advertise he was heading to the community.

Almost half of the province’s water-bomber fleet was grounded during the worst of a wildfire season that saw 10,000 forced to flee. The province has said it deployed crews to Denare Beach as quickly as it could.

Ms. Hysert wants answers. “I’m actively working to hold them accountable for their negligence and for retribution,” she said.

Ms. Thomson said while it was “a really dark summer,” she remains optimistic.

“I believe that we’re going to rebuild and we’re going to have families back,” she said. “Our firefighters worked tirelessly to hold that fire back and it just overcame them.”