By Andrew Foote, CBC News Ottawa, October 23, 2018
People living in Prince Edward County in eastern Ontario were amazed — and in some cases alarmed — to see what looked like a row of tornadoes in the sky Tuesday afternoon.
In fact, what they saw were waterspouts.
These ones were relatively harmless, according to Environment Canada. But that's not always the case.
By Kathleen Ruff, Ottawa Citizen, October 24, 2018
The Canadian government deserves praise for bringing in regulations to ban asbestos. That’s the good news. The bad news is that not all Canadians will be protected equally from asbestos harm.
After more than 100 years of mining asbestos, Canada has been left with a heritage of asbestos mining wastes that companies left behind. In Quebec, there are more than 800 million tons of asbestos wastes containing up to 40 per cent asbestos, often located near communities, close to schools and homes.
Projects are underway near the town of Asbestos, Que., to commercialize the asbestos wastes by extracting magnesium. The problem is that the asbestos industry left behind not only a polluted environment but also polluted public policy.
By David Reevely, Ottawa Citizen, October 24, 2018
The federal Liberals have put up the most conservative climate-change plan Canada has ever seriously considered and Ontario’s conservative government hates it.
It is, as you know, a tax on carbon-heavy fuels, of $20 for every tonne of carbon dioxide they’ll emit when burned. In the involved provinces, including Ontario, the money will be rebated in equal shares to taxpayers. The tax will rise over time.
A carbon tax whose proceeds are returned this way — 90 per cent to individuals and 10 per cent to businesses, in this case — is the most conservative, economist-approved way of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. Unlike most of our taxes, which skim off the top of wealth creation in various forms, a carbon tax punishes a behaviour we don’t want, namely polluting. This is the canonical right-wing approach to climate change.
By Tom Spears, Ottawa Citizen, October 24, 2018
Ontario government officials and the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters are offering a two-hour workshop on chronic wasting disease, which was recently found in Quebec.
The disease is fatal to deer. It is highly infectious and animals that catch it are declared unfit to eat, though there is a lack of evidence about whether it can be passed on to humans.
It was identified in one sick animal on a deer farm north of Montebello, but so far it has not been found in wild deer.
By Rebecca Joseph, Global News, October 23, 2018
If you live in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick, you’ll soon be subject to a federally imposed carbon tax.
The federal government is imposing the plan because Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan failed to set up provincially run carbon tax schemes of their own. New Brunswick introduced a tax, but the federal government believes it doesn’t meet federal climate change benchmarks.
By James Martin, The Review, October 22, 2018
A second case of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) has been found in a domestic red deer from herd on a farm believed to be in Boileau. This discovery follows one found in a deer in late September in the same herd.
Animals with CWD experience a gradual breakdown of their central nervous system. They become emaciated, disoriented, lose control of bodily functions, develop extreme thirst, and eventually die. Not all deer infected with CWD initially show symptoms, but all deer infected will inevitably succumb to it. The local cases of CWD are the first ever to be discovered in Québec.
By the Editor, Ottawa Citizen, October 23, 2018
Jim Watson ran a hyper-cautious, incremental re-election campaign. His chief rival, Clive Doucet, countered with a grab-bag of big, sprawling ideas. It turns out Ottawans may favour a bit of both: They’ve re-elected Watson, but done so just as some big city projects are about to take off – or fall flat.
(...)There’s the attempt to figure out a better future for the ByWard Market, and for Sparks Street. There’s a continuing controversy over building a large shelter for homeless men on Vanier’s main street. There’s a redo of the city’s Official Plan, setting out the broad parameters for how the capital will look and feel in the coming decades. More tall towers? More inclusionary zoning? More evolution toward being both an innovation centre and a truly “green” city?
By Lynn Saxberg, Ottawa Citizen, October 23, 2018
Incumbent Riley Brockington took an early lead and sailed into his second term in the council seat for River ward, despite strong opposition. He earned 55 per cent of the vote, with his closest competitor, Fabien Kalala Cimankinda, coming in with 22 per cent.
(...)After focusing on ward issues in his first term, Brockington, 42, said he now wants to “step up and see how I can contribute at the city level.” He added that he’s interested in chairing the environment and climate protection committee.
“I think that’s a file that needs a greater push, greater resources,” he said. “It’s something I said I’d be willing to pursue.”
By Elizabeth Payne and Manaka Raman-Wilms, Ottawa Citizen, October 22, 2018
Shawn Menard pulled off a major upset in Capital ward Monday night, defeating two-term incumbent David Chernushenko and three other strong contenders to win the seat on city council.
“Folks, a political revolution has come to Ottawa,” he told cheering supporters.
Menard, the most progressive of the candidates running in Capital ward, promised to push for free transit in the city and a mansion tax on homes sold for more than $3 million. “The top one per cent in this world needs to be taxed more often so the many can benefit.”
(...)Chernuschenko said he was disappointed but knew he faced tough competition. In 2014, he won the ward with 77 per cent of the vote.
“I could see right from the outset that I faced really strong campaigns. I upped my game like I never have before. I had incredible people, and the feedback was great. So frankly, I am very surprised.”
By John Paul Tasker, CBC News, October 23, 2018
The federal Liberal government will slap a carbon tax on fuels in provinces and territories with no adequate emissions pricing plans of their own — but will send annual rebates to Canadian families to offset most of the added costs of this climate-change fighting initiative.
Extreme weather events like floods, wildfires, storms and droughts offer proof that Canada is already grappling with the effects of climate change — and these increasingly frequent events demand action from Ottawa in the form of a national price on carbon, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday in Toronto.
By Mike Vlasveld, 1310 News, October 23, 2018
Damage done to homes, businesses and vehicles in the capital region, when multiple tornadoes touched down, is in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
The Insurance Bureau of Canada put the figure at $295-million, Monday; Ottawa reached over $192-million in damages, while it was more than $102-million in Gatineau.
By Jason White, 1310 News, October 23, 2018
Now that the results are in, the winners in Monday's election will begin preparing for a term likely to be dominated by light rail and fixing roads, according to Mayor Jim Watson.
"We're going to continue to have the monthly updates (from the Transportation Services Manager)," the mayor told Ottawa Today with Mark Sutcliffe. "And I'm getting briefed, I think, next week in terms of where things stand."
Once the first phase of the Confederation Line is up and running, attention will quickly focus to LRT Phase 2 and beyond.