Canadian Media Resource Articles – Page 629

Ontario talks hydro trade with Quebec and Manitoba – by John Spears (Toronto Star – August 27, 2014)

August 27, 2014

The Toronto Star has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

Ontario’s energy minister Bob Chiarelli has talked to Quebec and Manitoba about increased hydro power imports

Ontario’s energy minister says he has held direct talks with his counterparts from Quebec and Manitoba about importing more electricity into Ontario.

But Bob Chiarelli cautioned that making deals is “not a slam dunk in any way.” Chiarelli made the comments at the annual meeting of federal and provincial energy and mines ministers, which wrapped up Tuesday in Sudbury.

He said the one-on-one meetings with Quebec and Manitoba officials during the federal-provincial conference were useful.

“We discussed specifically and in detail the opportunities and the challenges that exist for us to have more energy contracts to supply Ontario,” he said at a news conference following the meeting.

Ontario is mulling huge new investments in nuclear power, and has established programs for renewable power developments. But Premier Kathleen Wynne has spoken publicly about buying more electricity from Quebec as well.

Mount Polley fallout puts damper on Canadian mining – by Derrick Penner (Vancouver Sun – August 27, 2014)

August 27, 2014

http://www.vancouversun.com/index.html

Signs continue to mount that the modest rebound that Canada’s mining sector had been experiencing has been knocked off the rails by the blowout of the tailings dam at Imperial Metals’s Mount Polley Mine and the Supreme Court of Canada’s Tsilhqot’in decision on land title.

Shares of Canadian mining companies had been doing well in the weeks before the court decision on July 29, and then the mine disaster on Aug. 4, as investors anticipated better demand for metals for a booming global auto sector. But declines have been steady in recent days.

“People are being discouraged about investing in mining in general,” said Raymond Goldie, a senior mining analyst with the brokerage firm Salman Partners, referring to the recent developments.

He added that Energy and Mines Minister Bill Bennett’s establishing an independent review panel to investigate the Mount Polley dam failure, and then ordering the operators of all 98 tailings ponds licensed under his ministry to conduct independent safety inspections, is the latest fallout from Mount Polley that is clouding investor sentiments.

“That is going to dissuade companies from investing in British Columbia,” Goldie said. “(And) along with the Tsilhqot’in decision of last month, it increases the uncertainty about investing in (the province).”

Deadly clashes continue at African Barrick gold mine – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – August 27, 2014)

August 27, 2014

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

JOHANNESBURG — Police have killed more villagers in clashes at a controversial Tanzanian gold mine owned by a Barrick Gold Corp. subsidiary, despite the company’s pledges to reduce the violence, researchers say.

The researchers, including a law firm and two civil society groups, say they’ve received reports that as many as 10 people have been killed this year as a result of “excessive force” by police and security guards at the North Mara mine, owned by African Barrick Gold, a subsidiary of Toronto-based Barrick.

A spokesman for African Barrick confirmed to The Globe and Mail that “fatalities” have occurred in clashes at the mine site this year, but declined to estimate how many. It is up to the Tanzanian police to release the information, he said.

Tanzanian police have repeatedly refused to give any details on fatalities at the site. Dozens of villagers have been killed by police at the mine in the past several years, according to frequent reports from civil society groups. The company occasionally confirms some of the deaths, including a clash in which police killed five people in 2011.

The deadly clashes occur when villagers walk into the mine site in search of waste rock, from which small bits of gold can be extracted. Hundreds or even thousands of “intruders,” as they are known locally, can be involved.

The case for U.S. oil exports – by Peter Foster (National Post – August 26, 2014)

August 26, 2014

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

The boom in U.S. petroleum production has led to an increasing clamour to overturn the ban on U.S. oil exports, a relic of the terrible energy policies of the 1970s.

The current agitation for exports is of more than passing interest to the Canadian oil industry, whose sales to the U.S. suffer a heavy discount due a combination of the U.S. boom and political hurdles to new pipeline construction.

However, those who support additional exports are – in the run up to the U.S. mid-term elections – facing populist concerns about the impact on gasoline prices, as well as perennial anxiety about energy security, not to mention opposition from environmental activists who want to end the age of oil.

If supporters of exports want an example of why free trade in energy is beneficial for jobs and growth, they should look to Canada, and to the benefits of reversing the misguided restrictions it imposed in the wake of the OPEC crises four decades ago.

Both oil and gas production have soared in the U.S. due to the application of fracking and horizontal drilling techniques, which enable access to previously uneconomic reserves. U.S. oil production is up more than 50% over the past five years, to more than eight million barrels per day, while imports are at their lowest level in almost three decades.

Quebec-Ontario electricity trade is smart, but not simple – by Christopher Ragan (Globe and Mail – August 26, 2014)

August 26, 2014

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Last week, Quebec’s and Ontario’s premiers announced their desire to work together on crucial issues, including climate change, interprovincial trade and infrastructure. It is very positive for Canada when our two largest provinces recognize the benefits of co-operation. We should certainly hope they succeed, but let’s also be mindful of the obstacles in their way.

Especially interesting is the prospect of greater interprovincial trade in electricity. This would be a game-changer in Canada, and a very positive one. Quebec has a great deal of low-cost hydroelectricity available to export, and its current U.S. markets are becoming less interested in purchasing long-distance hydro power because of their own development of low-price shale gas.

At the same time, Ontario’s economy continues to grow but has few options for increasing its electricity capacity at costs anywhere close to Quebec’s. So the idea of Ontario buying electricity from Quebec is obviously sensible.

Any idea that is so obviously sensible must have serious problems, and there are at least three that come to mind.

The first will be the pressures from within Ontario to resist importing cheaper Quebec electricity. It will be argued that Ontario has built a world-class nuclear industry and that refurbishing existing nuclear plants and building new ones is necessary to keep this expertise at home.

49 ‘dangerous occurrences’ at B.C. mine tailings ponds in past decade: ministry data – by Gordon Hoekstra (Vancouver Sun – August 26, 2014)

August 26, 2014

http://www.vancouversun.com/index.html

Dike breach, sinkholes and leaked tailings among incidents

Dangerous occurrences at tailings storage facilities at mines in B.C. between 2000 and 2012 included a breach of a dike, the discovery of sinkholes and leaked tailings. The vast majority of the dangerous occurrences involved incidents with equipment, which crashed, sunk into tailings storage facilities or flipped over.

In several cases, workers were injured and two workers died. The B.C. Ministry of Energy and Mines provided details of 49 dangerous occurrences at tailings ponds at the request of The Vancouver Sun following Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley tailings dam collapse on Aug. 4.

The dam failure released millions of cubic metres of water and tailings containing potentially toxic metals into Quesnel Lake in central B.C., and has increased scrutiny at the province’s 98 tailings facilities, which store mine waste.

The chief inspector of mines’ annual reports provide an annual breakdown of the number of dangerous occurrences, but the mines ministry initially balked at providing details of the dangerous occurrences, requested 10 days ago.

Neither B.C. Mines Minister Bill Bennett nor chief inspector of mines Al Hoffman were available for comment Monday.

Alaska requests greater involvement in oversight of large B.C. gold mine – by James Keller (Globe and Mail – August 23, 2014)

August 25, 2014

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

VANCOUVER — The Canadian Press – The state of Alaska has taken the rare step of asking the Canadian government for greater involvement in the approval and regulation of a controversial mine in northwestern British Columbia amid growing concern that the project could threaten American rivers and fish.

Alaska’s Department of Natural Resources outlined its request in a letter this week to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, which has been reviewing the proposed KSM gold and copper mine, owned by Seabridge Gold Inc. The project has already been approved by B.C.

“The state of Alaska has important obligations to our citizens relating to the protection of fish, wildlife, waters and lands that we hold in trust,” says the state’s letter, signed by three senior bureaucrats.

They request in the letter that the state be involved in the authorization and permitting process for the KSM mine, the development of enforcement provisions in those permits, and the development of monitoring programs for water quality and dam safety.

Alberta riled by Leonardo DiCaprio’s position on oil sands – by Ingrid Peritz (Globe and Mail – August 24, 2014)

August 25, 2014

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio is ruffling feathers in Alberta after becoming the latest celebrity to visit the province and shine a critical spotlight on Canada’s oil sands.

Both the Alberta government and the oil industry came to the defence of the oil sands after Mr. DiCaprio travelled Friday to Fort McMurray, the heart of the oil-sands industry, as well as to the small community Fort Chipewyan, which has drawn world attention to health and environmental concerns.

The purpose of the trip was to reportedly research a documentary, but The Wolf of Wall Street actor has already staked a high-profile position as an environmentalist and critic of big oil. A video released last week, narrated by Mr. DiCaprio, warns about climate change and depicts the fossil-fuel industry as a robotic monster stomping over the Earth.

“They drill, they extract, making trillions of dollars,” Mr. DiCaprio says about the industry, in the video titled ‘Carbon’. “We must fight to keep this carbon in the ground.”

Wynne, Couillard to push national energy strategy at premiers conference – by Jane Taber (Globe and Mail – August 25, 2014)

August 25, 2014

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Bolstered by the new partnership with her Quebec counterpart, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne is eyeing Quebec’s abundant hydro power to light up Northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire development and reinvigorate talks for a national energy strategy.

She and Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard, both rookie premiers with majority mandates, recently forged a central Canadian alliance to co-operate on issues and bring prosperity back to their provinces.

Beginning on Aug. 26, all of the premiers will meet at the Council of the Federation in Prince Edward Island, and she and Mr. Couillard hope to come to the table with a “shared position” on a Canadian energy strategy. Under the previous separatist government – Mr. Couillard defeated Parti Québécois premier Pauline Marois in the spring provincial election – Quebec refused to participate in a Canada-wide strategy.

“It’s a different situation when there’s a strong federalist premier in Quebec,” Ms. Wynne said in an interview.

In addition, their new alliance calls for potentially increasing electricity trade between the two provinces. Northern Ontario is in dire need of infrastructure to help develop the Ring of Fire, which could provide thousands of jobs to the province and about $60-billion to its economy, according to the provincial government’s estimates.

Opinion: Connecting natural resources to our everyday lives – by Lyn Anglin (Vancouver Sun – August 22, 2014)

August 25, 2014

http://www.vancouversun.com/index.html

Many of us forget our reliance on raw materials

Now that the tailings spill earlier this month at the Mount Polley mine is rightly the subject of an investigation by a third-party panel of experts, British Columbians can expect to get some much-needed answers to why the mine’s tailings dam failed. The sooner we have those answers, the better.

But make no mistake; mining — done properly — will continue to be a crucial aspect of our society and our economy. While a tailings dam failure such as we just witnessed is absolutely unacceptable, responsible mining must continue.

I have often said an educational campaign is required to re-connect British Columbians to their natural resource sector and to explain how so many of the products we depend on every day are derived from this sector. It’s for this reason I agreed to chair the advisory council of the non-profit Resource Works Society, an organization dedicated to educating British Columbians about the resource sector and its important role in B.C.’s future.

It is easy to become disconnected from the importance of our natural resources. Most of us have busy lives surrounded by urban environments that appear far removed from the forestry, mining and energy extraction on which our civilization and much of our economy is based.

Port authority OKs controversial coal-shipping facility in Metro Vancouver – by Steven Chua (Canadian Press/Canadian Business Magazine – August 21, 2014)

August 22, 2014

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/

VANCOUVER – Port Metro Vancouver approved Thursday construction of a controversial coal-shipping facility on the Fraser River, over concerns from local medical health officers and area residents about air quality and the environment.

Fraser Surrey Docks was granted a permit to build the facility to handle four-million metric tonnes of coal from the U.S. Midwest each year.

Peter Xotta, vice-president of planning and operations at the port authority, said the decision was not made lightly. “We have required extensive analysis,” said Xotta. The permit decision brings to an end a process that has dragged on for almost two years.

Concerns focus mainly on the effects of coal dust on air quality and the impact on the region. Global climate change also came into play in the drawn-out debate.

Fraser Surrey Docks hired SNC Lavalin to review the proposal, and the resulting report concluded there would be no significant adverse effects to the environment or people’s health.

But in a letter last November to the company, the chief medical health officers for the Fraser and Vancouver Coastal Health authorities dismissed the report’s findings.

Raglan mine: Canada’s first industrial-scale wind and energy storage facility – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – August 22, 2014)

August 22, 2014

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

WASHINGTON – The decision to install a 3 MW wind turbine at Glencore’s Raglan mine came after nearly five years of careful investigation, assessment, and analysis, says Jean-Francois Verret, director of strategy, projects, and public affairs.

Because of the Arctic conditions at the mining site, which sits on the Ungava Peninsula, in Nunavik, roughly 1 800 km north of Montreal, gathering in-depth data was an essential first step.

This summer, the Raglan mine began installing its first wind turbine, manufactured by Enercon, in Germany. If all goes as planned, Verret predicts that this wind turbine would replace about 5% of the mine’s diesel consumption – or 2.4-million litres of diesel.

A project like this also holds out the promise of significant cost savings. At the Raglan mine, energy typically accounts for 18% to 23% of operating costs. If the wind pilot goes well, Raglan was considering installing additional wind turbines that could generate a total of 9 MW to 12 MW of energy, slashing the mine’s overall diesel consumption by 40%.

In 2009, Raglan launched a study to investigate options for the mine and its fully diesel-powered operations. The nickel/copper mine’s remote locale meant that it would be impossible to connect to the hydroelectric grid or to the natural gas network.

[Canadian PM’s] Northern vision melts – by Peter Foster (National Post – August 22, 2014)

August 22, 2014

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

Trudeau is dead set against Northern Gateway, which makes it rather peculiar for him to be criticizing Harper

Media commentators, political opponents, and even Stephen Harper’s putative hosts gave the Prime Minister’s ninth annual trip to the far north a less than a rousing send off this week.

Michael Byers, the Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law at the University of British Columbia, pointed out that the dispatch of two ice breakers to scope Canadian claims on the North Pole was – in legal terms — a fool’s errand. There was a story alleging that the Harper government had – yet again – “muzzled” its scientists from reporting record low Arctic sea ice coverage two years ago.

Then there’s the lawsuit against the Conservatives by the Nunavut Planning Commission, claiming that the Feds are trying to interfere with Nunavut affairs by, er, not providing enough cash.

The tour kicked off Thursday morning with a photo op in Whitehorse to announce money for cold weather technology. Ho hum. Meanwhile progress on major commitments such as new icebreakers, and Arctic port and research facilities, continues to flag.

As the Post’s Michael den Tandt noted earlier this week, the fact that northern achievement lags far behind aspiration has been starkly highlighted by the new belligerence of Vladimir Putin, who is pouring huge resources into the Russian Arctic.

Lac-Mégantic report skims surface of deep problems – by Greg Gormick (Toronto Star – August 22, 2014)

August 22, 2014

The Toronto Star has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

Greg Gormick is a Toronto transportation writer and policy adviser. His clients have included CN, CP, VIA and numerous elected officials and government transportation agencies.

The report of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada on the Lac-Mégantic disaster blames “systemic problems” for the fourth deadliest accident in nearly two centuries of Canadian railroading. Those problems are more deeply rooted than even the TSB indicates.

As an arm’s-length agency, the TSB isn’t controlled by politicians and doesn’t bow to any master except public safety. But it does not play a public policy role. That’s in the hands of politicians, backed by their advisers and ministry staff.

It is at that level where blame must be placed. The Lac-Mégantic tragedy can be traced to decades of policy and investment failures resulting from unbridled faith in deregulation and competition as the guiding rules of rail legislation and funding. The biggest culprit is the 1985 transportation act, which the Mulroney government billed as “legislative change which will free Canada’s transportation system from the burden of excessive economic regulation.”

That it did. But it went further by eliminating most of the public interest tests contained in the previous acts, which applied both commercial and public policy requirements to all federally regulated transportation. The 1985 act was based on the profitability test for the regulation of our system, particularly rail.

Ontario’s Wynne, Quebec’s Couillard forge central Canadian alliance – by Jane Taber (Globe and Mail – August 22, 2014)

August 22, 2014

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Ontario and Quebec are forging a central Canadian alliance to co-operate on issues, including potentially expanding electricity trade, hoping their combined clout will bring back prosperity to both provinces.

Ontario’s Kathleen Wynne and Quebec’s Philippe Couillard announced the new regional partnership in Quebec City on Thursday. It is the first time the rookie Liberal premiers – both leading so-called have-not provinces – have met in person. According to one senior Ontario official, there is “a lot of personal like-mindedness and great rapport between the two.”

A bullish Mr. Couillard said the new central Canadian alliance signals the two provinces are “back as a very important block of influence in the country.”

“I think by acting together we will be more efficient,” he said. “When we have common concerns like infrastructure, like climate change, like energy strategy, it’s good that we voice those concerns together … Western provinces do the same, Maritime provinces do the same. It was time that Quebec and Ontario, again, do that.”

As have-not provinces, Ontario and Quebec rely on millions of dollars of federal equalization payments as they struggle in the federation economically.