Don MacLean sworn in as first Black permanent chief for Halifax police

TORONTO – Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said Wednesday that the federal government is moving ahead with guidelines around sustainable investing and corporate climate disclosures, but details on the plans are scarce.

The move comes as a wide range of investors, asset managers and environmental groups have been pushing the government to roll out such guidelines, also known as green taxonomies, to attract more investment for emissions-reducing projects.

The federal government estimates achieving net-zero emissions in Canada by 2050 will require between $125 billion and $140 billion in annual investments, compared with current spending of between $15 billion and $25 billion.

“We know we need to pull in even more private capital. We need to crowd in even more private capital to have a transition happening at the pace and scale the climate requires,” said Freeland at a Principles for Responsible Investment conference in Toronto.

Frustration has been mounting as efforts to create sustainable investment guidelines to attract more capital have been in the works for years in Canada, with multiple groups tasked with creating recommendations, but still nothing firm in place.

Those looking for answers will, however, have to wait a little longer, as the government says it plans to have a third-party organization develop the taxonomy, with the first guidelines issued within a year of the organization beginning its work. It did not provide a time estimate as to how quickly the unnamed organization would get started.

On the potential inclusion of fossil fuels — a key area of contention — the government says it doesn’t anticipate new natural gas production would qualify, but that drafters could consider existing natural gas for its potential to displace more polluting fuels internationally.

Environmental groups have been adamant that fossil fuels have no place in such a taxonomy. But a task force that provided recommendations to the government argued there should be a transition category that will allow for efforts to reduce emissions of fossil fuel production and other high-emission industries.

The government says the transition taxonomy could for example include projects that significantly reduce the emissions of existing natural gas production, or the emissions associated with a limited build-out of existing production sites.

On company disclosures, the government says it will launch a regulatory process to figure out what information, and what size of private federal corporations, will be included.

Freeland emphasized that small and medium businesses would not be subject to such disclosures, but that it’s important for there to be greater corporate climate transparency.

“We know that requiring these disclosures is the right thing for businesses, it’s the right thing for their lenders, it’s the right thing for their insurers, It’s the right thing for their shareholders,” said Freeland.

“Requiring disclosures means people can make decisions based on transparency and understanding of climate risks and climate exposure.”

Speaking after Freeland at the conference, Mark Carney, the UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and chair of Brookfield Asset Management, emphasized the need to act faster on all fronts.

While Freeland highlighted that the taxonomy plan, with its uncommon transition category, is a made-in-Canada solution, Carney said it’s important governments implement taxonomies that aren’t too out of step with what other countries are doing.

He also emphasized the importance of going beyond emissions disclosure to also mandate that companies say how they plan to reach net zero.

“Governments should act now by adopting consistent and comparable taxonomies, and mandating transition plans for large companies.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

A Toronto artist based in Florida says he’s anxiously waiting to ensure the safety of his friends in the state and assess the potentially catastrophic damage to his property as Hurricane Milton barrels towards his community just outside Sarasota.

He’s just one of many Canadians who own homes in the state. Like him, many have fled because of this hurricane or its predecessor Helene, which unleashed devastation across several southern states just a few weeks ago.

But some are still there with plans to hunker down. Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly was urging them to leave Wednesday. She said people planning trips to Florida should postpone as the state braces for the impact of the hurricane.

Speaking in a phone interview from Toronto, Viktor Mitic, an artist who owns a studio in Siesta Key, Fla., said he was able to flee just before Helene, but said he’s worried about his friends and neighbours who are still in the state.

“I have friends, they have lost everything,” he said. “A couple was staying at my place trying to recover because they lost their homes, they lost their cars, and they were trying to pick up the pieces. I had to tell them to leave.

“There’s going to be a lot of people who are going to be suffering through a lot of stuff,” he said. “I feel like somebody punched me in the stomach — that’s how I feel the whole day today.”

Mitic added he believes the sculptures and artworks still at his studio, worth millions, won’t survive as Hurricane Milton unleashes a barrage of rain and high-speed winds in the area.

“I think it’s all going to be gone by tomorrow morning,” Mitic said. He added that he had planned to head back to Florida on Tuesday night and ship his artwork to Canada, but the plans had to be cancelled.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen … I’m pacing up and down looking at the news,” he said.

The storm was downgraded early Wednesday evening to a Category 3, but is still expected to bring deadly storm surge, rain and winds. The National Weather Service said seven tornadoes have also hit the state in advance of Milton.

It was expected to make landfall later on Wednesday in the Tampa Bay area, which is home to more than 3.3 million people, and then move east affecting other populated areas including Sarasota, Orlando and Daytona Beach.

Millions of people have been ordered to evacuate across 11 Florida counties. In Pasco County, north of Tampa, officials have warned that if residents have not yet evacuated, they are advised to ride out the storm where they are.

The U.S. Coast Guard also said Wednesday that it is on standby, readying to help with search and rescue, provide assistance in assessing damage and responding to marine pollution incidents.

Florida is a popular destination for Canadian snowbirds, particularly in the winter, though Joly said her office doesn’t know exactly how many Canadians are now in the area.

She said her office has been in contact with American officials and that any Canadians who are registered with the embassy will have received an email telling them to leave.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 9, 2024.

— With files from The Associated Press.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

RICHMOND, B.C. – New Democrat Leader David Eby says he’s focusing his provincial election campaign on commitments to B.C. residents after acknowledging he didn’t speak enough about his team’s work on the cost of living at Tuesday’s debate.

But in his first scheduled appearance after the sole televised debate of the closely fought election, Eby repeatedly turned back to his opponent, saying B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad was “vague” about his plans, and pointed out again that the B.C. Conservatives had not released their costed platform.

Eby devoted much of his time at the debate to attacking Rustad, and the NDP platform released last week mentioned Rustad by name 56 times, compared with 29 times for Eby.

“He needs to be clear about what his plans are, what he’s going to cut, what’s not going to be available for families, so people can make a good decision for themselves and for their communities about which direction we go,” Eby said Wednesday of Rustad.

Leaders from B.C.’s three main political parties met onstage Tuesday for their first and only televised debate, going toe-to-toe over issues including health care, housing and the toxic drug crisis.

Rustad was nowhere to be seen on the campaign trail after the debate on Wednesday, while B.C. Green leader Sonia Furstenau went to an Irish Pub in Vancouver to make a public safety message.

Eby was in Richmond, where he and Richmond-Steveston NDP candidate Kelly Greene met with six supporters from multi-generational families who, seated around a dining room table, described how the NDP’s plans would help them.

Eby reflected on the previous night, telling reporters he was “wired” and had trouble falling asleep after the debate, adding that he would see his performance as successful if those watching at home felt he was focused on their priorities.

“That was my goal. That continues to be my goal. What drives me is being focused on addressing the issues people face in their daily lives,” he said.

Eby repeatedly attacked Rustad on various social stances during the debate, calling him an “anti-vaxxer” who is “embarrassing” the province. Rustad said he was “not anti-vax, I’m anti-mandate.”

Eby said in Richmond it was “critical” people knew where Rustad stood.

“There is a pretty stark choice between the two parties that are running a full set of candidates, and that choice is going to make a difference for the future of our province,” he said.

Eby said his government was “finally making progress” and that the province “can’t turn back now,” pointing to what he said were decreasing rental costs and a goal for every resident to have a family doctor by 2025.

Furstenau told reporters on Wednesday that if her party won the election she would disband the RCMP’s Critical Response Unit, saying the level of “violence and harm” caused by the unit “has drawn criticism worldwide.”

The unit was tasked to police protests against resource extraction but is being investigated by the RCMP’s federal watchdog agency after it accepted complaints alleging the use of excessive force, illegal tactics and unprofessional behaviour.

Furstenau also promised to set up a task force for missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirited people to address “systemic inequalities.”

“The BC Greens are committed to ensuring that the justice system is truly about justice and that it reflects the systemic issues that we are yet to address in our society, including racism, poverty, and the toxic drug crisis,” said Furstenau.

If elected, Furstenau said her party will start working with family members of the victims of serial killer Robert Pickton to address the sense of unfairness felt by the families of his victims.

“This was the worst example of failure on the part of the police, and so in order to restore that trust and that confidence, the work has to begin in the community with the people that were affected, with the families,” said Furstenau.

The B.C. Conservatives confirmed Wednesday that Rustad had no public events planned for the day, with the party’s only event on its website being a meet-and-greet with Salmon Arm-Shuswap candidate David Williams in Armstrong, B.C.

David Black, an associate professor at the school of communications and culture at Royal Roads University, said it was unusual for a party leader to not make a public appearance after a debate since it was an opportunity for parties to shape the message to voters delivered on stage.

“That’s when — the day after — people’s impressions are hardening into views and opinions,” Black said, adding that this applied especially to close election races and debates in which no clear winner emerged.

“People are beginning to decide, if you think in these terms, who won or lost or which leader do I like, or which one I don’t,” he said. “It’s that after-debate shaping of opinion that is as important as a debate performance itself.”

He said Rustad still has an opportunity to shape his debate messages to voters this week, since that crucial moment when opinions are still forming can last 48 hours or even a few days after a debate.

“I think if a leader is absent from that, if they make themselves unavailable, I do fear — and this would be true of any leader — that there is something that they are concerned might be asked of them post-debate that would be embarrassing, that they’re defensive about something,” Black said.

Furstenau gained some high-profile endorsement on Wednesday from actor and environmental activist Mark Ruffalo.

Ruffalo posted his praise on social media platform X, saying that while the Irish Green Party backtracked on LNG, Furstenau is committed to ending LNG expansion and fossil fuel subsidies, while prioritizing people’s health and well-being.

Furstenau said she was thrilled to hear of the endorsement by Ruffalo, who played the role of lawyer Robert Bilott in the movie “Dark Waters,” which dramatized a legal fight against the chemical manufacturing corporation DuPont.

“I’m very grateful to Mark Ruffalo for recognizing that there is a serious political party in British Columbia that takes the moment we’re in seriously.

“I just wish that the other leaders would stand up with me and also take it as seriously as I do,” said Furstenau.

— With files from Nono Shen in Vancouver

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 9, 2024.