Chris Blumhagen was working on his organic farm in central Alberta when Capital Power called to sell him on the idea of putting a wind turbine on his land.
Blumhagen says the representative from the company pushed hard, telling him his neighbours were already on board with a plan to build 74 turbines in the 100 square kilometre area and that if he didn’t sign on, he would miss out.
So Blumhagen signed in exchange for $10 and a promise of more to come once the turbines started spinning, only to later learn that many of his neighbours hadn’t done the same.
“They essentially tricked me,” he said.
That was 2015. Since then, Blumhagen and his neighbours have banded together to oppose the project, alleging dishonest tactics by the company in promoting the project to residents and risks to their health, land and livelihoods if it goes forward.
Edmonton-based Capital Power, which operates coal, natural gas and wind power facilities in Alberta, and Alberta’s utilities commission say all the residents’ concerns have been addressed.
This is the view from the rural front lines of Canada’s energy transition — a move away from fossil fuels toward renewable energy that a majority of Albertans say they support but that few in the country’s cities will have to deal with head-on.
Not opposed to wind power
That will be left to people like Blumhagen and his neighbours, who live on a sliver of Alberta prairie about 200 kilometres outside of Edmonton, wedged between the Battle River Valley to the north and the Paintearth Coulee to the south.
Locals call it “the island,” and a handful of families have lived here for more than a century, farming and ranching together.
Chris Blumhagen was approached by Capital Power about placing a wind turbine on his land and says the company misled him about local support for the project. (Erin Collins/CBC)
Along with agriculture, power generation has long been a part of daily life in Paintearth County. The area saw first the dawn of the coal industry and then the rise of the oil and gas industries in Alberta. Oil wells still draw black gold from the earth here, and a coal mine and power plant still operates in the area.
Blumhagen says that experience is why most residents aren’t against the idea of wind power or other forms of renewable energy.
“Wind has its place,” he said.
But Blumhagen says Capital Power, which already operates one wind farm in the area, near the village of Halkirk, has not taken the time to listen to the concerns of residents.
Residents like Gerard Fetaz, whose family has lived here since 1904. Fetaz’s concerns about the project are easy to see. He has a small runway on his property that he uses to fly his vintage 1957 Cessna. He used to make some money crop dusting in the area, though these days he flies just for the love of it.
But that passion may be grounded for good if Capital Power’s wind farm is built. The plans would see a turbine just 650 metres from his landing strip, despite recommendations from Transport Canada that turbines should be at least four kilometres from a runway.
Gerard Fetaz worries that a wind farm close to his home in Paintearth County will mean he can no longer fly his plane. (Erin Collins/CBC)
“It’s not safe,” said Fetaz. “Somebody runs into a turbine, or gets caught in the turbulence or something — you could hit somebody’s house.”
He says he has tried to reach out to Capital Power about finding a different location for the turbine but says “they aren’t interested in talking about it at all.”
24 conditions placed on project
Capital Power didn’t agree to an interview with CBC News, but in a statement, the company denied that it ignored the concerns of residents and said it would act with “integrity, work to address stakeholder concerns and abide by all laws and regulations governing the project development process.”
But Fetaz and others in the area say the rush to embrace sustainable energy has meant that their concerns have been passed over. Since the project was given the green light in 2018, local residents have challenged its approval at several levels, including at the Alberta Court of Appeal and, most recently, at the county, but to no avail.
The province is moving ahead with wind power, with Alberta Electric System Operator, which oversees Alberta’s electricity grid, predicting that the amount of wind power generated in Alberta will double over the next decade.
The Alberta Utilities Commission, the regulator that approved the Capital Power project, says it is in the public interest.
The AUC’s Jim Law says every effort was made to accommodate the residents, including putting 24 conditions on the project’s approval, which the company must meet to complete it.
Among them, a commitment to move the turbine near Fetaz’s runway by up to 50 metres and to make sure that any environmental impacts are mitigated.
Katrina Smith and her family play in their backyard in Paintearth County. Three wind turbines will be visible from their property if the planned wind farm is built. (Erin Collins/CBC)
“Those are in place to directly answer some of the concerns that the intervenors had about the project, and they range from airport considerations to wildlife and noise,” Law said.
Law said that, unlike with oil and gas developments, no one can be forced to have a wind turbine on their land in Alberta,
“There’s no forced entry. It’s a voluntary agreement,” he said.
Law says the system is set up to make sure the public interest is served and that the concerns of the land owners are respected and that it generally works.
‘Backlash’ in Ontario
That’s not how Katrina Smith sees it. Three turbines will be visible from Smith’s home, which sits just down the road from those of her parents and brothers. Smith likes the idea of renewable energy; her home is completely off-grid, powered by a solar array in her backyard.
But she has concerns about how a large wind farm will impact the sensitive wetlands near her home and the community she grew up in. She sees a push to meet the green energy needs of urban Canada on the backs of rural communities like hers.
“There has to be mutual respect. There has to be an appreciation for what is already there,” she said. “There has to be a goal for what we can maintain and sustain for the future.”
Dayna Scott says similar concerns about the location of turbines and their impact on residents and the environment were raised in rural Ontario more than a decade ago, when that province moved to embrace wind power.
Scott, who holds a research chair in environmental law and justice at York University in Toronto, says that residents were not consulted adequately in Ontario and that ignoring local concerns caused “a huge amount of backlash in rural communities.”
Scott worries that repeating those mistakes in other parts of Canada could slow a shift toward green energy.
That situation may already be playing out back on “the island.” Local opposition and a sluggish economy mean the future of the wind farm is in limbo. Capital Power has yet to start construction on the project, which it has until December 2022 to finish.
That’s welcome news for many of the residents in the area if not for Canada’s shift to a lower-carbon future.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
