EDMONTON — Premier Danielle Smith says laggardly public notification of Imperial Oil oilsands wastewater spills has illuminated the need for Alberta to ensure future alarms are sounded quicker.
Smith says her government is working with the province’s oilsands regulator to develop better policies to give affected groups timely notification.
“Good practice and being a good neighbour (means) more communication is better,” Smith said Tuesday at an unrelated news conference in Mundare, Alta.
“That’s going to be our approach going forward. I’ve talked to the environment minister about that and the energy minister about that and the regulator about that.
“We’ll be working with the (Alberta Energy) Regulator to develop new processes to make sure that any time there is an incident that the comms are clear, that we have radical transparency and, just even as a courtesy, make sure any impacted party has a heads-up so they don’t have any fear based on the misinformation they see on social media or in the media.”
Area First Nations and the Northwest Territories government have said they should have been kept in the loop on the spills from Imperial’s Kearl mine tailings ponds.
Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, which is downstream from the spill, said in a statement Tuesday that its representatives were recently able to access the spill site on the north side of the Kearl tailings pond.
“What we observed was worse than what anyone anticipated,” the First Nation said.
It said representatives saw toxic water still on the ground in an unfenced, uncontained area beside streams and ponds.
It said it also saw animal tracks in and out of the area, tailings puddles and no barriers between seepage and water bodies.
“We won’t stop until we have a full accounting of this catastrophe. We are not going away,” said Chief Allan Adam.
The N.W.T. has called it a violation of its agreement with Alberta for timely updates on emerging threats to their shared watershed.
The first wastewater release was spotted and reported in May as discoloured water near a tailings pond at the Kearl site north of Fort McMurray.
It was found to be tailings seepage and no further updates were provided to area First Nations until February when it was disclosed to the public and federal and provincial environment ministers along with news of a second release of 5.3 million litres of tailings.
Earlier this week, federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault repeated his call for a stronger federal presence when it comes to environmental monitoring and communications in the oilsands in light of the Kearl seepages.
Guilbeault also repeated his plan for a new body with federal, provincial and First Nation members that would meet regularly to share information, especially on environmental emergencies. It would also discuss cleaning up tailings releases, how to keep the vast toxic ponds contained and long-term solutions for them.
Guilbeault said officials from Imperial and the Alberta Energy Regulator will be invited to appear before the House of Commons environment and sustainable development committee.
Smith said she welcomes the joint working group but echoed earlier comments from Alberta Environment Minister Sonya Savage that the committee hearings would be a needless, politically motivated distraction.
“They’re trying to distract from the problems that they have in Ottawa on the investigation into Chinese interference in the election,” said Smith.
In public statements, Savage has agreed on the need to look at communication between the two levels of government as well as long-term solutions to oilsands tailings, which cover 300 square kilometres and hold 1.4 trillion litres of toxic tailings.
Smith said the spills reinforce the need to accelerate work with Ottawa to find a solution to clean up the tailings ponds.
“We can’t just keep building tailings ponds out and we can’t just keep managing and monitoring,” said Smith.
“We have to find a way to eliminate the (wastewater) after it has been cleaned and make sure we’re reducing the further liability. That’s the big problem.”
— With files from Bob Weber
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 21, 2023.
The sixth-ranked Canadian women will face World Cup champion Spain in an international friendly next month.
Third-ranked Spain will host Canada on Oct. 25 at Estadio Francisco de la Hera in Almendralejo.
The game will be the first for the Canadian women since the Paris Olympics, where they lost to Germany in a quarterfinal penalty shootout after coach Bev Priestman was sent home and later suspended for a year by FIFA over her part in Canada’s drone-spying scandal.
In announcing the Spain friendly, Canada Soccer said more information on the interim women’s coaching staff for the October window will come later. Assistant coach Andy Spence took charge of the team in Priestman’s absence at the Olympics.
Spain finished fourth in Paris, beaten 1-0 by Germany in the bronze-medal match.
Canada is winless in three previous meetings (0-2-1) with Spain, most recently losing 1-0 at the Arnold Clark Cup in England in February 2022.
The teams played to a scoreless draw in May 2019 in Logroñés, Spain in a warm-up for the 2019 World Cup. Spain won 1-0 in March 2019 at the Algarve Cup in São João da Venda, Portugal.
Spain is a powerhouse in the women’s game these days.
It won the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2022 and was runner-up in 2018. And it ousted Canada 2-1 in the round of 16 of the current U-20 tournament earlier this month in Colombia before falling 1-0 to Japan after extra time in the quarterfinal.
Spain won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2018 and 2022 and has finished on the podium on three other occasions.
FC Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati (2023) and Alexia Putellas (2021 and ’22) have combined to win the last three Women’s Ballon d’Or awards.
And Barcelona has won three of the last four UEFA Women’s Champions League titles.
“We continue to strive to diversify our opponent pool while maintaining a high level of competition.” Daniel Michelucci, Canada Soccer’s director of national team operations, said in a statement. “We anticipate a thrilling encounter, showcasing two of the world’s top-ranked teams.”
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024
EDMONTON – The NHL’s Edmonton Oilers announced Tuesday that assistant general manager Brad Holland is leaving the club.
The move comes almost three months after the departure of former Oilers general manager Ken Holland, Brad’s father.
Oilers chief executive officer and president of hockey operations Jeff Jackson said in a statement that Brad Holland and the team parted ways so Holland could “explore other opportunities.”
Holland, 43, joined the Oilers as a scout in 2019. He was promoted to assistant GM in July 2022.
He had a hand in building the team that advanced to Game 7 of the 2023-24 Stanley Cup final before losing to the Florida Panthers.
The Oilers hired former Chicago Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman to replace Ken Holland on July 1.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — The Miami Dolphins are placing Tua Tagovailoa on injured reserve after the quarterback was diagnosed with his third concussion in two years, a person familiar with the move told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the team had not yet announced the move. Tagovailoa will be sidelined for at least four games with the designation.
He was hurt in the third quarter of a Thursday night game against the Buffalo Bills on a play where he collided with Bills defensive back Damar Hamlin. He ran for a first down and then initiated the contact by lowering his shoulder into Hamlin instead of sliding.
Players from both teams immediately motioned that Tagovailoa was hurt, and as he lay on the turf the quarterback exhibited some signs typically associated with a traumatic brain injury. He remained down on the field for a couple of minutes, got to his feet and walked to the sideline.
Tagovailoa this week began the process of consulting neurologists about his health. He was diagnosed with two concussions in 2022 and one while in college at Alabama.
