Despite general agreement on these issues, Leger executive vice-president Christian Bourque says Canadians from fossil fuel-producing regions including Saskatchewan and Alberta tend to agree less on policies related to climate change because those changes directly affect their economies.
Meanwhile, respondents from Quebec led the other provinces in their support of Canada’s recent climate policy commitments, followed by British Columbia.
“In regions like B.C. or Quebec, we see that the level of agreement with reducing production and pollution is always higher because it doesn’t directly affect the economy,” said Bourque.
He added that one of the reasons why Quebec agrees more with these climate-related policies has to do with broad consensus in the province on reducing the use of fossil fuels.
“There’s no opposition to that. There’s no voice that’s speaking on behalf of the industry that’s clearly being heard,” Bourque said.
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Also this …
Residents of a New York border town say they’re eager to welcome Canadians now that the United States has eased land border restrictions, but they worry that costly COVID-19 testing rules will keep many travellers away.
Several stores in Plattsburgh, N.Y., about an hour south of Montreal, are offering special discounts for Canadian shoppers, and are highlighting COVID-19 safety protocols.
On Monday, the United States reopened its land border with Canada to non-essential travel for the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Several retail managers and residents who spoke to The Canadian Press said they welcomed the reopening but expressed concern about ongoing restrictions.
The United States requires that travellers be fully vaccinated. But Canada also requires anyone entering or re-entering the country to show proof of a negative PCR test — which costs around $200 in Montreal private clinics.
Plattsburgh Mayor Christopher Rosenquest said Monday’s reopening will allow for the return of business travel, snowbirds passing through and people with homes or family in the area who are likely to stay longer — which he calls a “good first step.”
Rosenquest, however, called on the Canadian government to scrap the testing requirement, which he said would probably keep away the day trippers the city relied on in pre-pandemic times.
“We are looking forward to seeing those restrictions loosened up for more casual tourists that are coming to do some shopping or to get their oil change or do some travelling and hiking to the Adirondacks, things like that,” he said in a recent interview.
“We miss our Canadian friends, we really do,” he said. “It’s such a pleasant cultural exchange to have Canadian travellers come and meet our friends, practise our French a little bit here and there. We really do miss it.”
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What we are watching in the U.S. …
PHOENIX _ Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar was facing criticism after he tweeted a video that included altered animation showing him striking Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with a sword.
In a tweet Monday night, Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., referred to Gosar as “a creepy member I work with” and said he “shared a fantasy video of him killing me.” She added that Gosar would face no consequences because Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy “cheers him on with excuses.” She also said that institutions “don’t protect” women of colour.
A fellow House Democrat, Ted Lieu of California, referred to Gosar’s tweet as “sick behaviour” and said in a tweet of his own: “In any workplace in America, if a coworker made an anime video killing another coworker, that person would be fired.”
Gosar, a Republican, posted the video Sunday afternoon with a note saying: “Any anime fans out there?”
The roughly 90-second video is an altered version of a Japanese anime series, interspersed with shots of border patrol officers and migrants at the southern U.S. border. During one roughly 10-second section of the video, animated characters whose faces have been replaced with Gosar and fellow Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Lauren Boebert of Colorado are seen fighting other animated characters.
In one scene, Gosar’s character is seen striking the one made to look like Ocasio-Cortez in the neck with a sword.
Twitter later attached a warning to the tweet saying “it violated the Twitter Rules about hateful conduct. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible.”
Gosar is known as an ardent ally of former President Donald Trump. He was among the lawmakers whose phone or computer records a House panel investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection asked social media and telecommunications companies to preserve as they were potentially involved with efforts to “challenge, delay or interfere” with the certification or otherwise try to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
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What we are watching in the rest of the world …
TAIPEI, Taiwan _ Taiwan on Tuesday said China is seeking to take control of the island by wearing down its military capabilities and influencing public opinion, while avoiding an all-out military conflict that could likely draw in the United States.
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said in a biennial report that Beijing is employing “grey zone” tactics to ratchet up pressure on the self-governing island republic which China claims as its own territory.
China has been stepping up its threats to use force to against Taiwan by holding military exercises and sending planes close to the island.
During China’s National Day weekend in early October, China dispatched 149 military aircraft southwest of Taiwan in strike group formations, causing Taiwan to scramble aircraft and activate its air defense missile systems.
The report said that reflects Beijing’s effort to degrade Taiwan’s air force through wear and tear and heavy requirements on its personnel. It said the strategy also includes cyberwarfare, propaganda and a campaign to isolate Taiwan internationally to force it to accept China’s terms without engaging in a shooting war.
China and Taiwan separated during a civil war in 1949. While the U.S. cut formal diplomatic relations with Taipei in 1979 in order to recognize Beijing, Washington is committed by law to ensure the island can defend itself and to treat all threats toward it as matters of grave concern.
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On this day in 1965 …
A failure of a relay device of Ontario Hydro’s Queenston generating station triggered a massive power failure. The outage extended from the Atlantic coast of the United States to Chicago, and from southern Ontario to Florida, lasting up to 12 hours. Officials attributed the blackout to a failure on a 345,000-volt line south of Niagara Falls, N.Y.
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In entertainment …
TORONTO — Kaya Usher is releasing an album later this month that she calls part of the “healing journey,” more than four years after her husband Gord Downie’s death.
The Toronto musician collaborated with two of her children and Broken Social Scene’s Kevin Drew to create “All This Is,” her 10-track debut set for release on Nov. 17.
Usher says the mostly instrumental record is shaped by the spiritual recovery that she embarked on after being diagnosed with breast cancer nearly a decade ago.
Kaya, who was born Laura Leigh Usher, saw the disease from a different perspective when Downie faced terminal brain cancer in late 2015. She says “All This Is” captures the love, connection and “real strength” that can be fostered after a significant loss.
The album also makes an effort to realize what she says was a shared dream with Downie of one day forming a family band. Two of their four children play on the tracks, with their 21-year-old son Lou on keyboards and drums and their 26-year-old daughter Willo on harmonies.
“All This is” was produced earlier this year at the Tragically Hip’s famed Bathouse studio in Bath, Ont.
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ICYMI …
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Instead of a message in a bottle, it was the decals on a trash can that tell the story of a 5,600-kilometre voyage from South Carolina to Ireland.
Officials with Myrtle Beach say a waste barrel somehow floated away from their the coastal city and washed up in County Mayo, on Ireland’s northwestern coast.
The city says Keith McGreal wrote to them that he’d spotted a bright blue barrel with city stickers on it “and thought it would make a good news story.”
“I wanted to share some images of a Blue Trash barrel that has been washed up on our local beach,” McGreal wrote, according to an exchange the city posted online.
City officials posted McGreal’s photos of the barrel, bearing shell encrustation and other signs of maritime immersion.
The city says the barrel likely got swept off the beach during a storm.
“We typically remove trash containers from the beach before a hurricane, but this one apparently had a mind of its own,” they said, adding that they’d “already had a city employee volunteer to come fetch it.”
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2021.
WEST MILFORD, N.J. (AP) — Windy conditions renewed a wildfire that escaped a containment line and prompted emergency officials to enact a voluntary evacuation plan for a small number of houses in a community near the New York-New Jersey border on Saturday.
The voluntary evacuation enacted out of “an abundance of caution” impacted about 165 houses in Warwick, New York, as firefighters continued working to tame the Jennings Creek blaze, New York Parks Department spokesman Jeff Wernick said in an email Saturday night.
A local school was being used as a shelter for residents in need of one, New York State Police Troop F said in a statement. The troop said the fire necessitated a response from several public safety agencies.
“Multiple surrounding fire departments are assisting with firefighting efforts. State Police Drone Unit is on scene providing aerial assessments,” the statement said.
On Friday, the wildfire was 90% contained on the Passaic County, New Jersey, side of the border, and about 70% contained in Orange County, New York, officials said.
The wildfire had burned 7 1/2 square miles (19.4 square kilometers) across the two states as of Friday, although New York officials said that number was likely to increase as stronger winds were forecast for the weekend.
On Saturday, Wernick said New York Army National Guard helicopters dropped 21,000 gallons (79,493 liters) of water and a New York State Police helicopter dropped nearly 900 gallons (3,406 liters).
The fire was burning primarily in Sterling Forest State Park, where the visitor center, the lakefront area at Greenwood Lake and historic furnace area remained open but woodland activities including hunting were halted, Wernick said, noting residences around the lake have not been impacted.
A National Weather Service forecast for Warwick did not call for rain until Wednesday night. Firefighters previously said they will remain on the scene until significant rainfall occurs.
The blaze claimed the life of an 18-year-old New York parks employee who died when a tree fell on him as he helped fight the fire in Sterling Forest on Nov. 9. The fire’s cause remains under investigation.
Fires also were a threat elsewhere in the Northeast, as New England states were under red flag alerts for wildfires this weekend. The National Interagency Fire Center said fires in California, North Carolina and West Virginia were also concerning.
Massachusetts, which typically has about 15 wildland fires every October, had about 200 this year. State officials said they were expected to continue because of weather conditions and dry surface fuels.
Southern New Hampshire was at particular risk for fires due to dry conditions and the fire danger risk was “very high,” state officials said.
The Maine Forest Service said the southern part of the state also faced high fire danger conditions. Most of the state was abnormally dry or facing moderate drought conditions.
MANAUS, Brazil (AP) — Joe Biden on Sunday became the first sitting American president to set foot in the Amazon rainforest, as incoming Trump administration seems poised to scale back the U.S. commitment to combating climate change.
The massive Amazon, which is about the size of Australia, stores huge amounts of the world’s carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas driving climate change, even as the world’s largest tropical rainforest is rapidly deforested.
Biden is expected to be taken over a stretch of the rainforest where he would get a good view of the shallowing of waterways, fire damage and a wildlife refuge. He’s also expected to get a peek at where the Rio Negro and Amazon Rivers meet. He will then meet local and indigenous leaders and visit an Amazonian museum as he looks to highlight his commitment to the preservation of the region.
His administration announced plans last year for a $500 million contribution to the Amazon Fund, the most significant international cooperation effort to preserve the rainforest, primarily financed by Norway.
So far, the U.S. government said it has provided $50 million, and the White House announced Sunday an additional $50 million contribution to the fund.
“It’s significant for a sitting president to visit the Amazon. … This shows a personal commitment from the president,” said Suely Araújo, former head of the Brazilian environmental protection agency and public policy coordinator with the nonprofit Climate Observatory. “That said, we can’t expect concrete results from this visit.”
She doubts that a “single penny” will go to the Amazon Fund once Donald Trump is back in the White House.
The incoming Trump administration is highly unlikely to prioritize the Amazon or anything related to climate change. The Republican president-elect already said he would again pull out of the Paris agreement, a global pact forged to avert the threat of catastrophic climate change, after Biden recommitted to the agreement.
Trump has cast climate change as a “hoax” and said he will eliminate energy efficiency regulations by the Biden administration.
Still, the Biden White House on Sunday announced a series of new efforts aimed at bolstering the Amazon and stemming the impact of climate change.
Among the actions is the launch of a finance coalition that looks to spur at least $10 billion in public and private investment for land restoration and bioeconomy-related projects by 2030, and a $37.5 million loan to the organization Mombak Gestora de Recursos Ltda. to support the large-scale planting of native tree species on degraded grasslands in Brazil.
Biden is also set to sign a U.S. proclamation designating Nov. 17 as International Conservation Day, and will highlight in remarks during the visit that the U.S. is on track to reach $11 billion in spending on international climate financing in 2024, a six-fold increase from when he started his term.
The Amazon is home to Indigenous communities and 10% of Earth’s biodiversity. It also regulates moisture across South America. About two-thirds of the Amazon lies within Brazil, and scientists say its devastation poses a catastrophic threat to the planet.
Lula has pledged “zero deforestation” by 2030, though his term runs through the end of 2026. Forest loss in Brazil’s Amazon dropped by 30.6% in the 12 months through July from a year earlier, bringing deforestation to its lowest level in nine years, according to official data released last week.
In that 12-month span, the Amazon lost 6,288 square kilometers (2,428 square miles), roughly the size of the U.S. state of Delaware. But that data fails to capture the surge of destruction this year, which will only be included in next year’s reading.
Biden is making the Amazon visit as part of a six-day trip to South America, the first to the continent of his presidency. He traveled from Lima, Peru, where he took part in the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and met with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
After his stop in Manaus, he was heading to Rio de Janeiro for this year’s Group of 20 leaders summit.
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Sa Pessoa reported from Sao Paulo, and Long from Washington.
BEIRUT (AP) — A rare Israeli airstrike on central Beirut killed Hezbollah’s chief spokesman on Sunday, an official with the militant group said. Earlier, officials said Israeli strikes killed at least 12 people in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has been at war with the Palestinian Hamas for over a year.
Mohammed Afif, the head of media relations for Hezbollah, was killed in a strike on the Arab socialist Baath party’s office in central Beirut, according to a Hezbollah official who was not authorized to brief reporters and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Afif had been especially visible after all-out war erupted between Israel and Hezbollah in September and the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike. Last month, Afif hastily wrapped up a press conference in Beirut ahead of Israeli strikes.
Screams in central Beirut
There was no Israeli evacuation warning before the strike near a busy intersection in central Beirut. An Associated Press photographer at the scene saw four bodies and four wounded people, but there was no official word on the toll. People could be seen fleeing. There was no comment from the Israeli military.
“I was asleep and awoke from the sound of the strike, and people screaming, and cars and gunfire,” said Suheil Halabi, a witness. “I was startled, honestly. This is the first time I experience it so close.”
Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel the day after Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack ignited the war in Gaza. Israel launched retaliatory airstrikes in Lebanon and the conflict steadily escalated, erupting into war in September. Israeli forces invaded Lebanon on Oct. 1.
Hezbollah has fired dozens of projectiles into Israel daily and expanded their range to central Israel. The attacks have killed at least 76 people, including 31 soldiers, and caused some 60,000 people to flee. A rocket barrage on the northern city of Haifa on Saturday damaged a synagogue and wounded two civilians.
More than 3,400 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to the Health Ministry, and over 1.2 million driven from their homes. It is not known how many of the dead are Hezbollah fighters.
Lebanon’s army, largely on the sidelines, said an Israeli strike on Sunday hit a military center in southeastern Al-Mari, killing two soldiers and wounding two others. There was no immediate Israeli comment.
Two people were killed in a strike on Gaza’s main north-south highway, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah, which received all 12 bodies.
The war between Israel and Hamas began after Palestinian militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7. last year, killing about 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducting around 250 others. Around 100 hostages remain in Gaza, about a third believed to be dead.
The Health Ministry in Gaza says around 43,800 Palestinians have been killed in the war. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but has said women and children make up more than half the fatalities.
Pope Francis has called for an investigation to determine if Israel’s attacks in Gaza constitute genocide, according to excerpts released Sunday from an upcoming book.
3 arrested after flares fired at Netanyahu’s home
Israeli police arrested three suspects after two flares were fired overnight at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private residence in the coastal city of Caesarea.
Netanyahu and his family were not there, authorities said. A drone launched by Hezbollah struck the residence last month, also when Netanyahu and his family were away.
The police did not provide details about the suspects, but officials pointed to domestic political critics of Netanyahu. Israel’s largely ceremonial president, Isaac Herzog, warned against “an escalation of the violence in the public sphere.”
Netanyahu has faced months of mass protests. Critics blame him for the security and intelligence failures that allowed the Oct. 7 attack to happen and for not reaching a deal with Hamas to release hostages.
Israeli minister looks to revive judiciary overhaul
Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin seized on the flare attack to call for a revival of his plans to overhaul the judiciary, which had sparked months of mass protests before the war.
“The time has come to provide full support for the restoration of the justice system and the law enforcement systems, and to put an end to anarchy, rampage, refusal and attempts to harm the prime minister,” he said in a statement.
Supporters said the judiciary changes aim to strengthen democracy by circumscribing the authority of unelected judges and turning over more powers to elected officials. Opponents see the overhaul as a power grab by Netanyahu, who is on trial on corruption charges and for an assault on a key watchdog.
Many Israelis believe the internal divisions caused by the attempted overhaul had weakened the country ahead of the Hamas assault.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said on X that he strongly condemns the firing of flares while blasting Levin’s proposal.
“We will not let him turn Israel into an undemocratic state,” Lapid wrote.
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Melzer reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press reporters Wafaa Shurafa in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, and Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed.
