Man charged with first-degree murder in Brampton homicide: Peel police

WINNIPEG – The Manitoba government is extending, by more than a year, a temporary moratorium on some new cannabis outlets.

Last spring, the government paused new licences for “controlled-access” stores that sell cannabis in urban areas, including Winnipeg and surrounding communities.

Unlike stand-alone cannabis stores that only admit adults, controlled-access outlets include convenience stores and gas stations that are open to all ages but put cannabis products out of the reach of customers.

The moratorium was enacted, in part, so that the government could review the industry and ensure young people were not able to access the product.

The freeze surprised potential retailers such as gas company Domo, which was in the process of getting licences for a few of its locations.

The moratorium was originally set to expire this week, but the NDP government is extending it until Dec. 1, 2025 so that the review, including talks with people in the industry, can continue.

“This is a very important issue, and the province wants to make sure we get this right,” Glen Simard, minister responsible for the Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries Corporation, said in a written statement Tuesday.

“That’s why we are extending the pause to continue our consultations.”

The pause was welcomed in the spring by High Tide Inc., which operates stand-alone stores. It said controlled-access licences were intended for rural areas that don’t have stand-alone stores.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2024

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CALGARY – Investments in oil and gas production are important and must continue in tandem with increased investment in renewable and clean technologies, the deputy head of the International Energy Agency said Tuesday.

Mary Burce Warlick made the comments in Calgary, the corporate heart of Canada’s oil and gas sector, just a week after the Paris-based IEA released its most recent forecast for global energy demand.

The IEA said in that forecast that demand for all three fossil fuels — coal, oil and gas — is set to peak by the end of this decade. It also predicted a potential oversupply of both oil and liquefied natural gas in the second half of the 2020s.

But Warlick said in her speech in Calgary that she understands the concerns people have about the energy transition in jurisdictions where jobs and livelihoods depend on fossil fuels. She said it’s important to understand that continued investment in oil and gas, in particular, will continue to be “important and necessary” for a period of time.

“We currently have two energy economies, in a way, that need to be carefully balanced, even as we are trying to drive and accelerate the investments in renewables and clean energy technologies,” Warlick said.

“But as I said, our scenarios show a peaking in oil and gas and coal by 2030 … and that means that even as the investment and production continues in that sector, it will be important for companies to be thinking about how they will respond to markets as they begin to change.”

The IEA was founded in 1974 in response to the 1973-74 oil crisis. Its aim was to prevent future oil shocks by providing analysis, data and policy recommendations to help countries around the world provide secure and sustainable energy

Today, the organization comprises 31 member countries and provides research and forecasts on all sources of energy, both fossil-sourced as well as renewable and clean technologies.

Among major energy forecasters, the IEA’s predictions for the speed and pace at which the energy transition will happen tend to be more bullish than others.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration does not see “peak oil” coming until after 2030, for example, while the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries does not foresee oil plateauing until at least 2045.

When it comes to the short-term strength of oil demand growth, the IEA predicts global growth of just under 900,000 barrels per day in 2024. The U.S. Energy Administration Information is calling for growth of 900,000 barrels per day, while OPEC has called for total growth of 1.9 million barrels per day in 2024.

Because the IEA’s forecasts around the net-zero transition are seen as more aggressive than those of other agencies, its reports aren’t always popular in Alberta’s oil country.

Many in the province’s oil and gas industry believe the energy transition cannot feasibly and affordably happen in the time period that the IEA suggests.

Chris Severson-Baker — the executive director of the Pembina Institute, which hosted Tuesday’s event in Calgary — said he knew that inviting Warlick to speak in Alberta could be seen as a controversial choice.

“We as a province are really well positioned for a scenario in which the world does not move at pace to dealing with climate change … but we’re not prepared for the one in which the world is moving quickly towards a net-zero future,” Severson-Baker said.

Still, Warlick said Canada is already a leader in things like methane emission reductions as well as carbon capture and storage. She said Canadians shouldn’t assume that they won’t benefit economically from the energy transition.

“We believe, based on our analysis, that moving from today’s energy system into one that’s increasingly electrified will, over time, be much more affordable … but there will be ups and downs in the transition in terms of getting there,” she said.

She added the IEA’s own data shows half of energy workers globally now are employed in clean energy sectors. She said while it will be important to support workers through the energy transition, the IEA’s research shows job creation associated with clean energy technologies currently outweighs fossil fuel-related job losses.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2024.

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CALGARY – A countrywide study says radioactive radon exposure is on the rise and continues to be a critical public health concern.

The report, released Wednesday, is the first update on radon exposure in Canada since 2012.

“We’re more than a dozen years out from understanding how the Canadian residential radon problem has changed, and indeed it has changed,” said the scientific lead on the report, Aaron Goodarzi, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine.

Radon is a colourless, odourless, radioactive gas that forms naturally when uranium, thorium or radium — radioactive metals — break down in rocks, soil and groundwater. Exposure comes from breathing radon in air that comes through cracks and gaps in buildings and homes.

It’s the second-leading cause of lung cancer in Canadians, especially for those who don’t smoke.

Goodarzi said that in 2012, about seven per cent of homes in Canada were found to have above Health Canada’s safe level of radon — 200 becquerels per cubic metre.

In 2024, 75,000 readings were taken from urban and rural residential buildings across Canada. Data from the 2021 census was also used.

“This is now 17.8 per cent, so that’s up more than double, 2 1/2 times greater, in terms of a property exceeding Canada’s guideline,” he said.

“From my perspective as a researcher studying this over the past 10 years, it’s no surprise. As a lung cancer prevention advocate, of course it is alarming.”

Goodarzi said there are an estimated 10.3 million Canadians living in houses with high radon, increasing their risk of developing lung cancer.

The study says one in five Canadian residential buildings are at or above Health Canada’s safe level.

In Atlantic Canada, the B.C. Interior and Yukon, it’s one in three.

“There’s no area in Canada that is risk-free,” Goodarzi said. “Canada is amongst the highest that has been mapped globally in the world.”

Goodarzi said the rise in radon could be partially because readings were taken on a ground floor or in a basement compared to the rest of a home. He said new home builds are also more energy efficient and trap radon inside.

He said the new report also contains five times more readings than the 14,000 taken in 2012.

Goodarzi said people need to install radon detectors in their homes and take measures to remove high levels of the gas. He said he also hopes changes will be made in the construction of new homes to account for radon.

A coalition of researchers behind the report also includes scientists from Health Canada and CAREX Canada.

Alison Wallace, a thoracic surgeon at the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax, is a co-author.

“I’m very concerned. I think the data accuracy of the new report is more robust,” she said.

“It’s more real numbers and people should take it seriously.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2024.

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