Canadians don’t usually worry about mosquitoes, ticks or other insects in early March. Yet the abnormally mild winter in the country could see some pests bug people earlier than usual in Canada, some entomologists say.
“With a warming climate, the survival over winter can improve for a number of different species, although the relationship is uncertain and a subject of much research by many,” James Tansey, provincial entomologist with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture in Regina, said in a video interview with CTVNews.ca.
Alice Sinia, entomologist with pest control company Orkin Canada in Mississauga, Ont., says she expects certain pests to show up earlier than normal and even appear in larger numbers during the spring and summer.
“When the winter is very mild, large pest populations will survive,” Sinia said in a video interview with CTVNews.ca.
Sinia calls winter “Mother Nature’s natural pest control.”
“So when the winters are very cold – lots of snow – it tends to naturally control insect or pest populations, so that really increases the mortality,” Sinia explains. “That means you’re going to have … a relatively small population to start up the spring.”
Sinia says the opposite is true when winters are mild.
“Right now, because of the mild winter and warm winter days and bright sunshine, we’re already seeing many overwintering insects such as cluster flies, Box elder bugs, stink bugs, the European firebugs,” she explained.
These insects tend to go into hiding during winter, Sinia said.
“They have a specific biological clock that wakes them up during springtime so that they can go back outside and start their natural cycle,” she explained.
“So with the current temperatures we’ve been having and bright (sunny) days, it confuses the biological clock for these insects. So because of that we’ve already seen these insects coming out from their overwintering sites earlier than usual – so they’re not waiting for spring.”
The early appearance of these insects means they are eventually going to have “a very robust population” by the time spring arrives, she said.
Wasps and bees
Plants are growing and blooming early because of the mild temperature and are attracting plant-feeding insects, such as wasps and bees, as a result. Unless a heavy snowfall or cold spells occur, Sinia expects to see many insects emerge before spring starts or very early in the spring.
Ants
Pavement ants are already showing up outside, Sinia says. She says these ants tend to emerge when the weather is warmer to forage for food.
“So when it’s cold, they don’t come out that much but because it’s very warm, they tend to come out very early,” she says.
Midges
In certain parts of the country, such as in cities or near lakes, Sinia expects an uptick in midges – possibly clouds of them swarming homes or streets – because of the mild weather.
“The temperatures have really helped midges to survive,” she said. “They don’t bite but they can be a nuisance.”
Rodents
More rodents, such as mice and rats, will survive because of the mild winter, Sinia says. Rodents tend to go inside structures over the winter, but she expects their numbers to go up in early spring.
Ticks
Sinia expects ticks to likely continue increasing in numbers because of the warmer weather.
The blacklegged tick or deer tick has expanded its range over the years across Canada.
“It’s showing up in places where it’s not supposed to be. So with this mild winter, that means again the population is not controlled by nature. They’re going to be expanding their range,” Sinia said.
If more wildlife survive the winter, the ticks could spread further with their host animals and increase in numbers, she said.
Mosquitoes
If there is a lot of rain in the spring, Sinia expects it will help the mosquito population to multiply, since mosquitoes need moisture for their eggs to hatch.
“We can see a high population of mosquitoes early spring towards into the summer – that’s if we have a lot of rain during the spring,” she said.
Mosquitoes that overwinter as adults will survive the mild winter and start breeding early if rainy weather occurs, she adds.
Crop pests
Tansey says certain types of grasshoppers are among the most concerning pests in the Prairies. Due to the excellent conditions for egg laying in a relatively mild winter, he expects “elevated populations” of four species of grasshoppers in parts of those provinces. These types of grasshoppers inflicted a lot of damage to crops such as soybean, canola and wheat across the Prairies last year, he said.
“Grasshoppers really love warm conditions,” he said. “The pest species overwinter as eggs, developing as embryos in the fall. Development pauses in the winter and restarts with warm weather in the spring. Very warm weather in the spring speeds their development and leads to an early hatch.”
Spring of 2023 saw a very early emergence of damaging numbers of two-striped grasshoppers in some parts of Saskatchewan, he said.
Species kill trees
Chris MacQuarrie of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., research scientist with Natural Resources Canada and past president of the Entomological Society of Canada, says the milder weather will benefit the invasive hemlock woolly adelgid, which kills hemlock trees in old growth forests in Nova Scotia and Ontario. It will also help the spruce budworm, which targets spruce and fir trees across Canada.
These pests could cause major damage economically to Canada’s commercial forestry industry, he said.
“A lot of the success of some of these insects can be attributed to climate change,” MacQuarrie said in a phone interview with CTVNews.ca, noting studies on the species are expected to be completed in the spring and summer.
In Eastern Canada, the emerald ash borer and mountain pine beetle also thrive in warmer weather. Two decades ago, the mountain pine beetle used to only be found in British Columbia, but has since spread to Alberta due in part to climate change, MacQuarrie said.
“There’s a negative impact on forests,” he said. “A lot of these insects kill trees. When that happens, the composition of forests can change and different species can grow (and) lots of dead trees can burn.”
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.
