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Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced a review of the province’s Greenbelt yesterday as his government continued to face questions about its decision to open up the land to housing development.
Ford said the review would re-evaluate 14 of the 15 plots of land his government removed from the Greenbelt last year. But he also said it would consider up to 800 requests from municipalities and developers to remove even more chunks from the 800,000-hectare environmentally protected area.
Critics have demanded all the lands be returned to the Greenbelt, and their calls have been bolstered by reports from the province’s Auditor-General and Integrity Commissioner, which concluded that the government’s process of selecting the land for removal from the Greenbelt was rushed, seriously flawed and “favoured certain developers.”
Ontario Premier Doug Ford enters a room to speak to journalists at the Queens Park Legislature in Toronto on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2023.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
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Enbridge bets big on natural gas with purchase of three U.S. utilities
Canadian pipeline company Enbridge Inc. has bought three U.S. utilities for US$9.4-billion, betting on natural gas as the world looks to move away from fossil fuel production.
The Calgary-based company announced yesterday it has entered into three agreements with Dominion Energy Inc. to acquire the East Ohio Gas Co.; Questar Gas Co. and its related Wexpro companies; and Public Service Co. of North Carolina Inc.
Canadian fossil-fuel producers maintain that natural gas will play a crucial role in the power grid as countries move to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, but critics argue that burning gas isn’t that much better, as it releases large amounts of methane into the atmosphere.
For novice brain surgeons, AI offers a way to practise on virtual grey matter before the real stuff
Medical schools training brain surgeons have always had to confront this dilemma: How do you teach someone to cut into a living human brain when they likely don’t know what they’re doing?
In recent years, there has been a push to use technology as a way to deal with this problem. Artificial intelligence and virtual-reality have been used to create simulators that will give students a foundation in the difficult practice of neurosurgery.
But there is a debate in the medical world about how much promise these machines hold – can a video simulation of a life-and-death operation mimic the stress and unpredictability of the real thing? Rolando del Maestro, a retired neurosurgeon in Montreal who runs a lab at McGill University that is leading the field, believes the answer is mostly yes.
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Also on our radar
Trial for convoy organizers not about political views, Crown says: The trial of Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, two key organizers of the 2022 trucker convoy protest in Ottawa, is not about their political views, Crown prosecutors say, but about the means they used to convey their views. The high-profile trial began yesterday and is expected to run into October.
Uncounted residents raise questions about employment: Ottawa’s reported undercounting of non-permanent residents by around one million in the official figures is raising questions about how many of them actually have jobs. A report to be published later this week says Statistics Canada may be dramatically undercounting the number of temporary residents, including international students and temporary foreign workers, employed in Canada.
Financial struggles affect Canadians’ mental health, report finds: Difficulties brought on by inflation and high interest rates are damaging the mental health of Canadians, according to a poll released today by Mental Health Research Canada. Many are reporting high rates of anxiety over housing and food as nearly a quarter of respondents said they are worried they won’t be able to pay their rent or mortgage, and 37 per cent said they are struggling to adequately feed themselves or their families.
Sleeper train in Europe makes a comeback: Overnight trains are returning to European cities as railways add new routes and upstart companies try to capture a growing market of travellers who prefer a slower, and more environmentally friendly, form of travel.
Morning markets
World stocks struggle: Global stocks fell on Wednesday after faltering growth in China and Europe heightened concerns about broader economic momentum, while the U.S. dollar firmed as investors weighed up the outlook for Federal Reserve interest rates. Around 5:30 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.76 per cent. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 fell 0.28 per cent and 0.70 per cent, respectively. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei added 0.62 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slid 0.04 per cent. New York futures were negative. The Canadian dollar was weaker at 73.20 US cents.
What everyone’s talking about
Editorial: “The facts are this: a steep increase in rates was needed to combat a resurgence in inflation. The bank [of Canada] could have acted sooner, but acted decisively when it did move. And the cumulative effect of those hikes, indisputably, has been to push down inflation considerably. Hopefully, the premiers are aware of all of this and are only trying to cynically dupe the ill-informed.”
Tu Nguyen: “But with cooling inflation, solid consumer demand fuelled by population growth, and an absence of shocks, Canada might just make it. By next year, as the Bank of Canada begins slashing rates, growth will be on the horizon again, and this period may be remembered as the moment we achieved that elusive soft landing.”
Today’s editorial cartoon
Illustration by David Parkins
Living better
When should you start your CPP pension?
Canadians face the perennial question of when they should start their Canada Pension Plan benefits. For those who are planning to start their CPP in January, 2024, and are wondering if it makes sense to start a little sooner, check out Frederick Vettese’s advice.
Moment in time: Sept. 6, 1966
American actor Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock and Canadian actor William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk appear in a scene from 'The Man Trap,' the premiere episode of 'Star Trek,' which aired on September 8, 1966.CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images
Star Trek first airs in Canada
On this day in 1966, CTV aired the first episode of Star Trek, two days before the series first aired in the United States. In The Man Trap, the Starship Enterprise battles a shape-shifting alien with a murderous appetite for salt. Women in tiny skirts with voluminous hair carry trays and serve men food on the ship. The only Black woman on board, Nyota Uhura, is wooed by a Swahili-speaking Lionel Richie look-alike, the alien in disguise. But, while dated, the episode is not irrelevant. The salt-crazed alien is no mere monster. It is the sole survivor of a civilization that consumed its most precious resource: salt. “The creature is trying to survive. It has that right, doesn’t it?” a sympathizer asks. Perhaps it is due to this moral complexity that Star Trek has grossed billions, numbering 890 episodes across 45 seasons. The series is a shape-shifter. For the Cold War viewer, this episode explored the paranoia of a menace hiding in plain sight. To the contemporary viewer, it’s the idea of a planet depleted by resource extraction, unable to sustain life. This nuance is the basis of Star Trek, a show that boldly went where few have gone before, or since. Kate Helmore
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