The News Rundown
- It doesn't need to be said that China and Canada don't like each other very much anymore. Canada and China’s relationship began to sour in 2018 with the arrest of Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. extradition warrant. In an apparent retaliation of hostage diplomacy, the “Two Michaels” – Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor – were detained in China on national security charges and held in solitary detention under cruel conditions.
- In September 2021, Meng reached a deal with U.S. prosecutors, and Kovrig and Spavor were subsequently released the very same day. The Meng Wanzhou affair has rightfully soured Canadians on the oppressive communist regime of Xi Jinping.
- In early December, Canada also joined the U.S. and other Western allies in declaring a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics. The stance was taken in protest of China’s alleged human rights abuses, most notably in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.
- It should then come as no surprise that China also doesn't hold Canada in a high regard anymore either. Canada, once a hot travel destination among Chinese people, has become China’s least favorite country, according to a recent survey from state-run Global Times.
- The poll, conducted by the Global Times Research Center with market survey firm DATA100, gathered 2,148 responses across 16 Chinese cities from Dec. 10-15, 2021. The survey showed Canada at the bottom of the ranking, with only 0.4% of respondents saying they like the North American country. Frankly, Canada should wear this as a badge of honour at this point, as concerns over China continue to grow.
- That's why it was a surprise to see Trudeau's Liberals argue that the pending takeover of a Canadian lithium mining company, Neo Lithium Corp., by a Chinese state-owned company, Zijin Mining Group Ltd., raises no national security concerns. Opposition Leader Erin O'Toole called an emergency meeting of the industries committee to ensure that the Liberal party explained why they didn’t do the review “in the first place.”
- O’Toole said “Canada’s conservatives are calling on the liberal government to immediately conduct a national security review of the takeover of the mining company Neo Lithium by a Chinese state-owned and controlled company.”
- Neo Lithium's Tres Quebradas lithium brine project (known as the 3Q project) is located in the northern Argentine province of Catamarca — considered to be the largest lithium producing area in the country. Lithium is an important component of batteries for electric cars, and will see greater use in North America as the Biden Administration and Trudeau continue to push consumers towards electric cars through massive subsidies. China currently dominates the world's supply of lithium and batteries.
- Liberal MP Andy Fillmore, parliamentary secretary to Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne, told a House of Commons committee that the Industry Department reviewed the proposed takeover last fall. That review concluded that Neo Lithium is "really not a Canadian company," he told the industry committee, describing it as an Argentine company with directors in the United Kingdom and only three Canadian employees "on paper."
- He said the only reason Neo Lithium "had any Canadian toehold whatsoever," was to get on the Toronto Stock Exchange in a bid to raise money for what Fillmore called an "increasingly dubious appearing" mine development project in Argentina. Moreover, he said that the project involves lithium carbonate, not the lithium hydroxide used to manufacture batteries that are critical for electric vehicles.
- This was soundly rejected by the Conservatives, who called the findings "just false" when referring to Neo Lithium as "not really a Canadian company".
- Conservative MP Ed Fast noted that the company's own website touts the mine as "the pre-eminent lithium brine asset in the world" to meet surging global demand for electric vehicle batteries. Conservative MP Tracy Gray further argued that lithium carbonate can be converted into lithium hydroxide for use in batteries.
- But Fillmore countered that the conversion process involves additional costs and "significant environmental implications," which is why lithium hydroxide is preferred. He said in response: "I could probably make a passable hat using my socks but I'd much rather wear a hat."
- While Parliamentarians jostle and smirk and play diplomatic jousting games, China continues to attempt to acquire Canada's mining assets to further stranglehold our economy. A year ago, we highlighted a story about Canada finally rejecting another Chinese state-owned company from buying the assets of a gold mining project in Nunavut. Other Chinese companies have been more successful in taking over Canadian assets.
- Trudeau needs to tread carefully on this issue. The Canadian economy is floundering, and China, sensing weakness, is attempting to swoop in and buy up our assets for their own gain. While Trudeau stands up and says pretty words about the Olympics or the genocide in Xinjiang, its his policies toward China's impact on our country that matter the most. It's time for a clear direction.
- Supplementals:
- Public transit is one of the key areas of investment for any city.
- The City of Edmonton has been pursuing an evolving strategy that at times has focused on investing and encouraging use but the result hasn’t always been favourable.
- We’ve seen a strategy where bus rapid transit was preferred then light rail and then a focus again on the bus system.
- The bus network redesign project was approved in 2019 and implemented in spring 2021.
- When the project was first implemented there were questions around some neighbourhoods losing access and distance between stops.
- When the project was first being designed there were these questions in the design phase and they cropped up in early tests before implementation but the city went forward.
- One of the benefits of a new city council with fresh faces is that this council seems willing to look at problems that the last council did not.
- Mayor Amarjeet Sohi (a former bus driver) said that he feels that new neighbourhoods that are affordable to new families and newcomers were left out.
- 37% of respondents in a survey of 1800 people said that the closest stop was too far while positive feedback on the system cited weekend service and the availability of on-demand bosses.
- The process to make tweaks and changes happens 5 times a year and 18 tweaks have been made since the launch of the new system.
- What was missed by the last council was the question of ridership.
- Ridership is currently the highest it has been since March 2020 but in comparison, ridership in December was nearly half the same month as in 2019.
- The question of course is going to be about what future ridership levels look like.
- The way things are looking currently, if ridership does not increase the city will have to ask for federal or provincial support come 2023, maybe possibly 2022.
- This concern by city council underpins a problem with Edmonton’s planning on transit going back to the 1970s.
- Transportation economists and urban planners in the 1970s pushed for LRT to the far north end of the city, the airport, and what is now West Edmonton Mall.
- We’re only just getting a line to Mill Woods and West Edmonton Mall but those are tram style light rail that are slower than the traditional system of going underground.
- If we go further back the city was also advised to build a freeway through the city connecting downtown to north and south similar to systems that we see in cities like Los Angeles.
- The grading is there on Groat Road but the freeway was never built.
- The City of Edmonton has advisors and planners tell them what to build but it never gets built or in the case of the bus network, a solution is found that doesn’t tick all the boxes.
- It’s a pattern of implementing poorly and all bus users are potentially going to suffer service cutbacks now as a result.
- We can also extend this to not just the past but the future with the west LRT expansion to West Edmonton Mall and Lewis Farms.
- The city anticipated a pre-pandemic level of ridership with people moving to the core but no new studies have been done to show in a potential post-pandemic world how many people would be using all of transit: that includes buses, traditional LRT, and the new LRT systems.
- Mayoral candidate Mike Nickel wanted to pause the west LRT and re-evaluate and potentially replace it with a rapid bus network - he was shot down because this didn’t fit the vision of LRT. He cited ridership and again was shot down.
- But now, we see ridership is a problem and people are wondering what should be done about it.
- It’s time to take stock and re-evaluate what and where we need. Whether that’s a tram style system, rapid bus networks, or more traditional LRT.
- These questions could be asked to the city council but they aren’t either due to a lack of information or journalists at the civic level just don’t see this as an important issue. That’s why it’s here.
- Last month, Victoria City Council approved a major construction project in Downtown Victoria, the Telus Ocean Tower. Victoria council, as we have talked about before on Western Context, has been anti-development for years, due to interests from homeowners who form a large voting block in the city, so the proposal being approved, albeit with 3/9 members opposed, was surprising to say the least.
- The vote followed decades of discussion at city hall about what should happen on the site at the south end of downtown. Eventually, the city put the 767 Douglas St. property on the market, striking a deal for Telus Communications Inc. to buy the 28,000-square-foot lot east of the Empress Hotel for $8.1 million.
- Aryze Developments of Victoria submitted the rezoning application to city hall with variances to height, setbacks and parking spaces, on behalf of Telus. The building, designed by architect Diamond Schmitt, will be 144,397 square feet and 173 feet tall at the parapet.
- Development company Aryze says the project is intended to be the new business and innovation centre for B.C.'s capital. Development lead Chris Quigley says the site is currently being prepared for construction, which is expected to begin in the next couple of months.
- The height and mass of Telus Ocean within an area noted for its heritage buildings, as well as its impact on views of the Olympic Mountains, troubled some council members. Others welcomed the building and its public amenities, and the potential to foster the high-tech sector.
- Coun. Marianne Alto said the project will be one-of-a-kind in the city. A water feature at the ground level, public seating and the ability to stage performances outside are among the development’s offerings. The top level of the building will be a bookable public space for a variety of users.
- Mayor Lisa Helps said it is the “exact kind of building we want in our city … I think Telus Ocean is setting a very high bar.” Helps cautioned that if the proposal was deferred so Telus could come up with a smaller project, amenities to Victorians would be at risk.
- Alto called the Telus plan a “tremendous vote of confidence in the potential of the city.” The proposal was approved as the downtown continues to struggle with the fallout from the pandemic. Many employees have still not returned to offices and continue to work remotely.
- 2 of the 3 councillors who voted down the proposal, wanted to see the Telus project go ahead at a lower height and with less mass, saying the current build will reduce mountain views and won’t fit with the area’s heritage properties.
- Ben Isitt, the 3rd naysayer on council, who I remind listeners in the past has tried to vote down any notions regarding Canada Day, tried to get veterans and the military to pay for Remembrance Day ceremonies, wanted to eliminate City Hall Christmas decorations, refused to vote for a motion ending Victoria council's catered lunches on the grounds that "breaking bread together is an indigenous tradition", also had a bunch of nonsense to say about the proposal.
- Isitt, said a "public plaza" on the property would be a more appropriate use of the area. How he feels that a plaza would benefit the economy of Victoria, who knows.
- Last week, Isitt found himself in hot water yet again, when he was found by the city to have committed three privacy breaches in 2021 related to incidents he says involve sending newsletters to recipients whose emails he obtained through correspondence to his city email address, and posting on Twitter a resident’s letter that included personal information of two people he didn’t have consent to share. Isitt was told by city staff that his tweet violated the privacy requirements in the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act because the letter contained personal information.
- In any case, the proposal for the Telus Ocean Building is going ahead, but it seems it will face yet more roadblocks on the path to progress, when the CBC posted an article expressing the concerns of an avian biologist about the impact of the building's reflective glass on birds.
- Willow English, who works with Safe Wings, an organization dedicated to preventing bird collisions, is concerned for the bird population in Victoria if this building goes up the way it's designed.
- The quote given to us from the CBC article is just this: English said: "The first thing that caught my eye was the glass, just all glass, and it looked very reflective."
- Birds can often mistake windows and their transparency for clear space, through which they can keep flying. Additionally, when windows are reflective of nearby trees and other vegetation, birds may think they're flying toward a safe place to land and end up hitting a window. Bird-friendly design guidelines exist in other cities, including in nearby Vancouver, but not for developers in Victoria — which is something English hopes will change.
- Development lead Chris Quigley said bird safety was factored into the design of the project from the beginning. He said there's less glazing, or glass surfacing, than appears in the renderings. He said the building is about 40% glazing, which he says is low compared to other modern buildings in cities like Toronto and Vancouver.
- Quigley said they also plan to use fritted glass — glass that has a pattern on it — used to help prevent birds from mistaking glass for open air. He said: "From a glazing perspective, there's been a lot of things done in terms of how it's designed and the type of glazing being proposed."
- So in the end, a much needed development in Downtown Victoria that will help the downtown economy to rebound, is now under threat from at least one bird brain activist. Development in Victoria ought to be encouraged, as the housing crisis gets further and further out of control. We will see how this building shapes up as it gets built, and keep an eye on the ever unpredictable councillors as we navigate through a troubling time.
- Supplementals:
Firing Line
- Justin Trudeau made news in 2015 when he moved into Rideau Cottage rather than 24 Sussex after becoming Prime Minister. The reason he did this is because 24 Sussex was overdue for a massive renovation.
- That renovation hasn’t happened yet and there’s still a question of what to do with 24 Sussex and other properties administered by the National Capital Commission otherwise known as the NCC.
- Renovations are one thing to the official residence of the Prime Minister but what has been spent on the property where Trudeau has been residing?
- Since 2015 Rideau Cottage has received a new roof and pavement and some other upgrades inside that might raise some eyebrows.
- These include $16,000 for new paint, $4,200 for a JennAir range, piano tuning at $780 per tuning job (and you have to ask who in that house is playing the piano, Sophie?) $3,000 for dusting the hard to reach crevices and $343,000 for what was called heritage interior renovations.
- The roof cost $189,000 and $305,000 was spent on the previously mentioned paving and landscaping.
- The property also received an $827,000 security upgrade.
- These fees minus the overly expensive range and piano tuning are within the norm of what would be expected for an official residence.
- There are two questions that come from this:
- 1.) Should taxpayers be paying for odds and ends like piano tuning for the family of a Prime Minister?
- 2.) What about all the other official residences?
- The six official residences are in an overall “poor” condition according to the National Capital Commission and repairs would be estimated at $175m over 10 years.
- Looking primarily at 24 Sussex, the residence for Prime Ministers Louis St. Laurent to Stephen Harper, that would cost $36.6m to renovate or $40m to tear it down and build something new.
- Aside from physical maladies like a dining room that’s too big for your family but too small for entertaining dignitaries and the kitchen being in the basement, 24 Sussex has plumbing that leaks, wiring that’s classed as a fire hazard by building codes in Canada, and there’s a good chance you’ll find mold and asbestos in each room.
- The outside walls are crumbling to the point where limestone bricks have become dislodged and the pool building is literally falling apart.
- But it’s not just 24 Sussex, Rideau Hall, the home of the Governor General is rated as in fair condition and requires up to $31m in work.
- The prime minister’s country residence at Harrington Lake, Stornoway (home of the official Opposition leader), The Farm (home of the House of Commons speaker) and 7 Rideau Gate (official guest residence for foreign officials) — each require between $1 million and $1.5 million in work.
- This is a problem that goes back 30 years. House and property maintenance is something that needs to be kept up yearly and something that becomes more important the older the property is.
- The two takeaways that Canadians need to be aware of in this story is that historical buildings central to our country’s history are falling apart and need to be repaired.
- The second is that we need to be asking if we really should be paying for piano tunings and stoves worth more than $4,000.
- Supplementals:
Word of the Week
Security - freedom from danger, fear or anxiety.
Quote of the Week
"I could probably make a passable hat using my socks but I'd much rather wear a hat." - Liberal MP Andy Fillmore on Neo Lithium mining lithium carbonate, not lithium hydroxide, and why it’s ok for a Chinese state-owned company to buy out Neo Lithium.
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Show Data
Episode Title: Birds on the Brain
Teaser: A Canadian lithium company is being bought by China, Edmonton city council struggles with transit designs, and a Victoria biologist just wants us to think about the birds. Also, millions are required to renovate 24 Sussex Drive.
Recorded Date: January 21, 2022
Release Date: January 23, 2022
Duration: 54:45
Edit Notes: None
Podcast Summary Notes
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