Daily Archives: December 29, 2021

Its Christmas time, and that means decorations are going up everywhere. City streets now feature Christmas trees in all shapes and sizes. Twinkling lights frame what seems to be every door and window. And at the White House, a new first family has just revealed their take on the holiday.

As usual, its quite a grand affair. After all, Christmas decorations can say a lot about ones style, thought process, and traditions. And so, everyone is eager to see what First Lady Jill Biden has come up with to tell her familys story.

However, if you were expecting anything like the decorations of the last few years, prepare to be massively disappointed.

Biden has titled her take on Christmas or the theme of the White House decorations Gifts from the Heart.

According to her, each room or space has been carefully decorated and inspired by the acts of kindness and experience that lifted our spirits this year. These themes include things like faith, family, friendship, the arts, learning, nature, gratitude, service, community, peace, and unity.

For example, the Library Room is adequately decorated in a gift of learning theme, complete with butterflies flying about. In the Vermeil Room, flowers, paint swatches, and wreaths were all supposed to represent the gifts of the visual arts.

The China Room, used house official china setting of past administrations, was decorated to represent the family traditions of the Biden holiday dinners in Nana style, according to CNN. The Christmas trees in the room focused on elements of supposed friendship and caring, and the centerpieces featured flowers and candles. In the Vermeil Room, flowers, paint swatches, and wreaths were all supposed to represent the gifts of the visual arts.

And while the idea of the themes isnt bad, the general consensus is that the themes werent well executed. Instead, what was is seen is more of a hodge-podge of holiday-style decorations with no apparent pattern or sense of style.

From the color schemes to the types of flowers used and decorative items, the themes are vastly lacking. And in some rooms, they dont really speak of the holidays or Christmas. Take the Library Room, for example. As I mentioned before, its decorated with butterflies, which arent typically used in any kind of Christmas dcor.

Similarly, the China Room features yellow and purple flowers that remind us of spring rather than eating a holiday meal.

Its almost as though Jill Biden didnt really put much thought or effort into the decorations and simply used what she could find lying around.

Now, I know this is what many families around the US do in their homes for the holidays, as we all dont have the budget of the White House. And theres nothing wrong with that. But this is the White House, and we expect more than what mainstream media is calling a normal Christmas, dont we?

I mean, do you remember the winter wonderland Melania Trump created in 2017? Trees dripped with glittering lights and snow. Others were adorned with pinecones and ribbon. And while many spaces had their own theme, as Jill Bidens does, they were also all tied in together.

In 2018, the White House was just as equally adorned, featuring bright red trees in the hall and that same red tied into decorations in every other room in the House. It was a bit different, to be sure, and many accused her choice as being rather dark and inhospitable. But like her high fashion sense of clothing, it all paired well together and gave the House a sense of grandeur and wonder, just as it should be.

In contrast, Bidens dcor looks disheveled, haphazard, and even tacky. The colors dont work together, the design is awkward, and it seems rather bland and boring at best. I mean, really, Ive seen better dcor at my small-town mall.

Then again, maybe it does represent the administration fairly well

Read more:

Jill Bidens Hideous Christmas Decorations Make Us Miss ...

GEORGETOWN, Guyana The Akawaio and Arecuna peoples of Guyanas Upper Mazaruni District in the north of the country could be forgiven for being a little impatient. For 23 years theyve been awaiting the outcome of a High Court case to have their territory recognized as collective titled land, rather than a scattering of titled villages.

The Amerindian Peoples Association (APA), an Indigenous advocacy group in Guyana, is hoping to provide evidence to support their claim through a new project, Protecting indigenous rights, the forest and the environment in Guyana. It has received 252,500 euros ($285,300) in funding from the French governments Solidarity Fund for Innovative Projects (FSPI). The project is due to end in June 2022, with the possibility of being extended for another year.

Given the recent flooding in the Upper Mazaruni region, which forced some communities along the Mazaruni River to relocate, speeding up the court case is a priority for the APA and is one of the projects focal points. When Mongabay spoke on the phone to Ron James, mapping technician for the APA, he had recently returned from the region.

They have title for a small amount [of land] but you have the mining agency giving out concessions around their traditional lands, James said. So what were trying to do is use this cultural mapping to protect some of these areas that have not been identified on the map as yet.

The next step will be to ground truth the pinpointed sites of cultural, sacred and environmental significance, and support the villages to decide what sort of protection or status to seek.

Similar mapping has been done before, APA project lead Graham Atkinson told Mongabay in a video interview. The aim now, he said, is to do the work more in depth at this time, so it can be presented in a more holistic way to the people.

Although Indigenous villages in Guyana can already apply for land titles, the APA is pushing for Indigenous district councils, like the Upper Mazaruni District Council (UMDC), to be able to apply for larger territories. This is to avoid culturally significant sites located on state land in between titled villages being given out as concessions to miners or forestry operators, who may access the sites by passing through Indigenous villages.

Thats where you find discrimination, a clash of cultures and the whole [issue] of pollution, Atkinson said. [W]e have been cooped into this pen of a village.

Protected areas exist in Guyana, administered by the Protected Areas Commission, and is an option that can be used to protect traditional lands. However, Atkinson said the government has the power to withdraw this protection, for example, to allow oil extraction activities.

A document provided to Mongabay by the APA outlines possible weaknesses with claiming a territory as a protected area, noting that there is no legal obligation for [the Protected Areas Commission] to ensure that the UMDC or villages are involved in management of the protected area.

Christine Halvorson, project director at the Rainforest Foundation US (RFUS), which has been working with the APA for almost two decades, pointed to the save and except clause found in villages title documents as another loophole. The clause excludes areas that have been conceded to miners, so a village will get their title and its like Swiss cheese: full of holes, she said.

She added RFUS is providing technical support to the APA, including with planning, administration and mapping.

The APAs newly announced project aims to strengthen and support not only the UMDC but also the Indigenous district councils of North Pakaraimas and Moruca, where the wetlands and coastline are vulnerable to potential environmental impacts of the new offshore oil and gas extraction. Atkinson said this will include ensuring smooth transfers of power and enabling leaders to know their rights under the laws and conventions of Guyana, so they are in a position to really talk or to fight for FPIC, or free, prior and informed consent.

The project also aims to provide administrative support for village councils; train women and young people in skills such as IT and minute taking; and offer business and accounting guidance for handicraft and ecotourism entrepreneurs.

Its core aim, however, is revising Guyanas 2006 Amerindian Peoples Act and calling for recognition of Indigenous traditional customary land rights. When Mongabay spoke to Atkinson, at the same time as the COP26 climate summit was taking place in Glasgow, Scotland, he said: Given whats happening at COP26, now, it has become so important for Indigenous people to have control of their land, so that we can continue to contribute to our carbon sink.

The APA is calling for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) to be incorporated into the 2006 act as part of its revision.

Given how governments in the past are very wary of that, that might not happen in our present, Atkinson said. But we hoping at least 80% can be captured in the new act.

At the village level in Guyana, leadership is held by local chiefs, or toshao. Atkinson said some have raised concerns about losing power to the district councils. However, he told Mongabay, The district council does not take away from the individual village council authority or jurisdiction of the rules You have to go through a process of the village giving its approval to be part of the district council.

According to Pierre Gat, a representative of the French Embassy in the capital, Georgetown, the main motivation for funding the APA project is to support the initiatives taken by Guyanese Amerindians to assert their rights while preserving the Amazonian forest.

Asked if he plans to put pressure on the Guyanese government to meet the APAs requests, Gat said neither he nor the French Embassy would be the ones directly attempting to influence the revision of the Amerindian Act.

Atkinson said hes cautiously optimistic of collaboration with the Guyanese government, though he added the APA has only met with the minister of Amerindian affairs once.

At the moment, the law is designed for us to basically ask government for land, he said. We should be saying this [is] ours, recognize it as our land.

However, this isnt a universally held view. Melinda Janki, a lawyer who helped draft the Amerindian Act and whos involved in various legal challenges against an oil deal agreed by the government with ExxonMobil, said the 2006 act already provides the protection needed.

In an email to Mongabay, she said the assertion that Amerindians are the Indigenous peoples of Guyana and once owned the whole of Guyana is not backed by law or fact.

The historical record tells a different story of constant Amerindian migrations into Guyana, with an increase after Dutch colonisation, she added.

Janki highlighted various land rights cases in Guyana, concluding: Almost every conflict today is attributable to 2 things Amerindian refusal to demarcate and Amerindian failure to claim land. In both cases Amerindians listened to the APA.

NGOs like the APA, she said, own no land and have no say in what happens in Amerindian communities. She also criticized the foreign funding for the new project.

The EU and liberal democracies like France are undermining Amerindian self-determination and collective rights when they give money to NGOs, Janki wrote in her email. The Europeans need to respect collective Amerindian rights.

Unpicking the complex history of land rights in Guyana, including claims and counterclaims, is a long and tricky process. Though the Upper Mazaruni court case began in 1998, the claim goes back to Guyanas independence from Britain in 1966.

Separating the remit of APAs new project from its other activities is also difficult, as there is much crossover.

I know it is confusing as most of APA external funding overlap over similar projects, Gat said. It took me a while to understand this, and I now attempt to keep budget distinguished for better accountability.

Halvorson of the RFUS told Mongabay that prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the APA and district councils had gathered recommendations from the councils and villages about revising the Amerindian Act. Asked whether the legal approach being advocated is the right one, given the protracted Upper Mazaruni court case, Halvorson said: It is a slow process but its slow because theres lack of political will and lack of procedures to recognize territories and customary lands.

The APA is not alone in its calls for revising the act. In 2020, the APA and the National Toshaos Council (NTC), the representative body for Guyanas elected toshaos, released a statement that, according to a local newspaper, declared the goal of revising the act as a high priority for Indigenous peoples in Guyana.

In September, President Irfan Ali promised the Amerindian Act would be revised. However, the same article noted that there has been no sign over the last year of any attempt at the level of the Attorney Generals Chambers or at the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs for the start of this process.

A glance through the archives shows the minister of Amerindian affairs, Pauline Campbell-Sukhai, reportedly accused the EU of turning a blind eye to the NTC who is the legitimate representatives of the Amerindian peoples when it awarded a grant to the APA.

Mongabay reached out to the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs but was unsuccessful in arranging an interview.

Other ongoing APA projects include an EU-funded 24-month project aimed at improving the economic and social outlook of Indigenous women and children. In addition, RFUS and the Forest Peoples Programme have spent several years working with the APA on a series of land tenure assessments. The most recent report, released in February, highlights continued threats to Indigenous peoples land security, including demarcation errors, map problems and land conflicts.

Banner image: Indigenous activist speaking at a protest during COP25 in Madrid. Image courtesy of Friends of the Earth International / Flickr.

Related listening from Mongabays podcast: A conversation with Victoria Tauli-Corpuz and Zack Romo about Indigenous rights and the future of biodiversity conservation. Listen here:

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Guyanese project to bolster Indigenous land rights draws funding and flak - Mongabay.com

news, local-news,

Like many around the state, the Narromine community have suffered a tough two years but now they will be better equipped to deal with COVID-19 moving forward. The Narromine Local Aboriginal Land Council (LALC) have received $10,000 thanks to a grant from the state government which will be used to help deliver workshops on reducing the spread of COVID-19 and other infectious illnesses. The grant will also be used to support strategies for coping with future challenges when they occur. Narromine LALC chief executive officer Shelly Bayliss said some events will be held in 2022 to help cope with the tough times ahead. "We'll be running a series of workshops on home and personal hygiene, where they'll be given the products and knowledge and skills of how to reduce the spread of all germs, but COVID in particular," she said. READ ALSO: "Then the final workshop is also about empowerment if they're feeling down and depressed about restrictions or not seeing friends who are on the border, referring them to counselling or other support services. "Just showing them some strategies and where they can go for help." The Narromine LALC received some support from Aboriginal Affairs NSW during the high of the COVID-19 outbreak while also delivering tutorials and devices to support Elders and help with online learning. Member for Dubbo Dugald Saunders said the Narromine LALC deserve to receive the grant after their efforts so far during the COVID-19 pandemic. "The Narromine Local Aboriginal Land Council played a pivotal role during the region's Delta outbreak, providing support for children to learn from home and for families to stay connected safely while under stay-at-home orders," he said. "We hope we'll never be hit by an outbreak that deadly and disruptive again, but should the worst happen I'm confident the Narromine community will be even better equipped to cope." A total of 85 community projects were funded as part of the latest round of the Multicultural NSW Empowering and Supporting Local Communities Grants Program. Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:

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December 28 2021 - 10:19AM

Like many around the state, the Narromine community have suffered a tough two years but now they will be better equipped to deal with COVID-19 moving forward.

The Narromine Local Aboriginal Land Council (LALC) have received $10,000 thanks to a grant from the state government which will be used to help deliver workshops on reducing the spread of COVID-19 and other infectious illnesses.

The grant will also be used to support strategies for coping with future challenges when they occur.

Narromine LALC chief executive officer Shelly Bayliss said some events will be held in 2022 to help cope with the tough times ahead.

"We'll be running a series of workshops on home and personal hygiene, where they'll be given the products and knowledge and skills of how to reduce the spread of all germs, but COVID in particular," she said.

"Then the final workshop is also about empowerment if they're feeling down and depressed about restrictions or not seeing friends who are on the border, referring them to counselling or other support services.

"Just showing them some strategies and where they can go for help."

The Narromine LALC received some support from Aboriginal Affairs NSW during the high of the COVID-19 outbreak while also delivering tutorials and devices to support Elders and help with online learning.

Member for Dubbo Dugald Saunders said the Narromine LALC deserve to receive the grant after their efforts so far during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The Narromine Local Aboriginal Land Council played a pivotal role during the region's Delta outbreak, providing support for children to learn from home and for families to stay connected safely while under stay-at-home orders," he said.

"We hope we'll never be hit by an outbreak that deadly and disruptive again, but should the worst happen I'm confident the Narromine community will be even better equipped to cope."

A total of 85 community projects were funded as part of the latest round of the Multicultural NSW Empowering and Supporting Local Communities Grants Program.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:

Continued here:

The Narromine Local Aboriginal Land Council have received $10,000 - Daily Liberal

Tree City no longer

Having grown up and lived my entire life in Gainesville, it is sad to say that Gainesville has changed. Gainesville has frequently been recognized as the Tree City or by other pseudonyms, but I wonder how much longer that will last.

Over the past few years, I have seen countless trees cut down to make room for the expansion of Gainesville. There have been an exponential number of trees cut down to create apartment complexes. At the rate we are going the land around Gainesville will soon be filled with concrete and buildings, rather than the beautiful trees we were once known for.

Sure, expansion can be good, but is it worth the cost of our green spaces in Gainesville? I implore you to consider and understand the detrimental impact the expansion of Gainesville is having on our green spaces and on our name as the Tree City.

Kendall Breland, Gainesville

The U.S. Supreme Court is considering the constitutionality of recent legislation enacted in Mississippi and Texas regarding the right to abortion. Decisions by the court may have the potential to adversely affect, or even overturn, precedent set in the past 48 years by the Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey decisions.

Opponents of abortion argue that abortion is not a right granted by the U.S. Constitution. That argument is a red herring. In reaching prior decisions the court affirmed the validity of an ethical need for protection of potential human life, but also recognized the guarantee of liberty provided by the 14th and 9th amendments. A long-recognized precedent dating back to the 19th century, liberty has been interpreted by the judiciary to include a right to privacy.

The right of a woman to choose abortion is consistently supported by a majority responding to national polling, but men generally outnumber women in state legislatures where laws regulating abortion originate. Consider if the Biblical commandment be fruitful and multiply were to be adopted as a mantra by religious conservatives to insist upon legislation regulating or forbidding vasectomy for men (or tubal ligation for women). What would be the reaction, the outcry, the resistance?

DavidPawliger,Newberry

It has been implied by many the current Supreme Court bench has a conservative majority which, also by implication, means its decisions must be guided by politics rather than legal jurisprudence. How did that work in 1971 through 1973 when the Roe v. Wade case was argued and decided?

The Burger court was aligned with conservatives" justices Burger, Rehnquist, Powell and Blackmun. One the "left" were justice Marshall, Brennan and Douglas. Sitting on the political fence, but leaning "right," were "centrist" justices White and Stewart.

The vote in 1973 was 7-2 making the Roe v. Wade decision a legal precedent pushed through by a "liberal" court because only a liberal court could have done so. How could that happen with a conservative majority?

Democrats have controlled both houses of Congress during the periods 1971-1981, 1987-1995 and 2007-2011. That's a long time since Roe v. Wade, about a quarter of a century.

How can Roe v. Wade be revisited by the Supreme Court after all the imaginary "abortion rights" legislation passed by the aforementioned Democratic congresses? If an abortion rights statute is what the people want because the polls say so then why hasn't the "people's party" delivered the goods rather than defer to what they deem a politicized court?

Max Skeans, Hawthorne

Send a letter to the editor (up to 200 words) to letters@gainesville.com. Letters must include the writer's full name and city of residence. Additional guidelines for submitting letters and longer guest columns can be found at bit.ly/sunopinionguidelines.

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Readers comment on the loss of trees in Gainesville and abortion - Gainesville Sun

Opinion

When we look at the violence around the world some of us can't help but to compare that frightening reality with our own.

The sight of soldiers massing on borders, riots sparked by violence against race and for freedom and self-determination - these are all signs of growing global unrest amplified by a frustrating pandemic.

There is a growing realisation that all the wealth we slaved for, and pushed into great piles in the expectation that others might manage it better, may be at risk of burning up like microbes in a drought.

Where's the hope in that?

Take a gander across the Pacific at what is becoming of the United States of America and the evidence for growing world disorder becomes more alarming.

Why look the USA? Just ask Scott Morrison, who restored our ties with that conglomeration of individual entities by signing a new nuclear deal, but more than that we share a national pride, formed out of stubborn passion for freedom. New settlers in both new countries carved a place out of nature which dealt enough challenges to keep humans working together, rather than against each other.

But something happened in the USA, as distinct from Australia, and even Canada next door and this set the young nation on a deadly trajectory. It was gunfire, decorated and worshiped in militia colours. Muskets defeated the British masters, with volunteer soldiers sniping from behind stone walls. Just as well Benjamin Franklin was a master diplomat and persuaded the French to finish the job.

War against the British hierarchy was repeated three decades later and the win for the good ole' USA created a huge sense of optimism and with that smug confidence and power. To defend this position more guns were needed and an industry like no other was built to service the demand.

This national pride and sense of individual power crept into a young population, fostering stoic individualism - always defended with a gun. Made in America.

Liberty's next war was against her own, brought about by jealousy and hatred of those who had, and those who didn't. Racism was at the core of that fight and the anger fuelled by killings and unjust brutalities simmered for as long as those stories were told - from generation to generation.

Modern writers like Cormac McCarthy drew on that hate and violence to pen popular prose, so influential that the last POTUS must have consulted those books often, given Trump's deep desire to keep the Mexicans at bay, and to praise the likes of the Proud Boys, who would fit right in with a south-bound scalping party.

Back in US civil war times the line of hate followed latitude. Today, however, the numerous individual cells of anger - fuelled at their heart by anxiety - are so scattered that the chance of striking one is like catching COVID.

Nothing's changed in the States despite the election of an opposition. Red and Blue, Yankee and Confederate: The divisions are frighteningly clear with no chance of mending this century. If I was a punting man, I'd bet the worst is yet to come.

Unity through adversity is a hallmark of the Australian way of life, where the spoken word is more persuasive than a gun and neighbours relate stories of kindness.

It's Christmas time in the land of sun and rain and for a long time now Australians have learned to defend their community against nature's hot ire in the form of bush fire and drought. Nowhere on this great continent is the black pall of humanity's hatred and distrust the least bit visible compared to nature's wrath.

It is very fortunate that the rain and wind, fire and fury, are the dominant forces down under, because this ensures Australia's good people work together in common cause.

In this way our environment helps foster random acts of kindness.

How can you say?

This was clearly demonstrated during those Christmas bushfires two years ago, when paddocks were scorched and cattle had to be sold - into a drought-depressed market.

For one family, the sight of a B-double load of hay was welcome relief but why it had come so quickly on the heels of disaster was a mystery, until it became clear. The gift of feed had come inter-state, from another family who had been assisted through a similar predicament 25 years prior. So the gift was kindness re-payed.

A similar story was repeated all along the fire front, with neighbours helping neighbours not only during the fight but long afterwards, when trauma played on victims' minds.

In the true tradition of human story telling, these acts of generosity will be repeated, again and again until it is a tale told through the generations.

The greatest act of kindness undertaken by everyday Australians was their universal compliance to send all the precious guns to the furnace. Who would have guessed the decision to act came out of a Liberal government and who would have predicted the outcome would be so successful. Crime in our country continues to decline, despite the belief otherwise.

Bushfires and bare paddocks have created chances for Australian farmers to come together rather than split. Long may the friendship last.

The cry that says criminals are the only ones with guns does ring true, but those blokes mostly shoot at each other. If every poor defenceless victim had a pistol there would be collateral damage all over the district and then we would be talking about hate, not co-operation and unity.

People don't trust those in authority, even if they are being well looked after and their cries for our attention have all the hallmarks of a population being duped by forces for evil who want supple minds to believe the worst, and to live in fear. But don't mind me, there are many who call this reporter a Polyanna. But I believe what I see and there is more good than evil.

In fact, the well-marketed voice of conspiracy theorists in Australia is to suggest that we aren't being governed well at all, and yet sickness and death are kept so far from our eyes domestically that we have to seek proof of impending disaster overseas.

People don't want to believe in good things because we are trained to look for evil - television drama tells us so but we can do better than that in Australia.

Where to start? Generate random acts of kindness - in foul weather or fair.

On-farm data integration comes to fruition

Global beef producers push for trade reform

AdBlue supplies get a boost

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Australia's environment shapes the way we relate - The Land Newspaper

The soaring cost of buying or renting a home in Ontario and what to do about it is likely to be a major theme in the 2022 provincial election campaign.

Premier Doug Ford and his Progressive Conservatives have shown plenty of signs they're concerned about the potential political impact of rising house prices across the province.

The premier has a housing summit with the mayors of Ontario's 29 largest cities scheduled for January, he's urgingmunicipalities to speed up development approvals, and the PCs' polling firm has been surveyingvoters on what the government should do to make housing more affordable.

The latest figures from the Canadian Real Estate Association show the average home in Ontario selling at a price 44 per cent higher than it did two years ago, and forecast to rise another 11.5 per cent in 2022.

While the Ford government is focused almost entirely on boosting the supply of new housing as the way to rein in those skyrocketing prices, the opposition New Democratic, Liberal and Green parties are floating a range of other ideas as well.

"There's no question that supply has to be part of the solution," said the NDP's housing critic, Jessica Bell. "What the Ontario government is failing to do is the other critical pieces of the puzzle."

The opposition parties are united in their view that the cost of a home will resonate on the campaign trail in 2022.

"Housing affordability is going to be the defining issue of the next election," said Bell.

"Every community I go to,housing affordability is the top of mind issue outside of COVID,"said Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner.

"It's now no longer just a concern, it is a true full-blown crisis around supply and affordability," said Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca.

The NDP put out a housing policy in 2020, and senior party officials say they plan to beef it up for the election campaign. TheGreen Party issued its61-page housing strategyin June of 2021.

The Liberals have yet to release a housing-specific platform but Del Ducais promising one early in the new year.

The NDP's plan proposes to help first-time homebuyers with their down payment through a shared equity loan worth up to 10 per cent of the value. The loan would not have to be repaid until the homebuyer sells or moves out, and the program would apply only to people with household incomes below $200,000.

To boost housing supply, the New Democrats are pledging to work with municipalities to implement a range of planning and zoning changes that they say would encourage the development of so-called "missing middle" homes, such as duplexes and townhouses.

Targeting real-estate speculation forms a significant part of the NDP's plan.

"This government just consistently fails to acknowledge ... that our housing market has become a speculator's paradise," said Bell. She said investors "are easily outbidding first-time home buyers and driving up the price of homes."

The NDP proposes an annual speculation and vacancy tax on residential property, modelled off British Columbia's version.The tax worth two per cent of the property's assessed value would apply to homes across the Greater Golden Horsehoeregionon owners who don't live in the home or who don't pay taxes in Ontario.

"It incentivizes investors to either rent out that home to a long-term renter or it incentivizes them to sell the property," said Bell.The proceeds from the tax would go to a dedicated affordable housing fund.

The NDP plan also includes measures to tighten regulation in the condominium market and expand rent control to apply to units even when tenants change.

The Green Party's housing strategy shares many similarities with the NDP's plan, although there are differences in some of the details.

The Greens promise to develop adown payment support program to help low and middle-income first-time homebuyers,but are leaving open precisely how it would work. They also propose a vacant homes tax, and would put the revenue into affordable housing programs, but suggest that it apply across the province.

"We have to get speculation out of the housing market. Homes should be for people," said Schreiner.

Zoning and planning changes that encourage what the Green Party calls "inclusive, accessible neighbourhoods where we live, work and play" form the backbone of the strategy.

"We need to be building livable, affordable, sustainable communities, increasing housing supply within our existing built environment because that's more affordable, efficient and also protects our environment," said Schreiner.

Other shared themes between the Greens and NDP: a major push to build more government-subsidized affordable housing, regulating short-term rentals and tackling money laundering in the housing market.

In addition, the Green Party proposes an unspecified increase to the provincial land transfer tax on all single-family homes valued over $3 million.

Originally posted here:

How Ontario should tackle the high cost of a home, according to the opposition parties - CBC.ca

The word crisis was mentioned in the House of Commons 1,747 times in 2021.

This is the second-highest total for a single year in the past 28 years, stretching as far back as the searchable Open Parliament Hansard database stretches. It was only exceeded last year, when crisis was spoken in the House of Commons 1,839 times.

In just two more years 2008 and 2009, the years of the Great Recession the word crisis has been used over a thousand times by MPs. From 1994 to 2000, it was mentioned an average of 405 times per year.

A once-in-a-century pandemic certainly counts as a crisis, and that obviously helps explain the rise. But COVID-19 isnt the only crisis MPs have identified in the past 12 months.

The word has also been used to describe opioid addiction, inflation, the cost of housing, mental health, labor shortages, the fall of Afghanistan, the state of long-term care. , sexual misconduct in the Canadian Forces and, of course, climate change. .

After the throne speech last month, the Conservatives tabled an amendment that would have officially recognized a cost of living crisis and a housing crisis, as well as a national unity crisis.

Earlier this month, Bloc Qubcois MP Denis Trudel rose in the House and reported that we are currently witnessing several crises in Canada. Not only is there the health crisis, the climate crisis and, in Quebec, the language crisis, but there is also the housing crisis.

It is possible that the times have an inflationary effect on political rhetoric, that the stress of the past two years causes politicians to speak in more dramatic terms. Social media also appears to offer a powerful incentive for emotional language. And crisis may just be a buzzword that will eventually go out of fashion.

But perhaps the pandemic while exacerbating some pre-existing issues has made us more alert to the other issues around us. It may have given new urgency to all kinds of things.

In the case of climate change, the pandemic has offered instructive parallels. It also coincided with a series of wildfires, storms and heat waves that proved the next great existential crisis is already here.

It can all seem rather intimidating as a whole, especially at the end of another long year and as yet another new variant sweeps the world. And all of these challenges converge at a sensitive time for Western democracy.

In its presentation to the Democracy Summit hosted by US President Joe Biden last week, the Liberal government wrote that democracies around the world must renew dialogue within our countries to demonstrate that democracy remains the best fit system. to serve all people, protect the most vulnerable and generate greater resilience.

It echoes Bidens stated desire to prove that democracy can still deliver.

Closely related to this is Trudeaus claim that the cynicism of the political left could threaten the idea of a progressive government (however biased an observer may be the prime minister).

But the new year will at least bring new opportunities to face the crises of the moment.

An updated climate plan is expected from Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault by the end of March. Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos has received demands from the city of Vancouver and the BC provincial government to decriminalize possession of small amounts of certain drugs in response to the opioid crisis.

Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu has funding from last years budget to complete work to eliminate drinking water advisories in Indigenous communities. She also now has a new report from the Parliamentary Budget Officer which suggests more funding is needed for the maintenance of water supply systems.

A new budget this spring is expected to cover the Liberal governments housing plans, as well as many other points of interest.

Canadians confidence in their governments ability to meet these challenges can vary. It may depend on how they assess its approach to the pandemic.

Like water seeping through cracks in a wall, the pandemic has exposed all the cracks and loopholes in our political and social structures. The worst failures the death toll among older people in long-term care, the inequity in global vaccine distribution have been glaring. Future reports will identify many errors and errors in judgment.

In some cases like Duclos recently conceded talking about the Public Health Agency of Canada institutions were not designed to do everything they are asked to do now. Our lack of preparedness for a pandemic could be attributed to a lack of imagination.

But the pandemic has also shown that political leaders, officials and citizens can act with incredible speed to deal with a problem. We have seen deep suffering but we have probably avoided much worse. We have had real political success with things like national immunization and government financial support. Great things have been done.

Perhaps Canadians will come out of the pandemic with higher expectations. With the capabilities and imperfections of society and government laid bare, citizens could now ask their representatives to act faster, smarter, and bolder.

A crisis is a terrible thing to waste not because it presents an opportunity, but because it offers lessons and reveals truths. And one way to find something good in the suffering of the past two years is to approach the crises we still face with a renewed commitment to building a stronger, more resilient society.

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Nothing Focuses The Mind Like A Crisis Or A Lot Of Them Land At Once Radio-Canada News - The bharat express news

In the future, luxury brands may have storefronts in virtual worlds where users can browse their shops as though theyre walking through a real store. But between buggy software, a minimal user base, and a system that allows users to buy and sell slurs with only a complicated governance system to potentially stop them, the odds seem stacked against this platform being the one to build them.

And yet investors seem to believe theres money to be made here.

The Money

Decentralands big pitch is that users can come buy land in the game, but the process for doing so is complicated. Users cant buy land tokens directly with regular dollars. Most cant even be bought with ether, the popular bitcoin alternative. Instead, like many crypto projects, Decentraland has its own cryptocurrency called mana that lives on a sidechain of Ethereum.

Sidechains are complex, but in oversimplified terms, they let projects offload tokens or data to a separate blockchain that can have different features (and often lower transaction fees) than the main chain. Crucially, it means that while Decentraland is based on ether, the price of mana can be much more volatile than ether.

Currently, the cheapest plots of land in Decentraland typically sell for around 4,000 mana, which at the time of writing would cost nearly $15,000. However, once a user buys land, they own that asset until someone wants to buy that specific plotthe tokens are non-fungible, after all. On the other hand, mana is fungible, which means if a user is holding huge amounts of mana, they can sell those tokens to anyone who needs to buy mana, including all the new users who may have shown up to buy land.

Since land is so expensive, and the market for mana is so small, it doesnt take much activity to move the needle on the price of either. If you issue a press release, will that alter the price of ether? Yeah, it might alter the price of ether, Olson explains. But you know what it definitely will alter the price of, is the price of mana and the price of land.

This has already happened with mana on a couple of occasions. In the two days following Facebooks rebrand to Meta, the price of mana which, at the time, had rarely scraped above $1, skyrocketed to $3.71. At the time, news outlets starting with niche crypto-enthusiast sites like CoinDesk, then later CNBCreported the rising price of mana and interpreted it as positive interest in the metaverse.

A few weeks later, on November 22, the 116-parcel estate in Decentralands Fashion District mentioned earlier was sold for 618,000 mana. The next day, Tokens.com issued a press release announcing the largest metaverse land acquisition in history, which was picked up by a number of crypto sites, as well as Reuters and the National Post. When the press release was issued, the price of mana was around $4.10.

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The Metaverse Land Rush Is an Illusion - Verve Times

Its beginning to look like isthmus indifference.

Stephen Ellis, the Conservative MP for Cumberland-Colchester, sent off a letter to two federal cabinet ministers a week before Christmas inquiring about the indifference or inaction of the Liberal government on the Isthmus of Chignecto.

Peoples lives are in danger, peoples livelihoods are in danger, our entire economy is hanging in the balance in a time that we are already very perilous in terms of the COVID lockdown, said Ellis, a medical doctor with a military background who was elected in the Sept. 20 federal vote.

Were already in deep trouble, lets not get further in, he said.

The deep trouble that Ellis alludes to is the isthmus, a 24-kilometre-wide strip of land that runs between sub-basins of the Bay of Fundy and the Northumberland Strait, connecting Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

In a letter copied to Omar Alghabra and Steven Guilbeault, respective federal ministers of transport, and environment and climate change, Ellis said $50 million in trade crosses the essential isthmus corridor between the two provinces.

He reminded the Liberal ministers about the communication lines, power transmission lines, the Trans-Canada highway and the Canadian National Railway line that traverse the isthmus.

The dikes that protect the isthmus were constructed by the Acadians in the 17th century and the maintenance of the dikes has been less than adequate and now their very survival is perilous and they require urgent repair, Ellis wrote.

Ellis told the ministers that a feasibility study commissioned by the federal government and the governments of the two provinces to present potential fixes for the problem was due in February but is nowhere to be found.

On behalf of the residents of Nova Scotia and especially of those in the Amherst area, I strenuously request that the study be produced post haste and acted upon expeditiously, Ellis wrote.

Canadians know all too well from the lessons of British Columbia that there is a disaster looming in Nova Scotia. I respectfully request that your department act quickly to prevent another devastating event from happening as we are aware of the profound risk that already exists at the Isthmus of Chignecto.

In an interview, Ellis said the isthmus risk is not just an Amherst story, its a Nova Scotia story.

He said the story is like many others, with no government action despite urgent appeals dating back months and years.

Nothing has happened, the dikes have been there since the 17th century, theyve been fine, Ellis said. But its what your mother would have said, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Oftentimes, they (government) are not great at prevention, their whole idea is to respond to an emergency after it happens, to release funding for that.

Prevention costs would pale in comparison to the expense of first responding to the emergency in the event of a dike breach, then fixing or replacing the transportation, communications and utility infrastructure lost and then fixing the dike system, he said.

Lets spend less now so that we can make sure this doesnt happen, Ellis said.

Yes, its going to be expensive but there is infrastructure money thats unspent in the infrastructure bank for many years, Ellis said. Lets move quickly while we have the opportunity. Our economic and physical health depends on it.

Elliss push for the release of the feasibility study is echoed by Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin, the MLA for Cumberland North, and Amherst Mayor David Kogon.

Smith-McCrossin is well aware of the federal responsibility for the isthmus but she would like the provincial government to step up, too.

The Independent MLA tabled a private members bill that would strengthen and protect the isthmus in the fall setting of the Nova Scotia legislature and she drafted an amendment to the Progressive Conservative governments enviro-goals legislation that would similarly enshrine in law the protection of the isthmus.

If the Chignecto Isthmus were to flood due to the effects of a devastating storm, which we know is a possibility and its probably not a matter of if but when, were in big trouble here in Nova Scotia because of the break in the supply chain, because of the critical utility infrastructure that will be damaged, Smith-McCrossin said.

This needs to be made a priority.

While Ellis, Smith-McCrossin and Kogon remain in the dark about the content of the feasibility study, a source says at least three department ministers in the provincial PC government have been provided details of the yet-to-be released study.

Still, the bill Smith-McCrossintabled did not getpast first reading in the Nova Scotia legislature and the governing PCs shot down her enviro-goals amendment at Committee of the Whole House.

How can a bill on dealing with the effects of climate change not include the Chignecto Isthmus, the MLA asked.

The late Roger Bacon, a former Nova Scotia premier who as a boy helped his father reinforce the dikes near the Bacon farm property south of Amherst, told The Chronicle Herald three years ago that another study on how to stop the water from going over the dikes, was redundant

The answer to the question is build the damn dikes higher, thats the only way you are going to stop the water, the feisty 92-year-old Bacon said at the time.

I think Roger Bacon was absolutely right, Smith-McCrossin said. The dikes have to be built higher. It really isnt rocket science. Sometimes we see in government study after study after study and it just delays getting the work needed completed. We just need to get it done and it needs to be made a priority.

Kogons frustration in the delayed feasibility study is palpable.

We dont know if COVID is a factor, were not getting any information, he said.

The Amherst mayor said the feasibility study will contain at least three options for fixing the flood risk.

We have to see what options there are and then take federal money to fix it, so the next step cant happen until we get the report.

Kogon said he and the mayor of Sackville, N.B., share concerns about a feasibility study option that might not protect their communities.

If the predicted rise in sea level hits the point that theyre talking about some years down the road, then 25 to 30 per cent of the town of Amherst, and Sackville is about the same, is in the flood zone, Kogon said. We cant afford to permanently flood out a quarter to a third of our town.

If an option were to just build a bridge and have the railway tracks, power cables and the highway go over a flooded marsh, thats not an acceptable option to us. Thats why we have to know whats being considered, to lobby against that being the only option.

Kogon said the town is at risk of flooding if a major storm surge at high tide pushes water over top the dikes.

That kind of a flood, while damaging, will recede eventually. Thats one risk, the sudden flooding through a massive storm but the longer-term risk is a permanent flooding of the isthmus because of the sea levels having exceeded all the dikes.

Kogon said he is very frustrated in not having seen this report in a timely manner.

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'Lives are in danger': Delays in flood mitigation plan for Isthmus of Chignecto slammed - SaltWire Network

There is a word the Cree use to describe the vast peatlands that span the Hudson Bay Lowlands in northern Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec. Yehewin, meaning breathing in Cree, is a fitting description for the bogs, which are vital carbon sinks and key natural assets in the fight against global warming, says Vern Cheechoo, director of lands and resources at the Mushkegowuk Council that represents seven First Nations in northern Ontario.

The word was used by the elders and stretches back in time, Cheechoo says. Yehewin is your breathing. The wetlands do the same thing. Its like the lungs of Mother Earth: it cleans the air, it provides us with freshness, it keeps the Earth cool.

A research team led by University of Alberta researcher Lorna Harris recently published a paper that scientifically corroborates this long-standing Indigenous knowledge about the importance of peatlands. Her paper argues for the preservation of peatlands as a nature-based solution to help achieve Canadas 2050 net-zero goal. But these essential carbon sinks are under threat: particularly in Ontario, where increased development is leaving Canadas peatlands vulnerable to destruction, and without more government protection, a vital tool for addressing climate change could become a liability.

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A peatland is a bog, swamp or wetlands composed of ancient soil, some of it over 8,000 years old, and made up of sphagnum moss and decaying vegetation. Peat holds five times more carbon per hectare than the Amazon rainforest. These ecosystems also provide critical wildlife habitats and potential climate change refuge for species and serve as a natural barrier for worsening forest fires.

Across Canada, peatlands sit largely on traditional territories of Indigenous nations. The ecosystems serve as hunting grounds, vital for food security, and are culturally important locations for family traplines and ceremonies like Sun Dance for the Cree.

Canada holds one-quarter to one-third of the worlds peatlands, amounting to the largest peatland carbon stock at 550 billion tonnes. To put that into perspective, global emissions from fossil fuel burning were 35 billion tonnes in 2020.

The second-largest concentration of peatlands in the world is in the Hudson Bay Lowlands.

Harris says these ecosystems are threatened by climate change, which can lead to environmental catastrophes, such as the wildfires that swept through Fort McMurray, Alta., in 2016, where a tree-planting experiment and severe heat waves transformed the peatlands into a tinderbox. Severe permafrost thaw can also drown out peatlands, causing them to collapse, as it has done in the Northwest Territories.

When we look at historical fires and fire frequency in the Hudson Bay Lowlands itself, because the landscape is so wet, the fires are very small and not very frequent, Harris says.

Russia, China and the U.K. are awakening to the essential natural functions of these ecosystems and are spending millions to restore their peatlands, Harris says. Yet Canada does not have a strategy to conserve these natural assets.

Large areas of undisturbed peatlands are currently vulnerable to expanding industrial projects, such as the mining development planned in northern Ontarios Ring of Fire, which will release an estimated 130 million tonnes to 250 million tonnes of carbon once fully developed, according to Harris research. Even on the low end, the development would create emissions equal to more than a seventh of Canadas overall total emissions each year. Thats on top of large potential disturbances caused by a proposed all-season highway connecting the region to the rest of Ontario.

The Ring of Fire is setting up a battle between First Nations, who want a larger say in development planning for the region, and provincial and federal governments that want to become global powerhouses in critical minerals for a green economy.

Indigenous communities have already had disputes with the Ontario government and area mining companies.

In 2010, First Nations blockaded airstrips built by mining companies in the region. In contrast, both former premier Kathleen Wynnes and current Premier Doug Fords governments have approached First Nations with a divide-and-conquer strategy, handpicking certain First Nations to work with over others. Ford has also gone so far as to recently repeal sections of the Far North Act, ensuring the construction of the all-season road without the need for environmental assessments and First Nation consultations. Before the amendments, any development without a prior land-use plan would have required careful and collaborative planning.

The Ring of Fires most precious deposits include chromite, an essential mineral in stainless steel, and nickel, which is used in an assortment of batteries nickel sulphate, for example, is a key component of electric vehicle batteries. Previous Liberal governments have estimated the monetary value of the Ring of Fires minerals at $60 billion, but that number was discredited by a 2019 Globe and Mail investigation that called it aspirational hogwash.

There are no firm estimates about the value of the minerals contained in the Ring of Fire, but Toronto-based Noront Resources Ltd., the company that owns most mining concessions in the region, recently sold to an Australian private equity firm for $617 million after a bidding war, signalling that increased development is likely and considered worth the possibly profitable risks.

Cheechoo says the Mushkegowuk Council is not against development per se, but it must protect against adverse effects on the worlds second-largest peatland complex. He says the federal governments environmental assessment of the Ring of Fire doesnt include the downstream, runoff risks that could damage the peatlands, James Bay and the Arctic Ocean.

We need to have a frank discussion about the impacts that can happen in this region, Cheechoo said.

Industry leaders take the line that any disturbance to the peatlands can be restored at a rate of $3,500 to $4,000 per hectare. But regaining the same level of carbon storage would take 1,500 years, or 1,469 years after Canada aims to hit its net-zero emissions goal, to return to undisturbed levels, according to Harris.

All the carbon released from the peatlands adds to the problem of greenhouse gas emissions, Harris says. In terms of offset, if you destroy peatlands in one place, the idea is you can create peatlands somewhere else. That doesnt work in terms of carbon storage.

Instead of costly peatland regeneration projects that wont work, Harris team advocates for Indigenous Protected Conservation Areas, accurate carbon tracking of the peatlands, especially during development projects, a conservation economy that includes payments to preserve ancient peatlands and policy initiatives based on avoiding disturbances rather than mitigation.

Cheechoo jokes that First Nations should place a meter on their territories to bill the world for the amount of carbon captured on peatlands.

Society doesnt place a value, or see the value, of what the ecosystem is doing right now, Harris says. Its a shame we cant put a value on carbon in the correct way; we only see carbon's value when its extracted.

With files from Mia Rabson, The Canadian Press

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'Yehewin Aski': The Breathing Lands protecting Canada from climate breakdown - National Observer