ONTARIO'S HYDRO DEAL WITH QUEBEC

La Presse reported Tuesday that it obtained a copy of a draft deal that says Ontario would buy eight terawatt hours per year from Quebec – about six per cent of Ontario’s consumption – whether the electricity is consumed or not.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION CRISIS IN CANADA

This crisis of illegal immigration along the Canada – U.S. border has reached a new pinnacle.
According to Customs and Immigration Union President Jean-Pierre Fortin, who represents Canada’s border guards, as many as 500 people are illegally crossing into Quebec every day.
More than ten thousand migrants have walked across the border this year, choosing deliberately to cross at unofficial crossings to avoid the Safe Third Country Agreement between Canada and the U.S.

OLD TECHNOLOGY RETURNS FOR SHIP NAVIGATION

The risk of cyber attacks targeting ships' satellite navigation is pushing nations to delve back through history and develop back-up systems with roots in World War Two radio technology.

Ships use GPS (Global Positioning System) and other similar devices that rely on sending and receiving satellite signals, which many experts say are vulnerable to jamming by hackers.

South Korea is developing an alternative system using an earth-based navigation technology known as eLoran, while the United States is planning to follow suit. Britain and Russia have also explored adopting versions of the technology, which works on radio signals.

 

GOOD LUCK WITH THAT PM

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reiterated that he wants climate change, reducing emissions and moving to a low-carbon economy to be written into the new NAFTA when Canada, the U.S. and Mexico begin renegotiating the deal later this month.
"We are certainly looking for a better level playing field across North America on environmental protections,"Trudeau said.
However with Trump withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris climate change agreement, referring to climate change as a "hoax" and pledging to return the U.S. coal industry to its glory days, the White House and the Canadian government are pretty far apart on many environmental issues.

MERKEL'S GERMANY IS NOT A GREEN CHAMPION

Sure enough, German emissions crept up 0.7 percent last year. Some analysts are pinning that increase on the growing German economy, but the country’s biggest brown problem is its reliance on coal. Coal is just about the dirtiest fossil fuel around, but it’s been in increased demand in Germany following all these nuclear shutdowns. Germany imports hard coal to supply 17 percent of its power, and sources another 23 percent of its electricity from domestically produced lignite, an especially dirty variety of coal. All of that adds up to a lot of emissions.

EPA ETHICS PANEL

Back in March, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt questioned the human contribution to climate change. The Sierra Club immediately raised an ethics complaint against Pruitt’s climate heresy.

TORONTO'S 500% PROPERTY TAX INCREASE

It looks like this: one landlord in attendance showed me the tax bill on his building in the 500-block of Yonge. In 2016, he paid just over $22,000 in property tax. In 2017, he was asked to pay more than $48,000. And that increase was the first year of a four year phase in — so he was told to expect similar increases every year until 2020.