Cost of climate disasters, N.S. mass shooting inquiry : In The News for Aug. 29

GHD’s Canadian water lead Don Holland said there are lots of reports that count up insured losses and physical damage after major events like last fall’s atmospheric river in British Columbia.

“What this report does is actually takes into account the loss of economic productivity, the shocks to the system when it comes to supply chain prices, and all of that,” Holland said in an interview.

He pointed to the 2021 B.C. floods, which for a time cut off rail and highway links between the country’s biggest port in Vancouver and the rest of Canada. The disruption stressed supply chains already hampered by COVID-19, raising prices, slowing production in factories that couldn’t get parts, and leaving some shelves empty in grocery stores and other retailers.

“It had huge knock-on effects,” said Holland.

The report predicts manufacturing and distribution will take the biggest hit from water-related climate disasters between now and 2050 — an estimated $64 billion in losses, or about 0.2 per cent of the total manufacturing economy a year.

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Also this …

The public inquiry into the 2020 Nova Scotia mass shooting will resume today for its third and final phase of work.

The last stretch of the inquiry — known as the Mass Casualty Commission — will be focused on developing recommendations.

It will begin with a review of more than 2,000 recommendations from 71 reports brought forward by other inquiries and reviews in Canada related to the commission’s mandate.

Throughout September, the inquiry will hear from witnesses who have not yet provided testimony.

It will also gather suggestions from organizations, local residents and the general public on ways to make communities safer.

Last week, retired commander of the Nova Scotia RCMP Lee Bergerman and Commissioner Brenda Lucki told the inquiry that the force requires more resources because policing costs continue to rise.

During her testimony, Bergerman noted the force has long complained of lacking the staff and equipment resources needed to adequately police the province.

The deadline for the final report of the public inquiry into the April 18-19, 2020, mass shooting has been extended five months and is now expected by March 31, 2023.

The report examining the killings of 22 people by a gunman driving a replica police car was originally expected on Nov. 1.

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What we are watching in the U.S. …

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. _ A fuel leak interrupted NASA’s launch countdown for its new moon rocket early Monday, reappearing in the same place that saw seepage during a countdown test back in the spring.

Launch controllers halted the fuelling operation, which already was running an hour late because of thunderstorms offshore. They slowly resumed the process to see if the hydrogen fuel leak might worsen, which almost certainly would end the countdown, but alarms forced another pause.

The 98-metre rocket is the most powerful ever built by NASA, outmuscling even the Saturn V that carried astronauts to the moon a half-century ago. This test flight, if successful, would put a crew capsule into lunar orbit for the first time in 50 years.

No astronauts were inside the Orion capsule atop the rocket at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Instead, three test dummies were strapped in for the lunar-orbiting mission, expected to last six weeks.

Hydrogen fuel leaks marred NASA’s countdown test back in April, prompting a slew of repairs. The demo was repeated with more success in June, but that, too, experienced some leakage. Managers said they would not know for certain whether the fixes were good until attempting to load the rocket’s tanks with nearly 1 million gallons of super-cold fuel on Monday.

Launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson and her team also had to deal with a communication issue involving the Orion capsule. Engineers scrambled to understand an 11-minute delay in the communication lines between Launch Control and Orion that cropped up late Sunday. Although the problem had cleared by Monday morning, NASA needed to know why it occurred before committing to launch.

This first flight of NASA’s 21st-century moon-exploration program, named Artemis after Apollo’s mythological twin sister, is years overdue. Repeated delays have led to billions in budget overruns; this demo alone costs $4.1 billion.

Assuming the test goes well, astronauts would climb aboard for the second flight and fly around the moon and back as soon as 2024. A two-person lunar landing could follow by the end of 2025. NASA is targeting the moon’s south pole.

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What we are watching in the rest of the world …

BERLIN _ The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Monday that the U.N. nuclear watchdog’s long-awaited expert mission to the Zaporizhzhia power plant in Ukraine “is now on its way.”

IAEA director general Rafael Grossi has for months sought access to the Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe’s biggest, which has been occupied by Russian forces and run by Ukrainian workers since the early days of the 6-month-old war.

The urgency has been heightened in recent days as Russia and Ukraine have traded claims of strikes at or near the plant, intensifying fears that the fighting could cause a massive radiation leak. Last week, the facility was temporarily knocked off-line.

“The day has come,” Grossi wrote on Twitter, adding that the Vienna-based IAEA’s “Support and Assistance Mission … is now on its way.”

“We must protect the safety and security of Ukraine’s and Europe’s biggest nuclear facility,” he wrote. “Proud to lead this mission which will be in ZNPP later this week.” Grossi, who didn’t provide a more precise timeline or give further details, posted a picture of himself with 13 other experts.

Ukraine has alleged that Russia is essentially holding the plant hostage, storing weapons there and launching attacks from around it, while Moscow accuses Ukraine of recklessly firing on the facility.

The Zaporizhzhia plant has six reactors.

The IAEA tweeted that the mission will assess physical damage to the facility, “determine functionality of safety & security systems” and evaluate staff conditions, among other things.

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On this day in 1994 …

Toronto swimmer Carlos Costa became the first disabled athlete to achieve a double crossing of Italy’s Strait of Messina. The 21-year-old athlete, born with no bones below his knees, finished the 60-kilometre swim in 23-and-a-half hours.

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In entertainment …

MONTREAL _ The lead singer of Montreal-based rock band Arcade Fire has released a statement in response to a media report that includes multiple allegations of sexual misconduct.

The accusations against Win Butler are outlined in a report from entertainment news site Pitchfork, which published a story on Saturday containing allegations of inappropriate sexual interactions with three women and one person who identifies as gender fluid.

The complainants told Pitchfork the alleged interactions were inappropriate based on gaps in age and power dynamics at play and included unwelcome advances.

In an emailed statement sent through a crisis public relations firm, Butler acknowledged he had sexual relationships outside of his marriage to bandmate Regine Chassagne. But he is denying any allegations of misconduct, saying all encounters took place between consenting adults and he never touched a woman against her will or demanded sexual favours.

Butler apologized for his behaviour and said he was struggling with mental health and alcohol dependence issues around the time the alleged incidents took place, between 2015 and 2019.

“As I look to the future, I am continuing to learn from my mistakes and working hard to become a better person, someone my son can be proud of,” Butler said in the statement, which was also included in Pitchfork’s article, sent by New York-based Risa Heller Communications.

“I’m sorry for the pain I caused – I’m sorry I wasn’t more aware and tuned in to the effect I have on people.”

Arcade Fire is considered one of the most successful Canadian bands to rise out of the indie rock scene of the early 2000s.

The Grammy and Juno-winning band is set to embark on a world tour this week to promote their sixth album “We.”

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Did you see this?

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called for political leaders to take a united stance against threats of violence and intimidation on Sunday, days after his deputy was confronted in Alberta by a man who repeatedly yelled profanity at her and called her a traitor.

A video circulating online over the weekend shows Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland arriving inside City Hall in Grande Prairie, Alta., on Friday, and then being confronted by the man while she approached and entered an elevator.

Trudeau addressed the incident during an announcement in Ottawa on funding for an action plan to support LGBTQ communities. He said what Freeland faced isn’t isolated and is being seen with increasing frequency by people in public life, particularly women and minorities.

“Threats, violence, intimidation of any kind, are always unacceptable and this kind of cowardly behaviour threatens and undermines our democracy and our values and openness and respect upon which Canada was built,” Trudeau said.

The incident has prompted current and former politicians from across the spectrum to denounce the incident and speak out against harassment faced by public figures.

Trudeau characterized the confrontation as a “backlash” of a type that has been growing on social media for many years, where any time a woman speaks up on social media, she becomes subject to harassment and toxicity that reaches a point where her voice and her right to free expression are diminished.

“As leaders, we need to call this out and take a united stance against it, because no matter who you are, who you love, the colour of your skin, how you pray, where you’re from, your gender, you deserve respect,” he said. “You deserve to live in peace without fear of threats of violence.”

Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek agreed what happened to Freeland isn’t isolated. In a series of Twitter posts shared on Sunday, she recounted numerous incidents in which she said she was fearful.

Grande Prairie Mayor Jackie Clayton said in a video posted online Saturday that the incident with Freeland was “a disgusting display of hatred and abuse.” She expressed gratitude for municipal staff who “calmly de-escalated the situation and acted in a highly professional manner despite the stressful circumstance.”

“The confrontation at city hall captured on video does not reflect the welcoming spirit our region is known for. We do not need to agree on every issue to treat each other with basic respect,” Clayton said.

“No one should be subjected to abusive behaviour.”

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 29, 2022.

The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Cost of climate disasters, N.S. mass shooting inquiry : In The News for Aug. 29

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