Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
The federal government has bowed to provincial and industry lobbying in weakening proposed standards for coal mining effluent, critics say. A discussion document for draft regulations, released earlier this year, would double the amount of toxins — such as selenium — the mines are allowed to release and wouldn't apply to any mine that starts producing before 2027. Nor do they require companies to monitor overall environmental effects.
The federal government has bowed to provincial and industry lobbying in weakening proposed standards for coal mining effluent, critics say. The draft regulations, released earlier this year, would double the amount of toxins —such as selenium — the mines are allowed to release and wouldn’t apply to any mine that starts producing before 2027. Nor do they require companies to monitor overall environmental effects. “Environment Canada got pushback,” said Bill Donahue, an environmental scientific consultant and former head of monitoring for the Alberta government. “It dramatically reduced the proposed standards in terms of their stringency.”
It's the end of days for plastic grocery bags and Styrofoam takeout containers in Canada, but the products can still be manufactured for export. Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault published draft regulations Tuesday outlining how Canada will ban the manufacture, sale and import of these items, along with plastic cutlery, stir sticks, straws and six-pack rings, by the end of next year.
It is disturbing to hear the genuine public concern over high-capacity wells being deliberately misinterpreted as “urban versus rural” and as an attack against farmers. The Environmental Coalition of Prince Edward Island has been working for years to usher in a new era of water protection and conservation, and never once have we opposed farmers. Farmers are important to the economic and social health of the province.
Opposition Green MLA Lynne Lund has asked the province to commit to an interim moratorium on large holding ponds used for irrigation. Lund raised the issue in the legislature Tuesday, saying she'd become aware of a new water holding pond for agriculture being built in Queens County. She said she's been told the pond will require several wells to fill it, arguing it will have the same effect as a high capacity well.
