Nicole Hancock
Indigenous community hosts full moon ceremony ...

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.

Indigenous community hosts full moon ceremony to heal Chedoke Creek

water utilities

Water is in short supply. Markets should pay attention

Water is in short supply. Markets should pay attention

The world is in desperate need of water. Drought and increasing temperatures have threatened to impact nearly every major sector of the economy, from energy to agriculture to shipping. Markets are taking note. The S&P Global Water Index, which tracks 50 companies from around the world that are involved in water utilities, infrastructure, equipment and materials, has outperformed the S&P Global Broad Market Index by more than 3 percentage points per year since its beginning in late 2001. So far this year, the Global Water Index return has been nearly 5 percentage points higher than the S&P Global BMI.

Cumberland wants to merge water utilities for Parrsboro, Pugwash and Springhill

Cumberland wants to merge water utilities for Parrsboro, Pugwash and Springhill

Some people in the Municipality of Cumberland, N.S., could be paying 20 per cent more for water next year if a proposed merger goes ahead. The municipality wants to combine the water utilities of Parrsboro, Pugwash and Springhill into one utility, and applied for a rate increase for that one utility. Currently, the water services are all managed separately and keep accounting records separately. They file these records to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board.

Canadian engineering firm WSP Global to buy John Wood Group’s environment consulting business for US$1.8-billion

Canadian engineering firm WSP Global to buy John Wood Group’s environment consulting business for US$1.8-billion

Canadian engineering giant WSP Global Inc. is buying John Wood Group PLC’s environment business in a deal that cements its position as one of the world’s dominant players in sustainable development consulting. Montreal-based WSP said Wednesday it struck a definitive agreement to take over a business known as Environment & Infrastructure (E&I) from Aberdeen, Scotland-based Wood for US$1.8-billion, including a US$200-million deal-related tax benefit. The agreement adds 6,000 employees to WSP’s payroll from about 55,000 currently and sharpens its ability to bid on major environmental and infrastructure projects, particularly for federal government departments in the United States.

Still hopeful after all these years

Still hopeful after all these years

When I was teaching political science at Langara College in Vancouver, some of the most memorable events were the half dozen teleconferences Noam Chomsky did with my students. During one such discussion of international trade treaties in 2012, Chomsky singled out the work of Maude Barlow, then chair of the Council of Canadians, as being instrumental in defeating the proposed “corporate bill of rights” known as the Multilateral Agreement on Investment.

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