TYLER IRVING: A tragic incident in Toronto on Monday night has left a bicycle courier dead and has precipitated a national dialogue about the dangers of urban cycling. Around 9:45 PM on August 31, 33-year-old bicycle courier Darcy Allan Sheppard, was struck by a Saab convertible driven by Michael Bryant, Ontario’s former attorney-general. Witnesses say that Sheppard then dropped his bike and grabbed on to the side of the vehicle while Bryant drove off. The car swerved across the road, occasionally veering into oncoming traffic, apparently in an attempt to shake Sheppard lose. Sheppard eventually lost his grip and was run over. He died a few hours later at St. Michael’s hospital. Details about the case are continuing to emerge as police interview witnesses and examine surveillance tapes. It is known that Sheppard had been in police custody earlier that night, and had been drinking although his level of intoxication when he was released remains unknown. Meanwhile, Bryant has stepped down from his post as CEO of Invest Toronto and has been charged with criminal negligence causing death and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death. On Tuesday night, about a hundred cyclists lay their bicycles across Bloor street in the vicinity of the accident. On Wednesday, a much larger memorial ride was held, including five minutes of silence followed by shouts, screams and the ring of bicycle bells. A lamp-post and mailbox near the corner of Bloor and Avenue Road have become a shrine, covered with flowers, candles, notes of condolence, and a “ghost bike”, a white bicycle frame stripped of its wheels, gears and handlebars. Michael Bryant has expressed his condolences to the family of the victim, but maintains his innocence. He will appear in court on October 19. [ index ]

DARYN CAISTER: Following up with last week’s story about the newly proposed Toronto Island Airport pedestrian tunnel, Mayor Miller now has a Canadian WWI hero to contend with. The Toronto Port Authority announced late this week that the Toronto airport would be renamed after Canadian World War 1 flying ace Billy Bishop. Renaming the airport after the late veteran hero apparently came as a surprise to much of the Port Authority board as well; however the Bishop family has apparently been notified of the change. The surprise name change has been received by Toronto media as an attempt to further impede criticism by Mayor Miller and others in Toronto which have been trying for years to stop the development of the Island Airport and would like to see it removed altogether. Much of the criticism recently over the Porter Airlines Airport on the Toronto Island is focused mainly around disputes over the use of public money for private interests and the issue of air and noise pollution less than 300 meters away from the airport for the densely populated Toronto city core. Councillor Adam Vaughan, who represents the area, said that the port authority is putting on a “feel-good story” around the renaming of the port to try to discourage criticism or prevent people from asking tough questions about the site. In addition to being a large recipient of public funding and allowances so far, the port authority and porter airlines would like to see current restrictions on the types of aircraft that can use the site altered to allow the use of larger jet air traffic. As well, the renaming will also potentially cause confusion as the regional airport of Owen Sound, the hometown of Billy Bishop is already named after the famous Canadian. Already several groups opposed to the airport, including CommunityAir which would like to see the land turned into a public park is promoting a general boycott of the new name. The groups say they see even using the name as helping the port authority and porter airlines promote what they call propaganda to promote policies the airline and its supporters wish to see. [ index ]

TYLER IRVING: Northern Alberta’s oil sands projects are continuing to expand, thanks to foreign investment. On Monday, PetroChina, an investment company whose majority shareholder is the Chinese government, spent $1.9 billion to acquire a 60% stake in that Athabasca Oil Sands Corporation. That company is raising capital to develop the oil sands deposits it owns at MacKay River and Dover, which together are estimated to contain about 5 billion barrels of bitumen. China’s large and growing appetite for energy is well-known. It is the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter, and consumes oil at an estimated rate of 8.1 million barrels per day. At this rate, the latest project would supply less than two year’s worth of oil. Given this, some analysts had been puzzled that China had so far not invested more heavily in the oil sands, which are second only to Saudi Arabia’s oil fields in terms of reserve size. However, others point to the higher cost of extracting oil from tar sands, as well as regulatory restrictions on foreign governments owning Canadian resources outright. They suggest that the current pattern of governments partnering with smaller Canadian companies will become the standard route. The deal seemed to increase momentum in the oil sands sector, with stocks in most Canadian companies rising shortly afterward. On Wednesday, the Conference Board of Canada issued a report projecting that by 2013, the oil sands will be producing 2.4 million barrels a day, more than double the current output. [ index ]

DARYN CAISTER: A Native band in British Columbia has announced that it will fight a tar sands pipeline running through its territory. The Haisla First Nation expressed its objections to the planned pipeline in an official letter to the Canadian Federal Environmental Assessment Agency concerning the plans potential risks to the environment and its people’s livelihoods. The pipeline, which is currently under federal review, would connect a tanker port in British Columbia via Kitimat, with the Alberta tar sands projects via a depot north of Edmonton. The pipeline itself was jointly pitched to the federal government by Enbridge Incorporated and Enbridge Northern Gateway Project. The system would involve a double pipeline that would run tar sands oil out from Alberta for export and import condensate to the tar sands projects. Condensate for oil production refers to the lighter elements of petroleum which are recovered mainly from gas reservoirs and are used as feedstock into oil refining factories. The Haisla First Nation letter to the Canadian federal review agency and Enbridge which was released this week says that the potential impacts of oil spills associated with such projects are concerning and warrant careful examination to protect the environment and the Haisla people. The Haisla chief councillor, Delores Pollard said that the Haisla people have not been meaningfully involved in the process and that their concerns so far have not been reasonably addressed. Ms. Pollard however promised that their organization would do everything within its power, including taking the issue to court to protect the environmental and the rights of its people. [ index ]

TYLER IRVING: September usually marks the end of forest fire season in British Columbia, but this year hot and dry conditions have extended the risk later into the year. As of Monday, 400 fires were still raging across the province. Some, like the Pritchard Fire near Martin Mountain, and the Kelly Creek fire, have
resulted in evacuation orders for residents. Many other areas remain on evacuation alert. Fortunately, so far damage to property has been minimal. This summer, BC has seen approximately 2,900 forest fires, about 1000 more than normal. The province’s fire fighting budget has ballooned from $62 to $409 million. 3000 fire fighters are employed by the province, working in shifts up to 14 days long. However, schedules are being altered as exhaustion begins to set in amongst the worker, with shifts being shortened to 10 days. Although lightning has contributed to the number of blazes, many fire can be traced to human activity. Public officials are reminding residents that the risk remains high even as the traditional forest fires season comes to an end. Campfire bans remain in place in areas covered by the Kamloops and Caribou fire centres. Enforcement officers will be out in force this weekend. A ticket for ignoring the fire ban can be up to $345. [ index ]

DARYN CAISTER: The decision on a proposed gas-fired generator in the greater Toronto area has been pushed back. The proposed facility was solicited by the Ontario power authority to help make up a GTA power deficit. The deficit is due to the continued expansion of the Greater Toronto Area and the shutting down of a now demolished coal fired power plant at Lakeview in 2005. The province has now said it will wait until the end of September before selecting which of the 4 contractor bids it will select for the project due to public concerns about air quality from the plant. The 4 bidding contractors are Invenergy Canada, Northland Power Inc., and Sithe Global Power which have all proposed sites in a primarily industrial part of Mississauga, and TransCanada which has proposed a site in Oakville next to the Ford assembly plant. Public concern has centred on air quality so in addition to asking the bidding companies to review possible changes to their proposals the province is also looking at options for cleaning up other local industrial air polluters as well. Chief executive of the power authority Colin Andersen said this week that there is much more that can be done beyond current plans to improve the air quality for local residents, however many residents are understandably wondering why they had to complain to have this done in the first place. The proposed new plant will be a gas-fired 850-megawatt plant and will likely end up in either Mississauga or Oakville. The plant is expected to be operational by the end of 2013 and will run about 40% of the time to help top up capacity during peak load hours. [ index ]

TYLER IRVING: This week, the city of Swift Current, Saskatchewan stepped up effort to control a major rat infestation. The moves came after over 400 of the town’s 15,000 residents showed up at two public meetings last week demanding action. Common brown rats, also known as Norway rats despite the fact that they did not originate in Norway, are commonly found in most major towns and cities. Swift Current, however, has clearly seen more than its share in recent weeks. In a news release issued August 18th, the local health authority said it has received reports of rats wandering the streets in broad daylight, as well as people being bitten by rats while they slept. The news has worried residents and officials in nearby Alberta, who have long prided themselves on being residents of a rat-free province. Nobody knows where the rats came from, although some speculate that they were dislodged from the local landfill after a fire there earlier this summer. City officials are taking no chances. They’ve hired nine additional pest control officers from the province to augment their usual complement of two, and are encouraging people to clean up their yards. Rat traps are being distributed to low-income families, and over 100 kg of rat poison is being deployed at the landfill every day; the rats, it seems, are just gobbling it up. [ index ]

DARYN CAISTER: Greyhound Canada is threatening to stop service to small town stops across Canada. The Scottish owned company Greyhound has been operating in Canada for 80 years and provides, partially by federal mandate, service to hundreds of small towns across Canada. The company is demanding that the federal and provincial governments cough up somewhere between 15 and 20 million dollars over the next 18 months to help fund the small town service or risk the company cutting at least 150 of those stops across the country. It is unclear at this time on what grounds Greyhound would be able to stop the service, as the stops are largely mandated as part of its licence to operate. The company insists that these rural stops are always money-losing additions to their service, however during these tougher economic times they claim that they cannot continue to operate them and remain profitable. Transportation minister John Baird however took a strong stance against the demand from Greyhound. After meeting with Greyhound representatives he said that the company was clearly just looking to shakedown of the government for public money, and that the provinces would be on their own in dealing with Greyhounds demands. While many of the cuts to service that have been announced so far are in rural Manitoba and Ontario, other cuts are being explored across British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan the Yukon, and the Northwest Territories. [ index ]

JORDAN POPPENK: The climate is changing in the Arctic more rapidly than anyone had anticipated. This was revealed in a new report released by the World Wildlife Fund. The conclusion reached in the peer-reviewed report is that scientists see much more severe evidence of climate change than was expected just two years ago. The biggest concern of researchers is “methane hydrates”. These are a form of methane frozen in ice particles in permafrost. If the permafrost melts—as is predicted– methane hydrates may become the single greatest driver of climate change anywhere in the world. Just recently, this underground methane was found bubbling up for the first time in Arctic Russia. Researchers also now know that Greenland is losing enough ice each year to supply water to 280 cities the size of Los Angeles. The rate of water loss is only increasing. Such alarming findings have made scientists suggest that the North has already reached its “tipping point”. This report was written by some of the world’s top researchers. It was intended to make the latest information on climate change easily accessible for the climate talks that will take place in Copenhagen this December. [ index ]

JORDAN POPPENK: New research has indicated that a classic backyard staple—the watermelon—could become a very useful biofuel additive. Watermelons are a unique fruit because between 20 and 40 percent of watermelon crops are left rot in farmer’s fields—simply because they’re ugly. Misshapen or blemished watermelons don’t sell at the grocery stores so many farmers opt to just leave them on their fields. This means that leftover watermelons could be converted into up to 9.4 million liters of ethanol fuel every year. Watermelons are also an ideal candidate because their juice contains seven to ten percent ‘easy ethanol’—or directly fermentable sugars. The watermelon juice may turn out to be a perfect way to optimize industrial-scale production of ethanol from corn, molasses, and sugar cane. The team of researchers who found these results suggests that watermelons could dramatically reduce water usage for fermentation. It would also supply the nitrogen need for fermentation, and add some sugar, cutting the amount of corn or molasses needed by up to 15 percent. The study may be found in the journal Biotechnology for Biofuels. [ index ]

JORDAN POPPENK: Crops of bananas are threatened by two diseases that are running rampant in Africa. The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research has raised a red flag with concern to the banana bunchy top virus. Already, this disease has infected 45,000 hectares of bananas in Malawi alone. It has also been found in 11 other countries. Another study earlier this year by the same research group has found banana bacterial wilt disease in a number of countries in Africa. This disease has been found in Uganda, which is the continent’s leading banana grower and consumer. It has seen bacterial wilt since 2001 and it has led to losses between $70 million and $200 million annually as a result. Commercial crops of bananas lack to genetic diversity to have tolerance to these diseases—scientists are looking into research on traditional varieties of the banana for a solution. Scientists from the affected countries are meeting to discuss the disease in Tanzania this week. [ index ]

JORDAN POPPENK: The Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzengger, has requested that President Barack Obama’s cabinet reconsider their plan to divert water from farmers and cities in California. The recent decision to divert water was made to help threatened fish populations recover. Scwarzengger feels that after three years of drought, California is already strapped enough for water. In his view, the federal plan to save fish will worsen the water crisis that has already cost farmers more than $700 million and caused mandatory rationing in cities. Environmentalists who advocate for the dwindling fish populations argue that the federally planned diversions could easily be made with more strict conservation efforts. Schwarznegger has yet to hear a response from the white house on the issue. [ index ]