Ontario’s Auditor General Slams the Province’s Pending Cap and Trade Fiasco.

Ontario’s Auditor General Slams the Province’s Pending Cap and Trade Fiasco. (probeinternational).

Ontario’s Auditor General (AG) has once again set her sights on the province’s energy sector – this time slamming the upcoming implementation of the cap and trade market. The policy, which kicks in at the beginning of 2017, will cost Ontarians billions of dollars in additional heating and transportation charges, lead to even higher electricity rate increases than are already expected, send billions of dollars from the Ontario economy to California and Quebec and vastly overstate any environmental benefits.

In short, the AG’s report adds to Consumer Policy Institute’s previous criticism of cap and trade that detailed how the biggest winner from the policy will be Queen’s Park, which will have the power to create and distribute any amount of credits it wishes and use any revenue from the program to fund a suite of pet projects that will have little-to-no environmental benefits.


The AG highlighted that the small number of emissions that will incur in Ontario as a result of cap and trade will come at a major cost for the province’s households and businesses, which are already struggling from the fastest electricity rate increases of anywhere in North America.

Between 2017 and 2020, households and businesses will be forced to buy $8 billion worth of carbon credits that the province intends to auction off each quarter. The annual (direct and indirect) cost to the average household will rise to $285 by 2019 (households that drive more miles will pay more). The impact on rural and northern households, which are already suffering from high energy costs, haven’t been analysed by the province.

Cap and trade will also make electricity price hikes worse for industrial customers, according to the AG. Even though the province will use billions of dollars in proceeds from its carbon credit auctions as a subsidy to lower hydro bills, by 2030, large industrial customers will experience a 7% increase in their electricity rate that is “directly attributable to cap and trade.” This price hike is over and above the increases that the province has already laid out in its Long-Term Energy Plan. Hmmm....Once again the main goal of the Wynne 'Admin' is to collect more tax revenue .  Read the full story here.

RELATED:

her "policies forced the increase in hydro rates we have seen and cost all of us $37 billion in unnecessary costs" https://t.co/6y2mSA6fEl

— Merrilee Fullerton (@doctorfullerton) November 28, 2016

Video - O'Leary: Carbon tax to send Canada into oblivion.

Ontario's Wynne to spend $7-billion on sweeping climate 'insanity' plan.

Ontario's Wynne to spend $7-billion on sweeping climate 'insanity' plan. (GlobeAndMail).

The Ontario government will spend more than $7-billion over four years on a sweeping climate change plan that will affect every aspect of life – from what people drive to how they heat their homes and workplaces – in a bid to slash the province’s carbon footprint.

Ontario will begin phasing out natural gas for heating, provide incentives to retrofit buildings and give rebates to drivers who buy electric vehicles. It will also require that gasoline sold in the province contain less carbon, bring in building code rules requiring all new homes by 2030 to be heated with electricity or geothermal systems, and set a target for 12 per cent of all new vehicle sales to be electric by 2025.

Among the Highlights included:

• $3.8-billion for new grants, rebates and other subsidies to retrofit buildings, and move them off natural gas and onto geothermal, solar power or other forms of electric heat. Many of these programs will be administered by a new Green Bank, modelled on a similar agency in New York State, to provide financing for solar and geothermal projects.
• 
  
• New building code rules that will require all homes and small buildings built in 2030 or later to be heated without using fossil fuels, such as natural gas. This will be expanded to all buildings before 2050. Other building code changes will require major renovations to include energy-efficiency measures. All homes will also have to undergo an energy-efficiency audit before they are sold.
• $285-million for electric vehicle incentives. These include a rebate of up to $14,000 for every electric vehicle purchased; up to $1,000 to install home charging; taking the provincial portion of the HST off electric vehicle sales; an extra subsidy program for low– and moderate-income households to get older cars off the road and replace them with electric; and free overnight electricity for charging electric vehicles. The province will also build more charging stations at government buildings, including LCBO outlets, and consider making electrical vehicle plug-ins mandatory on all new buildings. The plan sets targets of expanding electric vehicle sales to 5 per cent of all vehicles sold by 2020, up to 12 per cent by 2025, and aiming to get an electric or hybrid vehicle in every multivehicle driveway by 2024, a total of about 1.7 million cars.
• New lower-carbon fuel standards would require all liquid transportation fuels, such as gasoline and diesel, to slash life-cycle carbon emissions by 5 per cent by 2020. The plan will also provide $176-million in incentives to fuel retailers to sell more biodiesel and 85-per-cent ethanol blend. The government will also oblige natural gas to contain more renewable content, such as gas from agriculture and waste products.

Hmmm.....Good luck heating homes in Winter without fossil fuels & transporting all goods with electric trucks......MORONS!  Read the full lunatic story here.

Canada - Ontario Teachers Pension Plan owns nearly Forty percent stake in Brussels Airport.

Canada - Ontario Teachers Pension Plan owns nearly Forty percent stake in Brussels Airport. (Observer).by Larry Fedoruk.

The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan owns 39% of the recently attacked Brussels Airport. They acquired the hefty stake in 2011.

On their website they offered a statement of sympathy and added that they are in close contact with the Belgian government, providing whatever support they can. It's unclear what that support might entail.

The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan (OTPP) has been around since 1990 and claims assets over $150 billion. They administer the pensions for approximately 182,000 teachers and school administrators and pay pensions to about 130,000 retirees.

It will be interesting to see how investors react in the future. Hmmm......Trudeau: 'Canada is not at war with ISIS'.Read the full story here.

This Government is a joke.
No one Isis calling out BOLD-faced lies.
Canada not at 'war' with ISIS, Trudeau say https://t.co/AxCTPmXxb4

— Manny Montenegrino (@manny_ottawa) March 24, 2016

Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan owns 39% of terror-ravaged Brussels Airport. ISIS at war with us too. @MFS001 https://t.co/t1HT1NBPgn

— Senator Linda Frum (@LindaFrum) March 24, 2016

Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) Releases Ontario Pre-Budget Submissions

SOURCE. 

Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) Releases Ontario Pre-Budget Submissions. HT: Taxpayers. By Christine Van Geyn.

The CTF’s submission calls for an expedited and detailed approach to a balanced budget, without increasing the tax burden on the public. The CTF recommends:

• Reducing program spending and freezing public sector wages;
• Ending all spending on corporate welfare;
• An immediate moratorium on over-priced renewable power capacity;
• Boosting revenue by breaking up the government monopoly of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario.

On the taxation side, the CTF’s submission also calls for:

• Halting plans for the proposed 3.8 percent payroll tax, the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan; (See pic at top of the post).
• Halting plans for a job killing and overly bureaucratic cap-and-trade carbon tax;
• Reversing recent income tax hikes and ensuring all tax brackets are indexed to inflation.

The submission also makes a number of recommendations designed to improve accountability in the province, including a restoration of the Auditor General’s discretion in the review of partisan government advertising, amending the political appointment process, and amending the Police Services Act.

“Ontario was once an economic powerhouse, but with this government’s reckless spending and borrowing we have become a drain on the Canadian economy,” said Van Geyn. “By finally making the tough decisions that should have been made nearly a decade ago, the government can steer Ontario away from fiscal disaster.” Read the full story here.

Canada - Iran in Ontario court to fight law that allows terror victims to sue for damages.

Canada - Iran in Ontario court to fight law that allows terror victims to sue for damages. (Napo).

TORONTO — The Iranian government sent lawyers to a Toronto courtroom on Monday to fight attempts by victims of Hamas and Hezbollah attacks to hold the Islamic republic to account for sponsoring the terrorist groups that harmed them.

The unusual case in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice is the first test of a Canadian law that allows terror victims to seek damages from state sponsors of terrorism. After long ignoring the case, Iran now wants the claims thrown out.

The dispute comes as the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has indicated it wants to re-establish diplomatic ties with Iran that were severed by the Conservatives in 2012 over Tehran’s rights abuses, nuclear program and military support for Syrian President Bashar Assad. Read the full story here.

Sound cloud - The Day Ontario Died.

SoundCloud

The Day Ontario Died.

A remake from the Great Song American Pie Written by DOn Mclean describing the Current Situation in Ontario.

Ontario Liberals paid $10K to have hard drives wiped: OPP documents https://t.co/4rzKNi54bB

— Merrilee Fullerton (@doctorfullerton) December 17, 2015

Ontario’s skyrocketing electricity prices endanger domestic manufacturing.

Ontario’s skyrocketing electricity prices endanger domestic manufacturing. (GM). By Adam White.

As an advocate for some of Ontario’s largest manufacturers, we fear the province’s long-term electricity plan is placing too high a financial burden on industry.

Our manufacturers are currently paying excessively high electricity rates for power the system doesn’t need; this surplus energy is then sold to our competitors in neighbouring jurisdictions (Quebec, New York, Michigan, Illinois) for a heavily discounted price. The math just doesn’t make sense.

This trend results in two outcomes. They can close, further opening the door to suppliers south of the border. Or they can move to the United States or Mexico.

Electricity costs in Ontario are unlikely to ease.The cost, in multiple billions, will be borne by Ontario electricity customers.

As policy-makers in Ontario and elsewhere turn their attention to the energy sector, we need to make sure that they keep the interests of Canadians in mind.Read the full story here.

Adam White is the President of the Association of Major Power Consumers in Ontario

EU, US States And Can provinces push for 2050 ban on petrol and diesel cars.

EU, US States And Can provinces push for 2050 ban on petrol and diesel cars. (Caradvice).

The European Commission’s push to have conventional petrol and diesel vehicles banned from dense city areas is building steam, with news this week that more regions will work towards the same goal.

In 2011, the European Commission proposed a commitment to massively transform Europe’s transport networks and needs, in a bid to cut overall carbon emissions by around 60 per cent.

The plan had initially been rejected by the UK, but this month’s international climate conference in Paris has seen 13 international members – including the UK – commit to accelerating the global adoption of zero-emission vehicles.

“The UK already has the largest market for ultra-low emission vehicles in the EU, and the fourth largest in the world and today’s pledge reaffirms our commitment to ensuring almost every car and van is a zero emission vehicle by 2050,” UK transport minister Andrew Jones said.

Members of the new International Zero Emissions Vehicle Alliance include The Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom in Europe; Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont in the United States; and Québec in Canada.

Jens Frølich Holthe, Political Advisor to Norway’s Minister for Environment, described the multi-region commitment as a positive step towards climate change control.

“We see working together with other proactive governments as a key to a global transition to an electric fleet. The problem of climate change is clearly global, and we see electric vehicles as one of the important global climate solutions.”   Hmmmm.....I presume Ontario is also included in this 'madness' since Wynne follows the California Model.Good luck with developing Electric trucks to transport all goods. Read the full story here.

Ontario - Muslim Man threatening to detonate a fake suicide vest shot by police in Mississauga?

Ontario - Muslim Man threatening to detonate a fake suicide vest shot by police in Mississauga? (CP-24).

Peel Police have charged a 26-year-old man shot by officers over the weekend with uttering threats and possession of a fake weapon.

The man was shot at a home near Golden Orchard Drive and Grand Forks Road at around 1 a.m. Nov. 14 after they responded to a call about an emotionally disturbed person.

Peel police confirmed this morning that Hamza Mohamed Abdi, 26, has been charged with possession of an imitation weapon for a dangerous purpose, two counts of uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm and fail to comply with recognizance.

According to Mississauga newspaper:

Peel Const. George Tudos could neither confirm nor deny reports the man was wearing a fake explosive device and threatened to detonate it, citing the SIU investigation. He released the man’s name and charges he is facing because that information is publicly available in court records.

The SIU, which investigates all cases of serious injury, sexual assault or death involving police, has also designated six Peel officers as witnesses to the incident, spokesperson Jason Gennaro said.

The SIU cleared the scene after spending the weekend investigating:

Peel Police say they were called to Golden Orchard Drive near Grand Forks Road, in the area of Dixie Road and Bloor Street, just after 1 a.m. Saturday and, after an "interaction," shot the 26-year-old man.

Police sources say they were responding for a suicidal man who claimed to be armed with an explosive device. The force’s bomb squad and tactical unit responded to the scene.

The man was taken to St. Michael's Hospital and treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

No one else was injured in the incident.

Police say Hamza Mohamed Abdi of Mississauga has been charged with possession of an imitation weapon for a dangerous purpose, two counts of uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm and failing to comply with recognizance. Hmmmm........Definitely not 'the Canadian way' as Premier Wynne would say.

Canada Election Day - Seems Ontario had it's belly full of Liberal politics after........even not ONE Year.

Source

The Truth About #Trudeau… Increased national debt by 800% plus ran 14 straight deficits.. http://t.co/WUsnbDoObG #elxn42 #cdnpoli

— Jimbo R (@Jimbo679) October 16, 2015

#Wynne doesn't listen to #Ontario taxpayers #Trudeau won't listen to #Canada - they're #birdsofafeather pic.twitter.com/B6khImQAPO

— NoLibsPls (@NoLibsPls) October 19, 2015

An Open Letter to Trudeau and Mulcair- Why am I so worthless? @Joe_warmington https://t.co/Ef4CzNLz6k

— Nancy Henry (@nancyhenry_) October 19, 2015

#KeepItBlue #Ontario - #LPCCorruption are #birdsofafeather pic.twitter.com/geDHWWZouY

— Trixie (@TrixieFordGirl) October 19, 2015

Gagner au change | Le Journal de Québec http://t.co/gP26VOPOOn #polqc #fed2015 pic.twitter.com/Z6Ld5yNLMT

— Monica Henry (@chevymo) October 19, 2015

Scientist Confesses: "Global Warming a $22 Billion Scam" http://t.co/CQvXAmM3M5

— NoLibsPls (@NoLibsPls) October 18, 2015

This simple fact needs to be shared ... as a reminder ... #elxn42 #polqc pic.twitter.com/PqDy6Gk4Fv

— Monica Henry (@chevymo) October 12, 2015

Ontario Lib Gov. will spend $10M to bring Syrian refugees to province.

Ontario Lib Gov. will spend $10M to bring Syrian refugees to province. (TheStar).

Ontario will spend $10.5 million to open the province’s doors to 10,000 Syrian refugees, the Star has learned. Premier Kathleen Wynne, who will make an official announcement on Saturday at the COSTI office on College Street, said “the desperate situation” had been building for months.

“So to see this child, it was tragic and hard not relate to your own children, to relate to your own grandchildren,” Wynne said in an interview here Friday, referring to the images of drowned toddler Alan Kurdi, which have shocked the world and spurred calls for action. “There are moments in political life where you just think this is not good enough. We have to now do more. We have to push the system, because the system’s clearly not working.”

Sources say the Ontario government needs Ottawa to expedite the arrival of the refugees while helping to ensure security is kept tight enough so that no terrorists slip into the country.

Likening the humanitarian crisis to a natural disaster, like a tsunami or a flood or a huge forest fire, Wynne said public officials “have to go above and beyond” because exceptional circumstances demand it.

To that end, senior government officials confide that the premier will earmark $8.5 million to help bring 10,000 Syrian refugees to Ontario over the next two years.

That’s money from a new fund that will “backstop” churches, non-governmental organizations, and charities in their efforts to sponsor refugees.

The province cannot directly sponsor refugees under the current process, but Queen’s Park is hopeful that guaranteeing the funding will prove to the federal government that Ontario has “the capacity” to accept more newcomers.

At the same time, Ontario will immediately donate $1 million each to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the World Food Program for relief efforts overseas.(See pic at top of post).

The $10.5 million is in addition to the $330,000 that Queen’s Park has already committed to Lifeline Syria, the Toronto organization that is helping resettle refugees.

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper has said Canada will accept 10,000 more refugees over four years in addition to an earlier commitment to help 11,300 people. Canada welcomes around 14,000 refugees annually from around the world.

NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair has pledge to bring 10,000 Syrian refugees within two months of the election. The NDP has promised to help resettle 46,000 Syrians in Canada over four years.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau wants to immediately accept 25,000 refugees.

British Columbia Premier Christy Clark, meanwhile, has earmarked $1 million to assist around 1,000 refugees. Hmmmm.....So the premier is 'sponsoring the food for coming refugees' she did not mention that in her interview. Seems like Wynne is pretty sure the Liberals will win the coming 'rigged?' election. Read the full story here.

Anti-Semitic incidents reach all-time high in Canada, a 28 percent increase over 2013.

Anti-Semitic incidents reach all-time high in Canada, a 28 percent increase over 2013. (Jpost).

1,627 anti-Semitic incidents were reported in 2014, a 28 percent increase over the year before.

Recorded anti-Semitic incidents reached an all-time high in Canada last year, indicates B’nai Brith’s annual audit.

The yearly tally, released June 11, shows there were 1,627 reported anti-Semitic incidents in 2014, a 28 percent increase over the year before.

The previous record was 1,345 incidents in 2012.

Most cases last year – 84 percent or 1,370 incidents – involved harassment; there were 238 reported incidents of vandalism, or 15 percent of all cases; and 1 percent of recorded incidents, or 19 cases, involved violence.

Reported incidents of vandalism in 2014 declined over the year before by nearly 40 percent. But cases of harassment increased by nearly 30 percent.

Overall, most incidents – 961 – were in Ontario*, followed by Quebec and Atlantic Canada at 259. That is “consistent with years past,” BBC stated.

Canada saw “dramatic spikes” in anti-Semitic activity in July and December, coinciding with the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers and July’s Israeli ground offensive against Palestinian militants in Gaza.

In 2014, “a clear pattern emerged. It has become too easy to deny anti-Semitism, as long as it is reframed under the legitimizing veil of anti-Zionism,” said Michael Mostyn, CEO of B’nai Brith Canada.

It’s also important to consider technology, the group added.

“The landscape for spreading anti-Semitic messages has grown exponentially, so it is only reasonable to expect the actual number of incidents to have increased along with it.” Hmmmm........*Purely coincidental.....The majority of Canadian Muslims live in the province of Ontario, and especially in and around the Greater Toronto Area. Now i'm wondering if the majority of cases would be in the Greater Toronto area? Read the full story here.

Canada - WHO: "Previously Unknown variant to Measles Virus circulating in Ontario"

Canada - WHO: "Previously Unknown variant to Measles Virus circulating in Ontario" . HT: Crof.

Via The Globe and Mail, health reporter Kelly Grant writes: Measles virus circulating in Ontario is a variant previously unknown to WHO. Excerpt:

The measles outbreak in Canada’s largest city was already a minor epidemiological puzzle when scientists discovered something that deepened the mystery. 

Of the 11 Greater Toronto Area patients diagnosed with the highly contagious illness since the end of January, none are connected to each other in any way that public health staff could discover through interviews with the patients or their parents. None had recently travelled outside Canada to a place where they might have caught the measles. 

Public health officials had hoped that genetic analysis of the measles viruses in these cases might shed light on where the Toronto outbreak came from. 

Instead, scientists found something new: The version of the measles virus circulating in Ontario is a variant that has never before been reported to the World Health Organization database that contains descriptions of more than 22,000 slightly different viral sequences of the measles virus found across the globe. 

The measles virus is constantly mutating, meaning subtly distinct versions are regularly added to the global storehouse, said Matthew Gilmour, the new scientific director general who oversees Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in Winnipeg, where the genetic sequencing was done. 

“It’s new to us now, but as other countries uncover this virus as well, they’ll have a chance to put it in the same database,” Dr. Gilmour said. “The puzzle will start to become clear then as to what the actual origin of this strain is.”

Saudi Arabia: Lab tests negative for Saudi man who died of suspected Ebola.

Saudi Arabia: Lab tests negative for Saudi man who died of suspected Ebola. HT: Crof.

Via the KSA MOH: UPDATE: LAB TESTS NEGATIVE FOR EBOLA VIRUS. Excerpt:

Samples submitted to an international reference laboratory were negative for Ebola virus, the Ministry of Health announced Saturday August 9th,2014  in Jeddah. 

Tests conducted at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which has a special laboratory for testing the most dangerous microbes, indicate Ebola virus was not the cause of this patient’s illness.     

CDC is conducting additional tests to confirm the negative Ebola finding and to determine if the patient was infected with another virus causing hemorrhagic fevers found in Sierra Leone      

Additional Ebola tests will be conducted on samples that have been sent to another international reference laboratory in Hamburg, Germany.     

The results of these tests will be released to the public once they are complete.     

The man became symptomatic after traveling to one of the countries that has been hardest hit by the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Because of his symptoms and travel history, the man was identified as a suspected Ebola case, transferred to a specialized hospital in Jeddah, and the World Health Organization and general public were notified. He passed away last Wednesday while being treated in isolation.     

As a precaution, MOH continues to monitor individuals who came into contact with the patient while he was exhibiting symptoms of viral hemorrhagic fever.      

This was the only suspected Ebola case identified in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Canada - Man in Brampton, Ont. being treated for Ebola-like symptoms

Canada - Man in Brampton, Ont. being treated for Ebola-like symptoms.(NAPO).

A man from Brampton, Ontario is being treated for Ebola-like symptoms after travelling to West Africa but doctors are warning the public not to jump to conclusions, as the presence of Ebola has not been confirmed.

Public health officials said the man was admitted to the Brampton Civic hospital Friday, where he is being kept in isolation. The patient frequently travels to Nigeria, one of the areas hardest hit by the outbreak.

Dr. Eileen de Villa, a medical officer with the Region of Peel, stressed the patient has not officially be diagnosed with Ebola and the measures being taken are strictly precautionary, adding that the patient's symptoms could be the result of several diseases.

"I am aware that we are currently testing a patient who recently travelled from West Africa. Initial signs and symptoms of Ebola are similar to many more common diseases," Ontario Health Minister Dr. Eric Hoskins said in a release Friday night.

"One such disease relevant to African travel is malaria. There are currently no confirmed cases of Ebola in Ontario."

Hoskins said he is in close contact with the chief medical officer of health and they are closely managing the situation.

Alison McGeer, a microbiologist and infectious disease consultant at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, said that "although it feels odd," seeing the precautions currently being taken at Brampton Civic should reassure Canadians.

"It’s unlikely that we’re going to see cases of Ebola virus that come to Canada," McGreer told CBC News. "But it’s important that we are precautionary about it, that we have systems in place to detect people.

"And the people those systems are going to detect are people who’ve travelled, probably not even to high risk areas in those countries, but to those countries and who now have malaria or influenza or one of the many other diseases that can give you a fever."

Constant ice cold weather damaging Ontario vineyards.

Constant ice cold weather damaging Ontario vineyards. HT: Globalnews.

The constant cold temperatures and recurring polar vortexes have wreaked havoc on Ontario’s vineyards.

As temperatures plunge, wine growers in Niagara region are trying to get an idea of how much they’ve lost due to the cold weather.

“I’m thinking we’re probably down to at least 50 per cent across the board,” Greg Wertsch from Between the Lines Winery said in an interview Monday. “We might be a little bit higher on our hybrids but we’re definitely almost wiped out on the merlot.”

Wertsch explained that some grapes, typically those native to Canada, can sustain cold temperatures but the more popular ‘European grapes’ that produce Merlots, Chardonnays and Riesling (among others) can be severely damaged or even killed during the harsh Canadian winters.

“We have, we have usually for us, the weakest grapes that we have around here, seem to be ones that are fairly popular like Sauvignon Blanc and Syrah and Merlot definitely, those are some of the weakest grapes that we have,” he said.

Those three grapes can generally withstand temperatures above -20 degrees Celsius. Riesling and Chardonnays can withstand -22 degrees Celsius and their hybrids are a little stronger but will get damaged when the mercury hits -26 degrees Celsius.

Dr. Kevin Ker, a grape consultant who also teaches at Brock University, said he expects 90 per cent of the region’s crop to be damaged.

With only 10 per cent of the vines surviving, Ker said it’s unlikely to be a successful year for growers.

But that’s not the worst part. The significant damage to the trunk of the vine can cause damage for subsequent seasons, he said.

“It’s not the first punch that’s taking you down,” he said in an interview Monday. “It’s the later rounds of getting punched over and over again, that’s what we’re seeing this year.”Read and see the full story here.

Video - Incredible time lapse below of how fast and how high the snow accumulated in Burlington, Ontario - Canada.

Video - Incredible time lapse below of how fast and how high the snow accumulated in Burlington, Ontario - Canada.For actual video click : TheWeatherNetwork.

Ecosystem crisis: Bees dying by the millions in Canada – cause unknown?

Ecosystem crisis: Bees dying by the millions in Canada – cause unknown?(ThePost).

ELMWOOD - Local beekeepers are finding millions of their bees dead just after corn was planted here in the last few weeks. Dave Schuit, who has a honey operation in Elmwood, lost 600 hives, a total of 37 million bees.

“Once the corn started to get planted our bees died by the millions,” Schuit said. He and many others, including the European Union, are pointing the finger at a class of insecticides known as neonicotinoids, manufactured by Bayer CropScience Inc. used in planting corn and some other crops. The European Union just recently voted to ban these insecticides for two years, beginning December 1, 2013, to be able to study how it relates to the large bee kill they are experiencing there also.
Local grower Nathan Carey from the Neustadt, and National Farmers Union Local 344 member, says he noticed this spring the lack of bees and bumblebees on his farm. He believes that there is a strong connection between the insecticide use and the death of pollinators.

“I feel like we all have something at stake with this issue,” he said. He is organizing a public workshop and panel discussion about this problem at his farm June 22 at 10 a.m. He hopes that all interested parties can get together and talk about the reason bees, the prime pollinators of so any different plant species, are dying.

At the farm of Gary Kenny, south west of Hanover, eight of the 10 hives he kept for a beekeeper out of Kincardine, died this spring just after corn was planted in neighbouring fields.
What seems to be deadly to bees is that the neonicotinoid pesticides are coating corn seed and with the use of new air seeders, are blowing the pesticide dust into the air when planted. The death of millions of pollinators was looked at by American Purdue University. They found that, “Bees exhibited neurotoxic symptoms, analysis of dead bees revealed traces of thiamethoxam/clothianidin in each case. Seed treatments of field crops (primarily corn) are the only major source of these compounds.
Local investigations near Guelph, led to the same conclusion. A Pest Management Regulatory Agency investigation confirmed that corn seeds treated with clothianidin or thiamethoxam “contributed to the majority of the bee mortalities” last spring.
“The air seeders are the problem,” said Ontario Federation of Agriculture director Paul Wettlaufer, who farms near Neustadt. This was after this reporter called John Gillespie, OFA Bruce County president, who told me to call Wettlaufer. Unfortunately, Wettlaufer said it was, “not a local OFA issue,” and that it was an issue for the Grain Farmers of Ontario and representative, Hennry Vanakum should be notified. Vanakum could not be rached for comment.
Yet Guelph University entomologist Peter Kevan, disagreed with the EU ban.
“There’s very little evidence to say that neonicotinoids, in a very general sense, in a broad scale sense, have been a major component in the demise of honeybees or any other pollinators, anywhere in the world,” said Kevan.
But research is showing that honeybee disorders and high colony losses have become a global phenomena. An international team of scientists led by Holland’s Utrecht University concluded that, ”Large scale prophylaxic use in agriculture, their high persistence in soil and water, and their uptake by plants and translocation to flowers, neonicotinoids put pollinator services at risk.” This research and others rsulted in the Eurpean Union ban.
The United Church is also concerned about the death of so many pollinators and has prepared a “Take Action” paper it’s sending out to all its members. The church is basing its action on local research. The Take Action paper states among other things, “Scientific information gathered suggests that the planting of corn seeds treated with neonicotinoids contributed to the majority of the bee mortalities that occurred in corn growing regions of Ontario and Quebec in Spring 2012.”
Meanwhile Schuit is replacing his queen bees every few months now instead of years, as they are dying so frequently. “OMAFRA tells me to have faith. Well, I think it’s criminal what is happening, and it’s hard to have faith if it doesn’t look like they are going to do anything anyway,” Schuit says.

"Missing Girlfriend Found?" - Unknown remains found near Dellen Millard's farm.

Laura Babcock

"Missing Girlfriend Found?" - Unknown remains found near Dellen Millard's farm.(Yahoo).

Police searching the farm of Dellen Millard, the 27-year-old charged with first-degree murder after the remains of Ancaster, Ont., man Tim Bosma were discovered, have found other unknown remains near the property.

Forensic investigators are now working to determine whether the other remains are human or animal.

Police also found an incinerator on the farm that they say Millard purchased last July. The machine, known as "The Eliminator," is used to cremate livestock, but police say Millard didn't own any animals.

The latest discovery comes after police announced last week that they had found the burned remains of Bosma, but they have not yet said where they were located.

Millard, the 27-year-old heir of a family aviation dynasty, was charged with kidnapping and killing Bosma after the husband and father disappeared after he went on a test drive May 6 with two men who answered an online ad. Police said earlier they were searching for other suspects.

Investigators said they're examining missing persons cases for potential connections with Millard. At the top of their list is 23-year-old Laura Babcock, who disappeared last summer and, according to friends of the woman, was once in a relationship with Millard.

At the time, police didn't consider the disappearance of Babcock suspicious.

Babcock's cellphone records show that shortly before she vanished, she had called him eight times. CBC News contacted an ex-boyfriend of Babcock's who said he examined her phone bill for clues after she went missing and noticed several calls to Millard, a person Shawn Lerner said she had known "for several years."

Lerner said he brought the phone records to Millard and asked him about the nature of the phone calls while trying to investigate Babcock's disappearance.

"At first, he denied it. I had the phone bill on me and produced it," Lerner said. "Finally he relented and admitted that they did exchange calls. And [he] claimed that she was asking him for drugs and for a place to stay and that he didn't oblige either of those requests."

Millard's lawyer, Deepak Paradkar, says police have not questioned his client about Babcock's disappearance, and that Millard maintains his innocence in the Bosma case. Police confirmed they are also investigating the apparent suicide of Millard's father last December.Read the full story here.

Related: Missing woman contacted murder suspect Dellen Millard shortly before her disappearance