Archives for September 3, 2019

The Category 5 storm slammed into the Bahamas Sunday afternoon

Canadians living in Florida are bracing for Hurricane Dorian as the monster storm pummels the Bahamas with catastrophic force.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center says the arrival of Dorian poses “a life-threatening situation,” with hazards that will cause “extreme destruction.”

Winds have been clocked at 285 km/h, but at times reached gusts of more than 354 km/h. 

Global Affairs Canada is advising Canadians to avoid all travel to the U.S. east coast, from north of Deerfield Beach in Florida to the South Santee River in South Carolina, and to also avoid all travel to the Bahamas, where the storm surge Sunday was between five and seven metres due to Hurricane Dorian.

Sunday’s forecasts suggested that the Category 5 storm may not smash into the Florida coast, as was previously feared, but instead churn away off-shore.

Nevertheless, Julie Lavoie was scrambling Sunday to secure her home in West Palm Beach., Fla., from the hurricane.

The former Gatineau, Que., resident moved to the Sunshine State in 2007 to pursue a real estate career. 

She spent Sunday boarding up her windows and moving her outdoor furniture — which wind gusts could turn into projectiles — into her house.

Lavoie says she hasn’t been ordered to leave and isn’t confident in the forecasts. She says residents have been highly anxious over the past few days because the predicted location where Dorian will make landfall has changed several times. 

“Where are you going to go? Two years ago [during Hurricane Irma] they told people to go to the west coast. And the hurricane hit on the west,” said Lavoie.

“There is a lack of gas. Do you want to ride out the storm in the middle of nowhere?”

Instead, Lavoie said she’s planning to hunker down in her house. She has stockpiled nearly 20 litres of water and several large jerry cans of gas for her generator.

‘Spooky’ quiet in resort town

Just a short drive up the Florida coast, Sean Stinson is literally battening down the hatches.

The 45-year-old London, Ont., man has been living on his catamaran in the community of Riviera Beach since retiring two years ago.

With most of the tourists gone, a “spooky” quiet has descended on the resort town, Stinson said.

Most of the boat owners he knows have left to seek shelter in the Florida Everglades in the southern tip of the state’s panhandle.

Stinson says he didn’t go because he’s concerned Hurricane Dorian could turn unexpectedly, and if it hit the Everglades, it would be difficult for emergency resopnders to reach him.

Instead, Stinson spent Sunday moving his catamaran away from other vessels and tying it as securely as he could to the concrete dock. 

He admits it’s not much of a guarantee against the unpredictable nature of a storm that’s being labelled the strongest hurricane in modern times.

“If we get surge over eight feet here … the floating docks will come off the top. And they’re all concrete, so there will be floating pieces of concrete with boats attached to them,” Stinson said.

“And you can speculate what will happen from there.”

Stinson is going to wait out the storm at a friend’s home which should withstand a “moderate hurricane.” He’s taking a risk, hoping that after battering the Bahamas, Dorian will pull some of its punches.

Fleeing the storm

Dorian made landfall in the Bahamas at 12:40 p.m. Sunday, where Daniel Arty’s parents had been visiting relatives on Abaco Island.

The Montreal resident received a steady barrage of video texts from his parents Sunday morning as they fled the storm. They showed ocean water sweeping through village streets and gas station canopies bending in the wind.

Arty was initially unable to confirm his parents made it to safety, but found some comfort several hours later through second-hand news.

“My little brother told me he talked to my dad, but he hasn’t gotten word back if he has evacuated. But he heard my mom got out,” Arty said.

Jeff Kromm says he’s lucky to be alive

Jeff Kromm says he’s lucky to be alive.

The Alberta farmer was driving his tractor down Highway 22X late last week, wrapping up a day of working on his hayfield, when he was rear-ended by an SUV.

“It was all slow motion,” Kromm told CBC News Monday. “I didn’t even see it coming.”

Kromm was bringing his tractor to rotary rake some feed in his field, around 5:30 p.m. on Aug. 29, a Thursday. He headed down Highway 22X west to Priddis, Alta., staying on the road’s shoulder and going 20 km/h.

The driver of the SUV told him she didn’t see him, he said. The speed limit in that area is 100 km/h.

“I’m just looking forward. And then all of a sudden bang,” Kromm said.

He posted his experience on Facebook, calling on people to slow down during haying and ahead of harvesting season.

The shocking photos — the front of the SUV and back of the tractor entirely crushed — resonated with people. More than 6,000 people commented on the post, and more than 12,000 had shared it by Monday.

“It was such a wreck that I think it opened a lot of people’s eyes,” Kromm said.

With harvest coming up, more farm equipment will be moved along public highways. He urges drivers to watch out for slow-moving tractors, and for farmers to consider moving equipment outside of rush-hour, when possible.

“We all, including myself, need to pay attention more to the road, and, you know, be safe out there,” he said.

Luckily, both he and the driver of the SUV weren’t seriously injured. Kromm says his back and neck hurts, and he suspects they both have whiplash.

He said he was a bit stunned after the crash but managed to turn his tractor off quickly.

“I just ran over to her to see if she was OK, and she was OK,” Kromm said. “She was just sitting there, and we gave each other a hug.”

A passerby called RCMP, who confirmed to CBC News officers attended the scene. No charges have been laid.

Insurance hasn’t completed an estimate for the damage yet, Kromm said, but he expects both vehicles will be written off.

In Canada’s largest city, raw sewage flows into Lake Ontario so often, Toronto tells people they should never swim off the city’s beaches for at least two days after it rains.

Across the country in Mission, B.C., a three-decade-old pipe that carries sewage under the Fraser River to a treatment plant in Abbotsford is so loaded operators can’t even slip a camera inside it to look for damage. If that pipe bursts, it will dump 11 million litres of putrid water from area homes and businesses into a critical salmon habitat every day it isn’t fixed.

While climate change is dominating the environmental conversations leading into the federal election campaign, politicians who show plans to stop the dumping of toxic, feces-laden sludge into Canada’s waterways will be very welcome, particularly by the municipal governments for whom the problem is a daily fight.

Mission Mayor Pam Alexis said she is “absolutely hopeful” wastewater will become an election issue, as her city races against time to keep its pipe from bursting.

The Conservatives and the Greens have both promised to end sewage dumping, though neither party has said exactly how. The NDP is promising a national freshwater strategy, building on a private member’s bill introduced by Essex, Ont., MP Tracey Ramsey in April. Part of that bill calls for an evaluation of Canada’s wastewater infrastructure in light of the impact of climate change.

The Liberals have not yet released their environment promises. In government, they set aside $2 billion for water and wastewater infrastructure, and since 2016 have approved $1.5 billion for 1,452 projects, everything from new sewers and lagoons to treatment-plant upgrades and dam repairs.

Conservative environment critic Ed Fast said his party’s plan will involve infrastructure programs.

“All I can say is that a Conservative government will place a higher priority on addressing this very critical problem for our environment than the Liberals have placed on it,” Fast said. “We continue to see significant amounts of raw sewage being dumped into our waterways and that has to stop. The status quo is no longer acceptable.”

Environment Canada says between 2013 and 2017, more than one trillion litres of untreated wastewater are known to have leaked or been purposely dumped. The department says 2018 data isn’t ready for release.

The actual amount is higher because although Environment Canada requires municipalities to monitor and report how much untreated waste goes into waterways, many still don’t.

Often, that happens in communities with older systems that carry household waste and stormwater in the same pipes; when rain or a lot of melting snow overwhelms such systems, they’re usually designed to vent the diluted sewage into the nearest waterway.

In 2012 the Conservatives set tough new standards for treating wastewater, which take effect between 2020 and 2040 for different types of systems.

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities estimates the cost just to meet those standards is close to $18 billion. It would cost even more to fix city sewer systems so they aren’t constantly leaking raw wastewater when it rains.

Last fall Toronto started a $3-billion wastewater system project intended to stop raw sewage from leaking when it rains. City water department officials say it will take until 2038 to finish if Toronto has to fund it all alone. If the province and federal government agree to help it can be completed in 2030, keeping billions of untreated waste out of Lake Ontario.

Toronto says in 2018 more than 7.1 billion litres of raw sewage leaked into Lake Ontario and other waterways, because the combined sewer and storm water system can’t handle the capacity during rainstorms.

The City of Ottawa says it’s a year away from finishing a giant underground tunnel meant to contain sewage overflows in all but the most extreme cases. The four-year project is costing more than $230 million and it’s only part of a decade-long effort. Montreal notoriously dumped eight billion litres of sewage into the St. Lawrence River in 2015, just after the last election, because a major pipe needed repairs and there was nothing else to do with the waste.

Mayor Alexis in Mission says the cost of her city’s pipe-replacement project ballooned from $8 million to $32 million, in large part because of delays and additional requirements put on the project during the permitting process. The federal government agreed to contribute half the original cost, but the city has had to reapply for more money and is still waiting, almost a year later, for a response.

Alexis says the sewer pipe is also about affordable housing, an issue all major parties know is key for Vancouver-area voters. Alexis said Mission is one of the last Lower Mainland communities where housing isn’t overly expensive, and its population has grown 25 per cent in less than a decade. But without a new sewer pipe that growth has to stop, she said, which is driving up home prices there, too.

Activists use technology to dodge Chinese surveillance and organize rallies

When a dozen Hong Kong demonstrators gathered in downtown Toronto during a recent evening rush hour, they suspected they could be joined by unwelcome visitors.

The activists passed out flyers that read “stand with Hong Kong.” Some wore face masks.

Although the small rally appeared low-tech, organizing it involved cunning use of technology. And both Hong Kong people demonstrating for greater democracy, and China, which wants the protests to stop, have been deploying advanced methods to spread their messages.

In Toronto, many commuters walked by without even a glance, but one person seemed particularly interested in the group’s campaign. Wearing a green shirt and a ball cap, the man stood at a busy street corner with a smartphone in his hand. 

Demonstrators said he had recorded video of them, illustrating the fear the campaigners have been living with for months.

They suspect he had been monitoring them on behalf of Chinese authorities in Canada.

Chinese embassy officials in Ottawa did not respond to a request for comment.

Under surveillance

The demonstrators are suspicious because of the Chinese government’s domestic mass surveillance campaign, which opponents say extends to citizens and dissidents abroad.

In Hong Kong, protesters have been using laser pointers to scramble China’s widely used facial identification cameras. But the government’s surveillance program extends far beyond the streets.

Critics say Beijing’s efforts to monitor and restrict internet use have only increased in the wake of mass demonstrations in Hong Kong and solidarity rallies abroad. 

Hong Kong residents have freer access to the internet than users in mainland China, who face restrictions under the country’s so-called Great Firewall. The unfettered access in the Chinese-ruled region has been key in the protesters’ ability to mobilize.

Jim Tam, a Hong Kong-born information technology management professor at Toronto’s Ryerson University, told CBC demonstrators have  “efficiently” used technology “as a communication tool to mobilize the masses.”

“It has been very effective.”

But there are signs Beijing could move to curtail that freedom. Hong Kong internet service providers have warned the government against blocking certain apps, and LIHKG, a popular online forum known as “Hong Kong’s Reddit” crashed after an apparent attack at the start of a pivotal weekend for protests. Demonstrators had been known to use it to organize their efforts.

The movement began as a way to fight a now-suspended extradition bill, but demonstrators maintain a list of five key demands, including an expansion of democratic freedoms. As a special administrative region of China, Hong Kong already enjoys autonomy from the mainland, under a principle known as “one country, two systems.”

“It’s the final battle,” said demonstrator Mimi Lee at the recent rally in Toronto. “If we lose this battle, ‘one country, two systems’ is gone.”

‘We have to be very careful’

With little means and without clear leadership, demonstrators have been using online tools to co-ordinate and encourage each other. And they’ve been going to great lengths to avoid potential attempts at spying by authorities.

“We have to be very careful how we share our phone numbers and names,” said another activist. CBC agreed to conceal the man’s name. He fears for the safety of his family in Hong Kong.

Like cohorts in Hong Kong, he uses Telegram to communicate and coordinate with fellow activists. The app encrypts messages and allows users to hide their real names and phone numbers. Demonstrators see it as their best shot at keeping their electronic communications away from the prying eyes of Beijing.

Telegram’s privacy features stirred early controversy by apparently allowing ISIS militants to spread propaganda. But the app has experienced a recent surge in use, spurred by Hong Kong’s widespread protests — and demonstrators’ use of the platform.

In Hong Kong alone, Telegram added 110,000 new users in July — three times more than during the same period last year — according to the app market analysis service Sensor Tower.

China’s mega app

Conversely, pro-Beijing activists are drawn to WeChat. With more than one billion active monthly users, it’s hugely popular in mainland China and among the country’s overseas diaspora, including in Canada. 

The app offers a range of features, including an electronic payment function and news feeds, connecting Chinese speakers with Beijing’s state-controlled media. Without end-to-end encryption, it’s considered a component in China’s surveillance program and allows Beijing to stir nationalist sentiment abroad.

A WeChat discussion among pro-Beijing nationalists about how to counter a recent Vancouver demonstration in support of Hong Kong quickly attracted 2,000 users, said Victor Feng, a Chinese-born Burnaby, B.C., man. 

WeChat is “suited to our habits and our culture,” said Feng. “That’s why it’s more popular in the Chinese community.”

A Hong Kong activist in Toronto told CBC News he avoids WeChat for fear Beijing will use it to view his message and access his contact list.

“It’s a very dangerous app,” he said.

The Canadian House of Commons’ cybersecurity team even warned MPs and staff against conducting business over the software, pointing to “potential cybersecurity risks,” iPolitics reported.

Creative tricks

Keeping off WeChat isn’t the only way Hong Kong demonstrators avoid Chinese surveillance.

Activists have been reported to mix Cantonese (transcribed in the Roman alphabet) and Englishin online messages as a way to avoid detection by Chinese filters. (The blend of languages even has a name: Kongish.)

China has used its state media to undermine the credibility of protesters  and turned to Western platforms Twitter and Facebook to disseminate its information campaign abroad. The government’s critics have bypassed Chinese media in their bid for international support.

A GoFundMe page raised more than $2.4 million Cdn. Crowdfunded full-page ads ran in foreign newspapers, including The Globe and Mail and The New York Times, in an effort to rally support abroad.