National
Feds working to iron out kinks in public alert system
OTTAWA — Officials behind the country’s system to alert mobile devices about impending natural disasters say there are still several kinks in the system to iron out, even as the alerts are being credited with saving lives just last week.
Mobile alerts went out across the National Capital Region on Friday as a storm slammed into the region and unleashed what Environment Canada now says were six tornadoes — three each in Ottawa and Gatineau, Que.
About 100 alerts have been issued across the country since April 6, when wireless warnings were added to the traditional television and radio messages broadcast by the National Public Alerting System, said Scott Shortliffe of the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission.
Yet while many of those alerts have been successful, Shortliffe said in an interview that issues remain, including that only cellphones and wireless devices connected to an LTE network can receive the messages.
The system uses what is called “cell-broadcast technology,” which sends a message to all wireless devices within a certain geographic area with local cell towers, rather than sending messages to individual phones.
“The problem that we face is because the system is so complicated and there’s technological change, there are new handsets that enter the market constantly, we see that new problems can crop up,” he said.
“Even on a system that’s been working perfectly.”
It’s believed such a problem was behind a three-hour delay in the issuing of an Amber Alert in Saskatchewan last week, while Shortliffe said he has heard from some residents in the National Capital Region who never received a tornado alert on Friday.
“I was thrilled that there were people who gave the system public credit that it saved lives in Dunrobin when the tornado came through,” he said. “But I’m also aware that there are people who are saying: ‘My phone didn’t go off. Why didn’t my phone go off?'”
Another issue identified for the Gatineau tornadoes was that some of the messages broadcast in Quebec were in English only, though Shortliffe said responsibility for the language and content of warnings lies with the provincial or municipal government issuing the alert.
While testing is set to continue across the country and the CRTC has directed all cellphones sold in Canada be capable of receiving the alerts by next April, Shortliffe expected there would continue to be some problems, particularly as people hold onto older phones.
In the meantime, officials plan to continue conducting tests to ensure any problems that crop up are identified and addressed as quickly as possible — and before a life-threatening emergency hits, not when it is already bearing down on people.
“The good thing is we’re all concentrating on the same outcome, which is find out where the problem is and fix it to make sure it’s not repeated next time,” Shortliffe said.
Government officials have identified 19 different life-threatening events that can trigger a warning, including fires, terrorist attacks, floods and tornadoes, air-quality concerns and animal dangers.
There are 988 bodies across Canada that can issue an alert, including federal departments and agencies as well as provincial and municipal authorities, such as police and emergency-response centres.
Those bodies are responsible for drafting specific alerts and sending them to Pelmerex, a company licensed by the CRTC to relay warnings to broadcasters and wireless providers, who are then responsible for sending them over the airwaves.
Pelmerex owns The Weather Network.
A first round of nationwide tests was conducted in May to mixed results that included technical problems with certain wireless networks in Ontario and a coding error that prevented any messages from being sent in Quebec.
While most of those problems have since been fixed, Shortliffe said one major concern is the entire system hasn’t been tested in Quebec. A new round of national tests hasn’t been scheduled.
In the meantime, Shortliffe said people can check to see whether their phones are compatible with the alert system by going to AlertReady.ca. Anyone who didn’t receive a warning even though their phone is compatible should contact their wireless provider.
— Follow @leeberthiaume on Twitter.
Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press
A field of wheat is pictured near Cremona, Alta., Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022. Canada’s agricultural land is under increasing pressure as demand for food grows domestically and internationally while the industry grapples with limited resources and environmental constraints, a new report found. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
By Rosa Saba
Canada’s agricultural land is under increasing pressure to produce more food as demand grows domestically and internationally, while the industry grapples with limited resources and environmental constraints, a new report found.
“We need to grow more food on less land and in a volatile climate,” said Tyler McCann, managing director of the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute.
The report by the institute released Thursday looks at the pressures on Canada’s agricultural land to produce more food while also mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change, said McCann.
Despite Canada being a big country, it doesn’t have as much agricultural land as people might think, said McCann, with the report noting that agricultural land makes up only around seven per cent of the country.
Because of that, we can’t take what we do have for granted, he said. “We need to be really thoughtful about how we are using our agricultural land.”
In 2020, Canada was the eighth largest country in terms of cropland area, the report said, with that cropland decreasing by seven per cent over the previous two decades.
Canada is a major producer and net exporter of agriculture and agri-food products, the report said, exporting $91 billion in products in 2022, and one of the top 10 exporters of wheat, canola, pulses, pork and beef.
In the coming years, Canada will face increased demand from countries whose populations are growing, the report said.
“With population growth on one side and climate change on the other, Canada will be amongst an increasingly smaller number of countries that is a net exporter,” said McCann, noting that Canada’s own population is growing, and farmland also needs to be protected against urban sprawl.
The wildfires clouding Canadian skies this week are a “vivid reminder” of the pressure that extreme weather and the changing climate are putting on the agricultural sector, said McCann.
“We need to clearly mitigate … agriculture’s impact on climate change. But we also need to make sure agriculture is adapting to climate change’s impacts,” he said.
One of the ways the world has responded to demand for increased agricultural production over time is to create more agricultural land, in some cases by cutting down forests, said McCann. But that’s not a viable option for Canada, which doesn’t have a lot of land that can be sustainably converted into farmland — and even if it could, doing so could have a variety of adverse environmental effects, he said.
Some of the practices used to reduce emissions and sequester carbon in agriculture can also improve production output on existing farmland, the report found, such as precision agriculture and no-till practices.
However, intensifying the production of current agricultural land also comes with potential environmental downsides, the report said.
For example, McCann said fertilizer is an important part of sustainable agriculture, but there’s a balance to be struck because excessive use of fertilizer can quickly turn food production unsustainable.
“We need to be a lot more thoughtful about the inputs that we’re using,” he said, adding the same can be said about the use of technology in agriculture and the policies and programs put in place to encourage sustainable intensification of Canadian agriculture.
The report recommends that Canada adopt policies that provide financial incentives and technical assistance to farmers and develop regulatory frameworks promoting sustainable land use, as well as promoting education and awareness campaigns, so that the country can “ensure the long-term sustainability of its agricultural sector while protecting the environment.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 8, 2023.
Ottawa
The New Brunswick government is facing criticism from cabinet ministers, MPs and senators in Ottawa who say it’s putting LGBTQ kids at risk with a new policy.
Premier Blaine Higgs is pushing changes to sexual orientation policy in schools that would force children under 16 to get parental consent to change their names or pronouns at school.
The previous version of the policy required teachers to get a student’s informed consent before discussing names and pronouns with their parents, and was meant to make schools inclusive and safe for LGBTQ children.
Higgs says he’s taking a strong position for families, but the changes have sparked anger from opposition parties and dissent within his own caucus.
Senators Kim Pate and René Cormier wrote an op-ed calling for the government to reconsider and reminding Higgs that the province is subject to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Official Languages Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor called the decision appalling in a tweet, and her cabinet colleague Randy Boissonnault says the policy puts lives at risk.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 9, 2023.
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