Alberta
Hydroponic greenhouses becoming more popular in the North, but have limitations
INUVIK, N.W.T. — Greenhouses are becoming more popular in northern communities as a way to supplement available groceries and improve food security .
Some involve hydroponics, a higher-tech way of growing that doesn’t use soil. For example, the Inuvik Community Greenhouse has a hydroponic trailer parked out front, holding around 2,000 spaces for leafy greens and herbs grown year-round.
Co-ordinator Adi Scott said the produce supports the greenhouse’s weekly veggie box program with additional goods going to the food bank.
About a two-hour Canadian North flight away from the Inuvik greenhouse, just behind the Yellowknife Co-op, greens and herbs are being grown in a converted sea can.
The hydroponic greenhouse, which opened in February 2019, is fully automated, producing between 200 and 300 packages a week.
“The flavour degrades so quickly in perishable foods like leafy greens that having something that is available for sale within hours of being harvested is a totally different product than something that’s sat on a truck for two days to get up here,” said Jeff Kincaid, business development manager at the Co-op.
The Co-op’s greenhouse was manufactured by Growcer, a modular farming company that works with businesses, communities and schools to increase the availability of local produce across Canada.
Corey Ellis, co-founder and chief executive officer, recalls seeing the price of food on the shelves in Iqaluit during a University of Ottawa student club trip to the Nunavut capital.
“That was kind of the light bulb moment,” he said.
Ellis said Growcer has since installed around 75 vertical farms across the country and many projects are focused on capacity-building and training.
Some experts, however, are wary of high-tech growing as a solution for remote communities. Andrew Spring, an assistant professor at Wilfrid Laurier University and a Canada Research Chair in northern sustainable food systems, said it can be difficult to fix them if the parts have to come from far away.
Besides, hydroponics is generally used to grow greens, and “salad is not the answer to food insecurity,” he said.
What’s really needed from a food security standpoint are, broadly speaking, “things that go in stew,” he said — hearty produce that can be kept for longer, and that can go with traditional fish or game.
Kincaid, with the Co-op in Yellowknife, said while the hydroponically grown greens don’t replace food coming from the South, “it is a nice little bonus.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 21, 2023.
— with files from Rosa Saba in Toronto
Emily Blake, The Canadian Press
Alberta
Free Alberta Strategy petition demanding PM Trudeau fire Steven Guilbeault passes 13,000 signatures
News release from Free Alberta Strategy
Are you tired of watching elected officials flout the law and disregard public concerns with impunity?
Are you frustrated by a federal government that prioritizes arrogance over accountability?
If so, you’re not alone.
Over 13,000 people have signed our petition calling on Justin Trudeau to fire Steven Guilbeault.
Once one of Greenpeace’s most disruptive forces, Guilbeault has spent enough time in an orange jumpsuit to build up a reputation for deliberately ignoring both law enforcement and the courts.
Since then, his career has been marked by a troubling disregard for both legal boundaries and public sentiment.
In 2001, Guilbeault was found guilty of mischief for scaling the CN Tower in Toronto and displaying a banner.
He received a sentence of one year’s probation, was mandated to complete 100 hours of community service in Montreal, and was ordered to pay $1,000 in restitution.
The incident incurred approximately $50,000 in costs for the tower operators.
Shortly thereafter, Guilbeault orchestrated another audacious act, leading a Greenpeace team in a demonstration at the Calgary residence of then Alberta Premier Ralph Klein and his wife, Colleen.
They erected a banner, positioned ladders against the house, and ascended to the roof to install a solar panel.
The intrusion deeply unsettled Colleen Klein, who was alone at the time and feared a home invasion – she resorted to grabbing a broom for defense.
Despite his controversial background, Justin Trudeau’s decision to appoint Guilbeault as Minister of Environment and Climate Change raised eyebrows and elicited criticism.
Jason Kenney, then premier of Alberta, accurately predicted the consequences of Guilbeault assuming a significant role in Justin Trudeau’s cabinet.
“His own personal background and track record on these issues suggests someone who is more an absolutist than a pragmatist when it comes to finding solutions,” Kenney said.
It’s perhaps no surprise then that Guilbeault’s response to legal setbacks in his political career, such as the Supreme Court’s ruling on the unconstitutionality of his Impact Assessment Act, has been dismissive, indicating a stubborn adherence to his own agenda rather than a willingness to heed judicial guidance.
Instead of accepting that he was wrong and repealing the law, Guilbeault wants to pass minor amendments and pretend like the Supreme Court ruling never happened.
Worse, the amendments – buried 552 pages into a 686-page budget implementation bill – don’t fix the problem.
Guilbeault still has the power to control projects that fall under provincial jurisdiction.
Consequently, tensions between the federal and provincial governments have escalated, with Alberta poised to immediately challenge the amended legislation in court once again.
This charade is getting old.
This pattern of defiance and disregard for legal constraints has become wearisome, eroding public trust in the integrity of federal institutions.
The rotation of headlines proclaiming federal overreach and constitutional breaches underscores a troubling trend within the governing party, where arrogance appears to have supplanted prudent governance.
Guilbeault, with his checkered past and continued ignorance of the law since becoming Minister, are crippling public confidence.
A few months ago, we launched a petition calling on Justin Trudeau to see the light, and fire his most controversial Minister.
Since then, things have only gotten worse.
If you agree, and think Guilbeault should be fired, please sign our petition today:
Then, send this petition to your friends, family, and every Albertan so that they can sign too!
Regards,
The Free Alberta Strategy Team
Alberta
Fortis et Liber: Alberta’s Future in the Canadian Federation
From the C2C Journal
By Barry Cooper, professor of political science, University of Calgary
Canada’s western lands, wrote one prominent academic, became provinces “in the Roman sense” – acquired possessions that, once vanquished, were there to be exploited. Laurentian Canada regarded the hinterlands as existing primarily to serve the interests of the heartland. And the current holders of office in Ottawa often behave as if the Constitution’s federal-provincial distribution of powers is at best advisory, if it needs to be acknowledged at all. Reviewing this history, Barry Cooper places Alberta’s widely criticized Sovereignty Act in the context of the Prairie provinces’ long struggle for due constitutional recognition and the political equality of their citizens. Canada is a federation, notes Cooper. Provinces do have rights. Constitutions do mean something. And when they are no longer working, they can be changed.
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