Many years ago when I was just a wee lad, I remember seeing The Carpenters on TV. The Carpenters First Television Special ran in 1976 and featured something rather amazing about fifteen minutes in. Karen Carpenter busted out with a drum solo, running from kit to kit playing some pretty hot licks that wouldn’t have been out of place in some big band or even some prog-rock gig of the era. https://youtu.be/F2OYwC1819M?t=846

I’d seen and heard drum solos before, but this was different. It was a girl playing the drums.

My grandmother was watching with me and harrumphed “Look at that. A woman playing the drums. Not very ladylike. Look, she’s getting all sweaty. Imagine!”

My young self was confused, too. I didn’t know girls could play the drums, so this was a revelation. And second, the Carpenters weren’t exactly rock, so I hadn’t paid much attention to them. And if I had, there was little in their music that indicated that Karen was such an accomplished drummer. I later learned that she didn’t consider herself a singer. She believed that she was a drummer who happened to sing.

And if there was one woman who could play this week, there had to be others. Were there more like Karen out there?

At the time–and again, this is the mid-70s–the answer was “not really.” But there were a few. And in the decades that followed, more and more appeared. Today, female drummers are everywhere, comprising a worldwide sisterhood some have called “Chicks with Sticks.”

But the road to acceptance wasn’t easy. There were plenty of roadblocks, plenty of skepticism, and loads and loads of sexism. Barriers needed to be broken down, attitudes changed, and abilities proven over and over again.

This is the story of women with rhythm who changed the way we look at music.

Eric Wilhite has this playlist for us. The Ongoing History of New Music can be heard on the following stations:

• 102.1 The Edge/Toronto – Sunday night at 7
• Q107/Toronto
• Live 88-5/Ottawa
• 107.5 Dave-FM/Kitchener
• FM96/London
• Power 97/Winnipeg
• Sonic 102.9/Edmonton
• The Zone/Victoria
• The Fox/Vancouver
• Surge 105/Halifax
• WAPS/WKTL The Summit/Arkon, Canton, Cleveland, Youngstown

We’re still looking for more affiliates in Calgary, Kamloops, Kelowna, Regina, Saskatoon, Brandon, Windsor,  Montreal, Charlottetown, Moncton, Fredericton, and St John’s, and anywhere else with a transmitter. If you’re in any of those markets and you want the show, lemme know and I’ll see what I can do.

© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

While she led the way in terms of first-ballot votes and having — literally — the loudest cheering section at Calgary’s BMO Centre on Thursday night, it was not until the sixth round of the preferential ballot for the United Conservative Party leadership vote that Danielle Smith won and became Alberta’s premier-designate.

“I think it shows she’s got an issue with party unity,” said Duane Bratt, a political science professor at Calgary’s Mount Royal University.

“It was much closer than I think people expected… But you didn’t get a sense of how close it was based on her speech.”

READ MORE: Danielle Smith wins UCP leadership race, to be next Alberta premier

Smith, the former leader of the Wildrose Party before crossing the floor of the legislature to join the Progressive Conservatives in 2014, will replace Premier Jason Kenney as UCP leader five months after he announced he would step down after only winning 51 per cent support in a leadership review amid a growing number of caucus members being openly critical of his leadership.

“She needs the support of caucus tomorrow morning,” University of Calgary researcher and political commentator Jason Ribeiro said of Smith, a former talk show host for Corus Entertainment, Global News’ parent company.

“She needs the support of a wider swath of MLAs that are going to run for her in a general election.”

Smith’s at times fiery victory speech took aim at the federal government, which she accused of landlocking Alberta’s energy sector and infringing on the rights of Albertans to make their own decision about their bodies. But she also appeared to strike a conciliatory tone with her UCP rivals, including Kenney, who had been vocally opposed to her proposed Sovereignty Act, which some critics argue would be unconstitutional, but she has said would simply allow Alberta to ignore federal laws that are not in the province’s interest.

“(Her speech) alternated between sweetness and light and thanking her candidates and thanking Jason Kenney and talking about more money for education and support for front-line health-care workers, and then some absolutely fierce partisanship, fierce defiance,” Bratt noted. “We heard a lot about the (Prime Minister Justin) Trudeau- (Alberta NDP Leader Rachel) Notley- (federal NDP Leader Jagmeet) Singh alliance and she was going to stand up for Alberta against Ottawa and Alberta was not going to let Ottawa tell us what to put in our bodies or not to put in our bodies — so real themes in her campaign around the Sovereignty Act and around anti-COVID(-19) restrictions.

“Depending on how you analyze the speech, it was either cheery, smiling, charming, chuckling Danielle Smith, or fiery, angry Danielle Smith, and I think that played to the audience.”

Smith is not currently an elected MLA and will need to win a byelection to take a seat in the Alberta legislature.

“She has said she will run in a byelection but not for an open seat that’s already there like Calgary-Elbow, but some place in southern Alberta,” Bratt said.

READ MORE: Alberta UCP leadership candidate Danielle Smith says if elected, she won’t call early election

Bratt said he will be interested to see if Smith has a new cabinet ready to be named by the time she is sworn in as premier, something expected to occur next week. He noted she has already invited fellow leadership candidate Todd Loewen back into the UCP caucus. He has been sitting as an Independent ever since he was booted from caucus after calling for Kenney’s resignation.

Ribeiro noted that not only will Smith need to try to bring a sometimes fractured UCP together, but will also now need to try to win over Albertans who are not UCP members ahead of the provincial election this spring.

“She needs the support of a wide swath of Albertans to actually make sure that she’s not contributing to another NDP government,” he said, adding that some would argue it was a lack of unity among Alberta conservatives that helped the NDP win the 2015 election.

Ribeiro suggested that Smith’s victory speech did seem to address an audience outside her base, but not in the way some may have expected.

“I didn’t expect the broader audience was going to be Ottawa,” he said. “So much of the content of that speech was literally in first-person voice to Ottawa, talking on behalf of Alberta. I found that very interesting.”

Notley offered her congratulations to Smith on social media.

“Serving as premier of Alberta and leading a political party is both an honour and a privilege,” she tweeted. “Congratulations on your victory this evening.”

Notley has scheduled a news conference for Friday morning in Edmonton to offer further reaction to Smith’s win.

In addition to proposing her Sovereignty Act, Smith has said she plans to oversee changes to Alberta’s Human Rights Act to ensure someone’s vaccination status does not lead to them being discriminated against.

In her speech Thursday night, Smith also called out Alberta Health Services for its “dysfunction” and suggested anyone at the provincial health authority who does not immediately follow her direction would risk being replaced.

Smith also spoke of taking action to address the increasing cost of living and rising energy prices in Alberta.

–With files from The Canadian Press

© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

A union representing many city workers is threatening to go on strike next week.

CUPE Local 500 represents more than 4300 city employees. Some manage Winnipeg’s water and wastewater systems while others work at 311, pools and recreation centres.

The previous contract expired February 2021 and the union’s bargaining committee says if a new contract is not reached by next Wednesday, they’ll strike. It would be the first general municipal strike since 1919.

Union head Gord Delbridge says money is the main issue.

“People are struggling and we understand everyone is struggling at this point in time. We know the employer, the City of Winnipeg as an organization, is struggling,” said Delbridge. “Our members have been very reasonable with their ask. We’re willing to take a reduction in our standard of living, but we want to share that burden.”

“They’re not offering us anything we can recommend to our members. When they do come to us with an offer that we can accept, that’s what we’re hopeful for, that’s what we’re asking for.”

READ MORE: CUPE 500 opens Winnipeg strike headquarters

The city says it offered CUPE a further settlement on Thursday.
“The city’s negotiating team has worked very hard to reach a fair deal for our CUPE-represented workforce that avoids a labour disruption that would impact the important city services residents rely on,” said City of Winnipeg CAO Michael Jack. “We strongly encourage CUPE’s negotiating committee to accept the city’s latest offer and take it to their membership before any job action is taken.”

Jack says many city services and programs could either be reduced or temporarily interrupted and certain facilities may be temporarily closed to members of the public during a strike.

 

 

 

© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Hockey Manitoba says it would support a leadership change at Hockey Canada, as the national body continues to face criticism over its handling of sexual assault allegations.

In a statement released Thursday, Hockey Manitoba says its board of directors “supports the call by Members of Parliament for a change in Hockey Canada’s leadership at the Sr. Staff level and Board of Directors.”

HOCKEY MANITOBA STATEMENT

Visit the link below to read the full statement.

🔗| https://t.co/l5drDo9Kd3

At this time, Hockey Manitoba representatives will not be offering further statements regarding the ongoing and fluid situation with Hockey Canada. pic.twitter.com/TWMPq4DEMT

— Hockey Manitoba (@hockeymanitoba) October 6, 2022

Hockey Manitoba is also calling for a review of the Hockey Canada Action plan to include “consultation from experts or organizations working in education, awareness and prevention of sexual violence, abuse, bullying, and discrimination.”

READ MORE: More sponsors continue to cut ties as group continues to “resist” change

Hockey Manitoba has not gone as far as some other province’s hockey organizations. Hockey Quebec has announced its cutting ties, while Hockey Ontario and Nova Scotia both announced they will be suspending the transfer of participant assessment fees to Hockey Canada for the 2022-23 season.

There was no commitment to do that from the Manitoba organization Thursday.

Telus, Tim Hortons, Canadian Tire, Sobeys have all cut ties with Hockey Canada for this upcoming season.

READ MORE: Hockey N.S. slams Hockey Canada over handling of sexual assault allegations

This comes after Members of Parliament repeatedly pressed Hockey Canada officials for answers during a heated meeting on Tuesday about the organization’s handling of sexual assault.

© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Danielle Smith is the new premier-designate of Alberta and leader of the United Conservative Party.

On Thursday evening, the party announced Smith garnered enough ranked-ballot votes to beat the six other candidates and become the new leader.

It took until the sixth and final ballot for Smith to get a majority of the votes — 53.8 per cent — beating Travis Toews’ 46.2 per cent. Brian Jean was knocked out in the fifth ballot.

Smith said it was “a new chapter in the Alberta story.”

“It is time for Alberta to take its place as a senior partner to build a strong and unified Canada,” the newly-chosen UCP leader said. “No longer will Alberta ask for permission from Ottawa to be prosperous and free.”

Shortly after the results were announced, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau congratulated Alberta’s premier-designate on social media.

“Let’s work together to build a better future for Albertans – by delivering concrete results, making life more affordable, creating good jobs, and more,” Trudeau wrote, also thanking Premier Jason Kenney for his service to the province.

Read more:

Alberta UCP leadership candidate Danielle Smith says if elected, she won’t call early election

Read More

• Alberta UCP leadership candidate Danielle Smith says if elected, she won’t call early election

In her victory speech, Smith thanked the other leadership candidates and Kenney.

She invited MLAs and UCP members to govern with “strength and compassion” and to lead the party to an election victory in spring 2023.

Smith said she will be sworn in on Tuesday in Edmonton. Smith is Alberta’s eighth premier in 16 years.

Smith’s campaign was best known for the Alberta sovereignty act, a proposed legislation that would allow the Alberta legislature to refuse enforcement of federal laws or policies that are seen as intrusions into provincial jurisdiction.

Some experts have warned the act could cause a constitutional crisis. Four leadership hopefuls held a united news conference in early September calling the proposed legislation a “constitutional fairytale.” A co-author of the plan the proposed act came from said the unconstitutionality of the act “is exactly the point.”

Smith has also spoken out against pandemic public health measures, like mask mandates and vaccinations. She has also talked about revamping the health system by using health spending accounts and firing the board of Alberta Health Services, which oversees the front-line delivery of care.

Thursday evening in Calgary, she repeated her promise to “reform the dysfunction of Alberta Health Services and repair our broken EMS services,” adding she will replace AHS management who are unable to “immediately” follow her direction.

Smith’s previous foray into politics was as Wildrose leader from 2009 until 2014. In December 2014, she resigned and crossed the floor with 10 other MLAs to join the Progressive Conservative Party.

She later apologized for the move. Smith did not win the PC nomination for her then-riding of Highwood ahead of the 2015 election.

Prior to re-entering politics, Smith hosted a radio talk show on Corus Radio in Alberta. Corus Entertainment is the parent company of Global News. She announced her resignation in January 2021, citing declines in freedom of speech and wanting to get back to a balance of competing ideologies.

Smith intends to table Bill 1, the sovereignty act, but is not currently a member of the legislative assembly. On Monday, said she had a “number” of MLAs who offered to give up their seat in a byelection.

One-term backbencher Roger Reid is the current MLA for Livingstone-Macleod, a riding that includes Smith’s current home of High River, Alta.

Smith dismissed the the idea of running in Calgary-Elbow, a currently vacant seat after Doug Schweitzer announced his resignation earlier this year.

She also said she would not seek a snap election, instead dropping the writ for an election in May 2023.

After her win Thursday evening, Smith said she would meet with UCP MLAs on Friday.

Read more:

How Alberta’s UCP leadership race works

Ballots went to nearly 124,000 UCP members at the beginning of September, with voting for the new leader continuing until Monday. In-person voting locations were also opened on Thursday in Slave Lake, Edmonton, Red Deer, Calgary and Taber, Alta.

UCP president Cynthia Moore said 84,593 votes were cast for the new leader.

Also in the running were former Jason Kenney cabinet ministers Travis Toews, Leela Aheer, Rajan Sawhney and Rebecca Schulz; backbencher Brian Jean; and former caucus member Todd Loewen.

With the UCP the ruling party in the Alberta legislature, its leader is the premier.

A “tribute” for outgoing UCP leader Kenney will take place at the UCP annual general meeting on the weekend of Oct. 21 on Enoch Cree Nation.

Recent polling from pollster Janet Brown showed none of the leadership candidates resonated strongly with Albertans.

“I think this leadership race has had a negative impact on the UCP brand,” Brown said on Friday.

“Job number one (for the new leader) will be to earn the trust of Albertans and prove to Albertans that they know what matters to them.”

Mount Royal University political scientist Duane Bratt said the first thing the leader is likely to do is name a new cabinet.

“We’re going to see a new government now. Typically there’s some minor shuffling, but in 2014, after Jim Prentice became premier, he also brought in two unelected cabinet ministers: Gordon Dirks and Stephen Mandel,” Bratt told Global News.

“We’re not just electing a leader who becomes premier, we’re electing essentially a new UCP government.”

–with files from The Canadian Press

© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

RCMP officers are asking residents of Wood Buffalo to avoid the hamlet of Anzac, about 36 kilometres southeast of Fort McMurray, due to an unspecified event that is “unfolding” Thursday night.

Cpl. Lacey Blair said in a news release around 7:30 p.m. that there is a heavy police presence in the area that will remain “until the matter is resolved.” Police did not say what the “matter” is about.

RCMP asked that people avoid the area and not post photos of officers online.

© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

A drug gang shot to death 20 people, including a mayor and his father, in the mountains of the southern Mexico state of Guerrero, officials said Thursday.

Residents began burying the victims even as a video posted on social media showed men who identified themselves as the Tequileros gang claiming responsibility for the mass shooting.

The Guerrero state security council said gunmen burst into the town hall in the village of San Miguel Totolapan Wednesday and opened fire on a meeting the mayor was holding with other officials.

Among the dead were Mayor Conrado Mendoza and his father, Juan Mendoza Acosta, a former mayor of the town. Most of the other victims were believed to be local officials.

The walls of the town hall, which were surrounded by children’s fair rides at the time, were left riddled with bullets. However, residents said the attack that killed the mayor occurred a few blocks away.

Totolapan is geographically large but sparsely populated mountainous township in a region known as Tierra Caliente, one of Mexico’s most conflict-ridden areas.

There were so many victims that a backhoe was brought into the town’s cemetery to scoop out graves as residents began burying their dead Thursday. By midday, two bodies had already been buried and 10 more empty pits stood waiting.

A procession of about 100 residents singing hymns walked solemnly behind a truck carrying the coffin of one man killed in the shooting. Once they neared the cemetery, several men hoisted the coffin out of the truck and walked with it the waiting grave. Dozens of soldiers were posted at the entrance to the town.

Ricardo Mejia, Mexico’s assistant secretary of public safety, said the Tequileros are fighting the Familia Michoacana gang in the region and that the authenticity of the video was being verified.

“This act occurred in the context of a dispute between criminal gangs,” Mejia said. “A group known as the Tequileros dominated the region for some time; it was a group that mainly smuggled and distributed opium, but also engaged in kidnapping, extortion and several killings in the region.”

Totolapan was controlled for years by drug gang boss Raybel Jacobo de Almonte, known by his nickname as “El Tequilero” (“The Tequila Drinker”).

In his only known public appearance, de Almonte was captured on video drinking with the elder Mendoza, who was then the town’s mayor-elect, in 2015. It was not clear if the elder Mendoza was there of his own free will, or had been forced to attend the meeting.

In that video, de Almonte appeared so drunk he mumbled inaudibly and had to be held up in a sitting position by one of his henchmen.

In 2016, Totolapan locals got so fed up with abductions by the Tequileros that they kidnapped the gang leader’s mother to leverage the release of others.

While the Tequileros long depended on trafficking opium paste from local poppy growers, the growing use of the synthetic opioid fentanyl had reduced the demand for opium paste and lowered the level of violence in Guerrero.

Also Wednesday, in the neighboring state of Morelos, a state lawmaker was shot to death in the city of Cuernavaca, south of Mexico City.

Two armed men traveling on a motorcycle fatally shot state Deputy Gabriela Marin as she exited a vehicle outside a pharmacy. A person with Marin was reportedly wounded in the attack.

“Based on the information we have, we cannot rule out a motive related to politics,” Mejia said of that killing. “The deceased, Gabriela Marin, had just taken office as a legislator in July, after another member of the legislature died, and there were several legal disputes concerning the seat.”

The killing of Mendoza brought to 18 the number of mayors slain during the administration of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, and the number of state lawmakers to eight, according to data from Etellekt Consultores.

Mexico’s Congress this week is debating the president’s proposal to extend the military’s policing duties to 2028. Last month, lawmakers approved Lopez Obrador’s push to transfer the ostensibly civilian National Guard to military control.

While attacks on public officials are not uncommon in Mexico, these come at a time when the Lopez Obrador’s security strategy is being sharply debated. The president has placed tremendous responsibility in the armed forces rather than civilian police for reining in Mexico’s persistently high levels of violence. He pledged to continue, saying “we have to go on doing the same things, because it has brought results.”

Lopez Obrador sought to blame previous administrations for Mexico’s persistent problem of violence.

“These are (criminal) organizations that have been there for a long time, that didn’t spring up in this administration,” Lopez Obrador said. He also blamed local people in the Tierra Caliente region for supporting the gangs – and sometimes even electing them to office.

“There are still communities that protect these groups, and even vote them into office as authorities,” the president said.

© 2022 The Canadian Press

President Joe Biden said Thursday that the risk of nuclear “Armageddon” is at the highest level since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, as Russian officials speak of the possibility of using tactical nuclear weapons after suffering massive setbacks in the eight-month invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking at a fundraiser for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin was “a guy I know fairly well” and the Russian leader was “not joking when he talks about the use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons.”

Read more:

Biden pardons thousands of Americans convicted of ‘simple’ marijuana possession

Biden added, “We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis.” He suggested the threat from Putin is real “because his military is – you might say – significantly underperforming.”

U.S. officials for months have warned of the prospect that Russia could use weapons of mass destruction in Ukraine as it has faced a series of strategic setbacks on the battlefield. As recently as this week, though, they have said they have seen no change to Russia’s nuclear forces that would require a change in the alert posture of U.S. nuclear forces.

“We have not seen any reason to adjust our own strategic nuclear posture, nor do we have indication that Russia is preparing to imminently use nuclear weapons,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday.

Biden also challenged Russian nuclear doctrine, warning that the use of a lower-yield tactical weapon could quickly spiral out of control into global destruction.

“I don’t there is any such a thing as the ability to easily use a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up with Armageddon,” Biden said.

Speaking to Democratic donors, Biden said he was still “trying to figure” out Putin’s “off-ramp” in Ukraine.

“Where does he find a way out?” Biden asked. “Where does he find himself in a position that he does not not only lose face but lose significant power within Russia?”

Putin has repeatedly alluded to using his country’s vast nuclear arsenal, including last month when he announced plans to conscript Russian men to serve in Ukraine.

“I want to remind you that our country also has various means of destruction … and when the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, to protect Russia and our people, we will certainly use all the means at our disposal,” Putin said Sept. 21, adding with a lingering stare at the camera, “It’s not a bluff.”

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said last week that the U.S. has been “clear” to Russia about what the “consequences” of using a nuclear weapon in Ukraine would be.

Read more:

Russian rockets crash into Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia near nuclear plant

“This is something that we are attuned to, taking very seriously, and communicating directly with Russia about, including the kind of decisive responses the United States would have if they went down that dark road,” Sullivan said.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier Thursday that Putin understood that the “world will never forgive” a Russian nuclear strike.

“He understands that after the use of nuclear weapons he would be unable any more to preserve, so to speak, his life, and I’m confident of that,” Zelenskyy said.

 

Miller reported from Washington.

© 2022 The Canadian Press

An advocacy group for tenants says the next city council needs to take serious action to stop renovictions in Hamilton.

During a walking tour through the lower city on Thursday, members of ACORN Hamilton and other residents shared their stories about being displaced from their apartments or being pressured to move by landlords who are looking to renovate a property and raise the rent for incoming tenants.

John Vermeire lived in an apartment on Barton Street East for over two years and said he never missed a rent payment, but when new owners took over the building, they began to try and get him and 13 other tenants to move out.

“They were calling me every two, three days. ‘Are you moving yet? You found a place yet? Can you move out?’ No, I’m not going to move.'”

Read more:

Listings up hundreds of dollars year over year for Hamiltonians seeking rentals

He said they ended up buying him and all of the other tenants out of the building at the beginning of the year, and it took him nine months before he was able to find another place in Hamilton he could afford.

“The government does not step in and do anything about this,” said Vermeire. “These people are making money whilst people end up homeless, going on , doing what we have to do to survive. And they treat you like you’re a piece of garbage.”

ACORN member Elizabeth Ellis had a similar story about being renovicted from her Sherman Avenue apartment in 2019.

She said the property owners kept “badgering” her and the other tenants until they ended up being bought out and since then, she said the apartments have been unoccupied.

“The thing is, I could understand, ‘Okay, you renovicted me. Okay, fine. I can deal with that.’ But what I can’t deal with is them profiting off having nobody live here. We’re in a housing crisis and nobody’s still living here. There’s people on the street.”

Read more:

Tenants rights group calls on city of Hamilton to implement maximum heat bylaw

Mark Baker said his landlord has tried to renovict him and his neighbours in their apartment on Garfield Avenue, but they ended up going to the Landlord Tenant Board and had a tribunal rule in their favour.

“They started hitting the building with N13s on this false premise that the building is in need of major electrical, plumbing, such and such retrofits, not realizing that most of the people that have lived in this building have done work on this building,” said Baker. “There’s a plumber in this building, there’s an electrician in this building.

“We won at tribunal because they did not have permits or proof of the work that needed to be done.”

Despite that victory, Baker said tenants are still being pressured to move out.

He said something needs to change to protect tenants from predatory landlord practices that result in them being pushed out of their homes and into an increasingly expensive rental market.

“It’s counter-intuitive and counterproductive to help people get kicked out of homes in a place where you already have no homes.”

Read more:

Hamilton charity unveils ‘The Oaks’ affordable housing complex at former Royal Oak Dairy site

In recent years, city council has taken some steps toward protecting tenants by expanding a tenant defence fund for renters who are threatened with N13 eviction notices, making changes to incentive grants to prevent them from going to properties where tenants have been displaced and approving the implementation of a vacant home tax on empty residential properties.

A landlord licensing pilot has also been put in place in certain parts of the city, but ACORN said that program needs to be expanded across all of Hamilton.

The city is also expected to ask a consultant to look into developing a local anti-renoviction policy that’s based on a bylaw in New Westminister, B.C., that requires landlords to accommodate tenants during renovations or move them into another apartment, but that has yet to move forward.

Ward 3 councillor Nrinder Nann was among several city council candidates who joined ACORN for Thursday’s walking tour and thanked the group for their advocacy to push for municipal policies that protect tenants.

She also pledged that, if she’s re-elected on Oct. 24, the money generated by the vacant home tax will go entirely toward building more affordable housing in Hamilton.

ACORN’s political action committee has released a list of council candidates it’s endorsing in the upcoming election, as well as throwing its support behind Andrea Horwath as a mayoral candidate.

© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Video shared on social media shows the devastating effect that the current B.C. drought is having on fish.

The video, taken by Sarah Mund and shared by William Housty, shows Neekas Creek in Heiltsuk Territory, which is in the central coast region of the province.

The video shows thousands of salmon dead in the creek bed. The majority of the salmon were pink with about 10 per cent being chum.

Housty, conservation manager for the Heiltsuk Integrated Rescource Management Department, said the conditions have been so dry lately that the salmon are dying either because the rivers are dried up or the salmon cannot travel up the rivers at all and end up dying while waiting.

“As far as I can see, we’re in for another week or so of dry conditions and so it doesn’t look good for the time being, but we’re hoping that the salmon that are still here can hold on for the rains to come.”

He added that those who saw the salmon estimated that between 65,000 and 80,000 had died.

Read more:

Parts of B.C. upgraded to Drought Level 5, meaning conditions are ‘exceptionally dry’

Housty said the salmon are waiting to enter the rivers to spawn. They did have some rain recently, prompting the salmon to rush into the river but the water dried up and that’s when the salmon died.

“It doesn’t look like a very good year for the returning salmon,” he added.

The Lower Mainland, the Sunshine Coast and west Vancouver Island have now reached Drought Level 5, meaning adverse impacts to socio-economic or ecosystem values are almost certain.

At Level 5, conditions are exceptionally dry, according to the provincial drought scale, and all efforts should be made to conserve water and protect critical environmental flows.

Efforts to save fish in other parts of Vancouver Island are also underway.

Stephen Watson with BC Hydro said they lowered the flow of the Puntledge River near Courtenay by a third on Wednesday due to the very dry weather.

They also had fish salvage crews working in the area to move any isolated fish back into the river.

“They moved some of the rocks out a little bit so the fish can, as they detect the water moving down, move back into the main stem,” Watson said in a video update posted on social media.

Read more:

Sechelt, B.C. residents strained by Sunshine Coast drought restrictions

Impacts on the rivers and spawning streams will be felt for years to come, Housty said.

“We’re going to really feel the effects in two years when the pink salmon come back to spawn.”

“In four years when the chum salmon come back in their cycle, it’s the same thing. We’ve been on a steady decline for a long time and situations like this don’t help the overall health of the stocks of the salmon.”

For now, the salmon are waiting but if the situation doesn’t change soon, they might not make it home to spawn.

“By now, usually, they are starting to move into the river and change colour and lose all their oils,” Housty said. “It’s been a long time they’ve been holding out in the ocean. By now, we normally have enough rain for them to make it into the rivers.”

Housty said this should be taken as a “global issue” and everyone should work together to mitigate the effects of climate change.

“We all just need to work together to make sure the biodiversity in our province and these creeks are maintained in the long-term.”

© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.