Prioritizing Carbon Neutrality By Off-Loading Wind, Solar

Suncor Energy Inc. announced that the company is divesting itself of its wind and solar assets Wednesday, citing a $730 million (USD) deal made with Canadian Utilities Limited.

Last April, the Calgary-based oil sands giant issued similar statements and indicated that their intended focus would be in the hydrogen and renewable energy sectors instead.

Kris Smith, Suncor’s interim president and CEO, re-iterated on Wednesday that the company’s efforts to become carbon-neutral by 2050 would include replacing coke-fired boilers at its base plant with lower emission cogeneration units.

“Suncor will also be investing in hydrogen and low-carbon fuels and accelerating [the deployment of] commercial-scale carbon capture technology,” he said.

Smith said the deal, which is expected to close in early 2023 comprises Suncor’s interest in Magrath, Chin Chute and Adelaide wind farms, as well as Forty Mile wind farm.

New Plan In Diabetes Fight, Legislation In The House.

When it comes to fighting the battle against Diabetes in Canada, advocates say there is a definite ‘lack of vision’ coming from the federal government these days.

This is despite the framework for doing so that was already laid out in a private members bill put forward by Liberal MP Sonia Sidhu, becoming law in 2021.

According to a statement released on October 5, Health Minister Jean Yves-Duclos said that the federal government has now tabled a plan in the House of Commons to tackle the issue.

Diabetes prevents the natural production or use of insulin in the body, which in turn regulates glucose in the blood. It is a major cause of blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, stroke and lower limb amputation.

Sidhu said the new framework outlines the training requirements, educational standards and general guidance that health workers must adhere to in order to promote the treatment of diabetes across the country.

“The bill says the [federal] government will ensure the Canada Revenue Agency administers the disability tax credit fairly and in a way that helps as many people with diabetes [in Canada] as possible,” she said, adding that it will also address research concerns, along with related surveillance and data collection issues.

The federal government adopted its original strategy in 1999, only to merge it with a larger, less comprehensive and more generalist one in 2005. Since that time, the prevalence of diabetes and pre-diabetes in Canada has grown 6.5 per cent, while the annual cost of treating the disease has grown north of $30 billion.

“The [new] strategy will serve as a road map for provincial health systems going forward and it will outline what diabetes treatment and prevention should look like in Canada,” Syron said. “Now that the framework is in place, [Diabetes Canada] will start pushing the federal government to dedicate funding to it in the next budget.”