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Just Say NO to 285 new hog factories in Manitoba!

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Letter to the Editor Virden Empire-Advance May 3, 2018 01:57 PM Rural people could wake up one morning to find a factory hog barn next door, and there will be nothing they can say or do about it if the hog industry gets its way and the Pallister government passes Bill 19,  The Planning Amendment Act . Bill 19 gives local councils and planning districts the “choice” to get rid of the mandatory conditional use approval process for large livestock operations, along with all the legal protections the public currently has. In so choosing, municipalities give away the ability to set conditions such as requiring manure storage covers and shelterbelts to attempt to control odour and require development agreements to make the hog factory pay for road building and maintenance, instead of taxpayers. All municipalities will have to review their zoning by-laws and decide within one year if they want to control large factory hog and poultry operations, cattle and sheep feedlots on be

Transit union head says city of Winnipeg uninterested in grants for electric buses

The Winnipeg Free Press The union that represents Winnipeg Transit staff says city hall is missing out on an opportunity to access loans and grants to electrify the transit fleet. Story here.

Diseases spread by ticks, mosquitoes and fleas more than tripled in the U.S. since 2004

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The Washington Post A wood tic - Manitoba, CA. PinP photo. The warmer weather of spring and summer means the start of tick and mosquito season and the diseases they transmit,  including Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, West Nile  and Zika. More here.

Pollution from Canadian refineries an ‘embarrassment’ compared to U.S.

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NATIONAL OBSERVER The Irving Oil Refinery in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada. Photo by  Cusack5239 Sarnia’s Imperial Oil refinery emitted 10 times more fine particulate matter, seven times more carbon monoxide and 49 times more sulphur dioxide than the Detroit plant. More here.

Melbourn's water supply at risk due to "collapse" of forests caused by logging.

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The Guardian Logging in Australia. Photo by  Peter Campbell Tree-felling helped trigger ‘hidden collapse’ of mountain ash forests, ecologists say. More here.

Even familiar birds at risk of extinction, new study finds

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BirdLife INTERNATIONAL A White-crowned sparrow. Photo by  Wolfgang Wander The 2018 State of the World’s Birds report, which provides a comprehensive look at the health of bird populations globally, has found that the extinction crisis has spread so far that even some well-known species are now in danger. More here.