Past issues Subscribe

May 29 2023

Halifax Emergency. Hsu fits. Spanish surprise..

May 29, 2023
David Akin's Roundup
Clippings of #cdnpoli, #media, and #tech content aimed at those with an interest in Canadian politics and policy. And sometimes Canadian postage stamps.
Election Day in Alberta! Our live results show will begin at 2000 MT (2200 ET) on Global's Alberta stations; at Globalnews.ca and on the Global News channels on Amazon Prime, Roku, and YouTube. Tune in! I'll be at the big board charting which ridings go UCP blue and which go NDP orange. 
Canada
The discussions are designed to collect feedback from employees and are aimed at learning what the company can do to retain valued team members and keep them happy. [Global]
From the provinces
United Conservatives poised for victory in a very close Alberta election:
David Coletto: I’m going to offer up the reasons why I think the UCP are the favourites to win [today] and help explain how we got here and the underlying reasons why the NDP is likely to fall short of winning the election yet still achieve a remarkable feat – winning close to a majority of the vote in Alberta. [Abacus Data]
Schools have been shut down and a local state of emergency has been declared for the communities affected by a forest fire which continues to rage near Halifax. [Global]
Ontario MPP Ted Hsu is officially a candidate for the provincial Liberal leadership. [Global]
Elsewhere
Ukrainians fighting outside Bakhmut see Russian mercenaries withdrawing
If confirmed, the rotation of forces would mark a major shift, making units under the Russian military’s regular command responsible for holding the city — and allowing Wagner leader Yevgeniy Prigozhin to pull away after claiming to have achieved the only big territorial gain for the Kremlin since last summer. [WaPo]
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earned another five-year term Sunday, overcoming a weak economy and a united opposition to cement his rule after two decades in power. [WaPo]
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Monday called a snap election for July 23, a day after his left-wing coalition government suffered heavy losses in regional ballots. [Global]
State Farm also cites inflation of construction costs in statement which comes after increasing wildfires in state. [The Guardian]
Click to donate $3 a month to support this newsletter!
Media
A round up of digital tools and techniques, many using AI, from Craig Silverman. 
Tech
Plans for low or zero-emissions hydrogen projects are beginning to take shape across the country. But, at the moment, hydrogen is far from a low-emissions fuel, which is why some experts suggest expectations for the resource should be tempered. [CBC]
Click and donate $5 a month to support this newsletter!
Issued this day ...
Issued this day in 2014: Scott #2746 Souvenir Sheet: RMS Empress of Ireland. Design: Isabelle Toussaint, Susan Scott. 
From the Canada Post press release at time of issue:
 In the dark early hours of May 29, 1914, an impenetrable fog and misunderstood ship signals spelled disaster for the passengers and crew of the RMS Empress of Ireland. The ocean liner’s sudden sinking in the frigid St. Lawrence River is still Canada’s most deadly maritime disaster in peacetime.
The Empress had cast off from Québec the previous afternoon with 1,477 passengers and crew on board. It was bound for Liverpool, England, on a routine sailing – the first of the 1914 season. It was Captain Henry George Kendall’s first voyage in command of the Empress, but the vessel had been making the trip regularly since its launch in 1906.
The ship had just made a mail stop in Rimouski, dispatched its navigator and was nearing Pointe-au-Père when the fog engulfed it. The gloom also descended on the SS Storstad, a heavy Norwegian collier, which was closer to the Empress than anyone realized. When each ship’s crew could again see the other ship’s lights, it was too late: they were on a collision course. The coal ship ripped open the hull of the Empress and frigid water poured in. Soon the Empress was over on its side, and then it slipped beneath the surface, taking all of 14 minutes to sink. More than 1,000 people lost their lives.
One of the difficulties in creating the Titanic stamps in 2012 had been the lack of authentic images of the ship, which sank on its maiden voyage. In contrast, a great many images exist of the Empress of Ireland. It was a proud symbol of the extensive Canadian Pacific Railway fleet and railway, which brought countless European immigrants to Canada. The Empress could cross the Atlantic in four days and was heavily promoted in postcards and advertisements. As well, various salvage efforts from the relatively shallow St. Lawrence produced many artifacts. These reside in official museum collections, such as the Site historique maritime de la Pointe-au-Père, and in closely guarded private collections.

Previous Issues

Load More