News roundup, 31 Aug 2026

- The Carney government is asking a court to throw out a lawsuit from activists who argue that the government's failure to update their emissions plans is in violation of the Canada Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act. The activists say that the elimination of various measures needed to meet targets in the legislation is prohibited under the legislation, but the government argues that the legislation gives the minister the power to amend plans and targets and that the courts "should not dictate climate policy".

- Many of the forested areas in the western US, from Oregon to New Mexico, that have been burned in recent years are not growing back, with shrubland replacing the forest. This is expected to accelerate spring melting, worsening the water crisis in the region; worse, it means the carbon sink benefits of the forests are no longer there.

- Toilet paper prices are spiking in the US thanks to the Trump regime's tariffs on paper products from Canada. Some think that this may have even more impact on the fortunes of Republicans in the midterms than fuel prices; it affects everyone, even those who don't drive, and the average American uses 25 kilograms of toilet paper per year. The fact that the country is experiencing an outbreak of explosive diarrhea thanks to the rollback of food safety measures probably does not help matters.

- The US is considering abandoning its neutral position on UK sovereignty over the Falkland Islands as a possible source of leverage over British policy. This was initially hinted at in a leaked Pentagon memo in April, which Marco Rubio downplayed at the time, but the Americans are now threatening to oppose the British on the issue if they don't commit to spending more money on "defense".

- Las Vegas is experiencing a dramatic decline in tourism thanks to the reluctance of Canadians and others to visit the US. Canadian visits to the city declined by over 17% last year thanks to the aggressive stance of the Trump regime, and Nevada now has the highest unemployment rate in the country. 

- Canada's lumber industry is looking at the possibility of needing to retool their sawmills to produce lumber in metric sizes so as to be able to more easily export it to countries other than the US. This has not been seriously considered before, despite Canada having formally adopted the metric system decades ago, because the vast majority of softwood exports have until now gone to the US. However, with that market no longer being reliable, the industry needs to find new markets, which means changing to metric.

- A group of teens on ebikes took over the runway at a small general aviation airport in Oakland County, Michigan, forcing a pilot planning to land there to do a go-around to avoid the need to clean blood off of his propeller.

U.S. taking Canada to arbitration over softwood

It seems the efforts to use the beetle-killed wood before it rots are displeasing to the Americans:

The beetle infestation that has ravaged the dense forests of the B.C. Interior could wind up costing Canada a good deal more – up to a half-billion dollars in penalties to the United States.

The Obama administration opened an aggressive new legal front in the enduring trade fight over lucrative softwood lumber exports, accusing Canada of violating a 2006 deal by allowing British Columbia to sell vast quantities of cut-rate, Crown-owned timber to lumber companies.

From the Globe. And what is the nature of this "subsidy"?

The heart of the U.S. case is that B.C. lumber producers have blatantly exploited the beetle infestation and a flawed timber pricing system to get their hands on vast quantities of good, cheap logs during the worst industry slump since the Great Depression. Lumber that typically would be sold to mills for as much as $18 per cubic metre was instead dumped for only 25 cents per cubic metre. The result lowered lumber prices across North America and inflicted pain for U.S. mills, according to the U.S. claim.

Right. So presumably we're supposed to let the stuff rot (and incidentally dump vast amounts of CO₂ into the atmosphere), so that it will be cost-effective for the Yanks to cut down live trees. Does this make any sense?