Over the past five years Canada has seen a consistent increase in tobacco manufacturing exports. According to trade data provided by Industry Canada tobacco manufacturing exports reached a total of just over $170 million in 2015. An increase of 118 per cent compared to the approximate $78 million worth of tobacco Canada exported in 2011.

“Most people expect tobacco farming is either on the serious decline or is almost ceased in Canada,” says David Hammond, a professor with the school of public health and health systems at the University of Waterloo. For Hammond, the trade data says, “this industry isn’t dead, quite clearly and that tobacco farming in Canada is not dead. I think that runs counter to most people’s assumptions.”

Tobacco exports have been steadily increasing in Canada despite the reduction of smoking in Canadian culture. According to the Canadian Tobacco Alcohol and Drugs Survey (CTADS), conducted by Statistics Canada on behalf of Health Canada in 2013, the percentage of the population who smoked was 15 percent (4.2 million smokers). In 2013, daily smokers smoked on average 13.9 cigarettes per day, decreasing from the 2012 average of 15 cigarettes per day. According to the survey it’s the lowest national smoking rate that has ever been recorded. It has been the result of countless anti-smoking initiatives by groups from the local level to provincial and federal governments in the attempt to make Canada smoke free.

Jamey Essex, an environmental studies professor at the University of Windsor, views the trend as the tobacco industry successfully finding different markets overseas. “If they can’t find a market domestically then they try to find a new one abroad, because they are not going to just shut down production.

Canada’s biggest tobacco export partners in 2015 were the United States ($108.8 million), China ($32.8 million), the United Arab Emirates ($8.4 million), and Vietnam ($4.1 million). For Essex the “decline in smoking at home is offset by an increase in smoking in other countries. That’s where they’ve focused on exports to make up the gap.”

In countries like the United Arab Emirates, 25-30 per cent of the male population smokes tobacco and there’s concern that smoking is on the rise not only in the country but also across the Middle East. Vietnam, according to the World Health Organization, has seen an increase in the estimated number of smokers from approximately 16.3 million smokers in 2010 to approximately 17.3 million in 2015. While most of the remaining countries in the top ten list have either stagnating or decreasing smoking populations, they are still comparable or higher than Canada’s smoking population.

The survival of the Canadian tobacco industry isn’t just about which countries tobacco is being shipped to. It has also been about how tobacco manufacturers have been able to adapt to the ever-changing business landscape. One aspect of tobacco farming that Jamey Essex points out is the physical size of the farms. “Tobacco farms are usually really small because it doesn’t take a lot of land to produce a lot of tobacco in terms of value,” he said.

When looking at the trade data David Hammond sees a different international trend at work for Canada’s tobacco exports. “Looking at some of the countries. It would suggest it might be some of the big multinationals (tobacco manufacturers).” Imperial Tobacco Canada for example, moved it’s tobacco manufacturing to Mexico after closing down facilities in Guelph (2006) and Aylmer Ontario (2007). American tobacco company Philip Morris International is now headquartered in Switzerland and owns Canadian tobacco brands such as Rothmans, Craven A, and Belmont. The Chinese National Tobacco Corporation, owned by the Chinese government manufactured about 2.5 trillion cigarettes in 2013 alone.

As for when the success might end Essex believes that it won’t last for more than ten years because “there’s a limit of how much tobacco they can pump into those countries,” along with the potential rise of health concerns in those countries. But until then the Canadian tobacco industry continues to find ways to stay in business.

The manufacturing sector for Canada’s vehicle parts is enjoying brighter days as a high demand for cars and unstable loonie increase exports.

“Vehicles sales are growing,” said Anthony Faria, marketing professor at the University of Windsor.  “As vehicle sales grow, we need to build more vehicles to serve the market.  More vehicle parts are needed,”

The Canadian vehicle industry is now recovering from the devastating economic crisis of 2008. According to data generated by Industry Canada, export of vehicle parts increased by 34 per cent in 2015 compared to 2013. This includes only the original equipment to produce new vehicles, and not the parts to repair cars already on the road.

“Last year saw record sales of vehicles in Canada and the U.S.,” said John Holmes, professor at Queen’s University with a research focus in the auto sector in Canada.

In 2015, the export of motor vehicle parts raked in roughly $19.4 billion compared to $14.5 billion dollars in 2013.  Ontario’s contribution to the country’s export earnings was the highest with $17 billion. In the last three years, all provinces saw an increase in export gains except Saskatchewan.

“The auto industry is often described as being an Ontario industry, but it is still an important industry in a number of provinces,” said David Moloney, professor at Ivey Business School at the Western Ontario University.

Moloney said it is an important part of the economy for Southern Ontario and Southern Quebec. It provides $500 million in the western provinces.

The Atlantic Provinces recorded more than double of their 2013 export values in 2015. In the western provinces of British-Columbia and Alberta, slight gains had been made of around $20 million each. In Quebec, 30.8 percent had been made to establish the value of exports at nearly $985 million.

The fluctuation of the Canadian loonie also gives the Canadian market an advantage. “It is cheaper to produce vehicles and parts in Canada with the loonie down, and the exports growing,” said Faria.

Car manufacturers in Canada benefit from the low-cost of selling their products outside Canada, as well as operating an affordable labour force.

“This represents a gold opportunity,” Moloney said. Canada’s economy offers good price to producers, as well as cheap transportation costs for material coming from the U.S.

Holmes said although the value of Canadian auto part export increased over the last three years, the numbers for 2015 are lower than 2006, before the crisis.

The largest export sales were made to the U.S and Mexico. Canada car manufacturing production count for 10 per cent of the North American production, but is one of the biggest manufacturing industry in the country.

Although Ontario is the biggest car manufacturer in the country, other provinces build car-parts and ship them to the Ontario plants and the United States. Faria said this trend explains the increase in exports for provinces outside of Ontario.

The Automotive Parts Manufacturer’s Association is confident about the future with a low dollar turning around 75 to 85 cents. They say it will sustain the growth of the motor vehicle-part manufacturing exports.

Faria predicts the vehicle production rhythm across North America won’t slow down and keep on trucking, ensuring the Canadian exports to still have bright moments, and continue its growth.

By Gareth Madoc-Jones

Between 2004 and 2015, there have been 585 trespasser accident deaths and 298 crossing accident deaths on Canadian railways. These two categories make up 830 of the 966 total people killed on Canada’s train tracks during this period.

To view all 966 Canadian railway deaths from 2004 to 2015 scroll below.

These numbers originate from a Transportation Safety Board database. They’ve been recently published on the government of Canada’s open data website in a data set called “Rail Occurrence data from January 2004 to present.”

The data set reveals CP and CN Railways make up for 796 of the 830 people killed in crossings and trespassing related accidents. CN railways have 321 trespasser deaths and 164 crossing deaths, while CP has seen 206 trespasser deaths and 105 crossing deaths since 2004.

In separate email responses to the high death tolls, both CN communications director Mark Hallman and CP Rail spokesperson Salem Woodrow say their organizations have been focused on education and enforcement to prevent crossing and trespasser deaths.

Transport Canada says its teamed with the railway industry to support a non-profit organization called Operation Lifesaver to educate the public about the dangers of trespassing on railways. “One of the goals of Operation Lifesaver is the prevention of trespassing incidents that often lead to serious injury or death,” Natasha Gauthier, a spokesperson for Transport Canada, says in an email.

Mike Regimbal, the national director for Operation Lifesaver, admits “the laws are there” for rail safety at crossings and for trespassers. “Each incident we believe is preventable and our messaging is stay away from the tracks. If you have to cross the tracks, do it at a safe location,” adds Regimbal.

Regimbal also acknowledges a significant number of the 585 trespasser deaths since 2004 have been suicides. “Most people consider those types of events a railway problem. Well, they’re not. It is a community issue and there’s the mental health component with that.”

Transport Canada could not provide any numbers related to suicide deaths on railways. A study into railway suicides at the Center for Research and Intervention on Suicide and Euthanasia at the Université du Québec à Montréal indicates there was an average of 43 suicide deaths per year between 1999 and 2008 on Canadian railways. The report also reveals close to 38 per cent of all Canadian railway deaths during the ten-year period were suicides.

To view the UQAM-CRISE report on railway suicides click below.

Aside from suicides, Russell Brownlee, a civil engineer working for Giffin Koeth, a consulting firm specializing in rail safety, says he thinks railways can do more to encourage the use of proper crossings to prevent trespasser deaths. “Having them trespass because they have to walk very long distances is something that we’ve really ignored in the past,” says Brownlee, adding that building fences, installing security cameras, providing “nice” pathways and including signage to the shortest route can help discourage trespassing.

As far as dealing with crossing deaths, the previous federal government passed legislation on November 27, 2014 to ensure all railways in Canada upgrades its railway crossings by 2021 to new safety standards. They include new rules for signage, sight lines and surface of the crossing.

Crossing deaths dropped from 20 in 2014 to 13 in 2015 when the new legislation was in effect for the first full year. Brownlee doubts the 35 per cent drop in crossing deaths has anything to do with the new rules, since full compliance isn’t required for another five years.

And it appears railway deaths had already been dropping prior to the new crossing laws. In the past five years, the number of combined trespasser and crossing deaths on Canadian railways reveals a downward trend, falling from 66 deaths in 2011 to 43 deaths in 2015. It’s not entirely clear what can explain the decline, but Regimbal says getting this number down to zero is the target, but it’s “not realistically attainable.”

Spencer Van Dyk

All neighbourhoods are not created equal when it comes to noise complaints.

Data from the City of Ottawa shows that Rideau-Vanier received a significantly higher number of noise complaints in 2015 than any other ward. It received 2,468 complaints last year, compared to the 1,675 received in Somerset, the city’s second noisiest area.

“I represent a very dense area, one of Ottawa’s downtown neighborhoods,” said Mathieu Fleury, the city councilor for Ward 12, Rideau-Vanier. “It includes the university campus, which is the fifth biggest university across Canada, and the ByWard Market, which also, beyond being a historic draw, is also an entertainment district.”

He added that the area also has the highest instances of graffiti and property standards complaints.

“You can go across and really see that we have most calls for service for a lot of those elements,” he said. “It’s not something I take proudly, it’s reality. It’s from before I was here, and it will continue.”

However, the spike is significant. Ward 17, Capital, had the third highest number of complaints, and is also considered downtown, but Rideau-Vanier had more than three times the number of issues.

Anyone can make a complaint by calling 311. According to Eric Boivin, a supervisor for the 12 noise bylaw officers in Ottawa, complaints between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. merit an automatic ticket, or the officer must write a report stating why one was not issued. If the complaint is made during the day, between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m., the officer must use a sound meter to check the sound level. Anything above 55 decibels, the equivalent of light traffic or conversational speech, is considered a violation.

He said that although the officers do get complaints about construction, they are typically in the early morning, and would not account for the large number of violations that occur in the early afternoon.

Those incidents, Fleury said, are likely caused by people starting parties early on the weekends if there is a football or hockey game playing. Due to the density in the area, even a small gathering with music playing and open windows could earn someone a complaint.

Ottawa handles its noise complaints differently than other cities, according to Boivin, because they are dealt with municipally as opposed to by the police force. He said municipalities are looking to the nation’s capital for guidance on how to handle these types of complaints.

“Small communities will have bylaw enforcements like we do but they won’t work the hours that we work,” he said. “We’re not 24 hours, but we’re about a 20-hour operation.”

What that means is that despite that Rideau-Vanier receives the highest number of calls, resources to deal with violations are a city-wide issue. Fleury said that he receives plenty of support from City Hall, but the ultimate goal is always to get the number of complaints down.

“For the city’s response, there is equality in the process that doesn’t discriminate as to where the complaint comes in,” Fleury said. “There’s an equal service. Where there is less noise, councilors may not see the benefit of increasing the bylaw to 24/7, or adding more restrictions to noise, and that’s where urban neighbourhoods sometimes struggle.”

Understandably, Fleury said, different times of year yield more calls to bylaw, like Canada Day and 101 Week at the University of Ottawa.

“I’d love to see that number drop more significantly, but we are a very eclectic neighbourhood, and that’s also want people want, so we have to find that balance between being fun, but also having quality of life,” he said.

One of Canada’s strangest exports, bovine semen, continues to rise.
In terms of dollar value, total exports of semen for breeding purposes have increased by just over 43 percent, nearly half in the last five years.

Andreas Boecker, a professor of agricultural economics at Guelph University, says that for breeding purposes it is easier and cheaper to ship semen rather than shipping live animals and so it is becoming more common. “You have a higher risk with sending animals long distances, if they get sick” he says, “with semen there is virtually no risk,” because it can be frozen and shipped.

Canada has been able to become one of the world’s top exporters of bovine semen because Canada’s breeds are viewed as superior, but also because of technological developments in the field of bovine genetics.

Lynsay Beavers, of the Canadian Dairy Network, says that technology and programs for testing semen is far more developed in North America than in other parts of the world. “We have a lot of farmers in the country that participate in breed improvement programs,” she says, “these programs really developed good genetics.”

The Canadian Dairy Network is an organization that specializes in genetic research for cows. Beavers says technological developments have not only allowed for higher fertility rates in Canadian semen, but also in what is known as “sexed semen.” Machines can now identify which sperm cells are more likely to produce female as opposed to male calves, and the cells are then simply separated. “It involves no genetic modification,” Beavers says.

Females are typically preferred over males not only in dairy production but also sometimes in beef production. “The males, unless you select them for further breeding, have no market value,” Boecker says.

While the United States is by far the leading destination for Canada’s bovine semen, the product is shipped to several countries across the globe. Some countries are increasing their imports of Canadian semen dramatically. China and Russia, two countries in the top ten for semen destinations, have tripled their imports in the last five years.

Source: Industry Canada

Top Ten Canadian Bovine Semen Export Destinations 2014

Source: Industry Canada

Alberta and Ontario are the two leading provinces in semen export. Combined the two provinces accounted for 99 per cent of the total exports in 2014.

As a testament to the research and development in bovine genetics, Canada has even begun to outdo certain breeds in their place of origin. Holsteins, for example, is a breed that originally came to North America from Germany with European settlers. Boecker says that we now export Holstein semen to Germany. “It became a much more specialized breed in Canada,” he says.

Beavers says that both female and male genetics are sold for breeding purposes, but it is male semen that dominates the international market, while female genetics are typically only sold by small farmers. Female genetics are harder to collect, she says while “semen can be collected every day.”

While semen is generally produced for dairy cows, Boecker says semen for beef production is increasingly becoming profitable. “There is an increasing demand for beef cattle,” he says, which means Canada’s exports are likely to still increase in the coming years.

On average, more than one phone call per hour was made to complain about animals in the city of Ottawa in 2015, according to an analysis of data used to track complaints in the city.

Animal calls were of particular concern in the Rideau area. The wards of Rideau-Vanier and Rideau-Rockcliffe combined for more than 1500 calls. No other ward had over 600.

One explanation for this is the lack of park space in the urban Rideau wards. “It’s all related to green space and the amount of parks that we have in the community, it’s very limited,” said Rideau-Vanier councillor Mathieu Fleury. “We’re an urban ward, there are a lot of mixed-income neighbourhoods and there’s limited green space.”

Rideau-Rockcliffe councillor Tobi Nussbaum sees a similar situation happening in his ward. “I suspect it’s a factor of living in a part of the city that’s fairly urbanized and where there’s a certain amount of scarcity of green space,” said Nussbaum. “That space needs to satisfy the needs of all users.”

Nussbaum notes that the most common complaints come from disputes over the use of the limited space: “The ones that I can think of include dog owners who are interested in whether additional off-leash parks can be established. And of course we also hear form residents who are unhappy when dogs are off leash in parks that aren’t off-leash areas.”

While off-leash issues make up for a large portion of the complaints, they aren’t the only ones that get filed about dogs. Fleury mentions a hill that children slide on during the winter at MacDonald Gardens Park. “It’s also a dog park and there’s an interaction where the younger kids have eaten yellow snow.”

In 2014, an effort to reduce the number of calls sparked a change in dog signage. Signs clearly outlining whether dogs were allowed in the park were erected in Rideau-Vanier. They haven’t helped, as 2015 saw an increase of more than a hundred calls for the ward. “It remains a challenge. There’s no perfect situation,” said Fleury. “As soon as you speak of dogs in parks, you have the ‘thank yous’ and you have the ‘what are you doings?’ And that’s tough because in the end it is a community choice, not a political one.”

The complaints are grouped into three priorities, with the off-leash calls and other minor disturbances being labeled as having the least amount of significance. Calls that are considered ‘Priority 1’ involve incidents where people or animals are in danger.

There’s been at least one situation in which city officials weren’t sure what to do. “The strangest call we’ve had is one where a deer was reported walking through a neighbourhood in our ward,” recalled Nussbaum. “And it was one where we realized that there was actually very little one could do in that situation. As long as the animal is not posing a danger to residents, you just hope that the animal finds its way back into the wild. Which is what happened in this case.”

A list of Vanier parks that are currently designated for animal use.

A list of Rockcliffe parks that are currently designated for animal use.