8 Canada
8 Canada March 1 2023 | World and Press Conservatives in western Canada pass law rejecting federal sovereignty PROVINCES A new law in the province of Alberta radically circumscribes federal authority. mit Audiodatei und Übungsmaterial By Ian Austen 1 IN THE heavily conservative western prairie province of Alberta, Canada, many residents, especially those on the far right, chafed at the COVID-19 restrictions imposed by the Liberal federal government in Ottawa, the country’s capital. The widespread resentment helped fuel the enormous truck blockade this year that disrupted trade with the United States and paralyzed Ottawa for a month. 2 Now, oil-rich Alberta has ratcheted up the long-running schism between western and eastern Canada by approving a bill allowing the province to ignore any federal laws and regulations it opposes, a move some critics described as an unconstitutional threat to the basic fabric of the country’s government. 3 The leader of Alberta’s provincial government, Danielle Smith, justified her support for the bill by saying, “It’s not like Ottawa is a national government,” a conclusion that is widely disputed by constitutional experts. Smith, who is the leader of Alberta’s United Conservative Party and the premier of the province, added: “The way our country works is that we are a federation of sovereign, independent jurisdictions.” 4 The new law is the latest development reflecting an informal, far-right effort in western Canadian provinces, mainly Alberta, to secede from Canada, underscoring just how difficult it can be for Ottawa to govern the regionally divided country. 5 Though Smith is not a member of any group participating in the secessionist movement, sometimes called Wexit, she has long espoused its driving view 0 – 2 SOVEREIGNTY Souveränität — to circumscribe einschränken — on the far right am rechten Rand — to chafe at s.th. s. über etw. ärgern — restriction Beschränkung — resentment Groll — to paralyze lähmen — to ratchet up verschärfen — schism Spaltung; Kluft — bill Gesetzentwurf — unconstitutional verfassungswidrig — fabric Gefüge 3 – 4 to justify rechtfertigen — conclusion Schluss- folgerung — constitutional expert Verfassungsexperte(-in) — sovereign souverän — jurisdiction Zuständigkeitsbereich — to secede s. abspalten; s.w.u. secessionist sezessionistisch — to underscore unterstreichen Danielle Smith, the leader of Alberta’s provincial government. | Photo: Jason Franson/Zumapress/Picture Alliance that the federal government is taking advantage of Alberta. Holding views considered extreme even among Canadian conservatives, Smith has opposed all pandemic measures, including vaccines and masks. Her government has suggested that Alberta’s law could be used to reject federal authority and laws in several areas, including public health, the environment, and firearms. 6 Critics, however, say that the law is a constitutional overreach by the province that is unlikely to survive a court challenge. They also say the legislation will create uncertainty that may cause investors to shy away from Alberta and could jeopardize Indigenous peoples’ rights and treaty obligations. 7 The law reflects the province’s deep-seated grievances toward the federal government. Many Albertans have long argued that Ottawa has exploited the wealth generated by the province’s lu- crative energy industry for the benefit of other provinces while dismissing pressing needs in Alberta, including increased funds for health care. The overwhelming majority of Alberta’s energy is exported, and the province is the largest source of imported oil for the United States. 8 They view Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s ambitious program to move away from fossil fuels to combat climate change as a threat to their vital industry and his progressive government as out of touch with Albertans on many issues, particularly gun control. In introducing the proposed law, Smith said, “I hope that we’ve sent a message to Ottawa that we will vigorously defend our constitutional areas of jurisdiction, and they should just butt out.” 9 But political scientists and analysts said the law is less about constitutional jurisdiction than it is about attracting the secessionist and anti-vaccination movements by tapping into a strain of anger and disenchantment toward the federal government and toward Trudeau in particular. “This is coming from a deepseated anger at the federal government and Justin Trudeau,” said Duane Bratt, a professor of political science at Mount Royal University in Calgary. “She clearly wants to fight with Trudeau.” 10 Trudeau, for his part, does not seem interested in taking the bait. While the federal government has the power to override the law or to take it directly to Canada’s Supreme Court for a constitutional review, there is no sign that he plans to pursue either move. After the law was adopted, he told reporters that he was “not interested in fighting with the Alberta government.” 11 Many legal experts say the law is unconstitutional because it claims the authority to nullify bills passed by federal lawmakers. While provinces historically have a little room in Canada’s system in how they enforce and follow federal legislation, “Alberta now takes two large steps forward to 5 – 6 to espouse verfechten — driving h.: vorherrschend — firearms Schusswaffen — overreach Übergriff — court challenge Anfechtung vor Gericht — legislation Gesetz(gebung) — uncertainty Ungewissheit — to jeopardize gefährden — treaty obligations vertragliche Verpflichtungen 7 – 8 grievance(s) Unmut — to generate erzeugen — to dismiss abtun; abweisen — pressing need dringender Bedarf — overwhelming überwältigend — to combat eindämmen — vital lebensnotwendig — out of touch abgehoben; wirklichkeitsfern — vigorously energisch — to butt out (coll.) s. raushalten 9 – 10 political scientist Politologe(-in) — antivaccination movement Impfgegner — to tap into s.th. s. etw. zunutze machen — strain Art — disenchantment Ernüchterung; Verdrossenheit — to take the bait s. ködern lassen — to override außer Kraft setzen — to pursue verfolgen 11 – 13 to claim für s. beanspruchen — to nullify für ungültig erklären — lawmaker Parlamentarier(in) — to enforce durchsetzen — application Anwendung — constitutional law Verfassungsrecht — to contend argumentieren — to disregard ignorieren — chamber of commerce Handelskammer — broadcaster Sender — left-leaning linksgerichtet — act Gesetz say that the existence of flexible federalism is a grounds for the province to refuse, in a direct and frontal way, the applications of federal laws,” said Eric Adams, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. 12 Critics of the law have included business and energy groups that are usually allies of conservative politicians but that contend that selectively disregarding federal rules could drive away investment and cost the province jobs. “This could cause us problems within Canada and with other provinces, as well as with Ottawa,” Deborah Yedlin, CEO of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, told Global News, a broadcaster. 13 Rachel Notley, leader of the provincial branch of the leftleaning New Democratic Party, called on Smith to seek an immediate court review. “I believe this act will fail in the courts, but, for the sake of Alberta workers, we should get that rolling as quickly as possible to limit the chaos and the uncertainty this act creates,” Notley, a former premier, told reporters. … © 2022 The New York Times Company This article originally appeared in The New York Times. 978-3-15-014136-6 Reclams Rote Reihe Niveau B1 – C1 Englische Literatur im Original NEU Ungekürzte und unbearbeitete Originaltexte, mit Worterklärungen am Fuß jeder Seite, Nachwort und Literaturhinweisen. www.reclam.de/lehrerservice Unser Service für Lehrer* Bestellung von Prüfexemplaren mit 30% Rabatt Exklusive Sonderangebote Regelmäßige Informationen über Neuerscheinungen Kostenlose Downloads von Unterrichtshilfen Informationen und Bestellungen über lehrerservice@reclam.de Reclam * Gilt aus preisbindungsrechtlichen Gründen nur für Lehrer*innen an allgemeinbildenden Schulen.
World and Press | March 1 2023 Hungry and on the march as the climate heats up: Termites in Australia CLIMATE CHANGE The continent’s unique giant northern termite has a highly destructive appetite and loves a warmer planet. mit Audiodatei By Frances Vinall in Tennant Creek 1 IN A FORGOTTENrestaurant behind a gas station in this country’s red center, only metal and plastic parts remain unscathed. Chris Cook grabs at a timber door frame, which crumples like paper in his hand. “This has all just collapsed,” says Cook, a manager at Territory Pest Control in Australia’s Northern Territory. He eyes boards hanging in ragged pieces from the ceiling. Since he last visited the abandoned building three years ago, thousands of uninvited guests have been busy. 2 The destruction at the Galaxy Auditorium restaurant at Wycliffe Well – a tiny highway stop calling itself the “UFO capital of Australia” – is the destruction that could lie ahead for many places on the continent unless Mastotermes darwiniensis can be stopped. These termites are the last survivors of an ancestral species that shared space with dinosaurs 150 million years ago. They’re voracious and relentless. And because of climate change, they, like their fellow kin, are expanding their range. 3 A study conducted on six continents and published in ‘Science’ this fall revealed just how much termites love a warming planet. “The extreme response was really surprising,” said Amy Zanne, a professor in tropical ecology at the University of Miami and the study’s lead author. She corralled more than 100 scientists to place blocks of wood at 133 sites around the world and then to A Mastotermes darwiniensis sinks its pincers into a splinter of wood. Chris Cook examines a tree stump devoured by giant northern termites in the town of Tennant Creek. | Photos: Frances Vinall/ The Washington Post In less than three years, giant northern termites have destroyed the Galaxy Auditorium restaurant in Australia’s Northern Territory. measure the speed at which they were eaten in different climates. “We ran the numbers again and again,” she said. Termites are crazy about heat, the study confirmed and quantified. For every ten-degree increase in temperature, their “wood discovery and consumption” increased almost sevenfold. 4 The Australian species is the most primitive of all termites, the closest to the root of the evolutionary tree. Also called “Mastos” or giant northern termites, they have a breeding superpower: Almost any member of a colony can transform itself into the breeding queen if the previous monarch is felled. Not only that, they have a broad palate and have been known to eat lead, plastic, leather, ivory, and asphalt. Cook once treated a colony that took to a concrete building’s water pipes and climbed eight stories. The species has long been an infuriating part of life in the tropical north of Australia, the only place it once was found. But over the past two decades, it has started establishing itself farther south. 5 Cook spends his days driving thousands of miles across the often scorching Northern Territory. Tennant Creek – more than ten hours from Darwin, the territory’s capital and the closest city – is the small community where he’s testing whether the termites can be blocked or at least contained with bait. The greatest worry is the impact they could have on the main town in Australia’s huge and isolated Outback: Alice Springs, population 25,000, directly in the line of their apparent advance. “It’s a matter of when, not if,” Cook said of the prospect. “They’re going to get here, and when they get here, they’re going to cause a lot of problems.” 6 Theo Evans, a biologist at the University of Western Australia who specializes in termites, said the giant northern termite first appeared about 20 years ago in the town of Ti Tree, 800 miles south of Darwin. It’s now a common pest there, chomping through structures and hollowing out the local palm trees, a particularly favorite meal. Australia 9 7 Yet the pest control business has already treated damage several hours to the south, including in the remote Indigenous community of Papunya, which discovered its school under attack. 8 Temperature extremes are what have protected arid parts of Australia to date. In the country’s tropical zones, where the weather is reliably balmy, the giant northern’s gluttonous garrisons are plentiful. Like reptiles, the termites do not generate their own body heat but absorb it from the environment. Even in the tropics, when the temperature drops below 68 degrees, “these termites can barely walk,” Evans said. “It’s quite funny to see.” Frosty winter nights in Alice Springs are decreasing, though. Mean temperatures have increased by about 1 degree since 1910, and the number of days above 104 degrees annually has doubled since 1950. 9 Cook roamed Tennant Creek, checking a group of buildings that make up a tourist attraction touting the region’s gold mining past. He later would place the bait stations intended to attract termites, each containing a new pesticide intended to kill the insects after they inadvertently transport it back to their colonies. No bait so far has proved effective against Mastos. “If this product works ... we’ll be ready for when they hit Alice Springs,” he said. 10 Australia is far from the only place where worsening termite woes – and their extraordinary cost – seem likely as the world grows hotter. “People in Chicago, who have very few issues with termites – not zero, but very few – they might start getting the kinds of problems that people further south would have,” Evans said. “And people in Toronto who basically don’t have problems with termites at all, they might start getting the sorts of issues that Chicago has.” 11 Modeling in 2017 by Purdue University and the University of Lausanne concluded that 12 of the world’s 13 most invasive termite species could increase significantly in distribution by 2050, given Earth’s current temperature trajectories. The possible incursion zones extend from Canada to Patagonia, Finland to Iran, New Zealand to Namibia – and even to Greenland. … © 2023 The Washington Post 0 – 1 ON THEmarch (fig) auf dem Vormarsch — unique einzigartig; h.: endemisch — gas station Tankstelle — unscathed unversehrt — timber Holz- — to crumple zerfallen — pest control Schädlingsbekämpfung — to eye begutachten — in ragged pieces in Fetzen 2 ancestral Ur- — voracious; s.w.u. gluttonous gefräßig — relentless unermüdlich — fellow kin verwandte Arten — range Verbreitungsgebiet 3 fall (AE) Herbst — tropical ecology Tropenökologie — lead author Hauptautor(in) — to corral (coll) zus.bringen — to run the numbers (fig) die Zahlen durchgehen — to quantify in Zahlen ausdrücken — consumption Verzehr — sevenfold um das Siebenfache 4 primitive urtümlich — evolutionary tree phylogenetischer Baum — to transform s. verwandeln — breeding queen Brutkönigin — to fell töten — to have a broad palate (fig) e-n vielseitigen Geschmack haben — lead Blei — ivory Elfenbein — story (AE) Stockwerk — infuriating äußerst ärgerlich 5 – 7 scorching glühend heiß — to contain eindämmen — bait Köder — advance Vormarsch — prospect Aussicht — to chomp (coll) beißen — structure Gebäude — to hollow out aushöhlen — Indigenous indigen 8 – 9 arid trocken — balmy mild — garrison Garnison; h.: (fig) Schar — 68 degrees (Fahrenheit) 20 °C — mean Durchschnitts- — 104 degrees 40 °C — to roam streifen durch — to tout anpreisen — gold mining Goldgräber- — inadvertently unabsichtlich 10 – 11 woes Probleme — modeling Modellierung — to conclude zu dem Schluss kommen — distribution Verbreitung — given angesichts — trajectory Verlaufskurve; h.: Entwicklung — incursion Einfall; h.: Ausbreitungs- — to extend s. erstrecken
