Canada’s new environment minister will be a former Greenpeace activist who was once arrested for scaling Toronto’s CN Tower during a 2001 protest, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Tuesday.

In a news release naming his new cabinet, Mr Trudeau named Steven Guibeault, a Quebec MP who had been serving as the Minister of Canadian Heritage since November 2019, as his new Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

Mr Guibeault, whose Laurier–Sainte-Marie district is located in downtown Montreal, has been a member of the House of Commons since October 2019.

A member of the Liberal Party, Mr Guibeault’s career before being elected to parliament included a decade with Greenpeace Canada, seven years of which were spent helming the group’s Quebec bureau.

In 2001, he was arrested and charged with mischief after climbing what was then the world’s tallest freestanding structure and unfurling a banner protesting Canada and then-US president George W Bush’s positions on the Kyoto climate protocol…read more.

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin on Monday announced it wants to launch a space station that will house up to 10 people in the second half of the decade, as the race to commercialize the cosmos heats up.

“Orbital Reef,” described in a press statement as a mixed-use business park in space that will support microgravity research and manufacturing, is a joint venture with commercial space company Sierra Space and has the support of Boeing and Arizona State University.

“For over sixty years, NASA and other space agencies have developed orbital space flight and space habitation, setting us up for commercial business to take off in this decade,” said Blue Origin executive Brent Sherwood.

“We will expand access, lower the cost, and provide all the services and amenities needed to normalize space flight.”

The private outpost is one of several planned in the coming years as NASA considers the future of the International Space Station after the 2020s…read more.

Canucks players will likely be hearing more cheers from the crowd at Rogers Arena than previously expected when the puck drops for the NHL team’s home-opener next week.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced Tuesday B.C. would return to 100% capacity at indoor sporting events, symphony concerts, movie theatres and more effective October 25.

Patrons will be required to show proof of vaccination upon entry into these locations.

“We’re hoping to leverage the benefits of the vaccine card and this is an important first step,” Henry said.

“We’ll be monitoring carefully and looking at whether we can take away additional restrictions depending on how things evolve over the next few weeks.”

Restrictions requiring everyone to remain at their own tables at restaurants and pubs are also being lifted “to allow a little bit more freedom of movement [due to] the fact that everybody in those situations will be fully vaccinated,” she added.

Henry was also quick to emphasize that other public health restrictions, such as mask mandates, remain in effect…read more.

What P&G Said about Soaring Costs, Supply Chain Woes, Inflation, and Trying to Keep Shelves Stocked

Procter & Gamble [PG], which makes a broad range of consumer and health-care products, released its quarterly earnings today. Let me give you the short form: Sales up some, costs up a whole bunch, profits down.

The company said that in addition to the price increases announced since April, it would implement more price increases to deal with rising costs. In its outlook, it upped the hit to earnings per share from surging commodities costs and transportation woes.

CFO Andre Schulten explained how the company had to jump through hoops, trying to keep the shelves stocked, including by limiting how much some retailers can buy to prevent hoarding. He complained about driver shortages. “We do not anticipate any easing of costs,” he said.

In April, P&G announced the first batch of price increases “in the range of mid to high single-digits,” on baby care, feminine care, and adult incontinence products, to respond to surging commodity costs and transportation costs. Later, it announced price increases on its family care, home care, and fabric care products. Over the past few weeks, it announced to US retailers price increases on its grooming, skin care, and oral care products. It has been a flow of price increases.

“The degree of timing of these moves are very specific to the category, brand, and sometimes the product form within a brand,” Schulten told analysts at the conference call this morning.

The first price increases started to show up on the shelves in September, and were barely reflected in Q1 ended September 30.

So, for the quarter ended September 30 (Q1 of its fiscal year 2022), P&G reported this morning, compared to Q1 a year ago, in a demonstration of how inflation bites (bold):

• Sales: +5%
• Costs of products sold: +13%
• So, gross profit: -2%
• Selling and admin expenses: +1%
• Operating income: -5%
• But interest expenses fell and income taxes fell
• Net earnings: -4%.

That 5% sales increase was a result of, well, mostly unrelated to selling more:

• Actual increase in volume: +2%
• Foreign exchange: +1%
• Price increases, which just started taking effect in September: +1%
• Change in mix to costlier and premium products and to the Health Care business: +1%.

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