Paradiplomacy between the U.S. and Canadian provinces: The case of acid rain memoranda of understanding

The role of subnational jurisdictions such as states in the United States and provinces in Canada in foreign policy-making has grown in recent years. A number of political scientists are analyzing subnational governments and their diplomatic activities (often referred to as paradiplomacy), the underlying causes and the effect such subnational transnational activities might have on the politics between the respective national governments (Duchacek 1986a, Soldatos 1986). This article will explore the subnational policy-making objectives of New York State with the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario with regard to acid rain. The focus will be an examination and comparison of the various Memoranda of Understanding signed by these parties bilaterally since 1982 (i.e., Quebec and New York and Ontario and New York). After a brief review of some of the conceptual work done by two political scientists in the area of transnational subnational politics, an overview of the politics of acid rain will be presented. An analysis of the acid rain agreements and current developments will follow. The article will conclude with a discussion of how these subnational activities between New York and Quebec and New York and Ontario shed light on the theoretical work and what questions might be pursued in the future.

Achieving the Paris Agreement 1.5 C target requires a reversal of the growing atmospheric concentrations of methane, which is about 80 times more potent than CO 2 on a 20-year timescale. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report stated that methane is underregulated, but little is known about the effectiveness of existing methane policies. In this review, we systematically examine existing methane policies across the energy, waste, and agriculture sectors. We find that currently only about 13% of methane emissions are covered by methane mitigation policies. Moreover, the effectiveness of these policies is far from clear, mainly because methane emissions are largely calculated using potentially unrepresentative estimates instead of direct measurements. Coverage and stringency are two major blind spots in global methane policies. These findings suggest that significant and underexplored mitigation opportunities exist, but unlocking them requires policymakers to identify a consistent approach for accurate quantification of methane emission sources alongside greater policy stringency. ll

The 2007 adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) marked a critical juncture in the area of Indigenous rights. As a nonbinding agreement, its adoption is at the discretion of each state, resulting in significant state-level variation. Importantly, within-state variations remain underexplored. These differences are potentially significant in federal, decentralized countries such as Canada. This article examines why some provinces and territories lead in implementing the key principles embedded in UNDRIP, whereas others have dragged their feet. We collected 230 Canadian regulations introduced at the subnational level between 2007 and 2023, and assessed the impact of three key variables (i.e. political ideology, resource politics and issue voting). We found that none of these variables explained within-state variations on their own. To further explore the role of these variables, we subsequently compared two provinces at different stages of the UNDRIP implementation spectrum (Québec and British Columbia).

Census procedures for blue grouse (Dendragapus obscurus) varied from intensive studies in Montana, Washington, and British Columbia to no work in Alaska, Arizona, the Northwest Territories, and Yukon. Extensive studies, varying as to degree, were conducted by Alberta, California, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming. The 1960 estimates indicated that approximately 300,000 blue grouse were harvested in North America. Estimates of grouse harvest were obtained by most states and provinces from questionnaires mailed to a random sample of smallgame hunters. Grouse harvest by species was estimated from check-station figures. Data sample size was small for both census and harvest. In 1961, I initiated correspondence, partly in the form of questionnaires, with all states and provinces which have blue grouse populations. The primary purpose was to discover census procedures applicable to Colorado. Tabulation of data from questionnaires indicated that further information on harvests was needed before census techniques could be evaluated, and I conducted additional correspondence to obtain this information (Rogers 1961). Blue grouse are present in 12 western states and 4 Canadian provinces (Aldrich, this issue, Fig. 2, page 533). Management of this species has involved much personal judgment based on few data, except in the states of Montana and Washington and the province of British Columbia. Most of the remaining states are now making some effort to determine general populations, establish population trends through counts, and secure harvest information. In many instances, this information is incidental to studies on other game species, although many new research and management studies on blue grouse have been initiated within the last 3 years. This new knowledge and interest are reflected in the reestablishment of hunting seasons in Utah and Wyoming, where they had been discontinued, and in longer hunting seasons and hence greater harvests in many other states. Early work on blue grouse dealt mainly with occurrence, nest locations, palatability, hunting, and numbers, with some reference to food relationships and migration. Complete life history and ecology studies of blue grouse were initiated in British Columbia and Washington about 1940 by graduate students in universities. About 1960, individual states inaugurated research and management studies.

Americans vote directly on all manner of topics at the sub-national level, including constitutional matters, major fiscal issues, local land use questions, education policy, electoral rules and questions of rights and liberties. Citizen-initiated measures (popular initiatives) are a dominant feature of politics in several American states. However, compared with most of the nations profiled in this volume, Americans have never cast ballots on a federal constitutional matter. Canadians, in contrast, have some limited experience with national referendums. Non-binding national referendums have been conducted on rare occasions, most recently in 1992, when voters rejected a complex constitutional accord that would have granted Quebec the status of a distinct society. At the provincial level, legislatively referred referendums are used occasionally. British Columbia is the only Canadian province with provisions for citizen-initiated referendums (Ruff 1993), although some Canadian municipalities allow a limited form of the popular initiative (Boyer 1992: 27).KeywordsState LegislatureDirect DemocracyConstitutional AmendmentCampaign SpendingBallot InitiativeThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

5 Children's Environmental Books Frederick W. Stoss Research Associate,Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Environmental Sciences Division,Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P.O. Box 2008 (MS-6335), Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6335 USA, TEL: 615-574-0390 FAX: 5 Children's Environmental Books Lucas, Eileen. Acid Rain. Chicago: Children's Press, 1991. 128 pp. ISBN: 0-516-05503-8. Printed on Evergreen Gloss 50% recycled preconsumer waste with binder of 100% recycled material. Acid rain is a general term referring to acids and other pollutants in rain, snow, clouds, fog, and aerosols. Called acidic deposition or acidic precipitation in technical settings, acid rain motivated a substantial research effort in the United States, Canada, and other industrial countries worldwide. Such research has sought the causes and effects of acidic deposition and options for mitigating its effects, and aims to provide information that will help policy makers evaluate alternative strategies to reduce the threat of acid rain. Since the study of acid rain involves the life, physical, social, and political sciences, the subject is a convenient one for integrating learning in the classroom. Lucas's first chapters discuss sources of air pollutants that contribute to the acidification of precipitation and provide several experiments related to the measurement of pH and the concepts of acid and base chemistry and buffering capacity. The phenomenon of long-range transport of air pollutants is adequately discussed. The effects of acid rain to soils, crops, forests, animals, and materials is discussed in rather general terms, while the last two chapters briefly cover options for reducing air emissions and the levels of action that can be taken to reduce the threat of acid rain. While Acid Rain makes an honest effort to present this topic in a non-biased, neutral fashion, the underlying rhetoric fringes on the activist side of the issue. Words describing dead or dying lakes occur frequently. While the consequences of acidified ecosystems have been well documented over the past twenty years, catastrophic ecological damage attributed solely to acid rain has been perhaps exaggerated by the media. However, Lucas' Acid Rain provides one of the better treatments of the topic. Acid Rain is designed for the advanced upper middle school to the high school student and is amply illustrated with color photographs, line drawings, charts, and graphs. A series of field, laboratory, and classroom activities and exercises are included as sidebars to the text. The book is rounded out with a list of pertinent nongovernmental organizations, a brief glossary, and a rather good index. Acid Rain would serve school and public libraries best; nature centers, natural history museums, and science centers providing science classes in a an informal setting would also find this a useful resource. Russell, F. William. ed. Animal Families of the Wild. New York: Crown Publishers (Random House), 1990. 82 pp. US $12.95 trade ISBN: 0-517-57358-X; library binding, ISBN: 0- 51757359-8. William Russell has selected excerpts from five well- known wildlife/nature authors, including James Michener (Centennial) and Farley Mowat (Never Cry Wolf) to be read aloud to younger children or to be read alone by older children. Each story is accompanied by an introduction to its theme and side bars to

Background:The geographic range of the tick Amblyomma americanum, a vector of diseases of public health significance such as ehrlichiosis, has expanded from the southeast of the United States northward during the 20th century. Recently, populations of this tick have been reported to be present close to the Canadian border in Michigan and New York states, but established populations are not known in Canada. Previous research suggests that changing temperature patterns with climate change may influence tick life cycles and permit northward range expansion of ticks in the northern hemisphere.Objectives:We aimed to estimate minimal temperature conditions for survival of A. americanum populations at the northern edge of the tick’s range and to investigate the possibility of range expansion of A. americanum into northern U.S. states and southern Canada in the coming decades.Methods:A simulation model of the tick A. americanum was used, via simulations using climate data from meteorological stations in the United States and Canada, to estimate minimal temperature conditions for survival of A. americanum populations at the northern edge of the tick’s range.Results:The predicted geographic scope of temperature suitability [ annual cumulative degree days (DD) ] included most of the central and eastern U.S. states east of longitude 110°W, which is consistent with current surveillance data for the presence of the tick in this region, as well as parts of southern Quebec and Ontario in Canada. Regional climate model output raises the possibility of northward range expansion into all provinces of Canada from Alberta to Newfoundland and Labrador during the coming decades, with the greatest northward range expansion (up to by the year 2100) occurring under the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5. Predicted northward range expansion was reduced by approximately half under the reduced GHG emissions of RCP4.5.Discussion:Our results raise the possibility of range expansion of A. americanum into northern U.S. states and southern Canada in the coming decades, and conclude that surveillance for this tick, and the diseases it transmits, would be prudent. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP5668

The Economics of Home Dialysis: Acting for the Individual While Planning Responsibly for the Population

Transatlantic Editorial: The Use of Multiple Arterial Grafts for Coronary Revascularization in Europe and North America

In September 2019, destruction of a Vespa mandarinia Smith 1852 nest was reported for the first time in North America in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. In December 2019, the Washington State Department of Agriculture also confirmed the first detection of an adult specimen of V. mandarinia in the United States, in Whatcom County, Washington. Vespa mandarinia is the largest hornet species and is a known predator of several insects, including the European honey bee (Apis mellifera) (Hymenoptera: Apidae) (Linnaeus, 1758). The establishment of V. mandarinia in North America poses a serious threat to apiculture, and this species is considered an actionable quarantine pest. Here we report details of the first detection of this species in the United States and use genetic sequence data obtained from five specimens across the globe to estimate differences in origin of the Canadian and U.S. detections. The full mitochondrial genomes of four V. mandarinia specimens representing different geographic locations were sequenced and compared with an existing reference genome. A maximum likelihood tree using 13 protein-coding regions from mitochondrial DNA suggests that the Canada and U.S. specimens are from two separate maternal lineages. A large-scale survey is currently underway to assess the level of Asian giant hornet establishment in both countries and to determine the future direction of eradication efforts.

In just a few short years, pepino mosaic disease has quickly become endemic in greenhouse tomatoes around the world. Although three genotypes of Pepino mosaic virus (PepMV) were identified in the United States, genetic composition of PepMV in greenhouse tomato crops in North America has not been determined. In this study, genetic variability and population structure of PepMV were evaluated through nucleotide sequence comparison and phylogenetic analysis of two genomic regions (helicase domain and TGB2-3) derived from 91 cDNA clones that were derived from 31 field-collected samples. These samples were collected from several major greenhouse tomato facilities in five states in the United States and two provinces in Canada. All four major genotypes of PepMV (EU, US1, US2, and CH2) were found in North America. Three distinct genotypes (EU, US1, and US2) were found in mixed infection in samples collected from Arizona and Colorado, two genotypes (EU and CH2) in Texas, and a single genotype (EU) in Alabama and California and the provinces of British Columbia and Ontario in Canada. The complexity of population genetics of PepMV in the United States poses an additional challenge to the greenhouse tomato industry because a tomato cultivar with durable resistance to multiple genotypes of PepMV may be harder to develop.

Rates of acidic deposition from the atmosphere (‘acid rain’) have decreased throughout the 1980s and 1990s across large portions of North America and Europe1,2. Many recent studies have attributed observed reversals in surface-water acidification at national3 and regional4 scales to the declining deposition. To test whether emissions regulations have led to widespread recovery in surface-water chemistry, we analysed regional trends between 1980 and 1995 in indicators of acidification (sulphate, nitrate and base-cation concentrations, and measured (Gran) alkalinity) for 205 lakes and streams in eight regions of North America and Europe. Dramatic differences in trend direction and strength for the two decades are apparent. In concordance with general temporal trends in acidic deposition, lake and stream sulphate concentrations decreased in all regions with the exception of Great Britain; all but one of these regions exhibited stronger downward trends in the 1990s than in the 1980s. In contrast, regional declines in lake and stream nitrate concentrations were rare and, when detected, were very small. Recovery in alkalinity, expected wherever strong regional declines in sulphate concentrations have occurred, was observed in all regions of Europe, especially in the 1990s, but in only one region (of five) in North America. We attribute the lack of recovery in three regions (south/central Ontario, the Adirondack/Catskill mountains and midwestern North America) to strong regional declines in base-cation concentrations that exceed the decreases in sulphate concentrations.

Issues have not disappeared in Canada-U.S. relations. (1) In Canada's relations with the United States, as in other matters, for example, according to Seymour Martin Lipset, identity is the quintessential Canadian issue. (2) What has changed in recent years, however, is the treatment of issues at the top of the authority pyramid as a tactic of overall foreign policy conduct--the issues themselves remain. Historical Highlighting of Issues When John Diefenbaker met John F. Kennedy and British Prime Minister Macmillan in Nassau in December 1962, there was no uncertainty, either publicly or privately, about issues. (3) Kennedy wanted Diefenbaker to place, in Canada, missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Once again, Diefenbaker demurred. There were other high-level diplomatic exchanges regarding this matter, including a visit to Ottawa by senior U.S. military figures. Canada and the United States had no doubts regarding the ranking of foreign issues, or where the two countries differed, regardless of the language used to express these differences of perspective. Similarly, when Prime Minister Trudeau enunciated the doctrine of Policy for Canadians, the absence of any mention of the U.S. was not a problem for Washington to decipher. Trudeau had articulated a Canadian desire for diversification of Canadian foreign policy, especially Canadian trade policy toward Europe and toward trading partners other than the United States. Washington never believed that this would be easy to achieve. But that a link with Europe would be attempted and, if successful, would have consequence for Canada-U.S. relations, Washington fully comprehended. Perhaps the most conscious and focused expression of foreign policy issue-making came in the Mulroney government. Canadians are very hard on their prime ministers, especially after these powerful officials again become ordinary citizens. Although historians have yet to give Mulroney his due in terms of foreign policy achievement, his effort to get the Reagan government to do something about acid rain was masterful. With Derek Burney as Chief of Staff and Allan Gotlieb as Ambassador to the United States, Secretary for External Affairs Joe Clark and the Prime Minister first declared that acid rain was a national issue, not a local issue as the United States contended. They then asserted with naked clarity (and some on the American side would say with naked brashness) that acid rain was the number one foreign policy anxiety for Canada. This hyping of a single issue (in the U.S. view) turned out to be greatly successful for Canada, obtaining for it expenditure of a magnitude not otherwise to be expected on a matter upon which the United States was vulnerable but also potentially quite recalcitrant. All of these historical examples involved efforts by one government or the other to move a foreign policy agenda by highlighting priorities. (4) Issues were not ambiguous. Nor was the relative importance of these issues left unclear, no matter how much they may have been coated in diplomatic language or expressions of warmth and good feeling between governments. Do Situations and Interests Create Foreign Policy Issues? Some of the causal underpinnings of these approaches to bilateral diplomacy are relevant here. In 1960, the United States found that its bomber fleet was becoming increasingly vulnerable to attack. Location of missiles at different spots in North America, including Canada, would help to diffuse the threat and to increase the deterrent capability of the U.S. nuclear forces. Hence this situation, which was historically unique and specific to technological need, drove the issue of whether to request permission to locate nuclear missiles in Canada. Likewise, the Canadian interest in an independent foreign policy undergirded its effort to diversify its trade links in the first Trudeau government, and eventually to seek a special relationship with Europe through the so-called contractual link. …

Allergen of the Month—Western Red Cedar

Reviewed by: Bridging National Borders in North America: Transnational and Comparative Histories Michael M. Smith Bridging National Borders in North America: Transnational and Comparative Histories. Edited by Benjamin H. Johnson and Andrew R. Graybill. (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2010. Pp. 384. Illustrations, maps, notes, bibliography, index. ISBN 9780822346883, $89.95 cloth; ISBN 9780822346999, $24.95 paper.) First presented at a two-part symposium cosponsored and hosted by the Department of History at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, and the Clements Center for Southwest Studies at Southern Methodist University during 2006 and 2007, these ten original essays offer cogent insights into the possibilities and value of approaching transnational history from a continental perspective and integrating the study of both the U.S.-Mexican and U.S.-Canadian border regions into the broader narrative of the North American past. Some of these works focus exclusively on the U.S.-Mexican borderlands, others treat the U.S.-Canadian region, and two consider both borders together. As editors Benjamin H. Johnson and Andrew R. Graybill note in their introduction, the concepts expressed in this groundbreaking volume should help bridge the "intellectual and spatial divides that all too often separate historians engaged with critical questions about a continent . . . where border building and border crossing have become central features of contemporary life." (25) This anthology is divided into four main parts. The two essays comprising the first section, "Peoples In Between," discuss dynamics of the relations among residents of the U.S.-Mexican border region during the mid-to-late 1800s and the inherent difficulties of determining the citizenship and a discrete racial category for trans-border Plains Métis (mixed bloods) in Western Canada in the 1870s. Part two, entitled "Environmental Control and State Making," treats Canadian efforts to prevent the spread of communicable diseases across the northern border, ranching and the international movement of livestock along the western U.S. Mexican border, and efforts to conserve the diminishing salmon population in the waters off Washington State and British Columbia. Part three, "Border Enforcement and Contestation," examines the efforts of national governments to enforce borders and border crossing through an analysis of the operations of the Bureau of Immigration during World War I and the attempts of Japanese citizens, legally barred from immigrating to the United States or Canada, to invoke the "transit privilege" under international law in order to enter the United States and travel to Mexico or Canada. The final section, "Border Representation and National Identity," focuses on such cultural themes as racial romanticism and the development of Mexican tourism, depiction of the two borders in Hollywood motion pictures during the first half of the twentieth century, and the historiography of the northern fur trade. Three articles are particularly relevant to those interested in the history of Texas and the Southwest: Miguel Ángel González's revisionist "Conflict and Cooperation in the Making of Texas-Mexico Border Society, 1840-1880," Rachel St. John's excellent "Divided Ranges: Trans-border Ranches and the Creation of National Space along the Western Mexico-U.S. Border," and S. Deborah Kang's "Crossing the Line: The INS and the Federal Regulation of the Mexican Border." All of the offerings in this collection reflect skillful exposition, thoughtful analysis, and careful scholarship. Representing a broad range of topics from the mid-nineteenth to [End Page 464] the mid-twentieth century, they provide a solid foundation and point of departure for further research in an area of intellectual inquiry that should become an increasingly important focus of attention of scholars in the future. [End Page 465] Michael M. Smith Oklahoma State University Copyright © 2011 The Texas State Historical Association