Goats to the Rescue

Phragmites (pronounced frag-mite-eez) is a particularly aggressive kind of grass that looks like a towering reed. It poses a massive threat to green spaces across Ontario, choking out other plants and destroying habitats for wildlife. In the last few years, the species has hit the Niagara Region particularly hard. The Ontario government recently earmarked $13 million to fight phragmites. But a team of 40 goats (nicknamed the Green Grazers) are already on the case, deployed to weed out the invasive species.

This summer, the Grazers have chomped on the enemy in a natural preservation area for about eight hours a day. For Maclean’s, Courtney Shea interviewed Victoria Kaleniuk, the Niagara Parks environmental planning technician who initiated the goat offensive, about why the herbivorous, four-stomached animals are uniquely qualified to tackle the problem. “Goats will eat anything!” she explains. “They’re known as the bush hogs of the farming world.”

—Sarah Fulford, editor-in-chief

This year, a crippling cyberattack shut down the Toronto Public Library’s computer system for four months. It was just one of several high-profile ransomware attacks to hit Canadian institutions over the last few years. In this feature from our September issue, Caitlin Walsh Miller reports on the new generation of ultra-sophisticated cybercriminals targeting governments, corporations, hospitals and libraries—and how ill-equipped Canada is to fight back.

This summer, decorated fighter pilot Jameel Janjua became the first Canadian to fly a commercial spacecraft. He’s part of a push toward a new era of extraterrestrial travel—one that involves sending billionaires into space, yes, but also supporting valuable scientific research. We spoke to him about how he landed the gig, what his first mission was like, and the text he got from his friend (and childhood hero) Chris Hadfield after landing.

FROM THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE

Everyone knows that owning a home in one of Canada’s marquee cities is now largely the purview of millionaires. In Toronto, a typical home goes for nearly $1.1 million, while the price of admission in Greater Vancouver is even higher at $1.2 million (and a house in West Vancouver has the vertigo-inducing sticker shock of $2.6 million). The good news is that we managed to find 10 cities on the rise where you can still buy a house for under $700,000. Read our September issue cover story now.

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