OPINION The connection between clearcut logging and Canada’s hottest day on record With temperatures set to soar to 47 C in B.C., forests provide a cool, wet place for animals and people alike to Read more… The post The connection between clearcut logging and Canada’s hottest day on record first
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Cowichan Conversations: OPINION – What the coronavirus pandemic tells us about our relationship with the natural world
OPINION COVID-19 is fundamentally a story of humanity’s ever-encroaching relationship with all other living things on this planet Originally published by the Narwhal Emma Gilchrist Mar 17, 2020 5 min read Read more…
Continue readingThe Real Reason Canada is in Crisis Over the Kinder Morgan Pipeline
Amongst all the hooting and hollering over the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline, it’s easy to lose track of how on earth we ended up in this place of dysfunction. Tags: Kinder Morgan justin trudeau Trans Mountain Elizabeth May david boyd raincoast conservation trust Jocelyn Stacey Hans Matthews
Continue readingB.C. Is Taking the Kinder Morgan Question to Court. Here’s What you Need to Know.
With the announcement on Wednesday that the B.C. government will file its reference case on the ability of the province to regulate the transport of diluted bitumen in the Court of Appeal by April 30th, it’s finally official: the much-debated constitutional question will be put to the test. Alberta Premier Rachel
Continue reading‘They’re Not Getting How the Constitution Works’: Why Trudeau, Notley Can’t Steamroll B.C. on Kinder Morgan Pipeline
In the fall of 1981, Jack Woodward was a young lawyer in Ottawa when NDP leader Ed Broadbent and prime minister Pierre Trudeau struck a deal to include aboriginal rights in the Canadian constitution. “I banged out a first draft,” Woodward recalls. “I typed it out on a manual typewriter. I
Continue readingWhat’s The ‘National Interest’ Anyways? Conflict Resolution Expert Adam Kahane on Canada’s Oil Pipeline Debate
As the national conversation about the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline goes thoroughly bananas, one thing is becoming crystal clear: this conflict is likely to get worse before it gets better. Thankfully, there are people out there who specialize in resolving conflicts like this — people like Canadian Adam Kahane who
Continue readingThat Time a Foreign-Owned Newspaper Called Out Environmentalists for Taking Foreign Money to Fight a Foreign-Funded Pipeline
On a certain level, Vivian Krause and her cadre are right when they accuse Canadian non-profits of taking foreign money. American philanthropists do give money to Canadian non-profits. There’s just one thing: it’s neither surprising nor clandestine. The success of their argument comes down to one simple trick: strip away all relevant
Continue readingWhy Canada’s Promise to Explore Charitable Status For News Organizations is a Very, Very Good Thing
A brief paragraph on page 186 of Tuesday’s federal budget held some of the best news for Canadian journalism in decades. “Over the next year the government will be exploring new models that enable private giving and philanthropic support for trusted, professional, non-profit journalism and local news,” the budget read. “This
Continue readingThe New Battle of Alberta
For decades, the ‘battle of Alberta’ has alluded to the intense rivalry between Calgary and Edmonton, especially on the ice or the football field. “The worst way to engage Edmontonians is to tell them how things are done in Calgary,” wrote Harvey Locke in a piece titled “The Two Albertas” for
Continue readingHere’s What Alberta’s Wine Boycott is Really About
No, it wasn’t a weird dream, Alberta actually announced a boycott of B.C. wine on Tuesday. The announcement by Premier Rachel Notley is just the latest move in an inter-provincial spat over the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline, which would carry oil from Alberta to B.C. It started with last week’s
Continue readingThis Vigilante Scientist Trekked Over 10,000 Kilometres to Reveal B.C.’s Leaking Gas Wells
If you’d met John Werring four years ago, he wouldn’t have been able to tell you what an abandoned gas well looked like. “We had no idea whether they were even accessible,” said the registered professional biologist. That was before the summer of 2014, when he headed up to Fort St. John,
Continue readingHow Canada is Driving Its Endangered Species to the Brink of Extinction
Canadian governments are sitting by and watching as endangered species disappear, in what one environmental lawyer calls a “slow moving catastrophe.” The latest blow comes as a deadline for provinces to outline plans to protect threatened caribou habitat blew by without a single province meeting the deadline. “This is 13 years
Continue readingHow B.C. Outsourced Environmental Protection (And What You Can Do About It)
If you look closely at almost any major environmental controversy in B.C. in the past decade, you’ll find one common denominator: industry-paid “professionals” were trusted with our province’s environmental protection. This, folks, is what is often called leaving the fox to watch the hen house. But, if you’re the B.C. government,
Continue readingOur Commitment To Our Readers in 2018
As a new year gets underway, we’ve been taking some time to reflect. 2017 was a breakthrough year for DeSmog Canada’s independent journalism and we really mean it when we say: none of this could have happened without our dedicated readers. In the past year, our people-powered journalism reached four
Continue readingHow Canada is Driving Santa’s Reindeer Toward Extinction
Not to be too glum just as the merry season hits its peak, but reindeer have been on my mind in more ways than one this week. You see, reindeer are known as caribou in North America, and some of Canada’s herds are in serious trouble. On a global scale, the International
Continue readingHow The Media Failed British Columbians on the Site C Dam
There is much to debate about Monday’s decision by the B.C. government to move forward with the Site C dam, but one thing is not debatable: construction should never have started without a full review of costs and demand. Who’s to blame for that review never happening? Of course the BC
Continue readingCan Reader-Funded News Save Canadian Journalism?
“Some newspapers dig. Some newspapers are a constant embarrassment to the powerful. Some manage to be entertaining, provocative, and fair at the same time. There are a few such newspapers in Canada.” That statement probably doesn’t come as a shock to many Canadians in 2017. What may come as a surprise is
Continue readingWhy British Columbians Should Demand a Public Inquiry on the Site C Dam
For years British Columbians have been left in the dark about the most expensive public project in our history. All of that came to an end on Wednesday when the B.C. Utilities Commission (BCUC) issued its final report on the Site C dam. The results are, well, damning. “This report indicates had the
Continue readingBREAKING: Site C Dam $600 Million Over Budget, Will Miss River Diversion Timeline, Says BC Hydro CEO
BC Hydro’s new CEO Chris O’Riley has written a letter to the B.C. Utilities Commission stating that the crown corporation will not meet the timeline for river diversion for the Site C dam, which will add $610 million to the project’s price tag. “BC Hydro has encountered some geotechnical and construction
Continue readingTransCanada Cancels Energy East Oilsands Pipeline
Canadian pipeline company TransCanada announced today it will no longer be proceeding with its proposed Energy East Pipeline and Eastern Mainline projects. “After careful review of changed circumstances, we will be informing the National Energy Board that we will no longer be proceeding with our Energy East and Eastern Mainline applications,”
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