We’re only a minute into watching a brief low-budget video — one that begins by alleging U.S. President Barack Obama is a bully because he suggests that climate change deniers should be “called out” — when Ezra Levant sits down in the chair n…
Continue readingAuthor: James Wilt
What if We Could Map All the Fossil Fuel Corporate Powers in Canada? These Researchers Are Trying.
We’ve all seen a chart like it: logos of corporations connected by thin lines to other logos, linking dozens of subsidiaries to spin-offs of even larger companies.
But such diagrams — whether they attempt to illustrate the concentration of media o…
Enbridge and Kinder Morgan Lobby Hard As Feds Change Tune on Pipelines
It’s been a month of mostly good news for Enbridge and Kinder Morgan, the two companies pushing to build major pipeline projects from Alberta’s oilsands to British Columbia’s coast.Tags: Enbridge Northern Gateway PipelineKinder Morgan Trans…
Continue readingOrange Crushed: Have the Alberta NDP Lost Their Way?
Exactly a year has passed since the centre-left New Democratic Party (NDP) rolled to a stunning win in Alberta.Yet it’s still deeply surreal to think about that victory on May 5, 2015, which increased the party’s seat count from four to 54 in the 8…
Continue readingVancouver Port Regulator Under Conflict of Interest Fire Over Coal Lobby Membership
With news of the Port of Vancouver ruffling the feathers of the federal government by issuing a permit for a jet fuel pipeline without so much as a heads up, the port authority’s integrity has been thrust into the spotlight yet again.Tags: Vanco…
Continue readingPipelines or Indigenous Rights? Premier Notley Can’t Have Both
The speech Alberta Premier Rachel Notley gave to over 1,000 federal NDP delegates on Saturday in Edmonton’s Shaw Convention Centre was a stunning thing to behold.In a mere half-hour, she received around a dozen standing ovations, cracked a pretty sol…
Continue readingEthics Complaint Filed Against Alberta Minister Turned Coal Lobbyist
A complaint filed with Alberta’s Office of the Ethics Commissioner on Tuesday argues that the president of the Coal Association of Canada contravened the Conflict of Interest Act by lobbying for the coal industry shortly after leaving his post as an …
Continue readingLNG Companies Lobby Federal Government 63 Times Since October
It’s been a rough start to 2016 for many companies hoping to build liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals in Canada, with the price for the product continuing its freefall and many projects delayed due to onerous approval processes.But LNG comp…
Continue readingGot Coal? The Burning Problem with Canada’s Port Authorities
Canada’s major ports handle more than 300 million tonnes of cargo every year. They’re how we import products like cars and TVs and how we export commodities like grain and oil. Yet many of us have likely never thought of how the country’s 18 Cana…
Continue readingGot Coal? The Burning Problem with Canada’s Port Authorities
Canada’s major ports handle more than 300 million tonnes of cargo every year. They’re how we import products like cars and TVs and how we export commodities like grain and oil. Yet many of us have likely never thought of how the country’s 18 Ca…
Continue readingOilsands Monitoring Programs Collecting But Not Using Data, Report Finds
Oilsands monitoring programs aren’t quite living up to expectations.That was the conclusion presented by a six-person expert panel in Edmonton on February 22.The two organizations that were examined — the Joint Canada-Alberta Plan for Oil Sands Mon…
Continue readingOilsands Monitoring Programs Collecting But Not Using Data, Report Finds
Oilsands monitoring programs aren’t quite living up to expectations.That was the conclusion presented by a six-person expert panel in Edmonton on February 22.The two organizations that were examined — the Joint Canada-Alberta Plan for Oil Sands Mon…
Continue readingLiberals Targeted By Flurry of Fossil Fuel Lobbying Since Coming To Power
Only three-and-a-half months have passed since the federal election, but fossil fuel companies and lobby groups haven’t wasted any time in ramping up their lobbying efforts.
Suncor, the country’s largest energy company by revenue, has led the pa…
Alberta Is Way More Progressive Than Alberta Thinks, According to New Poll
Albertans are more politically progressive than assumed, according to findings collected by Ottawa’s Abacus Data and published in a recent report titled “The Quiet Majority.”
Commissioned by Progress Alberta — a brand new left-leaning, non-part…
Coal or Climate? Vancouver Approves Giant Coal Export Facility on Eve of New Climate Deal
Isn’t it ironic? A little too ironic?
On the very same day the UN climate summit kicked off in Paris, Vancouver’s port authority approved a cost-saving amendment allowing for the proposed Fraser Surrey Docks terminal to export massive amounts of t…
The Nitty Gritty on Alberta’s Coal Phase-Out
It’s a sentence that feels weird to write: by 2030, Alberta will have shuttered the 18 coal-fired power plants that currently generate around 55 per cent of the province’s electricity, with two-thirds of that power replaced by renewable sources.
T…
Alberta Climate Announcement Puts End to Infinite Growth of Oilsands
The days of infinite growth in Alberta’s oilsands are over with the Alberta government’s blockbuster climate change announcement on Sunday, which attracted broad support from industry and civil society.
“This is the day that we start to mobilize…
7 Ways Trudeau Can Make Our Cities More Resilient
Perhaps the most appealing environmental policy change proposed by the federal Liberals — besides acknowledging climate change is a real and destructive force, of course — is its commitment to invest in green infrastructure and public transit. During the election, the Liberal government promised to put $125 billion on the
Continue readingAlberta’s Climate Consultations: The Good, The Bad and The Downright Crazy
Much of the country is understandably pre-occupied with Monday’s federal election. But while we have all been watching the national drama unfold, something monumental happened in Alberta. In a nutshell: big coal is pushing for renewable energy and big oil is re-iterating its push for a carbon tax. Close to 500 individuals
Continue readingConservatives ‘Had No Intention’ of Dealing with Climate Change: Marc Jaccard
For more than two decades, Mark Jaccard has been penning “report cards” about Canada’s environmental track record. The results haven’t been pretty. Jaccard, a veteran professor in Simon Fraser University’s School of Resource and Environmental Management, notes his annual evaluations were harnessed in the mid-2000s by Stephen Harper (then serving as
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