A hydrogen filling station. Photo by Alister Thorpe/Wikimedia Commons. Ongoing events in Europe, including the war in Ukraine and natural disasters, have raised many questions about the future of energy supply both in Canada and internationally. This, in turn, has placed Canada’s role as an energy supplier in doubt. If
Continue readingTag: Canadian Politics, Environment,
Canadian Dimension: Doug Ford’s trashing of the Greenbelt
Changes to Ontario’s Greenbelt Act are in the works that would remove 7,400 acres of protected land and hand them over to developers. Photo courtesy Greenbelt.ca. In Toronto, even though hundreds of thousands of people can barely pay their rent and homeless shelters are overflowing, it is still not really
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: As climate change worsens, the Liberals are spending $300 billion on new warships
The Canadian Surface Combatant project will replace both the Iroquois-class destroyers and the Halifax-class multi-role patrol frigates. Image courtesy Public Services and Procurement Canada. At this point, we should be accustomed to political leaders in Ottawa being alarmingly out of touch with the needs of ordinary Canadians. And yet, the
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Shifting the paradigm on national defence
Soldiers from the Royal Canadian Regiment support provincial government and municipal authorities in relief efforts during Operation LENTUS, Maugerville, New Brunswick, April 22, 2019. Photo by Sergeant Lance Wade/Flickr. It is an important point worth reiterating: more Canadians die every year from climate change related disasters and from communicable diseases
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Canada’s climate behemoth
Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre wears a hoodie with the logo of Oil Sands Strong, a pro-energy advocacy group. Photo from Facebook. After a summer of unprecedented heatwaves, catastrophic flooding, and rampant wildfires, the race to become the lead of the Conservative Party of Canada ended rather predictably: Pierre Poilievre,
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: We need to rethink (and shrink) roads, not build more highways
Highway 401 West, Toronto, Canada. Taken from 401 and Don Mills Road. Photo by Clement Lo/Flickr. A highway building spree is afoot in Ontario. The government’s new budget has announced $21 billion over ten years to widen or build new highways, with the 413 alone taking about $10 billion. These
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Justin Trudeau’s smoke and mirrors climate policy
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault hold a press conference at COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland on November 2, 2021. Photo from Twitter. In November 2015, at the peak of the post-Harper honeymoon, Justin Trudeau jetted off to the Paris climate conference. “Canada is
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Humans aren’t as stupid as they seem—something else is blocking climate action
In the midst of a Canadian federal election, the fossil fuel industry’s impact on climate action barely figures into the discussion. Photo by Patrick Hendry/Unsplash. For years, it was assumed the world wouldn’t start seriously tackling climate change until we were directly confronted with its horrors—thereby revealing how truly reckless
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Trudeau’s climate strategy: Denialism through gradualism
The Trudeau government’s approach to tackling climate change strikes a regrettable balance that favours symbolism over action, and it’s rife with hypocrisy. Photo by Catherine McKenna/Twitter. From banks to car companies, ‘greenwashing’–or the practice of conveying misleading information about how a company’s products are environmentally sound—has become a default marketing
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Raising the state’s visible hand: Towards a people-centred green transition
Tar sands mining in Fort McMurray, Alberta. Photo by Kris Krüg/Flickr. Canada’s ability to knit together an accelerated climate and economic revitalization plan has been put to the test as its decentralized governments aim for long-term recovery from COVID-19. The country is in dire need of a green recovery, not
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Canada’s SMR ‘Action Plan’ banks on private sector nuclear pipe dreams
Doel Nuclear Power Station, one of two nuclear power plants in Belgium. Photo by Frédéric Paulussen/Unsplash. For many kids who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s, Star Trek was a big part of our childhoods. The series is filled with strange new worlds, futurist politics, and advanced technology that
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Canada’s new plastics strategy falls far short of expectations
The Canadian government has vowed to ban single-use plastics by end of 2021, but its plan doesn’t go nearly far enough. Photo by Tom Page/Flickr. In Canada, only nine percent of plastics are presently recycled, while 12 percent are incinerated. The other 79 percent go to landfills. Of the plastic
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: A Year for Fare-Free Transit
Yorkdale Station in Toronto. Photo by Matt Wiebe/Flickr. When I made the case last year for fare-free public transit in Ottawa, it seemed like a longshot. What a difference a year can make. Since then, we’ve seen mass-organized fare evasions, fare-free campaigns launched in major cities, and, last April, Victoria’s
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Why Isn’t Canada Treating Climate Change With the Same Urgency as COVID-19?
Heavy industry in Suzhou, China. Photo by DaiLuo/Flickr. While governments’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have proven that significant resources can be marshalled quickly in a crisis, there is little evidence that Canada sees global warming as a comparable emergency. Even though Justin Trudeau’s Liberals say they take climate change
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: The environmental vaccine: how COVID-19 opens the door to a Green New Deal
“Growing Strong Together”. Artwork by Sarah Bloom/Creative Action Network. We live in an era of overlapping crises: climate change, global inequality, the rise of the far-right, nuclear proliferation, and now, COVID-19. As I write this, governments worldwide continue to be paralyzed in the face of desperate demands to respond effectively
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: 42 Nobel Laureates Urge Trudeau to Act With ‘Moral Clarity’ and Stop Climate-Wrecking Teck Frontier Mine
Alberta’s oilsands north of Fort McMurray. Photo by Louis Bockner/Sierra Club BC. In an open letter to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, 42 Nobel laureates implored the federal government to “act with the moral clarity required” to tackle the global climate crisis and stop
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: A Canadian Green New Deal is Alberta’s best hope for the future
A Green New Deal sign is held up in front of the sculpture “The Crier” by artist Gerhard Marcks near the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on Sept. 20. Photo by John MacDougall/AFP. Canadians might not like to admit it, but what happens in the United States can have a significant
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Is Justin Trudeau really a climate criminal?
Justin Trudeau addresses a crowd at the United Nations headquarters in New York City. Photo by UN Women/Ryan Brown (Flickr). During a federal election campaign rally before the September 27 climate strike in Montréal, a friend interrupted Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau to label him a “climate criminal”. When Trudeau
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: The NDP needs to frontline a Green New Deal this election
Photo courtesy the NDP The federal election is emerging as a climate referendum. However, the NDP is marginalized because of its failure to establish a distinct profile by embracing a Green New Deal. The mass defection of former NDP candidates in New Brunswick to the Green Party is a grave
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Top 5 Reasons the Green New Deal is Workable, Winnable and the Idea We Need Right Now
This text is an edited excerpt from a speech given by Avi Lewis on the Leap’s “Green New Deal for All” tour in June 2019. 1.The Green New Deal Will Be a Massive Job Creator, Swell the Ranks of Unions, and Increase Workers Rights For All, Especially The Most Vulnerable
Continue reading