Tag: Canadian Politics, Environment,

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

Justin Trudeau is in over a barrel. In 2015, he made a deal with Alberta. He would get an oil pipeline built to a coast if the province joined his pan-Canadian climate plan. After his election this past April, Conservative Alberta Premier Jason Kenney ripped up Alberta’s side of the

Photo by Arnold Lim After making vague promises in its 2017 election platform to “modernize” provincial labour standards, the British Columbia Green Party recently blocked two important reforms to the province’s labour code, showing that, in practice, Canada’s mainstream Green movement harbours anti-worker biases that negatively impact the struggle against

Photo by Alex Tétreault Green Leader Elizabeth May is warning that taxpayers across Canada could soon be forced to bail out Alberta’s oilpatch because of a failure to adequately manage billions of dollars worth of liabilities — a concern immediately dismissed by federal Natural Resources Minister Amarjeet Sohi. May was

Photo by Vancouver Sun Here’s a different take on Kinder Morgan’s ultimatum and the so-called “constitutional crisis” it has sparked. I’m speculating, of course, as we all seek to understand what Kinder Morgan is really up to. But allow me to posit a minority theory: We’re getting played! It is

Photo by Eryn Rickard After more than a year of public hearings, the federal government unveiled its new and improved environmental assessment legislation in February 2018 with much ado. But the new rules — designed to restore public trust in Canada’s process for reviewing major projects — didn’t contain any

Photo by William Chen And so it begins. In the last few days, approximately 30 Canadian citizens have been arrested for opposing Kinder Morgan’s pipeline extension in British Columbia. The project they oppose will trigger a seven-fold increase in tanker traffic through the Burrard Inlet. It was all done legally,

Photo by Mark Klotz This week, Alberta premier Rachel Notley threatened to cut oil shipments to B.C. if the province interferes with Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. And today, Coast Salish spiritual leaders and their allies will be launching a project called Protect the Inlet to prevent it from

Photo by Women Deliver While President Trump moves to pull America out of the Paris climate accords, Canada’s prime minister describes carbon pollution as one of the globe’s biggest dangers. And not long after taking office in 2015, Trudeau unveiled a sweeping national plan to pivot Canada to a new

Photo by Svetoslav Nikolov Five years ago, a group of us at the University of Alberta in Edmonton formed the Petrocultures Research Group to develop a sharper understanding of the ways we use (and abuse) energy. Our immediate intention was to examine the social, cultural and political implications of Canada’s

Photo by Province of British Columbia I’ll not waste too many words on Prime Minister Trudeau’s treachery. Of all the many political sins, surely the greatest of all is hypocrisy and this prime minister has taken that sin to new levels. He basked in the glory of Paris and being

Photo by Technical Sergeant Adrian Cadiz

The federal government has quietly approved the use of a highly controversial chemical for dispersing ocean oil spills, despite growing scientific evidence it doesn’t a…

Photo by Intel Free Press

For weeks, the corporate media has spouted a stern prediction: Canadians will flee in horror from the Leap Manifesto. We are a “modest shift people,” not “big shift people”. The…

Image by Council of Canadians

I sometimes forget the degree to which a large part of English Canada despises Quebec. This week, the reminder was brutal.

Ever since the mayors of the Montreal region announced th…

Photo by Jason Woodhead

It’s good to see Montreal-area mayors oppose the Energy East oil pipeline, because environmental risks such as spills that threaten drinking water are too great and the economic ben…

Photo from Public Domain Lest we forget, the tar sands fuel war and the phrase ‘never again’ requires a deeper look at the historical development of the tar sands. Since the creation of the first tar sands operations, the nation-state of Canada viewed bitumen as part of its military strategy.

Photo by Justin Ling Holy smokes. Polls are in and Canadians across the country are expressing surprise at the strong win for the federal Liberal party. While there’s much ink to be spilled over former Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s reign, he’s likely locked in a bathroom now, so we’ll save

Photo by Loozrboy Canada’s premiers agreed to a master energy and climate change plan July 17. It’s specific on fast-tracking pipelines, but “aspirational” on climate action. No wonder. Building more pipelines to export Sands oil will gut any serious plans to cut greenhouse gases. Alison Redford was Progressive Conservative premier