The end of carbon pricing isn’t a climate win
Daily traffic on the 401 in Toronto. Photo from Flickr. After six years of carbon pricing in Canada, the signature—and highly controversial—climate policy of the Justin Trudeau-led Liberals is o...
Canadian Politics, Environment,
Fighting climate change: Beyond Canada’s carbon tax
Photo by Kris Krüg/Flickr Free Transit Ottawa (FTO) organized a public meeting on March 18 on the theme “Fighting Climate Change: Beyond the Carbon Tax.” The event was co-sponsored by…
Can hydrogen solve Canada’s energy woes?
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…