The NDP has ceded the environment to the Green Party, and is struggling to distinguish itself from other progressive parties on issues other than Quebec's Bill 21.

The only conclusion is that florid opposition to the federal carbon tax has less to do with protecting hard-pressed consumers, than with defending the oil industry’s ongoing right to pollute.

Public trust in politics takes a more sustained beating from legitimate political leaders every day than from any foreign bot, online troll, or basement-dwelling saboteur.

Water may flow to the sea, but will Canadian oil ever get to Chinese ports? There are indisputable environmental and practical reasons to oppose the idea.

But what about the planet? There's been too little room for a thoughtful, passionate defence of stringent environmental protections, unfettered by short-term economic considerations—before it's too late.

Justin Trudeau has two personality traits that have deeply harmed his prospects. The first is a stubborn refusal to acknowledge a mistake. The second is that he appears to love the sound of his own voice.

The main parties are on the same page on ending subsidies; they're just having trouble reconciling their schedules. Complete phaseout starting in 2019? No. How about 2050? How about never? Does never work for everyone?

Justin Trudeau is in trouble as the October election looms, but he has a good story to tell on trade. Besides the new U.S./ Mexico/Canada deal, his government signed the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership with 11 other Pacific Rim countries.

It is a flawed attempt to buy permission for a major industry to continue producing a product that is harming the planet and that is increasingly reviled globally. That this is the best we can do is distressing.

Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott are doing politics differently, as, it must be said, is Green Party Leader Elizabeth May. The sad thing is that they are so alone.

The government sacrificed two cabinet ministers, handed a bludgeon to its political opponents, made itself vulnerable to more 'jobs blackmail,' and made a mockery of the PM’s tributes to 'an independent judiciary.'

Justin Trudeau, himself, has signalled an openness to rescue a company that has repeatedly fallen afoul of legal and ethical practises, overseas and at home.

This pre-election period in Canada needs several Daniel Dales, news organizations that will assign an individual, or a team, to full-time research of incendiary political claims.

It sounds as if Andrew Scheer is opposing for the sake of opposition, and, worse, not with an eye to Canada’s larger interests.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calls it reconciliation. But until Indigenous voices are truly heard, it looks more like the same old bribery and bullying.

No one ever advances evidence of a specific carbon tax, in a specific place, killing specific jobs. Instead, this threat is accompanied by vague warnings.

The future of Canada’s oil industry, the future of oil itself, is a complicated and divisive issue, ridden with false claims. It may also be the defining issue of the next federal election.

The threat lies south of the border where a crazed, but effective demagogue has turned lies into truth and the media into the enemy. We can’t let that happen here.

The federal Liberals, self-described champions of climate action, are approving giant fossil fuel projects at breakneck pace, even compared to their predecessors, the oil-friendly Harper Conservatives.

But there is a sea change in the air as more elections—provincial and federal—loom.

History has a way of turning on former leaders, often long after the fact. They might want to consider what is happening to Sir John A. Macdonald.

Trying to please the party's various factions on the pipeline-climate change issue has kept the NDP silent, or disjointed, on a crucial policy front.

As with electoral reform and, increasingly, the environment, Trudeau is throwing that constituency overboard in an attempt to mollify, or win over Canadians who would never vote for him in the first place.

It is something to think about the next time you enjoy some shady park, or quiet beach, or lakeside boardwalk—or even breath in surprisingly fresh summer air. It takes politicians, and bureaucrats, with vision, shrewdness, and community support to beat back the greedy, self-interested, banal armies of the status quo.