“As communities grapple with flooding, is Canada doing enough to ensure it’s ready to deal with such emergencies and natural disasters?” by Laura Ryckewaert
Cory Hann Conservative strategist “The entire Conservative family has the flooded communities in our thoughts. It’s difficult to imagine losing your home, and it’s something no one ever expects to experience. We’ve encouraged many people to volunteer by filling sandbags in the affected communities, and continue to encourage anyone who can volunteer some time to […]
Politicians should stop blame game on climate change and take real action, say environmentalists
Canada’s federal politicians have been pointing fingers at one another for failing to offer a plan that prevents global temperatures from rising to uninhabitable conditions, while the window for averting catastrophic, destabilizing climate events is closing in, say environmentalists, who argue the next election needs to be a contest of policy ideas, not a partisan […]
Floods remind us we haven’t learned lessons of the past
OTTAWA—In 1791, after a century of habitation in the flat plains along the Saint Lawrence River, an earthquake hit the parish of Kamouraska, Que., damaging the church and some of the town’s buildings. The priest at the time, Joseph-Amable Trutault, called it a “sign from God” the parish should move. However, he had an ulterior […]
Quebec’s relationship with the oil industry: it’s complicated
The Lac-Mégantic disaster remained seared in Quebec’s consciousness. The train that exploded in July 2013—one example of the fiftyfold increase in oil-by-rail between 2009 and 2013—had come through the American Midwest, crossed into Canada at Windsor, then passed through Montreal before heading toward the Maine border to cut across the northern part of the state, […]
Continued inaction on Kashechewan relocation has Liberals telling on themselves
There’s really little that the federal government can say in its defence when it comes to the disparity of how it has reacted to recent flooding events in northern and southern parts of the country. On Tuesday, evacuees from Kashechewan First Nation in northern Ontario rallied on Parliament Hill, demanding action after 17 years of […]
Let’s show international solidarity for flood victims
For the past several days, many of our fellow citizens have been going through situations of angst with the floods that have hit the eastern part of Canada. This horrible occurrence should at least open us a bit to the fate of countries of the South. In India, the country is dealing with a violent cyclone, and in Mozambique, floods just appear […]
Focus on feds’ carbon-pricing scheme hurting debate on climate change, environmentalists say
Canada’s raging debate on climate change has been reduced to a single policy, environmentalists say, but more solutions are needed to engage the public and to cut greenhouse gas emissions in order to avoid catastrophic consequences expected in 11 years. Ottawa’s carbon-pricing scheme has dominated the national conversation on climate change, with the federal Conservatives […]
Bill C-48 divides Canadians and betrays the promise of Confederation
As a member of the Canadian Senate, we’ve heard from thousands of Canadians for and against Bill C-69, an act that promises the modernization of the National Energy Board and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency—that’s a good thing. But an eerie silence prevails around Bill C-48. That’s odd because Bill C-48 is far more dangerous. […]
Indigenous conservation offers model for international leadership
HAPPY VALLEY-GOOSE BAY, N.L.—Indigenous leaders have an important message of hope to share at an international summit being hosted by Environment Minister Catherine McKenna this week in Montreal. From coast to coast to coast, a movement is growing on the land that is establishing Indigenous leadership on conservation. We see it in the scores of […]
Don’t try to change impact assessment bill based on false premises
Re: “Public works require public input, but can’t be hamstrung by it,” (The Hill Times, April 10, p. 25). Senator Paula Simons writes that “the public interest section in C-69 makes no mention of the economic, social, or health effects of any project” and that the bill’s public interest test “as written, focuses almost exclusively […]
