Radioactive waste: a big problem for New Brunswick’s proposed new nuclear reactors
On June 26, federal Climate Change and Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson ended the environmental assessment of a proposed radioactive waste storage facility beside Lake Huron, after the Ontario Power Generation (OPG) withdrew its proposal to build it. OPG decided to terminate the project after the Saugeen Ojibway Nation, on whose unceded territory the facility would […]
It’s time Liberals get serious about climate change
TORONTO—During last year’s federal election, the Trudeau government promised to join the growing list of nations committed to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. What we don’t know is what it will take to get there and how the Liberals would deliver on their goal. It will be far from easy. The International Energy Agency, […]
Climate change is an emergency, we need a coalition government to act now
GIBSONS, B.C.—Looks like Canada is going to miss a huge opportunity to take much-needed action on climate change. Activists and green energy insiders have been lobbying the Trudeau government for COVID recovery stimulus investment in renewable energy and transition funding for fossil fuel production regions hit hard by the COVID lockdown. Constraining themselves to what […]
Canada’s defeat in bid for UN Security Council seat also reveals Ottawa’s lingering problems at home
After Canada lost its bid for the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) seat on June 17, experts quickly blamed Ottawa’s lack of global engagement as the key reason. But Canada’s defeat tells of more than just its foreign policy failure. On many domestic issues, such as the environment and Indigenous rights, Canada’s actions are not […]
Where’s the money?: Questions loom over need for better foreign policy funding
Following Canada’s failure to win a seat on the UN Security Council, foreign affairs experts and former diplomats are raising the concern that funding for Global Affairs is insufficient despite budget increases over the last four years. Former Chrétien-era cabinet ministers and past diplomats Allan Rock and Sergio Marchi penned an op-ed this week in […]
Climate is still changing while Canada courts the UN
CHEALSEA, QUE.—The headline was so shocking, it looked at first like fake news. Temperatures reached 30 C inside the Arctic Circle last week, in a place called Nizhnyaya Pesha in Siberia. Sadly, the story is too true, a dramatic marker in an abnormally warm winter in northern Russia and the continuation of a long-standing trend […]
Parallel lessons from COVID-19 and climate change
A common thread that runs through the many opinion and editorial articles that emerged following the onset of COVID around the world is the insight that the pandemic has exposed the extent of social vulnerabilities and inequalities that surround us. As it turns out, the slogan that “we are all in this together” has not […]
Think system change for Canada’s low-carbon reboot
VANCOUVER—There is growing momentum for a low-carbon reboot of our high-carbon economy as we emerge from a pandemic-induced shutdown. Our COVID-19 experience invites us to reimagine an alternative future with vastly different rules and social norms that place public health and collective well-being above all. Unlike the economic response to COVID-19, climate action over the […]
A smarter say to healing the environment
This much we know well: Canada, like most countries, is dependent on fossil fuels for most of its energy. Fossil fuels in turn are the largest source of greenhouse gases from human activity and these emissions are causing pervasive changes in the Earth’s climate, posing large risks to a fragile ecosystem that needs much healing. […]
Canada’s at a crossroads, we should choose right path
Canadians have been shaken by this pandemic. It has exposed the gaps in our health-care system and our social safety net, and it has intensified the growing inequalities in our society. It has brought into sharp focus how vulnerable we all are when disaster hits. Most of all, it has showed us that we need […]
