Mining group leads July lobbying, urges feds to review pace of policy changes affecting resource industries
An unprecedented level of legislation and consultation affecting the mining industry is creating a “cumulative burden” on all industry players, according to the head of the Mining Association of Canada, which led the charge in July lobbying, as it has month after month. “It’s ironic—we very much welcome the much more open approach to consultation that […]
C-69 will make environmental reviews better, more transparent: Assessment Agency president
Re: “Bill C-69: Is anybody thinking about how to implement it?” (The Hill Times, August 13, p. 23) In a recent op-ed in The Hill Times, Professor Monica Gattinger asks whether anybody is thinking about how to implement Bill C-69. Specifically, she identifies three areas of concern: How the proposed Impact Assessment Agency will conduct […]
Lessons from the Genoa bridge tragedy
There are a number of lessons to be learnt from the Morandi Bridge tragedy and other disasters in Canada and elsewhere for individuals and organizations involved with Infrastructure Canada. We need to change how contracts are awarded, and put new measures in place to account for the performance of the construction over time, then monitor […]
Setting record straight on oil industry’s contributions to economy
There have been some arguments that the use of fossil fuels since the industrial revolution has been tantamount to conducting a 200-year experiment on the climate. But the inconvenient truth for many is that the use of fossil fuels has reduced energy poverty and is something several countries around the world today are still working […]
Andrew Scheer has done little to deserve so much support, says Riley
CHELSEA, QUE.—Disillusionment with Justin Trudeau’s government is understandable, even inevitable. Over three years, various ethical embarrassments, policy reversals, and double messages are bound to take their toll. But what is frankly inexplicable is that Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives are either tied, or close behind, the struggling Liberals in recent polls. It raises the question: what, if […]
Feds shouldn’t let Alberta undercut efforts to lower methane emissions
All eyes are on Saskatchewan and Ontario’s plan to oppose the federal government’s coming price on carbon emissions all across Canada. But there’s another federal-provincial dispute over climate action that may surface soon: how methane emissions from the oil and gas sector are managed. Reducing methane emissions from oil and gas facilities is a no-brainer. […]
‘Just as they’re struggling to rebuild, they’re hit again,’ MP says, as constituents brace for devastating wildfire season
British Columbia is in a state of emergency for the second straight year as it grapples with controlling the wildfires that have blanketed vast pockets of the province, and one MP in the area says that while the fires aren’t as huge as last year’s, this season is breaking new records. “The smoke is literally […]
Hothouse Earth: climate change making for unwanted feedback
LONDON, U.K.—It would be churlish to ask what took them so long. Let us be grateful, instead, that the climate scientists are finally saying out loud what they all knew privately at least 10 years ago. What 16 of them are now saying, in an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences […]
Renewable energy, not oil and gas, deserves government support: Senator Galvez
Canadians want renewable energy. A public opinion poll conducted for the David Suzuki Foundation found that 86 per cent of Canadians are concerned about climate change; renewable energy is one of our energy-hungry country’s best hopes for environmental preservation. It is clear that any government that believes environmental well-being is a priority ought to invest […]
We need energy infrastructure in the national interest
In choosing which nation building energy projects should receive government support, ideally we should begin by developing a consensus on shared goals. We should start with higher order principles. Even though energy questions are central to Canada’s economic future, we still have no energy policy. It would seem that governments, political parties and Canadians hold […]
