Ottawa’s fixation with trees and climate: what exactly are we planting?
By two significant measures, last year’s effort to plant 300 million tree seedlings in Canada’s most forest-rich province was a remarkable achievement. Not only was it a record for a single year in British Columbia, but it was achieved in the early throes of the first lockdown associated with the then relatively new COVID-19 pandemic. […]
Sustainability starts with natural resources
One of Canada’s greatest riches is our wealth of natural resources. From the Great Lakes to old-growth trees, our land and waters have supported people living in Canada for generations. Yet current resource extraction continues at unsustainable levels, and we must act quickly to protect our land and waters and to mitigate climate change. First […]
Some inconvenient truths in the race to a renewable energy transition
Last month, the traditionally conservative International Energy Agency dropped a bombshell on the international fossil fuel community by calling for a “net-zero” energy system by the year 2050. The report is but the latest in a series of court decisions, shareholder movements, and investment trends that point to a serious shift away from fossil fuels. […]
How to achieve balance between environmental stewardship and the resource economy
Individuals, corporations, and governments all want an easy solution to finding a balance between responsible environmental stewardship and a prosperous resource economy. These are two mutually exclusive concepts—or are they? In Canada, we never give up hope. We know it is a long road back to justice that we all have to traverse, together, without […]
Canadian standards keep forestry industry towering above the rest
In any discussion of the Canadian forestry industry, we should recognize that Canadians stand on the shoulders of two giants, in any serious understanding of the historical evolution and importance of this staple to Canada. Firstly, Queen’s University economist W.A. Mackintosh taught us the importance of incorporating geographical and historical factors in the analysis of […]
A life-cycle view essential on EV battery opportunities and risks
Over the past few months, the economic opportunities that the electrification of transportation, particularly the widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), might offer Canada have drawn a lot of attention. The issue of Canada’s potential contributions to EV supply chains, especially batteries, from the mining of primary components like lithium and other metals, through to design and […]
Virtue-signalling is not a viable path to net-zero
To the casual observer—and perhaps, to many Canadian voters—this government seems to be saying all the right things about making headway in the fight against climate change. It has made sweeping feel-good promises to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, though its record of accomplishing any real domestic reductions is far less reassuring. Meanwhile, it seems […]
O’Regan will need energy to tackle challenges in ‘super-sensitive’ natural resources portfolio
On the natural resources file, Canada’s Green Party parts ways with the federal Liberal government on several key issues, from promoting pipelines to pursuing nuclear power as energy sources. But Annamie Paul, the federal Green leader, said she would rather focus her party’s efforts on finding common ground with the Liberals and the other opposition […]
For climate justice, put the law in the service of human dignity
The 2021 G7 Summit opens on June 11, less than a week after World Environment Day (June 5). On May 21, G7 climate and environment ministers acknowledged, “with grave concern that the unprecedented and interdependent crises of climate change and biodiversity loss pose an existential threat to nature, people, prosperity and security.” On May 28, […]
G7 summit a chance to rally together against a common enemy
Nothing could provide more compelling or tragic proof of the necessity of global co-operation than the pandemic, which has swept the world and claimed more than 3.7 million lives. For the first time since the onset of this catastrophe, leaders of the G7 will meet in person on June 11 for a summit that I […]
