No time for climate policy delay: IEA
Despite rapid growth in renewable energy deployment in the coming years, further policies are needed now for the world to have a fighting chance at holding global warming to two degrees Celsius, says the International Energy Agency. IEA executive director Maria van der Hoeven said that policy uncertainty continues to be the challenge to […]
Canada ‘underselling’ renewable energy sector, say policy experts
Alberta’s oilsands continue to overshadow the renewable energy sector because the federal government doesn’t have a strategy for non- and low-emitting energy generation and is “underselling” renewables in Canada, say experts. “[O]ne of the things we’re missing in Canada, is that we’re not taking our renewable energy industry seriously and we’re not seeing the […]
Aglukkaq’s commitment to environment questionable, say critics
Leona Aglukkaq has yet to make a public statement as Environment Minister since she was appointed to the file in July, and some critics are concerned that her appointment signals a continuation of vague commitments and partisan attacks that have defined the national environmental debate in recent years. After years of intensely partisan debate over […]
Energy: Oilsands
Oilsands: the difficult poster child for Canada’s environmental record
The Government of Canada will clearly spare no expense in extolling the environmental virtues of oilsands bitumen. We spend millions in promotion, domestic advertising for our “Responsible Resource Management” and promotion around the world. We lobby in Washington, D.C. and pound the pavements of European capitals, all in aid of defending our wondrous product […]
Taking a balanced approach to resource development
We can all agree that Canada’s oil and gas sector contributes in many ways to Canada’s national economy. As elected officials, the real challenge is ensuring that we are pursuing the development of our abundant natural resources in ways that are sustainable, while creating jobs for Canadians in a cleaner and more prosperous economy. […]
Harper government committed to protecting environment, creating jobs, says Oliver
Canada is fortunate to have enormous wealth from natural resources, including abundant oil and gas reserves. In fact, we are the world’s third largest producer of natural gas and we possess the third largest proven oil reserves, 172 billion barrels, of which 168 billion are in the oilsands. The International Energy Agency tells us […]
Oilsands energy products may not be welcome in European Union
Canada and the European Union are currently negotiating what could potentially be the largest free-trade deal since NAFTA, but there have been signs that products originating from Alberta’s oilsands may be penalized under the EU’s proposed Fuel Quality Directive—an issue Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver has said the federal government may take to the […]
Millions continue to be spent by federal government on promotion of ‘natural resource development’ in Canada
Advertising funding allocated to the federal Department of Natural Resources totalled $9-million in 2012-2013 according to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, and represented just over 14 per cent of total government advertising expenditures last year. But this year, funding projections for natural resources promotion increased by more than 83 per cent to $16.5-million after […]
B.C. still a barrier to Northern Gateway following Clark’s victory
The federal government appears to be going out of its way to meet some of the conditions laid out by B.C. Premier Christy Clark for her province’s approval of the Northern Gateway Pipeline, but future heavy oil projects to the Pacific Coast will require further negotiations with industry and the Alberta government. Last week's Council of […]
