Bill C-48, the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act, is having a hard go in the Senate. Should this bill get passed? Why or why not?
Cameron Ahmad Liberal strategist “The environment and the economy must go hand in hand. That’s a key principle that Andrew Scheer fails to understand when he says he wants to make pollution free again. Coastal communities understand better than anyone the need to take action to protect our environment and they expect their government to […]
All eyes on Red Chamber, as Senators push back on key government bills
A Senate committee tasked with studying the government’s new rules around solitary confinement doesn’t have enough time to properly do its job, says a vocal critic of Bill C-83 in the Upper Chamber. But Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale has warned a legislative vacuum will be created if the bill isn’t passed by the time […]
Time is ticking for MPs, Senators to pass human rights bills
There is an enormous amount of consequential human rights legislation approaching the parliamentary finish line. The time to get it across shrinks daily. Only four sitting weeks remain in this session of Parliament for MPs, five for Senators. Rather than return to Parliament in the fall, MPs will be out hustling for votes. That means […]
Feds should make like a hiker meeting a grizzly and speak to, not fight with, Alberta
PRIDDIS, ALTA.—In one of his most memorable songs, the folk- and country-music icon Ian Tyson sang of Springtime in Alberta as the time of snow melting, cattle branding, and the land reawakening after a long winter. This year, springtime in Alberta also heralded the arrival of the new United Conservative Party government, which is bound […]
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, […]
No need for the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion
Hydrogen can be stripped from methane for zero-emission electricity. There is no need for the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion or the emissions it will enable. There is no good purpose served by this divisive project. Unrest from within Indigenous communities could be as obsolete as this pipeline. It’s just the future of Canada and the […]
We need to defend Bill C-69, says reader
As a young Ottawa resident watching communities in the Ottawa Valley grapple with year after year of increased flooding, I am extremely worried about climate change.A couple of years ago, I tried to participate in the environmental assessment hearings for the Energy East pipeline. This project would have a huge impact on climate change: the […]
The North needs more infrastructure to unlock its wealth potential
Few industries come to mind that have a stronger connection and reliance on infrastructure than the mining sector. Frequently situated in remote and northern regions, mines are often located in areas without any roads, telecommunications services, or easily accessible transportation, all essential to getting goods to market. Nowhere is Canada’s infrastructure deficit more acute than […]
Growing global population: burden or boon to the environment?
Historical overview As the chemist and geographer Daniel B. Luten observed on the eve of the famous 1980 Julian Simon-Paul Ehrlich wager, since the late 18th century “the question of limits to growth and optimism and pessimism regarding the human prospect [has been] debated without consensus” while interest in the issue has “waxed and waned […]
Senators weighing limits on Liberal tanker ban; government ‘amenable’ to changes to C-69, says Sen. Simons
Senators on the House Transport Committee are talking about amending the government’s bill to ban oil tanker traffic from B.C.’s north coast, C-48, to carve out exempted areas where oil tankers can operate, say two members of the committee. As it stands, the bill would concentrate oil tanker traffic—and by extension, the end point of […]
