2017

30 October Alberta’s energy minister wants you to support pipelines and climate action

Two years into the mandate of Rachel Notley’s NDP in Alberta, Energy Minister Margaret McCuaig-Boyd discusses her vision for the province’s future energy mix and how Alberta is handling its most notable and most criticized resource: the oil sands.

27 October Alberta environment minister on Canadians hitting peak fossil fuel use in 2019

Alberta’s environment minister says the province — known for its oil and oilsands production — will have a big stake in an energy future that shifts to renewables.

26 October “Wonky” Calgary election polling under investigation

A self-regulating polling industry group says it will investigate what went wrong in Calgary’s mayoral election after several surveys predicted the opposite of what actually happened.

26 October Canadians’ fossil fuel use will peak in 2019: NEB

The National Energy Board expects fossil fuel use to peak in the next two years, then decline as a mix of carbon pricing policies and climate-friendly technologies push Canadians to make different choices.

19 October We asked Jagmeet Singh where oilsands workers will be in 2030

Singh’s goal is to see Canada reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 30 per cent of 2005 levels by 2025 — five years earlier than the Liberals aim for. To do this, he proposes a cross-section of approaches that include — but aren’t limited to — a national public transit strategy, increasing the affordability and availability of zero-emission vehicles while putting a levy on high-emission vehicles, phasing out taxpayer-funded fossil fuel subsidies by 2020, and realizing a renewable energy supergrid.

All of it requires real buy-in from provinces, territories, and municipalities.

6 September World’s climate scientists “park their canoes” for Montreal conference

Before it was called Montreal, this was a place where First Nations met. A large fire would be set to mark the upcoming meeting and people would “park their canoes and climb the mountain” to come to the big conference, Mohawk Council of Kahnawake Chief Christine Zachary-Deom told international delegates meeting in the city for a conference on climate change.

18 August How do we tell stories about climate science that reach everyone?

Part of National Observer‘s State of Journalism series, this interview with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Dan Fagin discusses why some people don’t buy into climate change, what that means for media, and why U.S. reporters seem to love Canada’s prime minister. 

28 July Oilpatch wants Alberta to ease up on rules

CAPP’s latest efforts to get governments to rethink how they regulate the industry arrive at a particularly fraught time politically: in British Columbia, the recently evicted Liberals were quick to point a finger at Premier John Horgan’s incoming NDP government as at fault for the Petronas decision while, in Alberta, opposition Conservatives blame Premier Rachel Notley’s NDP government for slowing the province’s oil- and gas-driven economy with, for example, a new carbon tax and higher minimum wage.

21 July Jason Kenney’s year-long unite-the-right campaign to be tested in Alberta

… Tories interviewed by the National Observer have said they anticipate the unity vote will be successful, though some expressed doubts about whether taking down the NDP is enough of a policy for a new party intent on one day governing.