O’Toole Needs a Credible Climate Plan to Win a Federal Election, Analysts Say – The Energy Mix: Newly-elected Conservative leader Erin O’Toole will have a
harder time delivering on his promise to form a national government if
he can’t convince Canadians he cares about climate change and has a plan
to do something about it, according to opinion analysts cited in The
Narwhal’s explainer on the new leader and his policies.

O’Toole, who won the leadership on a promise of “true
blue” conservatism and a “significant boost” from Alberta Premier Jason
Kenney, is promising to “fight the carbon tax with every last breath”,
build a climate strategy based on market-based measures, and put the
cost of greenhouse gas reduction measures on industry rather than having
Canadians foot the bill directly, the publication reports. He’s committed to prop up Alberta’s severely challenged fossil sector, scrap the federal legislation that established the new Impact Assessment Act
and Canadian Energy Regulator, rescind the federal tanker ban on the
north coast of British Columbia, short-circuit environmental reviews for
projects considered “national strategic”, and criminalize rail
blockades.

O’Toole Needs a Credible Climate Plan to Win a Federal Election, Analysts Say – The Energy Mix: Newly-elected Conservative leader Erin O’Toole will have a
harder time delivering on his promise to form a national government if
he can’t convince Canadians he cares about climate change and has a plan
to do something about it, according to opinion analysts cited in The
Narwhal’s explainer on the new leader and his policies.O’Toole, who won the leadership on a promise of “true
blue” conservatism and a “significant boost” from Alberta Premier Jason
Kenney, is promising to “fight the carbon tax with every last breath”,
build a climate strategy based on market-based measures, and put the
cost of greenhouse gas reduction measures on industry rather than having
Canadians foot the bill directly, the publication reports. He’s committed to prop up Alberta’s severely challenged fossil sector, scrap the federal legislation that established the new Impact Assessment Act
and Canadian Energy Regulator, rescind the federal tanker ban on the
north coast of British Columbia, short-circuit environmental reviews for
projects considered “national strategic”, and criminalize rail
blockades.Read More

Freeland, Carney May Be Canada’s Last, Best Chance for a Green Recovery: In mid-July, Democratic nominee Joe Biden added a US$2-trillion climate plan to his campaign platform. And on August 11, Biden named
a running mate, California Senator Kamala Harris, who’d proposed a
$10-trillion climate plan and boasts a strong record for promoting
environmental justice and prosecuting rogue fossil fuel companies.

Those milestones leave Canada as one of the last Western
democracies with no coherent plan to cut ties with the industries that
brought us a mounting global climate emergency. It’s a position that is helping to shatter Alberta’s fossil fuel-dependent economy, as oil and gas investment declines and jobs evaporate. It will cost Canadians millions of well-paid jobs in every part of the country, as a rapid transition away from carbon picks up speed just about everywhere else.

“If we’re caught flat-footed by a Biden victory, we may
watch as entire sectors of our growing clean energy and cleantech
sectors pack up and move to greener pastures in the U.S.,” Environmental
Defence Executive Director Tim Gray warned
in an early August blog post. “Or they may just wither as they fail to
secure the government support needed to commercialize innovations.”

Freeland, Carney May Be Canada’s Last, Best Chance for a Green Recovery: In mid-July, Democratic nominee Joe Biden added a US$2-trillion climate plan to his campaign platform. And on August 11, Biden named
a running mate, California Senator Kamala Harris, who’d proposed a
$10-trillion climate plan and boasts a strong record for promoting
environmental justice and prosecuting rogue fossil fuel companies.Those milestones leave Canada as one of the last Western
democracies with no coherent plan to cut ties with the industries that
brought us a mounting global climate emergency. It’s a position that is helping to shatter Alberta’s fossil fuel-dependent economy, as oil and gas investment declines and jobs evaporate. It will cost Canadians millions of well-paid jobs in every part of the country, as a rapid transition away from carbon picks up speed just about everywhere else.“If we’re caught flat-footed by a Biden victory, we may
watch as entire sectors of our growing clean energy and cleantech
sectors pack up and move to greener pastures in the U.S.,” Environmental
Defence Executive Director Tim Gray warned
in an early August blog post. “Or they may just wither as they fail to
secure the government support needed to commercialize innovations.”Read More

With its pandemic spending plans, the Trudeau government is again betting it all on red | CBC News: Now, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is preparing to gamble again that Canadians will support even more deficit spending when his government rolls out a new agenda later this month to respond to the health and economic challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are asking Canadians to embark on an entirely different direction as a government,” the prime minister said Wednesday in an interview with CBC morning show host Stephen Quinn in Vancouver.

“We are going to rebuild the Canadian economy in a way that was better than before.”

The rebuilding effort begins with the Sept. 23 throne speech and will continue later in the fall when Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland releases her first economic outlook.

With its pandemic spending plans, the Trudeau government is again betting it all on red | CBC News: Now, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is preparing to gamble again that Canadians will support even more deficit spending when his government rolls out a new agenda later this month to respond to the health and economic challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.“We are asking Canadians to embark on an entirely different direction as a government,” the prime minister said Wednesday in an interview with CBC morning show host Stephen Quinn in Vancouver.“We are going to rebuild the Canadian economy in a way that was better than before.”The rebuilding effort begins with the Sept. 23 throne speech and will continue later in the fall when Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland releases her first economic outlook.Read More

Lumsden, Sask., gets $1.1M from Ottawa for solar power project | CBC News: The town of about 1,800 people nestled in the Qu’Appelle Valley northwest of Regina has installed solar panels as part of an overall upgrade of its sewage treatment system.

Over the lifetime of the project, its expected Lumsden will see a cumulative reduction of about 13,200 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.

Lumsden, Sask., gets $1.1M from Ottawa for solar power project | CBC News: The town of about 1,800 people nestled in the Qu’Appelle Valley northwest of Regina has installed solar panels as part of an overall upgrade of its sewage treatment system.Over the lifetime of the project, its expected Lumsden will see a cumulative reduction of about 13,200 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.Read More

Once again, a weakened Liberal government offers the NDP an opening | CBC News: The idea that MPs should be able to pass judgment on the
government’s agenda doesn’t explain why all parliamentary business —
including committee hearings into the WE affair — needed to be suspended
for a month.

But
Trudeau’s acknowledgement that he’ll need the support of at least one
other party leads to another question: Is he interested in actually
seeking out that support?

If the answer to that question is
‘yes’, circumstances may have created an opportunity for Trudeau’s
Liberals and Jagmeet Singh’s New Democrats to find common cause.

Once again, a weakened Liberal government offers the NDP an opening | CBC News: The idea that MPs should be able to pass judgment on the
government’s agenda doesn’t explain why all parliamentary business —
including committee hearings into the WE affair — needed to be suspended
for a month.But
Trudeau’s acknowledgement that he’ll need the support of at least one
other party leads to another question: Is he interested in actually
seeking out that support?If the answer to that question is
‘yes’, circumstances may have created an opportunity for Trudeau’s
Liberals and Jagmeet Singh’s New Democrats to find common cause.Read More