The Teck Frontier mine had become a focal point of national debate around climate change and the economy, and its chief executive cited that nexus as one of the reasons the company was stepping aside.
Tag Archives: politics
Teck pulls application for Frontier oil sands project
Seems to me Mr. Wilkinson received a letter from Justin Trudeau saying, “Thank you for agreeing to serve Canadians as Minister of Environment and Climate Change.” It’s the mandate letter he received December 19, 2019.
In a response to this letter, a Joint Statement by Minister Jonathan Wilkinson and Minister Seamus O’Regan on the Decision by Teck Resources Limited to Cancel the Frontier Oil Sands Project can be found here:
In a letter to Jonathan Wilkinson, minister of fisheries and oceans, Teck said the decision was made because of environmental unrest.
However, global capital markets are changing rapidly and investors and customers are increasingly looking for jurisdictions to have a framework in place that reconciles resource development and climate change, in order to produce the cleanest possible products. This does not yet exist here today and, unfortunately, the growing debate around this issue has placed Frontier and our company squarely at the nexus of much broader issues that need to be resolved. In that context, it is now evident that there is no constructive path forward for the project. Questions about the societal implications of energy development, climate change and Indigenous rights are critically important ones for Canada, its provinces and Indigenous governments to work through.
The promise of Canada’s potential will not be realized until governments can reach agreement around how climate policy considerations will be addressed in the context of future responsible energy sector development. Without clarity on this critical question, the situation that has faced Frontier will be faced by future projects and it will be very difficult to attract future investment, either domestic or foreign.
Wet’suwet’en: The canary in the Canadian fossil fuel cage | Ricochet
Half a million people marching for the climate in Montreal changed nothing.
But now a group of Indigenous people, led by the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs, are forcing us to wonder about the feasibility of all significant future fossil fuel projects — Coastal GasLink, LNG Canada, Trans Mountain, GNL Québec, Teck Frontier and others to come.
Concurrently, domestic government investments to develop Canadian clean technology sectors are pitiful. The situation is so bad that it is almost impossible for an individual to invest in Canadian clean technology market.
Canada will change because of global forces, that is, action taken by other nations. However, by the looks of it, we will be dependent on foreign technologies. As Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, has said, all the technologies to comply with climate imperatives already exist.
Eyes now on Canadian police after Trudeau demands transport blockades torn down
“There is a difference between inconvenience and injustice — total difference. Don’t confuse one with the other,” he said after meeting with Mohawk allies on Tyendinaga territory.
He noted that Wet’suwet’en land was never surrendered to the Canadian government in any treaties, so RCMP presence there amounts to an occupation.
On Thursday, the RCMP in B.C. sent a letter to the traditional leaders of the Wet’suwet’en Nation, telling them the force intends to move its officers off the access road and station them instead in the nearby town of Houston.
For-profit welfare scheme draws concerns
The idea of a welfare system in Ontario run by multinational, for-profit corporations strikes Dr. Gary Bloch as a bit odd.
“Where I get worried about it, is thinking around, really, what are the goals? What are the incentive structures put in place and who will be administering this?” asked the researcher and family physician with St. Michael’s Hospital’s City Health Associates. “We know there will be private companies bidding to help administer this system. That, to me, is extremely concerning.”
Last month, the Ontario government quietly launched a three-year pilot program in for-profit welfare, in particular how employment and training supports are delivered in Hamilton-Niagara, Peel and Muskoka-Kawartha.