Cheap oil's the disaster it is for Alberta because our province is so badly run Publish Date: 12-JAN-2015 09:43 AM The decline in oil prices to the sub-$50-per-barrel level may not be a pleasant experience for those of us here in Alberta, especially the Progressive Conservative rulers of our province, but it does offer the potential for what might be called a useful teaching and learning moment for other Canadians.
Le Canada doit renoncer à son pétrole (French) Publish Date: 08-JAN-2015 09:32 AM Le Canada doit absolument laisser plus de 85 % de ses ressources pétrolières connues dans le sol s’il veut aider l’humanité à éviter la catastrophe climatique qui s’annonce, conclut une nouvelle étude publiée mercredi par la prestigieuse revue Nature.
Waterloo woman finds NEB e-mail lauding public’s inability to question pipelines Publish Date: 09-DEC-2014 08:48 AM A Waterloo resident – now credited with finding crucial flaws in Enbridge’s Line 9 reversal pipeline in Southwest Ontario -- is sounding the alarm over an internal e-mail from the National Energy Board that appears to boast about new Harper government rules that reduce the public’s ability to ask questions at pipeline hearings. Louisette Lanteigne uncovered the e-mail via an Access to Information request. In the report attached to the memo, the NEB’s Hearing Manager for Oil Pipeline Applications told colleagues about the “successes” of a recently concluded Line 9A pipeline hearing in the summer of 2012.
Canada falls short of its 2020 climate change commitment Publish Date: 09-DEC-2014 08:46 AM Canada remains well short of meeting its international 2020 climate change commitment, Environment Canada reported Monday, even if the economy tanks and global oil and gas prices remain on the skids. Even under the worst-case scenario, the 2014 Emissions Report says Canada would still fail to cut greenhouse gases 17 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020 — as Canada committed to do under the Copenhagen accord.
Shifting Sands: How Energy is Shaping Canada’s Foreign Policy Publish Date: 09-DEC-2014 08:41 AM The recent rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline project in November by the United States Senate is only the latest chapter of an ongoing saga reflecting a dramatic shift in Canada’s foreign relations in recent years. The Canadian government has been engaging in an aggressive public relations campaign for its booming oil and gas industry. The strategy includes prominent marketing and behind-the-scenes lobbying in close partnership with oil industry executives. Prime Minister Stephen Harper, first elected in 2006, has long maintained his goal was to make Canada an energy superpower. But he has also changed the country’s role and policies in international climate change efforts as a means to achieve that goal.
Stephen Harper government confuses science for mere opinion Publish Date: 02-DEC-2014 10:23 AM The current government has repeatedly proclaimed its belief in the importance of scientific evidence. In March 2013, then-Minister of Natural Resources Joe Oliver advanced the view that U.S. President Barack Obama is — on the Keystone XL issue, at least — “driven by facts,” adding “and that’s what drives us as well.” He reiterated this assertion several months later in response to a blistering New York Times editorial that accused the Harper government of muzzling government scientists in an “attempt to guarantee public ignorance.” Americans, said Oliver, are entitled to their opinions but he would find it “refreshing if they confined themselves to the facts and science.”
Les ennemis de la science (French) Publish Date: 26-NOV-2014 08:28 AM Cette pancarte sur l’autoroute 40 défigure le paysage montréalais en affichant que « Le soleil est le principal facteur du changement climatique ». Cette imposture scientifique mine une éducation et une sensibilisation scientifiques que nous bâtissons depuis plusieurs décennies. Elle est d’autant plus vicieuse que ses auteurs, Friends of Science, un organisme climatosceptique albertain, usurpent la crédibilité de la science pour désinformer la population.
Vente de gaz de l'usine de biométhanisation : Saint-Hyacinthe engrangera des revenus annuels de 6 M $ (French) Publish Date: 25-NOV-2014 01:08 PM Le gaz méthane produit par le compostage de déchets organiques permettra à la Ville de Saint-Hyacinthe d'économiser annuellement 500 000 $ en frais de chauffage de ses édifices et de carburant pour ses véhicules. En plus, la Ville tirera des revenus annuels de 6 millions de dollars du surplus de gaz vendu à Gaz Métropolitain.
Le Québec et l'Ontario s'entendent sur l'énergie et l'environnement (French) Publish Date: 21-NOV-2014 11:45 AM Dès la fin 2015, l'Ontario fournira 500 mégawatts au Québec en période de pointe hivernale. En contrepartie, le Québec fournira la même quantité d'électricité à l'Ontario en période de pointe estivale à partir de 2016. C'est l'une des principales ententes annoncées au terme de la réunion conjointe des conseils des ministres du Québec et de l'Ontario qui a eu lieu ce matin à Toronto.
La Chambre autorise à nouveau l’oléoduc Keystone XL, défiant Obama (French) Publish Date: 20-NOV-2014 10:18 AM La Chambre des représentants américaine a voté vendredi pour autoriser l’oléoduc controversé Keystone XL, ardemment soutenu par le Canada, mais Barack Obama a laissé entendre qu’il pourrait opposer son veto si la mesure était finalement adoptée par le Sénat.
L’efficacité énergétique rapporte gros Publish Date: 19-NOV-2014 03:01 PM Le Canada ajouterait jusqu’à 580 milliards à son PIB en 28 ans s’il empruntait cette voie
Oléoduc Énergie Est: pas de sécurité, pas de passage, dit Labeaume Publish Date: 19-NOV-2014 02:56 PM Même s'il est partisan du projet d'oléoduc Énergie Est de TransCanada Pipeline, le maire de Québec juge qu'il demeure trop de questions sans réponses. «Je ne laisserai pas cette compagnie-là traverser le fleuve si on ne se sent pas en sécurité.»
Keystone XL: le Sénat dit non... pour l'instant Publish Date: 18-NOV-2014 02:50 PM Tout compte fait, Barack Obama n'aura pas à utiliser son veto pour bloquer le projet Keystone XL. Du moins, pas tout de suite.
Oléoduc Énergie Est : 175 pétroliers par année à Cacouna (French) Publish Date: 31-OCT-2014 09:12 AM Quelque 175 pétroliers traverseront chaque année une zone de reproduction des bélugas pour accoster au port de Cacouna, révèlent des documents rendus publics hier par le promoteur du pipeline Énergie Est, TransCanada. Dans une conférence de presse pour marquer le dépôt du projet de 12 milliards devant l'Office national de l'énergie, hier, le président d'Oléoduc Énergie Est, François Poirier, n'a pas voulu s'avancer sur le nombre de navires qui transiteront par le port.
Climate damages litigation could cost Canadian oil & gas companies billions: study Publish Date: 09-OCT-2014 12:32 PM Canadian oil and gas companies could be liable for billions of dollars of damages for their contribution to climate change, according a study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) and West Coast Environmental Law (West Coast) that analyzes scenarios in which the legal landscape concerning climate damages litigation could suddenly and dramatically change.
Plan Nord: un pilier du développement économique, estime Couillard (French) Publish Date: 30-SEP-2014 10:23 AM Même si les prix des ressources minières ont connu une baisse marquée depuis la première mouture du Plan Nord libéral, le premier ministre Philippe Couillard espère toujours en faire un pilier important du développement économique de la province.
Oil and gas pollution committee quietly silenced Publish Date: 16-SEP-2014 09:24 AM Environment Canada appears to have quietly ended key discussions that were intended to tackle carbon pollution from the oil and gas industry. A committee made up of representatives from Environment Canada, the Alberta government and oil and gas companies was created in the fall of 2011 to develop options to reduce industrial greenhouse gases from the oilsands sector, the country’s fastest growing source of carbon emissions.
Canadian government declines interviews on oilsands health impacts Publish Date: 05-SEP-2014 11:19 AM Who are Health Canada’s experts assessing human health impacts of oilsands development? And why has the federal government never done a comprehensive study of health impacts in the region after more than half a century of industrial development?
CFIA Consultations and Canadian Food Safety (PDF)
Publish Date: 19-DEC-2014 02:44 AM
As part of the 2014 CFIA Consultations, the Professional Institute of The Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) has submitted a detailed analysis of each of the following proposals:
Scientists Rally in Support of Federal Research
Publish Date: 27-NOV-2014 11:16 AM
On the morning of October 22, researchers and science staff from Natural Resources Canada, Agriculture & Agri-food Canada and the Department of National Defence demonstrated in Québec city at the entrance of Université Laval in support of research in the federal government.
The Canada First Research Excellence Fund seems to be the Harper government’s response to fierce criticism about its science policies. It was announced with much fanfare last week (although it had appeared in the spring budget) by Prime Minister Stephen Harper as an unprecedented investment to strengthen Canada’s position in the world of science. But it came on the heels of an uproar in the scientific community over the imminent shuttering of a world-class science facility at the University of Ottawa, highlighting precisely what many critics believe is wrong with the Conservatives’ approach to science.
Irrités par les interventions du gouvernement Harper, les scientifiques fédéraux ont concocté un répulsif inusité: des clauses à insérer dans leur convention collective. Reste à voir si le remède sera homologué.
