Conservatives Leap Climate Policy Forward
I moderated a panel of some of the conservative movement’s most knowledgeable climate policy experts at Manning last Saturday. The panel, entitled “Development and Sustainability,” featured Mark Cameron from Canadians for Clean Prosperity, The Hon. Ed Fast (Shadow Minister for Environment and Climate Change), Jeff Gaulin from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, and David […]
Social acceptability in Quebec
We have a new Resources Minister in Quebec. Everyone is interested what changes this will mean for our file in Quebec. Not least our opponents. The Minister has repeated clearly the widely held belief there is no social acceptability for fracking in Quebec. The last Minister and the Premier said the same thing. Let’s be […]
Back to the Future in Quebec
The annual Quebec Oil and Gas Conference will open in Montreal with a cocktail at 5pm, Sunday October 29th. Our theme is how a new kind of oil and gas company is how we will get back to the future for oil & gas in Quebec. In early 2011 telling someone in Quebec that frac’ing would […]
Cost of a Cleaner Future
Recently, the Conference Board of Canada released its report The Cost of a Cleaner Future: Examining the Economic Impacts of Reducing GHG Emissions. This report, which comprehensively examines the economic impacts of a carbon tax on the Canadian economy, proves that an adult conversation on hydrocarbons is long overdue. For me, this report also confirms […]
We Built This Place
We built this place What is happening to Canada? We built this place. First, French, and later English nations working together, often in tension and sometimes in conflict, to move furs across a wild land to build a home and native land. After 1776, we stood on guard against American imperialism. We hued wood and […]
“Opponents don’t know what the hell they are talking about”
The Minister of Natural Resources released the Government’s plan for energy transition in Quebec [Here’s the link]. Opponents were quick to criticize with throw away lines about how oil and gas has impacts. As if to say wind mills are impact free. It is worth noting just what it took to get to this point. […]
Common Sense Climate Policy
The potential impact of climate change is a highly concerning international issue for most Canadians. The world has always been able to count on Canada to punch above its weight on issues of global concern. Canadians can and should be proud of this. However, doing the right things depends on doing things right. We need […]
With Trump Now in Office, Canada Needs to Build a Carbon Wall
Former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau once said that living next to the United States is like “sleeping with an elephant,” with Canada having to pay attention to every “twitch and grunt.” With the ascension of Donald Trump to the White House, that elephant just rolled over. Is anyone paying attention? Take climate policy, for […]
Quebec has a new hydrocarbon law
I have waited to blog on the new oil and gas law in Quebec. The first question I get everywhere is what does the new law mean. I have given it time to gain some perspective. After running a five year advocacy campaign in one sense it’s like winning a marathon. Are you more glad […]
More Canada not more Carbon Tax
The 20th century famously was going to belong to Canada, according to Sir Wilfred Laurier. http://www.parli.ca/twentieth-century-belongs-canada/ . It didn’t quite turn out that way. Canada turned out to be the reliable junior partner to Britain, then America and often the international community. Through two world wars and international peace keeping, we showed that Canada can […]