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National Observer
4 days ago
- Politics
- National Observer
In 'serious omission,' G7 leaders release wildfire charter with no mention of climate change
G7 leaders released a joint statement on Tuesday about wildfires that did not include any reference to climate change. Climate change — fuelled primarily by burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas — is driving warmer and drier conditions and increasing the likelihood of more frequent and severe wildfires. The Kananaskis Wildfire Charter is 536 words long. None of them are "climate change." 'They're missing the whole point in that we're seeing more fires, a longer fire season, more intense fires, more severe fires, because the climate is changing due to human activities,' said fire and climate professor Mike Flannigan of Thompson Rivers University. 'It's a serious omission, and that's being very polite.' The charter published talks about everything related to wildfire but climate change: firefighting equipment, data collection, information sharing, restoring ecosystems, building resilient infrastructure, to name a few. 'It's saying many of the right things,' Flannigan says — aside from the glaring omission — but he notes that even the actions laid out in the agreement are light on detail. 'How are they going to do it? Easier said than done. It's going to cost money.' 'We're seeing more fires, a longer fire season, more intense fires, more severe fires, because the climate is changing due to human activities ... that's a serious omission, and that's being very polite," said fire expert Mike Flannigan. The discussions that led to the statement's specific wording were not public. But governments of most G7 nations recognize the role of human activity in climate change, as well as the role of climate change in wildfire, with one notable exception. Since the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, climate change has been scrubbed from government websites; grants for research on climate have been cut; the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Energy and many others have had their climate capacity slashed, among other devastating anti-climate moves. 'For [G7 leaders] to avoid it — probably for political reasons; I don't know that for sure, but that's a guess — it's a serious shortfall,' Flannigan said. 'This was a wasted opportunity as Canada ducked away from a confrontation with Trump,' said Keith Stewart, senior energy strategist with Greenpeace Canada. 'Canada is literally a country on fire.' The Canadian environmental group the Climate Action Network lambasted the charter in a statement within hours of its release. 'What's the point of a coalition of like-minded countries if it isn't even capable of mentioning the existential crisis facing humanity?" wrote Caroline Brouillette, the Climate Action Network's executive director. Canada is experiencing what may be its second-worst fire season on record, and the frequency of bad years has been increasing due to climate change. 'You can talk all you want about fire guards and resilient communities. But at the end of the day, if you're in a flammable landscape and things are extreme enough, fuel is fuel is fuel — it will burn,' Flannigan said. Trump received record donations from the oil industry during his election campaign. In his current bill working its way through congress is a billion-dollar tax break for the oil and gas industry. Last year, with Joe Biden as US president, the G7 summit ended with a communiqué that specifically mentioned climate change among the priorities countries agreed to focus efforts on. Not so this year. 'It's sad but not surprising,' Bloc Québécois MP Patrick Bonin said in an interview with Canada's National Observer. Another Bloc MP Xavier Barsalou-Duval echoed Bonin, saying the joint statement is consistent with the federal government acting 'as if climate change did not exist anymore' and is very worrying. NDP MP Leah Gazan agreed the failure to reference climate change is 'highly problematic' and given the global impact of extreme weather events this issue should be front and centre. 'We were expecting that the quick departure of Mr. Trump will bring the other countries, including Canada, to show more leadership and to talk about climate change and to come up with some statement and commitment in order to recognize that they need to do more and that they commit to do more,' Bonin said. Conservative MP Shannon Stubbs declined to comment because she had not read the statement, saying, 'I couldn't speak for the thought process of the people who put the document together.' Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada Julie Dabrusin was not immediately available to comment; this story will be updated with comment if it becomes available. Talking about wildfires without talking about how climate change is making wildfires more frequent and intense is 'just like putting their head in the sand,' Bonin said. 'We need to have a real discussion about the root cause of what we're seeing,' he said. While Canada burns, the prime minister is 'just ignoring the smoke,' he added.
CTV News
13-05-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Carney needs to ‘pick a lane' on climate priorities and energy boost, activist says
OTTAWA — Climate activists and energy leaders say Prime Minister Mark Carney will need to make some hard choices on whether to bolster the country's oil and gas sector as means of achieving economic stability. Throughout the election campaign, Carney signalled an openness to building more pipelines in Canada and promised to cut approval times to get projects built faster. He also acknowledged during the English leaders' debate that having western Canadian oil flow through the United States to Ontario and Quebec presents a national security threat. But he also has said he wants to keep Canada's emissions cap on oil and gas production in place, and to strengthen the industrial carbon price — policies the oil and gas sector has called on him to scrap. Carney also campaigned on making Canada a 'world leader' in carbon capture and introducing investment tax credits to support clean energy and technology. While Carney said before the campaign he would keep the emissions cap in place, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has said the prime minister told her behind closed doors that he wasn't in favour of hard caps. 'We've heard Mr. Carney, in particular during the election campaign, adopt an 'all of the above' approach to energy and refusing to pick a lane between a cleaner, safer, renewable powered future and doubling down on the volatile fossil fuel status quo,' said Caroline Brouillette, executive director of Climate Action Network. 'I think that in 2025 we don't have the luxury of not picking a lane, both from an environmental side of things but also from an economic side of things.' And Carney doesn't have the luxury of time either, said Adam Waterous, chairman of oil and gas producer Strathcona Resources. With the auto, steel and aluminum sectors reeling from U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs, he said, Carney's most powerful bargaining chip is Canada's energy. 'Donald Trump has been very, very consistent for nine years. He ran on this originally, and now he wants one thing from Canada. And it's not fentanyl and illegal immigration, that's a head-fake. He wants an agreement to build Keystone XL,' Waterous said. The Keystone XL project — a 1,900-kilometre pipeline that would have run from Hardisty, Alta., to the major U.S. crude storage hub at Cushing, Okla., and then on to Gulf Coast refineries — was first proposed during the Obama administration, which rejected it on environmental grounds. It was then revived under the first Trump administration before then-president Joe Biden killed it again by revoking the pipeline's permit on his first day in the White House in 2021. At that point, the project's proponent TC mothballed the project. Posting on his Truth Social account back in February, Trump called for the project to be resuscitated. 'Now, the industry doesn't want to build that,' Waterous said, adding the sector wants an east-west pipeline in order to diversify Canada's oil and gas exports and reach overseas markets. Oil and gas leaders laid out five demands in a letter to Carney shortly after the election. They called on him to, among other things, scrap the emissions cap regulations and repeal industrial carbon pricing. The federal government could pursue the Keystone project on its own, Waterous said — but that could present a different roadblock. 'The United States will not enter into an agreement with a state-owned enterprise because it is considered a non-tariff trade barrier as a subsidized entity. It has to be a private sector party,' Waterous said. But the project would be unlikely to get a private backer, he said, because 'the energy sector doesn't want to do this. They want to go east-west.' 'The energy private sector would be doing this to shelter auto, steel and aluminum. So you see the irony in this dynamic.' Nick Murray, The Canadian Press With files from Lauren Krugel in Calgary. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2025.
Toronto Star
13-05-2025
- Business
- Toronto Star
Carney needs to ‘pick a lane' on climate priorities and energy boost, activist says
OTTAWA - Climate activists and energy leaders say Prime Minister Mark Carney will need to make some hard choices on whether to bolster the country's oil and gas sector as means of achieving economic stability. Throughout the election campaign, Carney signalled an openness to building more pipelines in Canada and promised to cut approval times to get projects built faster. He also acknowledged during the English leaders' debate that having western Canadian oil flow through the United States to Ontario and Quebec presents a national security threat. But he also has said he wants to keep Canada's emissions cap on oil and gas production in place, and to strengthen the industrial carbon price — policies the oil and gas sector has called on him to scrap. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Carney also campaigned on making Canada a 'world leader' in carbon capture and introducing investment tax credits to support clean energy and technology. While Carney said before the campaign he would keep the emissions cap in place, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has said the prime minister told her behind closed doors that he wasn't in favour of hard caps. 'We've heard Mr. Carney, in particular during the election campaign, adopt an 'all of the above' approach to energy and refusing to pick a lane between a cleaner, safer, renewable powered future and doubling down on the volatile fossil fuel status quo,' said Caroline Brouillette, executive director of Climate Action Network. 'I think that in 2025 we don't have the luxury of not picking a lane, both from an environmental side of things but also from an economic side of things.' And Carney doesn't have the luxury of time either, said Adam Waterous, chairman of oil and gas producer Strathcona Resources. With the auto, steel and aluminum sectors reeling from U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs, he said, Carney's most powerful bargaining chip is Canada's energy. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW 'Donald Trump has been very, very consistent for nine years. He ran on this originally, and now he wants one thing from Canada. And it's not fentanyl and illegal immigration, that's a head-fake. He wants an agreement to build Keystone XL,' Waterous said. The Keystone XL project — a 1,900-kilometre pipeline that would have run from Hardisty, Alta., to the major U.S. crude storage hub at Cushing, Okla., and then on to Gulf Coast refineries — was first proposed during the Obama administration, which rejected it on environmental grounds. It was then revived under the first Trump administration before then-president Joe Biden killed it again by revoking the pipeline's permit on his first day in the White House in 2021. At that point, the project's proponent TC mothballed the project. Posting on his Truth Social account back in February, Trump called for the project to be resuscitated. 'Now, the industry doesn't want to build that,' Waterous said, adding the sector wants an east-west pipeline in order to diversify Canada's oil and gas exports and reach overseas markets. Oil and gas leaders laid out five demands in a letter to Carney shortly after the election. They called on him to, among other things, scrap the emissions cap regulations and repeal industrial carbon pricing. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW The federal government could pursue the Keystone project on its own, Waterous said — but that could present a different roadblock. 'The United States will not enter into an agreement with a state-owned enterprise because it is considered a non-tariff trade barrier as a subsidized entity. It has to be a private sector party,' Waterous said. But the project would be unlikely to get a private backer, he said, because 'the energy sector doesn't want to do this. They want to go east-west.' 'The energy private sector would be doing this to shelter auto, steel and aluminum. So you see the irony in this dynamic.' — With files from Lauren Krugel in Calgary. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2025. Politics Headlines Newsletter Get the latest news and unmatched insights in your inbox every evening Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. Please enter a valid email address. Sign Up Yes, I'd also like to receive customized content suggestions and promotional messages from the Star. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Politics Headlines Newsletter You're signed up! You'll start getting Politics Headlines in your inbox soon. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page.
Global News
12-05-2025
- Business
- Global News
Carney must ‘pick a lane' on climate, energy policies, advocates say
Climate activists and energy leaders say Prime Minister Mark Carney will need to make some hard choices on whether to bolster the country's oil and gas sector as means of achieving economic stability. Throughout the election campaign, Carney signalled an openness to building more pipelines in Canada and promised to cut approval times to get projects built faster. He also acknowledged during the English leaders' debate that having western Canadian oil flow through the United States to Ontario and Quebec presents a national security threat. But he also has said he wants to keep Canada's emissions cap on oil and gas production in place, and to strengthen the industrial carbon price — policies the oil and gas sector has called on him to scrap. Carney also campaigned on making Canada a 'world leader' in carbon capture and introducing investment tax credits to support clean energy and technology. Story continues below advertisement While Carney said before the campaign he would keep the emissions cap in place, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has said the prime minister told her behind closed doors that he wasn't in favour of hard caps. 'We've heard Mr. Carney, in particular during the election campaign, adopt an 'all of the above' approach to energy and refusing to pick a lane between a cleaner, safer, renewable powered future and doubling down on the volatile fossil fuel status quo,' said Caroline Brouillette, executive director of Climate Action Network. 'I think that in 2025 we don't have the luxury of not picking a lane, both from an environmental side of things but also from an economic side of things.' 1:44 How the Liberal minority government could complicate Carney's energy policy And Carney doesn't have the luxury of time either, said Adam Waterous, chairman of oil and gas producer Strathcona Resources. Story continues below advertisement With the auto, steel and aluminum sectors reeling from U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs, he said, Carney's most powerful bargaining chip is Canada's energy. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'Donald Trump has been very, very consistent for nine years. He ran on this originally, and now he wants one thing from Canada. And it's not fentanyl and illegal immigration, that's a head-fake. He wants an agreement to build Keystone XL,' Waterous said. The Keystone XL project — a 1,900-kilometre pipeline that would have run from Hardisty, Alta., to the major U.S. crude storage hub at Cushing, Okla., and then on to Gulf Coast refineries — was first proposed during the Obama administration, which rejected it on environmental grounds. It was then revived under the first Trump administration before then-president Joe Biden killed it again by revoking the pipeline's permit on his first day in the White House in 2021. At that point, the project's proponent TC mothballed the project. Posting on his Truth Social account back in February, Trump called for the project to be resuscitated. 'Now, the industry doesn't want to build that,' Waterous said, adding the sector wants an east-west pipeline in order to diversify Canada's oil and gas exports and reach overseas markets. 1:42 Canadians could vote on other issues, but 'end up with climate policies they don't like' expert warns Oil and gas leaders laid out five demands in a letter to Carney shortly after the election. They called on him to, among other things, scrap the emissions cap regulations and repeal industrial carbon pricing. Story continues below advertisement The federal government could pursue the Keystone project on its own, Waterous said — but that could present a different roadblock. 'The United States will not enter into an agreement with a state-owned enterprise because it is considered a non-tariff trade barrier as a subsidized entity. It has to be a private sector party,' Waterous said. But the project would be unlikely to get a private backer, he said, because 'the energy sector doesn't want to do this. They want to go east-west.' 'The energy private sector would be doing this to shelter auto, steel and aluminum. So you see the irony in this dynamic.' —With files from Lauren Krugel in Calgary.
Hamilton Spectator
12-05-2025
- Business
- Hamilton Spectator
Carney needs to ‘pick a lane' on climate priorities and energy boost, activist says
OTTAWA - Climate activists and energy leaders say Prime Minister Mark Carney will need to make some hard choices on whether to bolster the country's oil and gas sector as means of achieving economic stability. Throughout the election campaign, Carney signalled an openness to building more pipelines in Canada and promised to cut approval times to get projects built faster. He also acknowledged during the English leaders' debate that having western Canadian oil flow through the United States to Ontario and Quebec presents a national security threat. But he also has said he wants to keep Canada's emissions cap on oil and gas production in place, and to strengthen the industrial carbon price — policies the oil and gas sector has called on him to scrap. Carney also campaigned on making Canada a 'world leader' in carbon capture and introducing investment tax credits to support clean energy and technology. While Carney said before the campaign he would keep the emissions cap in place, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has said the prime minister told her behind closed doors that he wasn't in favour of hard caps. 'We've heard Mr. Carney, in particular during the election campaign, adopt an 'all of the above' approach to energy and refusing to pick a lane between a cleaner, safer, renewable powered future and doubling down on the volatile fossil fuel status quo,' said Caroline Brouillette, executive director of Climate Action Network. 'I think that in 2025 we don't have the luxury of not picking a lane, both from an environmental side of things but also from an economic side of things.' And Carney doesn't have the luxury of time either, said Adam Waterous, chairman of oil and gas producer Strathcona Resources. With the auto, steel and aluminum sectors reeling from U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs, he said, Carney's most powerful bargaining chip is Canada's energy. 'Donald Trump has been very, very consistent for nine years. He ran on this originally, and now he wants one thing from Canada. And it's not fentanyl and illegal immigration, that's a head-fake. He wants an agreement to build Keystone XL,' Waterous said. The Keystone XL project — a 1,900-kilometre pipeline that would have run from Hardisty, Alta., to the major U.S. crude storage hub at Cushing, Okla., and then on to Gulf Coast refineries — was first proposed during the Obama administration, which rejected it on environmental grounds. It was then revived under the first Trump administration before then-president Joe Biden killed it again by revoking the pipeline's permit on his first day in the White House in 2021. At that point, the project's proponent TC mothballed the project. Posting on his Truth Social account back in February, Trump called for the project to be resuscitated. 'Now, the industry doesn't want to build that,' Waterous said, adding the sector wants an east-west pipeline in order to diversify Canada's oil and gas exports and reach overseas markets. Oil and gas leaders laid out five demands in a letter to Carney shortly after the election. They called on him to, among other things, scrap the emissions cap regulations and repeal industrial carbon pricing. The federal government could pursue the Keystone project on its own, Waterous said — but that could present a different roadblock. 'The United States will not enter into an agreement with a state-owned enterprise because it is considered a non-tariff trade barrier as a subsidized entity. It has to be a private sector party,' Waterous said. But the project would be unlikely to get a private backer, he said, because 'the energy sector doesn't want to do this. They want to go east-west.' 'The energy private sector would be doing this to shelter auto, steel and aluminum. So you see the irony in this dynamic.' — With files from Lauren Krugel in Calgary. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2025.
