Canada

When you hear folks expressing opinions on national television you may not be aware of who helps pay their mortgages -- or golf club memberships.

On CBC's The National, last week, the "At Issue" panel was discussing the recent leaders' meeting in Mexico where, yet again, Prime Minister Harper failed to convince President Obama to give his blessing to the Keystone XL pipeline.

This photo of Peter Mansbridge holding forth from behind a CAPP (Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers) lectern popped up online last weekend. Grabbed from CAPP’s Facebook page, it’s dated December 11, 2012, and contains this caption:

    “Peter Mansbridge at CAPP’s Investment Symposium last night. He articulated that energy has moved to the forefront of news: economic, environment, safety.”

Canada makes no mention of climate change in its 427-page budget for 2014, in another sign of the country’s dwindling interest in environmental protection. The budget, which was released to little fanfare during the Winter Olympics in Sochi, has invited accusations that Canada’s Conservative government has prioritised winning votes at the next election over the transition to a low-carbon economy.

How much is Canada worth? About $33 trillion according to one recent reckoning, based only on our oil and timber resources. Those two commodities alone make Canada the fourth richest country on Earth, and number two on a per capita basis -- just behind Saudi Arabia. Divided between 35 million Canadians, every one of us is close to being a millionaire. Like the TV commercial says, you're richer than you think.

OTTAWA — A secret report from a committee of federal deputy ministers stresses the need for the federal government to further combat climate change and manage the risks that threaten Canadian communities, government infrastructure, food security and human health. The briefing materials shed some intriguing light on what’s unfolding within the government on how Canada should both mitigate and respond to climate change, and which emerging energy and environmental industries Ottawa may financially support in the future.

"Severe Drought Has U.S. West Fearing Worst" - front page headline, New York Times, Sunday, Feb. 1 Ayoung couple on the Canada Line asks for directions to the airport. They are flying home to San Francisco after a week skiing in Whistler, despite the fact there was not much snow. "But there was more snow in Whistler," the man says, "because there's none in Tahoe."

No new fossil fuel infrastructure: every cent is an investment in death for our kids. This is the emerging line in the sand dictated by the carbon budget science if we are serious in protecting our kids from climate change. Prominent US activist KC Golden has recently articulated the message behind the growing challenge to the Keystone XL pipeline: The Keystone Principle : Stop making it worse.

While media owners, editorialists, journalists and academics periodically rise to the occasion and decry Stephen Harper's brazen attacks on our institutions, it seems to me that they doth protest too little. The day after the BCCLA announced its formal complaint the media response was generally a big ho-hum. Harper business as usual. Old news.

OTTAWA – The federal government will cut $2.6 billion in spending and nearly 5,000 jobs from its science-focused departments between 2013 and 2016, says a report released Thursday by a union representing government scientists and professionals. The report, which includes survey data showing a majority of scientists believe their departments are weakening efforts to protect Canadians and the environment, highlights the departure of key experts who did research on rail safety and public health, as well as the recent review of Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline proposal.

On Feb. 11, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will deliver the 2014 federal budget. An early budget with little expected in the manner of new commitments or funding, this budget is being called a bridge towards Flaherty's promise of a deficit free budget in 2015. Even in the unlikely event that Flaherty can make good on that promise, Canada should be more worried about another budget -- our ever-shrinking carbon budget.