Tar Sands

28/05/26
Author: 
Graeme Gordon
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith speaks during a news conference in Calgary, Alta., Friday, May 22, 2026.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

May 27, 2026

A referendum on an official referendum scheduled for the night of October 19, 2026, could set Alberta on an official legal process of leaving Canada.

Earlier this month, a judge of the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta ruled against an official, non-binding referendum going forward this fall, citing a lack of consultation with the province’s Indigenous people and the Crown.

23/05/26
Author: 
Markham Hislop
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith speaks at a press conference at McDougall Centre in Calgary. Photo by Dean Pilling /Postmedia

May 23, 2026

Can Danielle Smith continue using Alberta separatism as a tool of political management without eventually losing control of the forces she helped unleash? This past week suggests she can’t. Political movements built on grievance rarely remain controllable for long. Since becoming premier in 2022, she has systematically normalized the politics of betrayal, victimhood, and existential crisis. Now she is trying to surf a political tsunami wave of her own making.

Can she survive?

09/01/26
Author: 
John Woodside Darius Snieckus
Art by Ata Ojani/Canada's National Observer

Jan. 7, 2026

The dramatic takeover of Venezuela and its oil industry is sparking more talk of pipelines and a fossil fuel bonanza in Canada. But climate experts, economists and others say don’t bet on it.

The geopolitical drama doesn’t change climate realities, energy forecasts showing oil’s decline or Indigenous legal rights that could block new projects, these observers note.

17/12/25
Author: 
The Breach
Smith and Carney - Mark Carney’s pact with Danielle Smith is climate carnage

Website editor: in depth and insightful interview

Dec. 4, 2025

Author and analyst Seth Klein joins Desmond Cole to break down how Carney and Smith have fulfilled Big Oil’s entire wish list

Mark Carney’s deal with Alberta’s Danielle Smith is the climate sell-out of the century.

Author and analyst Seth Klein joins Desmond Cole to break down everything it contains—from pipelines, to AI data centres, to dirty electricity, to a rollback of almost every Trudeau-era climate policy.

01/12/25
Author: 
Andrew Nikiforuk
The plan to daily pump 1.4 million more barrels of bitumen includes expanding the Trans Mountain pipeline, shown here being buried in Abbotsford, BC, in 2023. Photo by Darryl Dyck, the Canadian Press.

Dec. 1, 2025

An energy expert lays out the risks and fallacies as Canada and the world fail to face the climate crisis.

Lo and behold, Prime Minister Mark Carney, a global banker, and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, a petro-populist à la Donald Trump, have big energy plans for Canadians.

26/11/25
Author: 
John Woodside
Art by Ata Ojani/Canada's National Observer

Nov. 26, 2025

A forthcoming deal between the federal government and Alberta for a new oil pipeline, reportedly set to be announced Thursday, promises to ignite a political firestorm.

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