Pollution from fossil fuels in Canada continues to grow by staggering amounts, with the oilsands sector alone responsible for more carbon pollution than all of B.C. or Quebec in 2017, says the federal government in its latest climate change report to the United Nations.
The newest edition of Canada’s National Inventory Report, covering data up to two years ago, shows that the oil and gas sector was responsible for 195 million tonnes, or megatonnes (Mt) of greenhouse gas emissions in 2017, up eight Mt from 2016.
Indigenous people and environmentalists want to prevent the expansion of Canada's oil sands development, and the water and air pollution that come with it.
Large enough to be seen from space, tailings ponds in Alberta’s oil sands region are some of the biggest human-made structures on Earth. They contain a toxic slurry of heavy metals and hydrocarbons from the bitumen separation process.
It was election night in 2017 and Wilderness Committee staff were gathered at our local watering hole nervously watching the vote totals roll in. We had a lot riding on this election, especially in the fight to stop the Trans Mountain pipeline and tanker project.
I remember celebratory cheers from NDP candidates that they would stop the pipeline as the night turned in their favour and I have no doubt many of these MLAs still hold this as a priority, and even believe their government is honouring its election promise.
Government support for six new tar sands/oil sands pipelines and four major liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects, along with assorted tax cuts and regulatory breaks, led the wish list the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) released Tuesday in advance of the provincial election coming up in Alberta this spring.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is relying on an aggressive and outdated Western Canadian crude oil supply outlook to re-approve Trans Mountain’s expansion. Trudeau’s outlook seriously contradicts the supply forecast oilsands producers support as commercially viable.
[Website editor's note - Another face of climate change denialism: Blame Americans...]
Canada’s debilitating inability to gain fair market value for its largest export commodity – crude oil – has become the top economic story of 2018. It will likely dominate headlines in 2019.
