On March 25th, the Supreme Court of Canada declared the federal carbon pricing scheme to be constitutional: the federal government has the legal right to impose it on provinces, such as Saskatchewan, which have not developed their own scheme. While carbon pricing is just one of the measures that we need to address the climate... Continue Reading →
Letter to MLAs: small modular nuclear reactors
Here is the text of a letter which we sent to all MLAs on March 15th: You will have received a letter from a coalition of groups expressing opposition to funding or development of small modular nuclear reactors (SMNRs) by the province of Saskatchewan. We also regard any positive consideration of SMNRs to be a... Continue Reading →
Federal Bill C-12 isn’t good enough to deal with the climate crisis
In mid-November, the government published Bill C-12, entitled “An Act respecting transparency and accountability in Canada’s efforts to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050”. The Bill is currently (as of 2021-03-21) in Second Reading: it still has to go to Committee and to Third Reading, so amendments are still possible. (You can... Continue Reading →
“Management and reduction of greenhouse gases” from Saskatchewan’s electricity – the devil is in the detail
Any serious programme to address climate change has to include an accelerated phase-out of coal. That is because it’s the most carbon-intensive fuel in common use. Among the most carbon-intensive coals is the low-grade lignite which SaskPower uses to supply a little over 40% of our electricity – and which is responsible for over 70%... Continue Reading →
Let’s have some real democracy!
“It’s not the government’s role to put its thumb on the scale of any particular project – it undermines the public confidence that the environment is getting the protection that it needs. Governments issue permits, but communities grant permission.” An important statement of democratic values, and well put. The speaker was Justin Trudeau (video here),... Continue Reading →
Interim response to the provincial government’s “climate strategy”
On Monday (Dec 4, 2017), Environment Minister Dustin Duncan announced the Saskatchewan government’s much-awaited climate strategy, entitled “Prairie Resilience”. We find it something of an anticlimax – a remix of old ideas with no truly new initiatives. There are some positive elements within it, but for the most part it demonstrates a distressing lack of... Continue Reading →
People’s Climate March in Regina
We haven't posted for a while. That's not because we haven't been doing anything - it's more because we've been doing too many other things! But this weekend our friends in Regina are organising a climate rally. And here is a guest post from one of those organisers, Frances Simonson: Saskatchewan will participate in the... Continue Reading →
Oil vs Democracy: to whom are Wall and Trudeau accountable?
CBC reported on December 20th that the Saskatchewan government was ignoring the Information and Privacy Commissioner's recommendation that it release records and information relating to inspection of Husky Energy's pipelines. Following the Husky heavy oil leak of July 20th which threatened the water supply of North Battleford, Prince Albert and several First Nations, a Freedom... Continue Reading →
The premiers’ Pan-Canadian Framework
Discussions among federal and provincial ministers have finally yielded a result. In an 80-page document, they have set out their agreement on action to address climate change. At least, most of them have. The Manitoba government is withholding its support for the framework as a bargaining counter until its concerns about healthcare funding are met.... Continue Reading →
Answering Brad Wall’s talking points
In discussions of climate policy with opponents of decisive action, certain talking points inevitably get raised. Some are more common than others, some are more subtle than others, and some require more knowledge and thought to debunk than others - but our current premier seems to be happy to use all of them. We are... Continue Reading →
