Carl Meyer

Carl Meyer

Will anyone want Canada’s oil and gas? Energy regulator delays forecast due to shifting policies

Canada’s national energy regulator has postponed its report outlining future demand for fossil fuels, citing an “evolving energy and policy landscape.” The move comes as both Ottawa and Washington have recently scrapped numerous climate rules while Prime Minister Mark Carney has promoted oil and gas projects as “nation-building” endeavours. The regulator had expected to issue updated projections for “early in...

Carl Meyer

Highway 413, Vancouver port expansion have the eye of the feds, newly released documents show

With Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government still tight-lipped about the exact projects on its nation-building wishlist, a newly released internal document from the early days of his leadership adds to the speculation. Proposals to double the size of a Vancouver port, build Highway 413 in Ontario and develop or expand mines in Yukon and Nunavut were among the list of...

Carl Meyer

How Mark Carney is complicating Canada’s climate progress

A decade ago, Mark Carney gave a rousing speech about the power of governments to change course before climate-driven chaos shifted into truly unpredictable territory. At the time, Carney was speaking to insurance market Lloyd’s of London, in his former role as governor of the Bank of England. He began by acknowledging how insurers had been “dealing with the reality”...

Carl Meyer

Can Canada’s fast-tracking laws avoid the mistakes of the past?

It’s been two decades since the Supreme Court issued a pair of judgements that affirmed Canada’s “duty to consult” Indigenous Peoples beyond giving them a chance to “blow off steam.” Since then, Canada’s courts have continued to sketch out the legal contours of Indigenous Rights, one decision at a time — like when they found government consultants must act as...

Carl Meyer

Poilievre says feds are holding up oil, gas and mining projects. Is he right, and could he change that?

A number of the Conservative leader’s priority projects are nearing or have final approvals, while others face concerns about environmental and First Nations impacts

Carl Meyer, Matt Simmons

The feds raised doubts about a climate scientist’s LNG research. He says they sounded like fossil fuel lobbyists

Which is worse for the climate — coal or LNG? After a study found LNG is worse than coal, internal docs show the Government of Canada pushed back

Mike De Souza, Carl Meyer

Here’s where Canada’s new prime minister stands on the future of oil and gas

Montrealers lined up around the block on a chilly March evening as they waited to enter one of the final Liberal leadership campaign events of then-Liberal leadership contender Mark Carney. It just so happened to be held at a venue in downtown Montreal, in the riding of then-environment minister Steven Guilbeault.

Carl Meyer

Three MPs set politics aside for a cross-party effort against corporate greenwashing

A trio of Liberal, New Democrat and Bloc Québécois MPs put partisan politics aside in order to sharpen the teeth of Canada’s anti-greenwashing law, and the oilpatch is feeling the bite. Liberal MP Patrick Weiler, NDP MP Don Davies and Bloc MP Gabriel Ste-Marie worked together to add a key clause to Canada’s Competition Act expanding the powers of a...

Carl Meyer

5 takeaways from Canada’s draft rules for an oil and gas emissions cap

Canadian government ministers introduced new details of their oil and gas emissions cap plan on Monday. If the federal draft rules are finalized as expected next year, they would represent the first time Ottawa has imposed binding obligations on the sector to slow its rising carbon emissions.

Sharon J. Riley, Carl Meyer

Pathways Alliance’s oilsands carbon capture project won’t undergo Alberta environmental assessment

The massive $16-billion carbon capture plan proposed by Pathways Alliance — a group of the largest oilsands companies — will not undergo a provincial environmental assessment, according to a letter from the Alberta Energy Regulator dated Oct. 25 and provided to The Narwhal. Pathways filed its first regulatory application for the project, which will include a 400-kilometre carbon dioxide pipeline...

Carl Meyer

Canada is set to meet — and beat — its goal of reducing emissions 40 per cent from federal buildings and cars

Anita Anand says Canada will “exceed” its target to slash planet-warming pollution from tens of thousands of its own buildings and vehicles by next year.

Carl Meyer

‘We don’t need a cap’: oil and gas CEO says key federal climate policy would divide Canadians

The CEO of one of the country’s largest oil and gas companies says Canada doesn’t need to cap pollution from its oilpatch. “We’ve been pretty clear that we don’t need a cap,” Cenovus president and CEO Jon McKenzie told The Narwhal on Sept. 24. “We see this as something that further divides provinces, the federal government and industry, and is...

Mike De Souza, Carl Meyer

Canada never put a cap on carbon pollution from the oilpatch. New draft rules are ‘weeks’ away

The Canadian government says it will unveil a draft of new rules to cap heat-trapping pollution from the oil and gas industry within a matter of weeks. “We’re finalizing [it],” federal Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault said at a news conference on Parliament Hill on Tuesday. “It’s a matter of weeks before we’ll be able to present draft...

Carl Meyer

Inside the Canadian oilsands lobby’s request to fast-track a major project

A lobby group representing Canada’s biggest oil and gas producers has asked the government to fast-track a major industrial project in a move the federal environment minister says could “circumvent” the law. The project is a proposal by the Pathways Alliance, a group of six fossil fuel companies that wants to capture massive amounts of carbon pollution from oilsands facilities...

Carl Meyer

‘What choice did I have?’ Guilbeault says Highway 413 deal meant to ‘protect’ key environmental law

The federal government had little choice but to cut a deal with Ontario over Highway 413, or risk another court ruling that would chip away at a key environmental law, said Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault. The minister spoke with The Narwhal last week about the government’s decision in April to drop a federal assessment of the proposed...

Carl Meyer

This Canadian pipeline giant wants an exemption from climate rules

One of Canada’s largest pipeline operators lobbied the federal government to exclude two major sources of carbon pollution from its emissions cap for the oil and gas sector. According to an internal government memo obtained by The Narwhal, Calgary-based TC Energy asked the government not to include facilities that produce liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the federal emissions cap. Liquefied...

Carl Meyer

Canada thinks LNG exports can reduce carbon pollution. Now it’s digging for proof

Canada is on a mission to prove its liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports can help the planet fight the climate crisis, according to government briefing notes obtained by The Narwhal. Oil and gas industry lobbyists have long pushed a controversial theory that exports of Canadian LNG could actually help lower global greenhouse gas emissions by displacing more carbon-intensive energy sources...

Carl Meyer

Canadian government plans to award millions of dollars for group to create climate watchdog

Carl Meyer