While National Newswatch does not keep an archive of external articles for longer than 6 months, we do keep all articles written by contributors who post directly to our site. Here you will find all of the contributed and linked external articles from David Thurton.
'Many New Democrats are allergic to fundraising,' report says. The federal NDP released its internal campaign review Friday, largely avoiding casting blame on senior party officials and instead citing issues that were beyond the control of New Democrats for its worst election loss. "The overall verdict from campaign staff was that the NDP ran a technically solid campaign in a...
The Carney government is making good on a promise to help tackle one of the most potent forms of climate pollution, as it announces new measures to address methane emissions from the oil and gas industry. CBC News obtained an early copy of the announcement that Environment, Climate Change and Nature Minister Julie Dabrusin is expected to deliver in Metro...
Environment minister suggests equivalency agreement with Alberta is in the works. Ottawa’s clean electricity regulations' days are numbered in Alberta, after Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith signed their memorandum of understanding last week. The federal government suspended the regulations meant to rein in Canada’s worst polluter, but it hasn’t explained how it is going to ensure...
Deal to be formally announced on Thursday. Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith have agreed to the broad outlines of a memorandum of understanding that would give Alberta special exemptions from federal environmental laws and offer political support to a new oil pipeline to the B.C. coast, CBC News has learned. The deal is set to be...
Canada’s new environment minister and Environment and Climate Change officials confirmed that the federal government is standing by the national climate targets previously set under Justin Trudeau. On several occasions, Environment and Climate Change Minister Julie Dabrusin was asked about whether the current Liberal government was still committed to working toward the near-term targets set under the previous prime minister...
Alberta’s premier hopes to make a deal before Grey Cup. The Alberta and federal governments are in negotiations to sign a major accord that could reset their relationship. Both sides have said the aim of the talks is to sign a formal memorandum of understanding (MOU). The Alberta premier’s office has said they hope to ink the deal before the...
Ahead of the release of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s climate competitiveness strategy, his energy minister offered some hints of what will be included when it's introduced in Tuesday’s budget.
Policy is one of several supports for tariff-impacted sectors announced this month. Ottawa's "Buy Canadian" policy will be featured in the fall federal budget and is expected to be fully place by next spring, according to a senior federal source. The source said initial elements of the policy should be in effect by as early as November, and will be...
Does the EV mandate really ban gas-powered vehicles? The future of Canada's electric vehicle mandate is uncertain. Prime Minister Mark Carney announced this month that he is pausing the national mandate, what Ottawa calls the electric vehicle availability standard. Conservatives have been calling for some time for policy to be scrapped. Carney stopped short of doing that, but did not...
Should Canada come clean and admit it won’t meet its climate goals? Prime Minister Mark Carney is facing mounting pressure to act on climate change amid another near-record-shattering wildfire season and scorching hot summer. But five months after taking Canada's top political job, it's unclear whether he will pursue his Liberal predecessor's deep emissions cuts.
The president of the national Inuit organization says he's been given reassurances that Prime Minister Mark Carney's plan to fast-track major nation-building projects won't violate modern treaties and there will be "full partnership of the Inuit within these processes." The prime minister is meeting with Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, and other Inuit leaders in Inuvik, NW.T., as...
Sweeping powers, level of consultation questioned as bill races through Parliament Liberals are attempting to bulldoze their mega projects bill through Parliament, according to critics who say the legislation interferes with Indigenous rights, environmental protection and democracy itself. The government's One Canadian Economy Act is generating controversy inside and outside the House of Commons, with some arguing it confers king-like...
Internal federal documents suggest legislation could be tabled as early as next month. The Liberal government will introduce legislation to assist in identifying projects in the national interest and provide "up-front regulatory approvals" to major projects, according to a federal document obtained by CBC News. "Once a project is determined to be in the national interest, federal reviews will shift...
Sources say party was focused on saving leader's seat at the expense of other incumbents. In the dying days of the federal election campaign, senior New Democrats made a desperate, last-ditch attempt to save Jagmeet Singh's Burnaby, B.C., seat. Some say it was unwinnable. At least 20 staff from the party's Ottawa headquarters packed the leader's campaign plane just days...
Polls suggest the Green Party is at risk of being wiped off Canada's electoral map on election night, but co-Leader Elizabeth May believes the numbers don't reflect the party's ground game. May, who's running for a fifth term, said she's knocked on so many doors that only her left hand can continue.
Canadians will receive an extra carbon tax rebate on April 22. The last Canada Carbon Rebate arrives on Tuesday after Liberal Leader Mark Carney killed the federal consumer price on carbon. Only those who filed their 2024 income taxes electronically by April 2 will receive the payment on Tuesday. Otherwise, the final payment will be deposited once the Canada Revenue...
As Jagmeet Singh heads into his third week of campaigning, the NDP leader is dropping his assertive messaging that he is running to be prime minister. Singh is no longer explicitly repeating the line at news conferences. On Wednesday and Friday, CBC News asked Singh if he was still running for the country's top political job.
Party says it's a 'volatile' time as CBC Poll Tracker shows support under 12%. In a "get ready with me" video posted this week, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh twists his long hair under his turban and talks about his life before politics. "I went out and got three minimum-wage jobs … to put food on the table," he says to...
3 former Ontario MPPs among those hoping to make inroads for national party. The NDP has a list of battleground ridings where party insiders believe they are competitive and have a chance to grow. Although the party intends to field candidates in all 343 federal ridings during the 2025 election, local riding associations and the party have been working for...
New Democrats say Conservative MPs were missing in action as Canadian parliamentarians visited Capitol Hill and met with American lawmakers and business leaders this week. Canadian MPs and senators were in Washington on Tuesday and Wednesday as part of Parliament's diplomatic efforts. The trip coincided with the start of the U.S.-Canada trade war. In a social media post, NDP MP...
Singh calls Trump a 'fascist' as he outlines his foreign policy vision. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh became the first Canadian political leader to call on the U.S. president to be uninvited from a major summit of world leaders this summer in Canada. "Why would we invite someone who threatens our sovereignty and economic well-being? Why would we invite someone who...
Favourability moving in the wrong direction while election could be weeks away. The 2025 federal election seemed to have all the makings of a breakthrough for Canada's New Democratic Party. Polling shows voters want change. The Liberal Party is leaderless. Plus, those vying to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have promised policies that would move the party back to the...
Memo accuses Liberals of turning the tariff crisis into a political opportunity. The NDP's national campaign director has sent a memo to all candidates and campaign staff warning them to be prepared for a snap federal election as early as March 10. CBC obtained a copy of the memo titled "Election timing and planning," sent on Wednesday to about 14...
The NDP made new election commitments on Monday: imposing tariffs on Tesla electric vehicles, bringing back the federal EV rebate and doubling it if consumers buy a Canadian-made plug-in car. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is on a campaign-style swing in Canada's automotive capital and border town: Windsor, Ont. Singh told reporters that if Trump follows through with his threat to...
None of the allegations have been proven in court and the defendants have not filed statements of defence. Former Canadian Human Rights commissioner Birju Dattani is suing Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman, accusing her and others of leading a "strategic, deliberate, and malicious" campaign against him.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh accused Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre on Monday of taking a soft approach to Donald Trump's threat to impose tariffs on Canadian goods. Singh speculated Poilievre's approach could be influenced by his endorsement from Elon Musk. "[Poilievre's] plan is literally to do nothing … until an election," Singh said Monday, a week before Trump is inaugurated president...
The NDP is further distancing itself from the Liberals, committing to vote against the government while also adopting a change in tone as the party prepares for a potential spring election. A senior NDP source with knowledge of the party's strategy confirmed the change in posture after Singh held his first news conference of the year. The source spoke to...
After Chrystia Freeland's sudden and unexpected resignation from the Trudeau cabinet earlier this week, it seemed clear that the NDP would vote non-confidence in the government, triggering an early election. It hasn't been clear since. The party seems to be backing away from comments NDP House leader Peter Julian made on CBC's Power and Politics hours after Freeland quit Prime...
The federal government did not meet the targets for its program to plant two billion trees during the program's third planting season. Numbers provided by Natural Resources Canada show Ottawa did not meet its annual planting and spending targets for the 2023-24 growing season. Ottawa and its partners were supposed to plant 60 million trees last season but only got...
Greenpeace activists chained themselves to a mockup of oil-extraction equipment outside the official residence of the Official Opposition leader Thursday morning. It's not clear whether Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and his family were at home at the Stornoway residence at the time. Two protesters chained themselves to replica pumpjacks to call out what Greenpeace says is Poilievre's "anti-climate agenda."
An internal report on workplace racism and harassment at the highest levels of the federal public service shows that not even the federal government's top executives are immune to the problem. The government-funded report on the experiences of Black public servants in the senior ranks of government — obtained by CBC News — includes first-hand accounts of racist remarks, harassment...
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said Wednesday he wants China and Saudi Arabia to contribute money to international efforts to help poorer countries struggling with the worst effects of climate change. Guilbeault will be heading to the annual United Nations climate summit, COP29, in Azerbaijan next week. There, countries are expected to negotiate a new international target to collect the trillions...
Environment minister to announce more details on Monday about draft regulations. As regulations for the federal government's oil and gas emissions cap approach the finish line, Canada's environment minister warns the NDP and the Bloc Québécois that triggering an early election could dash hopes of curbing emissions from Canada's biggest polluters. Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault is highlighting...
In what some have called a game-changing decision, an Ontario court has ruled that the provincial government's weakened climate target could violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Ecojustice, Canada's largest environmental law charity, says the decision marks the first time that Ontario's highest court has ruled that a government's climate actions are subject to the Charter. Ecojustice backed the...
Parliamentary Budget Officer re-did its analysis after it made an 'inadvertent error.' After making an "inadvertent error," Canada's independent budget watchdog re-did its analysis of the federal carbon tax and rebates — and came to a similar conclusion. Thursday's updated report from the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) found that considering the average household costs of paying the consumer fuel levy...
The federal government is "seriously" considering building the country's first high-speed rail link between Quebec City and Toronto, says Public Services and Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos. Ottawa announced plans back in 2021 to build what it called a "high-frequency" (HFR) rail corridor with stops in Toronto, Peterborough, Ottawa, Montreal, Trois-Rivières, Laval and Quebec City. At the time, the government estimated...
A panel of experts advising the federal government on climate policy says Canada should at minimum cut its carbon emissions in half by 2035. The Net Zero Advisory Body is calling on the government to amp up its ambitions and slash climate-cooking emissions by up to 55 per cent below 2005 levels by 2035.
Berlin’s climate envoy says Germany wants green energy from Canada — particularly hydrogen. A top German envoy is pouring cold water on calls for Canada to ramp up natural gas exports to Europe. In a briefing for journalists at Germany's embassy in Ottawa on Friday, Jennifer Morgan, the country's state secretary and special envoy for international climate action, warned that...
Academics who study social media say a suspected bot campaign associated with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's recent speaking event in northern Ontario likely was the work of an amateur. A rapid analysis conducted by Toronto Metropolitan University's Social Media Lab (SML) concluded the bot campaign does not have the fingerprints of a sophisticated actor, but didn't say who might have...
The Canadian and German governments are taking the next step to launch Atlantic Canada's hydrogen export industry, announcing a multimillion-dollar commitment Wednesday for projects in Eastern Canada. Ottawa is investing up to $300 million to support hydrogen exports to Germany, Europe's biggest economy, while the German government is matching the contribution.
MP Salma Zahid had threatened to resign from committee roles but now staying on. Two Liberal MPs are holding a roundtable Friday evening in Toronto about anti-Palestinian racism, to study whether this type of discrimination should be part of the federal government's recently updated anti-racism strategy, CBC News has learned.
The federal government says it has a plan to start phasing out the use of oil-fired furnaces in new construction and get homeowners and businesses to switch to heat pumps over the next several years. The finalized Canada Green Buildings Strategy, which is being released today, outlines Ottawa's priorities for decarbonizing buildings — the third-largest source of climate-altering carbon emissions...
Starting today, most banks are expected to start clearly identifying quarterly direct deposits of carbon tax rebates as the Canada Carbon Rebate. Many eligible Canadians will receive another quarterly rebate from the federal government today to compensate them for paying the federal fuel charge, commonly known as the carbon tax. In the past, these rebates appeared in consumers' accounts under...
The Privy Council Office (PCO) says it did not search the aliases Birju Dattani, the new head of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, used to make controversial social media posts. A spokesperson for the PCO said in a statement to CBC News on Monday that "an administrative oversight resulted in the aliases not being searched by PCO." In June, Dattani...
An NDP insider says New Democrats were surprised by the Liberals' loss in the recent Toronto byelection — and now see the governing party's weakness as an opportunity. Anne McGrath, principal secretary to NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh in the House of Commons, told CBC News the party thought the outcome of the Toronto St Paul's byelection would be close but...
The federal government now says Birju Dattani, the new head of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, did disclose the alias he used to make controversial social media posts — after it initially claimed that information was never shared before he was hired. Justice Minister Arif Virani's spokesperson confirms that Dattani did pass on the alias to "public servants as part...
Environmental groups are calling on the federal government to avoid getting into a trade war with China over electric vehicles. They say they fear trade sanctions could make EVs more expensive, delaying Canada's transition to a low-carbon economy. Less than a week after the federal government announced it was considering imposing trade restrictions on cheaper Chinese-made EVs, groups like Environmental...
Environment and Climate Change Canada says it's now able to publicly identify links between episodes of extreme heat and climate change within days of a weather event. The federal department says that its scientists now have the ability to estimate the degree to which human-induced climate change played a role in a heat wave or extreme heat event within a...
The federal government has released its estimate of the impact of carbon pricing on the size of the economy after it was accused by the opposition Conservatives of muzzling an officer of Parliament. The modelling, created by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) for the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) in May and released today, projects carbon pricing's impacts on emissions...
The new Canada Disability Benefit will lift about 25,000 adults out of poverty, according to new numbers released by the federal government — a figure well short of the hundreds of thousands the government said the benefit would help when it introduced the legislation in 2022. "We have an opportunity in the House to bring about a once-in-a-generation change and...
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's call for a summer gas tax holiday became a topic of heated debate in the House of Commons this week, with the Conservatives and Liberals arguing over how much the proposal would actually save Canadian families. After the Liberals and some experts questioned how much the Conservative proposal would really save Canadians, the Tories shared their...
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault says the Conservatives' attack on the federal carbon tax and its associated rebates is based on a "false premise" pulled from a "flawed" Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) study. On Wednesday — after the PBO acknowledged it had made a error in its economic analysis of carbon pricing and promised to correct the record — Guilbeault called...
Canada announced Wednesday that wealthy countries have finally reached their goal of providing $100 billion US to help poorer countries both combat and adapt to climate change — two years behind schedule. Prior to the announcement, the international community wasn't sure the world's richest nations had kept their promise. But numbers verified by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development...
New Democrats say they're rolling out a new line of attack against the Conservatives as their leader Pierre Poilievre targets NDP-held ridings. On Tuesday, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh started dropping a new line — "The price of Pierre Poilievre" — an echo of Poilievre's frequent references to what he calls the "Liberal-NDP costly coalition." The party is also pushing for p
Instead of sending in the troops to deal with what promises to be another dangerous wildfire season, Public Safety Canada is testing the capabilities of civilian-led first responders and relief providers. Emergency Preparedness Minister Harjit Sajjan said the new program will be deployed during this wildfire season in British Columbia and the Northwest Territories.
Major industrial resource projects under provincial jurisdiction that spew massive amounts of carbon emissions will no longer trigger federal environmental assessments — a move that's angering environmental groups. The Liberal government walked back the requirement in amendments to its controversial 2019 Impact Assessment Act, parts of which the Supreme Court deemed unconstitutional in the fall.
The federal NDP has warned its Parliament Hill staff to prepare themselves for the possible sudden termination of the party's supply-and-confidence deal with the Liberals — a bipartisan cooperation agreement which may be holding off an early election. A senior NDP source who was not authorized to speak publicly told CBC News the party held a meeting Tuesday to tell...
A controversial tax credit meant to help jump-start carbon capture projects could cost $1 billion more than the federal government estimated, says the independent parliamentary budget watchdog. In several federal budgets, Finance Canada forecast that the carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) investment tax credit would cost $4.6 billion between 2022-28. The Parliamentary Budget Officer now estimates the CCUS investment...
New Democrats have asked the Liberals to begin covering a handful of essential medicines as negotiations continue behind the scenes on developing a pharmacare system. A senior NDP source not authorized to speak publicly told CBC that the NDP has asked the Liberals to not just deliver pharmacare legislation but to also begin covering several life-saving drugs for conditions like...
The NDP is going into the next sitting of Parliament looking to cross some more items off its legislative agenda — things like a landmark pharmacare bill, anti-scab legislation and help for fossil fuel workers facing the transition to a low-carbon economy. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and his caucus are meeting in Edmonton from Tuesday to Thursday. They'll be discussing...