Ottawa Insider

Public health research has shown that climate change is amplifying the health disparities that poorer people already face as a result of social conditions, like substandard housing or jobs with poor working conditions.

Canada added fewer megawatts of renewable energy capacity in 2020 than any of its G7 counterparts, according to new figures from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). However, there's more to this.

For the first time, the data agency will be offering the option to fill out the census online to every community this year, saying it is the safest and easiest method.

A bill proposing to ban exports of non-recyclable plastic waste from Canada to foreign countries narrowly passed through a parliamentary committee Wednesday.

“Regardless of (the) ruling, we are stewards of the land and protectors of the waters and we will continue to respect and defend Mother Earth grounded in our Treaties,” says AMC Grand Chief Arlen Dumas.

Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan energy ministers warned a House of Commons committee examining Canada-U.S. relations Tuesday that the shutdown would have a “devastating impact” on the provinces.

The federal government has an opportunity to change course in about three weeks, when the Liberals table their first budget in over two years, say green groups.

Environmental activist Beze Gray of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation worries that the government data collected will be too broad and not fully encompassing of what their community has experienced.

If Parliament were unable to constitutionally address carbon pollution, the court ruled, the harm "would be felt across the country and would be borne disproportionately by vulnerable communities and regions, with profound effects on Indigenous Peoples, on the Canadian Arctic and on Canada’s coastal regions."

The health burden from pollutants in the air that come from industrial activities like oil and gas extraction, mining, manufacturing, construction, and transportation — as well as natural events like forest fires — contributed to 15,300 premature Canadian deaths in 2016.

Bill C-230 would require the federal government to collect data on locations affected by environmental hazards, and to examine their connections to race, socioeconomic status and health.

This month, Democrats in the United States introduced the CLEAN Future Act in Congress, which would create a “buy clean” program to set standards for emissions allowed in construction materials bought using federal funds. 

The natural resources minister demanded to know if Conservative MP Jeremy Patzer believed in climate change. "You’re here to answer our questions,” Patzer shot back.

“We can have clean air with carbon dioxide in the air,” said one speaker. “We should be focused on clean land, clean water. This is a big-government, costly policy that unfairly impacts our industries.” 

The Green Party had the least diverse slate of candidates of the six major parties in the 2019 federal election campaign. Annamie Paul wants to change that.