Laurel Collins

If there has to be another election in the next few years, let’s hope it’s one that’s defined by some new faces — and new voices, writes columnist Max Fawcett.

“Highly insufficient” means that as it stands, Canada is on track for 4 C warming –– far higher than the Paris Agreement goal of as close to 1.5 C as possible.

On Sept. 8 and 9, up to 100 debates on the environment will take place across Canada, giving voters a chance to see where their candidates stand on environmental policy.

Canada’s National Observer asked federal NDP environment and climate change critic Laurel Collins about key issues in the upcoming federal election, and how Canada can respond to the climate crisis.

Climate change will almost certainly be top of mind in the upcoming election after a summer of intense heat waves has left apartment dwellers roasting with no relief and wildfires are sweeping through Ontario and B.C.’s rural communities.

At a time when climate science demands a rapid transition off fossil fuels, Ottawa approved more than $1.3 billion for oil and gas companies through the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy.

With the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warning that Earth is warming faster than previously thought, and a federal election on the horizon, Canadian politicians of all stripes are casting themselves as the ones voters should trust with action.

The federal government is asking Canadians to provide feedback on potential elements of its proposed just transition legislation.

Canada’s now official 2030 greenhouse gas emission reduction target is a far cry from what’s needed to avoid climate breakdown, say critics panning the goal for its inadequacy.

The government has said that this listing is a “necessary regulatory step” before it can enact new rules changing how plastic products are designed, manufactured and thrown out, in order to cut down on the plastic pollution that clogs rivers and oceans.

Canada’s federal environment commissioner should be made an independent officer of Parliament, three experts told a House of Commons committee Monday.

Federal Environment and Climate Change Minister Jonathan Wilkinson says he is open to "a range of different amendments" to Bill C-12, the government’s net-zero legislation.

“What we’re trying to do is create a set of accountability norms that will put an exceptionally high degree of pressure on both the present and future federal administrations,” says Liberal parliamentary secretary Will Amos.