Category Archives: Technology

Energy

The B.C. agency overseeing oil and gas is about to get more powerful. Here’s why you should care

By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporters

One of British Columbia’s government agencies is poised to get a lot more power.

Premier David Eby’s NDP government has just introduced legislation to give new responsibilities to the BC Energy Regulator (BCER), which oversees the province’s growing oil and gas sector and other energy projects.

The changes will put the regulator — largely funded by the oil and gas industry — in charge of fast-tracking renewable energy projects like wind and solar, along with the $3-billion North Coast transmission line that will power liquefied natural gas (LNG), mining and other industrial projects.

Continue reading The B.C. agency overseeing oil and gas is about to get more powerful. Here’s why you should care →
Energy, Indigenous Nations

First Nations leaders push for energy wealth and ownership at Canadian Hydrogen Convention

By Jeremy Appel,  Alberta Native News, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter.

Less than a week before Billy Morin was elected as the Conservative MP for Edmonton Northwest in the Canadian federal election, the former elected chief of Enoch Cree Nation moderated a panel on Indigenous opportunities in hydrogen.

The Canadian Hydrogen Convention was held on April 23 and 24 at the Edmonton Convention Centre, with the second day including the panel, “Indigenous Partnerships for a Clean Energy Future.”

Grand Chief Greg Desjarlais of the Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations, Salish Elements chairman and co-founder Reuben George, and Xaxli’p (Fountain First Nation) executive director Andrew Mercer spoke on the Morin-moderated panel.

Salish Elements, an Indigenous-run company that produces green hydrogen—meaning hydrogen that is made with water, rather than natural gas—signed a May 2024 agreement to build a 25-megawatt hydrogen production facility on the Xaxli’p reserve in Lillooet, British Columbia.

Continue reading First Nations leaders push for energy wealth and ownership at Canadian Hydrogen Convention →
Communications

How social media is killing democracy

By Tracey Saxby, Originally published on My Sea To Sky

We’re living in an age of information—and disinformation.

Social media was supposed to bring people together, but instead it’s being weaponized to divide us. Algorithms are designed to amplify outrage, and it’s hard to tell truth from conspiracy.

With a federal election looming, the stakes have never been higher. Canada’s democracy is under attack. Disinformation divides our communities, erodes public trust, and makes it harder for voters to make informed choices.

Continue reading How social media is killing democracy →
Energy, Environment

Wilkinson warns Poilievre’s resource approval plan will end ‘in court on an ongoing basis’

By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is pledging to create a “one and done” system for resource project approvals and rapidly approve 10 projects he says are stuck in the “slow federal approval process.”

To achieve a maximum approval wait time of one year, Poilievre said he will eliminate the Impact Assessment Act and create one office and one assessment process to handle all regulatory approvals across all levels of government.

This proclamation comes a few weeks after Prime Minister Mark Carney announced his intent to streamline the approval process for big infrastructure projects in response to the trade war with the US. Carney said his plan, with a similar slogan to that of Poilievre’s — “one project, one review” — would aim to get projects approved within two years. 

Continue reading Wilkinson warns Poilievre’s resource approval plan will end ‘in court on an ongoing basis’ →
Energy

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

By Carl Meyer & Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporters

Edward Burrier chuckled as he told his colleagues what he thought about an academic paper written by a prominent U.S. climate scientist.

Burrier, a director of public policy at Canadian fossil fuel giant TC Energy, said the study was largely to blame for public skepticism about whether liquefied natural gas (LNG) is as environmentally friendly as the oil and gas industry claims.

“One quoted study that drove a lot of this initial activism … said that LNG is worse than coal,” Burrier said.

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