Across North America, jurisdictions are starting to ban gas from new buildings as part of plans to tackle the climate emergency. And that has fossil fuel gas companies very nervous and pushing back. FortisBC, the primary provider of “natural” gas to British Columbia homes and businesses, sensing an impending existential threat to their business plan has a counter-plan. The company’s latest mischief-making? a proposal to the BC Utilities Commission to supply all new homes with 100 per cent “renewable gas” — at no extra cost to these future customers. Wow, sounds fantastic. Well, not so fast. The company’s real end-game here — to get around the new climate regulations of cities like Vancouver and forestall households swapping to electric heat pumps for the sake of the climate.
Read MoreIn this piece, I once again have some fun writing an imaginary throne speech, this time for the BC government. Here is what a BC throne speech might sound like, if it were to recognize that we live at a time of multiple interlocking crises — the climate emergency, the pandemic, the housing crisis, a poisonous drug supply crisis, and growing inequality — and resolve to govern accordingly.
Our politics must not be about the art of the narrowly possible, but rather, about making possible what yesterday seemed unimaginable. There is only one way to meet such interlocking crises: Head on. Together. With ambition and defiance, creativity and solidarity. Enjoy.
Read MoreAs we seek to confront the climate emergency, retrofitting existing homes and buildings figures centrally in a robust plan. After a process that took about a year, my home is now off fossil fuels. It wasn’t simple or cheap. But it can be done. And in this piece, I share the steps of how my family did it. Some of what we did is specific to B.C., where we live, but much is applicable anywhere. In telling this tale, I’m not trying to virtue signal. Rather, I just want to offer some guidance because people want to know. One of the barriers to climate action is that many of us find it hard to imagine how our homes operate without fossil fuels. So here I offer you a picture of what that can look like.
Read MoreOn October 25, the British Columbia government released the long-awaited update to its provincial climate plan, dubbed its “CleanBC Roadmap to 2030.” it is not an emergency plan. The B.C. government is very keen about its reputation as a climate leader, and repeatedly claims that its plan is “continent-leading.” A reasonable case in support of this proposition might have been possible three years ago. But it is not true any longer.
Read MoreJust a few months ago, it seemed like climate would struggle to make an appearance in this election, pushed aside by the pressing realities of the COVID crisis. But in a positive turn of events this election, we saw parties competing with each other about which had the stronger and most convincing climate plan. Canadians want to see bold action on climate. But once again, support for that action has been split across numerous parties. Hence this minority outcome. Now we need them to co-operate and get it done.
Read MoreSFU economist Mark Jaccard, in his recent assessment of federal party climate platforms published in Policy Options, finds the Liberals’ climate plan the “most sincere” of those on offer, followed by the Conservatives, then the Greens, and lastly, the NDP. Jaccard’s piece has been irresistible candy for the political punditry, and has been quickly turned into Liberal campaign talking points. But it’s fundamentally flawed. The main problem with Jaccard’s ratings is he’s measuring the wrong thing. His ratings are primarily derived by determining whether the policies proposed by each party would credibly meet that party’s own stated GHG reduction target. But by this measure, the more ambitious the target, the less likely Jaccard is to find your plan credible. It’s like an Olympic diver getting the top score because she or he successfully nails the least complicated dive.
Read MoreThe path to victory with a real climate emergency and a just transition plan is narrow. To win one, two elements are needed: First, we desperately need to hold the government to a minority. Second, we need to elect a huge contingent of true climate justice champions — people who genuinely get the emergency and will insist on bold action. With the country on fire, we need to elect political firefighters. We need to bolster the ranks of the climate squad across a number of parties. So, find your climate champion! If you don’t think you have one in your riding or, more likely, you don’t think they have a realistic chance of winning in your riding, then find one in a neighbouring winnable riding, and do everything you can to get them elected — donate, volunteer, organize, and vote.
Read MoreWe no longer allow cigarette and tobacco ads on TV, radio or in movie theatres, given the known harm these products cause. Why then do we permit ads for the fossil fuel products we know to be a civilizational threat? These ads send a message, even if we don’t buy the specific product they are selling. They normalize what must now be wound down and encourage young people in particular to idealize these products and the lifestyles they promote. That needs to end. Emergencies need to look, sound and feel like emergencies. But ubiquitous advertising of fossil fuel vehicles, gas stations, gas suppliers and appliances, air travel and the ongoing sponsorship of arts and sports events by fossil fuel companies all sends a confusing message — are we facing a climate emergency or aren’t we?
Read MoreBritish Columbia is having its summer of reckoning with the climate emergency. With a jolt to our collective consciousness, most of us now understand the emergency is well and truly upon us. But we meet this moment unprepared, without a genuine and robust climate emergency plan, and with a political leadership that seems unwilling or unable to “get it” on climate. CleanBC, the province’s official climate plan, is frequently touted as the strongest such plan in Canada. And relatively speaking, it likely is. But that’s not saying much. What the plan is decidedly not is an actual climate emergency plan. In this piece, I consider B.C.’s current climate plan against what I call the “Four Markers of Emergency Mode.”
Read MoreWhen it came time for the Canadian government to meet the emergency of the Second World War, one man (they were all men) within Prime Minister Mackenzie King’s cabinet stood out – C.D. Howe. Today, as we struggle to meet the climate emergency, another transformation of our economy is called for. And that has me wondering: Can Jonathan Wilkinson, our federal minister of environment and climate change, the person charged with overseeing the decarbonization of Canada’s economy and society in the face of a civilizational threat, be our C.D. Howe?
Read MoreThe climate mobilization in Canada has yet to feel like a grand societal undertaking. Among the bold initiatives that would send such a signal — an audacious Youth Climate Corps. As the world has begun to confront the climate crisis, the last few years have seen a burgeoning of youth leadership. As in WWII, youth are once again mobilizing to secure our collective future. But so far, our governments have failed to create public programs to accept and deploy their energies and talents. A new generation of young people needs a way to meet this moment.
Read MoreThe country’s leading “natural” gas companies seek to impede electrification.
Among the many barriers we face to a genuine climate emergency plan is a fossil fuel industry that has insidiously used its economic and political power to stall meaningful action. In this piece, I add into evidence some recent examples of the “natural” gas industry making mischief with needed climate action. Fuel-switching our buildings to electricity — mainly by means of high-efficiency electric heat pumps and induction electric stoves — represents a vital and urgent piece of decarbonizing our society and driving down GHG emissions. But natural gas utilities are employing a bag of tricks to slow the move to electrify our buildings.
Read MoreA harrowing gap remains between what science says is required and the policy and budgetary commitments we’ve seen so far. The federal government has the legal right to act in the national interest and the moral duty to forcefully do so. The mobilization we now need cannot be prevented by the foot-dragging of some provincial governments. Sadly, however, this federal government has so far shown no sign of truly understanding the climate emergency. If our urgent targets are to be met, the government must either take charge of the task itself — spending what it takes to succeed and creating new public institutions to get the job done — or it must mandate that certain action be taken, by both industry and households. That is the only path to victory.
Read MoreSeven years ago, Trudeau was the golden new arrival on the global scene, an embodiment of hope at home and abroad, particularly with respect to the defining challenge of our time — the climate emergency. In the Trump era, Trudeau seemed a beacon of climate sanity and action (at least in the North American context). But today, the U.S. is catapulting ahead of Canada, with Biden seizing the mantle of exciting climate leadership, while Trudeau’s record appears lacklustre and tepid in comparison.
Read MoreWould a second Notley government be prepared to tackle the climate crisis more aggressively than during its first incarnation? Might the NDP, eight years after their first election to government, be able to tell a more forthright story to Albertans about the future of oil and gas? And equally important, has the terrain sufficiently shifted such that enough Albertans might be ready to hear it?
Read MoreBC should thus commit to fully phasing out the use of fossil fuels for domestic purposes to clearly signal that we are on a wind-down path. BC should announce that—within the next one to two years—no new buildings (residential, commercial or public such as hospitals and schools) will be allowed to use natural gas or tie into natural gas pipelines. All new buildings would need to use electric, heat pump, space and hot water heating and next-generation electric induction stoves. In addition, the province should regulate that all existing buildings will need to be off gas by 2040 and develop transition plans starting with older, less-efficient building stock.
Read MoreOn November 19, Justin Trudeau’s federal government tabled its long-awaited bill seeking to embed new greenhouse gas reduction targets into law. But sadly, Bill C-12, dubbed the “Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act,” provides virtually nothing in the way of robust accountability. In its current form it is, in short, a stunning disappointment and desperately in need of amendments to make the bill worthwhile. This is a moment for the NDP and BQ to use the powers and influence this minority Parliament affords them to demand improvements to C-12. And Liberal MPs who ran on climate need to make their voices heard. They need to exercise their political muscle, as this bill in its current state fails to reflect the urgency of the climate emergency. And all of us who want real climate accountability need to make sure all MPs know how we feel.
Read MoreAs we contemplate the necessary phase out of fossil fuels by mid-century, we must acknowledge the potential of this transformation to disrupt worker livelihoods and resource communities around BC. Done well, a managed two- to three-decade wind-down period with thoughtful planning and just transition programs has the additional benefit of getting away from the boom-and-bust cycles typical of resource economies.
Read MoreIn BC, in spite of climate action planning going back to 2007, the idea of a managed wind-down of fossil fuel industries remains a taboo topic. Given the late hour in confronting the climate emergency, it is time our governments stopped trying to appease these fossil fuel companies. Our official climate plans should not seek to win the support or endorsement of these companies (as is currently the case). Rather, if our climate plans are not making the oil and gas companies deeply anxious, they are not plans worth having. Given this, the article asks, what would a managed wind-down look like?
Read MoreThe oil and gas royalty regime in British Columbia needs a major overhaul. The re-elected NDP promised during the election campaign to review oil and gas royalties and credits. In the context of a climate emergency the need for a managed wind-down is urgent. Despite “natural” gas being a finite greenhouse-gas-generating fossil fuel, the royalty regime BC applies for the extraction of natural gas is aimed at encouraging and ramping up production, not winding the industry down.
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