The province has not clearly explained why the changes to water services and sewage are needed, but the government has previously argued that overriding municipal rules helps speed up housing development. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/11/28/n...

Despite a comparable number of global fossil fuel lobbyists from the last summit to this year, the proportion of Canadian oil and gas representatives to attend is less than one-third. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/11/21/a...

Canada is in "in principle" in favour of a global roadmap to transition off fossil fuels — a position hard to square with PM Mark Carney's fossil fuel expansion plans at home. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/11/21/n...

By removing these 106 species from the official list under its new Species Conservation Act, the province is withdrawing recognition of their imperiled status within Ontario, writes Justina C. Ray www.nationalobserver.com/2025/11/18/o...

Relentless rise in carbon pollution from fossil fuels slightly dampens climate-fighting hopes. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/11/13/n...

Three decades of climate summits and the planet is still getting hotter. We know these meetings aren’t working well enough, but if you believe that means it’s pointless, you’re dead wrong. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/11/11/a...

As the governments of the world arrive in Brazil for the 30th annual climate gathering, let's take stock of what’s happened globally, and here at home in Canada. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/11/10/o...

In addition to removing carbon from the atmosphere, the City of Ottawa says the benefits of trees also include positive impacts on health, cooling homes, and protecting infrastructure, writes Kaitlin Gruehl www.nationalobserver.com/2025/11/06/n...

Canada, a quasi-petrostate, can be a leader in GHG emission reductions, have a prosperous economy and have a strong federation, writes Gerald Kutney www.nationalobserver.com/2025/11/07/o...

Since April's election, oil and gas lobbyists notched at least 177 meetings with federal officials — a third of which were in September alone. If Tuesday's budget is any indication, they successfully persuaded Prime Minister Mark Carney's government www.nationalobserver.com/2025/11/06/n...

In many respects, this is the most harmful budget from a climate perspective since the Harper era, writes Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood www.nationalobserver.com/2025/11/04/o...

After the Trump administration complained ad nauseam about an ad paid for the Ontario government that accurately represented former US president Ronald Reagan’s views on trade, the president said Carney had personally apologized to him. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/11/04/o...

The funding agreement for the National Public Alerting System (NPAS), which sends out alerts for extreme weather, air quality, wildfires, Amber Alerts and other threats, expires on Aug. 31, 2026, and it is unclear what will happen next. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/28/n...

In lawsuit filed Monday, four young Canadians allege the Canada Pension Plan is mismanaging their retirement savings by underestimating climate-related financial risks — the first legal challenge of its kind. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/27/n...

Canada, let’s stop doubling down on bad bets www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/24/o...

It’s not just Conservative politicians who are pushing a new oil pipeline to the West Coast — a sprawling right-wing network of columnists, think tanks and companies are amplifying one another’s messaging. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/23/a...

After Dawn Farrell told a House of Commons committee she believes the Trans Mountain pipeline helps fight climate change, Canada’s National Observer asked if the Major Projects Office she leads could substantiate the claims. It couldn’t. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/22/n...

The study estimates that 3.5 million cats spend time outdoors in Canada and together they kill a median of 60 million birds every year. Bird populations in North America have already fallen by more than three billion since 1970. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/18/n...

In a wide-ranging discussion moderated by managing editor David McKie, several CNO reporters and former Privy Council clerk Michael Wernick discussed Prime Minister Mark Carney's political strategy — and the challenges he will face. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/17/a...

“Unless governments & builders address the threat of wildfires when deciding where new homes are built (they) will face costly & disruptive disasters, pushing affordable, safe housing further out of reach," says Dale Beugin, CCI executive director www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/16/n...

This is an incredible tool built by @nationalobserver.com that will help foster enhanced transparency at the local level. All CAJ members can join Civic Searchlight....NOW! A big thanks to @jameswsthomson.com for this. Contact him ASAP! HT to @rorywh.bsky.social @davidmckie.bsky.social and team

Homebuilding boom ignoring rising 'high hazard' wildfire risk www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/16/n...

Should research published by banks be held to the same anti-greenwashing rules as other corporate documents? One shareholder group is pushing a Quebec regulator to decide, in a move that could open up a new battleground for corporate accountability. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/10/n...

Enbridge CEO Greg Ebel recently told investors he was very pleased with Ontario Premier Doug Ford's policy to provide "gas, to the maximum possibility." The comments come as the energy giant plans to fork billions back to shareholders. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/09/a...

Thanks. @sonalg.bsky.social

As climate disinformation groups move into the shadows, Canada’s National Observer has developed an unprecedented new tool: Civic Searchlight. To build it, we assembled a database of council meetings in more than 550 municipalities. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/08/i...

Canada’s National Observer unveils a powerful tool for fighting disinformation www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/08/n...

A strange start for “climate competitiveness” www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/07/o...

Partnering in the fight against wildfires: Canada and the EU www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/06/n...

Rooftop solar is inefficient and expensive compared to to utility-scale renewable energy. Here's why progressive politicians should aggressively subsidize it — and other consumer-facing clean technologies — anyways. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/02/o...

Given 15 minutes to address the United Nations General Assembly, Trump found a fresh way to shock the world, rambling on for about an hour — almost a quarter of which was spent trashing climate science, clean energy and the assembled audience. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/09/29/o...

Currently, the province has no emission reduction targets beyond 2030, has not finalized its climate change plan and has not issued a public progress report since 2021, despite legislated requirements, the report says.  www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/02/n...

Danielle Smith announces Alberta will be the proponent in a new pipeline application www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/01/n...

Mark Carney's 'Tragedy of the Horizons' speech was a landmark moment for the financial sector to recognize climate breakdown was a severe threat, but a decade later he's flouting his own prophetic warning. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/09/29/a...

It's the first landfill proposal in the province selected for fast-tracking under Premier Doug Ford's newly enacted Bill 5 — which makes the project immune to many of the checks and balances it would otherwise face.  www.nationalobserver.com/2025/09/26/n...

In a wide-ranging interview ahead of the launch of her memoir, former climate minister Catherine McKenna warns consequences are coming for the fossil fuel industry, even as the federal government pursues a grand bargain with it. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/09/24/n...

A briefing note shows the federal government never believed it could meet its off diesel by 2030 target for remote Indigenous communities — considering it, rather, as “directional." www.nationalobserver.com/2025/09/25/n...

Inside the ‘fresh air factory’ at Canada’s Oxygen8 www.nationalobserver.com/2025/09/23/a...

National Defence, Fisheries and Oceans and Public Services and Procurement are the target of a federal audit on protecting assets (like buildings, vehicles, ports and other infrastructure) from the impacts of climate change, an #ATIP revealed. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/09/22/n...

The perception that a bureaucratic maze is preventing Canada from building major projects, as PM Mark Carney has argued to support his deregulatory nation-building agenda, doesn’t hold up according to a data analysis of projects already underway. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/09/15/a...

Federal planning documents obtained through access to information legislation say its "critical" to incorporate climate risks like wildfires when planning for major events like the G7 Summit held in Kananaskis, Alta. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/09/19/n...

Justin Trudeau was the prime minister of a Liberal government for almost a decade. But Chrystia Freeland was its heart, soul, and brain — and, in another universe, his natural and deserving successor. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/09/18/o...

Canada’s legally-binding climate targets require emissions reductions of 40 to 45 per cent compared to 2005 levels by the end of the decade. However, the CCI said Canada’s emissions are only on track for a 20 to 25 per cent reduction by 2030. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/09/18/n...

How should Canada respond to Charlie Kirk's murder? Doing better here in Canada means refusing to import the worst elements of America’s ongoing culture war into our own politics. @maxfawcett.bsky.social writes www.nationalobserver.com/2025/09/16/o...

The wildfire danger where homes meet forests is rising worldwide. Using new data, we built a detailed map of Halifax’s fire-prone forest edge — and explain what it says about the state of the wildland urban interface in Canada. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/09/16/n...

A major carbon bomb sits atop PM Mark Carney’s first tranche of major projects, sparking backlash from environmental and Indigenous communities who say that doubling down on LNG is placing a dangerous bet on Canada’s future. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/09/11/n...

“I don’t like the precedent this sets,” said the town’s mayor, Jeff Genung, at a council meeting Monday night. Genung was concerned that if Cochrane exited the program, it could be used as an example to reverse environmental policies elsewhere. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/09/11/n...

Carney hinted he’ll soon release a ‘climate competitiveness strategy’ that insiders expect will boost industrial carbon pricing while cutting other emission reduction policies, echoing previously failed attempts at striking a grand bargain. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/09/09/a...

Automakers asked, and the federal govenrment listened: the 2026 EV sales targets were removed today by Mark Carney, with a promise to immediately review the regulations. Climate experts fear this will be another key emissions reduction policy to fall www.nationalobserver.com/2025/09/05/n...