NEW: A class action lawsuit has been filed against the Alberta government, chief electoral officer, Centurion Project and Republican Party of Alberta for the breach of the province’s list of electors.

Is your MP still using X? After an investigation into non-consensual deepfakes, we analyzed the accounts www.nationalobserver.com/2026/06/30/a...

Carney: It's important to know that the global oil shock is happening even though Canada is producing far more oil than we ever have. In fact, only two countries have increased oil production more than we have this century, the United States and Russia.

For our latest article we analyzed the X profiles 317 MPs, contacted over 200, interviewed ethicists and researchers and built interactive data visualizations. Please consider subscribing to @nationalobserver.com to support journalism like this! www.nationalobserver.com/2026/06/30/a...

For a while you could say Twitter was fun but addictive then toxic. Then Musk bought it, rebranded it as X, and turned it into a vector for Grok AI sexual deepfakes of women and children. My MP is @marcmillermp.bsky.social. His last post: – on X was: June 29, 2026 – on Bsky: April 4, 2025

Glad to have contributed to this article on how MPs are navigating platform fragmentation, online harms, and shifting audiences across Twitter/X and Bluesky

We analyzed the social media activity of all MPs in the House of Commons. The likelihood of an MP still posting on X depends on their party, their province, and their position within government. Go see if yours still uses X, even after the deepfake scandal was laid out in a new investigation:

OUR LATEST: 90% of Conservative MPs are still posting on X. For Liberals, it’s 58%. This month the Privacy Commissioner found that the platform failed to prevent its AI tools being used to create sexualised deepfakes. www.nationalobserver.com/2026/06/30/a...

This story I wrote for @nationalobserver.com won gold at the Atlantic Journalism Awards last night :,) I'm proud of this one, it was the last story I wrote in Atlantic Canada before moving to Toronto. Thank you to @jameswsthomson.com for editing it, and to the Isthmus for being beautiful. ✨

Hello from Iqaluit! I'm here on my way to Canada's northernmost community (about as far north of Iqaluit as Iqaluit is from Toronto) for a story. It's always a pleasure and a privilege to return to the Arctic.

🏆🥈Congratulations to Rory White and David McKie at Canada's National Observer for winning the Silver CAJ Award for Data Journalism for "Mapping the dark-money oil and gas ads targeting a small Ontario town" https://loom.ly/-WN6lEo @nationalobserver.com @rorywh.bsky.social @davidmckie.bsky.social

The world's first trillionaire did this

The real reason Mark Carney wants to build so many AI data centres? @jenstden.bsky.social and I report on internal govt documents explaining one of the top 'public policy benefits to Canada' of data centres is they 'provide markets' for gas producers. www.desmog.com/2026/06/11/m... @desmog.com

The new federal artificial intelligence strategy, AI for All, has all the trappings of a policy document. But it is, at its core, a declaration of belief. By @hadrianmk.bsky.social and Rachel Pettigrew @policyalternatives.ca www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...

NEW from me at @nationalobserver.com: Yesterday, a group of climate conscious municipal leaders met on the sidelines of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to strategize on how to bring the climate crisis back on the agenda. www.nationalobserver.com/2026/06/08/n...

After 'feedback from thousands,' Carney government slows down sweeping environmental changes www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

A single box in the 49-page document is dedicated to the environmental impacts of AI. It acknowledges that AI data centres require a lot of energy and increase water usage, but does not propose any new actions to curtail this.

The federal government’s long-awaited AI strategy does not tackle the environmental and climate impacts of rapidly building AI infrastructure like data centres New from @rorywh.bsky.social + @natashabulowski.bsky.social

NEW from @natashabulowski.bsky.social and myself www.nationalobserver.com/2026/06/04/n...

This is a shift since @rorywh.bsky.social and I first reported on this. We found a data centre proposal for the Stelco lands via the IESO, which said it was expected to draw 150MW. Since then, it's been updated to 400MW, though that number could include other aspects of the industrial development.

At next week's Canadian Association of Journalists conference I will share a few tricks to find out who is really behind an anonymous "grassroots" campaign.

Misinformation, disinformation, conspiracy theories - and their potential impact on BC municipal elections Oct.17. My op-ed in the Vancouver Sun, linked at this post: davethompsonvictoria.ca/op-edwe-are-... #yyj #bcpoli @vancouversun.bsky.social

“This is the worst breach in Canadian history involving voter data,” #abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli oipc.ab.ca/information-...

US Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra retweets call to annex Canada

If this goes ahead, expect more “grassroots” influence campaigns to pop up targeting local governments.

Irony 101: Local government spends five days debating and removing “climate emergency” wording on the basis that words are essentially meaningless

Come be my partner in....crime? Virtue? This role will cover Ontario, specifically the intersection between politics and climate. GTA based! Me too! Apply by June 11th :)

Is it "sovereignty" if AI infrastructure is built in Canada but it's still owned by U.S. tech companies? Is it "sovereignty" if it's owned by Canadian companies but not the public? What is the threshold for true sovereignty? Me in @nationalobserver.com: www.nationalobserver.com/2026/05/25/n...

Two new job openings at @nationalobserver.com! We’re looking for a Head of Growth to help us build out audience & subscriptions and a Data Engineer to help get Civic Searchlight, our municipal meetings search tool, to the next level. If that’s you, please see thenationalobserver.bamboohr.com/careers

My latest post got likes from a bunch of bots... Anyone seen these accounts before?

Wild story.. I signed up for the website of the US Republican group 10XVotes on Monday to test how it works. What I found was a search tool packed exclusively with the names and addresses of Albertans. www.nationalobserver.com/2026/05/20/i...

Fresh Centurion scoop from @rorywh.bsky.social www.nationalobserver.com/2026/05/20/i...

BREAKING: Alberta voter data has appeared on the website of a US company named repeatedly by separatist David Parker. After @rorywh.bsky.social discovered the breach, the website was taken down amid questions from Elections Alberta.

Carney announces environment to be eliminated as cost-cutting measure

Breaking: The Carney government is expected to significantly weaken the future industrial carbon price in Alberta as part of its climate and energy accord with the oil-rich province, the Star has confirmed. More from the Star's Alex Ballingall:

The Ubyssey broke the story before any other journalists. ubyssey.ca/news/canvas-...

The federal gov is taking a page from Doug Ford’s playbook, proposing legislation that would allow cabinet to create “federal economic zones”where major projects can be pre-approved and fast-tracked. by @natashabulowski.bsky.social for @nationalobserver.com www.nationalobserver.com/2026/05/12/n...

NEW collab from me and @rorywh.bsky.social regarding Arundeep Sandhu

I got a Google Alert for my name yesterday, pointing to an article for an outlet I’d never spoken to, full of quotes I’ve never said. It’s now corrected…but the editor told me ‘I asked Google to find an expert but I think it used AI.’ Isn’t it your job to check..?

With the Alberta separatists in the news again, it's worth revisiting this batshit interview @arnokopecky.bsky.social did with their leader, Mitch Sylvestre.

Civic Searchlight, our tool for searching local government meeting transcripts across 670 Canadian municipalities, just got more powerful. And it's available for free, to you!

This is an incredible resource for social science research: a free searchable database of municipal government transcripts.

ICYMI: Civic Searchlight is now more intuitive and powerful than ever, with a built-in map, visual timeline and more. Go try it, it's free.

Share this one in the family group chat, because your cousin who likes car memes is being sold to unknown buyers of an unscrupulous political actor.

My latest investigation is out. A well-known Canadian digital strategy firm has begun openly selling "surrogate online communities" of social media users to undisclosed clients. The users come for the viral content and are pushed up an "activation ladder." www.nationalobserver.com/2026/04/30/i...

Independent Alberta journalists killing it this week on the Centurion Project story. Namely Jeremy Appel of @readtheorchard.org and Jen Gerson of @thelineca.bsky.social. Impressive work to say the least. 🙌 #ableg

This is an entire new way to use Civic Searchlight. Our new map view allows you to instantly see which local governments are talking about an issue. We have also added a timeline feature that lets you filter by month.

Civic Searchlight just got even more powerful, with a new map and timeline. You can join journalists, researchers and citizens across the country and try it right now — it's free.

This is the biggest improvement in Civic Searchlight since launch, and I'm so excited it's here.