It has been so gratifying to work with the incredible staff at @nationalobserver.com as EIC this year. I published this letter to our readers and supporters to document some of the impact we had this year and plans for 2026. Some highlights:

Anything that leads to more fossil fuels coming out of the ground is bad news.

A new report on Canadian LNG and oil exports rests on highly questionable assumptions about the global emissions impacts of these fuels and lacks transparency on the modelling inputs used. Here’s a brief explainer 🧵⬇️ ppforum.ca/publications...

The Centre for Future Work released new research today (from me & Kathy Bennett) documenting ongoing decline in direct fossil fuel employment in Canada (due to corporate disemployment, not climate policy) and how it can be better managed: centreforfuturework.ca/2025/12/07/t... #canlab #cdnecon /2

Employment in oil and gas is in terminal decline and won’t be saved no matter what Carney and Smith cook up, according to new research from the Centre for Future Work provided exclusively to @nationalobserver.com. The only responsible choice for governments is to plan for the transition.

Next week the Centre for Future Work releases a new study on employment transitions in the fossil fuel sector. It's shed 38K jobs since 2014, more to come. Learn more at this webinar: "Effective Transitions for FF Workers": Wed. Dec. 10 1pm ET. Register: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi.... #canlab /2

"We have zero interest in co-ownership or economic benefits of a project that has the potential to destroy our way of life and everything we have built on the coast," says Heiltsuk Nation elected Chief Marilyn Slett

NEW: Hundreds of public servants are being let go at federal agencies that monitor climate risks, @natashabulowski.bsky.social reports

The Ford government has stripped protection from parts of Wasaga Beach Provincial Park to sell the land for redevelopment — despite thousands of public objections from critics who say it puts sensitive ecosystems and endangered species at risk. @matinsarfraz.bsky.social for @nationalobserver.com

Thanks to Front Burner and @jaymepoisson.bsky.social for having @maxfawcett.bsky.social and myself on to sort through what to make of Carney’s climate retreats. Crucial topic right now.

Had fun on CBC Front Burner chatting with my colleague @woodsideful.bsky.social and Jayme Poisson about the MOU heard 'round the country -- and whether Mark Carney is a climate friend or foe. Listen here: www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-p...

The Net-Zero Advisory Body is *legally* mandated to consult on Canada’s climate plans but has been completely ignored by Carney and Dabrusin. It appears that it is being bled dry — and now two of its most prominent members have quit in frustration.

Ignored since the federal election, an arms-length expert body set up to advise the federal government on the energy transition is collapsing. The latest pipeline agreement between Canada and Alberta representing the final straw for two members. @woodsideful.bsky.social reports

Steven Guilbeault tells @woodsideful.bsky.social about his decision to leave cabinet over the pipeline deal: “When the agreement came out someone texted me saying, ‘The only thing missing from the agreement is Pierre Poilievre's signature,’ and I went yeah, I think that sums it up."

In @stevenguilbeault.bsky.social’s first English-media interview since resigning over the pipeline MOU with Alberta, the former cabinet minister said the government isn’t being honest with the public and is betraying its commitments.

Breaking: Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs write to 40+ banks, pensions & credit agencies calling on them to not finance or invest in Ksi Lisims #LNG project in BC, Canada - warn of financial, legal and environmental risks. Letter endorsed by 125 NGOs. #greensky www.gitanyowchiefs.com/news/gitanyo...

The MoU was not required for the federal government to alter the benchmarks on its OBPS. It was not required for the implementation of the Clean Electricity Regulations. It is a canard to say there was a serious quid pro quo for federal support for another bitumen pipeline.

Concluding, @chrishatch.bsky.social: "Let's keep in mind that this is a life or death question now for millions of people around the world, and that this isn't something to be measured in grams of carbon or barrels, but lives and livelihoods."

@chrishatch.bsky.social: "Carney has loosed the monsters across the land with this one; we're going to be arguing about pipelines and expanding fossil fuel production for years. And it was unnecessary."

Today @juliedabrusin.bsky.social was grilled on the Canada-Alberta MOU and would not say whether a new oil pipeline would increase emissions. Is she terrified of the PMO? How hard is it to acknowledge reality and try to spin it along the lines of 'yes so we'll have to find GHG cuts elsewhere'

Excellent analysis here via @woodsideful.bsky.social A must read.

The way to read the Canada-Alberta MOU is that Carney is using the Trump effect as political cover to pursue the deregulatory agenda he’s long wanted. I spoke with @naomiaklein.bsky.social who called it a classic example of the shock doctrine.

‘Carney doesn’t actually want a pipeline or think one will get built, he’s just a duplicitous weasel’ is not the defence you think it is.

This gets at the fundamentally flawed approach of the federal government: they are trying to find a policy solution to an identity problem. It is part of the polarized, populist identity to be opposed to an Ottawa and Liberal Canada are not them. No policy will change that, as TMX revealed.

The Pathways Alliance project would inevitably be a massive boondoggle if it ever gets built. It’s only purpose is to greenwash the oil industry and deceive Canadians into thinking we can be a clean petrostate.

Here's video of that moment, accompanied by a few WOWs from @davidwcochrane.bsky.social and me bsky.app/profile/saro...

This is extremely worth your time to read. From the fight ahead to the wins the oil patch has already secured, @arnokopecky.bsky.social sums it up perfectly.

A long, ugly battle has just been set in motion. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/11/27/a...

Pundits from the ROC who think they, and Mark Carney, are smarter than everyone else would be well advised to pay attention to Quebec politics and franco media today. Turns out there are some things- and a seat count- they may not have entirely figured out.

Well this just in from Smith's chief of staff

This afternoon, I informed the Prime Minister of my decision to resign as Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture, Minister responsible for Official Languages, Minister of Nature and Parks Canada, as well as his Lieutenant in Quebec. You can find my full statement below.

Back in Ottawa, Liberal MPs — other than Guilbeault — are oddly silent in the face of Carney's major announcement.

Mark Carney, meanwhile, lost a prominent Cabinet minister. Steven Guilbeault was the architect of many of the policies Carney scrapped in his deal with Alberta.

Our above-the-fold piece on today's major development: Alberta got its way in its negotiations with Ottawa, including killing many of its most disliked policies.

Slow news day. To catch you up, here's our universe of stories published and still to come on today's political tsunami.

I don't know who needs to hear this but making deals with Alberta and the oilpatch doesn't fucking work Just ask the last person who tried.

Steven Guilbeault is reportedly quitting. Consequence of Carney's nakedly pro-fossil fuel agenda.

Carney caved on virtually all of Smith's demands. Updates to come.

On a day where Carney is set to announce an MOU for a new oil pipeline, it's all the more important this country has a serious reckoning with the choices being made and how the world is changing. It's reckless, short sighted and completely ignorant to the shifting geopolitics we depend on.

I'm not exactly comforted by the fact the Major Projects Office, led by an oil executive who believes bitumen pipelines help fight climate change, is looking at if yet another oil pipeline is in the national interest.

“The answer is still no. No pipelines in British Columbia, no further fossil fuel pipelines, period,” said Stewart Phillip, grand chief of Syilx Nation and president of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs.  From @sonalg.bsky.social

“The emails, the correspondence that we're receiving from people, are constituents sitting down and actually writing their thoughts and I think that actually speaks volumes in terms of how committed people are to this issue,” MP Will Greaves said. From @natashabulowski.bsky.social

Carney said the Major Projects Office would develop a strategy for “Pathways Plus” — essentially marrying a major investment in carbon capture with a new pipeline to export oil from Alberta — which seems like it will see a breakthrough tomorrow. Here's a refresher on why it's a very bad bet.

A loaded barge taking on water and the disastrous Nathan E. Stewart diesel spill underscore the dangers of oil tankers in B.C.’s coastal waters, Coast First Nations say. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/11/20/n...

“If current text is accepted, #COP30 will be the deadliest talk show ever. Negotiators spend days discussing what to discuss ... solely to avoid committing to a just transition away from fossil fuels and putting money on the table,” says Harjeet Singh www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...

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. Why go to Brazil when the PM is granting your wishlist at home anyway?

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.

Not my footage, but COP30 is on fire

Carney is blowing up his own coalition with this pipeline stuff. You can tell from the Liberal MPs comments they're not happy, their constituents aren't happy, and if Carney pursues this path he'll ignite way more opposition than he's bargaining for.

Since the election, there has been a systematic dismantling of (or threats to dismantle) almost every policy that would accelerate our energy transition to a climate-safe economy and society. Via @jvipondmd.bsky.social