If anyone knows a homeowner in Richmond BC who's concerned (or not concerned!) about the Cowichan decision, let me know? I'm writing a feature about this and looking for people who live/work in the affected area (#6 Road, Richmond) to speak with, on or off the record. 🙏

"Well they can drill or they can mine, On my smouldering bones, This my prairie, And this is my home." How the guy who wrote that line presents a different vision of Albertans to a world that more often sees a caricature.

Everything is local, and context is crucial. Journalism’s great contribution to liberal democracy is story for the purpose understanding: through facts, history and relationships. During a time of tragedy and grief, facts and history can help anchor us to our shared humanity.

A staggering report from @amandafollett.bsky.social on Rustad's town hall on Indigenous rights and DRIPA in Smithers (Wet’suwet’en territory) last weekend:

everything everywhere all at once www.theglobeandmail.com/world/us-pol...

Not the headline emerging from Canada’s environmental community… www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/w...

as relevant to Canada as every other American trend

that stage of society when school children share the bond of having endured the camps together

"For every dollar of direct investment, the protected area has generated $5.61 in revenue in sectors like eco-tourism, fisheries and manufacturing." We don't hear enough about the economic benefits of conservation & respect for Indigenous rights & title. @michellecyca.com makes the case.

Listen to @noorazrieh.bsky.social condense 72+ hours of insanity into 30 minutes of gold. Masterful distillation. Sometimes you just gotta hear it. www.canadaland.com/podcast/167-...

Fascinating story by Marco Oved for theToronto Star on real live job transitions happening as fossil fuel jobs continue to disappear. This one-time oil driller now drills for geothermal, and life is better. Cites our research on employment trends. www.thestar.com/news/gta/fro...

It's easy to present modern Conservatives as a caricature of Maple MAGA — so many of them wear it proudly. You can't *not* notice it. But I think it's also important to see what else lurks behind the curtain. Better angels do exist. If only they were allowed on stage.

good times chatting about the newsfluencification of modern Conservatives with @youcaughtscott.com. …bonus rabbit hole into what’s the diff between YouTube stars and journalists, anyway?

CHRÉTIEN: We burned the White House, but we would not repeat it. HARPER: Part of it's been torn down by the current incumbent.

So, now they're asking . . .

"Ignore the voices who keep telling us to abandon our conservative principles," Poilievre said last night. Never mind that many of those voices have actually been begging him to *return* to conservative principles. He ain't sorry, and he ain't changing. www.nationalobserver.com/2026/01/31/o...

core takeaway from Poilievre's speech: I ain't changin'

Heads up, #Canada! If you don't think this case is important, just look at what's happening to journalists and media south of the border. #journalismisnotacrime

The crazy thing about the crazy things I‘m hearing, is that it isn’t rando rally-goers from the party’s base saying them. It’s delegates, the party brass and membership. These are folks who run the party. www.nationalobserver.com/2026/01/30/o...

“The United Nations has been anything but a friend to the Caucasian world. I mean, you're seeing disruptions in Europe, UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia. Very little anywhere else. New World Order is after white Christianity by the looks of it, it seems to me. They're trying to replace us.”

One of the more surreal conversations I’ve ever had.

"This is a preschool you stupid motherfuckers" should be the Democrats' 2026 slogan

Wild to hear Yuri Fulmer, a contender for BC Conservative leadership, dismiss Coastal First Nations as: "Just an advocacy group... branding like coke or Nike... professional protesters." x.com/yuri_fulmer/... CFN is a formal alliance of 9 nations who have lived here since the last ice age. 1/

The inclusion of Kyle Rittenhouse in this @deadder.bsky.social cartoon really brings home the deep hypocrisy

The advent of a “content creator” pass for next week’s convention marks a new chapter in the Conservative party’s embrace of the influencer movement — and rhymes perfectly with Trump's White House and Pentagon media strategy. Reporting by @arnokopecky.bsky.social in @nationalobserver.com

The front of today’s @theglobeandmail.com

Conservatives are welcoming influencers at next weekend's CPC convention, with a new "content creator" category of media accreditation. While refusing to give me/@nationalobserver.com a press pass. (I'll be going anyway of course) www.nationalobserver.com/2026/01/24/a...

This is such a delightful slice of Canada.🇨🇦 ❄️

I'm sure it was just a massive freudian slip is all

Imagine if this project — a national clean-energy grid — got HALF the national attention that a single pipeline enjoys. Good on @woodsideful.bsky.social for shining a spotlight on this. Good initiatives need attention & applause to bear fruit. www.nationalobserver.com/2026/01/21/n...

Holy smokes - he opened with a reference to Vaclav Havel's "The Power of the Powerless," among the all-time greats of underground revolutionary literature (Havel spent years in jail for it, then became Czech's president after his release). Momentous speech. Read the whole thing.

It's like a Canadian amendment to Newtonian physics: Every international calamity produces an equal and opposite call for more pipelines. It's a blight on our national imagination. The world is more than an oil market. Whatever's next, perhaps we can widen our gaze? thewalrus.ca/one-more-pip...

"Countries like Canada were able to benefit from [the rules-based international order] created by the US. That is now unraveling. What's coming in its place is unclear. It's being shaped as we speak." What a treat to speak with @vinanadjibulla.bsky.social... www.nationalobserver.com/2026/01/16/a...

So Poilievre et al’s new talking point is that the chiefs of Coastal First Nations aren’t actually FN’s, they’re just an “environmental group” pretending to be FN’s. Good stuff.

Heavy

"Stand back, and stand by."

'“The whole point of this is to spark a necessary and overdue public conversation about the role of journalists in being eyes and ears for the public,” said Bracken.'

As resource extraction and protests are both poised to ramp up — and with events in the US highlighting how unhinged "law enforcement" can get — the freedom for journalists to scrutinize tense interactions has never mattered more. Big trial, starting today. www.nationalobserver.com/2026/01/12/a...

This is stunning. Listen to this in Philadelphia. Thousands singing “Hey-Oh, we won’t be silent while our friends are gunned down.” Really listen to it.

“Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.” ― Margaret Atwood

"Oil will bring us ruin...We are drowning in the devil’s excrement.” -Venezuela's Minister of Hydrocarbons, one of the architects of OPEC, in 1976, at the height of Venezuela's oil wealth. Masterful account of how we got here, from @dougsaunders.bsky.social www.theglobeandmail.com/world/articl...

That powerful American politicians can and do speak like this is becoming the only reason that comparisons to Nazi Germany remain inaccurate.

Please stop and read this statement from Renee Good's wife.

now that's a head shot

So is the Minnesota National Guard about to square off against ICE agents and/or federal troops?

"When governments walk away from agreements with First Nations, projects don’t move faster — they stop. Construction sites go quiet. Permits are delayed. Investment dries up." Good to hear this from BC's Minister of Jobs & Economic Growth, Ravi Khalon. vancouversun.com/opinion/op-e...

The comedy of Jason Kenney going from "Hooray for Venezuelan Freedom, what are you lefty dipshits complaining about" to "Oh no, not Greenland, wtf!" in less than 24 hours

"The little once-successful champagne salesman" -- William Shirer's description of Ribbentrop, Hitler's Foreign Minister. History's so full of these snivelling little piss babies wreaking unbelievable death and destruction.

Coincidentally, we are also running the country and seizing its oil fields and threatening its leadership with terrible reprisals should they fail to obey us. (Oh and Colombia, Cuba, Denmark -- maybe Canada? -- you're up next) Other than that, just a one-and-done police action.

This case is an important one to watch if you care about your own right to know. If the police are free to arrest, detain and block journalists while acting on industry's behalf, our whole information ecosystem gets eroded.