Oil

by Karen Wristen

The impacts unchecked climate change could have on global food security might accurately be described as apocalyptic. As detailed in the most recent assessment by the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, these include dramatic increases in drought, famine, flooding and disease, as well as equally dramatic losses in biodiversity.

Compiled by Joyce Nelson

Fisheries & Oceans
Discontinued: Species-at-Risk Program, Ocean Contaminants & Marine Toxicology Program, Habitat Management, Experimental Lakes Area (Northern Ontario), DFO Marine Science Libraries, Centre for Offshore Oil & Gas Energy Research
 

by Joyce Nelson

Canada’s Information Commissioner, Suzanne Legault, agreed at the end of March to launch an investigation into the extensive muzzling of federally-funded scientists at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), Environment Canada, Natural Resources Canada and other federal agencies. Her decision comes after a February 20th complaint formally filed by Democracy Watch in partnership with the Environmental Law Clinic of the University of Victoria, which called for a full investigation and was accompanied by a 128-page report, Muzzling Civil Servants: A Threat to Democracy.

That report documents systematic silencing since 2007 of

Excerpt from Joyce Nelson's WS article, "Harper's War on Science"

Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for Science and Technology, has consistently defended the Harper government from accusations of a War on Science by emphasizing the $5.5 billion that the Feds have provided to the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), including another $225 million to the CFI in Economic Action Plan 2013 released on March 21.   

The CFI – the key decision-maker for all science funding in

by Susan MacVittie

Photo credit: John Gardner, Timothy Foulkes

When residents in St. Andrews, New Brunswick heard that the federal government was going to close the St. Andrews Biological Station (SABS) Library, discontinue the Contaminants and Toxicology (CT) program, and reduce the Habitat program as part of its cost cutting measures, they formed Save Ocean Science (SOS) to raise awareness about the impact of lost jobs and lost science.

Since 1908, the SABS Library has provided resources to

by Joyce Nelson

Enbridge public relations (PR)advisor Hill + Knowlton Strategies (H+K) has become the butt of jokes because of those wildly distorting animation maps for the Northern Gateway pipeline/tanker route and its bungled handling of Enbridge’s 2010 Kalamazoo disaster. But while TV viewers laugh at the tagline – “It’s more than a pipeline, it’s our path to the future” – H+K is ably earning its multimillion-dollar fees from Enbridge and other energy clients through its skill in government relations alone.

Government Relations
Michael Coates, Canadian CEO and Chair of H+K, is reportedly well-regarded by the Harper government, having

by Joyce Nelson

In a move that could cost him significant political support, federal NDP leader Thomas Mulcair has endorsed controversial west-to-east pipeline proposals that would move tar sands crude from Alberta through Ontario and Quebec to Atlantic Canada and points beyond.
During a Sept. 28, 2012 speech to the Canadian Club of Toronto, Mulcair said, “Let me be clear, New Democrats support recent proposals to increase West-East pipeline capacity. This is an initiative, led by industry,  that will pay economic dividends for every region of our country: new markets for [tar sands] producers in the West, high-paying value-added jobs and lower energy prices in the East.”

Mulcair called this

by Paul Fletcher

What started out as a thought early in 2012, became a sojourn into pipeline resistance when my fellow photographer, Daniel Sikorskyi, and I hopped on our motorcycles this past summer to travel a circular journey through BC and Alberta, exploring the land in the way of the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline (NGP).
My project was to photograph people holding signs so that their voices could be seen. Daniel was going to focus on capturing the story of our journey and the amazing landscapes around us. We also were curious to find out what it really meant to be an enemy of Canada through the eyes of fellow Canadians.

by Susan MacVittie
Photo Credit:  Fireweed

When First Nations, dressed in regalia and beating drums and singing, slowly paraded through the crowd that had gathered in front of the Provincial Legislature in Victoria for Monday’s Defend Our Coast rally, I knew it was going to be an empowering day.