Government

OTTAWA - Climate change will cause damage in Canada equivalent to around 1 percent of GDP in 2050 as rising temperatures kill off forests, flood low-lying areas and cause more illnesses, an official panel said on Thursday.

The National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy said Canada's Conservative government - criticized by green activists for not doing enough to fight global warming - should take measures to mitigate the effects of climate change, which most scientists blame on greenhouse gas emissions.

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The north of Canada, the world's second largest country, is warming up at a much faster pace than the rest of the Earth.
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Over 200 protesters objecting to the federal government's enthusiastic support for Alberta's Tar Sands and the Keystone pipeline XL were arrested Monday morning as they attempted to stage a sit-in in the House of Commons.

The protesters wanted the chance to air their grievances with the environmentally reckless policies of the Harper-led Conservatives inside Parliament but were blocked from entering by fenced barricades and over 50 RCMP officers.

The protesters were encouraged by hundreds of boisterous supporters as they passed the media scrum and calmly hopped over police barricades.

Those arrested in the first wave of protesters trying to gain access to the House included chairperson of The Council of Canadians, Maude Barlow, and Dave Coles, the president of Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union, along with his executive assistant andrabble.ca blogger Fred Wilson.... Read more »

EDMONTON — Environmental groups are hoping to trigger what they call the "largest civil disobedience action in the history of Canada’s climate movement"Monday in Ottawa — a sit-in on Parliament Hill to protest federal government support of Alberta's oilsands.

“This isn’t about condemning anybody that works in the tarsands or oilsands industry. This is about presenting choices,” said Greenpeace campaigner Mike Hudema.

The Edmonton-based activist, who plans to be in Ottawa on Monday, said he hopes people do not see the protest as an attack on Alberta, but as a bid for a “clean-energy economy.”

Monday’s action takes aim at Alberta’s oilsands as a whole, but the effort piggybacks on growing American and Canadian attention to the proposed $12-billion Keystone XL pipeline extension.... Read more »

In May 2011, the Divisional Court heard arguments from counsel for Sierra Club Canada (Sierra Club) and the Ontario government regarding the Minister of Natural Resources' controversial decision to issue a permit under the Endangered Species Act, 2007, in February 2010. To our knowledge, this is the first judicial review application of an ESA permit since the legislation was overhauled after lengthy public consultations between 2005 and 2007.

The Ministry of Transportation required the permit for the Windsor-Essex Parkway, a dedicated 11-kilometre access highway for the Detroit River International Crossing project, a proposed international crossing for Windsor and Detroit.... Read more »