Articles by Carl Meyer

Dec 5 2018 — Carl Meyer — National Observer — The Trans Mountain oil pipeline is costing a Canadian Crown corporation some staggering interest expenses that cast doubt on strong revenues from the infrastructure touted in the federal government’s recent economic update. The interest expenses were $20 million over a single month in September, right after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government purchased the pipeline and […]

Nov 29 2018 — Carl Meyer — There has been a disturbing spike of hate crimes in Canada, with attacks against Canadian Muslims more than doubling, new figures show. The record high of 2,073 police-reported hate crimes in 2017 was largely the result of a surge in property hate crimes like graffiti and vandalism, Statistics Canada said Thursday, and comes as Muslims […]

Nov 28 2018 — Carl Meyer — National Observer — The developing world is now driving the deployment of clean energy technology, while wealthier nations are stepping back on new builds, says a new report. The number of developing nations that recorded a net year-over-year increase in solar, wind, hydro, biomass and geothermal power increased, while the number installing oil, gas and coal decreased, according […]

Nov 27 2018 — Carl Meyer — National Observer — Facebook won’t be able to catch all bad actors influencing the 2019 Canadian election on its platform, and can’t guarantee there won’t be cheating on its website during the campaign, a senior company representative admitted Tuesday. Richard Allan, vice president of policy solutions at Facebook, made the startling comments to Canadian MP Bob Zimmer during […]

Nov 26 2018 — Carl Meyer — A network of young people in Quebec have applied to sue the Canadian government for failing to get tough on the carbon pollution that is heating the planet and putting their futures in jeopardy. Environnement Jeunesse applied Monday to bring a class action lawsuit against the Government of Canada, on behalf of all Quebecers aged […]

Nov 22 2018 — Carl Meyer — National Observer — Ontario’s immigration minister attacked the Trudeau government’s policies on border crossers just days after turning down a federal offer to get briefed on the same issue, reveal newly-released internal emails. The rejection of the offer was delivered in an email that came from an official speaking on behalf of Ontario Minister of Children, Community and […]

Nov 21 2018 — Carl Meyer — National Observer — The Trudeau government is hoping that a new tax incentive for businesses investing in wind turbines and solar panels will help juice investment and job growth in Canada’s clean energy sector. At the same time, Finance Minister Bill Morneau is also proposing another new incentive that would apply to oil and gas sector property expenses. […]

Nov 13 2018 — Carl Meyer — National Observer — The supply of oil going to Quebec refineries has undergone a dramatic transformation in less than six years. While the province got most of its oil from overseas in 2012, the situation had flipped by 2017, with most of the supply now coming from North American producers. On top of that, Western Canada is now […]

Nov 7 2018 — Carl Meyer — National Observer — Green Leader Elizabeth May is warning that taxpayers across Canada could soon be forced to bail out Alberta’s oilpatch because of a failure to adequately manage billions of dollars worth of liabilities — a concern immediately dismissed by federal Natural Resources Minister Amarjeet Sohi. May was reacting to revelations that Alberta’s fossil fuel industry regulator […]

Nov 5 2018 — Carl Meyer — National Observer — A federal task force has advised the Trudeau government in a confidential report to increase support for workers and communities affected by a national coal power phase-out. This would include extending an existing five-year multimillion dollar plan that boosts job training and other services for displaced workers. The recommendation is one of many contained in […]

Oct 30 2018 — Carl Meyer — Transport Canada has welcomed a General Motors proposal to make millions of electric cars mandatory on U.S. roads, prompting questions about the federal government’s promised national zero-emissions vehicle strategy.

Oct 24 2018 — Carl Meyer — National Observer — Alberta Environment Minister Shannon Phillips called on the federal government Wednesday to “quit dithering” and immediately reveal the types of resource development projects that would trigger environmental reviews under a proposed new approval process. Phillips spoke to media on Parliament Hill after meeting with an array of senators, and issued a number of demands in […]

Oct 15 2018 — Carl Meyer — National Observer — Peter Boehm says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau popped the question during a briefing on his last day as a public servant: would he like to serve in the Senate? “I said, ‘I’d be honoured, it would be an interesting thing to do,’” said Boehm, a career diplomat and bureaucrat who was most recently Trudeau’s personal […]

Sep 25 2018 — Carl Meyer — National Observer — What is the difference between “many ministers” and “several ministers”? If you think you know the answer, you’re well on your way to decoding Canada’s pronouncements about the meetings of representatives from G7 nations and observer states that it hosted in Halifax last week. Canada has released what are known as “chair’s summaries,” the official […]

Sep 25 2018 — Carl Meyer — National Observer — A major upcoming international climate report won’t be assessing how the White House’s actions have hurt humanity’s chances of surviving climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – an organization of 195 governments that harnesses the intellect of hundreds of experts to assess peer-reviewed, published science – is still lacking the needed source material […]