Twelve oil sands producers recently announced the creation of a collaboration to accelerate improvement in environmental performance, the Canadian Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA): “Through COSIA, participating companies will capture, develop and share the most innovative approaches and best thinking to improve environmental performance in the oil sands, initially focusing on four Environmental Priority Areas [...]
Our Children, Our Future: Getting it Right
Saturday, December 3rd, 2011What are the top three issues for most people in the Calgary-Varsity constituency? This is what I’m hearing: Healthcare, education, and fiscal responsibility. December 1st, I participated in a 300-person dialogue in Calgary hosted by Minister Lukaszuk. Alberta Ed wants to know what educators, and other people who care about education in Alberta, have to say [...]
IHRP Releases Guide “On Disputed Ground” for reviews of mining, oil, gas CSR
Friday, August 26th, 2011From: University of Toronto – Faculty of Law The International Human Rights Program (“IHRP”) at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law is pleased to announce the release of a plain-language guide to assist affected communities to access the Review Process of the Office of the Extractive Sector Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Counsellor for Canada [...]
Canada lagging U.S. on climate, Kent warned
Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011Postmedia News By Mike De Souza OTTAWA — Global warming is the world’s greatest environmental challenge and Canada is falling behind the United States in reducing the pollution from industry that is causing the problem, say newly released briefing notes prepared for Environment Minister Peter Kent. The warnings, submitted to Kent in January when he [...]
Canadian campaign puts the spin on ‘ethical oil’
Thursday, July 28th, 2011Posted by Leo Hickman You’ve got to hand it to Alykhan Velshi: for such a tender age, he seems to be remarkably well-versed in the dark arts of spin and misdirection. Many people outside of Alberta believe the Canadian state’s tar sands industry to be the most environmental destructive energy extraction industry in the world. But not [...]
Ex-Tory message maven tailors his spin to oil sands
Thursday, July 28th, 2011By: Colin Freeze Alykhan Velshi, a 27-year-old who established himself in Ottawa as a master of messaging and a crucial cog in the Conservative machine, has a new job – he’s out to polish the image of Canada’s oil sands in the minds of freedom-loving people everywhere. “When petroleum reserves were deposited around the world, [...]
Oilsands monitoring needs scientific rigour: panel
Thursday, July 7th, 2011From CBC News Environmental monitoring in the Alberta oilsands is insufficient and needs to have “rigorous scientific design and execution” to be effective, a provincially-appointed expert panel concluded in a report released Tuesday. “Monitoring organizations suffer from inadequate funding, weak scientific direction and a general lack of resources to take on the enormous challenge of [...]
Native justice
Saturday, July 2nd, 2011From: The Calgary Herald A Federal Court ruling ordering Chief David Bearspaw and four band councillors removed from office for wrongly extending their terms in office is a triumph of democracy on First Nations reserves. Judge Richard Mosely ruled the native leaders were wrong to cancel the December 2010 election and extend their terms from [...]
Mistakes were made (but not by us)
Friday, July 1st, 2011A friend loaned me an intriguing book titled Mistakes Were Made (but not by me). It’s written by two psychologists, Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson. They ask: Why do humans share the impulse to justify ourselves and avoid taking responsibility for any actions that turn out to be harmful, immoral or stupid? It’s a fascinating [...]
Calgary’s Niko Resources to pay $9.5M bribery fine
Friday, June 24th, 2011From: CBC News A Calgary oil and gas company, Niko Resources, has agreed to pay nearly $9.5 million in fines and penalties after admitting in court that it bribed a Bangladeshi government minister. Niko Resources Ltd. is an oil and gas producer with operations in Southeast Asia. The firm was charged under Ottawa’s Corruption of [...]