February 25, 2017 It was reported in today’s Globe and Mail that on Friday (February 24th) Ontario energy minister Glenn Thibeault proposed the idea of a “technology neutral” bidding process for new electricity supply in Ontario. The concept of a …
Submission to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development regarding The Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999
Presented November 22, 2016 Audio of Presentation Introduction My name is Mark Winfield, and I am a Professor of Environmental Studies at York University in Toronto. I am also Co-Chair of the University’s Sustainable Energy Initiative (http://sei.info.yorku.ca/), and Coordinator of …
Electricity Costs in Ontario
The following is a longer version of a short article posted on Global News today. Recent public debates about electricity prices in Ontario have focused strongly on the costs renewable energy under the Green Energy Act. This focus is misguided, …
Letter to Editor – Globe and Mail – What Trump Means for Trudeau – November 10, 2016
November 10, 2016 The Editors The Globe and Mail 444 Front St. Toronto, Ontario Dear Sir/Madam, In its barely contained glee at the implications of the Trump presidency for fossil fuel development (“What Trump means for Trudeau” – November 10th), …
Assessing Trudeau’s Environmental Record: The First Year
The October 19, 2015 federal election was widely interpreted as a watershed moment in Canadian environmental policy. Justin Trudeau’s Liberals presented a platform with extensive environmental commitments, and the election outcome was seen in many parts of the country as …
The paths not taken: Ontario’s decision to abandon renewable energy.
October 2, 2016 The Wynne government’s decision to cancel 1000 megawatts of renewable energy contracts, most of them just announced earlier this year, is being widely interpreted as the final step in the abandonment of the efforts to transform Ontario’s …
Energy East and Political Legitimacy – Letter to the Editor Globe and Mail, Published September 12, 2016
Re On Energy, PM Needs To Lead With His Head, Not Heart (Sept. 7): Any attempt by Justin Trudeau’s government to bludgeon the Kinder Morgan and Energy East pipeline projects through the thickets of constitutional, legal, political, economic and environmental …
Removing hearing panel members won’t solve Energy East’s problems (Letter to the Editor – Published in Toronto Star, September 11, 2016)
September 1, 2016 The Editors The Toronto Star 1 Yonge St Toronto, Ontario Re: Time to Earn Public Trust (September 1, 2016) Dear Sir/Madam, The NEB’s problems around the review of the proposed Energy East Pipeline run far deeper than …
Mid-townToronto CP Rail accident highlights need for railway safety reform
August 24, 2016 The July 2013 Lac-Mégantic rail disaster, in which 47 residents of the town were killed, drew widespread attention to the issue of the transportation of dangerous goods by rail. This weekend’s accident on the CP Rail line …
The Lac-Mégantic Disaster: Three Years Later.
Three years ago this week, an unattended train of 73 car-loads of crude oil from the Bakken shale formation in North Dakota, operated by the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic (MMA) railway ran away and then derailed, exploded and burned in …