Published in The Conversation, The National Post, May 22, 2019 A few weeks ago, I was invited attended speech by federal environment and climate change minister Catherine Mckenna in Toronto on climate change and a number of other environmental issues. …
With more oil to be shipped by rail, train derailments show enduring safety gaps
Published in The Conversation, National Post, and Winnipeg Free Press, February 28, 2019 With Bruce Campbell The recent runaway CP Rail train in the Rocky Mountains near Field, B.C., highlighted ongoing gaps in Canada’s railway safety regime, more than five …
Cooling the rhetoric on Canada’s environmental assessment efforts
Published in the Conversation, National Post and Calgary Herald, March 27, 2019 With Martin Olszynski (University of Calgary) and Deborah Curran (UVic) In the fall of 2018, we suggested that post-truth politics were sinking the debate with respect to Bill …
The Ford Doctrine in Action: Cutting Energy Conservation and Public Health
Published in the Conversation and National Post April 28, 2019 Although less than a year in office, the government of Ontario Premier Doug Ford has already demonstrated a remarkable talent for pursuing very short-term gains at the expense of very …
Doug Ford’s Ontario: Who wins, and what does it mean for Ontario’s future?
Published in the Conversation, Huffington Post, National Post and other outlets, February 24, 2019 The first few months of Premier Doug Ford’s government has produced a long and growing list of losers. An incomplete catalogue, so far, includes: Municipalities, hospitals, …
Doug Ford and the limits of executive authority in cabinet-parliamentary systems of government.
The first six months of Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government have been nothing if not dramatic. The Ford government has been defined by a governing style that has often seemed arbitrary, impulsive, at times vindictive, and highly assertive of the …
The Ontario Climate Change Plan: An Assessment
December 3, 2018 The Ford government in Ontario released its climate change plan, on November 29. The plan is intended to replace the cap and trade system and climate change action plan of the previous Liberal government. Ideally, from the …
Ontario Climate Change Plan – A Preliminary Analysis
November 29, 2018 The Ford government in Ontario released its climate change plan, intended to replace the cap and trade system and climate change action plan of the previous government today. At the macro level there is a fairly explicit …
Shooting the messenger? Doug Ford’s proposal to downgrade Ontario’s environmental watchdog.
November 16, 2018 By Mark Winfield, Sheila Colla and Faisal Moola Buried deep within the massive omnibus bill that accompanied the Ford government’s fall economic statement last week were a series of provisions that effectively fold of the role of …
How post-truth politics is sinking debate on environmental assessment reform
Mark Winfield (York), Martin Olsznski (Calgary), and Deborah Curran (Victoria), with contributions from Hugh Benevides Published in The Conversation, October 11, 2018 The past few weeks have been characterized by a growing chorus of political and media voices, many from …