In 2011, Canadian artist Franke James set out on a solo European art exhibit spanning 20 countries. But what happened instead, prompted an Amnesty International campaigner in Croatia to declare it a "sad day for Canadian democracy."

Franke James's art show was cancelled after the NGO organizing the event,

Pardon my french, but Canada's tar sands suck.

As a Canadian it blows my mind that we can have the second largest deposits of oil in the world, but our government remains billions in debt and one in seven Canadian children live in poverty.

I feel like we...

Gerry Protti, Alberta's new overseer of environment and safety in the province's oilpatch, has been central to a network of oil industry front groups and lobbyists for many years and it is raising the eyebrows of more than a few people.

Protti was recently named as the new head of...

Clark and the BC Liberals have spent the last few days arguing that because NDP leader Adrian Dix is against the expansion of the Kinder Morgan oil pipeline in the port of Vancouver he is "anti-development" and "anti-business."

Broad sweeping attacks based on a singular position are the...

Despite an international agreement to reduce emissions from carbon-intensive sources, oil and coal companies continue to pour hundreds of billions of dollars a year into finding new fossil fuel deposits containing enough carbon to more than double global climate pollution emissions.

This is the conclusion of a new report...

With the third largest proven reserves of oil in the world, and limited means of shipping that oil to foreign markets, the implications of the B.C. election now reach well beyond provincial borders. 

Which party wins could seal the fate of two major pipeline projects proposed for the west coast of...

Cries from BC Liberal party opponents about 12 years of power in British Columbia being long enough really got me thinking.

Having served under Gordon Campbell and the BC Liberals when they were elected 12 years ago, first makes me think about how damn old I'm getting. Next,...

Record heatwaves, droughts, bushfires, rainfall, coastal erosion can all be expected in Australia in the near-term, reports the country's Climate Commission. According to this esteemed group of climate scientists, the increased extreme weather events are courtesy of man-made climate change.

I must admit what really stood...

Ever scuba dived? Or even just put a mask to your face in knee-deep water and looked under the surface at all the brilliant fish and creatures that make a tropical reef their home?

It is brilliant, and one of those moments you never forget.

Now the largest and...

Canada has the third largest proven oil reserves in the world, but the province of Alberta is planning to cut education and health care spending this year, and Canada's national debt stands at a whopping CDN$600 billion. 

How can that be? With so many people calling our massive tar...

Recently, Gary Doer, Canada's Ambassador to the United States, made headlines when he stated that:

"If you ask the question: Do you want your oil from (Venezuelan President) Hugo Chavez or (Alberta Premier) Alison Redford, I think I know the answer."

Doer is making the argument that US President...

The longer you immerse yourself in politics, the more your idealism is frozen solid by the cold realities of political math.

Right now in Canada, we need to get real about the math.

That is of course, if you're one of the more than 60 per cent that...

This weekend, thousands of people will be out front of Barack Obama's White House to protest the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline -- a 1,879 kilometer length of pipe that will allow oil to be pumped all the way from Northern Alberta to refineries in Texas.

It...

The common public understanding is that the Tea Party movement started in 2009 as a spontaneous grassroots uprising in protest of government taxation. However a new peer-reviewed study provides solid evidence that an organization founded by billionaires David and Charles Koch, attempted to launch the Tea Party...

Newly appointed U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will meet on Friday with his Canadian counterpart, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird. In any such bilateral meeting, it is paramount that each participant trust the words of his counterpart. After all, when it comes to the world...

So here I thought moving back to Canada from Washington, DC, I would get a little break from politics. That isn't happening and it's thanks to an amazing citizens' movement that is taking the country by storm.

The movement is called Idle No More, and it is right...

Canadians have always scoffed at American consumerism. After all, it's not as though we fight over towels at a Wal Mart on Black Friday. But when it comes to gas guzzling and shopping extravaganzas, we are just as bad as our friends down South.

We might be only about...

According to lobbyist registry data, there are currently 57 lobbyists representing the natural gas industry to elected officials and government agencies in the province of British Columbia. This is a pretty astounding number when you consider that the provincial government only consists of 85 elected representatives.

British Columbia is where...

A local resident living in the middle of the latest oil spill to hit Northern Alberta told reporters that "[his] greatest fear is that this [oil spill] is going to be forgotten."

I share that fear with this resident. It is a fear that each of these spills is happening...

While I understand Daniel Veniez's recent Huffiington Post blog calling for a reasonable discussion on the fate of the Alberta tar sands, there are some massive oily holes in his argument along with a few bursting pipes.

On the surface, a call for reason sounds good, but...