For years, "progressive" govts (fed & provincial) have said we need to go slow on climate to avoid a right-wing backlash. How'd that work out for us?

Today we have the worst of both worlds - milquetoast climate policy AND a right-wing backlash! A 🧵... Incrementalism is no match for the crises we face.

As the fed gvt seeks a reset ahead of the fall 2025 election, it desperately needs to shake things up. I share ideas for how to do that on the climate front in my latest column: nationalobserver.com/2024/06/18/opi…

My latest column is out, in which I unmask Poilievre's climate agenda. Here's a 🧵 with some takeaways...

Today’s Conservatives not fit to lead in an emergency via @NatObservernationalobserver.com/2024/04/19/opi… Much of the piece is a thought experiment: as an existential & civilizational threat barrels down upon us, what would Conservative leadership look & sound like? Poilievre’s Party is a far different beast than your grandparents’ Conservatives, and Poilievre is no Churchill...

My latest column for @NatObserver is out today, with highlights of a new national poll showing majority support across Canada for the establishment of a Youth Climate Corps 🧵👇
nationalobserver.com/2023/11/16/opi… The national survey, conducted by @abacusdataca, found that, after being given a short description of the YCC, 55% of adult Canadians support it, while a further 23% say they can accept it. Only 12% oppose the idea...

RELEASED TODAY: New national poll finds majority in Canada support a Youth Climate corps.

Today, the @climate_unit released a new poll conducted by @abacusdataca showing strong support for the creation of a YCC. 🧵 #CANpoli
More 👉: climateemergencyunit.ca/youth-climate-…
Support was especially high among those aged 18 - 35 (the cohort for whom the program is designed). Among this demographic, support rises to 65%, with 33% saying they “strongly support” the idea of a YCC (and only 6% opposed).

A 🧵on TEAM for a Livable Vancouver municipal party and its mayoralty candidate Colleen Hardwick – my take after watching Hardwick’s record on council over the last 4 years. #vanpoli 👇 Full disclosure: as many know, I am the husband of @OneCityVan Councillor @christineeboyle. Given Zoom meetings in our half duplex, this has given me a front-row seat during this last council.

“How should I vote?” I get asked this all the time. Here’s an #Elxn44 🧵with my reply.

Unfortunately for those preoccupied with the #ClimateEmergency, the unsatisfying answer given our awful electoral system (yes, the one Trudeau promised to end), is “Depends where you live.”👇 These final days of #Elxn44 are filled with simplistic advice that the next govt will be either Liberal or Conservative, and so climate-anxious voters need to strategically line up behind the Liberals (with their “expert-endorsed” climate plan – more on that below)...

A thread on Fed #Budget2021: The child care news is very exciting! And some other good stuff on the social side. But having dug into the climate pages, I encourage folks to take some of the headline #s with a big hunk of salt. Careful using the govt’s claim about spending $17.6 billion on green recovery. Actual climate spending is summarized of pp. 188-190 of the budget doc. When all the climate spending is totaled up, it amounts to only $4.5 billion over the next 5 years.

Fabulous & hopeful piece here by @drvox. Well worth reading: How to drive fossil fuels out of the US economy, quickly vox.com/energy-and-env… via @voxdotcom Re US WWII mobilization: "FDR began with 2 questions. First he asked not what was politically feasible but what was necessary to win the war. He also asked not how much funding was available in the federal budget but how much productive capacity was available in the economy.

My latest piece: As we emerge from one crisis and confront the next, Let Youth Lead, Serve and Vote via @TheTyee #ClimateEmergency thetyee.ca/Opinion/2020/0… Thread follows... As the young people in our society come to the end of a school year unlike any before, and those in their teens and early 20s in particular wrestle with what the coming year or two will look like, Canada’s Second World War story has some useful guidance to offer. 3 ideas 👇

Two "westerners" offer up a new idea for renewing confederation while rising to the climate challenge. My new piece with @GilMcGowan: a modest proposal nationalobserver.com/2019/11/30/opi… via @NatObserver @gilmcgowan @NatObserver The equalization formula isn’t the problem; it’s more or less operating as intended. The latest Alberta budget itself boasts, if Alberta taxed individuals and corporations at rates comparable to other provinces, it would have “at least $13.4 billion more in taxes.”

Today the federal @NDP released the climate plan it intends to carry into the 2019 election. With a nod to the #GreenNewDeal excitement, the plan is entitled “A New Deal for Climate Action and Good Jobs.” My overall take – this is a bold & ambitious plan. THREAD 👇#PowerToChange The website for the #NDP plan is here:
ndp.ca/power-to-change

All the complaints about lack of information and clarity on the #ProRep referendum options are a distraction, aimed to sow doubt by the No side. The tactic is proving somewhat effective, but it is mischief. This thread seeks to outline why. #pr4bc #bcpoli There is a plethora of good information & resources on the 3 reform options from Elections BC (in 14 languages) and from many other sources. We have created a webpage that serves as a helpful portal to many of them: policynote.ca/pr4bc/

The NO side in referendum is making outrageous claims about representation, running ads that #ProRep will mean “time to say farewell to your local MLA” and “Pro Rep moves the balance of power in BC to Vancouver alone”. This is blatantly untrue, as I explain in this thread #bcpoli These claims are a wilful misrepresentation of the 3 reform options on offer. Under all 3 pro pep models on the referendum ballot, EVERY MLA will remain accountable to either a local riding or a particular region of BC. Each system is structured to ensure this is so.

This week the over-the-top fear-mongering of the NO side in the electoral reform referendum stepped over the line, hopefully doing some major damage to their credibility. Here’s a thread debunking the oft-repeated claim that #ProRep will enable far-right extremists #pr4bc #bcpoli Under FPTP (the system we use), we have seen far-right parties not just win seats, but outright win gvt. Witness Trump (who lost popular vote 2 Clinton, and has Alt-Right elements in his White House) or BJP in India (an extreme Hindu nationalist party that won gvt w/ 31% of vote)