Last week, the United Kingdom did something all too rare: it chose leadership by backing science and prioritizing public safety. The Labour government announced it would ban new oil and gas licences in the North Sea, strengthen a windfall tax and accelerate phasing out of fossil-fuel subsidies.
These are not symbolic gestures. They are an acknowledgment that the global energy system is shifting and that mature economies must shift with it.
And they came in the same week that catastrophic floods swept across south-east Asia, killing more than 1,000 people and displacing over a million. The real-world imperative to transition off fossil fuels has never been so urgent.
But, at the exact moment the UK stepped forward, Canada stepped back.
Ottawa signed a new Memorandum of Understanding with Alberta to support a new oil sands pipeline that would facilitate increased production of fossil fuels. The deal would delay methane regulations, cancel an oil and gas emissions cap and exempt the province from clean electricity rules. All this comes as leaders are lifting environmental-assessment requirements for major projects, preparing to weaken greenwashing laws and suspending Canada’s electric vehicle sales mandate. The MP Steven Guilbeault resigned from Mark Carney’s cabinet rather than defend the retreat.
The contrast could not be sharper: while climate effects intensify and economies pivot, Canada is reinforcing the very industries driving the crisis.
Internationally, the commitment is crystal clear. At COP28, in Dubai in 2023, Canada, the UK, and 190 countries agreed for the first time to transition away from fossil fuels. You do not “phase out” something by building more of it. A pipeline enabling 1m additional barrels a day pushes Canada in the opposite direction of what it has already promised.
Carney built his reputation by warning that climate inaction threatens economic stability and that finance must align with the reality of a warming world. Instead, he is overseeing decisions that deepen Canada’s dependence on an industry whose expansion directly fuels the disasters already devastating communities.
Tzeporah Berman [author] is a Canadian environmental activist, campaigner and writer
Too bad most Canadians are fucking idiots and didn't realize or understand that 80% of households benefitted from the Carbon Tax, receiving more than what they paid in the first place.
We just decided to kick the environment in the groin and take money away from the poorest Canadians. And somehow the oil companies and media oligarchies framed this as a win for the "working and middle classes".
People are poor because they are stupid. Canada almost fell for MAGA over the carbon levy but we got MAGA adjacent.