Canada's National Observer
@nationalobserver.com
Canada's National Observer delivers vital reporting on the defining crisis of our time: climate change. Through rigorous investigation and compelling storytelling, we expose the forces shaping Canada's climate future. www.nationalobserver.com/newsletters
Canada's push to become an AI data centre hub is fuelling conspiracy theories that the massive facilities are secret "surveillance centres" serving authoritarian goals.
Canada's data centre boom is feeding conspiracy theories
The claims, which have proliferated on social media, are the latest iteration of a widespread right-wing conspiracy positing that a cabal of global elites are trying to control people through various ...
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On 🐙 THE NORTH STATE 🐙 host @youcaughtscott.com sits down with @nationalobserver.com's @natashabulowski.bsky.social and @desmog.com's Taylor C. Noakes to discuss how PM Carney's love affair with fossil fuels affects climate journalism. readthecatch.ca/climate-repo...
Important piece from @cloelogan.bsky.social and @rorywh.bsky.social. If data centres are an issue that concerns you, @nationalobserver.com has you covered with its outstanding work. If you can manage it, please consider subscribing.
Cloe Logan@cloelogan.bsky.social · yesterdayA proposed municipal pause on AI data centres in Hamilton seemed like a done deal. All but 1 of the 16 elected officials in the city voted in favour of bringing the bylaw forward. Then, the majority flipped. Here's what happened + what implications it could have for other municipalities.
One of the clearest descriptions of climate dynamics for laypeople that you’ll ever hear: “It will inevitably get worse. It will get worse and worse and worse.”
This isn't the new normal. It's just the beginning
This summer’s disasters appear to have boosted climate multilateralism, at least within Europe, and underscored the need to tackle fossil fuels. But we may not be waiting long for the scientists' “wor...
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The province’s auditor general confirmed Friday that she is conducting a performance audit on wildland fire management.
Not an inquiry, but an audit: Ontario to review its wildfire response
The province’s auditor general will be conducting a review of the Ministry of Natural Resources’ wildland fire management
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Hamilton's sudden reversal away from a bylaw intended to control data centres has left other municipalities worried about the legal risks of writing their own — and wondering what convinced Hamilton’s elected officials to flip their votes.
Hamilton's mysterious data centre reversal haunts other municipalities
All but one of the 16 elected officials in the city had voted in favour of a bylaw that would put a pause on new data centres in the city for a year. Then, at a council meeting the following month whe...
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Danielle Smith is no stranger to using leverage to achieve her political goals — except when it comes to Donald Trump. It’s almost like those goals don’t include standing up for the rest of Canada. #cdnpoli www.nationalobserver.com/2026/07/31/o...
Danielle Smith wants Canada to surrender
Alberta's premier is no stranger to creating, and using, political leverage — even if it creates the risk of blowback. So why is she so unwilling to do the same thing when it comes to Donald Trump and...
nationalobserver.com
Officials at Canada's agriculture department are asking scientists who were abruptly fired earlier this year to help the agency decide its future research goals, Canada's National Observer has found.
Feds ask fired scientists to advise on Canada's future research
Officials at Canada's agriculture department are asking scientists who were abruptly fired earlier this year to help the agency decide its future research goals, Canada's National Observer has found.
nationalobserver.com
Watching lithium-ion battery costs fall precipitously in recent years as wind and solar power costs fell below new-build fossil gas, Moe Kabbara said he grasped the “fundamental truth” that the world was in the midst of an industrial revolution.
'Techno-economics' will drive irreversible shift to clean energy, says think-tank boss
Transition Accelerator CEO Moe Kabbara, in a far-ranging interview with CNO, argues the climate crisis is a "profound system transformation problem” that will be solved not by the moral imperative of ...
nationalobserver.com
Angelo Isidorou, a key architect of the Conservative Party of BC's rise from a fringe group to official opposition and most recently its executive director, has quit his post after four years.
BC Conservatives lose executive director who helmed the party's revival
Angelo Isidorou, a key architect of the Conservative Party of BC's rise from a fringe group to official opposition and most recently its executive director, has quit his post after four years. In an X...
nationalobserver.com
Palliser Grid would combine wind and solar generation, battery storage, pumped hydro and short-term use of natural gas into an all-in-one “hybrid” renewable energy project.
Alberta farmer turns bad weather into a clean power play
A farmer-led group cleared a key hurdle last month for an all-in-one renewable energy project to power a future AI data centre in southern Alberta. Now the hard work begins.
nationalobserver.com
Almost unnoticed, people are dying in explosions and accidents across southwestern Ontario linked to invisible toxic gas leaking from long-buried wells.
Thousands of forgotten gas wells are killing people in southwestern Ontario
Almost unnoticed, people are dying in explosions and accidents across southwestern Ontario linked to invisible toxic gas leaking from about 27,000 long-buried gas wells.
nationalobserver.com
My latest chat with @markhamhislop.bsky.social -- this time about Alberta, grievances, and the real threat to its future. #cdnpoli #abpoli www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPPZ...
Max Fawcett: Alberta Is Blaming Ottawa for Problems It Created
YouTube video by Energi Media
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The city of Toronto wants its waterfront land back from Ontario Premier Doug Ford.
City of Toronto passes motion demanding Ford repeal Billy Bishop Act, return land
Toronto city council passed a motion on Wednesday demanding that the province repeal Bill 110
nationalobserver.com
Wealthsimple has strict regulations around how its prediction app can work. But experts say it’s already playing coy with the rules allowing it to operate.
Wealthsimple teases banned prediction markets as app launched
Wealthsimple's new prediction markets app shows Canadian users popular markets, such as who will win the 2028 US presidential election, even if the company can't let users bet on them due to Canadian ...
nationalobserver.com
If the bylaw passes when it returns to council in September, it could set a precedent in Canada — but questions about its legality remain.
Mississauga council votes unanimously to advance data centre moratorium
A proposed one-year pause on data centre applications was supported 11-0; the bylaw is subject to final approval in September.
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Is Canada Failing the Next Generation? GenSqueeze founder, Dr. Paul Kershaw recently joined @maxfawcett.bsky.social Fawcett on his @nationalobserver.com podcast Power Lines. Their conversation sheds light on the growing generational divide in Canada and what we can do about it! #cdnpoli
Canada's premiers have a bad habit of bigfooting their biggest cities on everything from bike lanes to airports -- and denying them the economic and political autonomy they deserve. It's past time to fix that. And Ottawa can help. #cdnpoli www.nationalobserver.com/2026/07/29/o...
Canada’s cities need a new deal. Ottawa should give it to them
A constitutional amendment granting cities the power to tax and raise revenue is both perfectly logical and politically impossible. The federal government needs to find another way to give it to them ...
nationalobserver.com
Mississauga councillors vote 11-0 to support a one-year pause on data centres. If approved on Sept. 16, this could be the first interim control bylaw in Canada. It’s likely to face appeals. My latest for @nationalobserver.com www.nationalobserver.com/2026/07/29/n...
Mississauga votes for data centre moratorium that could set Canadian precedent
A proposed one-year pause on data centre applications was supported 11-0; the bylaw is subject to final approval in September.
nationalobserver.com
If the bylaw passes when it returns to council in September, it could set a precedent in Canada — but questions about its legality remain.
Mississauga council votes unanimously to advance data centre moratorium
A proposed one-year pause on data centre applications was supported 11-0; the bylaw is subject to final approval in September.
nationalobserver.com
Some confusion at Mississauga’s council meeting today re: Bill 40 and who foots the energy bill for data centres. Bill 40 has the scaffolding, but no real criteria in place. I wrote about it yesterday for @nationalobserver.com www.nationalobserver.com/2026/07/29/n...
Ontario says data centres will pay full energy costs — but some say power bills could still rise
Data centre companies will have to cover 100 per cent of their energy costs to connect to Ontario's power grid, Energy Minister Stephen Lecce said Tuesday — but some observers say the spike in demand ...
nationalobserver.com
Wealthsimple has strict regulations around how its prediction app can work. But experts say it’s already playing coy with the rules allowing it to operate.
Wealthsimple teases banned prediction markets as app launched
Wealthsimple's new prediction markets app shows Canadian users popular markets, such as who will win the 2028 US presidential election, even if the company can't let users bet on them due to Canadian ...
nationalobserver.com
The city of Toronto wants its waterfront land back from Ontario Premier Doug Ford. On Wednesday, council passed a motion motion demanding that the province repeal Bill 110. For @nationalobserver.com
Toronto City Council passes motion demanding Ford repeal Billy Bishop Act, return land
Toronto city council passed a motion on Wednesday demanding that the province repeal Bill 110
nationalobserver.com
The city of Toronto wants its waterfront land back from Ontario Premier Doug Ford.
City of Toronto passes motion demanding Ford repeal Billy Bishop Act, return land
Toronto city council passed a motion on Wednesday demanding that the province repeal Bill 110
nationalobserver.com
Data centres are shaping up to be a major election issue for voters in Ontario's upcoming municipal elections.
Where data centres are proposed, Ontario voters have questions for their local candidates
Residents are concerned over the risks presented by the developments, which are part of a global boom driven by AI. And the public backlash is starting to shape the platforms of candidates.
nationalobserver.com
My latest column in out in @nationalobserver.com, asking "Where is Carney's promised Youth Climate Corps?" www.nationalobserver.com/2026/07/28/o...
Where is Carney’s promised Youth Climate Corps?
The budget said it would commence with the 2026 fiscal year (which started April 1). We are now more than a quarter into that fiscal year with no YCC program launch and no details have been forthcomin...
nationalobserver.com
“Why do you have to be inside to learn? Why has that become normal?”
The youth-led movement to secure an outdoor future for schools
George Elliot Secondary is one of only six schools across Canada offering Advanced Placement Nature Education, a pilot program, which teacher Marnie Birkeland rebrands as “AP Passion to Action,” becau...
nationalobserver.com
When the Heiltsuk Nation invited coastal leaders to gather in Bella Bella, BC, Alberta’s proposed new oil pipeline to the North Coast still loomed. But after that threat was moved south, they met anyway — to plan for the pressures already building on the ocean.
Coastal Nations want 'master planning,' not piecemeal projects
When Heiltsuk Nation Chief Marilyn Slett invited coastal leaders to gather in Bella Bella, BC, she was expecting a potential fight against Alberta’s proposed new oil pipeline to the North Coast. But a...
nationalobserver.com
The RCMP has warned the government that foreign actors could take advantage of self-governing communities in Canada’s North, newly obtained documents reveal.
RCMP worries foreign actors could gain foothold in northern Indigenous communities
Cash-strapped Indigenous governments in the North could be susceptible to attractive infrastructure and investment offers from foreign actors that could threaten Canada's national security, according ...
nationalobserver.com
MP Julie Dzerowicz, who represents the federal riding of Davenport, said the decision shows the government is listening to the people of Toronto — where the Liberals have an important upcoming byelection.
Liberals back away from Ford's Billy Bishop expansion as Toronto by-election looms
MP Julie Dzerowicz, who represents the federal riding of Davenport and is the chair of the Toronto Liberal caucus, said the decision shows the Liberals are listening to the people of Toronto.
nationalobserver.com