Fatima Syed

How many times has Israel violated the Gaza ceasefire? Here are the numbers aje.io/usdhib

A call for land protection amidst Ontario’s Ring of Fire talk | The Narwhal As Ontario Premier Doug Ford signed an agreement with Marten Falls First Nation over its Ring of Fire road, other nations call for environmental protection and support for crises in their communities

Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug and Wapekeka First Nation came to Queen’s Park to demand protection for 3 million hectares of land, northwest of the Ring of Fire, saying 'Balance it out.' An hour earlier, Ford signed a road agreement. via @fatimabsyed.bsky.social: thenarwhal.ca/ring-of-fire...

Chief Donny Morris said if Doug Ford was set on bringing mining to the Ring of Fire, he could “balance it out” by permanently preserving Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug and Wapekeka’s homelands. “That’s why we’re here, offering [Ford] an option to support us, walk with us. Let’s see how far we can go."

It's a wild time to be a climate reporter in Canada.

Four reporters from The Narwhal — @meyer.bsky.social @drewanderson.bsky.social @sobittersosweet.bsky.social & me — will give you a primer to this moment in Canadian politics. Join us Tuesday. Bring questions about everything (pipelines included).

Carney’s Alberta pipeline deal weakens climate policies | The Narwhal Prime Minister Mark Carney’s ‘grand bargain’ isn’t just about an Alberta pipeline —it also proposes rolling back a host of climate policies

The Canada-Alberta deal pushes a pipeline AND

- Allows Alberta to delay cutting methane emissions
- Suspends clean energy regulations in Alberta
- Loosens restrictions on tax breaks for clean tech to encourage more oil drilling
- Allows oil tankers on the west coast
thenarwhal.ca/carney-alber...

The method to Mark Carney’s madness The memorandum of understanding with Alberta might look like surrender. Look closer

The Canada-Alberta deal "is textbook Carney" @maxfawcett.bsky.social says

He's "daring Danielle Smith to do the work required" to get a pipeline built, knowing she can’t do it. "But Smith’s concessions help advance his govt's climate agenda far more"
www.nationalobserver.com/2025/11/27/o...

Carney’s Alberta pipeline deal weakens climate policies | The Narwhal Prime Minister Mark Carney’s ‘grand bargain’ isn’t just about an Alberta pipeline —it also proposes rolling back a host of climate policies

The Canada-Alberta deal pushes a pipeline AND

- Allows Alberta to delay cutting methane emissions
- Suspends clean energy regulations in Alberta
- Loosens restrictions on tax breaks for clean tech to encourage more oil drilling
- Allows oil tankers on the west coast
thenarwhal.ca/carney-alber...

There's still no pipeline project or company to build a pipeline. Which seems kind of important to remind people today. #ableg #cdnpoli

It's a wild time to be a climate reporter in Canada.

Four reporters from The Narwhal — @meyer.bsky.social @drewanderson.bsky.social @sobittersosweet.bsky.social & me — will give you a primer to this moment in Canadian politics. Join us Tuesday. Bring questions about everything (pipelines included).

Oh also "Roughly 40 per cent of your assignments will come directly from our publisher" (?!?!!!) and you'll only be paid $1000/month (?!?!!)

"Think of yourself as a reporter who doesn’t type. You investigate, gather, fact-check, shape, and guide. The AI does the drafting."

I ---- am speechless.

A Very Modern, AI-First Role This is not a traditional journalism job. In fact, it’s the opposite. You will not be writing your stories. AI will handle the writing. If that sentence bothers you, this isn’t your role. But does that mean we’re looking for bad writers? Absolutely not. You still need to be a strong writer, storyteller, and communicator so that you can recognize when AI spits out slop. You’re essentially the editor, quality control, and context-builder, making sure the article actually reflects local reality. Think of yourself as a reporter who doesn’t type. You investigate, gather, fact-check, shape, and guide. The AI does the drafting.

Bow Valley Insider is hiring an "AI-first reporter" with a counnfoudning job posting. Cover letters & resumes aren't accepted because they "are usually full of AI slop," but applicants must have their own ChatGPT subscription because "AI will be writing the stories."

ca.indeed.com/viewjob?jk=5...

wait till you see the Queens Park trees this year...

Is Doug Ford’s Ontario pro-parks? | The Narwhal Ford’s Ontario government is creating new categories of provincial parks while dismantling protections elsewhere to ease development

Cumulatively, the Doug Ford government’s approach to nature is both confusing and contradictory. It’s valuable until it’s in the way. Natural spaces for the sake of nature isn't their goal.

Here's me connecting some dots:
thenarwhal.ca/ontario-prov...

This is a stunning story. I've been tracking the "greenhushing" narrative for a while now: this is the idea that strict regulations on fake climate claims spooks companies into total silence; therefore we shouldn't regulate them.

@meyer.bsky.social asked for examples and the Carney gov't failed:

Investigating a Possible Scammer in Journalism’s AI Era | The Local A suspicious pitch from a freelancer led editor Nicholas Hune-Brown to dig into their past work. By the end, four publications, including The Guardian and Dwell, had removed articles from their sites.

A few months ago @thelocal.to got a promising pitch from a writer with bylines in whole bunch of reputable publications—The Cut, The Guardian, Dwell, Architectural Digest, etc. Then I started investigating. Here's a story about fabulists in journalism's AI slop era. thelocal.to/investigatin...

Inside Ontario’s plan to merge 36 conservation authorities to 7 | The Narwhal Doug Ford’s government is seeking public feedback on its plan to overhaul Ontario’s conservation authorities, reducing local agencies from 36 to 7

A credit to @fatimabsyed.bsky.social who spoke to a dozen folks that works for conservation authorities for this story on how Ontario's proposed changes are landing — or not landing — and what it means: thenarwhal.ca/ontario-cons...

‘Unacceptable’: Alberta wants to treat and release oilsands waste | The Narwhal Alberta is working on plans to treat and release oilsands wastewater into the Athabasca River. First Nations downstream don’t want that to happen

Its been 7 months since the Liberals vowed to “immediately" introduce a First Nations drinking water bill. The minister says she's taking the time to get it right. Mikisew Cree, fighting against oilsands toxic waste, opposes reintroducing the bill that died last session thenarwhal.ca/alberta-oils...

Inside Ontario’s plan to merge 36 conservation authorities to 7 | The Narwhal Doug Ford’s government is seeking public feedback on its plan to overhaul Ontario’s conservation authorities, reducing local agencies from 36 to 7

ICYMI: I spoke to 12 staff from 12 conservation authorities (many of them anonymously for fear of government retribution) who say Doug Ford's plan to consolidate the unique agencies from 36 to 7 may ‘slow approvals, create confusion’ over development & flood protections
thenarwhal.ca/ontario-cons...

Ford has been on a conservation authority hunt for six years. It’s wonky enough that Ontario won’t care (because they seem to care about … not much when it comes to this govt) but profound negative impact. On and on.

When the City of Toronto amalgamated, services for places like Scarborough noticeably got worse. This was in large part due to these peripheral communities having less representation and influence at a centralized city hall biased towards the old City of Toronto.

HATE

Inside Ontario’s plan to merge 36 conservation authorities to 7 | The Narwhal Doug Ford’s government is seeking public feedback on its plan to overhaul Ontario’s conservation authorities, reducing local agencies from 36 to 7

The Doug Ford government is setting its sites on conservation authorities for the fifth time, merging the watershed protection agencies. Staff tell @fatimabsyed.bsky.social it may ‘slow approvals, create confusion’ — not to mention it's leaving them with ‘whiplash.’ thenarwhal.ca/ontario-cons...

The hype and reality of Carney’s nation-building wish list | The Narwhal Prime Minister Mark Carney’s list of nation-building projects just got longer — but the federal fast-track isn’t everything it might seem

Carl made these observations in @thenarwhal.ca's newsletter this week, which you can read here & subscribe. A lot is being said about nation-building and fast-tracking, but very little is happening. Is it virtue-signalling or hype? Time (and Carl's reporting) will tell

thenarwhal.ca/newsletter-c...

To quote @meyer.bsky.social:

Nothing has been designated a federal project in the “national interest—so far

Nothing has been designated to be “fast-tracked” by the federal Major Projects Office—so far

Nothing has been given any special ability to avoid any federal permits or requirements—so far

The uncertain future of Wasaga Beach | The Narwhal The Ontario government is handing part of Wasaga Beach Provincial Park over to the town, leaving many wondering what will be left to protect it

This blew up, so let me just say, the story has more details. It's a complicated saga. Yes, the province is answering the town's request for these lands to boost local tourism. But the park system was the last protection plovers & the beach had.

thenarwhal.ca/wasaga-beach...

Hey! All of this is in the story linked in the original post. The main concern, I believe, is that the provincial park system was the last protection left for plovers and the beach, esp. after Bill 5 weakened endangered species law. We'll see what happens, I suppose?

I wrote about this too. Why isn’t Ontario hitting the barricades in rage? We’ve so little lake access. Entirely privatized shorelines. You could give the province away to oligarchs & people would be meh. Thx to Fatima for calling this early on.

www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

Buried in the Doug Ford govt's fall budget are changes that would remove parts of Wasaga beach from provincial protection. As I reported in August, those parts are 60% of the world’s longest freshwater beach and the main nesting area for the endangered piping plover: thenarwhal.ca/wasaga-beach...

Doug Ford’s government is abandoning climate targets | The Narwhal Ontario is moving to repeal aspects of a law that require the government to create a climate plan and greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets

Buried deep in the omnibus bill for its fall economic statement, the Doug Ford government has moved to repeal its own law requiring a climate plan and emissions reduction targets be established, via @fatimabsyed.bsky.social and @meyer.bsky.social

#ONpoli

thenarwhal.ca/ford-repeals...