Joan Baxter

“We’re staying, we’re not leaving, we’re not going anywhere. They can try to come at us with their guns and their injunctions and whatever they wanna do, but we’re not leaving.” www.halifaxexaminer.ca/indigenous-n...

If I had listened to the cynics, Calgary wouldn't have bike lanes, or a new library, or East Village, RiverWalk, the Peace Bridge, downtown office conversions, or even community gardens. My advice? Use the well-being of future generations as a guide and march confidently passed the naysayers.

Hope they sleep well, those execs. Thing is: they know exactly what they do. They just don’t care.

Enbridge investors to get billions as gas giant expands into small-town Ontario Enbridge executives know Ontario ratepayers are a cash cow for its gas business, and in recent calls with investors they said they plan to milk it for all its worth.

Enbridge execs have been boasting to shareholders they plan to return $40-$45 billion to them over the next five years supported by gas expansions across the continent. Ontario in particular is a cash cow where they have an opportunity to "over earn."
www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/09/a...

How Mark Carney is complicating Canada’s climate progress | The Narwhal From cancelling the carbon tax to pausing the EV mandate, Mark Carney’s government is making sweeping changes to Canada’s environmental rules

From cancelling the carbon tax to pausing the electric vehicle mandate, Prime Minister Mark Carney is making sweeping changes to Canada’s environmental rules — and complicating Canada’s progress on climate change. thenarwhal.ca/mark-carney-...

Covering all of California's water canals with solar panels could generate 13 gigawatts of renewable power and save 63 billion gallons of water per year: buff.ly/3Gx1wUq

We have so many solutions. Implement them. #ActOnClimate

#climate #energy #renewables

This anecdote about Karina Gould is awful. To use one of Carney's beloved hockey analogies, crosschecking a promising young female politician -- a colleague -- is very troubling.

This man is a C-suite executive, with all the arrogance & nastiness that too often brings.

'We’re here for good': Mi’kmaw land defenders say they’re not leaving Hunter’s Mountain - Halifax Examiner Mi’kmaw grandmother, Giju Madonna Bernard, is adamant. She has no intention of leaving the encampment that Mi’kmaw land defenders have set up over the past month to protect Hunter’s Mountain (Tqamuowe...

‘We’re here for good’: Mi’kmaw land defenders say they’re not leaving Hunter’s Mountain

reported by @joanbaxter.bsky.social

Fire Weather by John Vaillant: 9780525434245 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • A NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR • FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN NONFICTION • FINALIST FOR THE PEN/GALBRAITH AWARD FOR NONFICTION...

Last night I read again a chunk of "Fire Weather" by @johnvaillant.bsky.social to check my notes against his reporting and holy crap this is a superb book--a vivid portrait of one of the most fascinating, least known, most important places in North America: northern Alberta. Strong recommend.

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

YouTube video by Halifax Regional Municipality October 7, 2025 Halifax Regional Council - Part 2

I am home but the public hearing for the proposed bylaw amendments for Dartmouth Cove has started. #Halifax staff just wrapped up a presentation.

You can watch here but I will live post what speakers have to say:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAiF...

How Mark Carney is complicating Canada’s climate progress | The Narwhal From cancelling the carbon tax to pausing the EV mandate, Mark Carney’s government is making sweeping changes to Canada’s environmental rules

A decade ago, Mark Carney gave a speech pointing out how biz and political leaders had no day-to-day incentive to address climate change, yet it was up to governments. Today, Carney is leading one, but finds himself consumed with responding to the many crises of the day thenarwhal.ca/mark-carney-...

A red and white sign propped against logs on Hunter’s Mountain in Cape Breton by Mi’kmaw land protectors reads “NOTICE! NO TRESPASSING Mi’kmaq Hunting Territory” and “visitors must be permitted. violators will be prosecuted.”

Mi’kmaw land protectors on Hunter’s Mountain in Cape Breton, Unama’ki, are determined to stop clearcutting & destruction of moose habitat on unceded Mi’kmaw lands. They say they’re not moving, even tho N.S. Premier Tim Houston’s govt has passed a law to criminalize such encampments on Crown land.

UBC students call on feds, province to commit to SkyTrain extension to campus There are renewed calls for the federal and provincial governments to fund a SkyTrain extension to the University of British Columbia’s Point Grey campus.

Vancouver City Councillors @seanorr.bsky.social and @lucymaloney.bsky.social are calling to prioritize a SkyTrain extension to UBC, which I wholeheartedly support.

To voice your opinion Wed at the council meeting: vancouver.ca/your-governm... #vanpoli #cdnpoli @davidebybc.bsky.social

And people in my neighbourhood were out with their hoses washing cars and watering plants this weekend. Blows my mind how incapable people are of connecting the dots 😮‍💨

Parents, children rally against Ford's planned speed cam ban | CBC News Concerned parents gathered with their children by a speed camera near Bloor and Dundas streets Saturday afternoon to protest a plan from Premier Doug Ford’s government to end automated speed enforceme...

OF COURSE SPEED CAMERAS WORK! There’s clear evidence of that. They save lives, and removing them will costs lives, including KIDS’ LIVES. The narrative of “cash grab” is a political tactic. Every dollar raised by such cameras is evidence of too much deadly speeding and the need for such cameras.

Premier Tim Houston said it was “unfortunate” that First Nations people feel his government is disrespecting them.

Also, it “appears the First Nations’ resolve to stay put and continue protecting Tqamuoweye’katik (Hunter’s Mountain) is growing.”

Reported by @joanbaxter.bsky.social

Mi’kmaw chiefs lash out at Houston government, threaten legal action, and demand immediate meeting with N.S. premier - Halifax Examiner The Chiefs concluded with a warning that while they continue to push to meet with Houston, they will “also be looking into all possible legal remedies and mechanisms that can be taken to ensure they c...

Further, says Houston, we will pass legislation that criminalizes anyone who tries to protect the forest and obstructs clearcutting on Crown land … and maybe fine them $50,000 and put them in prison. We will call that the “Protecting Nova Scotians Act,” says NS Premier Tim Orwell Houston.

A rocky and pebbly riverbed with almost no water in it, and in the middle of the gravelly empty middle, grass is growing. Some reddish and green shrubs are visible on the left of the photo.

Nova Scotia - a province known for endless rainy days & many bountiful rivers & lakes - is into its 4th month of extreme drought. This is the French River, that provides Tatamagouche with water (or not). Climate crisis kicking in. But: let’s frack and clearcut anyway, says NS Premier Tim Houston.

Oversized pickups and SUVs: the new kings of the roads are dangerous, threatening lives and our living environments (Part 1) - Halifax Examiner In 2023, for every regular passenger car sold in Canada, six trucks – primarily larger pickups, SUVs, and vans - were sold. The same is true in Nova Scotia.

@joanbaxter.bsky.social wrote about this about a year ago in the @halifaxexaminer.ca
www.halifaxexaminer.ca/transportati...

The framing of the Province's Planning Order is quite something. They rejected the Regional Plan because of watercourse setbacks and EVs, didn't understand the consequences, and now have to issue an order to fix the mess they created. It's HRM's fault though! Just wild.
novascotia.ca/just/regulat...

New SUV and old pickup say sit all.

Mi’kmaw chiefs lash out at Houston government, threaten legal action, and demand immediate meeting with N.S. premier - Halifax Examiner The Chiefs concluded with a warning that while they continue to push to meet with Houston, they will “also be looking into all possible legal remedies and mechanisms that can be taken to ensure they c...

Mi’kmaw chiefs lash out at Houston government, threaten legal action, and demand immediate meeting with N.S. premier

reported by @joanbaxter.bsky.social with files from @dartjenhen.bsky.social

The last seconds are absolutely shocking

Canada should hit Trump where it hurts the most — oil and gas Such an export tax would certainly face political challenges; Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and the oil and gas companies themselves will blow a gasket. But a strong case can be made that layering an...

And a 15% export tax on oil and gas exports to the US could raise ~$25 billion a year – that's a lot of money to support impacted workers & domestic manufacturing and to help fund the transition off fossil fuels.

I wrote about this idea last February here...
www.nationalobserver.com/2025/02/03/o...

Canadian softwood producers hit with new 10% tariff on lumber shipments into U.S. Trump issued a proclamation Monday night, imposing a new tariff on imports of softwood from Canada and other countries, effective Oct. 14

So Trump is imposing new tariffs on Canadian lumber & on films produced outside the US.

*Notice that the one industry he is leaving unharmed is oil & gas?*

It's a tell...🧵

www.theglobeandmail.com/business/art...

Me too, but what happens next is not nearly so pretty in my case. Big old splash mess. 😎

Via Rail hits the brakes on nonstop Montreal-Toronto service pilot project Via Rail has hit the brakes on nonstop service on some trains travelling between Montréal–Toronto due to “operational constraints” with CN, according to the Crown corporation.

Translation: CN doesn't want it. The feds should just nationalize railway corridors between major cities and give passenger trains priority over freights.
www.cp24.com/news/canada/...

Yet Tory Rushton would have us believe the conservation officers want to enable forest destruction and criminalize people trying to protect N.S. forests, and that it was not “commercial interests” - aka powerful and moneyed industrial forestry interests - who asked for the Crown Lands Act changes. 🫢