‘Shameful’: Manitoba’s protected areas grew less than 0.1% in seven years
The Progressive Conservatives have denounced the federal goal of protecting 30 per cent of land...
"Alberta is very much a petrostate," says journalist and author Andrew Nikiforuk. "It gets about 30 per cent of its income from the oil and gas industry. So as a consequence, the government over time has tended more to represent this resource and the industry that produces it, than its citizens. This is very typical of a petrostate."
The flow of money, he says, is at the heart of the issue. "When governments run on petro dollars or petro revenue instead of taxes then they kind of sever the link between taxation and representation, and if you're not being taxed then you're not being represented. And that’s what happens in petrostates and as a consequence they come to represent the oil and gas industry. Albert is a classic example of this kind of relationship."
In this interview with DeSmog, Nikiforuk explains the basics of his petrostate thesis and asks why Canada, unlike any other democratic nation, hasn't had a meaningful public debate about the Alberta oilsands and how they've come to shape the Canadian landscape, physically as much as politically.
Caving under the pressure of a mounting political crisis, Ontario Premier Doug Ford has reversed the decision to open the Greenbelt. Speaking at a podium...
Continue readingThe Progressive Conservatives have denounced the federal goal of protecting 30 per cent of land...
After 11 months of dogged reporting from The Narwhal and beyond, Doug Ford has succumbed...
Apologizing for breaking his promise not to touch the protected area, Ontario’s premier said the...