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If 2025 was the year fossil fuels caught fire, 2026 will be the year of cold water

5 11
08.01.2026

We expected Donald Trump to make pollution great again. He’s consistently spun conspiracy theories about climate change, wind turbines and anything that gets in the way of fossil fuels. 

What we didn’t expect was that Mark Carney would follow suit. After his decade of work to make financial markets take climate risk seriously, his new government has embraced fossil-fuel megaprojects with gusto.

To be sure, there is a causal relationship, given that Trump’s tariff assault arguably handed Carney his role as prime minister and sent the Canadian political class running into the familiar arms of the oil and gas industry.

As a result, we now have two LNG developments designated as “major projects” worthy of both regulatory bulldozing and possible taxpayer subsidies. We also have a “grand bargain” between Ottawa and Alberta that rolls back climate protections in exchange for a pipeline and shoring up industrial carbon pricing, even though Alberta subsequently weakened it.

Our national media has fallen into line, cheerleading this turn of events as

© National Observer