My latest blog for The Monitor (by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives) in advance of President Biden’s Climate Summit in Washington this week. Addressing carbon leakage beyond national borders has been the subject of much talk but little action. That may soon change. Border Carbon Adjustment (BCA) mechanisms have been proposed lately—again—by Canada’s major…More
Thesis now available
For anyone who doesn’t want to wait for the book and is interested in wading through a ten-chapter thesis, you are in luck! My doctoral thesis, The Contentious Politics of Mega Oil Sands Pipeline Projects, is now available. Follow this live link; alternatively, click the link below. As the late Gord Downie said, “it’s been…More
Pipeline purgatory talk
Last week I presented at the North American Colloquium (NAC) Climate Series, hosted by the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. I’ve had the great pleasure of working with Sarah Martin (Memorial University of Newfoundland) and Kate J. Neville (University of Toronto) on our paper, “Pipeline Purgatory and the Social Construction of Commercial Viability.”…More
Wake-up call or final straw? What the Biden Presidency means for Alberta’s oil sands
I was recently asked to contribute an op-ed to energyhumanities.ca on what the Biden era means for Canadian oil pipelines. It was terrific working with the Energy Humanities team, including Caleb Wellum and Imre Szeman. Kathryn Harrison and Scott Janzwood also provided super helpful comments. You can find the original piece here. The Energy Humanities Project is a new commentary hub…More
Past and upcoming pipeline politics talks
Now that I’ve emerged from the deep recesses of dissertation writing (hooray!), I’ve been able to present some of my work so I thought I’d share the links. On November 10th, 2020, I presented my PhD research at the University of Victoria’s Centre for Global Studies on the causal influence of what I call “campaign…More
New article in CJPS
I am excited to share my new article in the Canadian Journal of Political Science (CJPS), “Explaining Variation in Oil Sands Pipeline Projects.” Through a cross-case analysis of mega oil sands pipelines, I find the increase in socio-political and legal conflict around these pipelines significantly impact whether they get built or not. I owe a…More
Bill C-69 can’t fix what’s really plaguing pipelines
This piece was first published by The Hill Times on June 6, 2019. Since this piece was published, the House of Commons rejected about half of the Senate’s amendments and C-69 has become law. At the end of May, the Senate accepted a committee report with an enormous package of amendments to Bill C-69, which…More
Redrawing the battle lines in the fight over Canada’s price on carbon
My partner Scott Janzwood and I decided to write a short piece on Canada’s carbon pricing system because we noticed that most industries are at least conditionally supportive of the output based pricing system. This development has been lost among coverage of provincial opposition to the system. This piece was first published on OpenCanada. I…More
Will science-based targets save us? Insights from the global food industry
Caitlin Scott and I wrote an opinion piece for Global Policy Next Generation explaining why food companies have committed to science-based targets to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. We also argue that the unique challenges of the agricultural industry compromise the effectiveness of these targets. Read the full piece here. Huge thanks to the team…More
Reflections on the Utrecht Winter School on Earth System Governance
In November, the Earth System Governance (ESG) Project hosted a Winter School at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. The five-day Winter School took place in advance of the ESG Conference (read Emma Lecavalier’s summary of the conference here). The School provided an opportunity for early career researchers to engage with the themes of the Project’s new Science and Implementation…More
