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Frontier Centre for Public Policy

Canada’s eco-extremism threat is flying under the radar

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From the Frontier Centre for Public Policy

By Joseph Quesnel

The dangerous rise in eco-extremism in Canada is fueled by identity politics and exaggerated climate anxieties

The rhetoric surrounding “decolonization” and identity politics, coupled with exaggerated concerns about climate change, is giving rise to a dangerous form of eco-extremism that is spreading unchecked across the country.

This trend is vividly illustrated by the February 2022 terrorist assault on a Coastal GasLink pipeline project site in British Columbia. Approximately 20 masked assailants armed with axes and flare guns descended upon the site, instilling fear among security personnel and workers and causing an estimated $20 million in damages, as reported by B.C.’s Independent Contractors and Business Association.

Had the mainstream media exercised greater journalistic diligence, they might have discerned the ideological motives behind the attackers, evident from the clues they left behind.

The Frontier Centre for Public Policy recently released a major report highlighting the looming threat of eco-extremism in Canada. Our research reveals a nexus with an “Indigeno-anarchist” movement that remains largely unmonitored by governmental bodies, media outlets, and security agencies.

Regrettably, governmental and media attention remains disproportionately fixated on extremism associated with the right-wing factions. Recall the undue emphasis on the convoy protests, falsely linked to extremist foreign influences.

Similarly, Canadians witnessed a tendency to downplay instances of arson and vandalism targeting nearly 100 churches despite clear links to fabricated allegations concerning residential schools.

Furthermore, a recent RCMP report warned about the dangers of “paranoid populism,” potentially stoking civil unrest over declining economic conditions. In February, CSIS voiced its concerns  regarding an alleged “anti-gender” movement, purportedly posing a violent threat to the LGBTQ+ community in Canada. However, despite intense public debates on gender-related issues, no evidence emerged to support such claims of violence.

Elite institutions are fixated on exaggerated threats from the right while overlooking the looming threat emanating from far-left factions championing “decolonization” ideals, radicalized by anti-fossil fuel rhetoric.

The origins of this rhetoric can be traced to the toxic influences within Canada’s publicly funded universities, where self-proclaimed “Indigeno-anarchists” conduct recruitment drives and propagate toxic ideologies under the guise of academic freedom.

The masked, axe-wielding assailants of the Coastal GasLink attack left behind graffiti bearing the messages “LAND BACK” and “CGL EVICT,” which highlighted a broader ideological stance. While “LAND BACK” initially stemmed from Indigenous movements reclaiming sovereignty over ancestral lands, it has been co-opted by non-Indigenous actors subscribing to identity politics and anarchism, who resort to sabotage and property damage in pursuit of their agenda. The term became identified with the meaningless term “decolonization” and became associated with groups that wanted to “dismantle White supremacy.”

These groups, driven by a cocktail of identity politics and alarmist views on climate change, perceive fossil fuel projects as primary contributors to environmental degradation, disregarding nuances and complexities of the issue.

In recent years, many of these self-righteous anarchists rallied around the Wet’suwet’en conflict and its complicated relationship with the Coastal GasLink pipeline, aligning themselves with one faction opposed to the project despite broader community support. Although most activists opposing Coastal GasLink were peaceful, some resorted to unlawful tactics, including intimidation and property damage, tantamount to terrorism under the Criminal Code.

Lacking nuance, they attached themselves to one segment – a group claiming to be hereditary chiefs from the community but who were receiving funds from foreign environmental foundations – that was opposed to the project despite strong community support from the elected band government and the wider Wet’suwet’en community.

The RCMP deserves credit for establishing a specialized unit to address these attacks. However, it is time for Canada to finally address the “Indigeno-anarchist” threat.

First Nations must condemn these groups in one voice, and governments must use the Criminal Code and legislation to address eco-terrorist rhetoric and acts.

Joseph Quesnel is a senior research fellow with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.

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It Took Trump To Get Canada Serious About Free Trade With Itself

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From the  Frontier Centre for Public Policy

By Lee Harding

Trump’s protectionism has jolted Canada into finally beginning to tear down interprovincial trade barriers

The threat of Donald Trump’s tariffs and the potential collapse of North American free trade have prompted Canada to look inward. With international trade under pressure, the country is—at last—taking meaningful steps to improve trade within its borders.

Canada’s Constitution gives provinces control over many key economic levers. While Ottawa manages international trade, the provinces regulate licensing, certification and procurement rules. These fragmented regulations have long acted as internal trade barriers, forcing companies and professionals to navigate duplicate approval processes when operating across provincial lines.

These restrictions increase costs, delay projects and limit job opportunities for businesses and workers. For consumers, they mean higher prices and fewer choices. Economists estimate that these barriers hold back up to $200 billion of Canada’s economy annually, roughly eight per cent of the country’s GDP.

Ironically, it wasn’t until after Canada signed the North American Free Trade Agreement that it began to address domestic trade restrictions. In 1994, the first ministers signed the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT), committing to equal treatment of bidders on provincial and municipal contracts. Subsequent regional agreements, such as Alberta and British Columbia’s Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement in 2007, and the New West Partnership that followed, expanded cooperation to include broader credential recognition and enforceable dispute resolution.

In 2017, the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) replaced the AIT to streamline trade among provinces and territories. While more ambitious in scope, the CFTA’s effectiveness has been limited by a patchwork of exemptions and slow implementation.

Now, however, Trump’s protectionism has reignited momentum to fix the problem. In recent months, provincial and territorial labour market ministers met with their federal counterpart to strengthen the CFTA. Their goal: to remove longstanding barriers and unlock the full potential of Canada’s internal market.

According to a March 5 CFTA press release, five governments have agreed to eliminate 40 exemptions they previously claimed for themselves. A June 1 deadline has been set to produce an action plan for nationwide mutual recognition of professional credentials. Ministers are also working on the mutual recognition of consumer goods, excluding food, so that if a product is approved for sale in one province, it can be sold anywhere in Canada without added red tape.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has signalled that his province won’t wait for consensus. Ontario is dropping all its CFTA exemptions, allowing medical professionals to begin practising while awaiting registration with provincial regulators.

Ontario has partnered with Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to implement mutual recognition of goods, services and registered workers. These provinces have also enabled direct-to-consumer alcohol sales, letting individuals purchase alcohol directly from producers for personal consumption.

A joint CFTA statement says other provinces intend to follow suit, except Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador.

These developments are long overdue. Confederation happened more than 150 years ago, and prohibition ended more than a century ago, yet Canadians still face barriers when trying to buy a bottle of wine from another province or find work across a provincial line.

Perhaps now, Canada will finally become the economic union it was always meant to be. Few would thank Donald Trump, but without his tariffs, this renewed urgency to break down internal trade barriers might never have emerged.

Lee Harding is a research fellow with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.

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2025 Federal Election

The Cost of Underselling Canadian Oil and Gas to the USA

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From the Frontier Centre for Public Policy

Canadians can now track in real time how much revenue the country is forfeiting to the United States by selling its oil at discounted prices, thanks to a new online tracker from the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. The tracker shows the billions in revenue lost due to limited access to distribution for Canadian oil.

At a time of economic troubles and commercial tensions with the United States, selling our oil at a discount to U.S. middlemen who then sell it in the open markets at full price will rob Canada of nearly $19 billion this year, said Marco Navarro-Genie, the VP of Research at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.

Navarro-Genie led the team that designed the counter.

The gap between world market prices and what Canada receives is due to the lack of Canadian infrastructure.

According to a recent analysis by Ian Madsen, senior policy analyst at the Frontier Centre, the lack of international export options forces Canadian producers to accept prices far below the world average. Each day this continues, the country loses hundreds of millions in potential revenue. This is a problem with a straightforward remedy, said David Leis, the Centre’s President. More pipelines need to be approved and built.

While the Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) pipeline has helped, more is needed. It commenced commercial operations on May 1, 2024, nearly tripling Canada’s oil export capacity westward from 300,000 to 890,000 barrels daily. This expansion gives Canadian oil producers access to broader global markets, including Asia and the U.S. West Coast, potentially reducing the price discount on Canadian crude.

This is more than an oil story. While our oil price differential has long been recognized, there’s growing urgency around our natural gas exports. The global demand for cleaner energy, including Canadian natural gas, is climbing. Canada exports an average of 12.3 million GJ of gas daily. Yet, we can still not get the full value due to infrastructure bottlenecks, with losses of over $7.3 billion (2024). A dedicated counter reflecting these mounting gas losses underscores how critical this issue is.

“The losses are not theoretical numbers,” said Madsen. “This is real money, and Canadians can now see it slipping away, second by second.”

The Frontier Centre urges policymakers and industry leaders to recognize the economic urgency and ensure that infrastructure projects like TMX are fully supported and efficiently utilized to maximize Canada’s oil export potential. The webpage hosting the counter offers several examples of what the lost revenue could buy for Canadians. A similar counter for gas revenue lost through similarly discounted gas exports will be added in the coming days.

What Could Canada Do With $25.6 Billion a Year?

Without greater pipeline capacity, Canada loses an estimated (2025) $25.6 billion by selling our oil and gas to the U.S. at a steep discount. That money could be used in our communities — funding national defence, hiring nurses, supporting seniors, building schools, and improving infrastructure. Here’s what we’re giving up by underselling these natural resources. 

342,000 Nurses

The average annual salary for a registered nurse in Canada is about $74,958. These funds could address staffing shortages and improve patient care nationwide.
Source

39,000 New Housing Units

At an estimated $472,000 per unit (excluding land costs, based on Toronto averages), $25.6 billion could fund nearly 94,000 affordable housing units.
Source

About the Frontier Centre for Public Policy

The Frontier Centre for Public Policy is an independent Canadian think-tank that researches and analyzes public policy issues, including energy, economics and governance.

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