Blog – Wes Regan

May 25, 2020 wesregan

In defence of the city and of public transit during (and after) the COVID-19 pandemic

British Museum Underground Station, London, 1937 The entire world has been rattled by the coronavirus pandemic (aka COVID-19) making it

May 20, 2020 wesregan

If we are to have true self-government, we cannot elect billionaires

Working in public policy for the past several years I’ve come to appreciate that it’s common for those of us

April 21, 2020 wesregan

Seven questions for the post-pandemic economic recovery

(Left) A modern multinational corporation requests more quantitative easing and government stimulus as a novel coronavirus ravages austerity crippled healthcare systems around the globe.

February 28, 2020 wesregan

Will a new generation of leadership emerge in the Green Party?

The Green Party is a party that began with relatively radical ideas put forward by relatively privileged people. It needs to put equity, diversity and inclusion at the centre of its growth efforts.

March 17, 2018 wesregan

Notley’s threats to BC remind us of Enron and the California energy crisis

It would be great to see a healthier dialogue between Alberta and BC regarding Canadian energy and our future development. Sadly, the bar just gets dragged lower and lower. It’s March 2018 and despite opposition from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, populist prairie politicians are voicing support for Alberta strangling British Columbia’s supply of domestic oil and gas.

March 14, 2018 wesregan

Threats, insults, and bullying a winning formula to gain BC support for Kinder Morgan pipeline

“Shitheads” that’s how Economic Development Minister Deron Bilous described British Columbians this week at a meeting of Albertan Municipal leaders. The same week that Alberta’s Speech from the Throne floated the idea of punishing BC by turning off the supply of oil and gas to the province, a sensible way to demonstrate just how much communities in BC need Bitumen to be shipped to China for motorists there.

February 11, 2018 wesregan

Prime Minister Trudeau is still right, Alberta’s oil should be nationalized

The national interest, we’re hearing that term a lot right now from Rachel Notley, Prime Minister Trudeau and those others who are eager to see the Kinder Morgan pipeline twinned. So what is it? And is this controversial pipeline truly reflective of it?

September 30, 2017 wesregan

Reflections on the start of SFU CED’s 2017-2018 Cohort

The SFU CED program has undergone a number of evolutions in the roughly 20 years that it has existed. It is currently undergoing another one of those evolutions as its relationship to Simon Fraser University and the Faculty of Environment in which it is situated deepens and expands. Constant throughout these evolutions have been the values at the core of the program and the hopes they bring.

August 23, 2015 wesregan

Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain review delay reveals a larger problem in Canadian democracy

Just this past Friday the National Energy Board (NEB) halted the review process for the proposed Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline twinning. It wasn’t because scientists and concerned residents had been arrested on Burnaby Mountain in protest; it wasn’t because of collective statements from the Mayors of several Lower Mainland cities and First Nations condemning the project; it wasn’t even because scores of intervenors wrote public letters about the horribly flawed process that many of us subsequently walked away from altogether.

July 1, 2015 wesregan

Canada Day a time for celebration and reflection

Today I was out celebrating Canada Day with friends and neighbours, but I was also doing a lot of thinking. I was thinking about the Wampum belt. About the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. About the future of an increasingly multicultural and urban Canada. About Canada, the Iroquois word for “village” and “the land” and Canada the serial winner of Fossil of the Year for its lack of leadership on climate change.