Plus, 953 anti-climate attacks from the Fox News of the UK... ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

Message From the Editor

Left image: A man in a suit walks left across a stage with a blue backdrop, behind Elon Musk holding a chainsaw. The white all-capital letters CPAC hang on a banner above them. Right: A Canadian flag, red bars on either side of a white center block against a red maple leaf. The flag flies on a pole against a blue sky and bright sun.

Like it or not, for Canadians voting this week, Trump ended up on their ballot. Not literally, of course. But just a few months ago, before the U.S. President retook the White House and injected his trademark chaos onto the world stage — getting an early start with Canada — the Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre had a 20-point lead in the polls. Now, Poilievre lost even his seat in Parliament — where in his career he voted against the environment and climate over 400 times.

What did Canada just dodge? Or should we say, DOGE?

As DeSmog’s Geoff Dembicki wrote leading up to the election, leading Canadian conservative voices gathered with fossil fuel and Big Tech representatives, where event audio revealed the conservative playbook for bringing DOGE to Canada. “There’s no reason why we can’t move more quickly,” declared Ian Brodie, a University of Calgary professor who served as chief of staff to former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper.

Tech industry leaders increasingly seek to align themselves with Big Oil and conservative figures, both in Canada and the United States. Who helped lay out how a Poilievre government could unleash a DOGE-like assault in Canada while neutralizing political opposition? Representatives from tech giant Amazon and TC Energy — the company behind the canceled Keystone XL oil pipeline, which proposed connecting Canada’s oil sands to America’s Gulf Coast refineries. To hear what Amazon’s rep said about helping provide “the cover that you need to move forward,” read the full story.

Meanwhile, a number of Brits head to the local polls May 1, but a DeSmog media analysis of claims around last year’s UK general election, which put Prime Minister Keir Starmer in power, found nearly 1,000 anti-climate attacks coming from the broadcast platform GB News. Think of it as the Fox News of the UK. And as DeSmog writer Joey Grostern reports, “concerns have been raised about the channel’s ‘wild and paranoid conspiracy claims’ leading up to the May elections.”

The broadcaster featured hosts and guests attacking clean energy policies and casting doubt on the scientifically established idea that humans cause climate change. If you tuned into GB News during this time last year, you heard climate crisis denier garbage going unchallenged. Did the TV regulator Ofcom step in to investigate? Read more.

Have a story tip or feedback? Get in touch: [email protected]. Want to know what our UK team is up to? Sign up for our UK newsletter.

Thanks,
Brendan DeMelle
Executive Director

P.S. DeSmog continues to keep you informed about threats to our climate across the globe — from up-to-the minute reporting to essential database profiles that help others fight climate denial and delay. Can you donate $10 or $20 right now to support more of this essential work?

Credit: Left, Elon Musk by Zach Roberts. Right, adapted Canadian flag by Christopher Policarpio/CC BY 2.0

GB News Broadcast Almost 1,000 Anti-Climate Attacks Before and After 2024 Election

— By Joey Grostern (11 min. read) —

Concerns have been raised about the channel’s “wild and paranoid conspiracy claims” ahead of May’s local elections.

Left, Elon Musk in a black jacket and white button down shirt. Right, Pierre Poilievre in a black suit and tie.

REVEALED: The Conservative Playbook for Bringing DOGE to Canada

— By Geoff Dembicki (6 min. read) —

Ahead of the federal election, reps from Amazon and TC Energy discuss how a new Pierre Poilievre government could have slashed bureaucracy ‘more quickly’ than Trump.

Reform UK candidate Andrea Jenkyns, with short straight blond hair and a green suit, looks center

Reform UK Candidate Andrea Jenkyns Vows Climate Cuts in Flood Risk Lincolnshire

— By Adam Barnett (4 min. read) —

The would-be mayor has claimed that carbon dioxide “is not pollution.”

Alberta’s First Commercial Hydrogen Fuelling Station Removed Ahead of Edmonton Expo

— By Danielle Paradis (3 min) —

American owner Nikola has filed for bankruptcy less than a year after the fueller was installed. Canada’s Hydrogen Convention began last week.

Graphic collage of black and white oil and gas jackpump in background with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage in center looking up and Reform UK treasurer Nick candy on right look right.

Farage’s Top Fundraiser Targets Oil and Gas Donations

— By Sam Bright (3 min. read) —

Reform UK treasurer Nick Candy has been attempting to extract cash from fossil fuel executives.

The words 'climate denier spotlight' in wide appear against a transitional gray background with three smokestacks and two intersecting yellow spotlights highlight a bag of gold.

The Macdonald-Laurier Institute for Public Policy (MLI) is an Atlas Network partner based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. MLI describes itself as “Canada’s only truly national public policy think tank” and claims to be “rigorously independent and non-partisan.” SourceWatch describes the Atlas Network as “The Johnny Appleseed of anti-regulation groups […] on a mission to populate the world with new ‘free market’ voices.” MLI fellows and staff are critical of the environmental movement for opposing oil and gas development. In the mid-2010s, MLI’s Natural Resource Economy Project began an opposition campaign to Canadian adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This effort was funded at least in part by the Atlas Network. On the topic of climate change, a 2022 MLI publication titled “Reimagining Canada’s Role in Global Energy Security, reads, “We ignore an energy crisis in favour of the climate crisis at our peril.”

Read the full profile and browse other individuals and organizations in our Climate Disinformation Database, Ad & PR Database, and Koch Network Database.