Catherine McKenna was sworn in as Canada's minister of environment and climate change.

"Tar sands mining companies have continued to withdraw water from the Athabasca River in northeastern Alberta despite low flows that have made navigation difficult for river users downstream and left Fort Chipewyan's harbor dry."

"Big changes are occurring in one of the fastest-warming spots on Earth".

"The Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board has authorized a Shell Canada Ltd. drilling plan in the Shelburne Basin that allows the company between 12 and 13 days to contain subsea blowouts, but one environmental group is concerned the capping stack won't be housed here."

"Justin Trudeau will be Canada's next prime minister after leading the Liberal Party to a stunning majority government win, dashing the hopes of Stephen Harper, who had been seeking his fourth consecutive mandate, but will now step down as party leader."

"It’s 11.30am in the pumping heart of Canada’s tar sands industry, on a day when local crude is trading at a rock-bottom $29 a barrel. For the down-and-out men and women heading down to the free lunch in the basement of a Fort McMurray church, it’s hard to see a way back up."

"FORT McMURRAY, Alberta — At a camp for oil workers here, a collection of 16 three-story buildings that once housed 2,000 workers sits empty. A parking lot at a neighboring camp is now dotted with abandoned cars. With oil prices falling precipitously, capital-intensive projects rooted in the heavy crude mined from Alberta’s oil sands are losing money, contributing to the loss of about 35,000 energy industry jobs across the province."

"A federal judge heard conflicting arguments Thursday on whether he should block a capacity expansion on the Alberta Clipper oil pipeline or allow a temporary workaround that lets Enbridge Energy move hundreds of thousands of barrels per day of Canadian tar sands crude across the border without triggering the kind of environmental review that has held up the proposed Keystone XL pipeline."

"Alberta Environment Minister Shannon Phillips says a globally credible climate policy is important to the province's future, and now is the time to take action."