Oily and Gaseous Politics of Canadian Energy (and some "kayfabe"): Dogwood News

 

Your place for  news and action May 22, 2026 In the world of professional wrestling, ‘“kayfabe” is the unspoken pact between performers to maintain the illusion of conflict, even as they cooperate toward a scripted outcome. There’s more than a little kayfabe in Canadian politics these days. In Alberta, Danielle Smith has embraced her role as the heel, threatening to break up the country unless she gets a pipeline. In B.C., David Eby plays the babyface, scolding Smith for her “bad behaviour,” begging the ref not to reward “separatist premiers” at the expense of “our pristine north coast”. For now, Mark Carney is wearing the referee’s uniform. But they all work for the same promotion. And they are all cooperating toward the same goal: increasing oil and gas exports. The problem is that global investment has shifted decisively to renewable energy. No private sector proponent wants to shoulder all the risk of either an LNG or oil tanker megaterminal. Since every Canadian province, and the feds, are in a budget deficit, the politicians are trying to divvy up a limited pool of public money to make these projects happen. Eby is desperate for LNG Canada Phase 2, or Ksi Lisims LNG, to reach a final investment decision this year. Either project likely needs billions in federal loans to reach a green light. Smith is equally desperate to show progress on an oil pipeline to the B.C. coast. Despite having no route and no proponent, she’s promised Albertans that construction will start next year. After meeting with Eby in Vancouver this week, Carney agreed to negotiate with the B.C. government, to figure out their price for dropping opposition to Smith’s oil tanker project. But outside the wrestling ring of Canadian politics, there’s a real world these actors don’t control. There are Indigenous governments older than Canada, and laws that must be followed. There’s growing anger from Canadians at the idea of giving our tax dollars to American billionaires and foreign oil companies, instead of funding projects that make our lives better. And there’s a change in how the world generates and stores energy, which grows more real every month. That’s why Eby, Smith and Carney are all racing to lock in funding for fossil fuels. It’s our money. If we can stop our politicians from giving it away to the vultures of global capital – even just for a few more months – the curtain may close on new oil and LNG projects.

NEWS Stories we’re following

Constitutional challenge Lawyers from Ecojustice, retained by My Sea to Sky, warn federal agencies that any new taxpayer subsidies for climate-wrecking projects could trigger a Charter challenge. - APTN

Calling in the big guns The Canada Infrastructure Bank hires a Texas-based LNG lobbyist to advise the Crown corp, as it considers a controversial loan for the American-owned Ksi Lisims LNG project. - Globe and Mail

Asleep at the wheel A former U.S. environmental regulator visits LNG Canada in Kitimat. He says B.C. is giving a ‘free pass’ to harmful air pollution, even worse than in his home state of Texas. - The Energy Mix

Which horse to bet on? [VIDEO] After the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing, we ask: which superpower is more likely to bring its energy vision to reality? The oil-soaked military empire, or the electric factory state? - Dogwood

Canada's risky wager The energy transition was well underway before the U.S. started bombing Iran, writes this risk analyst. Now it’s accelerating, and Canada is picking the wrong side. - National Observer

Carney's climate crossroads The former UN special envoy for climate action is now marshalling the power of the Canadian state to try to keep a dying fossil fuel business model alive, writes Seth Klein. - The Guardian

Vancouver's gas fight Thursday night, Vancouver city council sided with fossil fuel lobbyists and voted to roll back clean building regulations. It’s a win for Mayor Ken Sim, but for how long...? - Business In Vancouver

More gas-powered electricity? A deep dive into last week’s federal electricity announcement, which anticipates AI data centres and other power-hungry industries lobbying to burn more gas. - The Energy Mix

"We can't drink data" As controversy grows around data centres in Nanaimo, Kamloops, Terrace, Vancouver and beyond, the BC Greens leader says it’s time for a moratorium. - Nanaimo News Now

Property risk overblown At a public meeting in Saanich, heavy hitters from the Greens, NDP and Indigenous law all agree: risks to private property are overblown, and are being played for political points. - Lotusland

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Canuck Nepo Baby Billionaires: Canadians for Tax Fairness

Hey Chris, Canada’s most infamous nepo baby, Galen Weston Jr., is in the news again as Loblaw finally begins paying millions of Canadians restitution for over fourteen years of fixing the price of bread. Experts estimate that this coordinated theft cost typical Canadian families over $400. And yet, Loblaw is paying out between $24 and $49 to affected families — and doing it over a decade after the fact. So as a team, we've got nepo babies on the brain. Take Weston, who inherited an entire empire and has amassed over $20 billion in personal wealth. Or the Thomson family, who have hoarded a horrifying $93 billion. Chris, not only are Canadian billionaires accumulating obscene fortunes while millions of us are stretched and struggling, but Canada is the only G7 country without an inheritance tax.

That’s why C4TF has our sights set on an NBT – a Nepo Baby Tax – as we work on developing a new report on inheritance taxes (or lack thereof) in Canada. There are multiple ways to tax the ultra-wealthy: shutting down tax havens, closing the capital gains loophole, and, of course, a good old-fashioned wealth tax. We want to add a nepo baby tax to that list, but we need to crunch the numbers first.  That’s where you come in. We aren’t running on daddy’s crookedly-acquired inheritance. Instead, we rely on the might of the many to fund our research, strategy, and advocacy. When we come together, we can ensure that Canada's wealth makes life better for everyone, instead of being sucked up by a few greedy families. If you’re able, please donate now to fund our work!

Fund our nepo baby research!

In solidarity, The C4TF team

Pour recevoir nos courriels en français, veuillez écrire à: communications@taxfairness.ca View in browser | Voir dans le navigateur

Canadians for Tax Fairness communications@taxfairness.ca Unsubscribe

 

Cuba Girds for US Invasion: Drop Site News/ Jose Luis Granados Ceja, Ryan Grim, Murtaza Hussain

 

Cuba Girds for Invasion as Trump Launches Raúl Castro Indictment Amid Punishing Blockade Plus: The Trump administration tried to push boxes of Starlinks onto Cuba as part of its $100 million humanitarian aid offer. JOSÉ LUIS GRANADOS CEJA, RYAN GRIM, AND MURTAZA HUSSAIN MAY 20   READ IN APP   Drop Site’s journalism is free to read because thousands of readers choose to fund it. If our work matters to you, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. SUPPORT DROP SITE - DONATE TODAY Cuba’s former President Raul Castro holds a Cuban national flag as he attends a May Day rally marking International Workers’ Day in Havana on May 1, 2026. Photo by YAMIL LAGE / AFP via Getty Images. Over the weekend, the U.S. leaked “intelligence” to the news organization Axios claiming that Cuba had obtained some 300 Iranian drones and was making plans to attack the United States. Further down in the Axios article, the reporting clarified that the plans only existed in case of a United States attack. But the article served its purpose, and was shared by Cuban-American politicians in South Florida as a rationale to launch a war. On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Justice is expected to indict the 94-year-old Raúl Castro, prompting fears of a Venezuela-like scenario via leadership decapitation. The U.S. is reportedly charging the former president in connection with the downing of two planes carrying “Brothers to the Rescue” anti-government activists in exile, killing four, back in 1996. The incident was the culmination of months of provocations, with regular incursions into Cuban airspace by Brothers to the Rescue planes. There are many signs the situation Trump has imposed on Cuba are coming to a head. Earlier this month, the U.S. imposed yet another set of sanctions on the country that UN experts warned risk triggering the “energy starvation” of the island nation. Protests have flared in recent days, as frustration with the collapsing economic condition has been aimed at the government—the precise goal the U.S. has been pursuing with its policy of immiseration. And reports indicate that the number of U.S. military surveillance flights taking place near the island have skyrocketed in recent weeks, raising fears of an impending operation. Drop Site is free to read. Make sure you don’t miss a post: Upgrade to paid The Cuban government has survived decades of enmity from the United States, both overt and covert. The Brothers to the Rescue planes, in fact, were contracted by José Basulto, a self-confessed CIA operative who admitted to engaging in terrorist activities aimed at overthrowing the Cuban government. Cuba had regularly approached the U.S. via diplomatic channels to stop the flights but the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) took corrective action only after the downing of the two planes. According to declassified documents published by the National Security Archive, the White House was aware of the danger represented by these provocations, warning of a “worst case scenario” that eventually came to fruition. Trump’s recent threats to “take” Cuba, however, coupled with the recent loss of energy supplies from Venezuela and the Castro indictment, may mark the most serious threat to the country’s independence since its 1959 revolution. In an interview with Drop Site News in April, Gerardo Hernández Nordelo—who was himself imprisoned for 16 years in the U.S. for involvement in espionage work aimed at infiltrating radical Cuban exile groups, including those behind the “Brothers to the Rescue” operations—questioned the role played by hardline factions in Miami in developing U.S. policy towards Cuba, especially Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Hernández argued that they portrayed a biased and inaccurate picture of Cuban society and that their interests ultimately run contrary to those of the broader U.S. population. “If the United States listens to that small group of advisors who spread misinformation about what is really happening in Cuba, they are destined to fail,” he said. “It would be a massacre that would not be good for any of the people.” A conventional war with the U.S. military would inevitably be lopsided: Years of blockade and the loss of the Soviet Union as a defense partner at the end of the Cold War have severely degraded the official Cuban military. A recent analysis by the U.S. military publication SOFREP assessed that Cuba today maintains less than two dozen serviceable military aircraft—mostly holdovers from the Soviet-era—along with similarly small and outdated naval and anti-aircraft capabilities. Groups such as the Center for Strategic and International Studies maintain that both Russia and China still maintain signals intelligence installations on Cuban soil that Washington has denounced for being used for spying on the U.S., but concrete military assistance to Havana from either country is believed to be limited. Cuba does not publicize the size of its armed forces. But its standing army has been greatly reduced over the last decade as the country has endured forced austerity under sanctions. The Cuban military is estimated to have tens of thousands of active duty soldiers and reservists, but their state of readiness and access to equipment has been impacted by years of economic breakdown in the country that would impede their ability to directly face off against an invasion. Cuba’s elite special forces units, known as the Avispas Negras, or “Black Wasps,” enjoy better training and weaponry and could pose a threat to an invading force. But their numbers are limited—nearly three dozen of the specially trained commandos were also killed in Venezuela during the U.S. operation to capture Nicolás Maduro. Asymmetric Warfare This asymmetry of power does not mean that Cuba is defenseless, however. Faced with the reality of a hostile, wealthy, and powerful adversary just 90 miles from its coastline, the Cuban government has embraced a doctrine of asymmetrical warfare—drawing on its own population as a form of strategic depth to resist an invasion. “Foreign aggression, no matter where it comes from, would only unite the people of Cuba,” Gerardo Hernández Nordelo told Drop Site News. Hernández, who is now national coordinator of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution. “Even those who do not yet agree with this government, those who complain about the scarcities, those who criticize, would unite to defend the sovereignty of their country.” The Cuban defense strategy is based on a doctrine known as “People’s War,” with specific wartime roles assigned to every able-bodied adult citizen, and training provided to help wage a non-conventional popular war aimed at wearing out an adversary. The country has organized eleven “National Defense Day” exercises aimed at promoting this doctrine and preparing to mobilize Cuban society as a whole for a potential military conflict. Concern over a potential U.S. operation has grown so large that Cuba’s Civil Defense recently published the “Family guide for protection against military aggression” that includes first-aid tips to advice on how to avoid suspicious artifacts. Despite sharp divisions in Cuban society, the government is still believed to enjoy the deep loyalty of the armed forces, while running a far more consolidated ruling system than existed in Venezuela. These factors could complicate any U.S. military operation—ranging from an attempted decapitation of the system to an outright invasion of the island—while risking triggering an insurgency by powerful elements of society that remain loyal to the Cuban state. “I don’t think there’s any doubt that the Trump administration is at least reviewing military action in Cuba as an option,” said Daniel DePetris, a fellow at the Defense Priorities think tank, told Drop Site. “As the war in Iran has shown, boasting a military advantage doesn’t necessarily translate into strategic victory.” Many pro-government Cubans have also expressed willingness to resist a military occupation of the country—potentially complicating plans by Trump to enact a regime change by force in Havana. “Cuba poses no threat to either the government or the people of the United States [but] if there is one word that has been erased from the Cuban vocabulary, it is precisely the word ‘surrender,’ there will be no surrender here; no one is going to come here and plant an American boot on our soil and tell us what to do in our own country,” Lizara Corona, a member of one of Cuba’s volunteer civilian militias from the Diez de Octubre neighborhood, told Drop Site News in an interview in Havana in April. Corona had just finished celebrating—alongside thousands of other militia members in Havana—the anniversary of the proclamation of the socialist character of the Cuban Revolution. The celebration took place at the very same site in the Vedado neighborhood of the city where Fidel Castro had made the proclamation 65 years earlier during a funeral service for victims of U.S. bombings of Cuban airfields—events that preceded the failed 1961 CIA-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion of the country. Speaking at the event, dressed in dark green fatigues, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel drew parallels between the Cuban Revolution’s resistance to U.S. imperialism in 1961 and the island’s current standoff with Washington—while issuing a defiant message indicating that the government is at least preparing for the possibility of an armed confrontation. “The moment is extremely challenging and calls upon us once again, as on that April 16, 1961, to be ready to face serious threats, including military aggression,” Díaz-Canel told the crowd. The Committees for the Defense of the Revolution are an institution that could theoretically play a key part in any organized resistance to a U.S. military operation, or in the aftermath of an attempted regime change or state collapse. The committees play a pivotal role in the political life of Cubans at the local level and are one of the key instruments created in the aftermath of the revolution to ensure its continuity in the face of both internal and external threats, while serving as a focal point for local organizing and mobilization. During a visit to the Fanguito neighborhood in Havana organized by a local committee, Cubans who spoke with Drop Site News acknowledged the very serious challenges the country is facing but also complained intensely about the economic impact of the U.S. blockade on the country. “They have us by the neck trying to strangle us, and on top of that they criticize us for not being able to breathe,” said Hernández. Boxes of Starlinks The six-decade-long blockade, escalated by Trump, has led to major impacts on daily life in a country once revered in much of the world for its public services. Havana is almost completely dark at night, with its aging electrical grid reliant on fossil fuels and the little gas there is reserved for essential services like hospitals. The Cuban government has reported that the medical system has been forced to postpone surgeries for over 100,000 patients, including 12,000 children. A recent study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research found that Cuba’s infant mortality rate—viewed as a barometer of the population’s overall health—had risen from 4 per 1,000 live births in 2018 to 9.9 in 2025—a 148% increase. The authors’ concluded that U.S. sanctions are “very likely the primary cause of the current economic and humanitarian crisis in Cuba.” The United States in recent days has repeatedly made a public offer of $100 million of humanitarian assistance to the people of Cuba, as the island has fully exhausted its fuel reserves amid an oil blockade implemented by the same country offering the assistance. “The decision rests with the Cuban regime to accept our offer of assistance or deny critical living-saving aid and ultimately be accountable to the Cuban people for standing in the way of critical assistance,” a statement from the State Department read on Thursday, reiterating a message offered publicly by Rubio. Two sources with knowledge of the American offer, however, say that it amounts largely to—and is contingent upon—the shipment of millions of Starlink devices to the island. The statement on Thursday alluded to the offer, indicating that the U.S. aid included “support for free and fast satellite internet and $100 million in direct humanitarian assistance.” The Spanish-language news agency EFE reported that U.S. officials initially pressed Cuba to begin accepting Starlink units in April; the new $100 million offer is a way to push the issue forward. While U.S. officials maintain that the offer of Starlink equipment is aimed at breaking the state’s monopoly on internet service and expanding access, the same equipment formed part of the destabilization strategy ahead of the attack on Iran, with the U.S. smuggling thousands of units into the country according to the Wall Street Journal. Asked for comment regarding the Starlink offer, a State Department official did not discuss internet access but instead said aid was dependent on distribution through the Catholic Church: “We are encouraged to see that the regime appears willing to accept the latest of our offers of assistance, but the question is whether they will let it be distributed by the Church and respected independent organizations to people in need, or require aid to be channeled through corrupt state instrumentalities and seek to steal it, like they have everything else in Cuba for seven decades.” Cuban officials have said that they have a cooperative relationship with the Catholic Church in Cuba and do not object to such an arrangement, which puts the onus on the offer back on the United States. “If there is truly a willingness on the part of the United States government to provide aid in the amounts it announces and in full conformity with the universally recognized practices for humanitarian assistance, it will encounter no obstacles or ingratitude from Cuba, however inconsistent and paradoxical the offer may seem to a people that the United States government itself punishes collectively in a systematic and ruthless manner,” Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said on Twitter. “The priorities are more than evident: fuels, food, and medicines,” he said. “Our experience of working with the Catholic Church is rich and productive.” In an interview with NBC News last week, Rubio claimed the offer included “food and medicine” but that Cuba wouldn’t take it, though Cuba has consistently said they are willing to accept a serious offer of aid. “The Cuban people should know there’s $100 million of food and medicine available for them right now, and the only reason it’s not reaching the Cuban people is because of the regime,” he said. The Cuban government has worked together with the Catholic Church via the aid group Caritas to receive U.S. humanitarian assistance, with a shipment valued at $3 million in January and a second shipment valued at $7 million announced in February. This assistance, intended for those affected by Hurricane Melissa that struck Cuba in late October 2025, has not been completely delivered. Cuban Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos Fernández de Cossío said only 2.5 million worth of goods have actually been delivered. In the same interview with NBC, Rubio said the aid was “held up.” Drop Site asked Caritas about progress on the distribution of the aid sent earlier this year and whether they had been approached by the U.S. with details of the $100 million package, but Caritas did not respond. If the U.S. did deliver food and medicine, the Church would have enormous difficulty distributing it—not just due to a lack of organizational infrastructure, but the lack of gas makes shipping it around the island impossible. “In the same manner that Cuba provides free healthcare for its people, but cannot conduct surgeries due to lack of electricity, we should expect that delivering aid to millions of people without fuel becomes extremely difficult,” said Reverend Claudia de la Cruz, executive director of The Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO) / Pastors for Peace. De la Cruz says her organization speaks from first-hand experience; IFCO / Pastors for Peace has over three decades of experience working in Cuba, having sent a contingent to Cuba twice in the last five months to deliver humanitarian aid. The New York-based reverend and community leader took exception to the notion that an aid package of that size would ever be done without the support of the local government and called on the Catholic Church to “denounce” the U.S. blockade, which she called “the root cause of misery in Cuba.” “The reality is that if the U.S. is sincere about helping the Cuban people, then collaboration with the government of the Cuban people is the only path forward,” de la Cruz told Drop Site News. “The refusal of the U.S. to do so is part of the larger plan of having the ‘offer of humanitarian aid’ be a failure or not materialize at all, to then justify further aggression.” Leave a comment Share Become a Drop Site News Paid Subscriber  Drop Site News is reader-supported. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber today. Upgrade to paid A paid subscription gets you: ✔️ 15% off Drop Site store ✔️ Access to our Discord, subscriber-only AMAs, chats, and invites to events, both virtual and IRL ✔️ Post comments and join the community ✔️ The knowledge you are supporting independent media making the lives of the powerful miserable  You can also now find us on podcast platforms and on Facebook, Twitter, Bluesky, Telegram, and YouTube.   LIKE COMMENT RESTACK   © 2026 Drop Site News, Inc. Drop Site News Inc., 1930 18th St NW Ste B2 #1034, Washington, DC 20009  Unsubscribe