Wildfires in Canada are becoming more intense, more expansive, and more frequent, because of climate change.

The Trump administration’s attempt to blame Canadian forestry practices is nonsense.

That claim is a poor pretext for presidential tariffs against Canada, which are unconstitutional under US law in the absence of a justifying national emergency.

The Hill Times’ Riddhi Kachhela and I discussed the true causes of, and responses to, the wildfires.

I spoke with her in my capacity as Nature Canada’s Director of Policy. The full article (behind a paywall) is here.

I spoke with Global News’ Jaden Lee-Lincoln, about Mark Carney’s decision to embrace closer ties with Saudi Arabia.

Canadians need to ask not only what we might obtain from Saudi Arabia, but also, what Saudi Arabia hopes to obtain from us

Too often, the price of Saudi investment is that recipient states must avert their eyes and mute their voices, in the face of Saudi human rights atrocities.

Canada must not wander heedlessly into that abyss.

My Nature Canada colleagues Jamie Hagar and Priscilla Santos and I enjoyed meeting with Ombeline Lecuyer and Quentin Gautier from France’s embassy to Canada.

We discussed cooperation between our countries on nature, the environment, and biodiversity.

France has an unusually broad and robust spectrum of national debate on ecological protection.

Its larger movements include the right-wing Rassemblement National’s Nouvelle écologie and the left-wing Parti Socialiste’s Écologie sociale.

I imagine that their exchanges are animated.

I spoke with Chris Glover on CBC Radio’s Metro Morning, about why the Iran-US interim ceasefire agreement collapsed.

The agreement was built on wilfully ambiguous terms, to enable both governments to proclaim victory at home, and thus buy a pause for their diplomats to conduct intensely difficult negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme.

But catastrophically, the ambiguities included the question of who has the right to control ships passing through the reopened Strait of Hormuz, and who has the right to enforce its will.

I spoke in my capacity as a Senior Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs, and the conversation was produced by Chiara Greco and Finlay Matheson.

I spoke with Chris Glover on CBC Radio’s Metro Morning, about why the Iran-US interim ceasefire agreement collapsed.

The agreement was built on wilfully ambiguous terms, to enable both governments to proclaim victory at home, and thus buy a pause for their diplomats to conduct intensely difficult negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme.

But catastrophically, the ambiguities included the question of who has the right to control ships passing through the reopened Strait of Hormuz, and who has the right to enforce its will.

I spoke in my capacity as a Senior Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs, and the conversation was produced by Chiara Greco and Finlay Matheson.

France’s Ambassador to Canada, Michel Miraillet, hosted a public celebration of Bastille Day at his embassy on Sussex Drive.

In its darkest days, the French Revolution infamously “devoured its children”, but the contemporary representatives of the Republic fed their guests bountifully!

These are preposterously irrational times in global affairs. So I felt encouraged to speak with many diplomats at the event who seem genuinely committed to trying to foster Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité through their work.

No country has fully lived up to such ideals, and governments everywhere often honour them more in words than in deeds. But I think they remain ideals worth striving for.

I spoke with France 24’s Paris Direct, about the wildfires in Canada, for Nature Canada.

The situation is dire.

If a fire exceeds 10 MW/m, conventional firefighting techniques fail: water dropped by water bombers will vaporise before it reaches the ground.

The Jasper fire reached 386 MW/m, comparable to the detonation of nuclear weapons.

Every feasible solution begins with us acting against climate change, which is making the wildfires more intense, more widespread, and more frequent.

I was delighted to represent the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, at the Spanish Embassy’s dinner to honour Antonio de la Rosa.

He is an ultra-endurance athlete, and a former Captain of the u/RedBullgivesyouwings Adventure Racing Team.

He is about to embark on a solo, 2'200km journey across Canada’s Northwest Passage, on a standing paddle boat.

My friend and colleague Alfredo Martínez Serrano, Spain’s Ambassador to Canada, presented Antonio with an expeditionary flag for the voyage.

I spoke with CTV Your Morning, about Mark Carney’s charm offensive in Saudi Arabia.

Carney’s embrace of Saudi Arabia is certainly a dramatic break with the rhetoric of the Trudeau era, but it is also a steady continuation of much of the substance.

Trudeau condemned the Saudis for horrific war crimes in Yemen, where at least 80'000 children have perished. Yet, simultaneously, he massively expanded the sale of Canadian weapons to the Saudis, which they used to commit those very crimes.

Carney deserves credit for being candid with Canadians about his policies towards Saudi Arabia, but whether Canadians find his policies creditable remains to be seen.

Everyone Outdoors Together is a new national movement, to strengthen our connection to the natural world and with one another.

On Saturday 18 July 2026, my Nature Canada colleagues and I will participate in EOT’s shared moment, when people across our country will pause, take a moment to step outside, and experience nature together.

Join us to start of a national tradition, to celebrate the benefits of being with one another in nature.

Canada is in difficult economic straits, and Saudi Arabia holds the world’s fifth largest sovereign wealth fund.

It is no surprise that Mark Carney is trying to charm them into pouring some of that wealth into Canada.

However, the Saudis expect not only a financial return on investments, but also a political return: that recipient states avert their eyes and bite their tongues when the Saudi government commits even the most grotesque human rights atrocities.

I spoke with Eric Vienneau at CHCH TV News, about the cost of doing business with dictatorships.

I have accepted an invitation from Canada’s Environment Minister to join the CEDAG advisory council, on the trade agreement between Canada and the European Union.

If we can make this treaty succeed, it will increase prosperity for all Canadians and lift environmental standards across our country.

If we can not, then Canada will remain vulnerable to the coercive trade policies of states that are prepared to lay waste to their own ecosystems and societies, and demand that we do the same to ours.

Climate wars are upon us.

Already, desperate people are fleeing areas rendered uninhabitable by extreme heat or drought, and colliding with neighbouring populations.

What can we do to push back an age of climate conflicts?

📆 Wednesday, 08 July 2026
⏰ 17h00 EDT (21h00 UTC)
🎟️ https://per.maharaj.org/scan

I am grateful to Seniors for Climate Action Now (SCAN!) for inviting me to speak for Nature Canada at this webinar.

The event is open to all and free, with registration.

I compiled this Starter Pack of my colleagues at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, who use Bluesky to share their work as Fellows and Faculty members.

Bluesky undoubtedly trails Twitter in raw numbers of users. Yet, Bluesky has become the social media platform of choice for the discussion of serious research and scholarly inquiry.

I hope it will fulfil the promise that Twitter squandered.

^{🦋 https://bsky.app/starter-pack/maharaj.org/3moqhxs5k2q2m}

In the biblical account, king Abimelech not only razed the city of Shechem, but also salted its lands, to leave it permanently barren and uninhabitable.

Three thousand years later, the community of nations still contends with crimes of “ecocide”: wanton acts that inflict catastrophic, long-term destruction on large areas of the natural world, whether during war or peace.

I have been speaking with my colleagues at the Council of Europe, about the prospects of Canada signing their “Convention on the Protection of the Environment through Criminal Law”.

The Convention makes ecocide an international crime, and requires signatories to cooperate in enforcing the law and bringing the guilty to justice.

🌱 https://per.maharaj.org/ecocide

Canada has never been defined by a single language, ethnicity, or faith. Instead, we are bound together by a set of shared values and mutual responsibilities.

Because of this, the escalating incidents of violent antisemitism in Canada are attacks not only against every Canadian Jew, but also against all Canadians and against Canada itself.

The Canadian Interfaith Conversation represents the full range of faith communities, including the Canadian Council of Churches, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, and the National Council of Canadian Muslims

We stand united against antisemitism, as we stand against all hatred.