Jimmy Thomson
jameswsthomson.com
Jimmy Thomson
@jameswsthomson.com
Environment and climate journalist | Editor in Chief at @nationalobserver.com | Work in The Globe and Mail, The Narwhal, The Guardian | www.jameswsthomson.com
Reposted by Jimmy Thomson
When my cartoons become reality. #chicago
November 10, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Reposted by Jimmy Thomson
Talked about the prospect of another pipeline and Carney's recent comments on my Monday political panel.

As I said, the biggest impediment isn't regulations or even Indigenous opposition but the lack of a viable business case.

www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/23/o...
Danielle Smith’s pipeline still doesn’t have a business case
The biggest obstacle standing in the way of another pipeline to the West Coast isn't the tanker ban or federal climate policies. It's oil prices and the nature of the businesses that rely on them for ...
www.nationalobserver.com
November 10, 2025 at 5:00 PM
love that Supercop #3 expects us to believe he had reason to believe a sitting MLA was engaged in flagrant corruption, conducted an illegal search — and then got distracted so never completed his investigation. Adorable.
November 10, 2025 at 5:08 PM
The tragedy of Elon is he wants so badly to be a Bond villain but will always be a Batman villain. From the comic books.
November 8, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Reposted by Jimmy Thomson
I made a “how do you do, fellow kids?” joke to someone in their mid 20s who, it turns out, was too young to have heard of that meme.

So “how do you do, fellow kids?” is now an example of “how do you do, fellow kids?”
November 7, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Reposted by Jimmy Thomson
Great first-hand account of the ostrich cull and its implications for public trust in Canadian institutions. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/11/07/a...
The ostriches are dead. What about public trust?
The government-ordered ostrich cull has revealed how social media can help a family transform their tragedy into spectacle. And their story has offered a window into the ways trust breaks down between...
www.nationalobserver.com
November 8, 2025 at 2:44 AM
Reposted by Jimmy Thomson
Hi Bluesky 👋

Small life update: I’m at the centre of a multimillion dollar lawsuit in Alberta launched by a failed candidate for Jason Kenney’s UCP

It may be the longest and most expensive media trial in Canadian history

I’m ready to go public about it and I want to share more details with you 🧵
November 7, 2025 at 2:44 PM
BC's anti-SLAPP legislation was critical to keeping a meritless lawsuit @torimarlan.bsky.social and I faced to the "affordable" sum of ~$50k in legal fees. Journalists like Luke not protected by these laws have much higher exposure — even when, like us, they did nothing wrong.
In other provinces, journalists can use anti-SLAPP legislation to challenge lawsuits when they believe they are groundless or undermine the public interest

Alberta has no such laws, leaving journalists vulnerable to long and expensive legal battles

I believe that is fundamentally bad for democracy
November 7, 2025 at 4:04 PM
*with unlimited oil wealth and no human rights laws
Everything is possible. Hard to argue, Doha.
November 6, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Can't wait to see Sarah Nurse lead @pwhl--vancouver.bsky.social's signature flying V formation for the first time
November 6, 2025 at 5:57 PM
The City of Victoria might slash grants and programs across the board to make up for one single line item that's roughly equivalent to everything being cut. Can anyone guess what that single budget item is, which apparently isn't even up for debate? One guess.
November 6, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Reposted by Jimmy Thomson
And this, friends, is why you read Paul Wells' Substack. paulwells.substack.com/p/the-2025-b...
November 5, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Reposted by Jimmy Thomson
"Ostriches, especially males during mating season, are extremely dangerous. … Consider sedating birds prior to euthanasia for large, uncontrollable, or dangerous birds such as ostriches or emus," states a government manual released under Freedom of Information legislation.
Documents detail how to cull ostriches as court decision looms
For weeks, a team of Canadian Food Inspection Agency employees caring for a herd of ostriches in BC have faced considerable threats: Doxxing. Harassment. Violence. Contracting a dangerous strain of av...
www.nationalobserver.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:00 AM
Another clue: the vancouverspirit.com web domain was registered exactly two weeks before the PWHL team was announced.
November 4, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Little things become symbols. And symbols are what stick with people.

This budget is full of very very dumb symbols.
Out of budget lockup. I recently wrote: "Ottawa imposes a 10 percent luxury tax on yachts... yet a family buying a semi in Scarborough pays the equivalent of 15 percent in [DCs] and land transfer taxes."

Today the gov't addressed this by eliminating the luxury tax on yachts.
November 4, 2025 at 10:50 PM
I guess you can't really support Pathways without also making greenwashing legal at the same time
November 4, 2025 at 9:16 PM
uh oh. Once you've lost Barstool Sports, you've lost, uh... you've lost... um, well, you've lost Barstool Sports, I guess?
November 4, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Reposted by Jimmy Thomson
From my time in Paris, I know that in France people would have burned a lot of stuff by now.
April 3, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Reposted by Jimmy Thomson
Also, I found @nationalobserver.com's Civic Searchlight tour quite helpful for this story. Beyond everything else, it's a quick and easy way to get to the right spot in a council video.
civicsearchlight.nationalobserver.com
November 4, 2025 at 4:13 PM
what the actual fuck. Publication that beat the odds to deliver some of the best politics reporting in the US
I was laid off from Teen Vogue today along with multiple other staffers, and today is my last day.

certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
November 4, 2025 at 12:54 AM
the Venn diagram overlap of Nigeria and Venezuela is extremely narrow and consists of one specific resource that happens to have captured the entire Trump administration
November 4, 2025 at 12:51 AM
Reposted by Jimmy Thomson
Toronto! @cloelogan.bsky.social is the new reporter in town. Drop her a line with your story tips and burning questions you need answered about the city's changing climate, building plans and political challenges.
I’m still with @nationalobserver.com, but as of today, I’m reporting from Toronto! Excited to cover climate, energy and the environment from a new perspective — please reach out with story ideas or just to say hi ☺️
November 3, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Grantees are being notified this week about their $10,000 Messengers of Biodiversity grants. I was part of the jury, and at the end of the process we all just kind of sat there in appreciation — you don't often get to send out $160k for science and nature journalism. Love to see it.
November 3, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Congratulations to the dodgers
November 2, 2025 at 3:52 PM
not like that
Release us from this prison
November 2, 2025 at 4:18 AM