Grandfather, happily retired, vegan,no car, stopped flying, likes to walk, bike, kayak ,concerned about the future
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Joined November 2013
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Rene Bissonnette retweeted
Canada, Russia and USA have accepted this challenge.
From 2015, and more urgent than ever:
newyorker.com/news/daily-com… #oilandgas
Rene Bissonnette retweeted
Fossil gas to become 50% more expensive in few years. This as solar and wind power cost continues to tumble down.
Rene Bissonnette retweeted
Tesla has officially started construction of its massive new $10 billion solar manufacturing facility near Houston, Texas!
Construction is expected to finish in 2028, with commercial operations starting in Q1 2029. Total direct and indirect economic impact of the project is estimated to generate ~$6.4B in state and local taxes, and increase State of Texas GDP by ~$107 billion.
The factory will be a vertically integrated solar manufacturing facility, and it'll include:
• Wafer Manufacturing
• Ingot Manufacturing
• Coating
• Metallization and Printing Lines
• Cell Testing and QC
• Automation and Material Handling
• Cleanroom and Production Support
• Site Infrastructure
• Chemical Storage and Delivery
• Utility Infrastructure
• Environmental and Safety Systems
Tesla has started the Earthworks for Project Crystal Sun!
This is/was Tesla's proposed area for Project Crystal Sun, a $10.1 billion solar-cell and panel factory. It appears Tesla has decided to build here!
The roughly 3,000-acre project would manufacture everything from silicon ingots to finished solar panels and create approximately 9,712 permanent jobs. Production is targeted for early 2029.
I decided to swing by yesterday and found massive clearings, equipment staging areas, the old homestead is being used, and they are already leveling a large area.
Enjoy the flyover and please, please subscribe
Rene Bissonnette retweeted
On this day in 1861, the first documented Canadian football game was played.
The game was played at the University of Toronto between students. It used early, locally adapted rules and occurred eight years before to the first recorded American football game.
ALT Large 19th-century stone institutional building with multiple towers, turrets, and steep roofs seen through bare deciduous trees, set behind a grassy lawn with a curved path and scattered stones in the foreground.
Rene Bissonnette retweeted
China's carbon dioxide emissions fell by 3.1 percent last quarter, the steepest drop since the Covid pandemic.
e360.yale.edu/digest/china-e…
Rene Bissonnette retweeted
My thoughts...
Canada wants to end homelessness within 10 years. For context, here's what Finland accomplished and how much work Canada has ahead of us to achieve this goal.
Finland introduced Housing First in 2008 and reduced homelessness by approximately 57% over 15 years. That's an incredible accomplishment, but it also shows how much time and commitment this takes.
Canada is facing a severe housing shortage, rising rents, increasing homelessness, and a lack of adequate mental health and addiction supports.
We need affordable housing, supportive housing with proper services attached, and investments in preventing people from becoming homeless in the first place.
And we need all three levels of government working together, regardless of political affiliation.
Here's something I think people need to understand.
It's not just about how many people we get into housing. It's about making sure we're housing people faster than others are becoming homeless. I'm hopeful, and I want to see this succeed.
However ending homelessness requires more than a 10-year promise, it requires a 10-year commitment backed by action, funding and accountability.
Homelessness isn't inevitable, it's a problem we can solve if we have the political will to do it!
Rene Bissonnette retweeted
Manitoba's Mincome experiment proved basic income works.
High school graduation rates increased, kids stayed in school, hospitalizations dropped 8.5%, and work participation didn't change except for new parents.
Manitoba can lead the way again if they choose.
Rene Bissonnette retweeted
🚨 NEW: Oxford Street has seen a 28% spending increase since it was pedestrianised two weeks ago
Rene Bissonnette retweeted
Billions for nuclear, but no comparable dedicated funding for wind and solar?
Canada's National Observer cites OCAA research projecting 2030 electricity costs:
⚛️ Nuclear: $226/MWh
☀️ Wind & solar: $43/MWh
Why pay more and wait longer?
shrlnk.ca/s/Kj55MTGW
Rene Bissonnette retweeted
Massive cuts at Parks Canada.
Meanwhile, surviving staff will have to deal with big demand since Carney renewed the pass to make these Parks free!!
Such a classic CEO-style move to think workers will just ~figure it out~ as you actively make their job WAY harder to save a buck
Rene Bissonnette retweeted
Is South Sudan really poor as reported? Absolutely NOT.
South Sudan is one of the blessed countries in East and Africa with fertile soils and climate.
But where did all go wrong for South Sudan?
Well, it all started with oil production followed by greed for power.
Everything else is history.
Rene Bissonnette retweeted
Policy analysts and environmental groups warned the [budget] plan leaves critical gaps in climate accountability and does not offset Ottawa’s recent spending on major oil-and-gas infrastructure projects.
nationalobserver.com/2026/11…
Rene Bissonnette retweeted
Yesterday, in releasing its new annual budget, the federal government revealed its decision to spend millions of dollars in the coming years to regulate and oversee fossil fuel development in the North – an industry that is currently banned.
nationalobserver.com/2026/11…
Rene Bissonnette retweeted
Good morning with good news: "Australia is headed for its biggest year of rooftop solar growth ever!"
Rooftop solar installs surged 41% for January–October 2026, compared to same period in 2025!
~37% of Australia's homes or 4.3 million have solar.
reneweconomy.com.au/australi…
Rene Bissonnette retweeted
A network of protected bike lanes has helped to TRIPLE the number of bike trips in Paris. 11% of trips are by bike!
📹 @copenhagenizers
Rene Bissonnette retweeted
Oil companies get the biggest share of 🇨🇦 Canada’s new tax break.
Carney’s budget on 5 November created a “Productivity Mega Deduction”, which lets companies write capital spending off against their taxes.
🔹 29% of the benefit goes to oil extraction and refining, more than any other sector
🔹 It’s the costliest measure in the budget, per BMO
🔹 For some producers it will reduce taxes for years, Bloomberg reports
Ottawa is paying for it with the oil windfall.
Signal49 puts the extra federal revenue at about C$158bn over the budget’s horizon, mostly from higher commodity prices.
So Canadian producers are getting:
🔸High oil prices
🔸Lower taxes on what they spend to grow
That still leaves the discount. Canadian heavy oil sells $25 under WTI.
The producers that keep more of every barrel now have a tax break on top.
That’s the setup I wrote about here: themerchantsnews.substack.co…
2 weeks ago I asked who collects 🇨🇦 Canada’s $28 oil discount.
The results answered.
The vote cut the stocks and the market handed me the entry I waited for.
Since 23 October:
Canadian heavy sold $30.20 under WTI on 28 October, the widest since 2018. $25.59 after the vote.
The barrel in Canadian dollars went from about C$102 to C$91.
The producers fell 2% to 22%.
The ones with no refinery fell most.
What the results proved?
🔹 Suncor: “We’re pretty indifferent to the WCS diff.” Refineries at 95%, profit C$4.63bn
🔹 Cenovus Energy: 1 million barrels a day for the 1st time, refining profit 5x.
🔹 Imperial Oil: record profit, all from the plant. Oil output down 10%.
The refiners have had their year.
1.5 million barrels a day of maintenance was deferred in 2026 and comes due in 2027.
The barrel has not fully.
The US reserve is at its lowest since 1982 and owes 165 million barrels back from 1 November.
Every forecaster has the Canadian discount back at $14 to $15 next year, because the part of it that is freight goes when the freight goes.
So The Market Just Gave Me The Canadian Oil Entry I Waited For.
My latest article cover :the name, why its stock fell when nothing in its business changed, measures its free cash flow against every level of the discount and what I do and what has to be true for me to be right.
Do not miss it.
Link 👇
themerchantsnews.substack.co…
Rene Bissonnette retweeted
Texas delivered a historic blue wave. Its grid was already following the money: solar ~16% + wind ~24% now match gas at ~40%. Nuclear is flat. Coal is falling. The winners are clear at the ballot box & on the grid. Solar, wind, batteries. Cost always wins. #SWB #Bettrification
Rene Bissonnette retweeted
“The widely publicised idea that we are still on track for 2.6-2.8C by the end of the century now seems wildly optimistic, if not downright impossible"
My thoughts in today's @guardian
Great piece by @damiengayle
theguardian.com/environment/…
Rene Bissonnette retweeted
Wonderful transformation. Eventually, visitors will assume this waterfront was always pleasant to walk around.
Rene Bissonnette retweeted
Coal and gas demand may dry up before 2040.
Coal and gas export demand could dry up before 2040. Australia needs a plan for what comes next #energysky -- via Renew Economy: reneweconomy.com.au/coal-and…
