In Perfect Harmony

By Chris Aikman on 9 January 2012 - 6:06am

This week sees the opening (January 10) of environmental hearings for the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project, a plan to move 525,000 barrels of condensate bitumen a day from Alberta to Kitimat, for export to Asian markets. So with $7 billion and the future of the planet on the table, one might have expected the whole buzz around oil sands issues to increase sometime around now. Indeed it has done so.

2012 opened with the news that PetroChina has become the first Chinese national oil company to take full ownership of an oilsands project, by buying out its Canadian partner. PetroChina is a publicly traded company under the aegis of state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation headquartered in Beijing. (Note: Canadian companies would not be permitted to reciprocate a similar deal in China; they would have to partner with a Chinese company.)

On January 2, something totally different occurred. Attack ads began airing on a dozen BC radio stations accusing Canadian environmental organizations of being controlled by foreign money. The lobby group EthicalOil.org launched these ads, which are appearing in print as well; you can view their statements at the ethicaloil.org website. "Whether or not Canada decides to build this pipeline is a Canadian decision, based on Canadian interests, not the political interests of foreigners or their Canadian puppets," asserts EthicalOil.org's Kathryn Marshall. "Foreigner billionaires and their local lobbyists should butt out." In her view, foreign billionaires are not PetroChina nor any oil company, but those who believe the planet's citizens should consume less petroleum.

Then on January 4, a Calgary Herald editorial raged against “American-backed environmental organizations” claiming that “poking their noses into Canadian regulatory affairs is nothing new for the U.S. environmental lobby, which pumps hundreds of millions into their Canadian branch plants.”

Vancouver-based West Coast Environmental Law is one of the environmental groups specifically targeted by the attack ads. WCEL responded by disclosing that, of the $1.17 million they raised in fiscal year 2010-2011, some $133,000 came from U.S. philanthropic foundations, while more than $200,000 came from individual B.C donors. These amounts are insignificant in comparison to what Sinopec, another state-controlled Chinese company, is now spending to promote its Gateway interests.

Then on January 7, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he is worried foreign cash is being used to stall the hearing process for the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline. "We have to have processes in Canada that come to our decision in a reasonable amount of time and processes that cannot be hijacked," Harper said. "In particular, growing concern has been expressed to me about the use of foreign money to really overload the public consultation phase of regulatory hearings, just for the purpose of slowing down the process.”

This is truly astounding! This organization, Ethical Oil, was able to sense and sing the very thoughts of the prime minister himself even before he himself had given voice to them! Well, actually, Ezra Levant, the creator of Ethical Oil (book and organization) and Mr. Harper aren't exactly strangers. They’ve sang duets before. This time, in perfect harmony.

Does this remind us of anything? How about the National Citizens Coalition, headed by Stephen Harper from 1998 to 2002. That's the organization that attacked the Canada Health Act, the Canadian Wheat Board, public sector pensions, and the mandatory long form census. You and I can donate money to the Citizens Coalition, but we can't affect its policies nor see its confidential income sources. That would embarrass their real backers, insurance companies and private corporations like Cargill.

A more recent example is the painful case of convicted fraudster Bruce Carson. Under the aegis of Stephen Harper, he took $15 million, then another $25 million, of public money to promote oil lobby interests under the guise of academic activity, although nothing academic was ever accomplished. It all ended rather badly.

It seems Mr. Harper knows well the song and dance routine about how to form public policy. Except that you can't fool all of the people all of the time, can you?

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/blogs/science-matters/2011/12/the-twisted-logic-and-ethics-of-natures-opponents/

http://www2.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/business/story.html?id=02601f5e-7e4b-4c6a-b684-1e9252f86d69

http://www.ethicaloil.org/

http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Following+money/5943597/story.html#ixzz1iwZXy4D0

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/kathryn-marshall/northern-gateway-pipeline_b_1185267.html?ref=canada

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Proposed+pipeline+generates+flood+support+opposition/5949816/story.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/rick-j-smith/american-money-environmental-defence_b_1186912.html?ref=canada

http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/concerned+foreign+money+could+hold+pipeline+hearing+process/5961680/story.html