During the 2012 federal budget, the Conservative government allocated $8 million to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to crackdown on charities engaged in “political activities.” The purge has begun. Yesterday, the right-wing Big Oil lobby group, EthicalOil.org, dispatched a 44-page … Continue reading →
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Montreal Simon: The Wild Hog Gang and the New Alberta
Wow. What a dramatic finish. The rednecks were squealing with anticipation. The beer was on ice.The Big Oil Barbie was so sure she would win. But in the end the old wild hog couldn't make it up the hill of its own excrement and bigotry.Read more »
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Earth Day and the Harper Cons
I spent a really quiet Earth Day. Paying homage to the sun, using as little energy as possible, and wishing I was in Montreal. Read more »
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Thomas Mulcair and the Struggle for Canada
(Click pic to enlarge) Oh boy. What a difference a week makes. It seems like just yesterday when I was waiting for the fog to lift, and wondering who will save us from Stephen Harper’s ghastly regime? Because I really don’t want to live in a country like this one.
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Cons and the Big Oil Budget
Hoily oily. I can’t even do my own taxes eh? But it only took me about five minutes to figure out Jim “Jimbo” Flaherty’s ghastly budget. And all I can say is that Jimbo and his fellow Con man Stephen “Greasy” Harper should be arrested for fraud. For trying to
Continue reading350 or bust: The Harper Government’s “Friends With Benefits”
In September 2009, at the G20 summit, Prime Minister Stephen Harper joined world leaders in committing to end government handouts to climate polluters. But the Harper government is still paying Canadian taxpayer’s money to the richest corporations in the world, at the rate of $1.38 BILLION per YEAR, which works
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Obama Sojourns to "Pipeline Crossroads of the World" for Campaign Speech
Cushing .jpg It's the multi-pronged fight that never seems to end. The Alberta Tar Sands have been near the forefront of the North American energy and climate debate, thanks in large part to growing public concern and grassroots efforts like Tar Sands Action, a campaign led by climate activists to block construction of the
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Big Oil Rakes In Billions, Still Complains Taxes Are Too High
20080810-violin.jpg The President rolled out his FY2013 budget recently, which includes eliminating $40 billion in tax breaks from Big Oil companies, such as BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and Shell. Meanwhile, the American Petroleum Institute's response would have you believe that cutting the subsidies would be the equivalent of moving back
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: McGuinty-Redford Dollar-Tar Sands Dance
Wouldn’t a lower Canadian dollar encourage both foreign investment in Canada and investment and saving by Canadians in Canada where purchasing power would be stronger than in a foreign market? And wouldn’t it also make Canadian export goods, no matter which province is their source, more attractive to foreign buyers since they
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: Weaver’s Data is on #tarsands is Incomplete: It’s not the Whole Picture
As I predicted, there was much hype this week about Andrew Weaver’s research from the oil industry and some specious logic from a few suckered journalists who hopped on the story as a repudiation of exaggerated claims made by environmentalists about the tar sands. But, as Weaver himself points out (http://t.co/v5E28Xr3),
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Stephen Harper’s Horrible Day at Davos
It was without a doubt the most grotesque spectacle the Davos Cozy Capitalist Club had ever seen. As they sat there in their silk leather pajamas watching Stephen Harper pose as an economist. Bragging about the stability of our banking system, while forgetting to tell them that if it had
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Stephen Harper and the Spidey Man
Golly. I don’t know why so many people in the inbred village of Ottawa seem to suffer from Big Daddy Fever. The tendency to portray Stephen Harper as a political genius, instead of a deranged right-wing nerd who is slowly killing this country. But this is ridiculous: “I think by making
Continue reading350 or bust: Canada: Under Attack By Foreign Interests Groups & Radicals
Bless you, Rick Mercer, when the goings-on in Ottawa get completely intolerable, you give Canadians something to laugh at. Here’s Rick’s response to the Canadian Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver’s letter attacking environmentalists (read: anyone opposed to the Northern Gateway Pipeline and/or unrestricted development of the Alberta tar sands) as
Continue reading350 or bust: Conservative Party Of Canada’s Unethical Ties To Pro-Tar Sands Lobby
A picture is worth a thousand words: Graphic via Matt Price: Six Degrees Of Separation Between Ethical Oil and Conservatives
Continue readingJimBobby Sez: Enbridge lobbied 23 MPs, 3 deputy ministers, 1 chief of staff & other public office holders
(Reprinted from Lobby Monitor Newsletter)Enbridge did fall lobbying blitzJanuary 12, 2012 – 9:22am | Lobby Monitor Staff In-house lobbyists with Enbridge, the Calgary-based energy company behind the controversial Northern Gateway Pipeline, lobbied 23 MPs, three deputy ministers, one chief of staff and other designated public office holders this fall, communication
Continue readingJimBobby Sez: Enbridge lobbied 23 MPs, 3 deputy ministers, 1 chief of staff & other public office holders
(Reprinted from Lobby Monitor Newsletter)
Enbridge did fall lobbying blitz
January 12, 2012 – 9:22am | Lobby Monitor Staff
In-house lobbyists with Enbridge, the Calgary-based energy company behind the controversial Northern Gateway Pipeline, lobbied 23 MPs, three deputy ministers, one chief of staff and other designated public office holders this fall, communication reports filed with the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying show.
Registrations filed with the commissioner’s office have Patrick Daniel, Enbridge’s president and CEO, listed as the responsible officer for the firm’s in-house lobbying. D’Arcy Levesque, the vice president of public and government affairs, and Sonya Savage, the senior manager of government relations, are identified as the two company officials whose lobbying activities represent 20 per cent or more of their duties.
A communication report does not specify which officials did the lobbying, or if the communication was face-to-face or by telephone.
The registration says Enbridge officials were to lobby on “bills (such as C-606 “An Act to amend the Canada Shipping Act, 2001 (Prohibition against the transportation of oil by tankers on Canada’s Pacific North Coast) – measure or area of interest is the proposed ban on oil tanker traffic.”
It also noted there could be “discussions regarding the development of a national energy strategy and the approach to opening new markets for natural resources” and that the company would be “seeking improved efficiencies in the environmental assessment processes.”
One communication shows Enbridge lobbied 22 MPs, all of them Conservative, at once. Another communication shows Enbridge’s in-house lobbyists lobbied Louis Levesque, deputy minister of international trade at Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada. Michael Wernick, deputy minister at Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada and Michael Horgan, a deputy minister at the finance ministry, were also lobbied, according to two separate communications.
Enbridge is also working with outside consultants, the registry showed. Ensight Canada’s Jacquie LaRoque, Gregory Kolz and Robin Sears are registered to lobby the House of Commons and the Senate on behalf of the company.
Continue readingJimBobby Sez: Enbridge lobbied 23 MPs, 3 deputy ministers, 1 chief of staff & other public office holders
(Reprinted from Lobby Monitor Newsletter)Enbridge did fall lobbying blitzJanuary 12, 2012 – 9:22am | Lobby Monitor Staff In-house lobbyists with Enbridge, the Calgary-based energy company behind the controversial Northern Gateway Pipeline, lobbied 23 MPs, three deputy ministers, one chief of staff and other designated public office holders this fall, communication
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Stephen Harper and the Fascist State of Alberia
Uh oh. Duck and cover. It looks as if Great Oil Pimp Leader is trying to whip us into a nationalistic frenzy, by demanding that the United States stop treating us like a national park. Any decision on developments such as the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline should be left to Canadians,
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: Keystone, Northern Gateway pipelines raise questions that need answers before approval
The Star: This is the most realistic and sensible perspective I’ve seen on the environment-oil-pipeline dilemma. Olive is right: oil as our primary source of energy is not going to go away any time soon. It took well over 50 years to shift from coal as a primary source of
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