Greenpeace Canada info-graphic showing connections among the far-right Conservative Party of Canada activists behind the so-called Ethical Oil Institute. Below: Dr. James Talbot; Dr. John O’Connor; Ezra Levant. Alberta’s chief medical officer has now confirmed that statistics released a couple of weeks ago indicate there really is a cancer cluster
Continue readingTag: Ethical Oil Institute
Alberta Diary: Pride flags over Alberta: for real, or a cynical commitment of convenience that’s a mile wide and an inch deep?
A rainbow banner flies alongside the city, Alberta and Canadian flags at the city hall of St. Albert, Alberta, last weekend. Below: A really great pride banner spotted during a recent Pride Week in Vancouver. Fourteen years ago, the Alberta provincial government led by Progressive Conservative premier Ralph Klein was
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Rats! Alberta has ’em … and not just the kind Ed Stelmach warned us about
Norwegian rats have their eyes on Alberta! It’s time to root them out, and their pipeline hating, royalty demanding, revolutionary pals! And where’s the AHS Plague Plan? And why does Norwegian crude cost so much? Below: More warnings, plus Verlyn Olson. I don’t know about you, but a lot of
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Ethical Oil charity complaint sparks Alberta corporate complaint
Commentator Ezra Levant lets go a broadside at Tides Canada on his Sun News Network program. Below: Researcher Tony Clark; Jamie Ellerton, executive director of Mr. Levant’s Ethical Oil Institute; National Revenue Minister Gail Shea. As is well known, the “Ethical Oil Institute,” the Edmonton-based organization founded by Sun News
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Terror is in the Eye of the Beholder: Alberta’s Counterterrorism Unit to Protect Oil and Gas Industry
Picture 2.png In January, during the week before Canada’s federal hearing on the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline, the Harper government and Ethical Oil Institute launched an unprecedented attack on environmental organizations opposed to the pipeline and accelerated expansion of the tar sands. Resurrecting Cold War-style ‘terrorist’ rhetoric, conservative politicians like
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Time to Audit the Fraser Institute
Fraser-Institute.jpg On March 25, 2012, the Compliance Division of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) received a letter from Jensen Shawa Solomon Duguid Hawkes LLP (aka JSS Barristers). In 11 detailed pages, JSS Barristers lodged a complaint against Environmental Defence, a charity registered with the CRA, on behalf of Ezra Levant’s
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Tar Sands Oil Companies 71 Percent Foreign-Owned – Cue Ezra Levant’s Outrage
Foreign Control of Tar Sands.png ForestEthics released a game-changing research brief today documenting the massive foreign control of Alberta's tar sands oil industry. Publicly traded oil companies with active tar sands operations have a very high level of foreign ownership – 71 per cent. Some supposedly "Canadian" oil companies including
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: U.S. Republican Koch oil billionaires help fund the Fraser Institute. Why the Fraser Institute?
Vancouver Observer.png Authored by Jenny Uechi, originally published at Vancouver Observer. Re-posted with permisison. U.S. libertarian oil billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch have poured at least half a million dollars into The Fraser Institute over the last few years. In case you haven't been following their trail, here's a bit
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Unethicull Oil: What Alberta’s Wolf Cull Plan Tells Us About Canada’s Oil Addiction
Picture 5.png DeSmog recently sent a team to the tar sands region of Alberta to investigate the proposed government plan to systematically kill off the province’s wild wolf population in a supposed effort to recover dwindling caribou herds. The proposed cull has been widely criticized internationally for placing the interests
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Cry Wolf: An Unethical Oil Story
Picture 4.png Over the last several months, Alberta has killed more than 500 wolves using aerial sharpshooters and poisoned bait in order to conceal the impact of rapid industrial development on Canada’s iconic woodland caribou. Independent scientists say that declining caribou health stems chiefly from habitat destruction caused by the encroachment
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Ethical Oil: The Puppet Rap
It's time for Friday funnies, and the top hit today is Ethical Oil: the Puppet Rap, which first popped up over at The Tyee. It's a foul-mouthed, satirical music video remix of Kathryn Marshall's ridiculous PR gymnastics to avoid answering a basic question from CBC's Evan Solomon whether Enbridge funds the
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Jim Hoggan Op-Ed in Vancouver Sun: Who Gets A Say In Our Democracy?
Tanker disaster.jpg Jim Hoggan, DeSmogBlog co-founder and president, has an op-ed in the Vancouver Sun today discussing the "ethical oil" crowd's attacks on democracy in the Enbridge Northern Gateway public hearings. Head over to the Vancouver Sun to read it: "Who gets a say in our democracy?" Here is an
Continue readingPushed to the Left and Loving It: American Magazine Calls Canada a Jingoistic Petro-State
Blogger Scott Tribe shared a link yesterday to an article that appeared in Slate magazine, which is owned by the Washington Post. Saudi Arabia. Nigeria. Venezuela. Canada? Is our neighbor to the north becoming a jingoistic petro-state? We think that Stephen Harper is only our problem, but like it or
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Friends with Benefits: The Harper Government, EthicalOil.org and Sun Media Connection
suntv_news.gif Just over a week before the Northern Gateway Pipeline hearings began, EthicalOil.org and its allies launched a pre-emptive PR offensive on environmental and First Nations groups who oppose the pipeline. Their new website, OurDecision.ca, and ad campaign are an attempt to invalidate opposition to the pipeline by pointing to
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Unaccountable Oil: Is Enbridge Already Polluting the Canadian (Political) Environment?
Enbridge oil spill.jpg If the pipeline giant Enbridge Inc. is content to cower behind a 20-something blog manager rather than acknowledge its role in the recent attack on the patriotism of Canadian environmentalists, what hope have we that the company would ever stand accountable for the accidents that will occur
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Cozy Ties: Astroturf ‘Ethical Oil’ and Conservative Alliance to Promote Tar Sands Expansion
hamish marshall and stephen harper.jpg As the Northern Gateway Pipeline Project Joint Review Panel begins hearing over 4,000 comments submitted by community members, First Nations, governments, and environmental groups, the tar sands front group EthicalOil.org has launched its latest PR offensive in support of the pipeline. OurDecision.ca, the new astroturf ad
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Unethical Oil and Its Friends
northerngateway.jpg This is a guest post by Ian, originally published on The Real Story. A year ago Enbridge CEO Pat Daniel announced a new foreign partner for its Northern Gateway Pipeline project. Daniel told a meeting in Whistler, BC that Sinopec, China’s second largest oil company, was investing an undisclosed amount
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