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Here's a list of 10 reasons why I believe that its fair to inquire about the activities of Tides Canada and the origins of its funding.
1. Big Influence - Tides Canada is behind Open Media, the group that recently mobilized more than 400,000 people to oppose a CRTC decision on user-based internet billing. This is an example of how influential Tides Canada can be.
2. Political Involvement - Tides Canada is behind Organizing for Change. One of the activities of this program was to get people to temporarily join the B.C. Liberal party in order to be able to vote to determine who would become the next Premier of British Columbia, on Feb. 26. In 2008 and 2009, Tides Canada has paid at least $90,125 for Organizing for Change, U.S. tax returns show.
- "Strategic advice, coaching and tools" from a U.S. organization
- Organizing for Change is using SALESFORCE.com, state-of-the-art, expensive technology
- 20,000 households contacted in 2009 alone.
3. Big Bucks - Since 2000, Tides Canada has had expenditures of nearly $150 Million. On top of that, the total assets of Tides Canada have increased from $1 Million to $33 Million. Where did the money come from? Tides Canada, and its side-kick, the Endswell Foundation, has paid $51 Million to staff and consultants, since 2003. That's a lot of staff. In 2010, Tides Canada's annual payroll was more than $10 Million.
4. Foreign Funding - U.S. tax returns and on-line records show that since 2000, Tides Canada has been paid at least $56 Million by U.S. foundations. Simultaneously, these U.S. foundations are funding multi-million dollar campaigns that would thwart Canadian industries - to the benefit of American interests. For example, with all the bad press over farmed salmon - generated by Tides Canada-funded organizations - people have been swayed to "wild" salmon, most of which is Alaskan. The ex-vessel value of Alaskan salmon has tripled. See: The American Attempt to Kill B.C.'s Salmon Farms.
5. Big Payment to First Nations - In 2008, Tides Canada paid $27.3 Million to two small First Nations on the B.C coast, U.S. tax returns show. Why was this grant made so quietly?
6. The Strategic Plan - Back in 2004, Tides Canada was paid $70,000 to develop "a strategic plan to address oil and gas development in British Columbia." What was the plan? Tides Canada won't say.
7. Campaigns to Block Canadian Oil Exports to Asia - Tides Canada, and its parent organization, the U.S. Tides Foundation, are funding no less than 36 organizations in campaigns that would thwart the Alberta oil industry and block Canadian oil exports to Asia. This would mean that the U.S. would continue to have a virtual monopoly on Canadian oil exports. See: U.S. Cash vs. Oil Sands.
8. Endswell Funding - Tides Canada has been paid $12.7 million by the Endswell Foundation, U.S. tax returns show. Since 2003, 99 percent of Endswell's grants went to Tides Canada, a total of $8.7 Million. The senior people are the same at Tides Canada and Endswell (Joel Solomon, Drummond Pike, and James Morrisey) so when they make grants from one charity to another, in essence, they are just transferring money from one pocket to another. I don't have a problem with them doing that but I wonder why they needed to spend $11.4 Million in the process. This is what I have referred to as the $11.4 Million Dollar Question.
Why did office and staff costs sky-rocket? And why did Endswell, a charity, pay $2.3 Million to staff at Renewal Partners, an "investment firm?" Why did salaries double or even triple? How come Joel Solomon has been paid $929,527 including payments to "JSCO"? Is Joel Solomon a "millionaire philanthropist" who founded the Endswell charity, as has been reported by the media, or is he a paid employee? Or both?
9. Interdependent Investments Ltd. - Since 1999, Endswell has paid $1.4 Million to an "investment" company called Interdependent Investments Ltd. The officers of this company are Joel Solomon & Martha Burton, a B.C. company summary shows. Interdependent Investments Ltd. contributed at least $6,000 to Vision Vancouver. Where did the rest of the money go? If there's nothing to hide, why don't Joel Solomon and Martha Burton answer the question?
10. Behind-the-scenes influence - Some of the activities of Tides Canada aren't exactly out in the open. For example, a Greenpeace web-site against Alberta tourism, was funded by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund Inc., through Tides Canada. The names of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and Tides Canada are nowhere to be seen on the web-site that bears the Greenpeace name. See:
- A charity with plenty of very long tentacles, Kevin Libin, National Post.
- Environmental Activists Hide Behind A Screen Of Big Money, Kevin Libin, National Post
For more reasons about why I believe that its fair to inquire about the influence of the U.S. Tides Foundation, in Canada, and Tides Canada, please click here.
- For my letters to Tides Canada since 2007, click here.
- For Tides Canada Foundation, click here.
- For Tides Canada Initiatives Society, click here. (This link was active until 15 October 2010).
- For The U.S. Tides Foundation, click here.
- For The Endswell Foundation and Renewal Partners, click here.
What you are doing is amazing and essential to the preservation of our democracy.
What Tides Canada is doing is under handed, disingenuous, sly and probably illegal.
Elections BC must investigate this . . . how do we put pressure on them?
Posted by: Fred | 02/24/2011 at 11:15 AM