Rethink Campaigns

Commentary RE: Foreign Funding of Environmentalism in Canada

Reflecting a wide range of points of view, here are some of the op-eds and commentary about the foreign funding of environmentalism in Canada, particularly with regards to the campaign against Canadian oil and the debates over the Keystone XL and Enbridge pipelines:

• Charlie Smith, Canadian oil at the centre of an intriguing international story involving the U.S. and China, August 25, 2011, The Straight.

• Gary Mason, The next great pipeline debate - and U.S. fundin. funding, September 29, 2011, The Globe & Mail.

• Barbara Yaffee, Cash flow from U.S. to 'green' initiatives often hides private interests Financial contributions sometimes thinly veiled attempts to help American industries gain unfair advantages over Canadian counterparts. October 6, 2011, The Vancouver Sun.

• Deborah Yedlin, Does everyone have a right to complain at Northern Gateway pipeline review? November 4, 2011, The Calgary Herald

• George Hoberg, Foreign influence on Canadian environmental policy: A request for some balance, November 15, 2011, The Vancouver Sun.

• Tom Fletcher, B.C. A Playground for Eco-Stunts, December 6, 2011, Alberni Valley News.

• Peter Ladner, Applause for U.S. funds aimed at improving our environment, Business in Vancouver, December 13 - 19, 2011, subsequently posted at the web-site of Tides Canada.

• Terence Corcoran, A War on Green 'Radicals,' January 9, 2012, The Financial Post.

• Stephen Hume, Spin cycle on pipelines, 'foreign interests' hits warp speed,  January 10, 2012, The Vancouver Sun.

• Jeffrey Simpson, 'Foreign money' is a hypocritical diversion, January 11, 2012, The Globe and Mail.

• Margaret Wente, Seeking pipeline common sense, January 10, 2012, The Globe & Mail.

• Terry Glavin, Canada sells the oil sands to China. Then complains about ‘foreign interference’, January 13, 2012, The National Post.

• Lorne Gunter, Foreign eco-foundations pump hundreds of millions into anti-oilsands fight, January 13, 2012, The National Post.

• Rex Murphy, Thou must not question Big Environment, January 14, 2012.

• Keith Baldrey, China's Stake in Pipelines is Disturbing, Keith Baldrey, January 17, 2012.

• Arno Carpecky, Why Canada is starting to feel like Peru, January 20, 2012. The Tyee.

• Harvey Enchin, Anti-Oil Sands Groups Threaten Our Jobs, January 21, 2012, The Vancouver Sun.

• Rafe Mair, Tube the pipelines, all three, January 23, 2012, The Tyee.

• Claudia Cattaneo, Foreign influx in oil sands top issue, January 23, 2012, The Financial Post.

Radio commentary:

• The Bill Good Show, January 10 & 13, 2012

• Rob Breakenridge, CHQR 770, Januarya 12, 2012

• Michael Campbell, Money Talks, CKNW, January 19, 2012

Not included above are is material from Ezra Levant and his campaign to expose the foreign funding of environmentalists.  I am not part of that campaign in any way.

Big Money and U.S. Interests Are Impacting Major Decisions in Canada, Michael Campbell's Commentary

"This is a story that merits a heck of a lot more intense scrutiny."

- Michael Campbell, Money Talks

Click here:

• Money Talks, Michael Campbell on U.S. Foundations' Influence in Canada

The Economist: Canada's Oil Industry

From The Economist, January 21, 2012

SOON after Barack Obama chose to delay a decision last year on a proposed Alberta-to-Texas oil pipeline called Keystone XL, Stephen Harper, Canada’s prime minister, warned that his country would not be left at the altar. “This does underscore the necessity of Canada making sure that we’re able to access Asian markets for our energy products,” he said. The threat was clear: if the United States did not want oil from Alberta’s dirty tar sands, Canada would build a pipeline to the Pacific and ship the stuff to Asia. There, says Enbridge, the firm behind the project, each barrel might fetch $20 more (counting shipping) than in America. On January 18th Mr Obama rejected Keystone XL. New calls for Canada to look west will surely follow.

Yet the domestic opponents to the Northern Gateway pipeline, linking Edmonton with the port of Kitimat, seem to be copying the campaign against Keystone XL. In 2010, 55 of Canada’s native tribes (called First Nations) signed a declaration rejecting the project. At the first day of the National Energy Board’s (NEB) hearings on the pipeline, held on January 10th, the chiefs of the Haisla tribe said they feared an oil spill would ruin their fishery. Some 4,300 people have signed up to speak.

The pipeline’s opponents still face an uphill battle. A December poll by Ipsos-Reid found that British Columbians back it by 48% to 32%. And Mr Harper is close to the oil industry. Joe Oliver, the natural-resources minister, recently wrote an open letter accusing “radical groups” with “funding from foreign special-interest groups” of delaying and undermining the debate. Vivian Krause, a blogger in Vancouver, has released documents showing that American foundations have given $300m since 2000 to Canadian green and aboriginal groups for environmental campaigns.

To continue reading, click here

Foreign Investment in the Canadian Oil Industry

Many journalists and others have written about foreign investment in Canadian industry, including the oil industry. In contrast, few have written about the funding of the environmental movement. That's why I do. For those who would like information about foreign investment in Canadian industries, below, here's some info.

Foreign Investment In General:

• Canada-China Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA), February 8, 2912.  Hear what Prime Minister Stephen Harper has to say. 
  • Canadian investment in China: $5 billion (2010)  an increase of 38% from 2009.
  • Chinese investment in Canada: $14 billion (2010) an increase of 9% from 2009. 

• An brief overview of the Canadian Foreign Investment Review Process, August 2010, Torys LLP. Interesting points:
  • According to the Investment Canada Act (the “ICA”), a non-Canadian investor must receive approval to acquire control of a Canadian business if the worldwide value of the assets exceeds a certain threshold.  That threshold is $299 million.  It is the job of the federal Minister of Industry to grant such approvals. 
  • Foreign investments must pass the "public benefit" test which is made on the basis of broad economic and policy criteria, eg. planned capital expenditures, employment and opportunities for Canadian participation in the management of the business. 
  • In acquiring Athabasca Oilsands, Petro China committed to ensuring that the majority of senior management positions would be held by Canadians.
  • Interesting: if the foreign investor is a State-Owned Enterprise (SOE), the government of Canada will not require that the SOE adhere to Canadian standards of corporate governance, only the Canadian business does. (Read: Canada doesn't force Canadian standards on SOE's). 
  • Since the ICA entered into force in 1985 over 1600 investments have been reviewed and only one, involving a US investor, has been disallowed.

• Dispelling Canadian Myths about Foreign Direct Investment. Walid Hejazi argues that public fears about inward and outward FDI are largely unfounded: investment in Canada brings new technology and high-paying jobs, while Canadian investment abroad stimulates exports. 

• Invest in Canada. Read this to find out what our government is saying to attract foreign investment in Canada. (2011)

• Foreign Investment In Canada: The Net Benefit Test, from the Government of Canada.

• The Foreign Investment Review Process in Canada, July 2011.

• The Rise of Asian Investment in Canada, Ernst & Young, 2011.

• Canada: Open for Investment, Regulatory Update, 2010. Stikeman Elliot.

Op-Eds:

• "Canadians should welcome more foreign investment," David Campbell in The Globe & Mail, January 4, 2012.

• "Attracting foreign investment to Canada will require more transparent rules," argues Graham Fox, lawyer & poli sci guy. March19, 2012. 

• Restricting Direct Foreign Investment hurts Canada. Laura Dawson and Jason Clemens argue that Foreign Direct Investment provides enormous short and long-term benefits to Canadians. They also argue that the threshold for an ICA review should be increased from $300 million to $1 billion. February 28, 2012.

Statistics:

• Foreign investment in Canada, and Canadian investment abroad, Stats Canada, 2010.

• Canada's International Investment Position, Stats Canada, March 2012.

• Foreign Direct Investment, Statistics Canada, 2010. Foreign control of Canadian companies and Foreign controlled enterprises by country (2005 - 2009),   Statistics Canada.

• Overview of Canadian Foreign Direct Investment, Parliamentary Information and Research Service, Library of Parliament, 2008.

Foreign Investment in Canada's Energy Sector:

• Acquiring Canadian Public Oil and Gas Companies: A Guide for Foreign Oil and Gas Companies, Foreign Investors and Investment Banks, Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg, 2010.

• Who Owns Our Oil Sands? Foreign corporations stake their claims to our resources, The Alberta Federation of Labour, April 22, 2011.

• Is Alberta Next? An outbreak of economic nationalism forced the Government of Canada to block the sale of the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan to a foreign bidder. Could the same thing happen here?, Max Fawcett, March 1, 2011.

• Key Date in the History of the Canadian Oil Industry, The Canadian and Worldwide Oil and Gas Industry, Undated.

• Asia's pursuit in Canada's oil sands ups the competitive ante in 2011 Ernst & Young.

Rick Mercer on FOREIGN RADICALS

 

If thousands of Alaskans, were sending B.C. environmentalists small cheques of say, $20 or $30, that would be foreign money but it wouldn't concern me. After all, Alaska could be affected if there was a major oil spill off the B.C. coast. What concerns me about some of the sources of money that Canadian environmental groups have been getting is that it comes from big, billion-dollar foundations, and in once case, a hedge fund billionaire.  When the money is big, it seems to me that it should be out in the open. That goes for both foreign investment and philanthropy.

As for Rick Mercer..... well, this is hilarious.

Go ahead... have a good laugh! Gotta keep a sense of humor!

U.S. Funding In The Campaign Against Canadian Oilsands

From The Financial Post: U.S. Funding in the Campaign Against the Canadian Oilsands

"Last week, on the eve of the environmental review for the $5.5-billion Northern Gateway pipeline project that would carry Alberta oil to Kitimat for export to Asia, Canada’s Minister for Natural Resources, Joe Oliver, expressed concern that foreign-funded environmentalists would jeopardize the review and block the pipeline. Oliver didn’t mention my name, but the research that raised concerns about the foreign funding of environmentalism in Canada is apparently mine.

For five years, on my own nickel, I have been following the money and the science behind environmental campaigns and I’ve been doing what the Canada Revenue Agency hasn’t been doing: I’ve gathered information about the origin and the stated purpose of grants from U.S. foundations to green groups in Canada. My research is based on U.S. tax returns because the U.S. Internal Revenue Service requires greater disclosure from non-profits than does the CRA.

By my analysis and calculations, since 2000, U.S. foundations have granted at least US$300-million to various environmental organizations and campaigns in Canada, especially in B.C. The San Francisco-based Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation alone has granted US$92-million. Gordon Moore is one of the co-founders of Intel Corp. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation have granted a combined total of US$90-million, mostly to B.C. groups. These foundations were created by the founders of Hewlett-Packard Co.

The Philadelphia-based Pew Charitable Trusts, created by the founders of Sun Oil, has granted at least US$82-million over the past decade and at least US$40-million has been granted by other U.S. foundations."

To continue reading, click here.

 

Vivian Krause on The Bill Good Show, January 10th & 13th, 2012

"Vivian raises some really important questions about where the money comes from and what's charity and what's not." - Bill Good

Two Interviews:

Here's the 1rst interview with Bill Good. He asks me the hard questions, who funds me, what motivates me, what I'm fighting for, etc:

• Vivian Krause on The Bill Good Show, Jan. 10, 2012

Here's the 2nd interview with Rebecca Clogg, Executive Director of West Coast Environmental Law, and me:

•  Vivian Krause on The Bill Good show, Jan. 13, 2012

A War on Green 'Radicals'

"I venture to say that never in history has a Canadian politician so forcefully taken on green 'radicals.' This is a turning point." - Terence Corcoran

By Terence Corcoran, Editor, The Financial Post

"Through most of 2011, Canadian energy officials in politics and industry watched with bewildered helplessness and some shock as Washington allowed environmentalists to seize control of TransCanada’s $7-billion Keystone XL pipeline issue. They stood by aghast as President Barack Obama, a captive of U.S. green activists and Hollywood movie stars, caved in to political pressure and postponed a decision to approve the project, a potential economic bonanza that promised to deliver thousands of jobs to Americans and billions of barrels of Canadian oil sands production to Texas.

No such green hijacking is going to take place in Canada, at least not without an official fight. On the eve of hearings, which begin Tuesday in Kitimat, B.C., into the $5.5-billion Northern Gateway pipeline — to carry the same oil sands production from Alberta to the West Coast and on to China — the Harper government clearly aims to do what Barack Obama cannot or will not do in America, namely stand up to the growth-killing professional green movement.

It is a cliché in journalism to declare metaphorical wars at the drop of a news release. In this case, it looks like war is exactly what Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver launched Monday in an unprecedented open letter warning that Canada will not allow “environmental and other radical groups” to “hijack our regulatory system to achieve their radical ideological agenda.”

What a welcome war this is. Never before has a Canadian politician challenged the hitherto saintly protectors of the environment in such direct language. More importantly, Mr. Oliver took straight aim at a troubling trend in Canadian environmentalism — the foreign funding of Canadian green activist groups with the express purpose of shutting down Canadian resource development — first documented in the National Post by Vancouver investigative writer Vivian Krause."

To continue reading, click here.

FRONT PAGE, The Globe & Mail

From The Globe & Mail: Blogger fuels PM's claim U.S. is backing Canadian environmentalists

Front page, January 10, 2012:

"The Harper government is escalating its attack on critics of the Northern Gateway oil sands pipeline, labelling environmental groups opposed to the project as “radical” and claiming their U.S. financial supporters are working to “undermine Canada’s national economic interest. 

Accusing Stephen Harper of resorting to intimidation tactics as regulatory hearings begin on Tuesday, mainstream environmental groups such as the Sierra Club of Canada called it an unprecedented attack on their right to question government policy.

The ammunition for Ottawa’s broadside against the pipeline’s opponents is drawn in part from the work of a relatively little-known blogger from North Vancouver.

In the last 15 months, independent blogger and single mother Vivian Krause has become a one-person clearinghouse on how U.S. money is helping finance Canadian environmental activism...."

To continue reading, click here.

Vivian Krause in The Financial Post

• U.S. Funding in the Campaign Against Canadian Oil

• Who's funding Mayor Robertson?

• Tarred by Science

• The Case of the Missing Sea Lice

• David Suzuki's Fish Story

• U.S. Environmentalists Are Meddling in B.C.'s Election

• Packard's Push Against B.C. Salmon

• Demarketing Alberta

• U.S. Foundations Against the Oil Sands

• Money trail gets fishy (Alexandra Morton's funding) (the bottom half of the page)

• What motivates U.S. funding of our native groups? (at the bottom of the page)