You can tell that ForestEthics has a foreign point of view: the things they say sound so utterly foreign to reasonable Canadians.
Take Tzeporah Berman, a founding member of ForestEthics, the radical environmental group behind publicly bullying fortune 500 companies into swearing off Canadian ethically produced oil . She recently accused the federal government of trying to “silence dissent” in the debate over the Northern Gateway pipeline project proposal.
Right. That’s why the government’s regulatory hearings are scheduled to hear testimony from more than 4,500 interveners and testifiers — a huge contingent of which are from environmental groups opposed to the pipeline, many of them funded by foreign dollars. One foreign-backed group, The Dogwood Initiative, claims that as many as 40% of those speakers are people they signed up. The government has invited powerful, moneyed foreign interests to dispatch their lobbyists to sabotage our energy policy decisions, and that’s “silencing dissent”?
ForestEthics is, by the way, one of those foreign-funded groups. It’s not only being allowed to meddle in Canada’s regulatory decisions, it’s actually being funded by Ottawa to do it.
The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) has set aside $2.8 million to fund 50 groups looking to testify at the pipeline hearings. Forest Ethics has bellied right up to the trough and helped itself to $60,000 of taxpayer dollars, even though the group is collecting a fortune — more than $1 million — from its rich American backers to campaign here in Canada.
You read that right: Ottawa is using taxpayers’ money to subsidize the very same groups — the lobbyists of rich American billionaires — so they can sabotage our energy projects.
It’s not only outrageous, it’s lunacy. This federal government has talked a very good game, standing up for the importance of a Gateway pipeline, and criticizing the foreign radical groups trying to hijack our energy decisions. But if Stephen Harper and Joe Oliver and the rest of the Conservatives really want to stop this attack by foreign-funded radicals, a place to start would be to cut off their federal funding.
4 Responses to Why is Ottawa funding the foreign anti-oil lobby?
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Harper is out of control. No wonder hegave birth to the largest deficits in Canadian history.
If an individual were to behave in the same way as the federal (and provincial governments), he would be considered mentally ill. This situation is outrageous and unacceptable. Furthermore for the federal government to grant charity status to political lobby groups makes the situation even worse. They are NOT charities doing charitable work and one does need a PhD to see that.
I have always said Harper is all smoke and mirrors and just another CINO.
I read this mnrniog where this project pierces the 416/905 barrier why is GO Transit used by so many 905416 travellers yet so disregarded?This is a nakedly political announcement, just as McGuinty’s subway trust was, which continues the shackling of local priorities to the electoral manoeuvring of senior governments.