Top News

Lobbyists
Thursday, May 23, 2013 - 12:06 • Kevin Grandia
Revolving Door Sees Alberta Political Staffer Hired by Canada's Largest Oil Lobby Group
Mark Cooper of CAPP

Mark Cooper, a former spokesperson for the Alberta government's department of Environment and Water, and press secretary for the Minister of International and Intergovernmental Affairs, has moved on from his government post to work as the manager of oil sands communications for the Canadian Association for Petroleum Producers (CAPP), Canada's most outspoken pro-oil lobbying outfit.

There's more than just irony with Cooper going from working on water to oil. There are some pretty serious questions here around the idea of "revolving door" politics. The concern is not unique to Alberta, most governments recognize that government officials moving from government to industry is a slippery slope and tricky to regulate, especially when the industry is related to the government agency that the individual previously worked in.

Read more
PR Pollution
Thursday, May 23, 2013 - 08:00 • Indra Das
Harper Government Keeps Details Of $16.5M Oil Industry Ad Campaign Under Wraps
Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver

This week, under questioning from opposition MPs, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver confirmed that his department intends to spend up to 16.5 million dollars on advertising in the upcoming year. Further details on how this taxpayer-funded PR campaign for Canada's natural resources will be run were lacking.

Mike De Souza writes for Canada.com, that Oliver "also declined to provide specifics on a training program, worth up to $500,000, for his department's scientists and other officials, 'designed to help them communicate with the public and to do so in a way that is accessible to the public.'"

Speaking to a special committee studying spending estimates in the House of Commons on Tuesday evening, Oliver confirmed that much of the advertising would be focused on promoting the proposed TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline linking Albertan tar sands oil to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast.

Read more
Pipelines
Wednesday, May 22, 2013 - 15:09 • Indra Das
Saskatchewan Oil Spill Raises Questions About Safety Of Oil Transport By Rail
oil transport by rail

A freight train operated by Canada Pacific Railway Ltd. (CP) derailed yesterday morning and caused an oil spill outside Jansen, Saskatchewan, a small town about 150 km southeast of Saskatoon. CTV News reports that one of the cars leaked an estimated 575 barrels (more than 91,000 litres) of crude oil. Tank cars typically carry about 600 barrels of oil. No one is reported to have been hurt.

 

Environmental damage from the spill has apparently been contained by digging a berm around the leaked oil. CP has said that the oil was Western Canadian crude, not oil from the Albertan tar sands.

 

Guy Dixon and Nathan Vanderklippe write in the Globe and Mail, that the oil spill comes after Prime Minister Stephen Harper called oil transport by rail “more environmentally challenging” than pipelines, as part of his speech promoting Keystone XL in New York last week. Harper’s dubious point handily distracts from the fact that any mode of oil transport can and will lead to environmentally damaging oil spills, a consequence that will only become more common if Canada opens up the Albertan tar sands to further exploitation.

Read more
First Nations
Wednesday, May 22, 2013 - 09:24 • Erin Flegg
Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation Among Groups to Challenge Royal Dutch Shell at AGM
Offshore Oil Rig

Yesterday, members of First Nations and environmental organizations from both Canada and the United States attended Royal Dutch Shell’s Annual General Meeting in The Hague, Netherlands, to speak out against the company’s high-risk energy projects.

Eriel Deranger, communications coordinator for the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN), attended the meeting on behalf of the nation and spoke directly to Shell’s board of directors, focusing on the duty consult on the Jackpine Mine expansion project.

Deranger addressed the chair of the board to ask why a company that purports to put so much emphasis on stakeholder relationships has failed to address the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation’s concerns regarding tar sands development. The chair responded that the company felt the hearings for the Jackpine project were successful, but that it would open discussion on the issue with the president of Shell Canada, Lorraine Mitchelmore.

Read more
Pipelines
Wednesday, May 22, 2013 - 08:00 • Indra Das
Canada Ramps Up Government Spending On Tar Sands Advertising
protesters holding #nokxl signs

With Prime Minister Stephen Harper in New York courting US business leaders and promoting the Keystone XL pipeline, it's perhaps unsurprising to hear that his government has nearly doubled its spending on advertising the Albertan tar sands since last year.

Suzanne Goldenberg writes in the Guardian, that according to the Canadian Press agency, the Harper government "has increased its advertising spending on the Alberta tar sands to $16.5m from $9m a year ago." The government's strategy includes television advertising and "high-profile ad buys" like sponsoring Politico Playbook, an influential political journalism site frequented by administration officials.

Read more
Pipelines
Monday, May 20, 2013 - 10:57 • Derek Leahy
Line 9 Protest in Ontario's Chemical Valley
Line 9 protest poster

Ontarians concerned about Enbridge's plans to ship tar sands bitumen through the 37-year old Line 9 pipeline will hold a rally in Sarnia on May 21st.

Aamjiwnaang + Sarnia Against Pipelines (ASAP) are the organizers of the event. ASAP is a group made up of members of Aamjiwnaang First Nation in Sarnia and residents of southwestern Ontario.

Community members of Aamjiwnaang will begin the rally with a water ceremony at Sarnia's town hall followed by a march through downtown Sarnia.

Mere minutes away oil executives, bankers, engineers, politicians, and labour group leaders will be sitting down for day one of the industry-sponsored Bitumen-Adding Value: Canada's National Opportunity conference at Sarnia’s Best Western Guildwood Inn.

Read more
Climate
Friday, May 17, 2013 - 08:46 • Erika Thorkelson
Kayak Navigates into Climate Change Debate
Kayak

Vancouver playwright Jordan Hall throws down the gauntlet on climate change with her award-winning play Kayak. A meditation on the intimate consequences of environmental issues, it follows the journey of BMW-driving Annie Iverson (Susan Hogan) as she enters a massive storm to rescue her son (Sebastien Kroon) from his environmentalist girlfriend (Marisa Smith).

Hall discusses why she chose to take on the issue, the place of the arts in the climate change discussion, and how keeping a sense of humour helped her along. 

Read more