Close X
Sunday, November 24, 2024
ADVT 
National

Alberta To Hold $2.5-million Public Inquiry Into Funding For Oil And Gas Foes

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 05 Jul, 2019 09:57 PM
  • Alberta To Hold $2.5-million Public Inquiry Into Funding For Oil And Gas Foes

CALGARY - The Alberta government will hold a public inquiry into environmental groups that it says have been bankrolled by foreign benefactors hell-bent on keeping Canada's oil and gas from reaching new markets while letting oil production grow unabated in the Middle East and the United States.

 

"They often say that sunlight is the best disinfectant. This public inquiry will be sunlight on the activities of this campaign," Premier Jason Kenney said Thursday.

 

"It will investigate all of the national and international connections, follow the money trail and expose all of the interests involved."

 

He said the inquiry — with a budget of $2.5-million — will find out if any laws have been broken and recommend any appropriate legal and policy action.

 

"Most importantly, it will serve notice that Alberta will no longer allow hostile interest groups to dictate our economic destiny as one of the most ethical major producers of energy in the world."

 

Steve Allan, a forensic and restructuring accountant with more than 40 years of experience, has been named inquiry commissioner.

 

Allan's ability to compel witness testimony and records is limited to Alberta.

 

But Justice Minister Doug Schweitzer said much of the information Allan will need is publicly available and he'll be able to travel outside Alberta to gather more.

 

The first phase of the inquiry is to focus on fact finding, with public hearings to follow if necessary. Allan is to deliver his final report to the government in a year.

 

Opposition NDP member Deron Bilous said the inquiry is the equivalent of hiring someone to do a glorified Google search.

 

"This is a fool's errand," he said.

 

"I don't believe this will help Alberta further its interests in accessing pipelines and expanding our market access."

 

Kenney said deep-pocketed U.S. charities have been deliberately trying to landlock Alberta resources for years by funnelling money to an array of Canadian groups. Many of his assertions are based on the writings of Vancouver researcher Vivian Krause.

 

He blames those groups for the demise of several coast-bound pipelines that would have helped oilsands crude get to markets besides the U.S., as well as delays in building the Trans Mountain expansion to the west coast.

 

Krause said earlier this week that while the U.S. energy industry has benefited from anti-Canada "demarketing" campaigns, she has found no evidence commercial interests are involved.

 

She and Kenney both agreed it's because Canada is an easy target.

 

"We're very easy to pit against each other — Quebec, the West," Krause said.

 

Kenney said Canada has been the kid in the school yard most easy to bully.

 

"I think they understood that this country amongst all of the major energy producers would be the most easily intimidated by this campaign," he said. "And you know what? They were right."

 

Prominent environmentalist Tzeporah Berman likened the inquiry to a "witch hunt" meant to silent dissent.

 

"It weakens our democracy and attempts to scare citizens from engaging in the debate on issues critical to our economy and a safe climate," she wrote on Twitter.

 

Berman has been involved the Tar Sands Campaign against oilsands expansion — often cited by Krause and Kenney as an example of a concerted U.S.-funded effort to meddle in Alberta's energy sector.

 

"The mistake Vivian Krause and Premier Kenney make is thinking that it's one campaign. It's not," Berman said in an interview last month. "It's dozens of campaigns. If it's anything, it's a movement or movements."

 

Berman said Krause has concocted a "reverse David and Goliath battle."

 

"Canada is a very small drop in the bucket for global philanthropic dollars on climate change," she said. "(Krause's) data is wrong and the fact that Kenney has just accepted it is insane."

MORE National ARTICLES

Top B.C. Court Upholds Ruling That Struck Down Canada's Solitary Confinement Law

Top B.C. Court Upholds Ruling That Struck Down Canada's Solitary Confinement Law
VANCOUVER — British Columbia's Court of Appeal has upheld a lower court ruling that struck down Canada's solitary confinement law.

Top B.C. Court Upholds Ruling That Struck Down Canada's Solitary Confinement Law

Two Injured When Out-of-control Car Crashes Into Quebec Ferry At Dock: Police

Two people were seriously injured Monday when their car crashed into a Quebec ferry.    

Two Injured When Out-of-control Car Crashes Into Quebec Ferry At Dock: Police

Ayanle Hassan Ali Who Attacked Military Personnel Should Be Deemed Terrorist: Crown

Ayanle Hassan Ali was charged with attempted murder, assault causing bodily harm and assault with a weapon, as well as carrying a weapon, all for the benefit of a terrorist group in connection with the March 2016 knife attack.

Ayanle Hassan Ali Who Attacked Military Personnel Should Be Deemed Terrorist: Crown

Aviation Experts Question Security, Passenger Safety After Woman Left On Plane

Aviation Experts Question Security, Passenger Safety After Woman Left On Plane
Aviation experts are raising security and passenger safety concerns after a woman was left sleeping on a parked Air Canada aircraft with the lights turned off and crew gone.

Aviation Experts Question Security, Passenger Safety After Woman Left On Plane

Court Ruling Reveals Grim Details Of Lionel Desmond Suicide And Murders

 A court fight over life insurance has revealed for the first time disturbing details about how former Canadian soldier Lionel Desmond fatally shot his mother, wife and daughter before taking his own life in the family's home in rural Nova Scotia in early 2017.

Court Ruling Reveals Grim Details Of Lionel Desmond Suicide And Murders

Six-Year-Old Girl Injured After Falling Off Float In Alberta Parade

Six-Year-Old Girl Injured After Falling Off Float In Alberta Parade
The mayor of a town in east-central Alberta says a six-year-old girl was seriously injured in a parade over the weekend.  

Six-Year-Old Girl Injured After Falling Off Float In Alberta Parade