Thursday, January 12, 2012

Enbridge hearings hit with Snuffaluffagus hoax

Two Brazilians who have never even heard of the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway tarsands-to-tankers pipeline appear to have been signed up as applicants to speak at the hearings. A Calgary Herald editor confirmed their applications were fake by simply pulling their names off the National Energy Board list, phoning them up in Brazil, and asking them.

And right about now I'm guessing you're remembering Kory Teneycke and the Snuffaluffagus hoax.

On Sept 3 2010, former Harper director of communications Kory Teneycke was striving to get his dream of a Fox News North up and running in Canada just as a Stop Fox News North petition from Avaaz was circulating.
"It is safe to assume many, if not most, are Americans" 
he wrote in an op ed slamming the petition that day, sounding eerily similar to Joe Oliver this week.
And not only that, he said, but they were fake names : Snuffaluffagus and Homer Simpson were signatories to the Avaaz petition along with real people who had not signed it, including Andrew Coyne, Paul Wells, and Kady O'Malley. 


Kady was immediately suspicious :
okay, this is weird. how did @KoryTeneycke get a list of *fake* (not fraudulent) sigs on a list that isn't available online?
Teneycke then revealed that he had been contacted with the list of fake names by the prankster who had added them. When Kady told him of her displeasure at being included, Teneycke said his "source" told him he had not added the journalists' names.


Avaaz was understandably livid at this first ever spamming of one of their petitions and filed a complaint with the RCMP and the Ottawa police to investigate the source behind the single IP address from which they had all apparently originated. Although police declined to investigate, Teneycke resigned from Sun TV the next day. for three months before returning as VP in January.


Flash forward to the The Calgary Herald yesterday, who were questioning environmental groups about the two fake Brazilian sign ups :
Unfortunately, after just one day of searching, finding two people who were signed up against their knowledge indicates that at least some people are not interested in acting ethically or hearing the science and the facts. They simply want to mess with the process and throw a wrench into the gears.
Well I certainly agree with that assessment although I don't see any particular advantage to the environmental groups to falsely add the names of people who are never going to testify. This isn't a petition.
No, I think it would more likely be perpetrated by someone seeking to undermine the very legitimacy of the public hearing process itself. Back to the Calgary Herald :
Clearly, the National Energy board and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency have not done a very good job of ensuring the legitimacy of the process.
It's the Snuffaluffagus hoax all over again.
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Update : Big City Lib! Go! Now!
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14 comments:

Holly Stick said...

I sure remembered that little episode. Don't we just have inconvenient memories? ;D

So is someone checking Kory's alibi? How about checking on Levant and Velshi? I doubt that they would trust Marshall to do it right.

Holly Stick said...

BCL has more on this:

http://bigcitylib.blogspot.com/2012/01/bclsb-exclusive-intervernor-confusion.html#links

West End Bob said...

It appears your memory is as sharp as ever, Alison ;-) . . . .

Beijing York said...

The government and the press must think we are idiots.

They are painting this process as if it's the first time NEB and CEAA have ever conducted public hearings. The two agencies know damn well which environmentalist groups are legitimate after having conducted thousands of these joint review panels.

They also know damn well who the individual FNs, Tribal Councils, Metis federated groups, and other Aboriginal organizations likely to ask to present a submission are.

Alison said...

Thanks very much, Holly Stick - added your link to BCL. Good for him for contacting them! I'm guessing from rereading the Calgary Herald article that Ms Gudic is also going to turn out to be a Spirit Bear defender who didn't recognize the issue when it was presented to her by the Calgary herald as "Gateway".

A flimsy excuse to smear the hearings at any rate - just like when Kady and Snuffaluffagus were 'exposed' as being on the Avaaz petition.

WEB : OK, you got me this one time! :-x.

BY : Good point.
Also the Calgary Herald headline reads : Some 'intervenors' have never heard of Gateway, when both the Brazilians, Gudic and Ferraz, clearly do not have intervenor status and only signed up to "Make an Oral Presentation".
I've noticed this muddying up of the distinction before - making it sound like all 4522 people have intervenor status.
Such a fuss about members of the public - most of whom actually do live along the proposed pipeline route - getting to speak for 10 minutes each. How inconvenient for Enbridge and Steve. Even the US State Dept's Keystone XL public hearings run by K-XL client CardnoEntrix didn't dispute the public's right to be heard. Well, not till near the end anyway.

Holly Stick said...

I was thinking that Corbella probably does not know enough to make a conection between Spirit Bears and the Great Bear Wildness and the pipeline route.

It would be nice if one of the environment groups or someone did a commentary on the pipeline route, showing exactly what ecosystems the pipeline would go through and its likely effects.

Holly Stick said...

Oops, is that Great Bear Rainforest? See Albertans just aren't up on this stuff. We're used to just grass and the odd hill.

Holly Stick said...

However, at least one Calgarian (I think) is moving to BC:

http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/BC-Politics/2012/01/12/ClarkShuffle/

This tweet says Boessenkool worked for Enbridge... My, my.

https://twitter.com/#!/daviesjeff/status/157608415265435648

Holly Stick said...

A doc on the Great Bear Rainforest:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3bKmz4od3g&feature=youtu.be

Jim Parrett said...

Absolutely invaluable conversation Alison and Holly Stick. And yes, Boessenkool lobbied for Enbridge and Suncor. Maybe it's just me but could this be a sign Clark is softening on the pipeline deal? BC Blue is NOT happy (but I doubt he's ever happy).

Holly Stick said...

Thanks, Jymn Maybe she is also part of that incestuous tangle of Conservative oil shills. More from Deep Climate:

http://deepclimate.org/2012/01/13/ethical-oil-political-connections-part-1-conservatives-go-newclear/

and Desmogblog

http://www.desmogblog.com/cozy-ties-astroturf-ethical-oil-and-conservative-alliance-promote-tar-sands-expansion

Alison said...

That's quite the developing story on the how Ethical Oil Kathryn Marshall's hubby, previously Harper's Strategic Planning Manager, is generously hosting Ethical Oil, Dame Ezra, Joe Oliver, Jason Kenney, Pierre Poilievre, Kevin Falcon, and a half dozen Alberta Wild Rose candidates on his Texas GoNewClear server, Holly Stick.

Holly's links :

DeSmogBlog

Deep Climate

Speaking of strategic planning ...

Infamous floor-crosser and former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Industry, and Trade David Emerson is on the Executive Management Committee of the China Investment Corporation.

That must be rather handy for them.

Holly Stick said...

And it's a "hundred percent Canadian" Texas server, right?

Alison said...

But of course! and thanks for the link to Spoil.
Posted it. Beautiful brilliant doc.
Much better than any polemic.

Oops - forgot to include Sun News on that list of Canadian Texas server clients above.
Keep reading "gonewclear" as "gone W clear". Must be an insider Bush joke or something. ;-)

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