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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