"the Kochs’ are waging relentless campaigns to deny climate change and using their wealth to get conservatives elected to office to approve the Keystone XL pipeline and further their corporate interests."
Founded by filmmaker Paul Jay - producer at Fifth Estate and Frontline, creator of the brilliant CBC debate program CounterSpin withhost Avi Lewis, and founding chair of Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival - The Real News Network airs alternative in-depth Canadian content, sans the usual corporate spin. Kudos to them for picking up the Canadian slack, and if you want to see this doc made, show it some support here. For more from Bruce Livesey, see his work as lead investigative reporter at theNational Observer. .
*correction in 2nd sentence*
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Never mind the Senate vagaries on where Duffy actually resides or whether other Senators porking out at the public trough is criminal or just Senate-business-as-usual. Forget all that. Of the various narratives emerging from the Duffy trial, the story that should be getting a lot more attention is that Con Party fundraiser Senator Mike Duffy appears to have served as a behind-the-scenes go-between between Enbridge and Stephen Harper while simultaneously connecting up environmental charities attack dog Vivian Krause, referred to by Ezra Levent as Sun TV's "forensic environmental detective", for an energy sector speaking tour. National Observer : Redacted diary reveals oil's hidden route to Harper :
"Redacted entries in Mike Duffy’s diary suggest he was in regular undisclosed contact with pipeline giant Enbridge during the height of the federal government's scorching attacks on environmental activists and charities in 2012.
The suspended senator’s journal shows a flurry of conversations and emails with or about top-level Enbridge executives, then PMO chief of staff Nigel Wright and the Prime Minister between January and June of 2012, just as the National Energy Board started its hearings on the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline proposal."
CBC : "Duffy appears to be a fan of Krause's work, mentioning her at
least 10 times in his daily diary and setting her up with an agent for speaking
appearances." Setting her up with an agent? According to Krause, speaking fees for appearances before the resources industry now comprises over 90% of her income going back to 2012.
"The Prime Minister is threatening to prevent foreign environmental interests from delaying the approval of a pipeline that would take bitumen from the Alberta oil sands to the West Coast for shipment to Asian markets.
Kathryn Marshall, a spokesperson for EthicalOil.org. said Canadians have much at stake in the construction of the pipeline and “must take a stand against foreigners and their lobbying groups interfering in our decision.”
Cue Ethical Oil's Kathryn Marshall that same month with her "foreign special interests and their deep pocket puppets" :
DeSmog Blog : Friends with Benefits: The Harper Government, EthicalOil.org and Sun Media Connection Ethical Oil of course bragged about lobbying the Canada Revenue Agency for Krause-tagged audits of environmental charities critical of tarsands development. In the 2012 budget, the Canada Revenue Agency launched a special $8M program aimed at punishing environmental political activity, later topped up to $13.4 million. On January 8, 2012, Duffy's diary notes an email and phone call exchange with Ethical Oil author and SunNews *personality* Ezra Levant "re: Vivian Krause". He then met with Krause on three occasions and had two telephone conversations. On February 9, 2012 Krause testified before the Standing Committee on Natural Resources about "deep-pocketed supporters south of the border" funding campaigns against the Canadian energy sector. Duffy was in attendance; his diary that day reads: "Lunch - Vivian Krause."
"...domestic extremism that is “based on grievances – real or perceived – revolving around the promotion of various causes such as animal rights, white supremacy, environmentalism and anti-capitalism."
It's not like that's gone away. An RCMP report released this February raved on about “violent anti-petroleum extremists” and “violent aboriginal extremists,”driven by an “anti-petroleum ideology." Particularly concerning in light of the new Anti-terrorism Bill C-51 with its new engorged mandate to act against “activity that undermines the security of Canada”, the RCMP report suggests pipeline opposition movements should be seen and treated as national criminal security threats. It is 44 pages long. To back up its position, a full nine of those pages, or 20% of the entire report, are quotes from articles by Vivian Krause.
Feb.17, 2012 - “PM asks “Send me a note on Enbridge Line #9 problems”
Good on National Observer, local Vancouver Observer now gone National, for looking beneath the redacting pencil in the Duffy diaries to publish these PMO/Enbridge/Duffy/Krause/Ezra connections.
