Astroturf Illustrated!

Heh. After slagging off on the protesters on Burnaby Mountain for days for being "professional protesters", SunNews ran this headline banner reading "Ineffective Kinder Morgan Protests" under their friendly coverage of four huge pro-oil signs up on the mountain. 

But wait ... haven't we seen those counter-protest signs somewhere before?

Oh here they are! 
Back in May at the "No Enbridge!" protest on Sunset Beach in Vancouver, representing :  

CodyinCalgary's Canada Action 
"Full Value for Canadian Resources - Support Northern Gateway"

Just a couple of guys on a grassroots website with four counter-protest Canada Action banners big enough to block the view of the ocean.... and

• a *surprise* visit from Ezra Levant for Sun News, and

• an op ed in the CAPP/Postmedia partnership world of the Vancouver Sun :Pipeline fear factor is inappropriate, and 

•  an endorsement on their Support the Northern Gateway Pipeline pledge from CEO/ founder Bruce Lounds of local astroturf lobby group, British Columbians for Prosperity or BC4P -- currently managed by Brittany Allison, who is now also an *Energy Citizen* at CAPP's own astroturf site, Energy Citizens.ca, which is in turn a sister org to the American Petroleum Institute's astroturf group, Energy Citizens.org.

The big banner guys above signed up earlier this year at the email-harvesting site, Power of Canada, part of a public relations campaign meant to mobilize the public called the Partnership for Resource Trade. It's hosted by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. 

Power of Canada Advisory Council Members include  Perrin Beatty, Martha Hall Findlay, David Emerson, John Manley, Kevin Lynch, Ted Menzies, and reps from CAPP, TransCanada, Enbridge, Rio Tinto, Teck, Suncor, TransAlta, CD Howe, BMO, Asia-Pacific Foundation, Mining Association of Canada, Port Metro Vancouver, etc. etc. 

From the Power of Canada P4RT mission statement (italics -mine) :

"We aim to foster a favourable environment for policy decisions that enable responsible resource development and trade.We will do that by informing, energizing and mobilizing a broad coalition of Canadian thought leaders, stakeholders, small- and medium-sized businesses and informed Canadians in a countrywide fast-to-action, grassroots public education and advocacy campaign."

In May, CCC CEO Perrin Beatty offered a $2000 student scholarship for producing a video on the merits of P4RT and its objectives. Rule # 1 : 

"In order to be eligible for the contest, students must be registered as full-time students as well as like the Canadian Chamber of Commerce (CCC) on Facebook, follow the CCC on Twitter, and subscribe to the CCC’s Youtube channel. In addition, students must sign themselves and five friends up on the PRT website: Power of Canada."

So I guess we can be expecting a lot more 

"Canadian thought-leaders" with their 

"fast-to-action grassroots" websites and banners in the near future.

P.S. I'm reliably informed that fake grassroots ad campaigns are commonly known in the adbiz as "blowjobs".

Here's one to get them started : We Heart Blow Jobs.

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Framing the future of a national energy export strategy

Corporate oilbidness sponsorship of next week's annual conference of federal and provincial energy ministers caused a few ripples in our  national  media yesterday.

The Government of Alberta Natural Resources webpage lists $180,000 in corporate sponsorship fees for the
"Framing the Future of Energy and Mines"
Energy and Mines Ministers' Conference,
July 16 - 19, 2011

Gold Sponsorship - $30,000
Silver Sponsorship - $20,000
Bronze Sponsorship - $10,000
Just like the Olympics!

Particular mention was made of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers' $30,000 gold sponsorship fee to a government conference where a national energy strategy will be discussed.

Yo, media guys! You know what would have been more useful? Coverage of CAPP's sponsorship of a federal cabinet ministers' meeting in Alberta last week to promote the tarsands.

Last week CAPP hosted Environment Minister Peter Kent, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Jason Kenney, Minister of Public Works Rona Ambrose, and Minister of State of Foreign Affairs Diane Ablonczy in a roundtable discussion following tours of Syncrude and Suncor.

Kenney said the tour enabled them to "go back to parliament and around the world, and defend Canada's oilsands as an environmentally responsible production of energy".
He said the tarsands "constitute the future engine of the Canadian economy" :

"We're talking in 25 years about over $2 trillion in economic growth estimated to be some $700 billion in federal and provincial government revenues. ... There was a lot of bad mouthing about this industry and our government has consistently stood up in defence of the Alberta oilsands ... we will stand up for this incredible growth of our prosperity."

Kenney also pledged his ministry's continued intention to "fine tune its immigration program" to deliver the skillsets the tarsands requires.

Fun fact : There are more than 20 Alberta MPs in the federal caucus.
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