Another *grassroots* industry-funded Con tank

Canadian Cynic wonders how the astroturf/fundraiser actiontank Conservative Voice, according to their own website, can manage to juggle :

"Conservative Voice believes that Canada needs an organized, non-profit voice financed by industry to ensure that the Canadian political landscape remains in balance"

with :

"Funded and supported by citizens who cherish individual freedom, free markets, and smaller government." 

Good question. They also declare :

"Conservative Voice is independent of all political parties."

The sole director for Conservative Voice listed at Industry Canada is Dan Hilton, who was personally hired on by Irving Gerstein as Executive Director of the Conservative Party of Canada in January 2009, a position Hilton held til October 2013. 
The Conservative Voice website was registered five months later in March 2014 and Hilton is still thumping up business for them.

(You'll perhaps recall Conservative Fund head Irving Gerstein told Hilton about Nigel Wright's $90K personal cheque to Duffy long before the rest of us heard about it.)

Political analyst Alise Mills, who divides her analyzing time between Ezra Levant's Rebel Media and CBC's Power and Politics, was named National Executive Director at Conservative Voice this past July by "Dan Hilton, Founder and Chair". 
Alise Mills' previously plumped for the astroturf pipelines booster site British Columbians for Prosperity, and apparently will continue to do so in her new gig at ConVoice : 

"On Monday November 9th, our Executive Director, Alise Mills, stands up for Canadian jobs, ethical oil and notes the hypocrisy of cancelling Keystone XL."

I'm not sure what Industry Canada means when it lists Conservative Voice as a "Non-Soliciting" Corporation, but ConVoice held a big fundraiser at the Marriott in Ottawa a couple of weeks ago on December 9 with guest speaker Tony Clement and Rebel Media's Brian Lilley.

Last year, Conservative Voice explained their fundraising objective : 

" ... the real battle takes place between elections."

“We need your corporate support now to build a campaign for the Conservative Voice .... This seed money should be considered a lobbying/activism expense as we promote your conservative corporate agenda. We are seeking funds to finance a national mail and telephone campaign to small and medium sized business owners to build our war chest ahead of the next election so that we can start to push our message in early 2015.”

Corps will get their tax receipt outside the writ period which imposes spending caps on PACs.

Their Mission Statement :

"To raise support and awareness for conservative ideals; and to keep Canada on the right track of Conservative principles and policies while keeping Canada’s political landscape balanced."

Big C in Conservative. Alrighty then.

Monday update : via Greg Fingus : How the Koch network rivals the GOP, overtaking political parties and candidates, infusing money and talent, and answerable to no one. 

This, Greg notes, underscores our need up here for counterbalancing citizens' movements  working across party lines. 
. 

The BC Northern Gateway Pipeline 21

21 Con MPs from BC who apparently side with Enbridge rather than BC.

Kerry-Lynne Findlay : "NEB JRP conducted a rigorous/independent science-based review, heard from 1450+ parties & reviewed over 175K pages of evidence"

Mark Warawa : "Panel heard +1450 participants, reviewed +175,000 pages of evidence & 9,000 letters Concluded pipeline n public interest, can build safely"

Bob Zimmer : "The National Energy Board (NEB) Joint Review Panel conducted a rigorous, independent, science-based review, hearing from over 1450 participants in 21 communities and reviewing over 175 000 pages of evidence and 9000 letters."

Ok, enough of the wurlitzer ... but just for fun -- James Lunney : "Science settled? Think again! The Global Warming Hiatus..NP http://bit.ly/1i8A55F" 

So how's everyone doing with having elected MPs to represent Enbridge to them? From Nanos :

and yesterday's CBC Power and Politics Poll :

BTW, Evan Solomon, when frequent CBC  "power panellist" Alise MIlls tells you that the government's pipeline approval is "fair and balanced" and 

"internal polling that I've seen from the company that I work with" shows "a much more moveable vote", 

that's your cue to mention that the company she works with is the oil industry front group British Columbians for Prosperity.  
The group's founder, ex-oilman Bruce Lounds, has said their funding comes from "a combination of private citizens and corporate donations", but according to Mills, "he is no longer one of the key decision makers in the group"  :

Mills downplayed the executive director's statements regarding funding, saying he is no longer one of the key decision makers in the group.  She added that she is, along with a Board of Directors.  She said she would eventually disclose the board's names and full budget.

The best Northern Gateway Pipeline approval quote comes not from any of the above MPS but from the father of one of them, Enbridge lobbyist Chuck Strahl :

 “The federal government is loathe to go against expert opinion on science-based reports.”

*cough*  5 times Canadians were utterly misled about the Northern Gateway pipeline  *cough*

Write to the Enbridge 21 here :

Subject : You let BC down by siding with Enbridge

Your government just approved the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline and supertankers project. But the people of BC have already said no, and this pipeline will never be built. 

Over 130 First Nations have created a united wall of opposition and have launched numerous legal challenges. Eight out of eleven communities in the path of the pipeline and tankers have rejected it, including Kitimat, Prince Rupert, Ft St James, Terrace, and Charlotte City. Even the entire Union of BC Municipalities voted to oppose the project, twice.  

Only two responses out of 1,161 to the Joint Review Panel were in support of the project, and public opinion polls have consistently shown 2/3 of the province is opposed.
The Enbridge Northern Gateway project threatens our coastal economy, our land, water, First Nations, and our independence as a province to make our own decisions about our future. 

As an MP from BC, you let us down. You could have helped defend beautiful British Columbia from the Enbridge project, but instead you chose to gamble BC’s future.
You and your party will pay a steep political price in BC.
Northern gateway will be an election issue in 2015, and I pledge to vote for a candidate who will stand up for BC and stop this pipeline from being built. 

[Your name here]

.

Alise Mills works for British Columbians for Prosperity

Pipelines booster British Columbians for International Prosperity or BC4P, whose website DeSmogBlog noted 4 days ago "bears remarkable similarity to the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity", is "an independent group of concerned citizens looking to promote practical resource development" yadda yadda. They dropped the "International" from their brand name back in February :

They are not for "International Prosperity" any longer apparently. This is possibly due to their new campaign moneytrail.ca, which in turn bears a remarkable similarity to 
Ethical Oil's "Foreign Special Interests and Their Deep Pocket Puppets" campaign 
(and it would of course be entirely churlish of me to bring Koch up again by mentioning Ethical Oil founder Ezra Levant's internship with Koch here).

BC4P : FOLLOW THE MONEY TRAIL AND EXPLORE THE US FOUNDATION FUNDING HYPOCRISY THAT'S IMPACTING CANADIAN SOVEREIGNTY  

 "Wealthy American Foundations pump millions of dollars into campaigns to halt Canadian oil sands production and pipelines. The war on pipelines in BC is not about spirit bears and it's not about rain forests or climate change."

Not about spirit bears and rain forests. Got it.

Now when BC4IP/BC4P shot one of their pro-pipeline videos near my house last year, I assumed their "independent concerned citizens" consisted entirely of former ConocoPhillips and BP exec Bruce Lounds, Management Consulting in Heavy Oil / Tar Sands Sector, of North Vancouver and his website hosted in Chicago, Illinois:

But according to this Feb 25 article in 24 Hours by frequent CBC/CTV/SunNews panellist and commentator Alise Mills (excerpted): 

US has motive to block Canadian oil :

"The war on pipelines in BC is not about spirit bears and rain forests. 

It is about America's economy.   

American foundations have spent millions to halt Canadian pipelines and oil production.We need to build pipelines so that we become sovereign architects of our own future. "

And a Dec 2013 BC4P press release applauding the Joint Review Panel's approval of the Northern Gateway Pipeline was signed : Alise Mills, Media Relations Director.

Mills was on CBC's Power and Politics again this evening.

Honestly, CBC, I really think it's about time you mention she works for tarsands astroturfer BC4P at some point.

May 1 Update : Vancouver Observer follows up : 

Pro-oil 'citizens group' flip flops on its robo-calling of BC voters.

.