A left-wing lobby group in San Francisco wired $55,000 to the bank account of an Indian chief in Northern Alberta, paying him to oppose the oilsands. And sure enough, that chief – Allan Adam, from the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation – earned his money. Last weekend, he flew to Toronto to sit on a stage next to Neil Young, the folk singer who was in town to demonize Canada’s oil industry.
The Tides Foundation is a tax-exempt charitable juggernaut that funds a veritable who’s-who of highly politicized leftist and radical environmental concerns, including ACORN, The Ruckus society, (“a group of environmental activists dedicated to the violent overthrow of America“), PETA, Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, CAIR (the Council on American Islamic Relations), and many, many more. It’s a complexly structured “shell game” of an organization that for tax purposes is only required to “document where its donations went – but not where they came from.”
Ezra:
How is it acceptable that a foreign lobby group can simply deposit cash into a bank account of a Canadian politician?..[…].. If a foreign oil company – say, ExxonMobil – was depositing secret payments in the bank accounts of MPs, it would be a scandal. Those MPs would face an RCMP investigation, Exxon would likely be charged with bribery, and the media on both sides of the border would have a field day.
Indeed. Here’s more recommended reading.
Yeah, no such thing as oil lobbyists. That never happens. I wouldn’t call Ezra “racist” for bringing this up (he’s racist for other reasons though). It’s a legitimate concern. But big oil is out-spending the anti-oil crowd many times over when it comes to lobbying efforts. The difference… they’ll make even bigger profits if they win. The anti-oil crowd has nothing to gain save fulfilling their goal of pushing an agenda that will hopefully halt or slow climate change, and move us to more sustainable energy production and consumption.
I would surmise that seeing as said bribe recipient is an injun, the RCMP and the media are simply afraid to mention it.
Why would it be any different this time?
It’s about time that someone has started to dig up the dirt for us. US funded attacks on our energy industry is unpardonable. The US would not tolerate if we tried to sway American public opinion by secretly funding organizations. Yet we not only tolerate it but our Federal Government funds the very same organizations to oppose our energy industry.
And as if that were not bad enough, Clark and Redford are Premiers because of US meddling and assistance. Now we can honestly declare that we have the best government money can buy!
Climate change is a natural process that has nothing whatsoever to do with Canadian oil production. It is completely ridiculous to believe otherwise, and even more so to teach vulnerable children these lies in our schools. Progressives should not waste their time trolling conservative forums, they should re-educate themselves using basic facts. Try walking around the block or perhaps jogging (ahem) if in Ottawa (ahem) because if you do that this week, even your feeble progressive brain will deduce that your theory is nonsense. Even more ironic, the extreme cold is coming right at you from around Fort Mac. With all that warming added. Enjoy.
Band chiefs have NO official status outside their reserve.
That makes them nothing but private citizens.
They can do whatever they want without explaining to anyone.
Just to add some balance to Ezra’s news, Vivian Krause-who does quite a bit of work tracing Tides donations, is not in agreement with Ezra. Not taking sides, just adding another angle to the discussion.
That being said, the idea that Green groups are angels in service of Gaia and humans is just ridiculous. Green activism is a big industry and has full support of government institutions that are pushing hard for carbon taxes. According to some newly revealed FOI material it looks like the EPA has been treating enviros like Greenpeace as an arm of government. Government revenues would massively increase with new carbon pricing and crony capitalism/kickbacks in renewables could explode.
John; Humans can’t stop climate change. Thousands of years ago the entire area known now as Canada was under miles of ice. Now it isn’t. That’s climate change.
Blaming cars and factories for changing the earth’s climate is a fraud (Global Warming). It was such a fraud that even the fraudsters realized they had to change the name to Climate Change.
You need to grow up and stop listening to everything the enviro-wackos say.
They also said over a decade ago that all of our coastal areas would be underwather by two years ago! That didn’t happen so they changed their target.
They said well over a decade ago that the hole in the ozone layer at the south pole would doom civilization. It closed (by itself) and we haven’t heard one word about it since. Nor have we heard how much lies they spewed after the “scare” ended. Hint: It wasn’t because we got rid of aerosol spray cans.
Your blind devotion to these delusional wackos is as frightening and disappointing as they are.
Shouldn’t the band chiefs have to explain this sort of thing to their “membership” on the reserves?
Those who employ drive-by slurs such as ‘racist for other reasons’ aren’t worthy of any particular reaction other than contempt.
You know, its really nice to finally see a real live main stream media outlet investigating stuff I (and others) have been screaming about since like 1991. Where does anyone think all the money for lobbying Alan Rock and before him Kim Campbell into creating the gun registry came from?
Who pays for Kooky Wendy’s salary? Still, after all this time?
Hint, the money does -not- come hundreds of thousands of Canadians donating twenty here and twenty there.
Welcome to the party, SUN News. The ice is all melted but the beer at the bottom might still be cool-ish.
Interesting that the subject is BIG MONEY oil and gas production, and not the simple rights of Canadians, but I promise not to look the gift horse in the mouth too close. My truck burns gas too.
Does that make him a bought and paid for cigar store Indian, only there for showy symbolism?
Time for a parliamentary investigation of foreign influence in domestic Canadian issues.
Those eeeeevil Americans, picking on foreign nations.
Johnboy
Every Canadian that pulls up to the pump for a fill,
VOTES FOR BIG OIL.
Now put on your jammies, go to bed, and play in the foot of global warming that will fall overnight.
LC (9:46), just out of curiosity, what is it, specifically, that Vivian Krause disagrees with Ezra about? Could you provide us with a link? The last couple of times I’ve seen her being interviewed she seemed to be expressing/addressing concerns very similar to those he writes about in the column.
The govt. should change the tax status of these foundations so that only a small percent of donations to them is tax deductible. Make them register as lobbyists or face charges just like anyone else.
To be fair, DanBC, when John’s not on his SDA comment-thread lecture tours he does heat his apartment by rubbing two sticks together. When he travels – he is a wise and worldly fellow – he does so on a biomass-fueled jet.
When forced by circumstance to use gas, he pours a bit into a wine glass and sniffs it, with his pinky finger in his left ear, trying to determine the terroir to see if there’s even a faint soupçon of Fort McMurray.
Mostly though, he doesn’t use any fossil fuels, the foods he eats are delivered by ox-cart, etc., etc.
Sporty, the ozone hole closes by itself every year. And re-appears every year. It’s a natural event that’s been known since 1956. Ozone is formed from oxygen by UV light. In the absence of UV, it reverts to oxygen. The combination of an absence of sunlight plus the winter formation of the Antarctic polar vortex results in the appearance every Antarctic winter of that hole. When sunlight returns and the vortex ceases, the ozone re-forms. It’s summer there now, no ozone hole. But 6 months from now there will be a hole again.
I read a variety of conservative blogs. Lately, I have noticed an unusual amount of troll visits on all kinds of blogs. It’s as though there is a planned and organized surge. These are not short hit and run comments but long winded arguments. Zero Hedge has really been hit by them.
John, You are wrong about the anti-oil sands crowd. Some (the minions) think they are fighting things like climate change, but the ones who are paying (via Tides) are just representing different interests, including Saudi Oil. Much of the funding for these groups is from the Rockefeller Foundation with links to Saudi oil. I also am not convinced that more money is being spent by the oil lobby than by environmental activist groups which are ubiquitous at this point. This is a big game and it is good to question motivations on both sides.
On another note, I’d be curious to know how much Young was paid.
It looks like Krause disagrees that the money was deposited in the chief’s account. Being a twitter based disagreement, the details are anorexic. Since she is usually critical of Tides, I take her objection seriously but the issue is unresolved. My post is really just a caution that the details of the payment are in dispute.
I’ve noticed the same thing too, margaret, at more than a few sites, and that they’re often the first commenter, with surprisingly lengthy comments considering the short period of time between the post’s appearance and the (also time-stamped) comment.
I don’t consider John a troll, per se, though; he’s just someone who regurgitates every single piece of progressive/Laurentian-media “wisdom”, note-for-note, exactly as he’s absorbed it, without a single exception. If you asked me what he thinks about (X), and if he hasn’t previously tipped his hat here, I could give you a very close approximation to what his opinion will be.
Compare that to the denizens our our putative “echo chamber”, where us “conservative” types are constantly ripping out each others tracheas in disagreement about everything from military involvement in the ME, to legalization of drugs/prostitution, to religion vs. atheism, etc., etc., etc.
John’s well-schooled/propagandized and completely politically correct, but he’s neither provocative enough nor sufficiently well-informed (beyond what he picks up from the CBC, or whatever) to be excessively irritating. Trolls always try to be irritating; John doesn’t have to.
Ah, gotcha. Thanks, LC.
Luckily, our trolls are inept and simplistic.
Krause does a good job of following the money but does not attack the greens behind it. She likes to infer that US commercial interests are attacking Canadian energy production or preventing pipelines to secure US advantage on pricing or pursuing US nationalistic interests. I commented on her site a few years ago naming a bad actor on a junk-science laden witch hunt against fish farms and she wouldn’t post it.
In the PR wars, Indians make good props for the urban Stockholm Syndrome guilt crowd. That some can be purchased with 21st Century Beads and Blankets (cash) is not news. All so-called “rights and title” issues like consultation boil down to cash shakedown as the alternative is anarchy (brought to you by rulings of the SCOC).
If the resources were privately held, the greens couldn’t afford a small fraction of their worth even with their US sugar-daddies but by the fact that resources are owned by the provinces, they can leverage their cash a hundred fold because they only need to buy or influence the politicians. That is how they got their victories in BC’s forests. Framing this issue in terms of the socialism of public ownership, politicians with any scruples should tie the development of the Oil Sands and pipelines and other resource industries with health care. No oil sands production – no single payer system. It would certainly get the attention of the urban twits who think their health care is free and that we can mindlessly worship at the alter of sustainable development.
The US cash laundering through the greens needs to be framed as eco-colonial imperialism.
Perhaps they would care to explain to everyone why they are shills (more like prostitutes) for these groups. I believe they owe explanations especially to those on the reservations who could benefit from oil/fracking.
John says
“The difference… they’ll make even bigger profits if they win”
So the oil companies make big profits. So what. The oil companies are all publicly owned which means the shareholders get most of the profits. And who are those shareholders? well, for one many pension plans. I have a lefty (i.e. ignorant although VERY well educated) friend who hates big oil and the oil sands.Guess what, he drives a car and also a truck and because he is retired gets TWO government pensions both of which derive a lot of their money from-you guessed it- oil company stocks. When I bring this up he shuts his ignorant mouth quite quickly and changes the subject.I love it when he brings up the subject. Its fun to say “so when are you going to refuse your pension and quite buying gas?”
All the unseemly payola and fixing aside, we really have to step back from the noise and ask “cui bono” – who benefits from the destruction of oilsands production and market presence?
It is a fact we are still dependent on oil at an increasing rate but we could be energy self sufficient and a petroleum giant if the oil sands tech improves to make extraction cheaper – who doesn’t want that to happen? – my bet is there is a crapload of Saudi money/influence in the anti-oilsands lobby.
BTW _ Neil Young can join Soozook in the age dementia ward.
Occam;
Why stop with the Saudis? I agree that the Saudi’s and OPEC would suffer potentially destabilizing impacts to some members if the full potential of the oilsands were realized. I don’t have a link but letters were recently released between a Saudi prince and the Saudi King identifying the threat of increased Canadian crude production on Saudi national security. To think that the Saudis would not take some action to prevent this threat is incredibly naïve.
In many cases I think eco activist are being used/played by external forces who would benefit from preventing increased Canadian crude exports. These resources could produce 8 – 10 million bpd which would rival current Saudi production. The wealth that would accrue to Canada would be hard to grasp. Who is threatened by Canada acquiring such wealth? Such a development would be destabilizing to many OPEC countries who on the most part are spending 100% of their oil income annually. I have been harping for some time now as I think the external threat to Canada goes beyond OPEC.
My other candidates in this conspiracy is Russia and the USA. Putin has established Russia as the energy czar to Europe. Not only is this a means to finance his government but also a way to reassert Soviet influence internationally. Increased Canadian production threatens this effort. It also threatens Russian claims in the Artic as Canada would have the finances to defend her claims there. The Artic is one of the last frontiers in hard metal reserves.
Why would the USA conspire to prevent increased Canadian oil production? The USA has the same Artic concerns as the Russians. A wealthy Canada has the ability to chart a far more independent course than the USA is used to or which they would find desireable. Canada has historically pursued a symbiotic relationship in this relationship. American investment and expertise helped develop Canada. The oil industry itself is a great example. It certainly was not eastern Canadian finance that developed Alberta oil. It was Texas. At some point the interests between Canada and the USA will diverge. It might not be a radical split but simply an agreement to disagree. The dominant partner could find this very difficult and possibly threatening. Working to prevent it should be expected.
If global warming is the huge threat that many seem to think then a richer Canada is a threat to USA interests. Quite simply the biggest threat is that Canada will say no to the export of bulk water into the USA. Surprise? California’s drought conditions have ran that state out of water! This is a threat to USA security. Do Canadians really think that this scenario has not already been explored by USA think tanks? This threat does not require global warming. USA population will soon exceed 400 million people. Wake up and grow up Canada!
Allan Adam, from the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation
The Chief should be reminded that as a paid agent of the Tides Foundation that “he” might be prosecuted for any and all illegal actions by anyone of the Tides Foundation.
Louis Riel was hanged for treason.(all the revisionists can’t change that fact) Those that forget History have a way of repeating the stupidity.
Canada should declare Chief Adam & the Chipewyan Nation enemies of the State and revoke any and all special Status.
john, I hope you never find yourself in need of fuel to keep warm. that is what we use a lot of the oil for.
If it comes down to a disagreement between Ezra and Vivian Krause, my money on who’s more factual would always go on Krause.
Ezra tends to embellish (money deposited directly into chief’s fund) and does his credibility no good when he stretches the facts — because he can be counter-attacked on his BS.
When in doubt, leave it out is always a good policy. Ezra has great presentation, but I always have my BS detector on when he’s spouting.
John, you’ll of course provide us with even a small list of the US oil-lobbyist contributions to Cdn politicians, Cdn pro-oil advertising campaigns, etc., etc. , won’t you?
>
The fictional James Bond knew how to deal with shadowy international conspirators.
Licia Corbella on Twitter: “Just 1 of the 5 rockstar styled diesel buses left running with no one inside them for Neil Young concert.”
Along with all the jetting (including using a private jet) he’s done in his maybe 45-year touring career, I wonder how many times more fossil fuel he’s used than the average American? 1,000 times? 10,000 times?
Just one more celebrity ecocrite.
Don’t hold your breath, as John likes to do drive-by typical hypocritical leftist double-speak lectures.
Note that John ( at the top of this page ) says big oil is outspending the anti oil crowd when it comes to lobbying efforts. What John neglects to admit in that statement is that there is no anti oil crowd, per se, except among the rank in file who have been led with that convenient marketing line. The group opposing the oil sands is the radical left. Environmentalsm is merely one of the beards to camouflage the true aims of this group, which is to seize all levers of governmental power so that they can impose their twisted vision on society. It is the return of Communism, with the difference that their is no longer central control by a foreign Communist government. This subversion of Western, liberal societies like Canada, and the US is completely decentralized.
Instead of a single center of subversion, the radical left is a vast network of groups who are funded by foundations with billions of dollars at their disposal. The radical left, which could also be accurately described as the anti- liberty, or coercive left, are behind the “environmental ” movement ( as explained, for instance, by Greenpeace founder Robert Moore, who pointed out that radical leftists had taken over Greenpeace from the true environmentalists ), but have also infiltrated and seized control of animal welfare organizations such as Humane society, the ASPCA, some civil rights and voter registration organizations, labor unions; like SEIU, occupy Wall Street, and a large number of other organizations that were formerly philanthropic or benevolent in their original form, before they were infiltrated by leftists, and bent by those leftists into tools designed to put government power in their hands, either directly ( by electing an anti-liberty leftist President of the US ), or by insinuating their members into the ( coercive ) bureaucracies of government, such as the IRS, the EPA, OSHA, FDA, DOJ, , etc.
Through the power of their vast network, and their money and resources, and control of the media, this radical left has gained control of the Democratic Party as no candidate in a Democratic primary will ever win that primary unless they have promised absolute allegiance to the radical let’s totalitarian agenda. George Soros has been a major influence in this shadow Democratic Party, and it is Impossible to imagine Barack Obama ever winning over Hillary without the resources of the radical network behind him
The best way to break the coercive left is education, and involvement in conservative parties at the grass roots level, as right leaning governments have shown themselves all to willing to co-habitate with the left. Once truly conservative representatives are elected, the long task of eliminating the coercive bureaucracies, like the EPA, like the IRS, power can begin. Likewise, the foundations they have seized control of will have to be reformed through statute to bring them back to their founders original, philanthropic goals.
Re; Band Chiefs …
Sure they should … a lot of band councils and l their cronies should be doing a lot of explaining. Problem is they tell their own people to F@@k @ff without any consequences.
My point is that Ezra is out to lunch when he calls band chiefs politicians. That would be a level of dignity above what they really are.
Forgive me CT but it’s arctic not artic. I’m sorry I can’t get past that. I like what you say but when you write artic I have to dismiss your points.
Hmm, on a some what related subject, I took a look at EB”s later post regarding GIG’s at the TDSB, Age of Consensual Confusion, and followed the link to the F/PYN (frontline partners w/ youth network) website, who are one of the proponents of the “gender identity” initiative for kids as young as age five. Guess who is funding these deviants? That’s right… Tides Canada
Go get ’em Ezra!!
Re: Band Chiefs – “Shouldn’t the band chiefs have to explain this sort of thing to their “membership” on the reserves?”
How do you know they don’t?
So who is funding what and for what purpose?
This sort of DISCLOSURE is necessary for the Canadian public to make informed decisions come election time.. Where does the story begin and end.. Is there even a story to be told..
Are we dealing with hired street theater defending business interests under the meme of environmentalism..
Why launder your money if its not dirty?
Kate I believe it was on SDA that I saw that Tides San Francisco gave Indian Chiefs 6 million dollars to stop the Northern Gateway Pipeline. Does anyone know if this is true?
The Tides foundation is as invasive as a cancer and just as hard to ignore. It’s the foundation bent on destroying everything that stands for a democratic society by chipping away at the foundation of capitalism and morality. The goal is socialism wrapped up in Obama’s logo……..Forward.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tides_Foundation
They depend on legions of useful idiots like John (first post),Indian Chiefs, Suzuki, Neil young, Hollywood, Pride, Vancouver’s Mayor McGregor and whoever they can buy off to carry the virus invading the brainwashed simpletons. 6 million would be chump change if it furthers their agenda.