Vivian Krause: New U.S. funding for the war on Canadian oil
For more than a decade, there has been a complex international effort to stymie the oil industry in Canada. It’s called the Tar Sands Campaign and the main sources of funding for this campaign are the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Oak Foundation, the Sea Change Foundation, the Tides Foundation and other charitable foundations, most of which are based in California. By my calculations, these foundations have provided at least $75-million for campaigns and land use planning initiatives that thwart the development and export of Canadian oil. Until now, little information has been available about the specific activities that have been funded. Not anymore.
Earlier this month, an unprecedented amount of detail came to light in a series of covering letters for 70 payments sent by the San Francisco-based Tides Foundation (“Tides USA”) to 45 organizations in the U.S., Canada and Europe. These payments total $3.2-million. I came across these covering letters using Google. All of the letters that I’ve seen are signed by Gary D. Schwarz, the interim CEO of Tides USA. Most of these letters were sent between June and October of 2013.
It’s a battle against the will of a democratically elected government in a foreign country. By all accounts it should fall under the banner of treason, yet we give them tax exempt status. Is that politically correct stupidity or what ?
Nah it’s not treason or espionage…..it is clearly sedition.
Can anyone imagine the s*** storm in the MSM if it were found out that the NRA donated ten bucks to the NFA or CSSA???
A billion $$$ per year, and one will never hear so much as a whisper about this bull**** on the CBC.
Time to make this kind of crap outright illegal!!!
Nothing worse than a linked story that’s behind a@^#&#&! extortion wall!
Except maybe Captcha…
Exactly, and as sasquatch says, it is seditious by the Canadian recipients and espionage by the US foundations.
Even though this article is dated November 2013, but hopefully the government has been suggesting that the CRA deal with this.
This is economic war. It ought to be treated like what it is.
Its not American people doing this but the rabid left with their treasonous cohorts here in Canada.
Including the Government there. Stop foreign monies, that allow this insurgency practice by the “environmentalists” You know the clan of green that are ironically working as stooges for none Canadian oil cartels.These are not chartable organizations to begin with.
Why are we allowing political groups from other Nations being allowed funding from sources that have no good will towards this Country?
cut the money milk from this teething brat of conspirators.
Sedition is good but trying to destroy the economic engine of a country could well fall into the realm of treason on our side of the border. Environmentalists have clearly declared war against fossil fuel. Unless of course it’s Ontario, in which case it’s Liberal policies as usual.
How much did the City of Calgary recently give to the Pembina Institute? Seems to me it was in the area of about $75k last year? Mayor Nenshi seems to be a big supporter of the Pembina guys… Those Calgarians should start to pay attention.
All this ranting about “treason” and “sedition” doesn’t help the cause in the slightest. None of that is ever going to happen, so it’s simply useless to go wittering on about it. Do you think that the government doesn’t know all this, chapter and verse? Do you think that Joe Oliver didn’t know precisely what he was talking about in 2012 when he stated publicly about the river of foreign lobby money pouring in?
This article was written nearly seven months ago, so it’s not news. And yes, the government is doing something about it. Several years ago a little piece of legislation called the Canada Not-For-Profit Corporations Act (CNCA) was passed. It imposes some fairly dramatic new conditions on all not-for-profits, in particular those with charitable status. They are going to find the reporting and auditing requirements onerous in the extreme. And guess what happens when they try dodging any of those requirements?
The deadline for full compliance with the new Act is the end of this year. The green slime have been very quietly lobbying desperately against this legislation for several years now, and gotten almost nowhere. The thing has real teeth if the Canada Revenue Agency wishes to use them.
The fact is there has been very little legislative or regulatory control over charities up to now. The CNCA changes all that. Ask yourselves this, geniuses? How did they eventually get Al Capone? A huge war on his booze-smuggling? No, they got him through the income tax act. And that’s how we’ll get these cretins as well. And in the case of these green swine taking foreign baksheesh, it’s going to be essentially impossible to hide the money transfers given the reporting requirements of FINTRAC that the banks have to do for all large money transfers.
So do shut up about this “treason and sedition” stuff. If simply makes us on the Right look stupid. We get these green swine through their bank accounts. This is a war fought by accountants and auditors, not SWAT teams.
What’s important right now is this: has any of this Tides money found its way into political donations on the Left? We already know that Tides bought themselves a Vancouver Mayor. But the real question is whether or not any of it found its way into Lib or Dipper coffers. If it has, Tommy Boy and Shiny Pony are going to have a lot of ‘splainin’ to do.
cgh;
I have been concerned about interference in our political process in Canada by foreign money for some time. At a recent DRA AGM I brought the issue forward with the MP and Financial Agent. Their initial response, rather naïve I thought, was that Elections Canada would be ‘all’ over any foreign money use by political parties. I suggested that Elections Canada’s record gave me no comfort. Lest we forget all those ‘unpaid’ union workers who ‘volunteered’ on previous campaigns. I suggested that even if effective it does not prevent activities by 3rd parties.
A determined, well financed, group could direct the media discussion during an election campaign. The CPC struggles at the best of times getting their message to citizens. Imagine the impact that millions $’s would have in a steady stream of negative press generated from abroad. The Liebels and NDP simply have to stand aside and capitalize on the fallout.
Again I suggest that foreign money being funneled into the ‘enironmental’ movement is not simply funding environmental causes. I sent a list of 5 USA foundations and trusts who have sent $150 million to Canada’s environmental movement in the last 5 years to my MP. This is from work done by Vivian Krause and I assume is known by the Canadian government.
I fear money coming to Canada will not stop with environmental causes but will be used in our next federal election campaign. Again, I consider it very naïve to think that forces who oppose the increase in Canadian oil production will not stop at funding efforts to defeat the CPC. OPEC, Russia and groups within the USA all want Canadian oil production restricted. This is a national security issue and threatens our sovereignty.
Tides foundation …. payments …. stop Canadian oil ….
Ya … so what?
We are ball-less …. nothing will happen …. everyone is getting away with everything …. John Wayne is dead.
Generalissimo Obama and Co are true Banana Republicans.
American envoy is like an insult and a rich brain fart choice
carved on a game die.
Let us be cool and quietly out wait them until they leave.
Democ-Rats defeated HouSen in 2014 and civil war with
the vengeful Hill/Billians in 2016 would be sweet.
“I fear money coming to Canada will not stop with environmental causes but will be used in our next federal election campaign. Again, I consider it very naïve to think that forces who oppose the increase in Canadian oil production will not stop at funding efforts to defeat the CPC. OPEC, Russia and groups within the USA all want Canadian oil production restricted. This is a national security issue and threatens our sovereignty.”
Exactly, and this is seditious and treasonous by Canadians involved in this.
Imagine the furor if the Conservatives received $75 million from wealthy American donors to fund their campaign in the next election.
Double standard?
You bet.
This is absolutely treason.
Anonymous foreign billionaires donating money to useful idiots. Their goal is simple: Limit Canadian oil producers to a single customer, thus keeping the US market awash with cheap energy.
They don’t want Canadian producers to be able to sell on the open market. They don’t even want us to be able to pipe oil to eastern Canada.
Vivian should be given the order of Canada for her efforts in exposing this sham.
“The thing has real teeth if the Canada Revenue Agency wishes to use them.” cgh
The normal function of the Canadian Revenue Agency is seriously flawed IMHO.. In all these cases of expense abuse, none have been penalized for the taxation amounts avoided (not report4ed). It is the Tax penalties, in the US, that prevent wholesale corruption.
The Canadian Banks have been reporting US currency transactions since the 1970’s (Silver hording)> They already have the data, but are reluctant to use it in a meaningful way.
The US system of checks & balances don’t fit into the Canadian Agencies normal operating practices. I don’t know why!
CT, Elections Canada is a broken reed. That’s why the passage of the bill yesterday to give some investigative teeth outside the agency. EC has been staffed by Liberal hacks for decades. Of course they’re not going to investigate this stuff, unless it explodes on them publicly first.
That’s why it’s important to clip them through tax regulations.
Slapshot, a reasonable observation. The key is if it wishes to use the tools it’s been granted. First, a strong minister will have an effect here. If he or she wants this examined, it will be. Second, it’s already started. Notes have been going out from CRA regarding audits of various organizations. Naturally we have no way of knowing who is being audited at this point, but it’s started. Next year, after the CNCA is fully in force, things will be much different and much worse for these folks. You can sometimes hide outright electoral fraud from the hamsters at EC, but you can’t hide from a government tax auditor.
The funding foundations are staffed by limousine-watermelons who have no loyalties to the US well being or energy-competitive advantage with Canada. They are motivated by how well their money can be leveraged in their green dystopian jihad. In Canada, due to public ownership of resources it puts all resource issues into the political arena where, just like what is enjoyed by their progressive cousins, the game is pimping the mindless. In the US, public lands have already been sterilized of economic development and private land is way too expensive so Canada is their target.
Indians can be bought and Canadians won’t ever address the apartheid that keeps them idle, dependent, and on the reserves where mischief over all resource development is their favourite way of getting attention (and if you have ever had to listen to them, they love attention).
The urban mindless listen to the greens as they are little more than superficial thinkers on any issue. The rural mindless are grubbier versions of the same thing. The mindless in Canada have a serious disconnect between the source of funding for their lavish social programmes and their instant gratification on political issues such as thinking they have the luxury of continuing to enjoy the loot without a highly profitable resource sector.
I agree, but tax Audits have political risk, stifle opinion. Canada has laws regarding the “Registration of Foreign Lobbyists”. IE: The Mulroney bribe investigation involved a registered lobbyist..If these Canadian organizations were made to complied with that law & register, all tax exempt status would be negated.
Might even negate some Indian tribal Status.
Sort of a joke really, does anyone seriously think they’ll ever STOP developing the oil sands?
At the corporate level as with Tides Foundation financiers it’s simply about control and who gets their cut of the output.
Otherwise at the end of the day the politicians have a great way to skim off the top, especially the political left, and the fruit-loop activists have a “cause” to avoid real jobs.
They’ll have as much success shutting down this political Liberal gravy train as you or I would not paying our tax’s.