Thursday, May 22, 2014

Shilling For Oil



Big Oil has always been behind Stephen Harper's agenda. That was made clear once again this week when the RCMP revealed details into accusations against Bruce Carson, the disbarred lawyer who used to work in Harper's PMO. Linda McQuaig writes:

In these new RCMP allegations, however, Carson was working for the Energy Policy Institute of Canada (EPIC), described in the media as a “non-profit group formed by business organizations in the energy sector.”

This rather benign description fails to convey what EPIC really is: a lobbying vehicle for dozens of extremely wealthy, powerful fossil fuel companies, including Enbridge, Imperial Oil, Shell, Suncor and Irving Oil, as well as the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers — all hell-bent on developing Alberta’s tar sands.

The important story here isn’t the alleged illegal lobbying behaviour of Carson (who is banned from lobbying for five years after serving in government). The real story is the reception he receives when, now representing Big Oil, he approaches the top man in the PMO, Nigel Wright, someone he doesn’t know personally, with a document laying out what Big Oil wants.
According to emails disclosed by the RCMP, Wright promises to read the document over the weekend, and urges Carson to “feel free to give me a call at any time."

And, when Carson reported back to Doug Black, the founding president of EPIC, Carson got this response:

“Excellent. Need Nigel on side,” responded Black (who is now a Conservative senator, of all things).

And you thought Stephen Harper was working for you?  McQuaig writes:

Even as climate disasters occur with growing frequency — including the worst flooding in Serbia in a century, killing 43 people this week — the Harper government relentlessly promotes Big Oil’s development plans, guts our environmental review processes and aggressively audits environmental groups, muzzles government scientists and undermines international UN-sponsored efforts to rein in climate change.

Mr. Harper is shilling for oil.

7 comments:

The Mound of Sound said...

"Behind", yes. Also in front, above, beneath and to the right and left of the Harper agenda.

Carson was hired as Harper's liaison with the Oil Patch. After he was outed in a serious PMO scandal (in which Harper, true to form, changed his story more than once)he was airlifted to Calgary to continue on only this time through a bogus non-profit.

You might have thought that the Carson criminal record scandal would have rendered BC personna non grata with the PMO for the rest of his days but, obviously, it didn't. That's because Harper was lying through his dentures when he claimed to have been taken by surprise at Carson's past.

Dyed in the wool, veteran Ottawa Tory insiders have repeatedly told me that they warned the PMO at every turn that Carson was a jailbird and a high risk asset. They were flatly ignored. The PMO knew and the PMO knew that Carson was handpicked by Stephen Harper, rap sheet be damned.

The Mound of Sound said...

And I won't get into what this says about Harper's erstwhile altar boy, Nigel Wright.

Owen Gray said...

Steve makes a big deal of being tough on crime, Mound. Except for those in the Inner Sanctum -- and that includes Wright.

Anonymous said...

Wright is just as much a criminal, as the rest of Harper's cabal. Harper's list of degenerates to do his dirty work for him is as, long as his arm.

Some of Harper's degenerates are, Gordon Campbell, Bruce Carson, Penashue, Ford, Porter, Saulie Zajdel, Del Mastro, Soudas, Wenzel, Parker, Front Porch Strategies, robo-call crew, Boessenkool, Brazeau, Wallin, Wright, Duffy, Flanagan, Toews, Gerstein, Husak, Glover, Olsen, Stewart, Byrne, Nowak, , LeBreton, Poilievre, Brad Butt, Christy Clark, Berstein and I likely missed a few.

The Royal Conservative Mounted Police, let Wright off from his crimes. Wright did aid, abet, cover-up and paid the bill for a Senator who was stealing our tax dollars. The PMO also sanitized Senators expense claims. The RCMP need to change their shirt color to brown.

However, we are very accustomed to, the RCMP and their own crimes. They commit worse crimes, than the people they arrest.

In BC, citizens did not want the RCMP contract renewed. Nor did BC people want the RCMP, as icons for Canada anymore either.

Owen Gray said...

That list keeps getting longer, Anon. It is club for the less than upright.

Anonymous said...

EPIC just released their new oil spill cleanup training video...

http://i.imgur.com/bIwUig8.gif

Owen Gray said...

Given how BP handled the Gulf of Mexico disaster, Anon, we have every reason to believe that Big Oil is not out to serve the common good.