To the United States Congress Canada Equals “Oil Sands” and Very Little Else

September 8, 2014 – Yesterday’s published expose on Canada’s promotion of the oil sands, appearing in the Pullitzer Prize winning “Inside Climate News,” is an indictment of the country’s federal government. Having stripped away funding from its own science-based research into greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from oil sands production, having backed out of Kyoto (the only signatory country to do so), and having lied to Canadians every day about environmental stewardship, the current federal government is no more than a front for the fossil fuel industry. And taking the lead in spreading the lies is the man pictured below, Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Here are the facts:

• Environment Canada’s budget on research into pollution management and mitigation is being cut by 42% based on projections for fiscal 2016-17. That’s just after the next scheduled federal election.
• Science-based departments in the federal government public service are seeing 5,000 job cuts and a $3 billion reduction in funding.
• The cuts are false savings because the government has to hire private contractors any time it needs to do environmental reviews and private contractors are not on payroll but cost more in per diems than any employee.
• The federal government spent $9 million on a domestic ad campaign in 2012 to convince Canadians it was promoting growth in the economy while maintaining the highest environmental protection standards in the world.
• Fleishman-Hillard, a public relations firm, is being paid $5 million to manage an advertising campaign to promote the oil sands to the U.S. government and public. You can see one of their ads below. The firm just had its contract renewed.
• The federal government continues to delay introducing targets for reductions in GHG emissions for the fossil fuel industry. This has been ongoing for several years now with the Prime Minister sidestepping the issue repeatedly by stating that he wants to lock it in when the U.S. announces its standards. But the U.S. emission reduction targets are focused on coal-fired power plants not oil from oil sands.
• Latest forecasts from Environment Canada indicate GHGs will grow by 84% from 2012 levels by 2020. This is on top of GHG emission growth of 62% from 2005 to 2011. And even this data is suspect because the government restricts scientists from measuring emissions coming from the chimneys and pipes at Alberta and Saskatchewan sites.
• In addition to the government suppressing GHG emissions research, it is muzzling research looking at the impact of the oil sands on surrounding water, air, soil, wildlife and human populations living downstream from the extraction and processing sites.
• The government through Health Canada downplays any research that demonstrates causal links between cancer and disease rates in indigenous populations downstream from oil sands’ extraction and processing sites.

As Danielle Droitsch, the Canada Project Director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, a U.S.-based environmental action group, recently stated, “when we talk with decision makers on Capitol Hill, they…have observed that there really isn’t a difference between the government of Canada and the tar sands industry.”

So the Canadian people are being sold a bill of goods by their federal government. The American Congress looks north of its border and sees Canadians as being on board with a North American energy strategy based on oil sands and not on a responsible mix of energy sources including renewables. The Congress ignores the implications of rising production and the resulting rise in GHG emissions.

The Canadian government continues to be culpable and guilty of a massive fraud against its own citizens, the United States, and the rest of world in the effort to serve the interests of oil sands producers. To quote Emile Zola from a previous century, “J’accuse!”

J’accuse the government of Stephen Harper in perpetrating a fraud on the people of Canada regarding environmental policy.

J’accuse the government of Stephen Harper of deliberately suppressing science done by investigators from within his own Public Service who question the validity of his policy regarding oil sands development.

J’accuse the government of Stephen Harper of deliberate disregard for the safety and health of those Canadians who live in proximity to the oil sands projects.

And j’accuse the government of Stephen Harper of failing in its international obligations to address Canada’s contribution to GHGs and climate change.

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• Canadian Provincial Premiers Decide on a National Energy Strategy that Includes Climate Change Action
• Do We Know The Cost of Dealing or Not Dealing with Climate Change?
• Climate Change Response is the Talk of the Day But Where’s the Action?
• New documents reveal Canada isn’t serious about addressing its tar sands emissions problem