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Harper backs off from initiative that threatens opposition to B.C. pipeline
OTTAWA — Vivian Krause was travelling from her home in North Vancouver to Calgary, and then Fort McMurray, when she learned Thursday that the Harper government is finally acting on her long-standing concerns about what she believes is undue influence in Canadian policy-making by U.S.-funded environmental groups.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada, in a letter to the B.C. government, three West Coast first nations groups and environmental group Tides Canada, said it is withdrawing support for a 2010 deal that was to allow a U.S. environmentalist-oriented trust to spend $8.3 million on the development of an oceans management plan for the north coast through the Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area initiative.
PNCIMA is a project in which federal officials, along with B.C. government and first nations representatives, develop an oceans management plan that "balances ecological, economic, social, and cultural interests."
But there have been fears, fuelled by Krause's research, that environmental groups are using U.S. money to try to thwart development projects including Enbridge Inc's $5.5-billion proposal to pump Alberta bitumen crude by pipeline to the West Coast for Asia-bound tankers.
The federal government's letter, dated Sept. 1, 2011, declared that Ottawa is walking away from the $8.3-million funding agreement because it wants an oceans plan for the north coast based on a more "focused" and "sustainable and effective" process.
Krause, a former nutrition specialist for a United Nations aid agency who is reviled by many B.C. environmentalists, has since 2007 been documenting an estimated $300 million spent by various U.S. trusts to fund environmental initiatives in Canada.
She has appeared before a House of Commons committee, her work has run in newspapers including The Vancouver Sun and National Post, and her opinions have resonated with Conservative politicians and industry groups.
"I'm pleased that Canadian taxpayers' money will no longer further a foreign-funded campaign that is against Canadian interests," Krause told The Vancouver Sun when told about the PNCIMA decision.
"You've got to ask why a foreign foundation is spending more money for marine planning in Canada than Canadians. For 10 years I worked overseas in Central America and Asia, and I have seen around the world the desperate need for money and expertise for environmental programs.
"Where the Americans should be spending their billions is in poor countries that need it, rather than Canada."
Critics, meanwhile, slammed the government decision Thursday. They noted that environmental groups only stepped in because the underfunded fisheries department has been unable for years to fulfil its requirement under the 1996 Oceans Act to develop an integrated management plan.
"They're following conspiracy theories," said New Democratic Party MP Nathan Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley Valley) of the Harper government's decision.
Cullen said he wouldn't object if Ottawa came forward with the $8.3 million, originally offered by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation of Palo Alto, Calif., to fund the consultation work and scientific studies required to develop the plan.
"The ideal would be that the government does what it is mandated to do. But they are undermining the process."
He said Enbridge's lobbyists are likely behind the government's decision, though company spokesman Paul Stanway refused to comment on the politics of the move.
"We're aware of the federal decision. We continue to be committed to working with all stakeholders, including PNCIMA," Stanway said.
The Sept. 1 letter, from Fisheries and Oceans Canada regional director general Susan Farlinger, said the government still intends to come up with an oceans management plan by 2012 in cooperation with the B.C. government and first nations.
"While it [the letter] sounds innocent, what it does is fundamentally dismantle the capacity" to create an integrated oceans management plan, said Bill Wareham, senior marine conservation specialist at the David Suzuki Foundation.
Wareham ridiculed the notion that the PNCIMA process could ever have resulted in an anti-economic development plan, given the Harper government's declared support for the oilsands industry.
"It's so fear-based."
Krause has calculated that the Moore foundation gave $27.7 million to various B.C. environmental organizations to assist their involvement in the PNCIMA process, which includes extensive stakeholder meetings as well as independent scientific research. The Moores have given roughly $60 million gave to B.C. organizations since 2003, according to Krause.
The Moore family's funds were sent not to PNCIMA but to Tides Canada, a powerful environmental non-government organization, which "will provide administrative assistance to PNCIMA in support of achieving an effective planning process," according to the PNCIMA 2010 news release.
Gordon Moore is the founder of the U.S. multinational semiconductor chipmaker Intel. His foundation was established in 2000 to "advance environmental conservation and scientific research around the world and improve the quality of life in the San Francisco Bay Area," according to its website.
Poneil@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/poneilinottawa
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Ha...ion+pipeline/5372085/story.html#ixzz1XQGLJk9l
Harper backs off from initiative that threatens opposition to B.C. pipeline
OTTAWA — Vivian Krause was travelling from her home in North Vancouver to Calgary, and then Fort McMurray, when she learned Thursday that the Harper government is finally acting on her long-standing concerns about what she believes is undue influence in Canadian policy-making by U.S.-funded environmental groups.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada, in a letter to the B.C. government, three West Coast first nations groups and environmental group Tides Canada, said it is withdrawing support for a 2010 deal that was to allow a U.S. environmentalist-oriented trust to spend $8.3 million on the development of an oceans management plan for the north coast through the Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area initiative.
PNCIMA is a project in which federal officials, along with B.C. government and first nations representatives, develop an oceans management plan that "balances ecological, economic, social, and cultural interests."
But there have been fears, fuelled by Krause's research, that environmental groups are using U.S. money to try to thwart development projects including Enbridge Inc's $5.5-billion proposal to pump Alberta bitumen crude by pipeline to the West Coast for Asia-bound tankers.
The federal government's letter, dated Sept. 1, 2011, declared that Ottawa is walking away from the $8.3-million funding agreement because it wants an oceans plan for the north coast based on a more "focused" and "sustainable and effective" process.
Krause, a former nutrition specialist for a United Nations aid agency who is reviled by many B.C. environmentalists, has since 2007 been documenting an estimated $300 million spent by various U.S. trusts to fund environmental initiatives in Canada.
She has appeared before a House of Commons committee, her work has run in newspapers including The Vancouver Sun and National Post, and her opinions have resonated with Conservative politicians and industry groups.
"I'm pleased that Canadian taxpayers' money will no longer further a foreign-funded campaign that is against Canadian interests," Krause told The Vancouver Sun when told about the PNCIMA decision.
"You've got to ask why a foreign foundation is spending more money for marine planning in Canada than Canadians. For 10 years I worked overseas in Central America and Asia, and I have seen around the world the desperate need for money and expertise for environmental programs.
"Where the Americans should be spending their billions is in poor countries that need it, rather than Canada."
Critics, meanwhile, slammed the government decision Thursday. They noted that environmental groups only stepped in because the underfunded fisheries department has been unable for years to fulfil its requirement under the 1996 Oceans Act to develop an integrated management plan.
"They're following conspiracy theories," said New Democratic Party MP Nathan Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley Valley) of the Harper government's decision.
Cullen said he wouldn't object if Ottawa came forward with the $8.3 million, originally offered by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation of Palo Alto, Calif., to fund the consultation work and scientific studies required to develop the plan.
"The ideal would be that the government does what it is mandated to do. But they are undermining the process."
He said Enbridge's lobbyists are likely behind the government's decision, though company spokesman Paul Stanway refused to comment on the politics of the move.
"We're aware of the federal decision. We continue to be committed to working with all stakeholders, including PNCIMA," Stanway said.
The Sept. 1 letter, from Fisheries and Oceans Canada regional director general Susan Farlinger, said the government still intends to come up with an oceans management plan by 2012 in cooperation with the B.C. government and first nations.
"While it [the letter] sounds innocent, what it does is fundamentally dismantle the capacity" to create an integrated oceans management plan, said Bill Wareham, senior marine conservation specialist at the David Suzuki Foundation.
Wareham ridiculed the notion that the PNCIMA process could ever have resulted in an anti-economic development plan, given the Harper government's declared support for the oilsands industry.
"It's so fear-based."
Krause has calculated that the Moore foundation gave $27.7 million to various B.C. environmental organizations to assist their involvement in the PNCIMA process, which includes extensive stakeholder meetings as well as independent scientific research. The Moores have given roughly $60 million gave to B.C. organizations since 2003, according to Krause.
The Moore family's funds were sent not to PNCIMA but to Tides Canada, a powerful environmental non-government organization, which "will provide administrative assistance to PNCIMA in support of achieving an effective planning process," according to the PNCIMA 2010 news release.
Gordon Moore is the founder of the U.S. multinational semiconductor chipmaker Intel. His foundation was established in 2000 to "advance environmental conservation and scientific research around the world and improve the quality of life in the San Francisco Bay Area," according to its website.
Poneil@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/poneilinottawa
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Ha...ion+pipeline/5372085/story.html#ixzz1XQGLJk9l
