Harper’s Canada: An environmental policy fact sheet

A lot has happened during the past year in Canadian politics and current affairs. Canadians are increasingly speaking up about federal policies. Environmental issues have taken centre stage as the debates heat up over resource development projects like the Northern Gateway pipeline. And threats to democracy are raising concern among citizens and experts from coast to coast.

Today, it’s become almost impossible to discuss Canadian politics without talking about the environment. To help illustrate this social and political shift, here’s a fact sheet that highlights key events and decisions related to Canadian environmental policy.

Environmental issues are increasingly defining Canada’s relationship to the international community

• The oil sands are Canada’s fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions
• Tar sands extraction accounts for about 6.5% of Canada’s total GHG emissions
• If Alberta was a country, its per capita GHG emissions would be higher than any other country in the world
• With expanding development, oil sands emissions increased 14% from 2009-10

• Dec. 12, 2011 - Environment Minister Peter Kent announced Canada’s withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol, the first country to withdraw
• World leaders like Desmond Tutu condemned the decision, appealing to the government to halt Canada’s increasing contribution to climate change
• Yale and Columbia Universities ranked Canada 37^th in the 2012 Environmental Performance Index, below other industrialized countries like Germany, Japan, Brazil
• Instead of taking heed of international critics, the government is reportedly involved in secretive lobbies and aggressive efforts to make tar sands more palatable abroad
• Documents recently revealed almost $54,000 in taxpayer money spent on a 2-day oil lobby retreat in the UK (from 2011)
• A team of 25 lobbyists are reported to work on the pro-oil issue, plus consultants to help teach techniques for addressing criticism

• The proposed EU fuel quality directive legislation was expected to discriminate against tar sands for its emissions, by ranking different resources by their carbon footprint and contribution to climate change
• Canadian government and industry have been fighting back to prevent this legislation, training diplomats in Europe to lobby on behalf of oil companies
• Feb. 23, 2012 - an EU vote to pass the fuel directive ended in stalemate, with 12 countries in support, 8 opposed and 7 abstained
• Without a "qualified majority", the EU proposal will now be considered by European environment ministers and a final decision is expected by July

• Obama delayed (Nov.) then rejected (Jan.) Keystone XL pipeline proposal
• Harper + Conservatives prioritized Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline to Asia
• Harper to Obama: Canada is “profoundly disappointed” and “will continue to work towards diversifying energy exports” (elsewhere)
• Harper immediately planned a trip to China for early February 2012, including oil executives like the CEO of Enbridge in his delegation

• Aug. 20, 2011 - cross-border organization Tar Sands Action joined 350.org in a two-week sit-in protest outside the White House, against Keystone XL
• Nov. 6, 2011 - The largest Keystone XL protest gathered over 10,000 people to encircle the White House, including celebrities like Robert Redford, Mark Ruffalo and Naomi Klein
• Over 1,200 protesters have been arrested during these actions, including some Canadians
• In February, Republicans made another attempt to push Keystone XL through, by proposing that it be inserted into a highway bill to force a quicker decision
• Activists and environmental organizations responded Feb. 13, 2012 with 24-hr blitz to send over 500,000 messages to Congress (led by Bill McKibben, 350.org)
• Keystone proponents say it will provide jobs + energy security, while opponents raise concerns about spills, sensitive ecosystems and say original job numbers were inflated
• Jan. 27, 2012 - Greenpeace wrote to TransCanada + requested an investigation through the Securities and Exchange Commission, to look into inflated job #s
• Reports commissioned by company TransCanada originally said 20,000 jobs would be created, but that claim was debunked and now reports say it’s closer to 5,000-6,000
• Feb. 27, 2012 - TransCanada announced they will go ahead with the southern leg of the Keystone pipeline, now named the "Gulf Coast Project" from Cushing, Oklahoma to the southern coast
• Meanwhile, they are submitting a revised application for the northern half of the pipeline, giving consideration to sensitive ecological areas in Nebraska

• Conservative US billionaire donors The Koch Brothers are also owners of Koch Industries (one of Canada’s largest oil purchasers/shippers/exporters)
• They stand to profit hugely from Keystone XL if built, and are also known to be contributors in movement to discredit climate science
• The Koch brothers are also funders of Americans for Prosperity (AFP) who are leading the push to dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

• While TransCanada is working on pipelines to the U.S., Enbridge is the company behind today’s huge Canadian pipeline debate
• Enbridge operates an extensive network of pipelines across North America, and has dealt with a number of serious spills
• July 25, 2010 - Enbridge pipeline in Michigan burst, spilling over 1 million gallons of oil into the Kalamazoo River and surrounding area
• Company originally downplayed amount of spill (said it was 819,000 gallons but it was actually over 1.1 million)
• The clean-up efforts continue even now, and local residents have reported health issues like seizures, nausea, breathing problems from toxic spill
• Enbridge has a history of other spills in the US, including four major spills since 2002 (between 19,000 – 500,000 gallons each)
• Short film highlights Enbridge’s links to spills and bad PR in the States, explaining potential impacts on the Canadian landscape

• Jan. 10, 2012 - regulatory hearings began in Northern BC over Enbridge pipeline
• A government-appointed Joint Review Panel will make recommendation after about a year of public hearings
• In January, the federal government started taking aggressive action to silence pipeline critics
• Labeled environmentalists as “radicals” bent on sabotaging the Canadian economy and jobs
• A coordinated campaign linked government efforts to the pro-oil sands group Ethical Oil, which employs the same rhetoric repeated by Harper and Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver
• A smear campaign began against environmental groups, condemning them for accepting funding from radical “socialist billionaires” in the U.S.
• Jan. 3, 2012 - “Our Decision” website launched by Ethical Oil, bashing environmental groups and their ties to U.S. funders
• Jan. 6, 2012 - Harper made public remarks voicing his own concern over foreign funders and U.S. interests “hijacking” Northern Gateway hearings
• Jan. 9, 2012 - Joe Oliver released an open letter calling out “environmental and other radical groups” for attempting to hijack hearings and kill important projects
• Independent reports illustrate links between the Prime Minister's Office, pro-oilsands Ethical Oil organization, and Sun Media news outlets (former PMO staff working for Ethical Oil, Ethical Oil spokespeople working for Sun News, consultants and firms tied to both pro-oilsands campaigns and Conservative MPs, etc.)
• Previous reports from 2009 had revealed Harper's secret meetings with UK media baron Rupert Murdoch and Fox News president Roger Ailes, assumedly to discuss the creation of the new right-wing network Sun News
• Harper's director of communications Kory Teneycke was the driving force behind Sun News at its launch

• Jan. 24, 2012 - Andrew Frank, former communications director with enviro group ForestEthics, released an open letter claiming that the Prime Minister's Office threatened charitable organization Tides Canada, naming them an "enemy of Canada"
• Jan. 26, 2012 - Government documents were released through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, revealing that the National Energy Board—the federal agency responsible for Joint Review Panel hearings—was listed as an oil sands “ally”
• The same report that labeled NEB as “ally” said aboriginals, environmental groups and media were considered “adversaries”
• The report above was part of the government’s intensive oil sands lobby in the EU (to stop them from ranking tar sands low on the fuel directive list)
• Feb. 9, 2012 - Canada's new counter-terrorist strategy was released, labeling environmentalists as potential “issue based extremists
• New legislation changes proposed by Harper's Conservatives also aim to shorten the environmental review process, to enable resource projects to be fast-tracked to construction
• Mar. 4, 2012 - press reports reveal that the federal government scrapped an agreement with a U.S. based foundation that supports environmental causes, after Enbridge lobbied against the deal

• For years, Harper has been accused of “muzzling” scientists on environmental issues like climate change
• Feb. 16, 2012 – International science journalists wrote an open letter to Harper to stop muzzling
• Their complaints relate to recently leaked documents in U.S. (concerning the Heartland Society) that revealed campaigns to silence climate science, cut out education about global warming

For more on “Harper’s Canada”, read VO’s other cheat sheets:

Harper’s Canada: A Conservative government policy cheat sheet
Harper’s Canada: A public safety and privacy cheat sheet
Harper’s Canada: A local and provincial politics cheat sheet
Harper’s Canada: Threats to democracy