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Nice to see the Guardian doing the heavy lifting while our media snoozes (aka doing Harper’s bidding).
The Canadian government has been accused of an “unprecedented” lobbying effort involving 110 meetings in less than two years in Britain and Europe in a bid to derail new fuel legislation that could hit exports from its tar sands.
The allegation comes from Friends of the Earth Europe (FoEE), which claims Ottawa ministers have attempted to mislead European decision-makers by underplaying the carbon-heavy nature of their crude in assessing new petrol standards.
Canada is worried that proposed European legislation would penalise imports of oil derived from its tar sands and so restrict access to the European market for Canadian oil. This might in turn embolden US legislators to do similar. To prevent this, FoEE says that Ottawa has been conducting an intensive lobbying campaign aimed at preventing the British government and the European commission from watering down the legislation.
“The Canadian government must disclose the genuine GHG [greenhouse gas] footprint of tar sands and stop making false promises. It should take serious measures to address the negative nature of tar sands,” recommends FoEE in a new report entitled Canada’s dirty lobby diary – undermining the EU fuel quality directive.
Cross posted at Let Freedom Rain.
Environmental groups are outraged that the Canadian government should lobby European governments regarding the Alberta oil sands.
After all, only environmental groups are supposed to do that.
Jymn Reply:
August 5th, 2011 at 12:42 PM
Using their own money and not the taxpayers.
That might be a good point if the FoEE and the The Guardian bothered to make it.
But they didn’t. They just condemned the GoC for doing the very things that FoEE does.
Jymn Reply:
August 5th, 2011 at 12:59 PM
That was not their point. It is yours. They did not need to make it.
Why do you think, Harper is sending the criminal Campbell to England, as High Commissioner?
Europe has a ban on the filthy tar sands oil. Campbell is there, to change Europe’s mind. That would mean BC would have, dirty oil tankers, coming into BC’s most treacherous seas in the world. There will then be, China’s dirty takers, the U.S. tankers, and dirty tankers from England. If Campbell and Harper can con other country’s, accepting the dirty crud, there will be thousands of oil tankers, on the oceans.
Harper and Campbell want the power and glory of being, the worlds energy giants. Neither one of them, gives a damn about the devastation, the filthy oil has on the planet. The tar sands oil, is the dirtiest energy in the world.
Harper and Campbell belong in prison for their assault, on our
planet. If we don’t get rid of burning fossil fuels, in our planet. The planet will get rid of us.