XPost: can.politics, bc.politics, ont.politics   
   XPost: man.politics, sk.politics   
   From: ConsRCons@govt.cda   
      
   Much like Christy Clark did to British Columbian voters prior to the   
   recent election, the federal government is using our own tax payer   
   dollars to brainwash us into believing their tarsands propaganda.   
      
   If you haven't noticed the pretty pictures aerial photos of green trees   
   and city skylines to promote the oil industry, then take another look.   
   That's CAPP - Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers - doing their   
   job on us.  And you can bet your bank account that they're being   
   financed by the Harper government.   
      
   To what extent?  To a tune of $40 MILLION dollars.  Think about that as   
   they off-load health and education costs onto the provinces . . . .   
   ________________________________   
      
   OTTAWA — The Canadian Press - Wednesday, Nov. 27 2013   
      
   Ottawa spending $40-million to pitch Canada’s natural resources   
      
      
   The Conservative government is spending $40-million this year to   
   advertise Canada’s natural resource sector – principally oil and gas –   
   at home and abroad.   
      
   Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver revealed the figure Wednesday as   
   his department seeks another $12.9-million to augment an international   
   campaign designed to portray Canada as a stable and environmentally   
   responsible source of energy.   
      
   That will bring NRCan’s 2013-14 ad budget to about $40-million –   
   $24-million for advertising abroad and $16.5-million for the domestic   
   market.   
      
   “The government has a responsibility to provide Canadians with facts to   
   assist them in making informed decisions,” Oliver, under opposition   
   questioning, told a Commons committee.   
      
   “This engagement and outreach campaign will raise awareness in key   
   international markets that Canada is an environmentally responsible and   
   reliable supplier of natural resources.”   
      
   The entire federal government advertising budget last year was about   
   $65-million, according to preliminary estimates, with $9-million   
   allotted for Natural Resources.   
      
   In 2010-11, NRCan spent just $237,000 on advertising, according to the   
   government figures.   
      
   Outside the committee room, Oliver justified the spending by linking it   
   directly to winning over American public opinion in order to get   
   approval of TransCanada’s controversial Keystone XL pipeline. The   
   $5.4-billion project to carry Alberta bitumen to the Gulf Coast has   
   become a lightning rod for environmental activists as it awaits a   
   decision from U.S. President Barack Obama.   
      
   “Let’s understand what is at stake here,” Oliver said. “When we’re   
   looking at Keystone, for example, we’re talking about tens of thousands   
   of jobs.”   
      
   Asked to justify ad spending for one industrial sector that’s swallowing   
   up almost two thirds of last year’s total government ad budget, Oliver   
   was emphatic: “You justify it by what it’s going to achieve and there   
   are billions, tens of billions of dollars, in play.”   
      
   Peter Julian, the NDP natural resources critic who teased out the ad   
   spending at the committee, isn’t buying the government rationale.   
      
   “I don’t see how the Harper government can justify spending tens of   
   millions of taxpayers’ money to do something that the private sector   
   could choose to do,” Julian said after the hearing.   
      
   The New Democrat said the ads won’t work because the Conservatives,   
   through their policy choices, have “killed the possibility of social   
   licence” – getting public buy-in, essentially – for major resource   
   projects.   
      
   He said that by slashing environmental assessments and limiting   
   “meaningful public consultation” on pipeline proposals, the government   
   has sparked a public backlash.   
      
   The backlash, Julian asserted, is “worldwide. Canada has a black eye.   
   There’s no doubt.”   
      
   He cited the Obama administration, which has openly urged Canada to up   
   its environmental game, and the European Union, which is targeting   
   higher emissions from oil-sands production.   
      
   Rather than millions on ads, said Julian, “the way the Harper government   
   can start to gain back the social licence is by starting to make better   
   decisions on the environment, on the economy and on the whole process of   
   approving these new projects.”   
      
   To that end, the government is making an effort to establish a baseline   
   of research on cutting edge oil-sands technology.   
      
   Natural Resources has asked a panel of experts to help catalogue and   
   chart a way forward for technologies that can help reduce the   
   environmental footprint of oil-sands development.   
      
   Oliver has asked the Council of Canadian Academies to turn its gaze on   
   new and emerging technologies for extracting bitumen from Alberta’s oil   
   sands.   
      
   A 13-member panel will study what’s currently working and has been asked   
   to identify economic and regulatory hurdles that slow the spread of the   
   most promising technologies.   
      
   “There’s a lot of rhetoric, there’s a lot of exaggeration,” Oliver said   
   of the study.   
      
   “People can come to different conclusions based on the facts, but let’s   
   start all together. We should all start with the facts.”   
      
   The council was created in 2005 with a 10-year, $30-million government   
   grant and is designed to provide peer-reviewed, science-based   
   assessments to help inform public policy.   
      
   Canada is not on track to reach its international pledges for reducing   
   greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2020, but the Conservative   
   government has frequently held out hope that technological breakthroughs   
   will alter that trajectory.   
   _____________________________   
      
      
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   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)