Did OPEC hire Amnesty International

[Anonymous]

CALGARY — Amnesty International has warned Alberta Premier Jason Kenney that his government's fight against oil and gas industry foes puts human rights at risk.



The head of the group's Canadian branch outlined his concerns in an open letter Tuesday that highlighted Alberta's public inquiry into foreign funding of environmental groups and its $30-million war room to combat critics through social media, advertising and the press.



The United Conservative government has launched a multi-pronged attack on groups Kenney has accused of mounting a "campaign of lies and defamation." He has blamed Canada's inability to build new market-opening pipelines — and the associated economic woes in Alberta — on deep-pocketed U.S. charities that have unfairly maligned Canadian energy.



Although Alberta has enacted no laws stopping environmentalists from expressing their views, the government has created a toxic environment by labelling them liars and enemies, Neve said.



In a speech to an oilsands conference in Fort McMurray, Alta., Kenney ridiculed Amnesty's letter.



The premier said he set up an Amnesty International club in high school because of its work on behalf of prisoners in authoritarian dictatorships.



"The world must be in a pretty good place now with respect to human rights if they're now focusing their attention on efforts by the government of Alberta to advocate for the environmentally responsible development of resources," said Kenney, who added he intends to write back to Neve.



Kenney said Canada has a moral obligation to provide its energy to the world.



"Is it really the view of Amnesty International that the world would be better if this country — this great champion of human dignity, of equality, of opportunity, of environmental protection —  were to abandon global energy markets to Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia and Venezuela?"

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/topstories/amnesty-deeply-concerned-about-albertas-plans-to-fight-oil-industry-foes/ar-AAH5NmC?ocid=mailsignout">https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/topstor ... ailsignout">https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/topstories/amnesty-deeply-concerned-about-albertas-plans-to-fight-oil-industry-foes/ar-AAH5NmC?ocid=mailsignout



Amnesty International has gone from advocating on behalf of prisoners of conscience in dictatorial regimes to advocating for the exports of dictatorial regimes.

[Anonymous]

By Lorne Gunter of Sun News Media



ECO-ACTIVISTS TARGET ALBERTA

Amnesty International calling Premier Kenney's 'fight back strategy' a violation of human rights is preposterous



Is it purely coincidental? On Monday, the Alberta government's public inquiry into the foreign funding of anti-oil, anti-pipeline groups went public. On Tuesday, Amnesty International sent an eight-page demand to Alberta Premier Jason Kenney insisting he shut down his "fight back strategy" and "war room" because the two violate human rights, particularly those of Indigenous persons and women.



Huh!?



Overkill inquiry



I admit, holding a full public inquiry (complete with quasi-judicial powers to subpoena documents and testimony) into the foreign sources of cash used by Canadian environmentalists and First Nations to challenge pipelines in court and obstruct oil and gas development seems a bit like overkill.



Without any of these extraordinary powers, lone researcher Vivian Krause has been able to piece together donations of several hundred million dollars to something called the Tar Sands Campaign, mostly from the foundations of billionaire Americans.



In turn, the Tar Sands Campaign has doled out hundreds of millions to a long list of Canadian ecogroups to pay for staff, offices, publicity campaigns, court cases, blockades, demonstrations and – my favourite — "kayaktivism" (protestors paddle out to an oil platform and chain themselves and their kayaks to the platform to stop work).



When you see something like a squatters camp living on a construction site blocking development, have you ever wondered how they can afford to eat, sleep, drink for weeks at a time without jobs?



The foreign money given to "landlock" Canadian oil is one plausible explanation.



Surely even without the authority to issue subpoenas and compel testimony at public hearings, inquiry commissioner Steve Allan, one of the top forensic accountants in the country, would be able to root out the sources of the decade-long, anti-oilsands campaign.



But for Amnesty International to claim the Alberta government's "fight back" strategy is a potential violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, that it is likely to harm environmentalists' rights of freedom of expression and freedom of association and "expose them to intimidation and threats, including threats of violence" is preposterous.



Threat allegations



Even more preposterous is Amnesty's assertion that fighting back against the misinformation campaigns of Tar Sands organizations – the extremely well-funded misinformation campaigns – is a threat to reconciliation with First Nations and to gender equity.



Apparently, it doesn't bother Amnesty when earth crusaders blockade legal construction projects and commit acts of eco-terrorism or when activists make threats against politicians and energy executives or shout vile claims at energy workers.



However, it really upsets them when the province neglects its "responsibility to advance comprehensive action to address the human rights impacts of the global climate crisis."



(When any organization, whether Amnesty or the federal Liberals or a municipal government starts using the phrase "climate crisis," it has already signalled it sees the issue as mostly ideological, not scientific, and it has taken sides.)



Amnesty cautions the Kenney government not to try to suppress the views of those opposed to its pro-energy stance or to use the power of the police to surveil and intimidate its opponents or place limits on open discussion.



I can't imagine Amnesty truly thinks the "fight back" strategy constitutes a real threat to use such tactics. Rather, I imagine Amnesty, with its built-in lefty sensibilities, has no trouble being used by eco-activists to try to discredit the one government that is finally standing up to their radical agenda.



The Alberta government has been clear. It is not attempting to shut down opposition to oil and the oilsands. It is merely seeking to expose (if it exists) the mammoth, rich network that seems to be behind the hamstringing of the Canadian oil and gas industry.



Especially coming as it does just one day after the Alberta government inquiry went public, the Amnesty ploy seems deliberate.

[Anonymous]

Jason Kenney has to fill the void left by Justin Trudeau.



By Kenneth Green, research for the Fraser Institute



Federal government idle as pipeline opponents keep waging war



Once again, a small group of anti-pipeline activists have thrown another roadblock at the proposed Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion.



Lest anyone has been living in a cave or out of the country for a few years, the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion twins the original Trans Mountain pipeline built in 1953 — and successfully operated since.



The proposed project would expand oil transport capacity from Alberta to British Columbia from 300,000 barrels per day to 890,000 barrels per day (and of course, this is the pipeline system Ottawa bought on our behalf in May 2018 for a cool $4.5 billion).



Last week, the Federal Court of Appeal allowed six new legal challenges to the pipeline to proceed, once again, over the claims that the federal government's consultation with Indigenous communities was insufficient.



The appeals were made by the Coldwater Indian Band, Squamish Nation, Tsleil-waututh Nation, Upper Nicola Band, the Stk'emlupsemc Te Secwepemc and a coalition of First Nations in B.C.'S Fraser Valley. Six other challenges on environmental grounds were rejected, although environmental groups such as Ecojustice, the Raincoast Conservation Foundation and Living Oceans Society are considering an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. Over a pipeline.



Perhaps most outrageous of all, the Trudeau government declined to provide evidence or challenge the lawsuits.



As Rex Murphy writes in the national post, "The biggest horror of this latest kick in the teeth to the oil industry, this gazillionth suspension and delay, is that the government of our Canada didn't even so much as show up to watch the proceedings. It didn't intervene. It didn't submit arguments. It wasn't even there as a casual bystander."



As researchers for the Fraser Institute point out, Canada continues to pay a heavy price for the relentless opposition to pipelines.



In "The Cost of Pipeline Constraints in Canada, 2019," researchers Elmira Aliakbari and Ashley Stedman put some numbers to the losses.



They show, for example, that in October 2018, Canadian heavy crude (WCS) traded at only about 40 per cent of the U.S. West Texas Intermediary (WTI) price, which represented a discount of 60 per cent.



In November, the price differential widened to reach almost 70 per cent, meaning WCS was sold at only 30 per cent of WTI.



And the cost of that discount? In 2018, after accounting for quality differences and transportation costs, the depressed prices for Canadian heavy crude oil resulted in C$20.6 billion in foregone revenues for the Canadian energy industry.



This significant loss is equivalent to approximately one per cent of Canada's national GDP.



The oil price discount has dropped some due to the previous Notley government's decision to curtail oil production by some 8.7 per cent. The restrictions were to be lifted at the end of 2019, when Enbridge was expected to bring its new Line 3 pipeline online, but delays with that project led the current Kenney government to extend curtailment for an additional year.



The continued obstruction of pipelines is bad for Alberta's economy and bad for the environment since more and more oil is transported by rail, a slightly less-safe way to transport.



These latest appeals are not expected to stop work on the pipeline entirely, nor significantly reduce oil company share prices.



As Dwight Newman of the University of Saskatchewan notes, "There's no toolsdown requirement" in the court's decision.



A slim reed of hope for sanity to prevail.

[Anonymous]

Let's face it, Canada is controlled internationally. We go through this charade of elections, but we are powerless when it comes to the real decisions.

[Anonymous]

CALGARY — Amnesty International has warned Alberta Premier Jason Kenney that his government's fight against oil and gas industry foes puts human rights at risk.



The head of the group's Canadian branch outlined his concerns in an open letter Tuesday that highlighted Alberta's public inquiry into foreign funding of environmental groups and its $30-million war room to combat critics through social media, advertising and the press.



The United Conservative government has launched a multi-pronged attack on groups Kenney has accused of mounting a "campaign of lies and defamation." He has blamed Canada's inability to build new market-opening pipelines — and the associated economic woes in Alberta — on deep-pocketed U.S. charities that have unfairly maligned Canadian energy.



Although Alberta has enacted no laws stopping environmentalists from expressing their views, the government has created a toxic environment by labelling them liars and enemies, Neve said.



In a speech to an oilsands conference in Fort McMurray, Alta., Kenney ridiculed Amnesty's letter.



The premier said he set up an Amnesty International club in high school because of its work on behalf of prisoners in authoritarian dictatorships.



"The world must be in a pretty good place now with respect to human rights if they're now focusing their attention on efforts by the government of Alberta to advocate for the environmentally responsible development of resources," said Kenney, who added he intends to write back to Neve.



Kenney said Canada has a moral obligation to provide its energy to the world.



"Is it really the view of Amnesty International that the world would be better if this country — this great champion of human dignity, of equality, of opportunity, of environmental protection —  were to abandon global energy markets to Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia and Venezuela?"

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/topstories/amnesty-deeply-concerned-about-albertas-plans-to-fight-oil-industry-foes/ar-AAH5NmC?ocid=mailsignout">https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/topstor ... ailsignout">https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/topstories/amnesty-deeply-concerned-about-albertas-plans-to-fight-oil-industry-foes/ar-AAH5NmC?ocid=mailsignout



Amnesty International has gone from advocating on behalf of prisoners of conscience in dictatorial regimes to advocating for the exports of dictatorial regimes.

AI says it's a human rights violation to speak out against the billionaire blood money that wants to keep ethical Canadian oil from replacing blood oil.

[Bricktop]

I've never taken Amnesty International seriously when it became clear they ignored the brutality of governments and organisations that are not white.

[Anonymous]

I've never taken Amnesty International seriously when it became clear they ignored the brutality of governments and organisations that are not white.

If I ever took them seriously in the past, I don't now.

[Anonymous]

I've never taken Amnesty International seriously when it became clear they ignored the brutality of governments and organisations that are not white.

Oil and natural gas in Canada is bad.

[sasquatch]

I've never taken Amnesty International seriously when it became clear they ignored the brutality of governments and organisations that are not white.

That's because they are probably controlled by said governments and Organizations.

[Anonymous]

Amongst the world's major energy producers, Canada has by far the highest human rights, labour, and environmental standards.



Amnesty International could not be more wrong in attacking the Alberta government's efforts to stand up to the foreign-funded campaign to block Canadian energy exports.