Alberta Premier Jason Kenney (C) announces the launch of the Canadian Energy Centre at a press conference at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in Calgary on Dec. 11, 2019. Alberta released a report in October 2021 on campaigns targeting its energy sector. (Greg Fulmes/The Canadian Press)
by Noé Chartier
November 3, 2021
Besides estimating the amount of foreign funding going to environmental groups seeking to landlock Alberta’s oil and gas, a recent report from a government-commissioned inquiry highlighted a number of other issues related to funding and transparency.
The first recommendation in the report, written by commissioner Steve Allan, is to improve transparency and accountability in the financial operations of environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) receiving foreign funding.
The report highlights an “exchange fund” program that was operated by the prominent U.S.-based Tides Foundation and its Canadian counterpart Tides Canada Foundation, and said that the program, used for donations from either side of the border, “had the effect of obscuring the source of funds.”
The report also emphasized the exponential increase in federal funding for ENGOs since 2015 and the disparity between foreign and government funds going to ENGOs versus “conservative/market oriented organizations.”
The Alberta Public Inquiry Into Anti-Alberta Energy Campaigns, released publicly on Oct. 21, was mandated by Premier Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party government to look into foreign money funding activism against Alberta’s oil and gas industry.
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