The two-day retreat, held last February 1 and 2 in London, England, concluded that Canada’s foreign diplomats don’t have enough resources to deliver on the federal government’s aggressive lobbying strategy to promote the oilsands and fight foreign climate change policies. But participants at the meeting, including bureaucrats who travelled from Canada, suggested lobbying is not the only answer.
“There was a sense that the sooner the Canadian government is able to roll out information on anticipated new regulations on coal fired generation and the oil sands, the better able Canada will be to demonstrate that it is taking action,” wrote Sushma Gera, a trade adviser at the Canadian High Commission in London, in a widely-distributed e-mail that was released to Postmedia News through access to information legislation.
Gera’s email summarized the February 2011 retreat which brought together Canadian diplomats from 13 different European offices, along with officials from other federal departments in Ottawa, industry representatives, and Ron Liepert who was Alberta’s energy minister at that time.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade was not able to immediately provide the cost of the event that included a “training” session to give diplomats on the European lobbying team “an industry perspective” as well as that of the federal and Alberta governments. Another email from Gera sent in January 2011 said that separate budgets within DFAIT for European relations and “Strategy and Services” were used to pay some travel funding.
But according to public records posted on the Natural Resources Canada website, the participation of at least one assistant deputy minister in the “energy discussion” in Europe cost $9,111.65, including $6,461.70 in airfare and $1,426.95 in hotel accommodations from Jan. 29 to Feb. 4, 2011.
“Two key messages from day one were: oil sands advocacy in Europe is now recognized as a priority for all concerned; and there is a clear need for regular in-house training to equip those of us on the ground with the expertise to deal with this highly technical file,” said the Feb. 22 email, sent to other diplomats and bureaucrats from Foreign Affairs, Environment Canada and Natural Resources Canada.
The email said that James Wright, who was the Canadian high commissioner in London at that time, “stressed the significance and reputational aspect for Canada of the issue in Europe.”
The department blacked out sections that described specific activities of its diplomats in engaging with environmental groups and the media to lobby on behalf of the oil and gas industry, arguing that this information can be withheld under access to information legislation. The legislation requires the federal government to release public records upon request to any Canadian who pays the $5 fee.
The internal correspondence noted that participants in the retreat argued in favour of working more with environmental groups.
“Some felt that the best way to actively engage (environmentalists) is by listening to them and understanding their concerns and perspectives,” said the email. “Some missions noted the lack of materials in languages other than English as a handicap.”
The email also revealed that the diplomatic lobbying team was asked in the previous year to step up their efforts and “undertake advocacy on a proactive basis,” but “no new resources were allocated.”
A briefing note included in the package explained that the pro-oilsands lobbying team of Canadian government diplomats was created in October 2009 and launched in January 2010 to promote the oilsands across Europe. European officials have said the Canadians have been furiously lobbying to weaken proposed climate change legislation to reduce emissions from transportation fuels with high environmental footprints such as fuel derived from the oilsands.
NDP environment critic Megan Leslie said the internal correspondence is troubling.
“Canadians would be dismayed to find out that our inaction on climate is hurting our international reputation,” said Leslie. “I think they would also be dismayed to find out that our government has basically become a lobby machine for industry . . . It’s really incredible to think that that’s what our tax dollars are going to.”
The package released through the access to information request also included a controversial strategy document, previously released through a separate request by environmental groups, that revealed the government had divided “actors” on the oilsands file into groups of “allies” such as oil companies and “adversaries” such as environmental groups and First Nations in Canada.
But the release to Postmedia News blacked out the section with this controversial information that the same department had already released.
Officials from the department were not immediately able to explain why the two-related requests for access to information appear to have been treated differently.
Coal-fired electricity plants and oilsands facilities are among the top sources of heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions in Canada. The oilsands are also considered by Environment Canada to be the fastest growing source of greenhouse gases in the country, putting Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s international commitments on global warming in jeopardy.
Countries and scientists from around the world have agreed that humans must rapidly and dramatically slash greenhouse gas emissions to avoid dangerous changes to the climate. But Environment Canada scientists say that humans have already “locked in” future generations to a warmer world because of the existing emissions in the atmosphere.
The federal government has repeatedly pledged to crack down on greenhouse gas emissions from industry, but delayed taking concrete action.
“Oil sands advocacy remains high on the agenda for the industry,” said Gera’s email, summarizing the retreat.
Environment Minister Peter Kent said last week that future regulations could “enhance” the industry operators, which recognize a need to demonstrate their commitment to responsible development of the oilsands.
“They will work to comply with the regulations that we’re now in early consultations and will develop over the coming months,” Kent said. “Both GHG regulation and other improvements and better practices by the operators themselves will need to be publicized both domestically and abroad. Regulation will be part of that but its prime objective is to address climate change and our commitment to (the) Copenhagen (agreement on climate change).”
Original Article
Source: canada.com
Author: Mike De Souza
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