The revelations, included in reports and correspondence released through access-to-information legislation, also indicated that federal tax dollars were used to print about $2,000 worth of brochures to help the industry in its battle against the European Parliament's plan to crack down on greenhouse gas pollution from transportation fuels.
The brochures, delivered in Germany and the Netherlands, were part of a comprehensive range of activities, including "intelligence gathering," in close co-ordination with oil company executives in Europe from companies such as BP, Shell, Total and Statoil who met "regularly" with the Canadian diplomats, as well as at least one meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
"BREU (Canada's diplomatic mission in the European Union) has undertaken extensive oilsands advocacy activities, with a specific focus on preventing discriminatory treatment of the oilsands under the EU Fuel Quality Directive," wrote London-based Canadian trade officer Sushma Gera in a mid-year report about the team from August 2010.
"BREU co-ordinates its efforts with individual companies and industry associations, in particular on FQD advocacy. In addition, BREU has worked with Shell by hosting complementary events, a multi-stakeholder workshop (BREU) and MEP (member of European Parliament) dinner (Shell) featuring speakers from Alberta, Shell and the Helmholtz Institute."
Gera also wrote that Harper met privately with the chairman and chief executive officer of Total, Christophe de Margerie, during a visit to France in June 2010.
The oilsands lobbying team, created in 2009 and consisting of about 25 Canadian diplomats in Europe, also staged a two-day retreat in February 2011 that cost taxpayers about $54,000 in travel and hospitality costs, including a $15,000 untendered contract for an Ottawa-based consultant who gave a presentation on "how to do advocacy" in Europe, Postmedia News reported last month.
While noting that anti-oilsands protests were gaining momentum and damaging Canada's reputation abroad, Gera said that some of its outreach work targeting specific media outlets was having an impact, especially during a spring 2010 visit by Rob Renner, who was Alberta's environment minister at the time.
"A media encounter with select Belgian and Brussels-based European media allowed Minister Renner to deliver key messages and engage in myth busting on the oilsands," wrote Gera.
She noted that the meeting attracted senior journalists from Belgium's most important daily business newspaper, De Tijd, as well as the country's only business TV channel, Canal Z.
"One of the results of this initiative was a well-balanced, two minute item on the evening news on May 20, containing an interview with Minister Renner and an analyst from a major bank," wrote Gera. "Minister Renner's interview with European Voice also resulted in a reasonably balanced article in a leading EU publication. The (environmentalists) in Belgium so far have been critical of banks for investing in so-called climate-threatening activities, including the oilsands."
Climate scientists and governments from around the world have agreed that human activity, mainly through consumption of fossil fuels such as coal and oil, are pumping dangerous amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that could cause irreversible damage to life on the planet.
The Canadian government has recognized that the oilsands are Canada's fastest-growing source of greenhouse-gas emissions, estimating that the sector now has a greater annual impact on the climate than all cars on Canadian roads, and almost as much of an annual impact as all of the light-duty trucks in the country. Senior officials at the Privy Council Office, the central department in the public service, has also warned that local environmental impacts of oilsands development could be causing permanent damage to the Alberta landscape that is posing a financial risk to the province.
Other internal federal documents reporting on Renner's 2010 visit indicated that he had attempted to overstate environmental protection policies in the province, by suggesting, during a discussion with investors, that there were new regulations in Alberta requiring 100 per cent recycling of water by 2016, Postmedia News reported last October. Renner has not responded to requests for an interview, while the federal and provincial governments have not been able to explain his message.
The Alberta government's actual regulations call for a reduction in the growth of tailings waste from the production process.
Canada's oilsands sector produces an estimated 1.5 million barrels of oil a day. The Canadian Energy Research Institute, a collaboration among industry, government and academics, estimates that the sector is responsible for more than 100,000 direct and indirect jobs in Canada, and will contribute more than $1.7 trillion to the country's economy over the next 25 years.
The European Fuel Quality Directive, if adopted, would label fuel derived from the oilsands as one of the dirtiest forms of energy, behind oil shale and coal converted to liquid fuel. But it would also recognize oilsands producers that could demonstrate that their emissions per barrel of oil produced is below the sector's average.
Critics from the Canadian industry have suggested the European plan is flawed since it fails to adequately assess the footprint of other sources of heavy oil such as Venezuela.
The Alberta government said that media outlets invited to speak with Renner, along with industry and senior government officials, were selected by the Canadian Embassy, based on having an interest in environmental and economic affairs.
"We agreed with the embassy's suggestions, as they are best suited to know the media outlets in the area," said Jessica Potter, a spokeswoman for Alberta Environment.
The federal government was not immediately able to comment on revelations in the document.
Original Article
Source: canada.com
Author: Mike De Souza
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