“EthicalOil.org began as a blog created by Alykhan Velshi to promote the ideas in Ezra Levant’s bestselling book Ethical Oil: The Case for Canada’s Oil Sands.”
The suggestion that Ethical Oil was Velshi’s initiative was quickly challenged by Twitter followers who posted this blog item, by an Edmonton Journal colleague , as well as an incredibly detailed analysis of Ethical Oil’s pedigree in the Deep Climate blog. The latter points to Ethical Oil Institute being incorporated in Alberta in March of 2011. The sole shareholders and board directors were Sun Media’s Levant and Thomas Ross, a partner with the McLennan Ross law firm in Alberta. Levant, of course, is an outspoken and controversial conservative commentator and the originator of the Ethical Oil concept — the idea that the oilsands should be defended because Canada has a better human rights record than countries like Saudi Arabia. Ross’s firm portrays itself as a leading representative of the oilsands industry, so much so that its efforts generated an article about the firm under the headline “Slick new oilsands cross-selling strategy” in Canadian Lawyer magazine in 2009.
The Deep Climate post suggested that Ethical Oil is trying to avoid the appearance of having close ties to the oilsands industry.
Velshi, Deep Climate pointed out, didn’t arrive onto the Ethical Oil scene until after the May 2 election, when he indicated to the Hill Times newspaper that he was leaving his six-figure job as Immigration Minister Jason Kenney’s communications director to “pursue an opportunity in the not-for-profit sector, outside partisan politics.”
About a month later, after his announcement of the creation of the Ethical Oil website/blog that was to defend the oilsands industry, he portrayed himself as an unpaid grassroots activist, “mooching off free Wi-Fi at coffeehouses and wearing flip-flops.”
I contacted current EO executive director Jamie Ellerton, like Velshi a former Kenney aide who would have earned a six-figure government salary before leaving the Harper government to run EO, after my story was published. I asked him in an email why the website would portray the Ethical Oil lobby group as Velshi’s initiative. His response:
“Ezra created the legal entity following the success of his book and the widespread support that followed.
However it was Alykhan who brought the organization to life. In June of last year Alykhan spearheaded getting the website up and running…EthicalOil.org <http://ethicaloil.org/> would not exist today if it wasn’t for Ezra’s successful book and vision, and Alykhan’s leadership in running with the idea: creating the website and social media pages that have engaged thousands online; and airing ads to engage the public through more traditional media.”
I should point out that Levant, Velshi and obviously Ross have law degrees, and I do not. Obviously they are comfortable in suggesting that Ethical Oil began with Velshi, since he started the website that promoted Levant’s concept. However, the paper trail shows that Ethical Oil as a legal entity and organization was created by Levant and Ross. (If you donate to Ethical Oil online the money goes to the Ethical Oil Institute, of which Levant and Ross are the sole directors. And this week’s legal complaint to the Canada Revenue Agency against Tides Canada was submitted by Ross’s firm.) I left phone and email messages with Ross Friday seeking further clarification of his role in the organization, but he didn’t respond.
I don’t doubt that Velshi, a very smart fellow now working as a senior official in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office, played some sort of creative role in collaboration with his old buddy Levant. But it would be a stretch to suggest he was the driving force, though I accept my share of the responsibility for not questioning this. While I was in France in the spring of 2011 when most of these things happened, I was obviously aware of Levant’s predominant role in the whole Ethical Oil concept and I should therefore not have written that Velshi “founded” the Ethical Oil organization without further checking. My bad.
However, I also think it’s fair comment to conclude that the EO website obscures the proprietary role of Ross, a partner with one of Alberta’s top oilsands industry law firms, in a lobby group that is Canada’s most vociferous defender of oilsands companies. Organizations that hope to win the trust of the public, and the media, should be more explicit – especially when they are demanding more open and ethical behaviour from environmental organizations they criticize.
Original Article
Source: vancouver sun
Author: Peter O'Neil
No comments:
Post a Comment