Shills and Touts

When did Joe Oliver (“our”minister of Natural Resources) commit to become the tout for the tar sands and its necessary utility, the Keystone XL pipeline?  One cannot be certain but, by July 5 of 2012, the Minister and the fossil fuel industry had agreed on “priorities”, including the need for “expanding markets”.  That was the day that Oliver met with five members of the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association in Calgary.

Keith Stewart, a researcher with Greenpeace, obtained a Government memo through an Access to Information demand.  This memo confirmed that the parties aligned on priorities at the July 5th meeting .

Stewart notes that the Government has not yet brought in the regulations for the tar sands, something that was first promised by the Conservatives in 2008. He states:

“This is an industry that has an actual environmental performance problem. But both government and industry treat it as a public relations problem … as if they can buy their way towards having a social licence.”

We have noted how the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers has used television ads to create a warm, fuzzy feeling about the tar sands, particularly by referring to the creation of jobs, jobs and more jobs. Read our previous blog “Propaganda and Advertizing”.

Stewart attempted to get information from Natural Resources concerning a parallel advertizing campaign to be undertaken by the Government.  Natural Resources refused to provide any information on the subject.

So Government and the fossil fuel industry are apparently teaming up to sell tar sands bitumen to Canadians and to the world.  Global warming, described by the Minister of the Environment as a “real and present danger”, is of little concern to these shills* and touts*.

*“Shill” (Wikipedia): a person who publicly helps a person or organization without disclosing that he has a close relationship with that person or organization.

*“Tout” (The Free OnLine Dictionary) : To solicit customers, votes, or patronage, especially in a brazen way”.