Does this bother you as much as it bothers me?
OTTAWA – Aboriginal and environmental activists opposed to the Northern Gateway pipeline proposal have tapped a gusher of funding for their activities — taxpayers.
Almost 50 groups will dip into about $2.8 million from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency’s (CEAA) participant funding program to help them contribute to hearings on Enbridge’s proposal to connect Alberta’s oilsands to a tanker terminal in northern B.C.
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Earlier this month, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver slammed foreign-funded environmental “radicals,” yet some of the groups he was likely talking about got Canadian tax money to advance anti-oilsands arguments.
About $400,000 from the CEAA is slated for nine anti-pipeline activist groups, including $60,000 for ForestEthics, which is funded by American foundations and tied to Tides Canada, charitable group that funds environmental and social activists.
Despite the federal cash, a founding member of ForestEthics, Tzeporah Berman, accused the Prime Minister’s Office of trying to “silence dissent.”
Call your MP, email the prime minister, to let them know you’d rather this $2.8 million went to something marginally less aggravating. Shouldn’t be hard to find.