BC Premier fundraises from Big Oil, while blocking pipeline.
by Bill Tieleman
"I don’t think people from Alberta really understand how much we cherish our coast, how much we cherish our environment here." – BC Premier Christy Clark
While Premier Christy Clark was loudly proclaiming her intent to protect BC from the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline proposal, she was also in Calgary privately raising money from big oil sands companies for her party.
Talk about oily hypocrisy!
Clark’s hand was out for the BC Liberal Party at a private dinner October 1 at Calgary’s Petroleum Club hosted by billionaire oilman Murray Edwards, chairman of Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., owners of the Horizon oil sands plant.
Clark didn’t want to give details, including which oil sands companies attended or how much it cost per plate, but said this to reporters during a scrum.
“Well I had a private dinner when I was in Alberta but I will say this — there are a lot of people in Alberta who have made big investments in British Columbia,” Clark said.
Encana Corporation alone has donated an amazing $396,000 to the BC Liberal Party since 2009.
“In gas, in tourism, in a whole lot of other areas and in infrastructure, so just because people are in Calgary doesn't necessarily mean that they're not in the gas business and the gas business here in British Columbia is booming and it's something we really want to develop.”
Clark wants to appear to be fighting the Enbridge pipeline that would transport Alberta oil sands bitumen across northern BC to be shipped to Asia by tanker. But at the same time, she is asking for big oil and gas money to fund her party.
“The environmental issues are issues that I don’t think Albertans have really thought about a lot,” Clark said back in BC.
But don’t think that Clark doesn’t already have her hand deep in the pockets of big oil and gas anyway.
Encana Corporation alone has donated an amazing $396,000 to the BC Liberal Party since 2009, according to Elections BC records.
Clark’s Calgary host Canadian Natural Resources donated $61,000 since 2009, while Imperial Oil contributed more than $40,000 and Enbridge itself more than $40,000 — but it won’t likely give another dime.
What Clark told oil executives in Calgary was, in other words: don’t listen to what I tell the public, listen to what I tell you — and write my party a very large cheque!
After all, it’s money and not oil that greases the political wheel.
About Bill Tieleman
Bill Tieleman, president of West Star Communications, is one of BC's best known political commentators and communicators. Read political commentary from Bill every Tuesday in 24 hours, Vancouver's free weekday newspaper (also online) and in The Tyee — BC's award-winning online magazine.
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