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<h2><b><b><a href="http://news.google.ca/news/url?sa=t&ct2=ca%2F0_0_s_3_0_t&ct3=MAA4AEgDUABgAWoCY2E&usg=AFQjCNFFo4oM1ac1TzDEfnuMYSc-NoUdaw&did=4d6d01e62d2e43ba&cid=17593954789207&ei=N22YTsCRD43WrQHTXA&rt=MORE_COVERAGE&vm=STANDARD&url=http%3A%2F%2Frabble.ca%2Fblogs%2Fbloggers%2Fkarl-nerenberg%2F2011%2F10%2Fhill-dispatches-polluting-industry-cuts-science-and-environmen" target="_blank">Hill Dispatches: $ for polluting industry; cuts for science and
environmentalists</a></b></b></h2><h1 class="title"> </h1>
<div class="story-author"> By Karl Nerenberg </div>
<a href="http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/karl-nerenberg/2011/10/hill-dispatches-polluting-industry-cuts-science-and-environmen">http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/karl-nerenberg/2011/10/hill-dispatches-polluting-industry-cuts-science-and-environmen</a><br>
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<p>In its letter to the Canadian
Environmental Network, made public yesterday, the federal Department of
the Environment said it was not renewing financial support for the
Network because of a <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">broader shift away from "core organizational
funding</span><b style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">.</b>" This was prudent fiscal management in these tough times, the
government said. The Environment Department is seeking, it explained in
the letter, <br></p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">"<b style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">to allocate its resources in the most efficient and cost
effective manner to ensure a safe, clean and sustainable environment for
Canadians."</b></p>
<p>Ironically, yesterday's news also carried a story about another
"environmental" initiative, which the government deemed worthy of
generous support: the "Canada School of Energy and Environment," based
in Calgary. That organization <b style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">received $15 million</b> from the federal
government and a good part of its vocation has been, in the words of
Postmedia News, <b><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><br></span></b></p><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><b><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">"to clean up the dirty oil image of Canada's oil sands
and provide the public with a more balanced view of its environmental
performance</span></b>."</p>
<p>So, maybe, the notion that profitable resource companies don't need
public funds to support their advocacy is wrong. Maybe they are the
needy ones, not the environmental movement.</p>
<p>The Calgary-based "School" was in the news, yesterday, because of the
shenanigans of its former executive director (and former Harper
staffer) Bruce Carson. It seems that <b>Carson used thousands of the
school's public dollars for his own private purposes</b>. The organization
has managed to recover some of that money, by withholding payments it
owed Carson; but there is still about fifteen thousand missing, and they
have given up on that.</p>
<p>The current Chairman of the school, Robert Turner, now says that
trying to recover that remaining money: ". . .would not do the school
one bit of good." Whatever that means...</p>
<p>The troubling part of all this is not that a Conservative-connected
person gets to keep money he inappropriately used for personal purposes.
That is a minor, mini-scandal, at best.</p>
<p><font size="4"><b style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">What is more scandalous is that </b><b style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">the government believes that the very
profitable oil and gas industry needs taxpayer money to help it promote
its own interests, while scientists and advocates for the environment
can look after themselves</b>.</font></p></div></div></div></div><font face="arial" size="2"><b>
</b></font>Carole<br>
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