so the Alberta public inquiry into anti-Alberta energy campaigns just released its long awaited, long delayed report (the "Allan Inquiry" - over-budget and thrice-extended public inquiry at a cost of $3.5 million) - and it served up a big ole' nothingBurger!
~$1.3 billion is the amount the report says it found foreign donors provided in grant funding to Canadian environmental organizations between 2003 and 2019. Of the ~$1.3 billion, around $554 million went to well-known and respected conservation groups like Ducks Unlimited Canada, which does not participate in “anti-Alberta” campaigns - only somewhere between $37.5 to $58.9 million was specifically granted to anti-oil and gas campaigns in Canada.so sad, too bad Alberta Premier Jason Kenney. Interestingly, Kenney was no where to be found during the provinces official press conference gaslighting of the report claiming it actually vindicates Kenney - go figure!
as covered in the New York Times, no less:
Alberta Took on Environmental Groups, but Only Proved They Did Nothing Wrong --- The report from a provincial inquiry into “anti-Alberta energy campaigns” didn’t back up Premier Jason Kenney’s allegations.
But instead of giving Mr. Kenney the firepower he sought to diminish the influence of environmental groups, the inquiry’s findings offered little support of Mr. Kenney’s argument.
Between 2003 and 2019, the powerhouse accounting firm Deloitte calculated that Canadian environmental charities raised 8.1 billion Canadian dollars. But the firm found that during that period those groups only received 37.5 million to 58.9 million dollars in “foreign funding directed to Alberta resource development opposition,” or an average of 3.7 million Canadian dollars per year across the sector, at most — just slightly more than the cost of the inquiry itself.
Alberta lost to a bunch of C-list celebrities, shoe-string ENGOs and Neil Young --- The Allan inquiry is an incredible admission of incompetence and failure by successive Alberta governments.
In other words, the inquiry spent $3.5 million to fully unpack an environmental movement that had already been widely reported in the media.
Allan wasn't able to come up with a specific number for the amount of foreign funds that went to stopping Alberta's oilsands, but did find $54 million "prescribed for 'anti-Alberta resource development activity'" between 2003-2019. This is only a fraction of foreign funds directed to broader environmental campaigns: total foreign funding of all "Canadian-based environmental initiatives during this period was $1.28 billion.”
It should be noted, here, that most funding for "anti-Alberta resource development activity" came not from Americans, but rather Canadians who were moved to donate because, well, they opposed Alberta’s resource development activity.
Allan also reported that he found no evidence of illegal activity. Environmental activists and organizations did what environmental activists and organizations do. They seek issues to target and then mobilize people and tactics to oppose those targets.