Canadian Politics Today

Groups linked to oil companies funded Facebook ads denouncing the rail blockades

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5484039?fbclid=IwAR1nghzJIEFmG2CvpNTvC-kCmy9oKZeezHU5245LKqA-7_5lwCI_RHRJgSc&__twitter_impression=true

The most prolific online advertiser on the pipeline project, by far, is Coastal GasLink itself, which is building the 670-kilometre pipeline that will connect wells in British Columbia to the coast. It has run 80 ads since the start of the year — almost a quarter of all the ads in the data obtained by CBC. It spent roughly $50,000 on ads citing Indigenous support for the pipeline — almost half of all the money spent on Facebook ads about the project and the blockades.

Coastal GasLink is wearing all the backlash against their pipeline and their propaganda/divide-and-conquer tactics, but let's not forget that CGL is just a pipeline construction company, fully owned by TC Energy that will operate the pipeline.

Other buyers of ads include the usual "astroturf" (fake grassroots) lobby, fronts for oil and gas and developers: Canada Action, Canada Proud (Ontario Proud, Alberta Proud, etc), and some Conservative leadership candidates, most prominently Peter McKay.