Tag Archives: Imperial Oil

Energy, Environment

Canada’s competition watchdog opens inquiry into Pathways Alliance ads over greenwashing allegations

By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Competition Bureau is officially investigating an ad campaign that Greenpeace Canada argues is “false and misleading” because it suggests Canada’s six biggest oilsands companies are reducing greenhouse gas emissions and helping Canada achieve its climate targets.

The Pathways Alliance’s six members — Canadian Natural Resources, Cenovus, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil subsidiary Imperial, MEG Energy and Suncor — are responsible for 95 per cent of Canada’s oil sands production. A complaint filed in March by Greenpeace Canada took aim at the group’s “Let’s clear the air” marketing campaign, which presents its members as “making clear strides toward net zero” to help Canada “achieve a sustainable future.”

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Finances

Canada’s emergency wage subsidy served as ‘blank cheque’ for companies: Canadians for Tax Fairness

By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Some of Canada’s biggest corporations received a pandemic subsidy intended to keep their employees on the payroll, but a new report finds that in many cases, these large companies actually reduced employment while padding the pockets of shareholders.

These findings, from a report by Canadians for Tax Fairness, should make Canadians angry and point to a double standard, the federal NDP’s finance critic Daniel Blaikie told Canada’s National Observer in an interview. It is “egregious” for the federal government to have the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) “hound” some individuals who applied for and received financial support through emergency programs like the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) to return the money, he added.

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Energy

Canada’s largest oil and gas companies’ sky-high net earnings renew calls for windfall tax

By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Sky-high net earnings for Canada’s four biggest oil companies have renewed calls for a windfall tax that Ottawa shows no sign of adopting.

“The gas lobby is clearly very powerful and holds a lot of sway in Canada,” Environmental Defence’s programs director Keith Brooks told Canada’s National Observer, adding the industry is impeding effective climate action and creating deep inequality among Canadians.

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Environment

Enviro groups suing Alberta premier say the foreign influence he accused them of is actually in Big Oil

By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney is doubling down on his attacks against the environmental groups he misleadingly claims “campaigned to landlock Alberta energy” using foreign money, but environmentalists are quick to point out the majority of Canada’s oil and gas companies are quietly controlled by foreign corporations seeking to influence climate policy through lobbying and elections.

“The irony of this whole conversation is that the foreign money involved in the conversations about what we should do on climate change or not is, of course, dominated by oil money, most of which is foreign,” said Tim Gray, executive director of Environmental Defence, one of five environmental organizations suing Kenney and his government for misrepresenting the clear-cut findings of a provincial inquiry released last year.

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