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.