Aug. 18, 2010 - Issue #774: Blues Fest
Issues
In bed with industry
The Alberta government keeps sticking up for the big guy
How would you feel if you opened up your paper one morning to discover a full-page ad, paid for by your government, defending Walmart and its practice of sourcing cheap consumer goods from factories using near slave-labour conditions in Asia?
"The benefits of Walmart's activities extend across Canada," the ad might say. It would probably also emphasize that "cheap consumer goods from Asia contribute to Canada's GDP, create jobs in retail, and provide a secure and affordable source of clothing and toys for all Canadians."
Of course, the ad would also almost certainly take a direct shot at Walmart's detractors by saying something like "these human rights organizations are spreading misinformation and ignoring the facts. These Asian factories have made tremendous advances in technology and are using far fewer child workers per item produced than they did just five years ago."
It seems ridiculous that a government would ever take out this kind of advertisement in favour of one of the world's most profitable corporations, doesn't it? It is even more ridiculous that a government would spend its own taxpayers' money to rationalize behaviour that most of those taxpayers would find appalling and unacceptable.
Yet this is exactly what the government of Alberta is doing. Not with Walmart and child labour, of course, but with multinational oil companies and their environmental record in Alberta's north.
In mid-July a US environmental organization, Corporate Ethics International, launched a multi-million dollar ad campaign called "Rethink Alberta." The campaign, which includes billboards and video, is designed to deter would-be tourists to Alberta based on the environmental damage that extraction of bituminous sands is causing in the province. A recent poll conducted in Canada, the US and Great Britain found that approximately half of people who would visit Alberta otherwise would change their mind after viewing the Rethink Alberta video.
The direct target of the campaign is the Alberta government, as tourists are asked to pledge not to visit the province until the government stops expansion of the tar sands, begins taking steps to transition toward clean renewable energy, and stops spending millions on PR campaigns designed to keep the US addicted to dirty oil.
The Alberta government's response to the ad campaign, of course, was to immediately suggest that the ads were full of misinformation and to launch a PR campaign of its own. Interestingly, however, the government's own PR campaign did not focus on promoting tourism to Alberta, but rather set out to promote, yet again, Alberta's tar sands, their contribution to Canada and all of their environmental advancements.
Earlier this month, the day before the start of the annual premier's conference in Winnipeg, a group of Greenpeace activists unfurled a banner which read "separate oil and state" off of the Calgary Tower. The main message that Greenpeace wanted to get out with this action, according to Greenpeace spokespersons, was that the cozy relationship between government and big oil in Alberta is not good for the environment or the public interest.
In response to the Greenpeace action, Premier Stelmach said "The benefits of Alberta's oilsands extend well beyond our provincial borders ... Alberta's oilsands contribute to Canada's [gross domestic product], create jobs in other provinces and provide a secure source of energy for North America."
The next day the government of Alberta took out a half-page ad in the Winnipeg Free Press to repeat the same message on behalf of the oil companies and their developments in Alberta's north.
Regardless of how you feel about the various campaigns targeting Alberta, or the development of the tar sands, one thing is for certain—a government has no business spending millions of public dollars to advertise on behalf of one of the most profitable corporate sectors in the world.
By continuing to do so the Alberta government is only accomplishing two things; it is actually reinforcing the message that the relationship between the government and the industry is too cozy and, more importantly, it is making it clear to Albertans that their government has taken a side in the public debate between environmentalists and the oil industry. By extension, it's letting Albertans know that they can no longer trust their government to be an honest broker in these discussions, nor can they be trusted to provide us with impartial, unbiased information about what is actually happening in northern Alberta.
It is truly sad that once again, when given the option, our government has chosen to act as a spin doctor and PR shill for the oil industry instead of an advocate and promoter of the public interest. Isn't it time Albertans demanded better? V
Ricardo Acuna is the Executive Director for the Parkland Institute, a non-partisan public policy research institute housed at the University of Alberta.
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