Koch Brothers Continue Their Canadian Takeover

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On Friday, the Canadian government fell to a vote of non-confidence.ย  As Canadians prepare to head to the polls for an early May election, the oily architects of the Tea Party, mega-funders of climate change denial and bankrollers of major right wing think tanks includingย FreedomWorksย andย Americans for Prosperityย have made a timely infiltration into Canadianย politics.ย 

Last week, we reported that the oily brothers had set up shop toย lobby in Alberta. ย But perhaps more disquieting than that is that, according toย Environmental Defence, Alberta isnโ€™t the only province being strangled by the Kochtopus. ย The Koch brothers haveย officiallyย registeredย to lobby in Ontarioย too.

Koch Companies spokeswoman Melissa Cohlmia insisted that, โ€œKoch companies want to add value by providing quality services and products our customers desire and value in a way that is compliant with all laws and regulationsโ€.ย  Despite their claims, we uncovered some prettyย questionable activitiesย by the Koch lobbyists inย Alberta.ย 

These questionable activities were undertaken by lobbyists withย Global Public Affairs, the firm hired to lobby on behalf of the Kochs in both Alberta and Ontario. The lobbyist listed on the lobbying record isย Andrew Bowles, who served as aย Legislative Assistant to MPP Peter Shurmanย at the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, and aย Regional Organizer with theย Progressive Conservative Party ofย Ontario.

Back in January, we reported that Ontario PC Party Leader Tim Hudak was usingย discredited Koch-funded studiesย to suggest that theย Ontario Green Energy Actย should be scrapped.ย ย Theย 2009ย โ€œSpanish study on renewable energy jobsโ€ย studyย wasย funded by theย American Energy Alliance, a โ€œfree-market think tankโ€ย funded by theย Kochtopusย andย ExxonMobil.

Back then, we were concerned that Hudak was promoting energy policies that were moving Ontario away from a clean energy future, using an industry-funded study to scare voters into believing that proven green job creation efforts are somehow killing jobs.ย ย ย 

But now it looks like thereโ€™s even more cause for concern with Koch lobbyists actually setting up shop in Ontario in late February. ย Most worrisome is that with a federal election on the horizon, Kochโ€™s lobbying dollars may be hard at work to keep Canada beholden to dirty energy rather than the clean energy future we need to sustain job creation and protect the planet. ย The parallels between theย U.S. midterm electionsย and the Canadian elections are stackingย up.ย 

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