Fortress North America
Mike Doyle is the President of
the CAGC – the Canadian Association of Geophysical
Contractors - representing the
business interests of the seismic industry within Canada.
The CAGC website may be found
at www.cagc.ca.
In light of the recent climate change rallies
around the world claiming about 750,000 participants with about half of them in
New York prior to the UN Climate meeting it is interesting to wonder if the
movement is growing or whether it just ebbs and flows with certain events in
time. Certainly economics often dampen environmental concerns however
moratoriums on hydraulic fracturing in places such as Nova Scotia and Quebec at
the very least signal public disconcert regardless of jobs and the economy, whereas
on the other hand fracturing in the USA has changed the North American energy
picture and as well the world’s. We now have wars in the Middle East that do
not affect the price of oil.
We recently had Vivian Krause speak at our
Alberta Geophysical Symposium in Red Deer in September. She was very
interesting speaking along the lines of a conspiracy theory on the funding of
the Anti-Oil Campaigns in Canada. Her research on over fifteen years of tax
filings by a number of large USA charitable foundations show sizeable and
steady amounts of money being paid to Canadian organizations and most recently
some Aboriginal interests with the intention of creating public dissent and
media attention against Oil and Pipeline interests. The USA foundations are
well funded by names such as Warren Buffet, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the
Tides Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation, the Packard Foundation, and the Pew
Charitable Trusts. The initial mandate of these organizations in light of the
funding of Canadian organizations seemed to be based on climate change and the
switch from fossil fuels to renewables (See more on her work at http://linkis.com/com/924fY
). As the USA passed into recession, industry slowed down and therefore use of
energy and GHG output went down. The fracturing boom in the USA then brought
the price of natural gas down substantially and allowed it to begin replacing
coal for electricity generation. The current focus on fracturing for oil in the
USA has stabilized world prices and has kept gasoline prices at the pump at
some of the lowest price levels in years. All of this done under the watchful
eye of Obama really by him doing nothing at all in terms of making any
decisions. So the stated intent of the funding by the charitable trusts seems
to have fallen away in some fashion as renewables have struggled to be
economical. The money continues to be focused on Canada and not the USA. Here
in Canada we are losing the PR battle and therefore losing the hearts and minds
of the public.
Dave Yager wrote an
interesting piece which ties into my statements above on the new CAPP Boss. Yager
always has an interesting way of seeing the world.
New
CAPP Boss From Government, Not Industry – Written
by David Yager, MNP Oilfield Service News, September 23, 2014
Effective October 1, 2014, the Canadian Association
of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) will have a new President with current leader
David Collyer retiring at the end of the year. Tim McMillan, most recently
minister for rural health in Saskatchewan, has previously held the position of
minister of energy and resources and at one time owned an oilfield services
company. He is 41 and grew up in the Lloydminster area, an oil town by any
measure. He was first elected to public office in 2007.
CAPP, representing the companies that produce the vast
majority of Canada’s oil and gas, is the industry’s most powerful lobby
organization. Historically, the president of CAPP has been a high profile
spokesman for the Canadian oil industry. This position has usually been held by
people with government experience because so much of what CAPP does is interact
with governments at all levels. As an industry the oilpatch doesn’t need more
financial or technical expertise but more people with the ability to interact
and connect with governments and voters. Thus, CAPP and its predecessor the
Canadian Petroleum Association have usually gone to the public
sector to fill this position.
However, in 2008 CAPP broke the mold when it hired
Shell Canada executive David Collyer in 2008. While Collyer was a quick study
on the public policy and communications file, it is fair to say that the oil
industry hasn’t won too many public relations battles in the past few years on
issues ranging from the “dirty oil” label to hydraulic fracturing to approval
for new export pipelines in any direction. While none of this can be blamed on
David Collyer, perhaps the return to another seasoned government person as
leader signifies a change in strategy.
An interview with McMillan in the September 19 DOB
illustrates what he sees as the challenge. He figures the industry must engage
more Canadians to help them understand the importance of the oil and gas
industry. Gaining more respect from the public will be a big part of his
mandate. “We need to find innovative ways in which we can make people that may not
be touched directly to understand it. Although the energy sector is one of the
most important sectors in Canada and is one of the largest employers, there are
still lots of people that don’t necessarily understand it."
He figures his government background will help.
“I come from the political environment where we have to communicate extremely
effectively with our citizens, sometimes about very difficult issues and there
are multiple ways to do that. I very much look forward to having a leadership
role in moving this industry forward and ensuring that the message that the
industry has is a clear one and a positive one."
OFS News wishes Mr. McMillan great success. Because
when oil and gas companies succeed, their suppliers succeed. It’s the only way.
The question in my
mind still lingers as to the true intent of the funding by the charitable
trusts against Canadian interests. Despite being guised in motherhood and apple
pie concepts such as climate change and renewables, it seems too focused
against only Canada for that outcome. Certainly it all is nothing to do with
Obama who hasn't really made any decisions on anything and he tends to be
viewed as anti-fossil fuel however under his tenure has seen the greatest
increase in fossil fuel production in the history of the USA which may come
close to energy independence – a concept of which three decades of Presidents
have lauded and chased after. Thus I like the idea of a conspiracy theory with
powerful individuals and organizations planning for the future. Keep
the Canadian’s Oil on the continent as we will need it at some point in the
future.
From Wikipedia:
Fortress North America is a term used both during the
Second World War and more often in the Cold War to refer to the option of
defending Canada and the United States against their enemies if the rest of the
world were lost to them.
It was viewed only as a last-ditch option in case
Europe, Asia and Africa were overrun by the fascists or Communists. At the
outset of the Cold War there were some, especially in the United States, who
supported the isolationist idea of fortifying North America and abandoning
international involvements. This option was rejected with the formation of NATO
and the decision to permanently station troops in Europe.
During the Cold War significant planning and effort
went into developing continental defense systems just in case. Most notable
were the formation of NORAD and the setting up of radar lines in the Canadian
Arctic. Canadians were long concerned that the adoption of a Fortress North
America strategy involving close intergovernmental links and the loss of
outside links would inevitably result in the nation's absorption by the United
States.
In the aftermath of the September 11th attacks the
idea of Fortress North America has been revived as a strategy of keeping both
nations safe from terrorism while keeping the Canadian/U.S. border undefended
and open to trade.
From Brainy
Quotes on the Internet:
I
will withdraw to my fortress, and after the slaughter, I will restore order.
-
Ion Antonescu
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