Heather Campbell@ThatHeatherC March 1, 2023:
Quote: “The club replied Tuesday that it has never and will never tolerate any form of discrimination, and encourages respectful freedom of expression.”
So says the Calgary Petroleum Club which did not admit women until 1989.
Know your history.
The Globe and Mail@globeandmail March 1, 2023:
Calgary Petroleum Club regrets event featuring far-right German politician Christine Anderson
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-calgary-petroleum-club-germany-christine-anderson/ 
Subscription req’d
A few (some are hilarious) tweets in response:
Flora Posteschild@FPosteschild Mar 1 Replying to @globeandmail:
Gee, how could the CPC know Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) or Alternative for Germany Party is anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, anti-immigration, Holocaust denying — which I was able to find online in two minutes?
bdgordon@bdgordonatlarge Mar 1 Replying to @globeandmail:
They regret that it went public and viral.
Phil Evans@captphilevans Mar 1 Replying to @globeandmail:
Well, it’s a bit late for apologies young man.
Ancient of Days@ancientofdays88 Mar 1 Replying to @globeandmail:
“far right”
Steve Manta@mantalicious Mar 1 Replying to @globeandmail and @DuaneBratt:
“Although we provided the facility for that event, we did not host the event, but we still acknowledge the concerns that have been raised,”
They don’t regret the event, they regret concerns were raised as a result of the event. That’s like saying, “I’m sorry you’re offended”
Oiler fan@oilerfan11 Mar 1 Replying to @globeandmail and @DuaneBratt:
No they don’t. They regret the bad press resulting from it.
Deb@Momamoos Mar 1 Replying to @globeandmail and @DuaneBratt:
Now they regret it!! Too much push back. Seriously Calgary what is wrong with this city!!!
Barb Germann@BarbJG Mar 1 Replying to @globeandmail:
“The club replied Tuesday that it has never and will never tolerate any form of discrimination, and encourages respectful freedom of expression.”
This is code for “they will do it again and there is nothing anyone can do about it”…except not attend.
Gender Stratocaster@SomeCndnSkeptic Mar 2 Replying to @globeandmail:
They regret the bad press. Stop running comms for one of the most corrupt industries in the world. “Calgary Petroleum Club”? C’mon, man.
@casualcactii Replying to @globeandmail:
Yah right. They took the money.
They knew who she was or they suck at their jobs.
They knew.
Brian@nbc_brian Replying to @globeandmail:
Regrets they got caught maybe.
Bougie dive bar life@pearlw2007 Replying to @globeandmail:
Naaaahhhh, they do not.
Kevin@KpHeaney Replying to @globeandmail:
Regrets they forgot Cellphones with Cameras and video, exists.
Jo Ann Lawrence @@email hidden; JavaScript is required@JoAnnLawrence56 Replying to @globeandmail:
Huh. Wasn’t there a hearty round of applause for Anderson at the end of her speech? Did any of the attendees walk out to protest during her presence or her address?
SMH @LifeAintEasy101 Mar 1 Replying to @globeandmail:
Shhh!! …. don’t let the PPCer’s get wind of this. She is a cult God to them…
ah but ah@ahbutah1 Mar 1 Replying to @globeandmail and @globepolitics:
Nazies will be Nazies
Shevek of Annares@ShevekAnnares Mar 1 Replying to @globeandmail and @DuaneBratt:
Sorry for hosting that Nazi. We good yall?
Indigenous Shimmer@PacificRaine2 Mar 1 Replying to @globeandmail:
Too Fucking Late They only regret being called out on it #grifters
Nobel Prize Nominee@mikeross_YYC Replying to @globeandmail:
Lol bullshit, it’s a members only facility. It was literally their members that attended FFS
David StarCross@DavidStarcross March 4, 2023:
O Look the biggest NAZI donations come from the USA. … Who Knew?
Fernwood Freddie@FernwoodFreddie March 4, 2023:
The people who donated to this so-called ‘Freedom Convoy’ are truly the dregs of humanity…
Joji Ado@joadomeit March 4, 2023:
Minimal Canadian donations….Foreign interference?
Police tracked him down at the ‘Freedom Convoy.’ A year later, he’s still in jail on 61 gun charges, Mike Vukmanovic, 52, faces 61 firearms-related charges after police tracked him through his cellphone to last year’s protest occupation in downtown Ottawa by Alex Ballingall, Ottawa Bureau With files from Jacques Gallant, Sat., March 4, 2023, Toronto Star
OTTAWA—A man who police urgently tracked through his cellphone and arrested near the National War Memorial during last year’s “Freedom Convoy” occupation was charged with illegally possessing a collection of guns and bullets at his home north of Toronto, the Star has learned.
Police never publicized the incident, but emails tabled during the Emergencies Act inquiry revealed that, early on Feb. 17 last year, law enforcement searched a home in Keswick, near Lake Simcoe. When they found an array of weapons — including semi-automatic rifles, shotguns and machetes — officers scrambled to track down their suspect by “pinging” his phone, and located him near the protest occupation near Parliament Hill, according to the emails.
After police and border agents refused to disclose information about the arrest, a spokesperson for the federal prosecution service told the Star the man accused in the case is Mike Vukmanovic. According to documents from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the 52-year-old faces 61 firearms-related charges after he was arrested on Feb. 17 last year and denied bail.
Vukmanovic’s mother, Slobodanka Jurcic, confirmed to the Star that her son was arrested that day near the War Memorial, and said he is currently jailed at the provincial corrections centre in Lindsay. Vukmanovic dismissed his lawyer several weeks ago, Jurcic said, and is now representing himself in the case.
According to Jurcic, it’s true Vukmanovic had guns in his home, but she said her son had no violent intentions and did not bring any of his weapons to the capital. He travelled there twice to attend what he considered “peaceful” protests against pandemic health measures, she said.
All of the charges relate to weapons found in Vukmanovic’s home. He is not charged with possessing any weapons while in Ottawa.
… Vukmanovic is charged with 12 counts of possessing a firearm or am munition contrary to an order not to have them; 11 counts of possessing a firearm without a licence; 11 counts of knowingly possessing a firearm without being the licence holder; and 11 counts of carelessly storing a firearm.
He is also accused of six counts of possessing a prohibited firearm with readily accessible ammunition; four counts of illegally manufacturing a firearm; one count each of possessing a prohibited overcapacity magazine, and knowing it was prohibited; and one count of illegally possessing 3,632 rounds of ammunition.
Vukmanovic’s charge sheet lists the guns he is alleged to have had in his home around the time he was arrested: two semi-automatic rifles, two shotguns, two bolt-action rifles and a 6-mm revolver. The charge sheet alleges he had parts to make four more “Glock-style” handguns with a 3-D printer.
Beyond that, he is accused of smuggling or trying to smuggle a “fully assembled prohibited handgun barrel and slide” into Canada near Windsor, Ont. around Jan. 25 last year, and of illegally importing that same type of gun part around that time.
Finally, Vukmanovic is charged with one count of possessing the proceeds of crime: $11,587.74 in cash, and an estimated $80,000 worth of gold and silver.
Court documents say he is seeking a bail review to get out of custody and intends to represent himself at his trial, which is set to begin next February.
The emails tabled at the inquiry last fall showed police were concerned about the man whose home they searched in Keswick on Feb. 17, more than two weeks into the so-called “Freedom Convoy” occupation around Parliament Hill. By then, the federal government had triggered the never-before-used Emergencies Act to quash the protests, which had also sparked blockades at border crossings across Canada.
RCMP had seized a cache of guns and body armour at one of them, in southern Alberta, days earlier, alleging four people were involved in a plot to kill police officers if they moved against the blockade.
According to emails submitted at the inquiry, the Ontario Provincial Police, Canada Border Services Agency and York Regional Police searched a Keswick home around 4 a.m. on Feb. 17. The emails said police found rifles, shotguns, ammunition and a 3-D printer with parts to make a “Glock-style handgun.”
One of the emails — with a subject line: “High Risk — Firearms Suspect” — also said police found machetes by the front door, a “full camouflage suit (similar to those worn by military),” and “several silver bars located throughout the house including in the freezer.” On top of that, “an anti-government/police notice” was taped to a storm door, the email said.
The suspect wasn’t home at the time, and a neighbour told police the suspect was in Ottawa, the email said, prompting concerns about threats to the public and law enforcement. Referring to the suspect’s cellphone number, OPP Asst. Dep. Sgt. Robin McKay wrote to other officers: “I believe an emergency track maybe (sic) warranted.”
In a subsequent email, sent just before 10 a.m., McKay confirmed the suspect’s phone was “just pinged” to within eight metres of the National War Memorial. Another officer responded about half an hour later, saying “looks like there is a team right to where his phone is pinging to.”
The next email, from OPP Supt. Pat Morris, informed his colleagues: “Subject in Custody.”
Vukmanovic is next scheduled to appear in court for a pretrial hearing on April 5.
Chucky March 4, 2023:
yup. just peaceful protesters(insert sarcasm emoji)
***
I began working in the oil and gas industry in 1983, before the old white boy club’s discriminatory 1986 vote.
For many years, I was the only female human on projects out in the field. The discrimination and misuse I experienced was on steroids. The worst throughout my career were the men that took credit for my ideas and work, notably my successes, often brazenly in board room meetings with upper management, and even in written reports by upper management.
When I started working in the petroleum patch, my supervisors warned me to never tell anyone (landowner, politician, coworker, regulator) that I have a Master’s of Science and to keep my Bachelor’s quiet. Business cards made for me by the first company I worked for did not include MSc behind my name. Didn’t bother me, it was just typical ignorant anti-science anti-woman Alberta.
A few years later, after I began working as a contractor, new legislation required new protections. Oil and gas company executives told me they were no longer able to contract my services because I didn’t have a Master’s, being a mere woman and all.
I countered, “I do have a Master’s of Science. Am I allowed to put that on my business cards now?”
The look on the faces of the sexists was priceless.
One of my biggest regrets is that I gave misogynistic, anti-earth, anti rule of law Alberta and the petroleum industry my career.
The club’s history and reality:
PETROLEUM CLUB REJECTS WOMEN by Journal of Commerce, Nov 18, 1986
Members of the Calgary Petroleum Club rejected a bid to admit women to the men’s only club, said Jim Sherlock, manager.
Mr. Sherlock said the resolution to open the club’s doors to women was turned down by a majority of the 700 club members who voted early this week. The club has 1,700 members. The tally was not revealed.
The policy not only keeps women in the Calgary oil patch out of the club, it has prevented the entry of a federal energy minister.
Pat Carney’s decision to ax the national energy program made her a hero in Alberta’s oil patch, but that wasn’t enough to win the former federal energy minister an invitation to lunch at the club.
Calgary oil men have been celebrating their booms and bemoaning their busts in the oak-panelled club since it first opened in 1947, then merged with the Renfrew Club in 1950. Women are allowed in some areas, but only before 2 p.m. or during special functions.
Club Rejects Women by AP, L.A. Times Archives, Nov. 19, 1986
CALGARY, Canada — Members of the Calgary Petroleum Club rejected a bid to admit women to the men’s only club, said Manager Jim Sherlock. Sherlock said the resolution to open the club to women was turned down by a majority of the 700 club members who voted Monday.
From CBC archives: No women at Calgary club (1986) 2:12 Min. by CBC News
Julian Ciaha Consulting, 3 years ago:
and Calgary wonders why it still isnt a world class city…?
“That’s very discriminatory.”
Despite Progress, A Subtle Case Of Sexism Still Lingers in the Energy Sector by Jesse Synder, EnergyNow Media, Aug 2, 2016
Women have made impressive gains in the energy sector over the last few decades. And yet, some still feel they are pushing back against the notion that women and oil don’t mix
Amanda Brauer was preparing for a routine meeting in a downtown Calgary boardroom when she struck up a conversation with a male peer whom she’d never met. Brauer, an engineer of nearly two years, wasn’t wearing her engineer’s ring—a key identifier for people in her profession. At some point in the conversation, after describing her position to him, he made a comment that she found peculiar: “You don’t look like an engineer,” he said.
To some, the comment might sound innocuous. Even Brauer* brushes it off as perhaps a clumsy choice of words. But the encounter is representative of the kind of subtle, often condescending treatment that women in the energy sector can face—that is, an attitude that is not necessarily overtly sexist, but rather offhandedly dismissive. As another woman put it, it’s like being treated as a “woman first, engineer second.”
The Canadian oil patch has come a long way in the last 30 years when it comes to its inclusiveness of women. Not really. The last project I worked on, while I was doing my lawsuit, again had a man take credit for my work, in a written report. Vile. Worse, when I called the VP on it, he didn’t fix it.Men no longer raise their eyebrows at the notion of female executives or board members, and the Calgary Petroleum Club has stopped being a stuffy establishment exclusively for old, white men (although it is still a bit stuffy). And yet, where overt sexism has mostly disappeared, it has sometimes just been replaced by something quieter.
For this story, Alberta Oil spoke with numerous women in the energy sector, both young and old, about their experiences in the industry. While their individual experiences varied significantly, an undeniable sentiment persists for each. Namely, that women still feel the need to conform to the unspoken rules and expectations of a world created by men—and that they need to be twice as smart, and twice as loud, to get noticed. I had no interest in being noticed, I was interested in doing the best job I could. I did find it infuriating to constantly have men take credit for my ideas and successes, and the many that inappropriately leaned their bodies into mine and touched me inappropriately, as if to tell me I have no right to my own body or boundaries. I am so sick of men disrespecting women, the earth, other species and space.Most problematic of all, they see these circumstances restricting their ability to fully realize their career ambitions. Despite appearing to make significant progress over the last few generations, the business of energy remains a man’s world. Which is why the earth’s ability to sustain life is fast eroding. The lingering question is: Have things really improved as much as we like to think?
The most glaring problem women in the sector face is that there are so few of them compared to men. This is especially true in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Women accounted for an average of 17 percent of Canada’s newly licensed engineers at the end of 2014, according to Engineers Canada. In Alberta, the average was slightly higher at 18.3 percent. But that number falls away over time. Only about 12 percent of practicing, or experienced, engineers in Canada are women. That was in part what spurred Gail Powley, the vice-president of corporate development at Willowglen Systems, to dedicate her time to encouraging more women to become—and to remain—engineers.
Powley first entered university as a chemical engineering student in 1980, when the proportion of women in the profession was around 10 percent. Over two decades later, she was asked to help the University of Alberta with an initiative to raise the number of female engineering students. Powley then learned that enrolment numbers for female engineers had improved by a dismal 10 percent—a realization she describes as “quite a shock.” Powley joined the initiative, called Women in Scholarship, Engineering, Science & Technology (WISEST), and went on to join a number of other groups focused on similar goals. “I actually had lost track of what the percentage of women were in university, because I just assumed it would get higher,” she says. “I was used to being the only woman in the boardroom.”Me too, and in safety and project meetings in the field.
… Foulkes, who has over 36 years of experience in the energy sector, regularly addresses audiences about the need for higher female representation in the industry. For the most part, she says the story of female representation in the oil patch is a positive one. But there are lingering remnants of the old days. “When I was at Penn West as an executive, there were lots of times in meetings when people who were presenting never made eye contact with me,” she says. “They would make contact with all of the men in the room and not me.”I experienced that often too. Creepy.
In general, the older generation of professionals tends to have a much more positive perspective of the male-dominated industry. Valerie Nontell, an engineer who runs her own company and has spent nearly 40 years on rig sites and in corporate Calgary, says she never saw her gender as a detriment. As a reservoir engineer for Chevron in 1976, she started looking after service rigs at a time when gruff men still drank rum and Coke on site. “The female has to work twice as hard as any guy to prove herself, to show that she can do as good as or better than the men,” she says. “Fortunately, that’s not very difficult.”Ha ha ha! Too funny! I concur.
Not all women are hard-boiled tomboys like Nontell (in a fit of anger, she once shot her brother in the back with a BB gun). For women who are less accustomed to asserting themselves, navigating Calgary’s corporate structure can seem a little more daunting. “I have friends who tell me that their idea will be ignored during a meeting only to have that same idea repeated by a man [soon after],” Yup, that was common experience for me too. Pathetic. says Melanie Popp, the president of 306 Energy Services, a consultancy firm.
Studies suggest those men would be wiser to hear the women out. A report by Catalyst, a non-profit firm based in New York, found that companies in the Fortune 500 with higher female representation generally achieved stronger financial results. The reasons why are straightforward.
Women bring a perspective to the table, and therefore a potential solution, that a roomful of men might collectively overlook.And, there’s the main reason why the stuffy old white men at the stank petroleum club discriminated against women and why petroleum patch pollution is so dire (on earth and in space). Self serving greedy idiots.
…
*name changed to protect privacy
Refer also to:
Cartoon caption: “If only things had happened this way.”