Is Canada the latest emerging petro-tyranny

Is Canada the latest emerging petro tyranny by Andrew Nikiforuk, Globe and Mail, June 11, 2007
Within six months of quitting his job as Alberta’s No. 1 honcho, Ralph Klein (a.k.a. King Ralph) became a paid, senior business adviser in the oil patch for Borden Ladner Gervais LLP. … Given their one-sidedness, oil regimes fear transparency. This explains why Alberta operates one of the most secretive governments in Canada. Just last year Alberta’s Conservative government made it legal for its petro-tyrants to lock away internal audits for 15 years and for government ministers to keep their briefing binders out of public view for five years. Making propaganda is also one of oil’s many antidemocratic characteristics. The Alberta government currently spends $14-million a year and employs 117 full-time staff in its Public Affairs Bureau to tell Albertans what to think. Not even President George W. Bush employs a propaganda arm this large in the White House. The tone of government has also become increasingly authoritarian. … Alberta has also sacrificed the rule of law. It seems whenever open public debate threatens to challenge another government-sanctioned energy project, the Energy and Utilities Board (EUB), a de facto rubber stamp for disorderly development, shuts down public participation citing “security” reasons.

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