CSIS watchdog’s Enbridge lobbying “smells terrible”
Former Conservative Aboriginal affairs minister Chuck Strahl entered into “unchartered territory” by deciding to lobby for the energy company behind the Northern Gateway pipeline while also acting as watchdog over Canada’s spy agency, says the NDP’s House Leader.
APTN National News
Former Conservative Aboriginal affairs minister Chuck Strahl entered into “unchartered territory” by deciding to lobby for the energy company behind the Northern Gateway pipeline while also acting as watchdog over Canada’s spy agency, says the NDP’s House Leader.
Strahl registered to lobby the British Columbia government this past December on behalf of Enbridge pipeline’s Northern Gateway Pipeline project. Strahl also chairs the Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC) which oversees the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).
CSIS considers opposition to Enbridge’s pipeline project a potential national security threat.
“Nobody has ever done this before that we are aware of,” said NDP House Leader Nathan Cullen. “Why Mr. Strahl wouldn’t see it as raising public concerns is beyond me.”
Strahl registered with the B.C. lobbyist registry on Dec. 6 to arrange meetings between Enbridge and provincial minister Rich Coleman, who is in overseas the natural gas file.
The Vancouver Observer originally reported Strahl’s registration.
“The spy agency is spying on opponents and briefing the company and that same spy agency has somebody who chairs the oversight group and lobbies for the company at the same time,” said Cullen, an MP from B.C.
Strahl did not return phone calls or emails requesting comment.
Cullen said the NDP is considering filing complaints against Strahl with the federal ethics commissioner and possibly provincial ethics commissioners.
“It seems so blatant and crass you expect these guys to be more sophisticated when they are running their rigged game,” said Cullen. “It smells terrible. I don’t know how they can possibly justify it.”
Strahl, who owns a firm called Chuck Strahl Consulting Inc., told the Observer that he did “do some contract work for Enbridge,” but had arranged no meetings to this point.
CSIS is actively monitoring opposition to Northern Gateway Pipeline, which received the green light from the National Energy Board (NEB) in late December. It is up to the Harper cabinet to give the project final approval.
Natural Resources Canada hosted a “classified briefing” for “energy and utilities sector stakeholders” at CSIS’ headquarters in November 2011. The briefing was titled, North American Resources Development at Risk, according to an internal government document obtained by the PressProgress website and published Monday.
The Vancouver Observer also obtained internal NEB emails under the Access to Information Act that showed the agency “coordinated the gathering of intelligence” on opponents of the Alberta tar sands with CSIS, the RCMP and energy firms Enbridge and TransCanada.
Strahl was minister of Aboriginal affairs from 2007 to 2010 and took a pass on running in the 2011 election.
He was appointed to SIRC by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2012 after the previous chair, Arthur Porter, resigned following a scandal that led him to jail in Panama.
SIRC reviews CSIS’ activities to ensure they are in compliance with the law. The review body also investigates complaints against the spy agency.
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