How Big Oil & Gas are pulling the strings
July 18, 2024
Tracey Saxby
A bombshell investigation by The Narwhal has revealed the dirty tactics Big Oil & Gas companies are using to covertly influence BC Government decisions on fracked gas and LNG exports.
Dirty tactics by a dirty industry
Leaked recordings of fossil fuel executives at the Calgary-based pipeline giant, TC Energy, expose how staff influence politicians, the media, and public opinion: from writing briefing notes for Ministers and Premiers, to undermining the voices of opposition groups, to influencing Premier David Eby's position on LNG during a trade mission to Asia.
"We’ve been given opportunities to write entire briefing notes for ministers and premiers and prime ministers and it gets stuck on government letterhead...There’s nothing more powerful than that," said TC Energy Executive, Liam Iliffe, who previously worked as a senior advisor under former BC NDP premier John Horgan.
Shifting Eby's support for LNG
Iliffe, who has since resigned, shared how TC Energy focused lobbying efforts to target Premier David Eby:
“We had a new premier with a new mandate... described on his very first day in office as ‘we cannot continue to expand fossil fuel infrastructure and hit our climate goals,’ ” Iliffe said. “This set off alarm bells, of course, across industry.”
When Premier Eby and cabinet ministers went on a trade mission to Asia in 2023, TC Energy briefed Canadian ambassadors on desired messaging to give to Eby about the gas sector.
The tactic worked.
“It was a marked shift in language when (Eby) came home,” Iliffe said.
Undermining climate advocacy groups
Iliffe praised the work of the company’s “opposition research” team, a term used to describe research into political opponents (for example, climate advocacy groups opposed to new oil and gas development) with the intent to discredit or undermine them.
"We were able to launch campaigns, block and tackle campaigns, mute opposition voices because we have an extraordinary and growing team that really focuses on opposition research," said Iliffe.
Influencing the media landscape
The recordings also reveal how TC Energy works to "shape stories, place stories, develop positive stories" or "stop negative stories" that could cause irreparable harm to the company.
Other TC Energy Execs even took credit for a Wall-Street Journal editorial, that criticized Joe Biden's pause on new LNG export projects.
Former Trump staffers and CSIS?
A second recording features several former Trump staffers now working for TC Energy, who shared their "strategies about how to influence governments, benefit from geopolitical crises and leverage existing relationships with a range of senior government officials — including the head of Canada’s spy agency." (CSIS)
The company relies on sophisticated intelligence gathering to counter opposition to fossil fuel developments and protect TC Energy's assets: oil and gas pipelines in Canada, the US, and Mexico.
Puppets for oil & gas?
While BC Attorney General, Niki Sharma, has asked a provincial watchdog to investigate, the BC Government has denied the statements made by TC Energy execs in the recordings so far.
Denial in the face of these serious allegations is simply not good enough.
Iliffe claims TC Energy and its partner Oil & Gas companies have saved billions after lobbying to change regulations and influence policies at both the Provincial and Federal level.
Premier Eby must take real action to determine the extent of influence that dirty Oil & Gas has had on BC Government decisions that support fracking and LNG expansion. These recordings reveal potential corruption and collusion between BC government staff and the Oil & Gas industry.
Will Premier Eby continue to deny the influence of the powerful Oil & Gas lobby and protect the interest of those at the top? Or will he stand up for regular British Columbians and stop expanding fossil fuel infrastructure?
With outrage,
Tracey Saxby
Executive Director, My Sea to Sky
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