User:Oceanflynn/sandbox/Public inquiry into anti-Alberta energy campaigns

Public inquiry into anti-Alberta energy campaigns is a one-year $2.5 million public inquiry announced by Alberta Premier Jason Kenney on July 4, 2019 to investigate potential anti-Alberta energy campaigns.

Mandate
The inquiry which is led by the former board chair of the Calgary Economic Development—a forensic accountant—Steve Allan, "has a mandate to investigate foreign-funded efforts." The inquiry will include interviews, research, and potentially, public hearings.

Announcement of public inquiry
Kenney announced the creation of the public inquiry along with the "Energy War Room" in a release by the UCP party during this election campaign. Kenney cited the work "the intrepid reporting of journalist Vivian Krause", who has spent ten years examining foreign funding of Canadian environmental non-profit organizations (ENGOs). "the intrepid reporting of journalist Vivian Krause" and claimed that “Albertans now have proof that provincial interests are being challenged by well-funded foreign actors who have been waging a decade-long campaign to land lock Alberta’s oil.” In the press release, Kenney said that, the enquiry may follow up on investigations done in other jurisdictions, including "the January 6, 2017 Backgrounder for the United States investigation, "Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections" that contained, "clear evidence that the Kremlin is financing and choreographing anti-fracking propaganda in the United States." He could also include evidence from the the March 1, 2018, House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology report, "Russian Attempts to Influence U.S. Domestic Energy Markets by Exploiting Social Media" from the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology", which states, "the Kremlin manipulated various groups in an attempt to carry out its geopolitical agenda, particularly with respect to domestic energy policy."

The Public inquiry into anti-Alberta energy campaigns was launched in July 2019.

Background
Premier Kenney says that "foreign-funded efforts" are undermining Alberta's oil and gas sector.

Kenney refers to two documents from the United States—the January 6, 2017 Backgrounder for the United States investigation, "Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections", and the March 1, 2018, House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology report, "Russian Attempts to Influence U.S. Domestic Energy Markets by Exploiting Social Media" from the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology".

The backgrounder said that RT ran "anti-fracking programming, highlighting environmental issues and the impacts on public health. This is likely reflective of the Russian Government's concern about the impact of fracking and US natural gas production on the global energy market and the potential challenges to Gazprom's profitability (5 October)."

In a talk at Manhattan Institute in September 12, 2018, "The Real Fuel of the Future: Natural Gas", Kenney said that there were "domestic economic benefits from an expanded shale gas industry" but there was a "potential American upset of the former hegemony in global gas trade." In 2018 the media was "preoccupied" with Russian social-media meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. In 2018 Russia attempted to "sow discord in our domestic energy debates". The March 1, 2018, House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology report, "Russian Attempts to Influence U.S. Domestic Energy Markets by Exploiting Social Media" from the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology" said that over "4,000 social-media accounts linked to Russian entities were engaged in inflaming online debates over pipelines, fossil fuels, and climate change". Kenney said that these "fake accounts advocated for 'the complete abandonment of specific fuel sources, such as fossil fuels, by touting exaggerated claims about alternative energy sources,' while sometimes both promoting and mocking climate change, all intended to “generate further domestic [U.S.] controversy."

Krause "began her blog, Fair Questions, in 2009, which she used to defend the farmed salmon industry and Canada’s oil and gas and mining industries".

Krause's blog Fair Questions challenged the anti-fish farm campaign.

Krause worked for John Duncan in 2010. Duncan was appointed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper on August 6, 2010 to serve as Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians, and Minister responsible for the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency. He resigned on February 15, 2013.