EthicalOil.org spokesperson refuses to answer questions on Enbridge funding

EthicalOil.org spokesperson Kathryn Marshall likes to accuse environmental groups fighting the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline as working on behalf of foreign funders.

But on a recent episode of CBC's Power & Politics with Evan Solomon, Marshall repeatedly dodged questions on whether her oilsands-backing organization has received funding from pipeline proponent Enbridge.

After watching the interview, the answer sure seems clear.

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Comments

5 Comments

Radical gazillionaire

Jan 13, 2012 at 11:47am

That she had the nerve to refer to reasonable questions about her funding as "conspiracy theories" when she and her puppet masters and pals (like Vivian Krause) are promoting a huge disingenuous conspiracy theory takes a lot of nerve. Too bad more journalists don't ask her, Vivian, Ezra et al these very basic journalistic questions. Kathryn was clearly out of her depth, though. Her employers should fire her for incompetence. But I hope they don't!

Reynold

Jan 13, 2012 at 12:17pm

What could be more "extreme" than creating climate chaos?

The point about Canadian jobs is a red herring. If someone were able to shut down the Mexican drug cartels would Mexicans decry the loss of Mexican jobs?

Arne Zabell

Jan 16, 2012 at 9:49am

Vivian Krause, is a numbers person and anyone can utilize her work. I think this whole debate should raise concerns of how all our discussions are being corrupted whether for or against the issue at hand.

spartikus

Jan 16, 2012 at 10:25am

Krause is indeed a numbers person. But in my experience she doesn't present them in the most straight-forward fashion - often adding multiple years together to make amounts seem larger and throwing in others that are not of immediate relevance to whatever subjects she's writing about that day.

She's been hailed by some in the media for "uncovering" these numbers. However most of this information is freely available on the web in the Annual Reports and Financial Statements of the organizations she's targeted.

You could not say the same for Ethical Oil - which as we've seen is very uncomfortable answering a yes or no question about funding. And you could not same the same for many pro-corporate think tanks such as the Fraser Institute (a registered charity) which does not list it's donors at all.

Krause has stated time and again she's concerned with money skewing the debate regardless of which side of the issue it's supporting - but she only targets one side of the debate, never investigating the vastly larger amounts that support fish farming and tarsands development.

Unlike EthicalOil, whose claim to be just a grassroots organization is being exposed as a fraud, Krause is on public record stating she is entirely self-funded these days. While an extreme attempt to achieve "purity", it's within the realm of possibility - and there is no evidence to contradict it.