VO: Oil money on the campaign trail

So you want to talk about money influencing Canadian energy policy?  The good people at the Vancouver Observer do too:

“As regulatory hearings take off this week in Kitimat, the heated debate around Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline has got the whole country talking.

• Tory-linked “Ethical Oil” website slams Canadian enviros over foreign funding

• NDP MP Nathan Cullen condemns Harper’s “witch hunt” on environmental charities

• Unethical oil and its Canadian friends

• Harper concerned about “hijacked” Northern Gateway hearings

Allegations from the government about environmental “radicals” and funding from foreign special interest groups have led many to question funding to groups on the other side of this argument.

Why is Prime Minister Stephen Harper so passionate about the oil sands and about pushing this pipeline through? Surely the billions of dollars in estimated “economic benefit” must have something to do with it. But to risk the environment and the trust of an entire province, there must be more to it than that. Lobbyists are one thing, but what about campaign funding?

To get a sense of Enbridge’s influence, VO decided to take a look at political contributions and other donations to Harper and the Conservatives, as well as campaign contributions from the company most deeply involved in the Northern Gateway debate – Enbridge.”

See the whole story here.