BUSTED!! Carson Found Guilty . . .

[Oscar]

Bruce Carson Scandal Greased by Harper's Oil Sands Agenda

[ http://thetyee.ca/News/2011/04/27/CarsonOilSands/ ]

Taxpayer millions set up PM advisor to push petro interests from U of Calgary. A special Tyee investigation.

By Andrew Nikiforuk , 27 Apr 2011 | TheTyee.ca

Andrew Nikiforuk's "Energy and Equity" column runs (at least) once a week on The Tyee. Read his previous pieces for The Tyee here.

Harper and Carson: Convicted fraudster carried big files for PM.

[Editor's note: On Nov. 17, 2015, Bruce Carson was found not guilty of the charge of influence peddling in relation to his attempts to promote the sale of H20 Pros' water purification systems. The charges related to EPIC and the University of Calgary are still making their way through the legal system.]

Everyone loves a good political scandal and the Bruce Carson affair squarely fits the bill.

A 66-year-old former senior policy advisor to Prime Minister Stephen Harper seemingly lobbies the government on behalf of his 22-year fiancée, a former sex worker.

She dresses in sexy lingerie. Newspapers publish lurid photos.

MORE:

[ http://thetyee.ca/News/2011/04/27/CarsonOilSands/ ]

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RELATED:
Scandal Rocks Key Player in Canada's Oil Sands PR Push
[ http://thetyee.ca/News/2011/03/25/Scand ... KeyPlayer/ ]

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New revelations show Harper's warm embrace of Big Oil lobby

[ http://rabble.ca/columnists/2014/05/new ... -oil-lobby ]

By Linda McQuaig May 22, 2014

Just when it looked like Nigel Wright could return to being just another guy who runs through city streets in the middle of the night, along come some intriguing new disclosures revealing more questionable behaviour on his part inside the PMO.

Of course, for months, the former chief of staff to Prime Minister Stephen Harper was the central player in the saga of that $90,000 payment to a scandal-plagued senator.

Now, Wright figures prominently in another PMO saga that highlights something arguably much more serious -- the political influence of a multi-billion-dollar lobby whose business development plans imperil nothing less than the fate of the earth.

Yet this latest Nigel Wright saga has been largely ignored by the media -- perhaps because it's not considered news that a lobbyist for Big Oil had stunningly easy access to the PM's top adviser.

After all, did anybody think that such a lobbyist would not have that sort of access in Stephen Harper's PMO?

Under Harper, the Prime Minister's Office has dedicated itself to transforming Canada into an unabashed petro-state, making the country one of a handful of nations leading the world rapidly down a path to climate-change mayhem.

Still, these new revelations give us a rare and fascinating glimpse into just how accommodating the highest levels of the Harper government are to the entreaties of Big Oil.

The new revelations surfaced in news stories about the RCMP's decision earlier this month to lay charges against another former PMO staffer, Bruce Carson, for allegedly engaging in illegal lobbying and influence peddling. [ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/pol ... e18611119/ ]

So the media focus has been on Carson -- a shady character who's a media magnet. A convicted thief and fraudster in the 1980s and '90s, Carson glided through the screening process to become a senior aide in Harper's PMO. Oh yes, and he is also facing an unrelated influence-peddling charge involving a young woman, reportedly his fiancée and a former escort worker -- whose photograph in a skimpy bedroom outfit has been considered an important way for the media to illustrate the story. [ http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2011 ... eport.html ]

In these new RCMP allegations, however, Carson was working for the Energy Policy Institute of Canada (EPIC), described in the media as a "non-profit group formed by business organizations in the energy sector."

This rather benign description fails to convey what EPIC really is: a lobbying vehicle for dozens of extremely wealthy, powerful fossil fuel companies, including Enbridge, Imperial Oil, Shell, Suncor and Irving Oil, as well as the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers -- all hell-bent on developing Alberta's tar sands.

The important story here isn't the alleged illegal lobbying behaviour of Carson (who is banned from lobbying for five years after serving in government). The real story is the reception he receives when, now representing Big Oil, he approaches the top man in the PMO, Nigel Wright, someone he doesn't know personally, with a document laying out what Big Oil wants.

According to emails disclosed by the RCMP, Wright promises to read the document over the weekend, and urges Carson to "feel free to give me a call at any time."

Just normal etiquette? No doubt. I'm sure that pretty well anyone, including representatives from Greenpeace, could count on that sort of friendly response from the prime minister's right-hand man -- as well as the follow-up action that Carson got.

Wright allowed Carson to present his case, and apparently responded positively.

We know this because Carson reported back by email to EPIC's founding president, Doug Black, that he'd briefed Wright, who "seemed generally supportive."

"Excellent. Need Nigel on side," responded Black (who is now a Conservative senator, of all things).

Indeed, Black was so pleased by the progress Big Oil was making with the Harper government, he wrote to Carson that "we could do nothing of this without you." He added: "We are making progress and you are the secret sauce."

Any interest group getting that kind of easy access in the PMO should raise eyebrows.

[ http://rabble.ca/columnists/2014/05/new ... -oil-lobby ]


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Crash of ‘The Mechanic’: Oil Sands Flogger Bruce Carson Found Guilty

[ http://thetyee.ca/News/2016/09/21/Bruce ... nd-Guilty/ ]

Harper insider convicted on three counts of illegal lobbying.

By Andrew Nikiforuk , Today | TheTyee.ca

Andrew Nikiforuk is an award-winning journalist who has been writing about the energy industry for two decades and is a contributing editor to The Tyee. Find his previous stories here.

Bruce Carson: Tyee’s 2011 investigation of the political fixer called ‘The Mechanic’ detailed roles and activities a judge this week deemed illegal.

Bruce Carson, a senior advisor to Prime Minister Stephen Harper from 2006 to 2009, has been convicted on three different counts of illegal lobbying.

Carson broke the law while pushing Harper’s fossil fuels friendly agenda from two perches. One was an oil lobby group, and the other was a federally funded think tank at the University of Calgary billed as a clean energy research centre before Carson helped bend it to oil sands advocacy.

Under Canada’s weak and little used Lobbying Act, it is illegal for public office holders to communicate or influence other public office holders for at least five years after they have left office. The act also requires anyone being paid to influence decision-makers to register their activities.

In a lengthy 97-page decision, Justice Catherine Kehoe found that the Harper aide broke the law by repeatedly communicating with public office holders for payment about oil sands issues during the five-year prohibition period. Despite warnings, Carson never bothered to register as a paid lobbyist either.

Kehoe found that Carson willfully broke the law between 2009 and 2011 while serving as director of the now-defunct Canadian School of Energy and Environment (CSEE) at the University of Calgary and while acting as co-chair of industry funded Energy Policy Institute of Canada (EPIC).

A 2011 Tyee investigation [ http://thetyee.ca/News/2011/04/27/CarsonOilSands/ ] found that Carson used both organizations as part of a coordinated industry and government effort by the Harper administration to rebrand the oil sands megaproject as a “responsible,” “sustainable,” and “clean.”

Kehoe specifically found Carson guilty of renegotiating a $12-million contract with Industry Canada for the federally funded Canadian School of Energy and Environment while he served as director of the think tank.

MORE:
[ http://thetyee.ca/News/2016/09/21/Bruce ... nd-Guilty/ ]

[Oscar]

Crash of ‘The Mechanic’: Oil Sands Flogger Bruce Carson Found Guilty

[ http://thetyee.ca/News/2016/09/21/Bruce ... nd-Guilty/ ]

Harper insider convicted on three counts of illegal lobbying.

By Andrew Nikiforuk , Today | TheTyee.ca

Andrew Nikiforuk is an award-winning journalist who has been writing about the energy industry for two decades and is a contributing editor to The Tyee. Find his previous stories here.

Bruce Carson: Tyee’s 2011 investigation of the political fixer called ‘The Mechanic’ detailed roles and activities a judge this week deemed illegal.

Bruce Carson, a senior advisor to Prime Minister Stephen Harper from 2006 to 2009, has been convicted on three different counts of illegal lobbying.

Carson broke the law while pushing Harper’s fossil fuels friendly agenda from two perches. One was an oil lobby group, and the other was a federally funded think tank at the University of Calgary billed as a clean energy research centre before Carson helped bend it to oil sands advocacy.

Under Canada’s weak and little used Lobbying Act, it is illegal for public office holders to communicate or influence other public office holders for at least five years after they have left office. The act also requires anyone being paid to influence decision-makers to register their activities.

In a lengthy 97-page decision, Justice Catherine Kehoe found that the Harper aide broke the law by repeatedly communicating with public office holders for payment about oil sands issues during the five-year prohibition period. Despite warnings, Carson never bothered to register as a paid lobbyist either.

Kehoe found that Carson willfully broke the law between 2009 and 2011 while serving as director of the now-defunct Canadian School of Energy and Environment (CSEE) at the University of Calgary and while acting as co-chair of industry funded Energy Policy Institute of Canada (EPIC).

A 2011 Tyee investigation [ http://thetyee.ca/News/2011/04/27/CarsonOilSands/ ] found that Carson used both organizations as part of a coordinated industry and government effort by the Harper administration to rebrand the oil sands megaproject as a “responsible,” “sustainable,” and “clean.”

Kehoe specifically found Carson guilty of renegotiating a $12-million contract with Industry Canada for the federally funded Canadian School of Energy and Environment while he served as director of the think tank.

MORE:
[ http://thetyee.ca/News/2016/09/21/Bruce ... nd-Guilty/ ]