Words, Words, Words

And, I suspect empty ones at that as energy giant Enbridge Inc. denies any role in the Harper government's cancellation of a grant from the Gordon and Betty Foundation to help fund public-private consultations into the economic use of the waters off British Columbia’s north coast.

This cancellation occurred, by the way, after vigorous lobbying by Enbridge against the grant, administered by Tides Canada, which the energy entity characterized as opposed [to] the Northern Gateway project and a potential 'hijacker' of the consultation process.

The Harper regime influenced by corporate interests? Surely not.

Harper Government Identifies A New 'Enemy Of The People' - ForestEthics

Now this is just getting outrageous to the point of surrealism. The latest story in The Star reveals that the PMO has allegedly labelled an environmental group an “enemy” of Canada for opposing a proposed west coast oil pipeline and threatened retribution if its funding was not cut off, according to the affidavit of a former employee.

According to Andrew Frank, a former communications manager with ForestEthics, a group receiving funding from Tides Canada, a charitable group that funds initiatives that address poverty, climate change and social problems, senior federal officials referred to ForestEthics as an “enemy of the government of Canada” and an “enemy of the people of Canada” in a private meeting with the president of Tides Canada, Ross McMillan.

In that meeting, government officials apparently gave McMillan “a set time period … by which to ‘cut loose’ ForestEthics, or the government would ‘take down’ all of Tides’ charitable projects,” Frank said in his affidavit, which was accompanied by internal e-mail correspondence and transcripts of voice mails.

This kind of paranoid and demagogic bullying is unworthy of any democracy, even Harper's.