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The Canadian Energy Centre Limited (CEC), also commonly called the "Energy War Room", was an
Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...
provincial corporation mandated to promote Alberta's energy industry and rebut "domestic and foreign-funded campaigns against Canada's oil and gas industry". The creation of an organization to promote Alberta's oil and gas industries was a campaign promise by
United Conservative Party The United Conservative Party of Alberta (UCP) is a conservative political party in the province of Alberta, Canada. It was established in July 2017 as a merger between the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta and the Wildrose Party ...
leader
Jason Kenney Jason Thomas Kenney (born May 30, 1968) is a former Canadian politician who served as the 18th premier of Alberta from 2019 until 2022, and the leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP) from 2017 until 2022. He also served as the member o ...
during the
2019 Alberta general election The 2019 Alberta general election was held on April 16, 2019, to elect 87 members to the 30th Alberta Legislature. In its first general election contest, the Jason Kenney-led United Conservative Party (UCP) won 54.88% of the popular vote and 63 ...
. After winning a majority of seats in the election, Kenney's government inaugurated the CEC with a $2.84 million budget in December 2019. The CEC originally had an annual budget of CA$30 million which was decreased to $CA12 million. The CEC has been the subject of several controversies since its establishment, including accusations of plagiarizing logo designs. The CEC attracted widespread media attention when it launched a campaign against the
Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
animated children's movie ''
Bigfoot Family ''Bigfoot Family'' is a 2020 animated fantasy adventure comedy film directed by Ben Stassen and Jeremy Degruson, and written by Bob Barlen and Cal Brunker. An English-language Belgian-French co-production, it is the sequel to the 2017 film '' ...
'' because it cast Alberta's oil and gas industry in a negative light. In June 2024, the CEC was shut down, and merged into Alberta Intergovernmental Relations.


Background

The creation of a 'war room' capable of challenging "energy industry critics' inaccuracies" was an election promise made by then candidate Jason Kenney as part of his campaign leading up to the 16 April
2019 Alberta general election The 2019 Alberta general election was held on April 16, 2019, to elect 87 members to the 30th Alberta Legislature. In its first general election contest, the Jason Kenney-led United Conservative Party (UCP) won 54.88% of the popular vote and 63 ...
. In the founding speech of the UCP on 9 May 2018, Kenney announced that he would engage in "national and international advocacy" including a "fully staffed rapid response war room in government to quickly and effectively rebut every lie told by the green left about our world-class energy industry. If companies like HSBC decide to boycott our
oil sands Oil sands are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit. They are either loose sands, or partially consolidated sandstone containing a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay, and water, soaked with bitumen (a dense and extremely viscous ...
, our government will boycott them. It's called a market decision." Premier Kenney, whose
United Conservative Party The United Conservative Party of Alberta (UCP) is a conservative political party in the province of Alberta, Canada. It was established in July 2017 as a merger between the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta and the Wildrose Party ...
(UCP), won a majority of seats in the
Alberta Legislature The Alberta Legislature is the unicameral legislature of the province of Alberta, Canada. The legislature is made of two elements: the lieutenant governor of Alberta, lieutenant governor (representing the King of Canada),. and the Legislative A ...
announced the creation of Calgary-based $30 million "Energy War Room" on 7 June 2019 to "fight misinformation related to oil and gas". On 6 May 2019 Nick Koolsbergen, who was the UCP's Alberta campaign manager for the winning election, announced the establishment of the Wellington Advocacy government relations firm with Harper & Associates' Rachel Curran. Both Koolsbergen and Curran had worked in the office of former Prime Minister
Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. He is to date the only prime minister to have come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ser ...
. According to a 17 May 2019 CBC article,
Postmedia Postmedia Network Canada Corp. (also known as Postmedia Network, Postmedia News or Postmedia) is an American-owned Canadian-based media conglomerate consisting of the publishing properties of the former Canwest, with primary operations in Engl ...
contracted Wellington Advocacy to "lobby" the UCP on "how it could be involved with" the new 'energy war room'. In July 2019, Kenney announced the establishment of a one-year $2.5 million
Public Inquiry into Anti-Alberta Energy Campaigns Public Inquiry into Anti-Alberta Energy Campaigns was a $3.5-million inquiry led by Steve Allan, commissioned on July 4, 2019, by newly-elected Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and tasked with investigating foreign-funded efforts to undermine the oi ...
". Kenney cited the work of Vivian Krause, who has spent ten years examining foreign funding of Canadian environmental non-profit organizations (ENGOs) and who claimed that Alberta's interests were being "challenged by well-funded foreign actors who have been waging a decade-long campaign to land lock Alberta's oil." The public inquiry, which was officially established in July 2019 with a "mandate to investigate foreign-funded efforts", is led by the former board chair of the Calgary Economic Development—a forensic accountant—Steve Allan. The inquiry will include interviews, research, and potentially, public hearings. On 9 October 2019 Energy Minister Sonya Savage announced that the CEC was incorporated. The centre (CEC) was officially launched on 11 December by Premier Kenney at a press conference at the
Southern Alberta Institute of Technology The Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) is a Institute of technology, polytechnic institute in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. SAIT offers more than 110 career programs in technology, trades and business. Established in 1916, it is Calgar ...
(SAIT).


Mandate and description

Its mandate is to "highlight achievements in Alberta's oil and gas sector" and to "refute what it deems to be misinformation about the industry." Kenney said the centre will "counter misinformation" "coming from some environmental groups and others seeking to landlock Alberta's oil and gas". At the 11 December launch, Olsen described the centre as a place to tell the story of the oil and gas industry in Alberta, which includes rebutting its critics respectfully. While explaining the war room's strategy, Olsen states "we are not about attacking, we are about disproving true facts."


Funding

The Canadian Energy Centre is funded by the Alberta provincial government with an original budget of $30 million. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Canadian Energy Centre's budget was decreased to $2.84 million for a period of 90 days. In 2020, CEC's budget was about $4 million. Post Media's ''Financial Post'' described the CEC as an "Alberta government corporation partly funded by industry." According to a March 2022 CBC article, the CEC is funded by the Technology, Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) fund, which is the province's industrial tax on carbon tax. On 21 March 2022, Minister Savage, who is CEC's "sole voting shareholder", said that the CECalthough not included in the province's proposed budget for 2022-2023has a budget of approximately $12 million a year.


Private corporation

The Canadian Energy Centre Limited is a private corporation, which means that it is not subject to Alberta's Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIP Act). Premier Kenney's press secretary Christine Myatt said that keeping CECL's internal operations secret is a "tactical and/or strategic advantage to the very foreign-funded special interests the CEC is looking to counter." CBC's Jennie Russell submitted a request in May 2021, for further information on how CEC awarded its contracts. The request was denied because CEC is protected from any FOI request due to its status as a private corporation. Russell challenged the decision and the case was sent to Alberta's information and privacy commissioner, who appointed an external adjudicator, Catherine Tully, to decide on the issue. Tully found that the CEC did not qualify as either a provincial government office or branch and therefore Russell's FOI did not apply.
University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay, British Columbia, Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1903 as Victoria College, British Columbia, Victoria Col ...
's Sean Holman, an expert on freedom of information laws, said that the way in which CEC uses information and spends money is of public interest, as it is not a "run-of-the-mill government operation", it is a "spin centre" for the world's "most controversial industry".


Governance

The CEC is governed by a three-member board of directors composed of Sonya Savage ( Minister of Energy),
Doug Schweitzer Douglas Edward Schweitzer (born 1978 or 1979) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who was elected in the 2019 Alberta general election to represent the electoral district of Calgary-Elbow in the 30th Alberta Legislature. He is a member of the Uni ...
( Minister of Justice and Solicitor General), and
Jason Nixon Jason John Nixon (born May 26, 1980) is a Canadian politician and the current Minister of Seniors, Community and Social Services of Alberta. He is member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta representing the electoral district of Rimbey-Roc ...
( Minister of Environment and Parks). The appointment of Tom Olsen as the Canadian Energy Centre's first
chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...
and managing director was announced in November 2019 by Savage. Olsen, who had run unsuccessfully as a United Conservative Party candidate in the 2019 election, is a former veteran political journalist who previously worked as a spokesman for
Ed Stelmach Edward Michael Stelmach (; born May 11, 1951) is a Canadian politician who served as the 13th premier of Alberta, from 2006 to 2011. The grandson of Ukrainian immigrants, Stelmach was born and raised on a farm near Lamont and fluently spea ...
.


Themes

In a 18 December rebuttal to the 14 December ''Medicine Hat News'' critical opinion piece that said that the CEC was not "subject to freedom-of-information searches" and that the Centre "could be used to stifle legitimate dissent and commentary on the oil and gas industry", Olson, who is a former ''Calgary Herald'' journalist, said that "oversight" of the CEC is "rigorous" and that the centre is subject to the Fiscal Planning and Transparency Act, the Whistle Blowers Act and audits by Alberta's auditor general. Olsen added that "campaigns to shut down new pipeline projects and damage the reputation of our oil and gas industry have received tens of millions of dollars from U.S. environmental foundations." This has resulted in the "landlocking of Alberta energy" which had resulted in the loss of jobs, "tens of billions of dollars" in capital, less money for public services, as well as "lower value for their shareholders that include many of the country’s biggest pension plans and investment funds." In his CEC post, Grady Semmens responded to the 27 December 2019 opinion piece published in ''
The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...
'' by
Bill McKibben William Ernest McKibben (born December 8, 1960)"Bill Ernest McKibben." ''Environmental Encyclopedia''. Edited by Deirdre S. Blanchfield. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2009. Retrieved via ''Biography in Context'' database, December 31, 2017. is a ...
, an American author and environmentalist, who called on Canada to go beyond cutting emissions to "stop digging up oil and gas and selling it around the world." Semmens said that Canada was only "responsible for less than 1.6 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions." Semmens cited a
Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), with its head office in Calgary, Alberta, is a advocacy group that represents the upstream Canadian oil and natural gas industry. CAPP's members produce "90% of Canada's natural gas and c ...
(CAPP) which cited a 9 January 2007 Statistics Canada report. Economist Andrew Leach, who described the centre as a "pro-energy corporation", is providing a rebuttal of truth claims made by the CEC on their website.


Canadian Energy Centre Logo

The CEC logo, which was unveiled at the launch, was also used in the 11 December promotional video, on the CEC's website, "on the wall of its downtown Calgary office, and on signs". By the evening of 18 December, "social media users" on
Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
began to share side-by-side versions of the CEC logo and the "trademarked symbol" for
Progress Software Corporation Progress Software Corporation is an American public company that produces software for creating and deploying business applications. Founded in Burlington, Massachusetts with offices in 16 countries, the company posted revenues of $531.3 milli ...
, the
Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
-headquartered "software giant"—
Progress Software Progress Software Corporation is an American public company that produces software for creating and deploying business applications. Founded in Burlington, Massachusetts with offices in 16 countries, the company posted revenues of $531.3 mill ...
, A 19 December
Canadian Press The Canadian Press (CP; , ) is a Canadian national news agency headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Established in 1917 as a vehicle for Canadian newspapers to exchange news and information, The Canadian Press has been a private, not-for-profit c ...
report said that the icons were "identical, stylized sharp-angled depictions of what appear to be radiating waves... the Progress one is emerald-green and the war room version is two shades of blue." According to a CP report, the
Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
-headquartered "software giant"—
Progress Software Progress Software Corporation is an American public company that produces software for creating and deploying business applications. Founded in Burlington, Massachusetts with offices in 16 countries, the company posted revenues of $531.3 mill ...
sent an email that morning saying that it was "looking into whether Alberta’s new energy war room has violated the company's trademarked logo." In a 19 December statement, the energy centre's CEO and managing director,
Tom Olsen Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name. Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Tom'' (1973 film), or ''The Bad Bunch'', a blaxploitation film * ''Tom'' (2002 film) ...
, said that the logo was pulled and was to be replaced. Olsen said that the "design debacle" "mistake" was an "unfortunate situation". He said that the CEC was in "discussions" with the marketing agency—Lead & Anchor "to determine how it happened". The CEC had selected Lead & Anchor over eight other contractors proposed to the CEC by the Calgary marketing agency, Communo. On 27 December, the ''Calgary Herald'' reported that
Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...
-based ATK Technologies Inc.—a company that developed the mobile phone Alpha Browser app launched in 2018—claimed that the logo the CEC was using to replace its original logo, was "similar" to the Alpha Browser app logo—a "stylized, red-striped letter "a." The new CEC logo appears to take that same letter "a" and turn it on its side, with a red maple leaf added to the top right corner." According to the ''Herald'' a member of ATK said that the logo was ATK's "intellectual property" and that they their legal team was "on top of it." Currently the Canadian Energy Centre's Facebook, Twitter and Websites are not using either of these logos. The image being used where needed is simply their name in simple black text.


Bigfoot Family Controversy

On 12 March 2021 the Canadian Energy Centre launched a website and petition against the
Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
animated children's movie
Bigfoot Family ''Bigfoot Family'' is a 2020 animated fantasy adventure comedy film directed by Ben Stassen and Jeremy Degruson, and written by Bob Barlen and Cal Brunker. An English-language Belgian-French co-production, it is the sequel to the 2017 film '' ...
. The website hosted an online petition titled "Tell the truth Netflix" addressed to Netflix Canada's Head of Communications. The form letter, which could not be edited by users, asked
Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
to use its "powerful platform to tell the true story of Canada’s peerless oil and gas industry, and not contribute to misinformation targeting your youngest, most vulnerable and impressionable viewers." Of particular concern was the animated film's representation of "oil being extracted by blowing up a valley using glowing red bombs" which, the CEC claimed, looked "like something out of an action movie". Of note, there have been experimental projects where oil has been extracted using explosives. One such project -
Project Oilsand Project Oilsand, also known as Project Oilsands, and originally known as Project Cauldron, was a 1958 proposal to exploit the Athabasca Oil Sands in Alberta via the underground detonation of up to 100 nuclear explosives; hypothetically, the heat ...
- was proposed for Pony Creek, Alberta but was never followed through with. On 12 March 2021 when Canadian Energy Centre CEO Tom Olsen was asked why the Bigfoot Family campaign was launched, the CEC released a statement saying it responded after "a parent flagged" the film. However a 17 March 2021 column in the
Calgary Herald The ''Calgary Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Publication began in 1883 as ''The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate, and General Advertiser''. It is owned by the Postmedia Network. History ''The C ...
states that the idea for the campaign came from a CEC member of staff. The Bigfoot Family controversy—also known as Bigfootgate—has received provincial, national as well as international media attention in the US, UK and elsewhere. In Alberta, opposition MLAs have used the pointed to the Bigfoot controversy to question the value and effectiveness of the Canadian Energy Centre which has a budget of $12 million for 2021–2022. Meanwhile, Jason Kenney has publicly defended the CEC's campaign against Bigfoot Family saying that the film was deliberately designed to "defame in the most vicious way possible, in the impressionable minds of kids, the largest industry in the province".


Twitter account

On 12 February 2020, Tom Olsen, CEC's CEO Tom Olsen apologized for "the tone" of tweets posted by CEC's official Twitter account "attacking" ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
.'' CEC's Twitter account—@CDNEnergyCentre—had posted a 20-tweet thread on 12 February in response to an article in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' by Christopher Flavelle, in which Flavelle describing how some of the "largest financial institutions" in the world had stopped investing in Alberta's oil sands. Flavelle said that the oil sands was "one of the world's most extensive, and also dirtiest, oil reserves." The ''Times'' said that in June 2017, when Sweden's largest pension fund—AP7—divested of six companies that they said "breached" the 2016
Paris Agreement The Paris Agreement (also called the Paris Accords or Paris Climate Accords) is an international treaty on climate change that was signed in 2016. The treaty covers climate change mitigation, adaptation, and finance. The Paris Agreement was ...
, it began a shift in the "campaign against the oil sands...to the world of finance". Since then,
HSBC HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...
—Europe's largest bank, the insurance "giant"—
The Hartford The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc., usually known as The Hartford, is an American investment and insurance company. The Hartford is a Fortune 500 company headquartered in its namesake city of Hartford, Connecticut. It was ranked 160th in Fortune ...
, the central bank of
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
, and "one of
BlackRock BlackRock, Inc. is an American Multinational corporation, multinational investment company. Founded in 1988, initially as an enterprise risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager ...
's "fast-growing green-oriented funds, France's
BNP Paribas BNP Paribas (; sometimes referred to as BNPP or BNP) is a French multinational universal bank and financial services holding company headquartered in Paris. It was founded in 2000 from the merger of two of France's foremost financial instituti ...
and
Société Générale Société Générale S.A. (), colloquially known in English-speaking countries as SocGen (), is a French multinational universal bank and financial services company founded in 1864. It is registered in downtown Paris and headquartered nearby i ...
, and Norway's sovereign wealth fund, also announced their divestment from pipelines, the oil sands and/or fossil fuels, according to the ''Times''. The tweet thread, the CEC account said that the ''Times'' had "been "called out for anti-Semitism countless times," has a "dodgy" track record, is "routinely accused of bias" and is "not the most dependable source."" The tweets were since deleted and Olsen, said that "The tone did not meet CEC's standard for public discourse. This issue has been dealt with internally." On 11 February, CEC's social media manager apologized for retweeting "factually incorrect information" about how clean Teck Frontier's oil would be compared to other North American oil streams, after Andrew Leach, a University of Alberta economist pointed out the error.


See also

*
Canadian Centre for Energy Information The Canadian Centre for Energy Information (CCEI) is a Canadian federal government website and portal that was announced on May 23, 2019. The Canadian Energy Information Portal was launched by Statistics Canada, in partnership with Natural Resourc ...
(CCEI), a Canadian federal government website and portal that was announced on 23 May 2019. The Canadian Energy Information Portal was launched by
Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...
, in partnership with
Natural Resources Canada Natural Resources Canada (NRCan; ; )Natural Resources Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Natural Resources (). is the department of the Government of Canada responsible for natural r ...
,
Environment and Climate Change Canada Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC; )Environment and Climate Change Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of the Environment (). is the department of the Government of Canada res ...
, and the—now defunct—
National Energy Board The National Energy Board was an independent economic regulatory agency created in 1959 by the Government of Canada to oversee "international and inter-provincial aspects of the oil, gas and electric utility industries." Its head office was locate ...
. The regularly updated and expanded online interactive site provides a "single point" for accessing information Canadian energy sector including energy production, consumption, international trade, transportation, prices with monthly federal and provincial statistics.


Notes


References

{{ABGovDept Petroleum industry in Alberta Natural gas in Alberta Energy organizations Politics of Alberta Defunct Alberta government departments and agencies Energy in Canada Energy in Alberta 2019 establishments in Alberta Environmental impact of fossil fuels Environmental impact of the petroleum industry Petroleum politics 2024 disestablishments in Alberta