Natural Resources Committee on Dec. 7th, 2010

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

I'm wondering why you neglected to include the second piece of what the IEA suggests in that 40% increase picture, which is that governments take no action. That's the preface to what that 40% increase says. It also implies, and this is according to the IEA, a six-degree rise in temperature globally. That's the associated reference you just made today. I know you said that it is cold today in Alberta, but I'm hoping you're not suggesting that a prediction of a six-degree rise, and that the government is complicit in such an endeavour, would be a good thing for Canada's energy security.

[Don Thompson]

The Government of Canada has set its climate change policy, and we will be looking to that policy being enacted....

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

We all would.

[Don Thompson]

We will respond to it, but for now, our job, as I said, is to respond to market demand, to produce the energy that is required for Canada, and to create economic well-being for Canadian citizens.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Thank you, Mr. Cullen.

We will go finally to Mr. Anderson, for up to seven minutes.

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Would you let me know when I have a minute left? I'd like Ms. Gallant to have the last minute or minute and a half or whatever.

I'm going to go quickly through my questions. I have a number of them, so I may be cutting people off if I need to.

Mr. Lepine, you have about 920 people in the ACFN as a registered population, I believe. Do you represent the ACFN Business Group?

[Lionel Lepine]

I don't represent the ACFN Business Group.

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Who would be the person we could talk to if we wanted to bring someone in to represent them? Do you know who that person would be?

[Lionel Lepine]

Yes, it's a guy named Garry Flett. He is the CEO.

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

I notice that the ACFN Business Group is an umbrella organization for Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation business ventures and that it employs over 1,400 people. So it seems that there is obviously another story to be told from your community, as well, about the employment opportunities that exist there.

[Lionel Lepine]

Out of that 1,400, I believe maybe 20 to 30 members of the ACFN work there.

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Is there a reason why your own community businesses aren't employing your own people?

[Lionel Lepine]

Because a lot of people would like to reside in Fort Chipewyan. They want to stay home. They get forced to a point where they have no choice but to go and work down south. Industry comes to our local schools and brainwashes children into limiting their education to get a trade as a welder or pipefitter. If you go to Fort Chipewyan and ask some little kid what they want to be when they grow up, they're going to say a welder or a pipefitter.

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

I take great exception to that. My son just got his journeyman carpentry, and I don't consider him to have a limited education. I think he's a young man who is showing great initiative to be able to go out and get that. Most of us would probably think that way as well. The opportunities are there. People may not be taking them is what you're saying to us today.

[Lionel Lepine]

Yes.

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Okay.

Mr. Levant brought up the issue of funding from outside. Where do you get the funding for your organization and your work?

[Lionel Lepine]

Me?

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Yes.

[Lionel Lepine]

For my line of work it comes directly from industry. My job is part of the energy information administration process. My job was a traditional environmental knowledge facilitator. Prior to these developments, I interviewed and talked to elders. Industry requires us to come up with an EIA, to come up with a traditional--

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

So industry is consulting with you. They're paying your wages so they can get the information from you?

[Lionel Lepine]

Yes.

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Mr. Levant, in your book, do you deal with the issue of cancer rates?

[Ezra Levant]

Yes, I do.

John O'Connor was the doctor, from Nova Scotia originally, who rang the alarm bell really hard. He said there were six cases of this rare bile duct cancer called cholangiocarcinoma. The funny thing is as soon as he went to the media about that and Alberta Health said let's get to the bottom of this and the Alberta Cancer Board asked for his patient charts, he refused, which was startling. The chief nurse said they had to give those cancer reports; it's required by law. He stonewalled. So the College of Physicians and Surgeons launched an ethics investigation. These weren't politicians or bureaucrats. These were his fellow doctors.

Dr. O'Connor had been talking about skyrocketing cancer cases, six rare cancer cases, a 33-year-old dying of cancer. He told this story for two years. Finally, when the ethics report from the College of Physicians and Surgeons came out, they ruled he was inaccurate, that he had reported cases that did not exist: four out of these six cholangiocarcinomas did not exist. No one could find a trace of the 33-year-old who allegedly died of cancer. Instead of punishing the doctor, the college said they would put out a factual statement they could all agree on, because he'd caused so much alarm in Fort Chip. Amazingly, Dr. O'Connor refused to put out a joint statement of fact with the college. Again, I'm not talking politicians or bureaucrats; I'm talking fellow doctors who issued a ruling that he had conducted himself unethically.

When I saw Dr. O'Connor a couple of weeks ago in Calgary I asked him if he was going to appeal this ruling; they said he was a liar. He said no, he was not going to appeal it, which I think says it all right there.

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

I have another question for you.

You mentioned Tides Foundation, I think it was, in terms of funding from outside. The Rockefeller Foundation is one of the groups that organizes that. Steven Rockefeller is one of the drafters of the Earth Charter. The document says it laments that “the dominant patterns of production and consumption are causing environmental devastation, the depletion of resources, and a massive extinction of species”.

Do you have any comment on that kind of funding coming from outside our country? I would suggest it's anti-Canadian. What are the reasons for that?

[Ezra Levant]

Vivian Krause, who I understand has testified, has done all the research on this. But $190 million from United States lobby groups is poured into Canada to affect our domestic policy. I love the Americans, but I don't want them to tell us how to write our laws. I love them as neighbours, not as bosses. They're not the only ones. Greenpeace, which started out as a Canadian lobby group, is now a quarter-billion-dollar-a-year multinational corporation based in Europe.

I really don't want foreign lobbyists telling us how to make our decisions. Let's make our decisions using Canadian values. When Americans tell us not to export oil to China, that we should stay totally dependent on them for a market, is that really in our interest? Follow the money, I say. Who is celebrating the slowdown of the oil sands? The Saudi ambassador.