Finance committee  I was an employee of the United Nations. I also was a CIDA scholar and a scholar with IDRC, so Canadian taxpayers put me through graduate school actually.

Finance committee  I guess that's one way of looking at it. The way I look at it is that I think they're doing what they, as Americans, think is best for their country. Canadians, I think most of us, are doing what we think is best for our country. It just so happens that it's not the same.

Finance committee  Yes, I am aware of that.

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  Well, I think we all know it's because they have us over a barrel. They have a monopoly on our oil.

Finance committee  I think we all know. I think we'd get—what's the spread now—$20 or $30 a barrel. We're losing enormously. The Americans are getting our oil essentially at a discount, which is probably why they don't want our oil to go to China, because then they'd have to pay more for it.

Finance committee  Yes, of course.

Finance committee  It doesn't ring true for me. I have a blog and posted their information showing half of their budget went to some 20 or 30 groups on the north coast, all of which are opposed. I can't find one single organization that they fund that is in favour of the pipeline. They funded the D

Finance committee  I don't speak for them.

Finance committee  Somewhat, yes.

Finance committee  Actually, I know more of what they've been given money for than I know of what they actually do. West Coast Environmental Law in particular was funded by the Oak Foundation specifically for work against Enbridge.

Finance committee  Pardon me, against the Northern Gateway, yes.

Finance committee  Sure. The reason I've said that I feel the public debate is being skewed is that some groups are saying that they want all voices to be heard, when in fact they're funding only voices that are all of the same position. In the case of the Enbridge pipeline, for example, groups are

Finance committee  I think that's just a different issue entirely.

Finance committee  Because with the oil industry, for one, everyone has known for a long time that there's foreign investment, that there's foreign money. It's been relatively out in the open.