ForestEthics “an enemy of the people of Canada”

ForestEthics, the radical environmental group that persuades global businesses to boycott and condemn Canadian oil, is in the midst of an green-on-green blow-up that may see them defunded.

Andrew Frank was communications adviser at ForestEthics until Monday, when he was fired before he could go public with news that Tides Canada may pull financial support for ForestEthics, at the urging of the Canadian government:

In a sworn affidavit released Tuesday to The Canadian Press, Andrew Frank says he was told by his supervisor at ForestEthics that a PMO official had referred to their organization as an “enemy of the state.” The affidavit describes how staff were told their jobs were at risk after the official told Tides Canada, which supports the work of ForestEthics, that the government would “take down” all of the agency’s projects unless it cut ForestEthics loose.

Both the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) and Tides Canada dispute Frank’s version of events.

Andrew MacDougall, spokesman for the Prime Minister’s Office, said none of the statements attributed to the government is accurate. “The Prime Minister’s Office denies making any of the allegations or saying any of the things that are outlined in that statement,” he said. He would not comment when asked if either Tides Canada or ForestEthics had been targeted by the government.

In a release, [Tides CEO] McMillan said he wouldn’t comment on Frank’s affidavit other than to say “his account of our conversations with government is inaccurate.”

ForestEthics has targeted Canada and persuaded businesses like Whole Foods, Chiquita and many others to boycott Albertan oil. They are actively involved in disruptive tactics to delay the Northern Gateway pipeline project and celebrated the Obama Keystone XL decision.

In short, everything ForestEthics does is anti-Canada and with the intent to cause harm to the Canadian economy by denying it the ability to exploit its natural resources. Which makes the description of the group as ‘an enemy of the people of Canada’ pretty much appropriate.

In the past, ForestEthics and other anti-Canada radicals like Greenpeace and the WWF would have gotten away with it. But the Stephen Harper government has shown it is not prepared to have sand kicked in its face, it’s going to get up and go toe-to-toe with the angry hippies.

Even worse for the anti-energy greens, the people have had enough too and are punishing companies that malign Canada. Just ask Chiquita how their PR is in Canada these days.

A telling comment from ForestEthics shows that they are victims of their own success:

ForestEthics spokeswoman Valerie Langer said the group wouldn’t comment on the accuracy of Frank’s account. She did confirm that staff had been warned about a funding crunch. “A lot of donors are getting scared that their giving to organizations will result in reprisals,” she said. “Because of this it’s made for a very uncertain outlook.

Canada bashing was easy for greens in the past, but now we’ve got a government unafraid to take the fight to them.

Stay tuned, this is going to be fun to watch.