A letter from Environment Minister Peter Kent to editors at Postmedia in January called one of the news chain’s reporters an environmental activist.

On January 4, Kent wrote to Postmedia, saying he wanted to “clarify a few points” in a story the news chain ran on Christmas Eve. That story, by Postmedia reporter Mike De Souza, examined the government’s new fuel economy standards. De Souza reported that a government analysis had shown those regulations could put more cars on the road “and cost consumers and the economy up to $11.2 billion between 2017 and 2025.”

The De Souza piece also stated the following:

“The analysis said that manufacturers could earn credits to meet the new standards by performing above the standards in any given year and that they could also use an existing market-based trading system, in place for fuel economy standards for current model years up to 2017, to buy credits from other companies to meet their targets. Although their government adopted this formula, also known as a cap and trade regime, federal Conservatives have spent the past few months slamming the opposition New Democrats for proposing this type of system to make all large industrial facilities pay for heat-trapping pollution linked to global warming. The Tories have described it as a ‘job-killing carbon tax’ on everything.”

After stating that the government “is committed to protecting the environment and reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” and working with the United States “to develop GHG regulations that reflect the highly integrated North American auto sector,” Kent hit out at De Souza personally, tying him in with a partisan statement about the New Democrats.

“Mr. De Souza, like most environmental activists, believes that a carbon tax is the only answer to combat climate change,” Kent wrote. “Our government is fundamentally opposed to broad-based carbon tax schemes like the NDP’s $21-billion plan to tax everything without links to environmental benefits.”

The only newspaper in the Postmedia chain that published the letter, the Windsor Star, then issued a clarification a few days later, on Jan 8. The Star clarified that though the letter from Kent “implied that Postmedia News reporter Mike De Souza was an environmental activist who supports a carbon tax,” he is, in fact, a reporter and in his job “does not take positions on government policies, nor is he aligned with, or a member of, any environmental activist group.”

On Monday, iPolitics asked Kent’s office why the minister chose to mention De Souza in his letter, and what evidence Kent has – or had – to support his suggestion that De Souza was an environmental activist.

Adam Sweet, Kent’s press secretary, told iPolitics that Kent “directed that the letter be sent, and his name is on the letter.”

That letter, Sweet said via an email, “addressed the broader issue at hand — our solid record on the environment — as clearly shown in the full letter.” Sweet said Kent “felt the story was not objective and required a response.”

De Souza told iPolitics Monday he did not wish to comment on this story.

Last week, a statement from Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro that originated in the PMO called Postmedia reporter Stephen Maher “controversial.” Maher and Ottawa Citizen reporter Glen McGregor wrote a story about the RCMP helping Elections Canada investigate 2008 campaign spending in Del Mastro’s riding. The statement from Del Mastro noted a story Maher produced late last year about Conservative Party donations in a riding near Montreal, which subsequently had to be clarified.

“It is worth keeping in mind that Postmedia recently retracted a story written by controversial reporter Stephen Maher because it made false claims against a Conservative riding association,” it said.