Natural resources minister Greg Rickford attended closed door meeting to deliver pep talk in 2014 to urge executives to spreading oil industry’s message

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

An oil industry lobby group successfully recruited a Canadian cabinet minister to deliver a pep talk and dispense strategic planning advice at a closed door meeting in a luxury Rocky Mountains resort, the Guardian has learned.



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In the 21 October 2014 session, Greg Rickford, the natural resources minister, urged the 40 to 50 assembled executives to work harder to spread the oil industry’s message.

“You are fighting an uphill battle for public confidence,” he said. “Our messages are not resonating.”

The 2,900-word prepared speech makes no mention of climate change or the conclusions of studies that say most of the tar sands will have to stay in the ground to avoid catastrophic global warming.

Instead, Rickford commiserated with the executives about criticism of tar sands oil, suggesting it was misguided.

“Much of the debate over energy is characterized by myth or emotion,” he said, accusing scientists and campaigners of “crowding out the real facts”.

“You’ve heard them all: that the oil sands are a major source of global greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.

The meeting at the Banff Springs Hotel was the annual strategy session of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, the main lobby group in Alberta’s tar sands.

A copy of Rickford’s speech and briefing notes were obtained under a freedom of information request by the Greenpeace campaign group and made available to the Guardian. Bloomberg was first to report on the speech.

Last year’s strategy session marked the launch of a new public relations offensive by Alberta tar sands producers to counter concerns about climate change and the risk of oil spills from pipelines and trains, the lobby group said.

“The energy industry is embarking on a different level of engagement and Capp is moving to a ground campaign model to activate industry supporters,” Chelsie Klassen, a Capp spokeswoman, said in an email.

She said the lobby was planning events in Ontario and British Columbia to address public concerns.

Greenpeace said the speech exhibited the overly close relationship between government and industry.

“This is a government minister giving political and communications advice to the industry he is supposed to be regulating,” Keith Stewart, climate and energy campaigner for Greenpeace Canada said.

Christopher McCluskey, a spokesman for Rickford, said the minister regularly attended events to help promote Canada’s energy industry.

“From the perspective of our government we have an objective to find new markets for oil and gas exports and essentially what he is doing is sharing his views in support of that,” he said.

He dismissed Greenpeace concerns about a conflict with Rickford’s regulatory role.



“He doesn’t dictate the activities of the independent regulator. He is not involved in regulation,” McCluskey said.

In his prepared address, Rickford urged the industry executives to help open up new markets for Canadian oil. About 97% of oil is sold in the US, and Canada is desperate to expand its small sales in Britain, Italy and Norway.

“Those of us here in this room have a responsibility to tell our shared energy story,” Rickford told the executives. “We must all be on the same page.”

But there was a gentle reproof for industry too for failing to overcome public concerns.

“Whether it be cost competitiveness, the environment, Aboriginal issues or safety concerns – these issues are undermining the public’s confidence in Canada’s ability to develop our oil and gas resources safely and responsibly,” Rickford told the group.

Campaigners argue close connections between government and industry block rigorous oversight of the tar sands, worsening the environmental and health toll.