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By Kris Sims and Franco Terrazzano

The next time you see pipeline protesters chaining themselves to a bulldozer, know that your taxes may have paid for their activism.

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The federal government has given $2.5 million of your money to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives so it can “shine a bright light on the fossil fuel industry by investigating the ways corporate power is organized and exercised.”

The University of Victoria also kicked in $730,000 into the project that lists about 100 people as advisors and collaborators, mostly from unions and academic institutions.

What did we get for our $3 million? A website with cartoon figures sporting company logos and institutional icons for heads. If you want to see a Royal Bank figure go golfing while the C.D. Howe Institute drives the cart, this research is for you. The website also has a database where one can search for individuals or groups connected to oil and gas in Canada.