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Federal ENGO Funding Skyrockets Under Trudeau
The Epoch Times
Nov 3, 2021
As part of the Allan Inquiry, accounting firm Deloitte Forensic was instructed to determine the increase over time in federal funding for ENGOs.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau presents his national statement as part of the World Leaders Summit of the COP26
UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, on Nov. 1, 2021. (Ian Forsyth/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
The inquiry found that 26 ENGOs received a total of $41.4 million from 2004 to 2014. Then from 2015 to 2019, during Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s first term, that amount climbed to over $372.5 million.
Franco Terrazzano, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, criticizes the huge volume of federal funding of ENGOs in the face of Canada’s growing debt.
“The federal government was running big deficits during this time [2015–2019] and failed to balance the budget like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised, so it’s concerning for taxpayers to see these costs increase like this,” Terrazzano told The Epoch Times.
ENGO Funding Dwarfs That of Pro-Industry Groups
ENGOs have pointed out that the funding they receive is nothing in comparison to the strength of the oil and gas industry and lobby. The energy industry, in turn, alleges that the ENGOs perpetuate a “David and Goliath” narrative while being bankrolled by left-wing billionaires, according to a report titled “Big Green, Inc.” by the Institute for Energy Research.
The Allan Inquiry examined these competing narratives and said some ENGOs’ submissions criticized the inquiry for not looking into the foreign funding of pro-Alberta energy organizations.
While Allan wrote that investigating this angle was not within his mandate, Deloitte did examine the claim that these organizations received “significant foreign funding.”
Deloitte identified the 11 largest conservative or market-oriented organizations with charitable status and total revenues exceeding $10 million over the inquiry’s period of review—from Jan. 1, 2000, to Oct. 31, 2020—and found that they received foreign funding of $26.7 million and government funding of $39.3 million during this period.
Comparing the environmental groups based on the same threshold of revenues greater than $10 million and over the same period, the 31 largest ENGOs received $897.5 million in foreign funding and $2.1 billion in government funding.
Hmmm, $66 million compared to $3 billion.
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Poland says EU blackmail hampers its own climate goals
2 Nov, 2021 10:30
© Reuters / Kacper Pempel
Withholding EU payouts as a form of “blackmail” could jeopardize Warsaw’s ability to reach its climate targets and implement change alongside other nations, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has warned.
Speaking on the sidelines of the UN’s COP26 climate summit in Glasgow on Monday, Morawiecki insisted that the heavily coal-dependent central European country needs to receive funds from Brussels to achieve “ambitious climate goals.”
There can be no blackmail from other elements of European policy, because any attempt to take away funds ... will mean that political blackmail from Brussels dominates over the achievement of climate goals.
Morawiecki went on, explaining that “if we want to act in solidarity with the climate, we also have to take into account that the position of the US and the rich countries of Western Europe is completely different to the position of Central European countries, such as Poland.”
Poland is eligible to receive up to €57 billion in EU recovery funds, but the executive has withheld its approval amid a rule-of-law dispute between the bloc and Warsaw. Brussels had threatened to leave the country without billions in payouts following a landmark verdict last month that saw Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal conclude its national laws take precedence over EU treaties.
To make Warsaw heel to Brussels’ demands, the European Court of Justice (CJEU) slapped Poland with a daily fine of a million euros at the end of October until it brings its judicial system up to its standards. The move was necessary “to avoid serious and irreparable harm to the legal order of the European Union and to the values on which that Union is founded, in particular that of the rule of law.”
The Polish PM previously vowed that the country would defend itself “with any weapons” at its disposal if the EU started a “third World War” by holding back payouts to Warsaw, warning against the bloc acting “with a gun to our heads.”
In September, the bloc’s top court ruled that Poland must fork out €500,000 in daily fines for ignoring the CJEU’s order to cease operations at its Turow lignite mine, said by the neighboring Czech Republic to spoil its citizens’ drinking water.
European Commission chief accused of ‘ecological sin’
Climate change initiatives are all fine and dandy as long as they don't interfere with the plans of the elite.
4 Nov, 2021 11:03
November 1, 2021. © Reuters/Yves Herman
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has been criticized for using a private jet for a flight that lasted less than 20 minutes as countries grow increasingly concerned about climate change.
Von der Leyen became the subject of scrutiny after it was revealed that she had used a private jet to fly roughly 50km from Vienna to the Slovakian capital Bratislava in June. According to the German paper Bild, the trip lasted just 19 minutes.
Michael Jaeger, the secretary general of the Taxpayers’ Association of Europe (TAE), told the paper that von der Leyen’s brief flight was “an ecological sin.”
“It cost a lot of taxpayers’ money, a lot of time in going to and from airports, and above all – a lot of credibility,” Jaeger said.
The news came in the middle of a major UN climate change conference in Glasgow, Scotland, known as COP26, where over 100 nations pledged to slash methane emissions.
Traveling by air produces more CO2 emissions per passenger than traveling by train, bus or car. German MP Jana Schimke said von der Leyen, who has pushed for making Europe carbon neutral by 2050, should “exemplify” the fight against climate change. “Otherwise, you come off as untrustworthy.”
A spokesperson for the European Commission defended von der Leyen’s June trip by saying she had to travel through seven countries in two days. “Alternatives were examined, but logistically there was no other option.”
The spokesperson also cited concerns that flight and rail services were affected by Covid-19 containment measures.
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