A third-party advertiser that has bombarded Canadians with pro-gas messaging over the last few months has ties to the Poilievre campaign.
Though Voice for Energy presents itself as a grassroots campaign intended to give Canadian consumers a choice and doesn’t disclose its funders, DeSmog has previously reported that they are in fact a creation of the Canadian Gas Association (CGA), a national lobby group representing the gas industry.
The Canadian Gas Association is represented by Alberta Counsel Inc., a lobby organization. Heather Feldbusch, a member of the Conservative Party of Canada’s National Council — which governs the party’s federal election campaign — was formerly a lobbyist with Alberta Counsel Inc.
As previously reported by DeSmog, the Poilievre campaign is awash in lobbyists with direct connections to the oil and gas sector. Among others, Poilievre’s chief of staff, Ian Todd, and the Conservative Party of Canada’s National Council Vice President Matthew Conway were both lobbyists with Maple Leaf Strategies, which in turn represents Enbridge, a member of the Canadian Gas Association. Feldbusch, Todd, and Conway are all part of Poilievre’s inner circle, according to DeSmog’s map on Poilievre.
The Poilievre campaign is well connected to the oil and gas sector, with ties to Koch Industries, Suncor, Pembina Pipelines, Cenovus Energy, Tourmaline Oil Corp, and Pathways Alliance.
Data from the Meta Ad Library reveals that Voice for Energy has spent tens of thousands of dollars on dozens of ad campaigns appearing on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram in recent months, generating hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of impressions. Voice of Energy ads are running on Google as well.
Voice for Energy’s ads claim, among other pro-gas pitches, that “Canadians need access to affordable, reliable energy options like natural gas,” “natural gas helps keep the lights on,” and “without natural gas, Canadians risk higher bills, more power outages, and fewer jobs.” Other ads insinuate that gas is more reliable than other energy products, that it’s best suited for Canadian winters, and that it supports Canadian jobs.
The Voice for Energy website argues that governments are coming to take gas away from citizens. In November of 2024, Vancouver city councillors voted in favour of maintaining a ban on gas heating for new housing construction.
Writing in the Vancouver Sun shortly before the vote, Seth Shonkoff, executive director of PSE Healthy Energy, an energy science and policy research institute based in Oakland, California, argued not only that continued fossil fuel use in the era of climate change is irresponsible, but also that the use of gas in homes for heating and cooking carries a wide variety of negative health effects, many of which are poorly understood by the general public.
According to Shonkoff, natural gas is anything but natural, as it is comprised of at least 21 other hazardous air pollutants that leak from gas-burning household appliances such as fireplaces, stoves, water heaters, dryers, and boilers. These leaks occur even when the appliances aren’t on or being used. Of particular concern, Shonkoff notes, is the presence of benzene, a “known human carcinogen that attacks the bone marrow and is associated with leukemia.”
The argument that gas is a more reliable source of energy for heating and electricity has been debunked numerous times, despite lobbyists as much as politicians arguing the opposite. The Union of Concerned Scientists noted in 2023 that gas plants are particularly susceptible to extreme cold weather events, and that several major extreme cold weather in the United States resulted in widespread grid failures and gas plant breakdowns.
Renewables Saved Energy Grid Crash
During a recent cold weather snap in Alberta, gas plants failed, and it was in fact renewable energy systems like solar and wind power that prevented the province’s energy grid from crashing. Despite this — and that fact that widespread implementation of renewables further buttresses electricity grids as much as provide alternatives for home heating (such as electric baseboards or heat pumps), both industry and its political supporters continue arguing it is the alternatives to gas that are not reliable.
Many of the Voice for Energy ads encourage Canadians to write to their elected officials, and the organization’s website comes with pre-written text ready to be sent on an individual’s behalf to their federal, provincial, and/or municipal representatives. The subject line reads “Affordable and reliable natural gas must be part of Canada’s future.” The email opens with a line alleging “some cities and governments are proposing restrictions on access to natural gas, which means my current or future access to it could be at risk.” It further states that “removing access to natural gas would also leave us dependent on energy sources that are expensive and unreliable because of power outages.”
The email insists that consumers be given a choice because “my family needs more than one source of energy,” and that natural gas is “low emission.” The letter also insinuates that only gas can provide reliable and inexpensive energy for home heating. According to Voice for Energy’s website, thousands of Canadians have used the platform to contact their elected officials, with notably high representation in Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan.
Voice for Energy’s ads have been running on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram since December 2023, with most of the 820 or so ad campaigns running in 2024. About 35 campaigns have run this year, nearly all of which terminated around March 23, when the Canadian government issued the writ on the 45th federal election.
Voice for Energy’s website and ad campaigns give the organization the appearance of being a grassroots effort intended to give Canadian consumers a choice and a voice against government encroachment. However, the campaign and site are in fact a well-funded and coordinated marketing effort by the CGA, using a tactic called astroturfing — a deceptive practice where the sponsors of an organization’s campaign makes it look as though it originated from unsolicited grassroots participants to give it credibility.
The CGA’s board members include representatives from gas and pipeline companies like Enbridge, and TC Energy. The chief executives of both Enbridge and TC Energy were among the signatories of an open letter to the national party leaders, issued just before the official start of the election campaign on March 18, demanding the next prime minister eliminate regulations and federal oversight of most energy projects, ostensibly to unencumber Canada’s fossil fuel sector.
The open letter included a list of demands, such as reducing regulatory timelines, overhauling the Impact Assessment Act and the West Coast tanker ban, as well as eliminating the emissions cap and carbon levy.
Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre was quick to endorse the fossil fuel sector’s demands, arguing they will end Canadians’ dependence on the United States. However, the widespread use of natural gas in Canada — particularly in Ontario — appears to have made that province more reliant on fracked gas imports from Ohio and Pennsylvania.
The post Poilievre Campaign Has Links to Gas Industry Astroturfing Effort appeared first on DeSmog.
This post has been syndicated from DeSmog, where it was published under this address.