The truth is the people in B.C. desperately want the Enbridge pipeline.
They don't want it by that name, of course - they will call it education, health care, pensions and the like, the things they are now going to pay a million dollars of austerity for so we don't follow California down the road to bankruptcy by voting for programs while voting down the things that pay for them.
But in this case, it is interesting to see just how frantic the U.S. is to prevent us from getting another customer for our oil, particularly one who will pay full price.
According to Vivian Krause, a Vancouver-based researcher and writer, Tides Canada's U.S. tax returns, during 2008, 2009 and 2010 show the organization made grants to 236 organizations for a total of $56 million.
Of that, $28 million went to First Nations on the north coast of B.C., $8 million went to environmental groups and $12.5 million was for Tides Canada's internal projects, most of which are on B.C.'s north coast.
Only $7 million, 12 per cent of the $56 million that Tides Canada granted between 2008 and 2010, went to organizations outside of a core group of B.C. First Nations, environmental groups and internal projects.
As far as Krause can tell, Tides Canada has funded no group that supports the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline; all of the First Nations and environmental groups funded by Tides Canada are opposed.
Doug McLeod
Victoria
