Website urges Stephen Harper to get his facts straight on oilsands

[Joe Shlabotnik]

A coalition of groups from Canada, the United States and Europe recruited some high-profile scientists and academics as they launched a new “reality” website Thursday: http://oilsandsrealitycheck.org/

The online offensive was targeting a government and industry multimillion dollar public relations campaign, described by environmental groups as a cover up.

“There has been a great deal of intentional and sometimes, unintentional misinformation circulating around on the industry and its impacts and the climate impacts ,” said Thomas Homer Dixon, a professor from the University of Waterloo’s Environment Faculty and director of the Waterloo Institute for Complexity and Innovation. “It’s very important that if we’re going to have a full democratic debate about the implications of this industry for Canada and the world that we start from a shared platform of agreed facts.”

The website launch coincides with Harper’s latest trip to the U.S. to promote oilsands expansion and the proposed Keystone XL pipeline project. It also follows similar web pages launched by industry lobby groups such as the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.

[cprise]

1. I'm reminded of winter tomatoes

grown in Canada in gas-heated greenhouses.