Linda McQuaig

Inquiry should expose foreign oil’s meddling in our elections

James Robson (left), a citizen engagement adviser with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, hands out lawn signs promoting pipelines in Edmonton in 2019. Hamdi Issawi/Toronto Star

The election interference inquiry should look into foreign-owned oil companies seeking to influence elections, despite laws banning such action.

As Chinese officials went about trying to influence the Canadian federal election in 2019, they could have learned from another set of foreigners who know a thing or two about influencing our elections — the foreign interests that own most of our big oil companies.

Both sets of foreigners — the Chinese and the oil interests (American and others) — are very keen to shape our politics and both took specific actions to influence the 2019 Canadian election.

But the actions taken by China — which we know about from Canadian intelligence sources — led to weeks of political fury and outrage in our Parliament and prompted the establishment of a public inquiry, headed by Quebec Court of Appeal Justice Marie-Josée Hogue.

Meanwhile, the actions taken by foreign oil interests — which are arguably as far-reaching in terms of determining the shape of important Canadian policies — aroused no outrage or even attention in Parliament.

Yet, surely, if we care about Canadian elections being decided by Canadians, then the clear attempt by foreign oil interests to determine the election outcome should figure prominently in this inquiry — something far from certain at this point.

Of course, the U.S. oil interests are harder to spot, partly because they carefully disguise themselves as Canadian. One might easily assume, for instance, that the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) is, well, Canadian.

It’s true that CAPP represents the major oil producers in Canada and many of the managers in these companies are Canadian. But, as political economist Gordon Laxer documents in a recent issue of the Canadian journal Policy Options, all the big oil producers on the CAPP board are either majority or entirely owned by foreigners. Indeed, of all the oil produced by companies on the CAPP board, only 2.8 per cent is by Canadian-owned companies.

The fact that its board is heavily dominated by foreign-owned companies didn’t stop CAPP from making a concerted effort to determine the outcome of the 2019 Canadian election — and in some devious ways. Its goal was clear: replacing the Trudeau government with the more oil-friendly Conservatives.

This was explicit at a closed-door retreat CAPP held at the luxurious Azuridge Estate Hotel in the foothills of the Rockies in April 2019. Topics on the retreat’s confidential agenda — which was leaked to the press — included using front groups to make the pro-oil case, silencing environmental groups by suing them and getting more government support for pipelines (that is, more than the billions Ottawa was already spending on the Trans-Mountain pipeline expansion).

The retreat brought together business leaders, Conservative politicians and operatives. One session on using litigation to silence environmental critics featured Mike Roman, a former Trump campaign official who was recently indicted in Georgia for conspiring to overturn the 2020 U.S. election.

Interestingly, such a brazen attempt by foreigners to meddle in a Canadian election was theoretically banned when Canada passed the Elections Modernization Act in 2018.

The act bans foreign interference by governments and third-parties — including foreign-owned corporations. But Laxer maintains there’s a loophole: foreign-owned corporations are exempt from the ban if they list their headquarters in Canada.

Laxer notes that almost all CAPP members, no matter how heavily foreign-owned, list a Canadian headquarters.

Climate change is clearly one of the biggest threats we face, and after wildfires engulfed Canada this summer, the public appears willing to start tackling it. But oil interests vigorously oppose any serious action and lobby governments incessantly. They officially lobbied the Canadian government 11,452 times between 2011 and 2018.

We really need a public inquiry to investigate this massive effort to shape such a vital area of our politics during election campaigns — and all other times.

At least, the current public inquiry into election interference should look into foreign-owned oil companies seeking to influence our elections, despite Canadian election laws specifically banning such action. At the very least, Justice Hogue should recommend closing the loophole that allows them to do so.

Originally published in the Toronto Star October 5, 2023.