The federal government and its spy agency spent half of the time at a classified national security briefing for energy companies to talk about "challenges" created by environmental groups, government records obtained by PressProgress show.

And the theme of the day-long "classified briefing for energy and utilities sector stakeholders," held in collaboration with Natural Resources Canada and the RCMP on November 17, 2011 at the Ottawa headquarters of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), didn't mince words: "North American energy resources development at risk."

The entire morning was blocked off to discuss "challenges to energy projects from environmental groups," the agenda, released by NRCan under access to information law and attached below, shows.

The afternoon was split between an RCMP update about national security criminal investigations and a roundtable discussion led by lawyers for the Canadian Forces, CSIS and the Department of Justice about "the legal challenges of infrastructure protection: collecting evidence for prosecutions in the Canadian experience."

The focus back in 2011 on environmental groups in the classified briefing for the country's energy companies wasn't just a one-time deal. The Vancouver Observer reported last November of "vigorous spying" on tar sands activists and organizations since December 2012.

Internal emails from the National Energy Board, covering the period of December 2012 to April 2013 and released to the newspaper under access to information law, shows the NEB "coordinated the gathering of intelligence on opponents" to the tar sands and "actively coordinated" with officials from Enbridge Inc. and TransCanada Corporation, the Vancouver Observer reported.

Targeted groups included ForestEthics, LeadNow, Dogwood and the Council of Canadians.

Speaking of spying and Enbridge (the sponsor for the breakfast at the follow-up classified briefing for energy stakeholders on May 23, 2013), the company is back in the news this week.

Former Conservative cabinet minister Chuck Strahl, who chairs the Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC), the watchdog of Canada's spy agency CSIS, is Enbridge's newest lobbyist, hired last month to lobby the provincial government on behalf of its subsidiary, Northern Gateway Pipelines L.P.

When Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed him to spywatcher in 2012, Strahl was aware of possible conflicts of interest, given he was building his new consultancy business after leaving electoral politics in 2011.

He told the National Post he had developed a system to "double make-sure" to protect himself and the public from conflicts of interest. Part of the system was that he "won't lobby" governments.

Nathan Cullen, the NDP's House Leader and MP from British Columbia, took to Twitter on Sunday to ask the obvious question about Strahl.

Chair of the same spy agency that spies on opponents of #Enbridge now lobbying 4... Enbridge. Conflict of Interest?

Classified CSIS/RCMP briefing for energy stakeholders by PressProgress

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Former Conservative cabinet minister Chuck Strahl has been very busy since leaving electoral politics in 2011.

First, he was appointed as a director and chairman of the Manning Centre, an organization devoted to strengthening the conservative movement in Canada. The group helps the Conservative Party by training organizers and proposing right-wing policies.

Then, his former boss, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, tapped him in June 2012 to chair the Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC), the watchdog of Canada's spy agency.

Described as "an independent, external review body" that reports to the Parliament on the operations of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), Strahl's appointment raised concerns about a possible conflict of interest.

At the time, Strahl acknowledged the potential for conflicts of interest, given he was growing his consulting business.

He told the National Post that "he’s got a system of 'double make-sure' to protect himself and the public from conflicts of interest and questions around ethics. He’ll continue to build his consultancy, helping companies create and execute business strategies, but he 'won’t lobby' governments," Strahl told the Post.

That was then, this is now.

The Vancouver Observer discovered that Strahl and his consultancy company, Chuck Strahl Consulting Inc., registered last month as Enbridge's newest lobbyist in B.C to lobby the provincial government on behalf of its subsidiary, Northern Gateway Pipelines L.P.

(Under federal rules, Strahl's two-year "cooling-off period," preventing former ministers from lobbying their old colleagues, is now over, so he's free to register as one of Enbridge's many lobbyists in Ottawa as well, despite his vow in 2012 not to lobby governments.)

This is the same Enbridge that works with Canada's spy agency (the one Strahl watches over) and other government security branches, through regular stakeholder briefings, to tackle "threats" to pipeline projects, such as the proposed Northern Gateway. This has involved spying on environmental groups.

This is also the same Strahl whose name came up during last year's provincial election, when B.C. Premier Christy Clark boasted to reporters that he was "actively helping us on this campaign."

As chair of the federal spywatcher, Strahl isn't permitted to do partisan work. Clark took her words back the following day after Strahl clarified he had stepped back from helping the BC Liberals following his SIRC appointment.

That was enough to keep Strahl out of trouble last year. But how about this new spywatcher/Enbridge lobbyist problem?

Photo: kk. Used under a Creative Commons BY-SA 2.0 licence.

In a year-end interview with her local newspaper The Guardian, Fisheries and Oceans Minister Gail Shea complained about the amount of media coverage devoted to the "unfortunate situation" that is the Senate expense.

Shea said that all the good work being done by the Conservatives was being overshadowed by the Senate "distraction," saying "it has dominated the news when a lot of other very important things were happening."

Without a doubt, the Senate scandal has sucked up much of the political oxygen in Canada, grabbing most of the front-page headlines. Shea, though, should count herself lucky for the distraction.

After all, in the last month alone:

• Shea rejected a plea from the government of Newfoundland and Labrador to reverse her decision to shut down the St. John's Maritime Rescue Centre, the only one enduring such a fate in Canada. "The geographic realities alone should dictate that the centre should be still in place in St. John’s," provincial Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Steve Kent told Global News. "We’ll accept nothing less." 

• News surfaced, via internal government docs, that more than $100 million in cuts are underway at DFO despite objections of top bureaucrats who argued against the move for environmental and economic reasons. About 500 jobs are being eliminated covering Coast Guard services, patrols to stop illegal fishing activities, and scientific research to protect endangered species and prevent industrial water pollution.
• Seven DFO libraries across Canada are closing, "including two that have been amassing books and technical reports on the aquatic realm for more than a century." The government said publicly the move is about digitizing the books, but internal DFO briefing notes contradict this, citing the "culling of materials" as the "main activities." This is what the "culling" of content at seven of nine DFO libraries looks like.

• DFO transfered the authority to assess if a pipeline would damage fish and fish habitat to the National Energy Board. Translation: the people whose job is to protect fish transferred the job of protecting fish from pipelines to the people whose job is to protect pipelines. 

If you're Minister Shea, reading about every twist and turn of the Senate scandal doesn't seem so bad now. After all, when Mike Duffy referred to himself as "Gail Shea's little helper" in Ottawa, maybe he meant shielding her from all the attention DFO really deserves.

Photo: doucy. Used under a Creative Commons BY-SA 2.0 licence.