Re-Think Alberta campaign in the news

Below is a Vancouver Sun article on the Re-Think Alberta campaign, endorsed by Polaris. The article quotes Polaris' Director, Tony Clarke.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Alberta+tourism+minister+worries+latest...

Alberta tourism minister Ady worries as latest oil sands attack ads roll out

At home, Liberals say development is poisoning river

By Eva Ferguson, Calgary Herald; With files from Kim Guttormson, Calgary Herald, and Postmedia News August 19, 2010

The Rethink Alberta webpage invites visitors to "take the pledge not to visit Alberta and tell your friends and family to do the same."
Photograph by: Screen Grab, Rethink Alberta

Another combative phase in the Rethink Alberta advertising campaign has been launched in the United Kingdom, calling oilsands development an environmental catastrophe and asking tourists to stay away.

Eleven digital billboards were installed around London on Wednesday by Corporate Ethics International, along with strategic web-based advertising and flash and banner ads on major tourism websites.

The effort follows on the heels of billboards placed in four major U.S. cities in early July and the launch of a website, rethinkalberta.com.

A poll published earlier this month suggested the anti-Alberta ad campaign was deterring domestic and international visitors from travelling here.

Cindy Ady, the Alberta minister for tourism, parks, recreation and culture, admits she worries about the continued push to undermine the tourism sector.

"You never not worry when you're being attacked like this," Ady said Wednesday.

"But you don't want to give this any more legs than it has. Technology is the solution to all of these issues, and we need to get that message out."

Michael Marx, executive director of Corporate Ethics International, the group behind the attack ads, warns one more phase of the campaign is planned for this fall. And next year's push is already being organized, doubling fundraising efforts and starting as early as March.

London's billboards of oil-soaked ducks stating "Canada's Alberta Oil Sands -- the other oil disaster" will only add to an already increased awareness of oil's impact on the environment, Marx argues, in the wake of the Gulf oil spill.

"The Gulf is a tragedy that is not to be wasted. There's more awareness than ever of the consequences of the addiction to oil that exists," he said.

Marx said there are a number of parallels between the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and oilsands development, including dangers and death to wildlife and increased levels of contamination to water.

Corporate Ethics International is urging the province to cap oilsands development and engage with environmental and First Nations groups about the effects of reducing the oilsands' footprint.

Federal Industry Minister Tony Clement, who was in Calgary for a funding announcement Wednesday, said Corporate Ethics International is sending out misinformation.

"The picture they paint of the oilsands, of the kinds of improvements that are being made in the extraction of oil and gas in this province and across the country, is not being represented in that advertising campaign.

"It's a spread of disinformation by another means. I fully support the government of Alberta's pushback on this. I fully support whatever the Government of Canada should be doing to push back on this -- that's why we have ambassadors in these countries, to get the message out."

Ady argued that the province is revolutionizing the advanced technology that ensures oilsands development is greener than any other oilsands in the world. "We have more protections in place than many of the places that are criticizing us," she said, referring to Corporate Ethics International, which is based in San Francisco.

"They have some of the worst tarsands in the world that are not technologically advanced.

"Whenever we invite them, they don't want to come and visit."

Ady added that while Corporate Ethics International and the groups that support it throughout North America continue to put a considerable amount of dollars into attack ads, Travel Alberta spends up to $50 million annually promoting and marketing tourism opportunities.

But the Polaris Institute, an advocacy group for democracy based in Ottawa, argued that Albertans are still one of the ad campaign's most important target groups.

Polaris issued its endorsement of Corporate Ethics International's campaign Wednesday, hoping the Rethink Alberta campaign will spark Albertans into action.

"The tarsands remain the most environmentally destructive project in the eyes of the world as long as Albertans continue to accept this megaproject without pressuring their government to take serious action to redress the fundamental flaws at stake," said Tony Clarke, director of the Polaris Institute.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, a study produced by Liberal MPs was released saying that oilsands development in Alberta is contaminating the Athabasca River watershed, despite industry and government claims to the contrary.

The study was based on expert testimony gathered over the past two years.

"In the final analysis, the story of the oilsands' relationship to water is very much a tale of denial by interested parties -- private-sector and governmental -- of the potential negative consequences the industry might be having on a vital Canadian resource," said the report.

The parliamentary committee was deadlocked in June, unable to reach a consensus to introduce a joint report. As a result, it ended its hearings and destroyed draft copies of the report.

The study was spearheaded by Liberal MP Francis Scarpaleggia.
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