Public Inquiry into Anti-Alberta Energy Campaigns was a $3.5 million inquiry led by Steve Allan, commissioned on July 4, 2019, by newly elected Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and tasked with investigating foreign-funded efforts to undermine the oil and gas industry. Premier Kenney, whose United Conservative Party (UCP) had won a majority of seats in the 2019 Alberta general election, announced the creation of the Canadian Energy Centre (CEC), a Calgary-based $30 million 'war room' to "fight misinformation related to oil and gas", on the same day as the creation of the inquiry—to fulfill election campaign promises. The Public Inquiry into Anti-Alberta Energy Campaigns which would include interviews, research, and potentially, public hearings.
On July 23, 2021, the Globe and Mail published an article covering a leaked draft of the Alberta Inquiry final report. They stated the inquiry had ultimately found there was “nothing improper about the environmental campaigns it was ostensibly investigating”. Nutritionist Vivian Krause reacted with shock and tried to distance herself from her own research, for which she was paid $40,000 CAD.
In his final 657-page report—submitted to the Energy Minister on July 30, 2021, and was released to the public on October 21, 2021—Commissioner Allan found that no individual or organization had done anything illegal in their anti-Alberta resource development activities, and that they had exercised their right to free speech. Of the $54.1-million devoted to those activities from 2003 to 2019, Allan could not find a direct correlation to the decreased investment in Alberta's oil and gas industries and the environmental activists. He acknowledged that "natural market forces...supply, demand, global geopolitics, weather and technology, plus countless other factors" had contributed to the dramatic decline in the global price of oil and in investments.
Final report
Commissioner Steve Allan submitted his 657-page final report to Alberta Energy Minister Sonya Savage on July 30. It was released to the public on October 21, 2021. In his report, Allan said of the environmental groups investigated by the inquiry, "No individual or organization, in my view, has done anything illegal. Indeed, they have exercised their rights of free speech." He found that the environmental groups did not "spread misinformation".
From 2003 to 2019, foreign funding of approximately $925-million flowed into Canadian charities which was used for "environmental initiatives". Of these, about $54.1-million went to "anti-Alberta resource development activity, which represents an average of $3.5 million a year. Allan acknowledged that the reduced investment in Alberta's oil and gas sector coincided with the dramatic drop in global oil prices in 2014 and was therefore due to "natural market forces", "supply, demand, global geopolitics, weather and technology, plus countless other factors." He said that "While anti-Alberta energy campaigns may have played a role in the cancellation of some oil and gas developments", [he was] not in a position to find that these campaigns alone caused project delays or cancellations."
The United Conservative Party provincial government in Alberta has allocated approximately $30 million annually to fund its Canadian Energy Centre, which was launched in December 2019 to fulfill Premier Jason Kenney's campaign promise before the 2019 Alberta general election to challenge "energy industry critics' inaccuracies". The "war room" was intended to be part of his "national and international advocacy" including a "fully staffed rapid response war room in government to quickly and effectively rebut every lie told by the green left about our world-class energy industry." The inquiry report said that charities that supported the bitumen-rich sands—"conservative/market-oriented charities"—received an estimated $26.7 million from foreign sources from 2003 through 2019.
Report recommendations
According to the Edmonton Journal, Commissioner Allan recommended that the Alberta government, "update transparency standards for non-profits and charities, engage in dialogue with First Nations communities to explore economic development opportunities", "work to re-brand Canadian energy with a strategy "built on a vision of being a global leader in lower carbon energy and climate solutions", and "better report greenhouse gas emissions in Alberta."
Response by Energy Minister Sonya Savage
Energy Minister presented her response on YouTube on October 21, 2021. Savage said that the "threshold to prove misinformation was too high, and therefore not specifically mentioned in the report."