Tuesday 12 August 2014

Buying Friends, Corporate Canada Style

Enbridge is quite the good corporate citizen, isn't it?

Donating giant cheques to smallish towns and townships in its "Community Safety Program."

Well, to be specific to police, fire, and EMS departments.

And even more specifically, to OPP divisions that are or will be tasked with keeping pipeline protesters in line.

Look.


I mean, it's not like they'll be asked to knock any heads or clean up any messes, right?

Image sources:

Jan. 23/12


Jan. 31/13

Aug. 23/12

Feb. 24/12

Dec. 21/12

Added by deBeauxOs: Alexander Knight of Poor Man's Media has the pdf with maps of the counties traversed by Enbridge's Line 9.  He also writes extensively about fracking and the extraction of non-renewable fuel sources - oil and gas.  His website is full of helpful resources, articles, etc.

He's probably compiling a dossier of the numerous gifts made by Enbridge to police forces in the locations where local residents might vigorously object to, and demonstrate against a potential environmental disaster waiting to happen in their community.  It doesn't appear that the cheques so far are substantial enough to cover the costs of militarized weaponry that police forces have deployed in Ferguson, Missouri for example but any information that might be useful to his investigative reporting should be directed to him.

ADDED (August 13/14) by fh: I should have included this info from Enbridge's website. The company's rationale (bold mine):
Small communities all across Canada and the U.S. rely on volunteer fire departments, minimally staffed police services, and other cash-strapped first responders to keep them safe. Money is perennially tight in rural municipalities with a small tax base, and equipment that could enhance the capabilities of the first responders is a luxury most of these communities can’t afford. Unfortunately, budgetary decisions such as these are made to the detriment of the communities, and add extra burdens and risks for first responders.

Recognizing that, Enbridge in 2002 launched its Safe Community program for towns along the company’s project corridor rights-of-way.

Go to the link for details.

2 comments:

WILLY said...

I bet the Stormant Dundas crew feel like they got ripped off.

Beijing York said...

In my experience, when a non-profit or charitable organization seeks out donations from the private sector, the number one rule is to convince corps how they benefit beyond just name recognition. There are rarely any altruistic corporate donations.

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