Vivian Krause. (Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Vivian Krause hopes to expose American efforts to landlock Canadian oil

Jun 20, 2019 | 2:21 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Speaking to a Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce crowd this week, Vivian Krause talked about how she has spent decades researching a campaign that she believes is threatening Canada’s unity as a country.

Krause first heard about the Tar Sands Campaign back in the 1990’s when she was working with the United Nations.

She told Lethbridge News Now that it was her job to look into the funding that was being received by charities and spot anything that might be suspicious.

Although she was also working in the salmon farming industry at the time, she says she was shocked to learn that the sector had been receiving millions of dollars every year, only identified with the words “Tar Sands Campaign”.

“I started tracking the funding via tax returns, annual reports, grants, databases, and other publications and other information that became available. I just have a spreadsheet that I have every year when tax returns and documents come out, I add the new numbers.”

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Over the years, Krause has reportedly identified more than $90-million that has directly gone into environmental non-profits in Canada for the Tar Sands Campaign, although the “greater picture” includes nearly $600-million.

She claims that the vast majority of the money comes from the Rockefeller Foundation in the United States, although she says there are a few other groups involved.

The goal, according to Krause, is to “landlock” Canadian oil and prevent it from being sold abroad in a bid to limit competition with the U.S.

“If the Rockefellers care so much about keeping oil in the ground, why have they allowed Texas to triple its oil production? The United States is now producing more oil than ever. Why have the Rockefellers allowed their own country now to be exporting oil to 20 countries?”

Krause claims that one of the main ways Canadian oil has been landlocked is through the creation of protected parks where oil pipelines are not allowed to be built. This, she says, is what much of the “greater picture” money has gone towards.

As one example, the Great Bear Rainforest was originally a relatively small conversation area near Vancouver, but according to numbers from National Geographic, it now spans more than 250 miles along the Pacific coast, encompassing over 21-million acres of land.

“What started out as a good idea has morphed, and now, in the name of protecting a bear, something is being protected, but it’s not the bear that doesn’t even live in most of the Great Bear Rainforest. What is being protected is the American monopoly that is keeping our country over a barrel.”

When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced earlier this week that the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion had been approved for a second time, Krause challenged the Liberal Leader to publically say the name “Rockefeller” and acknowledge the influence the Tar Sands Campaign has reportedly had on the approval process.

She explains that Gerald Butts, the former Principal Secretary to Trudeau, was formerly in a leadership role with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The WWF was reportedly part of the efforts to create the Tar Sands Campaign in the first place.

“When Mr. Butts became President of the World Wildlife Fund, the World Wildlife Fund received $160,000 that same year for the Tar Sands Campaign, and, coincidentally, his salary went up almost the same amount.”

In her efforts to expose the Tar Sands Campaign, Krause launched a Go Fund Me to raise money for a documentary on the topic. In the 17 days it has been up, they have raised $131,859 of their $160,000 goal.

The link to the Go Fund Me can be found here.