Nine weirdest things about this RCMP intelligence report on the "anti-petroleum movement"

19/02/15
Author: 
PressProgress writers

The Mounties always get their man.

But a newly disclosed intelligence assessment from the RCMP looking at the "anti-Canada petroleum movement" suggests the same might not always be true about their facts.

First reported in La Presse, and again Monday in the Globe and Mail, the RCMP report dated January 2014 warns of "a growing, highly organized and well-financed anti-Canada petroleum movement that consists of peaceful activists, militants and violent extremists who are opposed to society's reliance on fossil fuels."

The report surfaces amidst fresh debate in Parliament over the Tories new anti-terror legislation and its potential use against groups involved in peaceful protest and legitimate dissent. The Harper government already has a proven track record forgathering intelligence on opponents of the oil sands.

While an RCMP spokesman assured the Globe that "there is no focus on environmental groups, but rather on the broader criminal threats to Canada's critical infrastructure," the report states that "within the anti-petroleum environmental movement, the law enforcement and security intelligence communities have detected a small, but violent-prone faction" who are capable of engaging "in criminal activitiy to attempt to shut down the Canadian petroleum industry."

But a closer look at the intelligence assessment reveals much of the report relies on information patched together from sources like oil industry lobbyists and media outlets sympathetic to the oil industry -- in some cases leading to bizarre conclusions.