The Con Oil Pimps and the Secret War in Europe

One more reason not to wear a maple leaf on your back pack if you visit Europe.

Newly released government memos have exposed a secret war that Canada is waging in Europe to kill clean energy policies and ensure no market closes to the dirtiest crude in the world – the tar sands of Alberta.

Canada's foreign team has also been getting cozy with big oil corporations they call "like-minded allies". They've held numerous secret meetings with BP, Shell, Total and Norwegian Statoil to share "intelligence" and discuss joint initiatives. The plans run to the very top: Canada's prime minister, Stephen Harper himself, met covertly with Total's CEO in Paris in June 2010, after a visit with French President Sarkozy. Total has since announced plans to pump $20bn into their Alberta projects by 2020.

Oh boy. They don't call them oil pimps for nothing eh?

First Big Oil destroys a country's industrial base, with the so-called Dutch Disease.

Then it corrupts our politics.

Then it corrupts EVERYTHING...