Canadian Institute for Climate Choices, Smart Prosperity Institute, Ecojustice, The Natural Step, and the University of Ottawa interdisciplinary Environment Institute all connect to Stewart Elgie and several other Eco-Warriors

The Canadian Institute for Climate Choices (CICC) is an outgrowth of a $20 million award by Catherine McKenna when she was Minister of the Environment and Climate Change (MoECC).  The award was granted to the Pan-Canadian Expert Collaboration (P-CEC) a group of 21 familiar “climate change” advocates which morphed into the CICC. The P-CEC was explored by the writer in a series of six (6) articles disclosing who they were, how they were connected and how they were funded.  The first in the series was posted November 11, 2019 and the final one December 15, 2019.

When the contract was awarded the $20 million allocated to the winning group by Minister McKenna was to be utilized over five years. The CICC’s  annual report for 2020-2021 indicates they used $4.7 million of the award and 52% went towards compensation and 21% for external research.  Beyond that, there are no specific details in the “annual report”.  Needless to say, the CICC have churned out many reports since their founding reflecting on the usual cadre of eco-warrior concerns such as; climate change, global warming, emissions and of course net-zero.

CICC reputedly has 25 Staff led by Kathy Bardswick, formerly CEO of the Co-Operators Group where, as CEO she led them to be “the first Canadian Insurance company signatory to the UN Principles of Sustainable Insurance, being a member of the UN Inquiry into a Sustainable Financial System”.  

CICC has Stewart Elgie as a “Expert” panelist along with several other recognizable climate change advocates like Blair Feltmate, Mark Jaccard, etc. Bardswick recently retired as Founding President of CICC and her post has been taken over by none other than Rick Smith, a former CEO of Environmental Defence. Smith is a close associate of Bruce Lourie whom yours truly has written extensively about due to his influence with the former Ontario Premier, Dalton McGuinty and creation of the GEA which drove up electricity prices in the province by over 100%.  If one looks at the CICC Board Members one will note Lourie is one of the chosen as is Chis Ragan.  Ragan was Chair of the Ecofiscal Commission and Stewart Elgie was a Commissioner.  Bruce Lourie sat on Ecofiscal’s Advisory Board.  The Ecofiscal Commission recommended; emissions should be priced at $210/tonne in order to achieve Canada’s commitment to the Paris Accord. One should notice Ecofiscal’s recommendation is not much higher than current Minister, Jonathon Wilkinson of the MoECC is taking us with the price to reach $170/tonne by 2030.

Elgie’s biography on CICC describes his awe-inspiring career to this point (sarcasm intended) by noting: “Prof. Elgie started his career as an environmental lawyer in Alaska, litigating over the Valdez oil spill. He returned to Canada and founded Ecojustice, now Canada’s largest non-profit environmental law organization”. The bio goes on to say Elgie “is also the founder and chair of Smart Prosperity, Canada’s major green economy think tank and policy-research network.” and “is a professor of law and economics at the University of Ottawa and director of the University’s interdisciplinary Environment Institute.”

Elgie easily made the Ontario “Sunshine list for 2020 but, it doesn’t disclose what he gets from Ecojustice or the Smart Prosperity Institute where he sits as the “Executive Chair”. Elgie, as a “professor” earned $203,528.72 according to the 2020 Sunshine list.  A quick review of Ecojustice’s Oct. 31, 2020 financials disclosed this note: “As a result of COVID-19, Ecojustice Canada Society took advantage of government assistance programs in place, resulting in the recognition of $382,225 of revenue relating to the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy in the year which is included in other revenue.” What a kind gesture by Canadian taxpayers to toss almost $400K at a charity whose intentions are to shut down all fossil fuel generation and consumption in Canada which will inevitability create more energy poverty.

The Smart Prosperity Institute which Elgie founded is within the University of Ottawa and includes at least five government “Funders” so presumably receives lots of taxpayer dollars however, they don’t disclose or publish financial statements.  Reviewing the Federal government’s search websites for grants and contracts however does disclose two contracts awarded in 2020 and 2121 for approximately $86K and one grant in 2020 for $380K.

Another charitable institution; The Natural Step, Canada, (an arm of an international group) are going full bore on “climate change”.  They have Elgie listed as a Member of the Board, along with Lorne Johnson, VP, Ivey Foundation and a Board member. Coincidentally Bruce Lourie is President of the Ivey Foundation. A quick review of Federal Government contracts discloses; The Natural Step received four contracts with a value of about $110K over the past few years and four grants of about $775K. When one looks at the CRA filings for The Natural Step they fail to disclose the foregoing facts about receiving those funds from the Federal Government.  As a result, I reported the information to the CRA but I seriously doubt the CRA will actually admonish them.

Now, let’s have a quick look at the CICC’s latest report; “THE HEALTH COSTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE“! It’s a totally scary document to anyone who has not followed the tripe about fossil fuels and how CO2 emissions will cause “peoplekind” to be expunged from the face of the Earth. Funnily enough this document says nothing about those emissions! If you search for CO2 you get zero hits and if you search for “global warming” you get only 4 hits however if you search for “climate change” you get 382 hits! It begs the question is “global warming” no longer an issue. The following is one excerpt that suggests the climate activists are trying their best to alter the landscape perhaps because they are having difficulty trying to prove their cause and justify their government funding?

“As ground-level ozone increases, so do deaths and healthcare costs. Unless action is taken, future healthcare costs of ozone exposure could increase to one quarter of current healthcare costs linked to cancer. The costs of death and lost quality of life are even greater—we estimate these costs will be $86 billion per year by mid-century and $250 billion per year by the end of the century.” So, the CICC “experts” think their skillsets are sufficient to make a 79-year forecast! Inflated egos are rife in the CICC!

The report rambles on about “wildfires” “floods” “heatwaves” and increased deaths from heat and “mental health” but avoids attacking carbon emissions or blaming “global warming. The report says nothing about less deaths from the cold except to state “we have not tried to estimate the effects of climate change on cold-related mortality and morbidity in this study.” 

The report also states: “Not accounting for climate change, the direct costs of mental illness in Canada are expected to grow to some $291 billion per year by 2041 (a 590 per cent increase), with cumulative costs over that 30-year period reaching more than $2.3 trillion” It goes on to state: “Even if climate change only moderately increases rates of mental illness, this could be among the costliest climate-related health impacts for Canada.”

What the foregoing extraction from the report suggests is this taxpayer funded organization with the reputed numerous “experts” presumably involved in producing it have no confidence in what they have been pushing for the past few decades. The cost of “mental health” they suggest, has been exacerbated by their flogging “peoplekinds” reputed influence on raising earth’s temperature through the use of fossil fuels.  The time has come to defund these misdirected “expertly” dominated soothsayers!  As Greta might say:  “How dare you”!

In summarizing the foregoing it’s obvious the cabal of “climate change” experts are directing politicians to do what they want, not to save the world from a future pandemic, but simply to keep the money coming to support their “the sky is falling” indulgence.  

As a taxpayer I suggest “once bitten, twice shy” so let’s turn off the tap!