Canadian Climate Institute has now Morphed into a Charity—Huh?

The CCI was originally called the Canadian Institute for Clean Growth and Climate Change (CICGCC) when originally created by Catherine McKenna as the Federal Minister of the Environment and Climate Change. The announcement was made as an outgrowth of a reputed “competition” and McKenna handed the winning bidder; “The Pan-Canadian Expert Collaboration” a group headed up by Kathy Bardswick,  former President and CEO of The Co-operators Group Ltd; $20 million of our tax dollars. That $20 million was for the anticipated five (5) year process of using; “Their expertise is a source of clean-growth solutions for Canada and the world and can help all of us mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change.“ The original name suggested whatever was to come from this new taxpayer funded organization produced by their “expertise” was a foregone conclusion so the name was changed to the “Canadian Institute for Climate Change” or CICC.

Needless to say the Pan-Canadian “collaboration” was full of the usual gang of ENGO, charitable foundations and included government entities as an earlier article disclosed when CCI was called the “Canadian Institute for Climate Change” or CICC.

It is now called the Canadian Climate Institute and they have; presumably with the blessing of the CRA  (Canada Revenue Agency), converted this government created organization to a CHARITY! 

One should wonder why they became a charity as they were a “not-for-profit” institution annually receiving the $4 million to display their “expertise” via those unbiased reports (sarcasm intended) promised by former Minister McKenna. It appears the annual $4 million of our tax dollars wasn’t enough as displayed on page 2 of their Annual Impact Report for 2022-2023!  It states:

“The Canadian Climate Institute is a non-partisan pan-Canadian charitable organization. Our work is made possible through the financial support of Environment and Climate Change Canada, and the generous support of the Ivey Foundation, Scotiabank, Loblaw Companies Limited, QuadReal Property Group, and the Trottier Family Foundation.“ As an aside a review of the above only disclosed one contribution of $20K from the Trottier Foundation via the CRA filings whereas the Ivey Foundation failed to provide their “donee” list to the CRA. One should wonder why the CRA doesn’t enforce its regulations?

The CRA filing for CCI provides the salary ranges for the top 10 employees and the top earner, who presumably is the current CEO, Rick Smith, earns somewhere between $200,000 to $249,999!  No energy poverty for him!

Back on January 3, 2022 Rick Smith had an article published in Macleans titled “Let’s make climate change boring in 2022” and in it was the following paragraph:

“The U.K., for instance, has halved carbon emissions since 1990. It has settled into an annual cycle of executing the national carbon reduction plan, assessing progress against the plan, updating the plan, then repeating. It’s boring. It’s predictable. It’s working.“  

Interestingly enough Mr. Smith failed to even consider how reducing emissions would drive up home energy costs and they did; adding over 2 million more households in 2022 as the following quote from an article in the Guardian on February 28, 2023 notes:  “The number of households in England who spend more than 10% of their income, excluding housing costs, on energy has increased from 4.93m households in 2021 to 7.39m in 2022.“  He seems determined to do the same thing to Canadian households.  At his taxpayer funded salary however it is unlikely he will experience “energy poverty” so he presses on to increase energy poverty for the rest of the population!

Now looking at this charity it is interesting to note the financial information filed with the CRA for the year ended March 31, 2022, indicates charitable donations represented 0.2% (2/10^th of 1%) of their gross revenue strongly suggesting logical individuals fail to recognize them as a “charity”!

 Now having a look at Government Grants we should note CCI back on December 5, 2022 were handed a $500K Grant from the Federal Government described as “Policy analysis and stakeholder views on climate and environmental impacts of inactive oil and gas wells“.  Apparently the $4 million per year handed to the CCI is insufficient so they must gobble up another $500K of our tax dollars.

CCI Collaboration 

Looking further at the CCI Annual Impact Report for 2022-2023 it is interesting to read the message from the President, Rick Smith as he notes “In March 2023, the federal Sustainable Finance Action Council published the Taxonomy Roadmap Report. Our experts contributed to this inaugural taxonomy proposal, which starts to define what “green” and “transition” investing could look like in Canada, helping drive crucial private investments into activities that reduce emissions.“  The Smith message went on to say “In July 2022, the Climate Institute hosted our first roundtable showcasing Indigenous-led research and policy on climate change. And in October, we teamed up with the Net-Zero Advisory Body to cohost our first in-person national conference“

Sustainable Finance Action Council: For those who are not familiar with the Sustainable Finance Action Council it is another organization created by the Trudeau led Government on May 12, 2021, under Finance Minister Freeland and Jonathon Wilkinson, then Minister of Environment and Climate Change. They appointed Kathy Bardswick (former Chair of the CICC before it’s name change to CCI) as the inaugural Chair and the Press Release stated “Sustainable finance is about incorporating environmental, social and governance factors into investment decisions and is a fast-growing market that is gaining speed as more and more businesses address climate change and transition to a low-carbon economy and seize the economic opportunities it presents.“  The council was basically charged with aligning ESG within the controls of the many companies operating in the confines of finance including banks, insurance companies and pension funds.  Needless to say in the time that followed they had numerous meetings, plenary sessions etc. with various parties within the “financial sector” but none of the meetings, etc. appeared to be with sectors that manufacture products or distribute them, grow food and sell or serve it, those who supply energy and others who would be most affected by applying ESG standards to their businesses.  One should wonder why their views were not sought?

Net-Zero Advisory Body: This may be another unfamiliar named organization by the Trudeau led Government announced on February 25, 2021 by Jonathan Wilkinson, the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change at the time and he met with the newly appointed; Co-Chairs, Marie-Pierre Ippersiel and Dan Wicklum. The latter is CEO of the Transition Accelerator one of the many charities founded by Bruce Lourie where he sits as the Chair.  In a look at the CRA Charity files for the Transition Accelerator it discloses they have NEVER had a donation where they have been required to issue a “tax receipt”! They have been quite successful at obtaining Government Grants however, of at least $1.8 million.

Turning now to the Net-Zero Advisory Body (NZAB) we should note in January 2023 they delivered their first annual report. The co-chairs message to Minister Guilbeault about his “Emission Reduction Plan” had this to say: “The measures proposed in the 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) set credible foundations upon which a more ambitious transition can be built. While we are confident our advice will help put Canada on the right path, bringing the full suite of ERP measures and proposals to fruition as quickly and rigorously as possible is required for success.“ 

They said the foregoing despite the scary part of his original message which claimed: “Climate change is a crisis that persists and will only grow if we do not do more, faster. Flooding, landslides, drought, and wildfire—the mounting costs of extreme weather underscore the need to chart towards a future where Canadians have both a clean environment and a strong economy.“

It is amusing and mind-blowing to scan the 75 pages of the NZAB’s annual report and to visualize the destruction that will be caused to Canada’s economy via the 25 pieces of “advice” the report recommends in support of Guilbeault’s ERP. The issue related to costs of each piece of advice are not examined or commented on and only one reference to annual costs can be found. if one searches using the “$” sign only 9 can be found.  If one searches using “net-zero” however it generates 464 hits and “emissions” brings 171. We should have no doubt this is what was anticipated!

In respect to costs the report doesn’t analyze any of their “advice” and quotes other reports with only one in respect to the total annual costs which seems low: “For example, one study shows that a pan-Canadian energy transition in all sectors would cost up to $43.3 billion annually until reaching net-zero“ That would represent about 1.6% of Canada’s annual GDP (2022 estimates) and approximately 22.7% of the 2023 annual budget.  One should wonder where those billions will come from as we are already running significant annual budget deficits.

In other news about the NZAB they seem excited as some of them attended the COP 26 Conference in Glasgow and while there: NZAB, the CICC (now the CCI) and the IVEY Foundation (Bruce Lourie is the CEO) co-hosted an informal gathering with guests from the Canadian delegation and the ICCN. The two Co-Chairs posted pictures on their site with Trudeau, Guilbeault and Wilkinson but it’s hard to judge their excitement as they all have their masks on.

We should be pretty sure the above attendees at COP 26 in Glasgow were there thanks to the generosity of Canada’s taxpayers along with the other 270+ Canadian delegates that were in attendance.  

It seems readily apparent the Trudeau led government who will spend over $34 billion annually to service our national debt have no problem at spending another $43.3 billion annually to achieve the net-zero targets, even though it will have no effect on “global warming”!  It brings to mind our PM’s quote:

Ah, yes; “you’ll forgive me if I don’t think about monetary policy!”

Well then, could you PM Trudeau, at the least stop granting charitable status to institutions your government creates and stop throwing our tax dollars to them via “grants”!