Former government minister Chuck Strahl now a lobbyist for Enbridge

Enbridge

A longtime Reform/Conservative MP who headed a number of different ministries under Stephen Harper before retiring from government in 2011 is now a registered lobbyist on behalf of Enbridge, the Vancouver Observer reports.

Chuck Strahl, who was in the House of Commons from 1993 to 2011, is also currently serving a five-year term as head of the country’s spy watchdog, the Security Intelligence Review Committee, where he is privy to most of the country’s intelligence. As the Observer’s Matthew Millar writes:

“The Security Intelligence Review Committee reports to Parliament on all activities undertaken by CSIS – and with the exception of cabinet secrets, Strahl’s position affords access to all intelligence gathered by the organization.”

That’s a lot of access, but hey, it’s not like Canada’s intelligence agencies collude with energy companies. That would be against the law, after all.

Oh wait.

Former Conservative MP Chuck Strahl (via Facebook)

Former Conservative MP Chuck Strahl (via Facebook)

CSIS and the RCMP have been doing extensive surveillance of anti-oilsands activists for at least a year, and as the Guardian reported in October, the government has since 2005 held secret meetings twice a year at which police and spy agencies come together with government and energy company officials to hang out and swap secrets. The May 2013 meeting even had meals sponsored by Enbridge, the very company trying to win approval for its oilsands pipeline to the B.C. coast over the concerns of environmentalists and some aboriginal communities along the route.

As a former federal minister, Strahl cannot directly lobby his former peers in Parliament but he can, and evidently plans to, lobby the B.C. government, where he can count Premier Christy Clark as a friend.

Even if absolutely nothing untoward is taking place here, it sure gives the appearance of a conflict of interest on Strahl’s part. He can either be someone watching over the country’s spies or someone who wants to get Enbridge a shiny new pipeline, but it’s not clear that he can do both.

UPDATE: Turns out Strahl’s work with Enbridge started as early as 2011, before he was named to the SIRC oversight body.

[Vancouver Observer][photo: Flickr/mastermaq]

British Columbia, Chuck Strahl, CSIS, Enbridge, Northern Gateway, , pipelines, Security Intelligence Review Committee, Vancouver Observer

  • ElaineMay

    And….his son is an MP.
    We are a frozen banana republic.

    • ishmaeldaro

      That’s right. I didn’t even get to that part. The whole thing is pretty icky.