Public Inquiry into Foreign Funding of Environmental Groups Report Postponed
On June 25, Minister of Energy Sonya Savage announced that the Government of Alberta will be extending the deadline for the final report of the public inquiry into foreign funding of environmental groups. The report was originally due on July 2, 2020, but Commissioner Steve Allan now has until October 30, 2020 to submit his final report to the government.
The inquiry had an initial budget of $2.5 million. In the recent announcement, the Minister stated that the provincial government will provide an additional $1 million, re-allocated from the Canadian Energy Centre budget to finance the new timeframe.
The Muttart Foundation made a submission to the inquiry in November 2019 that presented detailed information about charitable funding – which was previously public – and highlighted some concerns about creating an ‘advocacy chill’ within the nonprofit sector, one which CCVO echoes.
The Minister of Energy stated that the extended deadline would give the commissioner additional time to complete the inquiry process, and follow up on materials discovered in a just and fair manner. It is not clear as of yet whether this will include interviews with the major environmental groups involved in the inquiry, who were not interviewed prior to the submission of the interim report.
The announcement from the Minister of Energy can be found here, and more information on the inquiry and its mandate can be found here.