Over the past week, a new website has popped up – getitrightalberta.ca – calling for Alberta’s Tory Government to keep the resource royalty structure the way it is – even after the damning Alberta Royalty Review Report and Auditor General’s Report slammed Ed Stelmach‘s Tory Government for failing to collect BILLIONS of dollars in resource revenues owed to Albertans over the past 15 years.
The big question is, who is behind this website?
A bit of investigating will reveal that the website has been set up by the consulting firm Hill & Knowlton and a quick check at CIRA will reveal that the website registration is listed as:
Registrant Name Hill & Knowlton
Registrar Webnames.ca (UBC Research Enterprises Inc.)
Renewal Date 2008/09/25
Date approved 2007/09/25
Last changed 2007/09/28
Description
Registrar Number 70
Registrant Number 2010422
Domain Number 2010422
DNS1 ns1.maximumasp.com 216.128.31.5
DNS2 ns2.maximumasp.com 216.128.31.6Administrative Contact
Name Lisa Litz
Job Title
Postal Address Suite 540, 202 – 6th Avenue SW Calgary AB T2P2R9 Canada
Phone 1-403-5146236
Fax
Email lisa.litz@hillandknowlton.caTechnical Contact
Name Lisa Litz
Job Title
Postal Address Suite 540, 202 – 6th Avenue SW Calgary AB T2P2R9 Canada
Phone 1-403-5146236
Fax
Email lisa.litz@hillandknowlton.ca
Now, far be it from me to assume that a slick large national consulting firm like Hill & Knowlton wouldn’t set up a website like this out of the kindness of their hearts, but I’m going to do just that – assume that Hill & Knowlton isn’t doing this out of the kindness of their hearts.
So, the question remains: who is behind ‘getitrightalberta.ca?’
Interestingly, Hill & Knowlton’s Calgary office is led by none-other than Mr. Ken Boessenkool, a member of the infamous firewall six and former adviser to Stockwell Day and Stephen Harper.
So, the still question remains, who is really behind ‘getitrightalberta.ca?’
The debate about Alberta’s resource royalties is too important to Alberta’s future to include ‘hidden stakeholders.’
Who is paying Hill & Knowlton to run this site?
Albertans should email Mr. Ken Boessenkool and ask him straight out.
Albertans are owed an explanation.
