Provincial and national media are finally paying attention to what this column has reported occasionally for a decade 鈥� they are being played by well-funded professional protesters targeting Canadian energy projects.

This belated realization is sparked by a document leaked to the B.C. Liberal opposition about 鈥渄irect action鈥� protests against the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project. It describes a secretive organization designed to create an impression of grassroots opposition.

The document is called the 鈥淎ction Hive Proposal,鈥� and the author turns out to be one Cam Fenton, who works for , a climate protest organization based in Oakland, California. Fenton says it was written before a kayak protest in Vancouver last fall, and doesn鈥檛 try to pretend that it鈥檚 no longer in effect.

(See full document below.)

It describes a 鈥渉ive鈥� or central organization that requires 鈥渟taff-driven鈥� participants to contribute money and staff, plus participation in weekly meetings. It directs everyone to use 鈥渄igital security鈥� such as a disappearing message service or phone calls to make sure things aren鈥檛 too transparent.

The 鈥渉ive鈥� directs a 鈥渟warm鈥� of smaller groups, and here鈥檚 a key strategy:

鈥淭his group is an organizational structure, not a brand. We will not have a brand or presence in public beyond what is necessary to achieve our goals.鈥�

Environment Minister George Heyman, who ran the B.C. branch office of California-based Sierra Club before being elected for the NDP, resorted to evasions and threats when asked about this document in the legislature. He attended a dinner on Bowen Island with representatives of this 鈥渉ive鈥� on Jan. 30, the same day he released a five-point plan to deter further oil transport from Alberta.

This sparked immediate retaliation from Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, who banned B.C. wine from entering the province and threatened further actions. Notley, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and federal Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr all bluntly reminded the B.C. government that it has no authority to interfere with a federally approved pipeline project running from one province to another.

This blew up while Premier John Horgan was on a trade mission in Asia that included efforts to carry on with liquefied natural gas exports. After Horgan got back, the most offensive part of Heyman鈥檚 scheme was pulled back, replaced by the latest of a series of taxpayer-funded court actions approved by the NDP, like the one that pretends Burnaby鈥檚 bylaws can override federal law.

I鈥檝e reported on earlier efforts of this kind, like the American-funded near Prince Rupert run by a couple of rifle-toting, tree-spiking guys whose Indigenous claim to the area is, to put it politely, disputed.

The 鈥渟warm鈥� and 鈥渉ive鈥� model was also on display in the latest round of anti-logging protests in the Walbran Valley. Front groups like Sierra and Council of Canadians stage in town, while denying any knowledge of direct action soldiers blundering into legally permitted logging projects to lock themselves to equipment and try to provoke fights with loggers.

Independent researcher Vivian Krause, who revealed the 2008 U.S. strategy to 鈥渓andlock鈥� Alberta oil, notes that was originally funded by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, a charitable foundation started by the heirs to the Standard Oil fortune.

Reminder: the day after the B.C. Greens and NDP made their minority government deal, a pair of Greenpeace employees climbed a flagpole in front of the B.C. legislature and put up their own banner. It read: 鈥淧eople power: 1 Kinder Morgan: 0.鈥�

The manufactured 鈥減eople power鈥� has begun, with TV following along to make it all appear spontaneous and grassroots, as planned.

Tom Fletcher is B.C. legislature reporter and columnist for Black Press. Email: tfletcher@blackpress.ca

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