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Harper strategists and big oil backing NPA, Mayor Gregor Robertson says

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This means the Fraser Institute received over one million dollars from the three organizations, which all fund climate denial.

And one day after LaPointe announced his run for mayor, the Fraser Institute released a report about Vancouver's debt, suggesting that the government had been mismanaging public funds.

The report was criticized in the Georgia Straight for omitting the fact that the debt was "triggered by NPA government".

Meanwhile, two board members and the Fraser Institute's director have made hefty donations to the NPA campaign.

The Peter and Joann Brown Foundation, a charitable organization headed by Fraser Institute chairman Peter Brown, donated $10,000 to the NPA.  

Fraser Institute board member (and Future Shop founder) Hassan Khosrowshahi, together with his wife Nezhat, donated $20,000 to the NPA campaign. 

Khosrowshahi's investment company, Persis Holdings, kicked in another $20,000. He is the also founder of Inwest Investments and Wesbild Holdings, which gave $10,000 each. 

Koch brother-owned companies, studies show, stand to gain as much as $100 billion if the Keystone XL pipeline alone goes through. 

No studies have been done on what their take will be if the Kinder Morgan expansion is permitted to proceed or if other Canadian pipelines go through.

But the Koch brothers are among  the largest leaseholders in the oil sands.

"(The NPA) is fine with the National Energy Board making a decision here and trusting the Harper government with the Kinder Morgan proposal. We're anything but that, and we've been very clear about it," Mayor Robertson said.

LaPointe said he had seen reports about the NEB's possible bias and "would not support any project that does not feature world-best technology to mitigate risk and any environmental impact".

He said he supports Vancouver in being an intervenor, but that the city does not have jurisdiction over the project. 

Robertson said Vancouver's future as a "green city" is at stake in Saturday's election. 

"We have an entire economy based on Vancouver being a clean and green city.

"We've ended up in a real battle for City Hall, Park Board and School board - and Kinder Morgan is right in the middle of that."

Calling the campaign "boring" is throwing a "wet blanket" over the urgent issues at stake, Robertson said.

Robertson asked the room for "solidarity" and called on progressive voters  to support Vision instead of splitting the ballot.

On twitter, Pantazopoulos said he was flattered to be called a 'mastermind'.

 

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Special reports

Athabasca tar sands, photographed by Andrew S. Wright

Tar Sands Reporting Project

Our award-winning team's crowd-funded series on the people, places and conflicts associated with Canada's tar sands.