Modern Miracle Network

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Modern Miracle Network
MottoCelebrating the modern miracle of hydrocarbons
Founder(s)Michael Binnion
Established2016
PresidentMichael Binnion
Slogan"Celebrating the modern miracle of hydrocarbons"
"Life is better with Canadian hydrocarbons!" [1]
Location,
Canada
Website Official website

Modern Miracle Network (MMN) is a Canadian fossil fuel advocacy organization that was incorporated in 2016 by entrepreneur Michael Binnion, and operates out of the offices of Calgary, Alberta-based Questerre Energy. [2] Binnion is chair of the Manning Foundation and a member of the board of governors of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP). [2]

Contents

Overview

According to The Globe and Mail, Modern Miracle Network (MMN) hosted a "highly political" private event to "map out strategy for ousting Justin Trudeau's Liberals" in the 2019 Canadian federal election. [3] Journalist John Lornic described the organization as an "astroturf advocacy operation with a curiously anachronistic handle" that has hosted an event with "energy industry operatives, senior Conservative advisors and then Conservative leader Andrew Scheer to win the 2019 Canadian federal election. [4] DeSmogBlog calls the MMN, a "Canadian pro-oil advocacy group". [5] Michael Binnion and Vivian Krause were among the speakers at the 2019 Indigenous Energy Summit. [5] [6]

Michael Binnion also wrote a column in the Toronto Sun ahead of the conversation between President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, following the President's inauguration and cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline, promoting the steps the Canadian Oil and Gas Industry has committed to, and create a conversation around Canada's energy independence. [7]

Administration

Modern Miracle Network was incorporated by Michael Binnion in 2016. Binnion is chair of the Manning Foundation and a member of the board of governors Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP). [2]

Board members include representatives from energy and oil companies. [3] [2]

Publications

MMN funded the publication of Moment of truth: how to think about Alberta's future co-edited by economist Jack Mintz, Ted Morton, and Tom Flanagan. [8] Both Morton and Flanagan had co-signed the 2001 "Firewall Letter"—also known as the Alberta Agenda—in which they called for Alberta to create a protective firewall around the province of Alberta to "limit the extent to which an aggressive and hostile federal government can encroach on legitimate provincial jurisdiction." [9] They called on then Alberta premier Ralph Klein to withdraw from the Canada Pension Plan, replace the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), take over health care decision-making, and collect income tax in order to "limit the extent to which an aggressive and hostile federal government can encroach on legitimate provincial jurisdiction." [9] The book echoes the firewall message, which is restated in Premier Jason Kenney's 2019 Fair Deal Panel report. [10]

Following the inauguration of President Joe Biden and the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline the MMN wrote briefing notes that were published in the Toronto Sun. [7] In this publication it should be noted the MMN mission is "...to promote serious, respectful and non-partisan conversations about energy", and when speaking about the Canadian Oil and Gas industry "...our industry is committed to a net zero by 2050". [7]

Related Research Articles

Peter Lougheed Premier of Alberta from 1971 to 1985

Edgar Peter Lougheed was a Canadian lawyer and Progressive Conservative politician who served as the tenth premier of Alberta from 1971 to 1985, presiding over a period of reform and economic growth.

Politics of Alberta

The Politics of Alberta are centred on a provincial government resembling that of the other Canadian provinces, namely a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy. The capital of the province is Edmonton, where the provincial Legislative Building is located.

TC Energy Canadian energy company

TC Energy Corporation is a major North American energy company, based in the TC Energy Tower building in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, that develops and operates energy infrastructure in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. The company operates three core businesses: Natural Gas Pipelines, Liquids Pipelines and Energy.

Calgary School

The Calgary School is a term coined by Ralph Hedlin in an article in the now defunct Alberta Report in reference to four political science professors – Tom Flanagan, Rainer Knopff, Ted Morton, and Barry F. Cooper – who became colleagues at Alberta's University of Calgary in the early 1980s. They shared and promoted similar ideas about how political scientists could shape the rise of a particular kind of conservatism in Canada – informed by theories based on Friedrich Hayek and Leo Strauss. Cooper and Flanagan had met in the 1960s at Duke University while pursuing doctoral studies, while Knopff and Morton were both mentored by Walter Berns, a prominent Straussian, at the University of Toronto. They were economic, foreign policy, and social conservatives" who were anti-abortion and were not in favour of legalizing gay marriage. They supported Stephen Harper in his 1993 election campaign, former Alberta Premier, Ralph Klein and the current premier, Jason Kenney. A fifth University of Calgary professor, David Bercuson, co-authored publications with Cooper but was more loosely associated with the group and, at times, disagreed with the others on these public policies and candidates.

Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), with its head office in Calgary, Alberta, is a lobby group that represents the upstream Canadian oil and natural gas industry. CAPP's members produce "90% of Canada's natural gas and crude oil" and "are an important part of a national industry with revenues of about $100 billion-a-year ."

The Alberta Agenda, the Firewall Letter, was a January 2001 open letter by seven prominent conservatives in Alberta—including Calgary School professors and Stephen Harper—addressed to then Premier of Alberta, Ralph Klein, setting out a five-point firewall to "protect Alberta" from the alleged "intrusions" by the federal government. the Alberta government to fully exercise the province's constitutional powers. The group, who called themselves the Alberta Residents League (ARL) proposed the Alberta Agenda—a "new vision" for the province, which focused on "More Alberta, less Ottawa". The letter was composed by Harper—then president of the National Citizens Coalition. Harper later served as Canada's Prime Minister for three consecutive terms—from 2006 to 2015. Signatories included three political science professors associated with the "Calgary School" as the University of Calgary—Tom Flanagan, Ted Morton, and Rainer Knopff. Other signatories included Andrew Crooks, who was serving as chair of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation under Flanagan, and Ken Boessenkool, Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day's former policy adviser. The letter was published in its entirety in the National Post on January 27, 2001.

Alberta separatism Advocacy for Alberta seceding from Canada

Alberta separatism comprises a series of 20th and 21st century movements advocating the secession of the province of Alberta from Canada, either by joining the United States of America, forming an independent nation or by creating a new union with one or more of Canada's western provinces. The main issues driving separatist sentiment have been the perceived power disparity relative to Ottawa and other provinces, historical grievances with the federal government dating back to the unrealized Province of Buffalo, a sense of distinctiveness with regards to Alberta’s unique cultural and political identity, and Canadian fiscal policy, particularly as it pertains to the energy industry.

Petroleum industry in Canada

Petroleum production in Canada is a major industry which is important to the economy of North America. Canada has the third largest oil reserves in the world and is the world's fourth largest oil producer and fourth largest oil exporter. In 2019 it produced an average of 750,000 cubic metres per day (4.7 Mbbl/d) of crude oil and equivalent. Of that amount, 64% was upgraded and non-upgraded bitumen from oil sands, and the remainder light crude oil, heavy crude oil and natural-gas condensate. Most of Canadian petroleum production is exported, approximately 600,000 cubic metres per day (3.8 Mbbl/d) in 2019, with 98% of the exports going to the United States. Canada is by far the largest single source of oil imports to the United States, providing 43% of US crude oil imports in 2015.

Fraser Barry Cooper is a Canadian political scientist at the University of Calgary. Before coming to Calgary, he taught at Bishop's University (1968–1970), McGill University, and York University (1970–1981). The winner of a Killam Research Fellowship, he is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. In 1991, Cooper wrote Action into Nature: An Essay on the Meaning of Technology and he co-authored Deconfederation: Canada without Quebec, in which he argued that Canada would benefit from Quebec separation. He is also the author of the 1999 publication Eric Voegelin and the Foundations of Modern Political Science.

Energy policy of Canada About Canadas federal and provincial energy policies

Canada has access to all main sources of energy including oil and gas, coal, hydropower, biomass, solar, geothermal, wind, marine and nuclear. It is the world's second largest producer of uranium, third largest producer of hydro-electricity, fourth largest natural gas producer, and the fifth largest producer of crude oil. In 2006, only Russia, the People's Republic of China, the United States and Saudi Arabia produce more total energy than Canada.

Keystone Pipeline Oil pipeline in North America

The Keystone Pipeline System is an oil pipeline system in Canada and the United States, commissioned in 2010 and owned by TC Energy and as of 31 March 2020 the Government of Alberta. It runs from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin in Alberta to refineries in Illinois and Texas, and also to oil tank farms and an oil pipeline distribution center in Cushing, Oklahoma.

Questerre Energy

Questerre Energy Corporation (QEC) is an international energy exploration company headquartered in Calgary, Canada, and listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Oslo Stock Exchange. It holds the largest acreage position in the Utica Shale in the Saint Lawrence Lowlands. Questerre also have operations in Saskatchewan and in the Montney Formation in Alberta.

National Energy Board Former Canadian government agency

The National Energy Board was an independent economic regulatory agency created in 1959 by the Government of Canada to oversee "international and inter-provincial aspects of the oil, gas and electric utility industries". Its head office was located in Calgary, Alberta.

Ted Morton Canadian politician

Frederick Lee Morton, known commonly as Ted Morton, is an American-Canadian politician and former cabinet minister in the Alberta government. As a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, he represented the constituency of Foothills-Rocky View as a Progressive Conservative from 2004 to 2012. He did not win reelection in the 2012 Alberta general election. Morton was a candidate for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Association in its 2006 and 2011 leadership elections. Morton is currently Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Calgary.

Western Canadian Select (WCS) is a heavy sour blend of crude oil that is one of North America's largest heavy crude oil streams and, historically, its cheapest. It was established in December 2004 as a new heavy oil stream by EnCana, Canadian Natural Resources, Petro-Canada and Talisman Energy. It is composed mostly of bitumen blended with sweet synthetic and condensate diluents and 21 existing streams of both conventional and unconventional Alberta heavy crude oils at the large Husky Midstream General Partnership terminal in Hardisty, Alberta. Western Canadian Select—the benchmark for heavy, acidic crudes—is one of many petroleum products from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin oil sands. Calgary-based Husky Energy, now a subsidiary of Cenovus, had joined the initial four founders in 2015.

Energy East Cancelled Canadian pipeline project

The Energy East pipeline was a proposed oil pipeline in Canada. It would have delivered diluted bitumen from Western Canada and North Western United States to Eastern Canada, from receipt points in Alberta, Saskatchewan and North Dakota to refineries and port terminals in New Brunswick and possibly Quebec. The TC PipeLines project would have converted about 3,000 kilometres of natural gas pipeline, which currently carries natural gas from Alberta to the Ontario-Quebec border, to diluted bitumen transportation. New pipeline, pump stations, and tank facilities also would have been constructed. The CA$12 billion pipeline would have been the longest in North America when complete.

Pipelines in Canada are important components of energy infrastructure in Canada as the majority of natural gas and oil deposits are located in landlocked Alberta and need to be transported to ports or terminals to access larger markets.

Premiership of Jason Kenney Aspect of Canadian politics

The premiership of Jason Kenney began on April 30, 2019 when Jason Kenney and his first cabinet were sworn in by Lieutenant Governor of Alberta, Lois Mitchell. Kenney was invited to form the 30th Alberta Legislature and became the 18th Premier of Alberta, following the 2019 Alberta general election where Kenney's United Conservative Party (UCP) won a majority of seats in the Alberta Legislature leading to the resignation of Premier Rachel Notley. Kenney stepped down as leader of the UCP party on May 18, 2022, after receiving 51.4% of the UCP party members' votes.

The Canadian Energy Centre Limited (CEC), also commonly called the "Energy War Room", is an Alberta provincial corporation mandated to promote Alberta's energy industry and rebut "domestic and foreign-funded campaigns against Canada's oil and gas industry". The creation of an organization to promote Alberta's oil and gas industries was a campaign promise by United Conservative Party leader Jason Kenney during the 2019 Alberta general election. After winning a majority of seats in the election, Kenney's government inaugurated the CEC with a $2.84 million budget in December 2019. The CEC originally had an annual budget of CA$30 million which was decreased to $CA12 million. The CEC has been the subject of several controversies since its establishment, including accusations of plagiarizing logo designs. The CEC attracted widespread media attention when it launched a campaign against the Netflix animated children's movie Bigfoot Family because it cast Alberta's oil and gas industry in a negative light.

Canada Strong and Free Network Canadian conservative political advocacy group

The Canada Strong and Free Network based in Calgary, Alberta, is a not-for-profit political advocacy group that was established in 2005 by Preston Manning to promote conservative principles. It was known for the annual "high-profile" Manning Networking Conference (MNC). The Manning Centre operates the for-profit think tank the Manning Foundation, which undertakes some research and analysis, while the Manning Centre self-describes as a "do-tank", that focuses on advocacy, training and networking events for conservatives.

References

  1. "Home". modernmiraclenetwork.org.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Lornic, John (October 19, 2019). "The little-known colossus behind the Conservatives anti-climate agenda". National Observer. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  3. 1 2 Lewis, Jeff (April 25, 2019). "Conservative politicians, oil executives map out strategy for ousting federal Liberals in growing collaboration". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  4. Lornic, John (October 19, 2019). "How one gas company CEO is fuelling Canada's climate politics". Corporate Knights. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  5. 1 2 "Modern Miracle Network". DeSmogBlog . Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  6. Fieldberg, Alesia (November 4, 2019). "Indigenous chiefs and oil and gas leaders gather in Calgary for energy summit". Calgary. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  7. 1 2 3 "BINNION: A briefing note for Trudeau for conversation with Biden on Keystone XL". torontosun. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  8. Mintz, Jack M.; Morton, F. L.; Flanagan, Thomas (2020). Moment of truth: how to think about Alberta's future. ISBN   978-1-989555-36-1.
  9. 1 2 Elizabeth May. "British Columbia "firewall" anyone?". Archived from the original on November 16, 2012.
  10. Dawson, Tyler (November 10, 2019). "Kenney announces 'firewall'-style panel in pursuit of a 'fair deal' for Alberta". National Post. Edmonton. Retrieved November 16, 2020.