For What It’s Worth: War Room has to go

By Medicine Hat News Opinion on March 18, 2021.

As I expressed in my previous article, I am a full supporter of oilsands development. I agree with the government’s position that the misinformation being doled out by anti oilsands groups is harmful to the province and its biggest sector.

What I don’t agree with however, is the method which the government has chosen to fight it. The Canadian Energy Centre, better known as the “War Room,” costs taxpayers $30 million per year. Its mission is to provide facts and commentary that praise Alberta’s oil sector while at the same time attempting to discredit information that criticizes it.

The War Room made news last week by calling out Netflix for its movie, Bigfoot Family. The War Room cites “anti-oil propaganda” that is “brainwashing our kids” as the reason behind this. While I have no doubt the movie has a misinformed anti-oil angle, it’s not the government’s job to attempt to censor content they disagree with.

An overly simplified understanding of the role of a provincial government is to create laws and regulations and to determine taxation and expenditures. What is clear is that shaping public opinion is not one of those roles. Instead, political parties, advocacy groups and private think tanks funded by member donations have this role, not governments funded by taxpayers.

When governments use tax dollars to create content that provides a narrow view of a particular subject and intends to shape public opinion, it’s called propaganda. That’s what the War Room is, and regardless of whether you agree with the message and regardless of whether it was part of the UCP election platform, it is still an inappropriate use of tax dollars.

Furthermore, the War Room is a highly ineffective concept. The War Room’s reach is largely limited to within Alberta’s borders and Albertans are not generally the people that need convincing. Do we really think many Quebecers are looking at the War Room’s website or Twitter feed, leading them to change their stance on pipelines? Are any activists at Greenpeace going to hear about the War Room and think “Gee, I guess we’ve been wrong all along!”?

Common sense would tell us it’s unlikely.

In a time where our economy is in a valley, and public debt is a mountain, the government must choose where it spends our tax dollars wisely. The War Room is an example of wasteful and inappropriate spending, something the UCP was elected to get rid of.

Cash Moore is a political science student at the University of Alberta from Medicine Hat. His column, For What It’s Worth, will run on the third Thursday of each month. Feedback for his columns can be sent to letters@medicinehatnews.com

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