Dogwood BC – How Americans are shaping our elections.

(0:00) This is remarkable. I want to be clear. It’s my opinion.

It’s brazen and terrifying. So, (0:06) let’s talk about what they do. Start with the issues.

Anything we might have heard of? (0:13) Well, they’ve been successful. They have been really successful. At least, (0:17) they claim to have been very successful.

They claim on their website, and let’s start out with (0:22) again, they initially described themselves as an environmental advocacy group. But as I noted, (0:28) the issues and concerns have shifted. But the environmental issues they claim to have (0:34) been involved with and impacted those decisions were the North Coast oil tanker ban.

So, (0:41) that law came into effect in 2019. They campaigned on it from 2007. So, they have some history, Ben.

(0:49) The Enbridge Northern Gateway, that was cancelled dead in 2016. The Fraser Surrey Docks (0:57) coal port, in their own words, after six years fighting a US thermal coal terminal. (1:04) The Port of Vancouver finally cancelled the permit.

So, they also claim to have influenced (1:10) BC’s 2017 campaign finance reforms. They launched a campaign, a pretty smart campaign, Ben. Pretty (1:17) catchy.

They ran a campaign called Ban Big Money. And the province banned corporate and union (1:23) donations. And so, the track record is real and it’s proven.

So, which is why we all need to be (1:29) aware of their organizing. Yeah. I want to repeat this.

Some of (1:34) the biggest environmental stories of the past decade, the oil tanker ban, Northern Gateway, (1:41) Dogwood claims to have influenced that. And I believe it. People do not realize (1:50) how big this particular group is, but also just the entire sector, environmental advocacy.

(1:58) It’s enormous and they’re effective. But the one thing that really irks me, the American tankers (2:05) are still coming through, Ben. The American tankers are still in.

So, it’s kind of selective. (2:10) It’s almost selective campaigning. The Americans are getting through, (2:15) but the Canadian tankers are not.

Okay. So, we’ve talked about individual issues. (2:20) Let’s talk more generally about elections.

Do they make claims about their effectiveness there? (2:27) They do. They do. And more than that, they actually name the MPs and even in some cases, (2:33) the MLAs, who they’ve beat.

I can’t find more recent data, but their 2016 report claimed that (2:43) in 19 ridings they worked in and they advocated and volunteered in, conservative candidates lost (2:50) 82,000 votes. So, they don’t claim to have elected anyone. They claim to have beaten people.

So, (2:57) that’s an important something to distinguish. And they name them. They name who they beat, (3:02) but they don’t name who they supported.

Now, how do they do all of this? (3:08) They’re organized. They’re very open about it. They hire people and they hire full time.

So, (3:15) right now, so they’re headquartered here in Victoria in a small neighborhood called North (3:18) Park. They posted a municipal election campaign position for just under, I believe it was $59,000, (3:27) I think for a nine-month position. And then organizing coordinators, again, $59,000 to (3:33) $61,000.

And to compare those, just for comparison’s sake, what a Victoria City Councillor (3:40) will make after this October election is $59,000. So, the people hired to shape who sits on council (3:48) are paid the same rate as the people who sit on it, except they’re working full time. They have (3:53) hundreds of trained volunteers behind them and they don’t have to get elected to keep the job.

(4:01) Okay. So, I want to see if I can envision this. You’ve got entire election teams, machines (4:07) running independently, but parallel to the candidates that they actually want to elect.

(4:14) Yes, precisely. And let’s go back to what I said before. There is no rule against coordinating.

So, (4:21) the infrastructure and organization behind that is not capped. So, you could have 500 volunteers (4:28) running around Victoria door-knocking. And they do.

I don’t know about this particular election (4:33) if it’s 500, but they do. And they’re effective. And it’s only the advertising which is capped.

(4:39) So, it’s pretty effective. Okay. So, we got to recap this.

(4:43) Non-profit societies in British Columbia are legally allowed to advertise during elections, (4:50) and we have no way of knowing who’s funding them. And it’s entirely legal. (4:55) Totally legal.

Totally above board. And this is where the loophole matters. And it’s not just (5:01) one group, Ben.

There are roughly 12 registered third-party sponsors here in Victoria. (5:09) We’re a city of 90,000 people. And they coordinate, I would say, also with other (5:15) organizations.

That’s something we should probably mention. They share voter data with (5:21) and on their website, quote, like-minded organizations, such as Homes for Living, (5:27) which was registered in 2022. But most of the donors for these organizations, the filings are (5:33) anonymous.

So, they’re not breaking any rules. That is the rule. Under BC, only contributions (5:39) of $100 or more get made.

So, this isn’t a conspiracy. 12 organizations, each following (5:46) the law exactly. And a voter in Victoria cannot find out who was funding them.

So, (5:52) it’s all above board, Ben. And that’s the loophole. I think my last question is probably my most (5:58) obvious one at this point.

Why don’t more people or organizations speak out against (6:03) what groups like Dogwood are doing? They are and have been litigious. Dogwood, (6:11) in particular, they teamed up with four other environmental groups to sue former Alberta (6:18) Premier Jason Kenney for defamation, alleging he twisted the results of a $3.5 million public (6:25) inquiry to falsely claim that they were running a foreign-funded campaign of misinformation (6:31) against Canada’s oil industry. And that case has not been resolved.