Conservative Party Heavyweight Orchestrated Oil-backed Friends of Science

onAug 12, 2006 @ 06:25 PDT

The DeSmogBlog has reported in the past the cozy connections between the Friends of Science and Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party. Now it appears that the pivotal person is also involved in trying to cover up the funding that he arranged for FOS’s operations.

Charles Montgomery reported in the Globe and Mail today that University of Calgary Political Science Professor Dr. Barry Cooper played a lead role in wiping oil money clean through the University of Calgary and then passing it onto the “grassroots” Friends of Science.

(note: the story only appeared in the Globe’s print edition, but an online copy is available at the author’s own website here).

Dr. Cooper is a charter member of the “Calgary School,” a group of U of C professors credited with the rise of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the ruling Conservative Party of Canada. Cooper is also Stephen Harper’s fishing buddy. That’s no crime; every prime minister deserves at least one friend. It just gets worrisome when the friend acts like he has a guilty conscience, attempting to cover his tracks in an evident effort to influence government policy.

By Richard Littlemore

Analysis

Q&A: Amy Westervelt on the Corporate Poisoning of the Information Aquifer — and How to Undo the Harm

ByMatthew Green

onSep 21, 2026 @ 12:34 PDT

The acclaimed climate accountability journalist says bold steps are needed to reverse the insidious impact of decades of industry propaganda on the public square.

Series: Holding the Advertising and Public Relations Industry Accountable for Greenwash and Climate Misinformation

Series: Advertising & PR Industry

Suncor Helped Lead Climate Denial Group Spreading ‘Uncertainties’

ByGeoff Dembicki

onSep 21, 2026 @ 07:18 PDT

With a U.S. Supreme Court decision looming on whether the company can be held liable for climate deception, internal documents show a campaign to question science.