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NEWS: Council to lobby European capitals in defence of the Fuel Quality Directive

The Toronto Sun reports, “Left-wing activists are rushing in to undo some of Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver’s work defending the oilsands abroad. The Council of Canadians is teaming up with aboriginal groups to tour Europe and push governments to label fuel derived from the oilsands as ‘dirtier’ than fuel from conventional oil sources.”

Stuart Trew, Bill Erasmus, Hannah McKinnon, Ben Powless, Steven Guilbeault

“(Earlier this week, Oliver met) with ministers from several countries, including Germany, France, and Britain (to express the Harper government’s opposition to the European Fuel Quality Directive). Stuart Trew, the council’s trade campaigner, says the Council of Canadians will be visiting those same countries later in March (March 19-26) to oppose Oliver’s efforts to have the oilsands treated equally with other sources of crude.” This is a critically timed tour in that a key vote on the future of the EFQD is expected to take place in June.

The schedule for the lobby-tour is:
March 19 – Paris
March 20-21 – The Hague
March 22 – London
March 23-26 – Berlin

Tour participants include Trew, Bill Erasmus, National Dene Chief and the Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief of the Northwest Territories, and Hannah McKinnon, Campaigns Director with Climate Action Network Canada. Ben Powless of the Indigenous Environmental Network and Steven Guilbeault, Coordonnateur général adjoint, Équiterre will be joining the events in Paris.

For campaign blogs related to the Fuel Quality Directive, please see http://canadians.org/blog/?s=%22fuel+quality+directive%22.