Multiple economists who signed their names in an open-letter that praised the federal Liberals’ carbon tax have been paid non-competitive contracts by the same government for “consulting,” documents show.
The widely reported open letter was signed by 344 academic economists who issued what CTV called an “ardent defense” of the Trudeau Liberals’ carbon tax.
Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson subsequently propped up the letter as validation for the Liberals’ carbon tax on multiple occasions, as reported by Blacklock’s Reporter.
However, a document obtained by The Counter Signal shows that many signatories were awarded sole-sourced (non-competitive) contracts by several federal Liberal departments.
For example, since 2015, the Employment and Social Development Canada department has provided non-competitive contracts to nine different individuals —- and every one of them signed the open letter: Adam Lavecchia, Nicholas Rivers, Brett Dolter, Benoit Dostie, Andrew Sharpe, Philip Oreopoulos, Richard Harris, Tammy Schirle, Pierre-Carl Michaud, Catherine Haeck, and Pierre Fortin.
Another professor from the University of Alberta, Andrew Leach, who recently alluded to Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party as “idiots” and “sociopaths,” has received over $68,000 in sole-sourced contracts from the Trudeau government since 2017, including about $10,000 in November 2022 from the Agriculture department.
In a statement on social media posted Wednesday, Leach said he has never hidden from his sole-sourced contracts, and his personal website lists conflicts of interests, including his paid contracts from the government, albeit without the dollar amount.
“Interested in who has federal government contracts? There’s a registry. It’s all public, which is good. Here are my records,” Leach also stated, posting the link.
“Environment and Climate Change Canada,” led by socialist Steven Guilbeault, gave University of Regina professor, Brett Dolter, $63,000 in November 2022 for “expert advice.” And, on December 27, 2023, Guilbeault gave Nicholas Rivers from the University of Ottawa over $15,000 for “expert economic advice.”
Less than three months later, the open letter was published.
See also: Danielle Smith rebuffs “ivory tower” academic economists (thecountersignal.com)
The majority of Premiers in Canada have denounced the federal carbon tax, including Alberta Premier Smith.
Following the release of the open letter, Smith was asked by reporters for her reaction, to which she said the academic economists “should get out their ivory towers and come into the real world.”
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