The video begins with images of angry protesters who “have attempted to landlock our resources.”Then it cuts to shots of oil rigs and roughnecks in coveralls and hardhats.“We’ve been busy reducing GHG emissions and maintaining the highest environmental and human rights standards for energy development in the world,” the voiceover says.Over pictures of waterfalls and sunsets, community barbecues and playing children, the narrative reaches a crescendo.“We create jobs and build schools, playgrounds and hospitals … pay doctors and teachers … Canada needs us. The world needs us. We are Canadian energy and we are proud.”Amid an increasingly acrimonious national debate over pipelines and climate change, the video — which has more than five million views across YouTube, Facebook and Twitter — has all the hallmarks of a political advocacy ad. But because the two-minute video was put online two weeks before the writ was dropped and because it does not name a party or a candidate, it skirts the disclosure rules that would publicly reveal who made the video, who paid for it and how much it cost.Canada’s election laws are among the strictest in the world, with hard caps on campaign and advertising spending and a ban on donations from corporations and unions. Amid growing fears of the potential for outside and foreign actors to manipulate election campaigns, stricter third-party rules were brought in earlier this year, broadening requirements for private interests to register and disclose their activities.But instead of increasing transparency, the new rules have instead pushed private interests to broadcast their messages earlier and earlier in the campaign cycle, where they can remain anonymous.Outside of certain dates — June 30 for partisan ads and Sept. 11 for issue-based messages — Canadian election years are still a free-for-all where anyone can spend whatever they want without disclosin ...
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