Tag Archives: Aaron Gunn

Communications

What Harvey McKinnon Brought to Activate 2026 

Harvey McKinnon has been one of North America’s leading fund raisers for the past four decades. He’s the author of six books and the producer of a wide variety of award-winning documentary films that have been aired on the BBC, CBC, ABC and PBS. He’s also been a keynote speaker at conferences from Australia to Norway. Given the familiarity that he was received at Hollyhock,  I suspect this was not the first time he was there. Never-the-less, I know him from two presentations he made at Activate 2026: the ‘Save the CBC’ campaign and a workshop on ‘How to Use Words and Language to Win Campaigns and Raise More Money.’

For this morning’s broadcast I asked Harvey two questions: 

  1. Why was his ‘Save the CBC’ campaign so successful?, and 
  2. How should we approach a government who sees extreme weather events increasing in number and size, but still maintains Canada should ramp up oil production as quickly as possible?    
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Cost of Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Forests

Tzeporah Berman (Part 1 of 4): Then – and now

More than thirty years have passed since Tzeporah Berman catapulted into public view as an organizer of the Clayoquot Sound logging blockade. She is the Co-founder and International Program Director at Stand.earth, the Founder and Steering Committee Chair of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, and serves as a member of the Advisory Group for InfluenceMap. She is also an author, former adjunct professor, and has sat on committees advising the governments of B.C. and Alberta. When she’s not away speaking at conferences, or in the midst of negotiations, Tzeporah Berman is back in her home overlooking Gunflint Lake on Cortes Island. In the first of a series of broadcasts recorded there, she talks about then – and now. 

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Energy, Politics

Taxpayer Dollars, the pipeline, and Canada’s Clean Energy Future

Three weeks ago the Toronto Star reported that “three Liberals privately suggested to the Star that Prime Minister Mark Carney may put federal money behind a new pipeline to the west coast … Sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, say Carney wants to see the pipeline built, and is realizing it may not happen without more public money behind it.”

Aaron Gunn, the Conservative MP for North Island-Powell River, emailed that he is not interested in discussing rumours. While he recently acknowledged the climate is changing, Gunn also stated Canadians have more important issues to deal with. The pipeline was one of them: 

“I will say this pipeline should have been built ten years ago. Instead, the world remains beholden to oil from brutal, dictatorial regimes like Russia and Iran, while Canadian oil sells at a discount to the United States.” 

Jennifer Lash’s response to the Toronto Star article was, “Ottawa is nothing if not a fish bowl of rumours.”

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Politics

MP Aaron Gunn’s April 9th Town Hall Meeting on Cortes Island

Aaron Gunn, the MP for North Island-Powell River came to Cortes Island on Thursday April 9. Jacob Mantle, the MP from York-Durham in Ontario,  accompanied him. About 60 expectant Cortes residents showed up at Mansons Hall. The resulting town hall meeting covered everything from the cost of living to the future of the resource sector. The report that follows consists of highly edited audio clips from an hour and a half meeting.

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Politics

The Klahoose ‘Elder’ and other embarrassing aspects of Aaron Gunn’s visit

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About 60 Cortes Island residents turned up at Mansons Hall, on Thursday, April 9, to hear from their MP, Aaron Gunn, and his colleague, MP Jacob Mantle. Gunn gave a presentation, which was followed by answers to written questions. However, the event was marked by several logistical glitches—the most significant involving a Klahoose Cultural Protocol Representative who was invited to open our meeting and give a land acknowledgement – only to find he was not welcome to do so.  

As a reporter, I am expected to be objective. In fact we usually speak in the third person – which seems ludicrous but I still refer to myself as ‘Cortes Currents.’ In this case, I was definitely involved. I helped ‘enable’ this event.

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