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Power and influence of Canada's energy sector subject of new study

4 oil forecasters point which way prices will go

A new six-year study will try to map and measure the tremendous influence the oil and gas sector wields in all aspects of Canadian life.

The study brings together researchers from the Parkland Institute at the University of Alberta and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, and will be hosted by the University of Victoria.

"Canadians know how much economic power the fossil-fuel energy sector wields, but we don't know have that much knowledge of the actual way power is organized within that sector, and how the sector wields influence over other aspects of Canadian society, such as lobbying, media, education," said Bill Carroll, a sociology professor at the University of Victoria, who is co-director of the project.

Using a method called "network analysis," researchers will map the ways oil and gas companies are connected: to each other, to think tanks, to lobby groups, Carroll said. They will look at who owns and runs the companies, who sits on their boards of directors, and who funds their lobby groups.

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The study will also track how energy companies reach onto university campuses, how they influence public debate and public policy, and their connections to political parties and governments.

Researchers will also detail every step along the "commodity chain," from how resources are extracted at the wellsite or oilsands mine, to how they are transported whether by pipelines or rail or truck, and finally how they reach and are used by consumers.

"Globally, there's enormous power that this sector wields," Carroll said. "Because so much of the entire world economy is, if you like, addicted to carbon resources."

The six-year research project is funded, in part, by a $2.5-million grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

"Our research will help Canadians gain a clearer picture of who's who in this increasingly important sector of Canada's economy," Shannon Daub, the project's other co-director, said in a statement.