Controversy Grows over Canadian Skeptics Ad Campaign

The fallout from the SourceWatch profile on the Canadian global warming skeptics group, Friends of Science (FoS), continues to grow. Mike De Souza reports that Morten Paulsen, who is Senior Vice President and General Manager Fleishman-Hillard Canada, worked as a "volunteer spokesperson for the Conservatives at the same time that he was acting as a paid communications consultant for the Friends of Science." FoS ran a major radio advertising campaign attacking the former Liberal government for its commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions. When FoS president Douglas Leahey was asked who identified the target markets for the ads he stated "I would imagine that would have been (decided by) our public relations consultant (Paulsen)." Paulsen declined to comment on Leahey's suggestion. Liberal member of parliament Mark Holland said that it appeared that Paulsen "might have been directing what ridings specifically material went into and using (the group) as an arm of the Conservative Party of Canada and thus circumventing campaign financing rules."