Repost from The Montreal Gazette
[Editor: For background read “Edelman’s TransCanada Astroturf Documents Expose Oil Industry’s Broad Attack on Public Interest, DeSmogBlog”.  – RS

TransCanada drops Edelman as PR firm after strategy leak

Oil giant TransCanada will not renew its contract with PR firm Edelman after its communications strategy was leaked last week, sparking controversy.

The Calgary-based pipeline maker wants to build a new 4,600-kilometre, $12 billion network through Quebec and New Brunswick. This project, called Energy East, has received substantial resistance in the province. To counter this pushback, Edelman devised a plan to win over critics.

Related: Quebec won’t be influenced by TransCanada’s tactics: Arcand

“We will work with third parties and arm them with the information they need to pressure opponents and distract them from their mission,” the document, leaked by Greenpeace Canada, said.

“The conversation about Energy East has turned into a debate about our choice of agency partner,” the company’s spokesperson, Tim Duboyce, wrote in a statement. “We need to get back to a conversation about the project itself and as a result we have agreed that it is in the best interests of the project that we do not extend our contract with Edelman.”

The company said it will “start a fresh conversation with shareholders,” but did not mention specifics.

The pipeline would carry up to 1.1 million barrels of crude from the Alberta oilsands to terminals in Quebec and New Brunswick.