Barry F. Cooper

Fraser Barry Cooper (born 1943) is a Canadian political scientist at the University of Calgary's Department of Political Science. He teaches courses in political philosophy. Before coming to Calgary, he taught at Bishop's University (1968-1970), McGill University, and York University (1970-1981). The winner of a Killam Research Fellowship, he is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, he is a knight of the Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem (Knights Hospitaler).

In 1991, Cooper co-authored Deconfederation: Canada without Quebec, in which he argued that Canada would benefit from Quebec separation. He has also written a book titled, Eric Voegelin and the Foundations of Modern Political Science (1999)[1] and Action into Nature: An Essay on the Meaning of Technology (1991).[2]

He is a Fellow at the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies and a Senior Research Fellow at the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute. Cooper attended high school at Shawnigan Lake School on Vancouver Island.[3]

As a regular columnist for the Calgary Herald, Cooper is a frequent guest commentator on Canadian political issues. His Calgary Herald biography says: Barry Cooper, FRSC, a fourth generation Albertan, was educated at Shawnigan Lake School, the University of British Columbia and Duke University. He is a professor of political science at the University of Calgary and has published many books. A recent effort was, It's the Regime, Stupid! A Report from the Cowboy West on Why Stephen Harper Matters (Key Porter)." [4]

From August 28 to September 2, 2013, Barry Cooper was honoured and celebrated at the American Political Science Association (APSA) meeting in Chicago. In addition to a panel on “Hunting and Weaving: Barry Cooper’s Political Philosophy”, a dinner was held at the Berghoff to celebrate the publication of the Festschrift for Barry Cooper “Hunting and Weaving: Empiricism and Political Philosophy”, August 2013, edited by Thomas Heilke and John von Heyking, former MA students of the Department of Political Science, University of Calgary. Barry Cooper was also one of six scholars awarded an Eric Voegelin Society Order of Merit Medal in recognition of his scholarship and contributions to the Eric Voegelin Society.[5]

The "Calgary School"

Cooper is a member of an influential group of conservative political scientists the Calgary School, which also includes Tom Flanagan, Rainer Knopff, Ted Morton, and David Bercuson. Cooper, like other members of the Calgary School, strongly advocate against First Nations rights to land and special privilege. In his arguments in a January 2013 article [6] he cites controversial publication entitled First Nations? Second Thoughts in which he countered arguments presented in the Royal Commission on Aboriginal People(1996). Both this publication and Cooper's article argue against statements by the RCAP that, "(1) Aboriginals are privileged because they were here first; (2) there are no significant differences between European and Indian civilizations so that (3) Indians are sovereign nations; accordingly (4) treaties were nation-to-nation agreements that (5) affirmed aboriginal sovereignty and ownership of the land."[6]

Flanagan is often described as a member of the Calgary School, which includes a group of conservatively inclined professors at the University of Calgary, such as Barry Cooper, F.L.(Ted) Morton, Rainer Knopff and history professor David Bercuson [7][8][9] who are strongly committed to strategic and direct influence on public affairs with a long term vision. [notes 1]

By 1998, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a public policy research institution based in Washington, DC had already observed the ascendancy of the role of Calgary-based academics on Canadian public policy, specifically the Calgary School of political science (Rovinsky 1998:10).[7]

In The Court Party, Knopff and Morton took on judicial activism. Cooper and Bercuson’s Deconfederation undermined the Meech Lake agenda of endless concessions to Quebec. In First Nations? Second Thoughts, I stood up against the juggernaut of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. All these books were widely discussed in the media and have had some impact on the course of public affairs.
— Tom Flanagan, Advice to progressives from the Calgary School, Literary Review of Canada

Friends of Science and Cooper's Science Education Fund

See Friends of Science In 2006, Cooper became involved with a non-profit organization, Friends of Science, which openly criticized the Kyoto Protocol and the science behind it. The group "offers critical evidence that challenges the premises of the Kyoto Protocol and presents alternative causes for climate change." Friends of Science:About Us. The group is regarded as a corporate lobby for the Alberta oil and gas industry by many environmentalists. By 2004, as faculty member of the University of Calgary, political scientist Barry Cooper, set up the Science Education Fund which could accept donations through the Calgary Foundation. The 57-year-old charity, Calgary Foundation administers charitable giving in the Calgary area and had "a policy of guarding donors' identities." Albert Jacobs, a geologist and retired oil-explorations manager and member of the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists who formed the Friends of Science, described how donations from oil and gas industry donors were passed on to the Science Education Fund set up by Barry Cooper, which in turn supported the activities of the Friends of Science including the .[10][11]

In 2004 Talisman Energy, a Calgary-based, global oil and gas exploration and production company, one of Canada's largest independent oil and gas companies, donated $175,000 [notes 2] to fund a University of Calgary-based "public relations project designed to cast doubt on scientific evidence linking human activity to global warming." Journalist Mike De Souza published the list of significant donations to the Friends of Science which had been received by the press, in an article published in the Vancouver Sun in 2011. Sydney Kahanoff, a Calgary oil and gas executive and philanthropist donated $50,000 through his Kahanoff Foundation, a charity he established in 1979. Murphy Oil matched one of its employees $1,050 donations. Douglas Leahey defended the donations to the Friends of Science from the then CEO of Talisman Energy, James Buckee,[notes 3][12] who shared the Friends' views on climate change.[13] Cooper's involvement in the funding of this group was called into question in 2006, when it was reported he helped start a University of Calgary fund called the Science Education Fund, which accepted monies from Alberta oil and gas companies, foundations and individuals and then used some of that charitable donation to use in the Friends of Science group, to produce a video, available at friendsofscience.org.[10][11]

In April 2005, Friends of Science released a 23-minute on-line video directed by Mike Visser, entitled "Climate Catastrophe Cancelled: What You're Not Being Told About the Science of Climate Change" [14] that contrasts the views of politicians and scientists on the question of climate change. The video featured consultant Tim Ball, Sallie L. Baliunas, Professor of Geology Tim Patterson of Carleton University, Ross McKitrick and Professor of Political Science Barry F. Cooper of the University of Calgary, all of whom are known for skepticism with regard to the mainstream scientific view on global warming. A second edition was released 13 September 2007.

In 2014 Friends of Science released a billboard in Calgary, Alberta claiming that the sun, and not human activity, is the primary driver of Global Warming.[15]

Selected works

Notes

  1. ↑ "There are tensions between the socially conservative and economically conservative factions within the school. Bercuson publicly criticized Morton's social policies, saying "[they] were hard to stomach for a libertarian." (McLean, Archie. "Morton would use Alberta as his 'guinea pig': Social, religious views will drive policy, expert says", Edmonton Journal, 2 December 2006.)Such division brings into question whether its members reflect a coherent "school" of thought (Wikipedia article on Calgary School)."
  2. ↑ According to Canwest News Service reporter, Mike De Souza's article published in the Vancouver Sun in 2011, the letter from University of Calgary account administrator, Chantal-Lee Watt, accompanying $175,000 Talisman cheque, dated 4 November 2004, was part of documents released by the University of Calgary under the orders of Franklin J. Work, the office of Alberta's information and privacy commissioner.
  3. ↑ The Calgary Herald described James Buckee's retirement from Talisman in May 2007 as the end of an oilpatch era with Buckee as one of its most colourful characters.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.amazon.ca/Voegelin-Foundations-Modern-Political-Science/dp/0826212298
  2. ↑ http://www.amazon.com/Action-into-Nature-Technology-Political/dp/0268006296
  3. ↑ David Orchard: Media Coverage
  4. ↑ http://www.calgaryherald.com/columnists/barry_cooper.html
  5. ↑ http://poli.ucalgary.ca/news/barry-cooper-honoured-and-awarded-eric-voegelin-society-order-merit-medal
  6. 1 2 Barry Cooper (January 22, 2013). "Aboriginals have no claim to sovereignty". Calgary Herald. Calgary, Alberta. Archived from the original on February 7, 2013. Retrieved January 22, 2013.
  7. 1 2 David J. Rovinsky (February 16, 1998). The Ascendancy of Western Canada in Canadian Policymaking (PDF) (Report). Policy Papers on the Americas. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  8. ↑ Tom Flanagan (2010). "Advice to progressives from the Calgary School: Response to Sylvia Bashevkin". Toronto, CA: Literary Review of Canada. ISSN 1188-7494. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  9. ↑ Frédéric Boily, ed., Stephen Harper: De l’Ecole de Calgary au Parti conservateur: les nouveaux visages du conservatisme canadien (Québéc: Les Presses de l’Université Laval, 2007).
  10. 1 2 Charles Montgomery (2006-08-12). "Mr. Cool: Nurturing doubt about climate change is big business". Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 2007-04-02. Retrieved 2007-05-01.
  11. 1 2 "Elections Canada to probe anti-Kyoto Protocol group", Victoria Times-Colonist, February 18, 2008, archived from the original on November 8, 2012.
  12. ↑ "Jim Buckee retires at Talisman:An oilpatch era ended Wednesday with the retirement of one of its most colourful characters". Calgary, Alberta: The Calgary Herald. 31 May 2007. Retrieved 18 June 2013.
  13. ↑ De Souza, Mike (4 September 2011). "Talisman Energy kick-started U of C climate skeptic fund". Postmedia News.
  14. ↑ "Climate Catastrophe Cancelled: What You're Not Being Told About the Science of Climate Change". Retrieved 2007-03-05.
  15. ↑ Jenny Uechi. "Friends of Science billboard blames climate change on the sun".
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