ABSTRACT
On July 2, 2025, a request was made under the Access to Information Act (ATIA) for records in the custody and control of the Town for the period December 23, 2024 to June 27, 2025 related to:
“All communications related to the town’s membership in the Partners for Climate Protection (PCP) program, including, but not limited to, all communications related to this matter within Administration or within Council and between Administration and Council.
The information gleaned from this access to information retrieval was packaged into two categories, namely, Development of Notice of Motion to Remove Cochrane from PCP Program and Outside Influence.
Development of Notice of Motion to Remove Cochrane from PCP Program
With respect to Development of Notice of Motion to Remove Cochrane from PCP Program, that process began on March 3, 2025. On that day Councillor Patrick Wilson contacted the CAO, Mike Derricott, seeking direction on the matter and concluded with Councillor Wilson presenting his notice of motion on June 9, 2023 to be addressed by Council on June 23, 2025. During that 3-month period there was communication between Councillors Wilson and Alex Reed, who also supported some action on the matter, and between them and the CAO, Mike Derricott. Interestingly, the process was somewhat slowed down by the possibility that the Administration would voluntarily take steps to remove the town from PCP membership as even the CAO at one point appeared to be receptive to having the town removed from membership in the PCP program. In a May 6 email, Councillor Wilson mentioned that he was choosing to bring forward a notice of motion, that is, electing to have it brought to public discussion instead of a quiet withdrawal from the administrative side.”
Outside Influence
KICLEI’s Maggie Braun contacted the Town Council through two emails on June 23rd and another on June 24th. Because I was copied on those emails, I was aware of those interactions. However, it was only through this access to information request that I became aware of pressure from other sources on Council to remain a member of the PCP program.
Interestingly, two individuals (whose names were redacted), one on June 19 and the other on June 20, prior to the expected vote on June 23, 2025, contacted the Council to raise objections to removing the town from PCP membership and reproduced an article from the National Observer, which attacked KICLEI, to support their case. Even the author of that article, Rory White, chose to contact the Mayor on June 24th to make his case for disregarding KICLEI and continuing to remain a member of the PCP program, which he described as endorsing a “national net-zero initiative”. Mr. White eventually devoted four articles to his crusade on discrediting KICLEI.
On February 8, one individual associated with the Canadian Institute of Resources Law, offered to provide a paper to the councillors on “how critical it is for municipalities to develop and implement climate adaptation and resilience plans”.
The last, unexpected source influencing matters was the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM). Through the access to information request, I discovered that the town was exposed to a torrent of information from the FCM promoting addressing climate change and being involved with its Partners for Climate Protection program, co-sponsored with ICLEI. About 60% (134 pages) of the 220 pages of records received corresponded to weekly newsletters (FCM Connect and FCM Voice) received from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. Recipients included the CAO, other members of the Administration, the Mayor and members of Council. As I had mentioned in my delegation presentation on February 18, 2025, while the FCM represents itself as “We are the national voice for Canada’s local governments”, as one of the creators of the PCP program in 1994 along with ICLEI, it has become in reality, “the United Nations’ voice for Canada’s local governments”.
FULL BLOG
On July 2, 2025, I made a request under the Access to Information Act (ATIA) for records in the custody and control of the Town for the period December 23, 2024 to June 27, 2025 related to:
“All communications related to the town’s membership in the Partners for Climate Protection (PCP) program, including, but not limited to, all communications related to this matter within Administration or within Council and between Administration and Council”.
The application required a fee of $25.
The return of the records was expected to occur 30 business days later on August 14, 2025. However, as I have found to be common practice with the Town, they utilized a provision within the Act to add an extension of time of 30 business days, thereby taking the deadline for a response to September 26, 2025. In light of the Administration claiming that the town has had limited activity related to the Partners for Climate Protection program, I found it interesting that the Town’s argument for such an extension to the review process was because of “a large number of records”.
Despite being told that I would receive the records “no later than September 26, 2025”, as has also been the Town’s practice, they waited until the extension deadline had been reached before releasing their report.
Development of Notice of Motion to Remove Cochrane from PCP Program
As far as the development of a Councillor coming forward and making a motion to remove the town from the PCP program as I had requested in my delegation to Council on February 18, 2025, that process began on March 3, 2025. On that day Councillor Patrick Wilson contacted the CAO, Mike Derricott, seeking direction on the matter, saying, “I share their opinion (that is, my Dog with a Bone delegation) that Cochrane should withdraw its association, but not sure how best to advance”. Puzzling that Councillor Wilson appeared to not know how to bring a motion forward, but apparently there was some expectation both by Councillor Wilson and Councillor Alex Reed, who was also interested in moving this matter forward, that the Administration would possibly voluntarily take steps to remove the town from PCP membership.
From that date in early March there began a series of communications over three months involving Councillor Patrick Wilson and Councillor Alex Reed, until Councillor Wilson introduced a notice of motion on June 9 to be addressed by Council on June 23, 2025.
On March 16, 2025, Alex Reed received a post, “Resolution to Protect Municipal Autonomy from External Influence”, from KICLEI Canada, which he forwarded on to Councillor Wilson thinking he would be interested in it. Willson, in turn, replied to Reed, copying CAO Mike Derricott, indicating that he had previously contacted the CAO asking “his opinion, on how I would best advance Cochrane’s formal disconnection from any ICLEI or PCP like climate or sustainability group. In other words, whether this is best served by a NOM or not”, again indicating that there appeared to be some expectation that such could be accomplished without bringing a notice of motion forward to that effect. He concluded saying, “I too am concerned about how these National and International bodies ‘often bypass legitimate local decision-making, erode transparency, and weaken democratic accountability’ (referencing a statement made in the KICLEI post).”
On March 17, 2025, Reed sent an email, “Seeking your advice”, to CAO, Mike Derricott with copy to Wilson and Mayor Genung, wherein he indicated that he and Patrick I had “been chatting about this and would like to bring forth a notice of motion or find some mechanism for getting this approved and seek your advice”. He cited sections of the contents of the KICLEI post which had been received on March 16, including the four resolution statements cited there.
On March 17, CAO, Mike Derricott, responded offering his support to Reed and Wilson and indicating, “I can confirm we have reached out to the on the dormant inclusion of Cochrane noted in recent conversations to ask that we be removed. I’ll follow up to see where this is at”. One understands from what the CAO said, that the town Administration had asked, presumably, the PCP secretariat, “that we be removed” as a member of the PCP program. What happened from the so-called “follow-up”?
On March 28, 2025, Wilson sent an email to Mike Derricott with copy to Reed, telling him that he was “Just making sure this isn’t lost in the shuffle” and suggesting that they have a conversation about the matter before an upcoming Council of the Whole meeting.
A whole month, April, passed by with no further communication on the matter.
On May 6, 2025, Wilson sent an email, “PCP Program Withdrawal NOM”, to Derricott with copy to Reed, asking Derricott to review his proposed notice of motion (NOM) and offer any suggested changes. The proposed NOM included the four resolution statements extracted from the KICLEI post received on March 16, 2025. His comment “After reflection I do see utility to this being brought to public discussion instead of a quiet withdrawal from the administrative side”, indicating that there may have been some expectation of the latter. Wilson offered to step aside if Reed wanted to advance the motion.
On May 28, 2025 Jaylene Robertson, Director, Legislative & Administrative Services, wrote to Wilson indicating that his notice of motion could be accommodated at the June 9 and 23 meetings, the 9th for introduction and the 23rd for debate and voting. Attached was the proposed Council Report for his notice of motion as it would appear for the June 9th Regular Meeting of Council. Wilson was asked it was acceptable or if he desired any changes. The Recommended Action was a re-work of the four resolution statements found in the March 16, 2025 KICLEI post.
After a slight detour to hear the opinion of the Natural Environment task force, at its September 8, 2025 Regular Council meeting, Council decided, by a vote of 5 to 2, to support Administration’s motion not to remove the Town from membership in the Partners for Climate Protection (PCP) program, thereby sending a message that the Town of Cochrane is committed to meeting the PCP’s objective of taking “action against climate change by reducing emissions” in the community in order to meet the UN/ICLEI’s objective of “an absolute net-zero emission level at the latest by 2050”.
On September 6, prior to the September 8th vote, i sent an email, Agenda Item 5h, Agenda Item 5h, Withdrawal from ICLEI and PCP, wherein I concluded with the following question:
Will the members of Council commit the town to address global priorities advanced by a United Nations-associated organization like ICLEI (International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives), which is headquartered in Bonn, Germany, or focus on basic local priorities by voting to cease being a member of the Partners for Climate Protection program (managed in part by ICLEI), and thereby, as well, demonstrate that they are not subservient to the will of the town Administration?
On September 16, 2025, after the September 8th vote, I sent an email, Discussion re Withdrawal from PCP Program, to the Council giving my perspective on the debate that occurred with respect to the motion to remain in the PCP program. .
Outside Influence
KICLEI Canada, founded by Ontario resident, Maggie Hope Braun, describes its Localism Over Globalism mission as being “to 
ensure that decisions affecting Canadians are made locally, reflecting the values, needs, and priorities of our communities —not imposed by global agendas or external interests”. KICLEI is funded entirely by private Canadian citizens through memberships, donations, and volunteer contributions.
Maggie Braun on several occasions interacted with the Council in support of the town’s withdrawal from the PCP program.
Early in the morning prior to the council meeting on June 23, 2025, Braun sent an email, Ahead of Today’s Vote – Clarifying the PCP Program and ICLEI Participation, wherein she provided information about the character of ICLEI as a UN-founded, corporate-funded NGO (non-government organization), gave A recent example from Lethbridge, AB to illustrates the hidden cost of the PCP program, and encouraged “all members of Council to vote in support of this motion on Monday. You have the opportunity to set a national example for principled, informed leadership”.
Later in the evening on June 23, 2025 after the conclusion of the Council meeting on that day, Braun sent the mayor and council an email, Council Silence on PCP Motion – Residents Deserve Answers, expressing “disappointment regarding Council’s June 23 decision to defer Councillor Wilson’s motion to withdraw from the ICLEI/FCM Partners for Climate Protection (PCP) program—without a single word of public debate”. She expressed concern that ICLEI or voices for ICLEI had intervened, noting “It was citizens and KICLEI who alerted you (that Cochrane was in the PCP program)—not ICLEI, not FCM. And now ICLEI claims they need to ‘warn’ you about us? Interesting”.
She sent the council a follow-up email, Clarification and Follow-Up- PCP Motion & Environmental Committee Review, on June 24, 2025, recognizing that she misunderstood that the motion had only been deferred to the town’s Natural Environment Protection (NEP) Task Force for their opinion and to be taken up again by Council in September. She advised the council that “municipalities can still receive Green Municipal Fund (GMF) grants (available from the FCM) without being in the PCP program”.
Because I was copied by Maggie Braun of KICLEI with respect to her communications to the Council, I was aware of her engagement with Council. However, it was only through this access to information request that I became aware of the external pressure on Council to remain a member of the PCP program.
For example, on June 19, 2025, prior to the council meeting on this matter on June 23, 2025, an anonymous person (because name was redacted), used the town’s online submission form to contact Mayor Genung with information, which the mayor subsequently forwarded on to the CAO and the rest of Council.
In that submission that person claimed that KICLEI’s web site, managed by Maggie Braun, shows “deceit and misinformation” and posted the text of a June 18, 2025 article, A US climate conspiracy has spread to Canada – and local politicians haven’t been warned, by Mr. Rory White, a journalist representing the media outlet, Canada’s National Observer, in support of his claim. The whole article is primarily a hit piece on KICLEI, an independent watchdog initiative, modeled after ICLEI (International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives), but focused on localism over globalism.
The person making the online submission opined, “Alberta is not a CO2 sink… that is a lie. Climate change is already affecting Alberta drastically. The intent of this group is to make us ignore what is happening in front of us. I will further read this but whoever is behind this site is not in our best long interest” (including a link to the KICLEI/Alberta web site) and thanked Mayor Genung, “for insuring we are not being conned like the US lawmakers are in the dysfunctional USA of today”.
On June 20, 2025, an unnamed individual (due to redaction) sent an email interestingly entitled, “Net zero motion” to Council, and like the June 19th person, submitted the text from the National Observer article, “A US climate conspiracy has spread to Canada — and local politicians haven’t been warned”, published on June 18. This person asked, “Is it true, that council is voting on a motion based on information from a single source, a supposed right-wing conspiracy group’s website that is using AI chatbots misrepresenting scientific research as claimed in this article?” As far as I was aware, that single source was my presentation to Council on February 18, 2025. The email concluded, “How much time will administration spend on fact-checking these claims to provide council with objective information before making a decision? If you vote yes on the motion, where do you see the long-term benefits for the residents of Cochrane and do you feel that this is an urgent matter administration needs to invest time and manpower on to get it done before the election of a new council?”
On June 24, Rory White, Technology and Democracy Reporter for the National Observer, and the author of the National Observer article, “A US climate conspiracy has spread to Canada — and local politicians haven’t been warned”, that two individuals had previously provided to Council on June 19 and June 20, sent an email, “Decision in Cochrane” to Mayor Genung. He attached a pdf copy of his article “since it’s paywalled” and enquired as to the status of the Council vote and if Council had been aware of his “investigation into KICLEI before the meeting”. Along with the pdf for his June 18th article, he provided a link to a second article, “A Weaponized AI Chatbot Is Flooding Canadian City Councils with Climate Misinformation”, published on May 28, 2025, as part of his ‘investigation’.
Rory White published two other articles at the National Observer site on June 27, 2025 and September 11, 2025, related to the town’s vote on membership in the PCP program.
In the September 11, 2025 article, he concluded, “In a symbolic reversal, the town of Cochrane, Ab., has voted to stay in a national net-zero initiative, despite being targeted by an AI-powered misinformation campaign”. Noteworthy that the town has avoided talking about their being involved in a “net-zero initiative”. The town Administration made reference to such in the first draft of the town’s Municipal Development Plan, Envision Cochrane 2050, but subsequently removed it from the final draft.
He referenced Mayor Genung at the September 8th Council meeting saying, “I don’t like the precedent this sets,” as expressing a concern “that if Cochrane exited the program, it could be used as an example to reverse environmental policies in other communities”. He also referenced Mayor Genung saying, “The one thing that bothers me the most about this was when this came forward, I started getting lobbied fairly hard by an external body utilizing Cochrane as an example” as speaking against KICLEI’s campaign, ignoring the degree to which White himself and the National Observer had spoken out and lobbied fairly hard either directly or through individuals having contacted the town citing the National Observer article.
While the National Observer presents itself as an arbiter of truth, it is hardly a neutral source. The National Observer receives funding ($2.8 million last year) from various climate advocacy networks and has the Canadian federal government listed as a major donor. Remember the expression, ‘he who pays the piper calls the tune’.
According to Canada’s National Observer it uses that multi-million-dollar funding to “dig into the stories that shape Canada’s climate future”. It routinely promotes ICLEI Canada and the PCP program while discrediting those who question the former. His articles were not part of an “investigation” but, rather, a one-sided attempt to frame legitimate civic participation as dangerous.
On June 20, 2025, Maggie Braun with KICLEI posted a response, “What That National Observer Article Got Wrong — And What to Share With Council“, to this attack on KICLEI by this climate change lobbyist.
There was one other external contact with Town Council related to its membership in the PCP program. On February 18, 2025, an unnamed individual (redacted) sent an email, “Partners for Climate Protection”, to Council, writing, “I am happy to see a delegation for climate protection on the agenda. I have recently written a paper on this issue and how critical it is for municipalities to develop and implement climate adaptation and resilience plans. It will be published in March 2025. I will make sure council receives a copy. It is a resource guide to help municipalities choose the processes they will use to develop these critical plans with their citizens…I look forward to being able to participate in such a process in the future. Without a planof this type, all of us who live and work in Cochrane will be unprepared in the event of severe weather events and other matters associated with a changing climate. If one of you wants to see this paper directly, I will make sure you get a copy-it is being reviewed right now to make sure hyperlinks work, and then it will be available on theCanadian Institute of Resources Law website.” I scoured the Canadian Institute of Resources Law’s web site, and the best I could come up with was an article, “Municipal Adaptation to Climate Change and Severe Weather Events in Alberta”, by Cochrane resident, Judy Stewart, who was a long-time contributor of an opinion column, “Climate of Change”, in the Cochrane Times.
About 60% (134 pages) of the 220 pages of records received corresponded to weekly newsletters (FCM Connect and FCM Voice) received from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. Recipients included the CAO, other members of the Administration, the Mayor and members of Council.
That was another external influence on the town, which I was unaware of. Through the access to information request, I discovered that through its 6-8-page weekly newsletters (FCM Connect and FCM Voice) the town was exposed to a torrent of information from the FCM promoting addressing climate change and being involved with its Partners for Climate Protection program, co-sponsored with ICLEI.
Thus, the April 29, 2025 issue of FCM Connect featured a page explaining, “Are you looking for a resource to help your municipality establish and meet GHG reduction targets? FCM and ICLEI Canada’s Partners for Climate Protection (PCP) program can help with a guide that offers advice on how to develop targets and climate action plans aimed at establishing healthier, more sustainable communities. Learn how to identify factors influencing GHG emissions and what your community can do to build an effective climate approach”, including a link to the guide.
As I had mentioned in my delegation presentation on February 18, 2025, while the FCM represents itself as “We are the national voice for Canada’s local governments”, as one of the creators of the PCP program in 1994 along with ICLEI, it has become in reality, “the United Nations’ voice for Canada’s local governments”.
In 1994, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) sent a 40-page “Municipal Primer”, essentially an instruction manual, to the municipalities across Canada. You can see within that document an early appreciation of the importance of local action to achieve global aims:
“We are becoming much more aware that the impacts of our own daily polluting activities are global as well as local. The popular phrase Think Globally, Act Locally reflects this new awareness.”
So, one can see that the FCM as an organization has been flogging this globalist narrative for a very long time.