MP Richard Cannings doesn’t support the Liberal government’s investment in the Trans-Mountain Pipeline and he wants to bring his constituents together to talk about it.
Cannings is holding a town hall meeting with fellow NDP MP Nathan Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley Valley) in Penticton on Friday, September 28 to talk with constituents about the Trans-Mountain pipeline expansion.
A federal court ruling recently halted construction on the expansion, citing serious concerns with the environmental impact of the pipeline and tanker expansion, and a lack of meaningful consultation with affected indigenous groups.
However, the Liberal government has already signalled they mean to press ahead with the expansion, having just spent $4.5 billion to purchase the existing pipeline from Kinder Morgan.
MP Cannings said that many residents in his jurisdiction, and across the province, find the Liberal government’s plan to expand the pipeline “troubling.”
“A seven fold increase in tanker traffic not only increases the risk of an oil spill, which would be devastating for our coastline, but poses a direct threat to the survival of the endangered Southern Resident Killer Whale,” Cannings said.
“But more than just the immediate risks, the rush to ship out raw, unrefined bitumen speaks to a government that is not committed to fighting climate change. Imagine what this money could do if it was invested in clean energy sectors. Instead of posing a direct threat to the thousands of jobs in the marine and tourism industries here in B.C., we could be helping to build a new carbon free economy.”
The expansion of the Trans-Mountain pipeline is opposed by a broad range of groups, including indigenous communities concerned with the threat to the water and resources of their traditional land, and environmentalists opposed to government subsidizing fossil fuel industries that make it impossible to meet Canada’s global carbon reduction targets.
Cannings hopes that by bringing together a broad range of concerns to listen and engage, the townhall will help unite opposition to the expansion and prevent the Liberal government from spending more public money by challenging the court ruling that halted construction.
“I look forward to hearing from residents, and I hope that by showing up in large numbers we can send a clear signal to Prime Minister Trudeau that British Columbians are united in their opposition to this reckless expansion,” Cannings said.
“We want to make it clear that being truly committed to fighting climate change, and reaching reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, is not achieved by spending billions on a pipeline.”
The town hall meeting will be held at the Penticton Public Library Auditorium on Friday, September 28 at 7:00 p.m.
