A sizeable group of Cranbrook residents gathered outside of their Member of Parliament’s office on Monday, June 4 to protest of the Federal Government’s plan to buy the 56-year-old Trans Mountain pipeline and tanker project from Kinder Morgan at a cost of $4.5 billion.
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Spearheaded locally by Vicky Dalton, the protest was held in conjunction with a nation-wide day of action, utilizing website act.leadnow.ca.
“I believe, and I think that there will be a number of us here today and many, many Canadians believe that that’s a mistake,” Dalton said. “It’s a huge mistake, environmentally, socially, it’s incredibly irresponsible frankly for the government.”
READ MORE: Kootenay MP questions Trans Mountain pipeline purchase
Kootenay-Columbia MP Wayne Stetski offered his thoughts on the proposed purchase last week, and Dalton said that his position on the subject is in line with their own.
“I also want to acknowledge that we appreciate Wayne Stetski’s position on this, we’re not protesting Wayne Stetski,” she explained. “There’s 100 actions across the country and many of them are in front of their MP’s office, just as constituents. So we decided to hold it here as well, but just to acknowledge that Wayne’s position is the same as ours.”
Ultimately, the goal of this protest and of those across Canada, is for the government not to buy the pipeline project.
“Why are we supporting fossil fuels when we should be investing that money in renewable energy?” asked Dalton. “And why are we, when we’ve just a few years ago signed on to the UN declaration of Aboriginal rights, why are we supporting something that many, many First Nations are extremely opposed to it, and have been mounting significant protests for years.”
“When asked for her final thoughts on this day of action Dalton added, “I think that environmentally, if we at some point, like now, and we’re actually I think past the point of no return, if we do not stop the reliance on fossil fuels and the tar sands, we’re going to destroy the oceans, we’re going to destroy any hope of quality of life for our children and our grandchildren.”
