Environmentalists vow to keep fighting,
Alberta protesters disrupt Morneau’s speech to Calgary business groups
EDMONTON— Alberta environmentalists say the federal government’s announcement to buy the Trans Mountain pipeline for $4.5 billion has only strengthened their opposition to the project. Calling the decision to buy the pipeline a “completely unacceptable use of public funds,” Anna Gerrard — a member of Climate Justice Edmonton — says the group will double down on its efforts to oppose the project.
On Wednesday, they joined other Alberta-based anti-pipeline protesters to interrupt Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s speech to the business commu- nity in Calgary.
“This purchase does nothing to curb the Indigenous-led resistance this pipeline faces in the courts and the streets,” said Bronwen Tucker, a member of the Council of Canadians, in a statement to StarMetro.
Tucker joined Gerrard at Morneau’s speech in downtown Calgary before the group was escorted out of the venue.
“We will continue to fight this in the courts, in the streets, on the land and in the water until this project is defeated,” Gerrard said to StarMetro shortly after the protest.
Climate Justice is one of the groups at the forefront of antipipeline opposition in Alberta. They say Indigenous groups have not been adequately consulted on the project and that the pipeline poses a threat to Canada’s climate change goals. While several First Nations on the route of the planned pipeline expansion have expressed an interest in purchasing a stake in the project, others remain opposed. The Squamish First Nation, located outside Vancouver, called the decision to purchase the pipeline a “betrayal of promises” by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“The federal government has poured billions of public dollars into a failing pipeline project that goes against their own commitments to the climate, to phase out fossil subsidies, to Indigenous rights and then to protect the coast, as well,” said Mike Hudema, an activist with Greenpeace Canada.
He says the government’s de- cision to buy the pipeline will embolden protests against the project — both in Alberta and across the country.
“It’s really a reckless announcement for a pipeline that likely won’t be built and now the public’s on the hook for it,” he said. “The opposition is going to continue to escalate.”